Unifying against the mob should be the easiest decision of your life

Last night I finished the book The Starless Sea by Erin Morganstern. I’m pretty sure I bought it because of a glowing review of a story about a gay guy in a world of stories. Within the first few pages I was entranced by the fine descriptive writing of the stories. The Starless Sea is without stars because it is underground. It is a major feature in a world in which stories are gathered, archived, and guarded. Zachary is a grad student in new media (storytelling through computer games). He encounters a book which seems to describe an incident in his childhood, though the book seems much older than he is. In trying to find out how that happened he enters that underground world. I enjoyed the way the author described characters so at a later time the author could mention one small detail and I knew which character was meant. I enjoyed many of the stories told between chapters of Zachary’s story. That enjoyment lasted to about page 300 of the almost 500 pages. It is only then that Zachary being gay had any consequences in the story and the lovers were soon parted. However, what sapped my enjoyment was why I tend to avoid fantasy novels – the fantasy elements tend to feel arbitrary and in this case not well explained. As the story progressed they tended to become stranger and go on for much too long. I’m sure someone more attuned to Literature might revel in the Symbolism, Metaphor, and Allegory, but all of that went over my head – even the parts where the author makes it explicit. The novel begins this way:

There is a pirate in the basement. (The pirate is a metaphor but also still a person.)

And the symbolism of that underground sea actually made of honey is a mystery to me. If it isn’t symbolism it’s another reason why fantasy seems so arbitrary. After all that ranting about fantasy there is a fantasy world I very much enjoyed, that of Harry Potter. Rather than feeling arbitrary that world felt incredibly well thought out and complete. I downloaded Michigan’s COVID data this morning. Since Michigan assigns cases to the onset of symptoms rather than the day recorded the numbers can be in flux for a couple weeks back. That means the data for the first week of January is just now firming up. That is suggesting that after a dip at Christmas the cases per day isn’t dropping, but starting a plateau. The numbers are certainly much (about a third) lower than the peak in early November but also more than three times higher than the plateau in July, August, and half of September. The cases per day for those couple of weeks averages about 3000 a day with spikes above 4500 a day. During that same time deaths per day has hovered at about 75 a day. I get my data here. In Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s virus update yesterday she announced that limited indoor dining may resume on February 1st. I suspect cases will go up again, threatening her desire for schools to resume in-person learning in March 1. Part of the announcement of indoor dining Whitmer stressed that those in high risk categories should stick to takeout. So I will. Joan McCarter of Daily Kos discussed the filibuster, including Adam Jentleson’s new book Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy. Jentleson had been chief of staff for former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, so he saw how the filibuster was wielded against his boss. The filibuster was very much not what the founding fathers intended. There had been the requirement of supermajorities in the Articles of Confederation. Those were abandoned when the Constitution was written. Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton wrote against requiring a supermajority. The filibuster came from the South demanding a way to veto any legislation that might lead to overturning slavery. Jentleson wrote:

Southerners inflated the minority’s right to unlimited debate with soaring oratory backed by intimidation from their monopoly of the Senate’s all-powerful committees which controlled the prospects for legislation as well as senators' careers.

In the Jim Crow era it killed civil rights bills, and only those bills. It’s use expanded significantly in the modern era as a way for Republicans to prevent Democrats from getting anything done. It is time to get rid of this racist legacy. BorderingOrder tweeted:

Democrats have feared eliminating the filibuster because Republicans could turn the table on them. News Alert: Republicans turn the table anyway. You either have a plan for the future or you don't. Fulfill your promises. Take charge of the Senate and move us forward.

Alexandra Erin added:

If Democrats refuse to use power out of fear that Republicans will take it away from them, they've already thrown it away of their own free will. That's not "keeping your powder dry". It's surrendering without firing a shot.

Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa tweeted:

Pres Biden is preaching unity & healing while Dem leadership is focused on impeachment of a former president. Does Pres Biden not hv control of congressional Democrats as leader of party??? This move will surely slow up Biden cabinet confirmations/agenda + increase division

Sarah Kendzior replied:

Why don't you unify against enablers of the mob who threatened to kill your colleagues, including the vice-president? This is not complicated. Unifying against people who encouraged a mob to kill your coworkers and destroy our Capitol should be the easiest decision of your life.

A response to that was an image of Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown (reply if you don’t get the reference) with Lucy saying:

If you don’t impeach, we will unify with you and work with Biden for the good of the country.

Alexander McCoy, a veteran involved in progressive veteran organizations, tweeted:

Just an observation about the media: We’ve gotten dozens of request from political reporters asking to be connected with veterans who became right-wing extremists. But we’ve gotten zero interest in the perspective of POC troops who had to cope with extremists in their units. Right-wing white nationalists do not always have to be the Main Character!

On the morning of inauguration and the news of the pardons the nasty guy issued on the way out the door day Kendzior linked to a thread from a year ago about presidential pardons. That prompted C. Stucker to tweet:

So if a person received a pardon from Trump now, does that mean that person can commit another crime in the future and not pay any consequence? Please tell me that isn't the case.

Wally Sierk replied:

No, but it sets up a system of incentives that encourage breaking the law to win the presidency. You can do anything you want as long as you have the presidential pardon power.

Kendzior designed a new postcard to send to lawmakers that says ‘There will be no unity without accountability, and there will be no accountability without the truth.” You can contact Indivisible St. Louis to get some (though they may send them out in packets of 100, or share an image file). Related to that Kendzior tweeted:

Trump admin crimes that need rigorous investigation and prosecution: 1) Handling of covid and profiteering off death 2) Attack on Capitol 3) Trump admin ties to Kremlin and organized crime 4) Abuse of migrants at the border Way more where that came from. This is only to start.

Replies quickly added: Kids taken from parents. Russian bounties on American troops. Whatever the prince has been doing. Rose Lerner tweeted:

so my friend and i were out for a walk and he spotted this gravestone and wanted to read the music. it's some quarter-notes and then four rests, and underneath it says "only resting" ME: what's the tune? HIM: i'm not sure...it's D-E-A-D ME: ....WHAT

See the tweet for a picture. Read the rest of the thread for more sly details. As a composer I noticed some notation difficulties, but I won’t let that spoil the fun. Alix Harrow tweeted:

having been told that it's rude to call dinner "gross," our 4yo is finding increasingly creative ways to express himself "this tastes.......unlucky to me" "this sends my mouth into outer space. (that's bad)" "cauliflower is"--[pinches fingers together]--"this much delicious"