How does electoral politics work in the US

Daniel schor with an incredibly insightful look at politics 

America descends into fascism

We are at the brink

I now think that Trump will be re-elected 

As bad as I believe Biden would be, Trump will probably do generational if not permanent damage to American institutions.  Given the limited window remaining to prevent or at least reduce climate disaster, it could be the extinction event...

I simply cannot believe that it is not a bigger deal that police acquiesced in a teen killing unarmed protesters in Kenosha.  The non authoritarian folks cannot win an armed fight with neo Nazi/ white supremacy squads.  Butter knives vs long guns.

Unidentified paramilitary groups snatching people from the streets with no warrants nor due process 

I’m horrified 

I feel helpless to do anything to prevent this though I see the slow motion train wreck about to happen

With Covid-19 leading to travel restrictions globally (the US passport is useless now), we are stuck here.  I hope I can get to New Zealand before the immigration process changes.

Nina has the goods.

Voter fraud in the US

Is pretty low

Fire conditions and safety

It’s been a bad week for fires.  

Sunday night there was an amazing electrical storm which ended up with at least 10,000 strikes. Many sparked fires, including the River fire near Corral de Tierra. The Carmel Fire appears to have been started by sparks from a chain dragging from a truck.  The Dolan fire by Esalen was arson.  It’s wiped out the condor sanctuary 😢

So far we are not threatened but air is bad (AQI > 150) 

This post is for assembling some links as I keep having to search for them...

Big Sur Kate is a valuable blog, she and the gang are a clearinghouse for info and stay pretty up to date.  Local news station is terrible, so it’s great to have this blog.

Ready for Wildfire  has guides & checklists for keeping safe, packing a go-bag and prepping the house

Fire safe Monterey links to incident maps for CalFire and Federal 

evacuation notices ( I’m only mildly upset that it’s hosted at a private site that requires giving up information to access)

up to date Monterey incident map with evacuation regions.

Raw  wind and weather data are aggregated and displayed here, they also have an app.  I use the IQAir app for air quality.

Yves smith reply re "Russia Russia" comment

Russiagate is nonsense. 

Mueller had two years and didn’t find anything. Read Aaron Mate for long form takedowns. I don’t have the time or patience for a rehash.

Trump has dated and married swimsuit models for years. One of his girlfriends met him at a model party at Mar a Lago. She didn’t have swimsuit. He took her back to one of the bedrooms and opened a drawer, which was full of suits for her to choose from. He was a non-druggie but hard partier. And there’s no evidence he ever hired prostitutes. He’d sometimes pay women for sex afterwards, and they were offended and upset, because they were not pros, they thought they were dates, and he was basically paying them to go away.

Now in Russia he might have to pay for company, but I have to tell you, NYC is full of Russian “models” who show up at parties for free hoping to get close to men much less rich than Trump.

In other words, Trump was/is shameless and the idea that the Russians would get anything that could embarrass him after New York Magazine had been making fun of his escapades for years is a stretch.

As for money laundering, there’s no evidence Trump did anything other than flounder around in Russia. That Senate report shows he dragged his escort girls around with him to 1996 meetings and was seen as a fool. He later set up a corporate entity that did no business. He did have an architect draw up plans for some sort of fantastical development and tried to get the attention of Putin as a possible buyer of the best unit. He was so devoid of contacts there that his stooge had to call an official (public) number, as in Trump had no inside connections whatsoever. Trump’s “Russia” guy was ex-con Felix Sater, who was more accurately ex-international Jewish mob than Russian mob. Sater had turned evidence to get his sentence reduced, which means no crook and no one honest would trust Sater.

As for money laundering, you clearly don’t even understand the concept. Every NYC developer of any significance has sold units to Russian nationals. There was one year when 70% of the condos sold in Brooklyn were sold to Russians. And no real estate seller is implicated in money laundering, unless they took cash for the purchase. Banks are responsible for anti money laundering checks. They have the “know your customer” obligation, not the real estate seller.

Paul Graham writes interesting essays

A compilation

Some links for new preppers

How to prep like a Mormon

Organic prepper

Auerbach on health care inequality

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/08/the-pandemic-has-revealed-americas-zip-code-map-of-inequality.html

Air pollution is even worse than we thought

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2020/8/12/21361498/climate-change-air-pollution-us-india-china-deaths

Looks like it’s worth cleaning up the environment even if no global warming 

In defense of Trump ( or trumpism)

Anton makes the case. I’m not in agreement with most but there are some good points made.  Trump has been IMO right on trade/globalization, China, and talks about taking on big tech though I doubt he and Matt Stoller agree on much.

Container gardening

container gardens  need the right seeds

use seed from exclusive varieties bred especially for growing in pots

1. Have the Right Size Container 

2. Don't Thin Seedlings

3. Feed Properly 

you'll still need to add fertilizer after about the first six weeks.

4. Use the Right Soil 

Don't use garden soil in a container, it will likely become compacted in summer heat. Commercial soil gives consistent drainage and is weed and pest-free.

5. Water Correctly

Bossa nova

Adam Neely  discusses how weird the girl from Ipanema is, theoretically

sources for analysis of the girl from Ipanema

I love this tune and only learned the real book version.  Perhaps I’ll try to spiff it up with some of the original ideas and make my own arrangement 

Thomas Frank

Populism wrt the health care system