Pre-owned

Lake Superior State College has issued its annual list of words that should be banished due to misuse, overuse, and general uselessness. Here are a few from this year’s list.

I’ll start with one that was pointed out to me a long time ago: Hot Water Heater – water that is already hot does not need to be heated. It is simply a water heater.

Let Me Ask You This – wholly unnecessary statement. Just ask the question already.

Pre-owned – what’s so disgraceful about “used?”



The misnamed and bogus Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity has been disbanded. The goal of this group, widely known but never admitted by its members, wasn’t to boost the integrity of our elections (such as prevent meddling by Russia), but was to figure out ways to suppress voting.

But don’t cheer over the end of this group. Kris Kobach, Secretary of State for Kansas, a leader of the group and a prime instigator of voter suppression, says this is only a “tactical shift.” The effort has been shifted to the Department of Homeland Security. This move has a few advantages for those interested in suppression, as noted by Melissa McEwan of Shakesville:

* DHS is already running the nasty guy’s immigration policies and he believes he lost the popular vote because millions of non-citizens voted. DHS is a good place to comb through voter rolls looking for non-citizens.

* The commission got mired in lawsuits.

* The actions of the DHS are a lot less public.

If you are talking about a “blue wave” in the 2018 midterms you had better also be talking about what Kobach is doing.



I had mentioned the race for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates in which Democrat Shelly Simonds won by a single vote. The control of the House hinged on this race. The count was later declared a tie when a rejected ballot was reconsidered by a court and awarded to Republican David Yancey.

Since my posts in December, Simonds challenged that last ballot. And was refused.

So the two names were put into canisters, which was put into a bowl, and one was drawn – Yancey. So the GOP will control the House 51-49. Dems have a bit of legal maneuvering to try, but it is doubtful they’ll get anywhere before the House votes on a new (GOP) Speaker.

So efforts are turning towards dealing with Virginia’s gerrymandering. I note the Dems almost flipped the House in spite of being highly gerrymandered.



Photographer Xavi Bou took videos of birds in flight, then composited the series of images into one. This creates what might be thought of as birds leaving the equivalent of footprints in the sky.