Well, That Didn't Work

The news everywhere is that Trump has won.  Despite Taylor Swift's endorsement and everything. 

I'm going to stay home and mope—like I do,  anyway.

[Added later today:]

It seems pretty clear that the big issues in this election were Racism, Sexism, and Xenophobia.  The last one is not a problem for Republicans alone: when would-be immigrants attempt to enter the US illegally in such great numbers, I would expect that it would alarm and discomfit Democrats and Republicans equally.  (It's just that Democrats have different objections to a huge stream of immigrants than Republicans have.)  When Republicans raise the immigration issue, Democrats reflexively have taken the other side; it's just the political climate that is around us. 

Those of us who live in rural areas have often needed immigrant labor at various times.  We city dwellers don't know about this first hand.  But those who do need immigrant labor seem to not want to have illegal immigrants underfoot at times when they're not needed.  That's an uncomfortable situation; what are we to do: put the migrant labor in a freezer when they're not needed?  It almost seems as though some people would like to establish labor camps, like was done when Chinese labor was helping build railroads. 

Sexism is a whole different thing.  A lot of Amerucans have grown up steeped in the testosterone-infused culture of the Old West, and the World Wars.  Women had little or no place in the myths that figured in the imaginations of young boys, and even now, the conservative core of the GOP cannot tolerate the thought of being led by a woman, and Trump has capitalized on this distaste in his campaigns. 

Another thing Trump grabbed with glee is the possibility of labeling Kamala Harris an outsider, a black, an Indian, in any case, someone who is not quite American.

So Trump depends on this "Us" / "Them" dichotomy for his campaigning strategy, and—not surprisingly, in hindsight—it seems to have worked.  These ideas are evidently still a part of the thinking of Anericans, buried in their minds for years, but ideas that can be invoked easily by populists such as Trump.

Kay

Well, I Voted!

I got up early, and headed out to where I was supposed to vote, and I voted.  I ignored everybody else most of the time.  Occasionally, I forgot to studious ignore everyone, and caught a glimpse of strangers watching me with mild interest, and I smiled back; but then I remembered to scowl at my ballot, and carried on. 

Now there's nothing for it but to wait.  I hope Trump doesn't start fussing like he did the last time. 

No more to add; if I think of something, I'll add it on. 

Kay

Christie Sides

Lots of Caitlin faithful are repeating the mantra: 'F**k Christie Sides.'  The world of professional sports is very unforgiving, and I don't think it needs to be that way.  Listing all Coach Sides's shortcomings, I don't think any one of them is unforgivable.  But obviously I wasn't there, and it's Caitlin's way not to go off the deep end about anyone or anything; if she had, I for one might have felt more resentful about the Coach. 

I don't know enough about the game, but from the great distance from which I watched the whole season, it seemed very much as though, because of the particular package of skills that Caitlin brought to the game, coaching Caitlin (and her teammates) needed some advanced coaching skills that a typical coach may not have, and poor Christie would have had to figure these out on her own, or talking to her support group over the phone, or whatever. 

Meanwhile, she was facing relentless criticism from all over the WNBA, and the fans, and the bookies, and who knows who.  Only someone who has had to handle this sort of situation can know what it's like.  I think Christie was playing way out of her league, and, I might add, doing a fair job of it.  Now, it appears, her predecessor has come back to coach the Fever, and we can only hope that she can deliver what that team deserves, and we can only hope Caitlin returns to play with them. 

Kay, keeping her fingers crossed

The Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking

I have just finished reading a book with this unlikely title, and I thought I'd tell you about it!

The main character is a girl of 14 years, Mona, an orphan, who was taken in to live with her aunt and uncle, who are bakers by trade.  This all takes place in an alternate universe that's actually quite unremarkable, except that there is magic.  Only a small minority of the people have magic, and Mona is one of them.  She doesn't have a lot of magic, but when she finds out that their city is under threat, Mona finds herself a part of the city's defenses. 

The author, T. Kingfisher, is excellent.  She puts in just enough humor in the story to have kept me chuckling all the time (though there were many suspenseful episodes, enough to satisfy a teenager with quite dark tastes), so much so that I wished I had written the story myself!

Kay

Class? What's That?

I've been complaining about the subjects that artists on DA choose: girls with large breasts; barely dressed women; just a few pieces with girls with tasteful clothes on. 

And when I get shown posts about Caitlin Clark, and how they were rough with her during the playoffs, she always responds with: well, it goes to show how tough a game basketball is, and I had to grow into it, etc, etc.

That's class. 

Some people don't like that sort of gentle speech.  They say: no, let it all hang out; say what you mean.  Be sincere. 

That gentle speech, what is it?  That's the Christian teaching.  I've told everyone, I'm not a believer; I try to rein my agnosticism in when I write fiction, and my characters are all spiritual, in the sense that they behave as though there is an eye in the sky that's watching us.  Even if there isn't, many people—a great many people—choose to live as though there is a limit on how horrible we can be, without penalty.  The penalty is self- imposed; it's our conscience.

A lot of people like to get others to accept religion, because they fear what 'godless' people might do to them.  Well, it looks a lot like there are some religious people who are perfectly okay with shooting others, or stringing them up.  All you have to do is watch Trump talking on video, and his (desire for) retaliation is not at all restrained.  The courts want to send Trump to jail.  In contrast, he wants to kill people.  (His apologists assure us that it's just Trump being threatening, or being funny.  I'm very doubtful.  There could be another motive; Trump likes to attract people who like violent retaliation to vote for him.)

If Caitlin Clark ever loses her way of talking gently, with restraint, about women who have been clearly brutal with her, I think it would be a very sad thing, a tragedy. 

Kay

Wednesday, October 16

It's just about 3 weeks before elections; Trump's running mate Vance is said to be coming to our town tomorrow, and all the Trumpees are excited.  Lots of Republicans are far from delighted, but many of them will vote for Trump, even if not all of them do.  Many of them are cold, calculating businessmen (and wives of businessmen), and they watch, and listen to Trump, shaking their heads, no doubt.  But he's their man, and what are they to do?  They'll hold their noses and vote for him. 

The flood of junk mail is overwhelming, especially, I guess, in homes where they're registered Democrats or Republicans, asking for money, and for what?  To pay for yet more junk mail, and TV advertising.  I hardly ever turn on the TV these days. 

Meanwhile, I'm thoroughly confused as to what's happening to Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.  There are rumors that Clark has given up basketball and is going in for golf, that she's heading out to play basketball in Europe, that the Fever has been asked to sign up free agents, whatever those are.  And Facebook has signed me up as a Caitlin Clark fan, without asking me.  Now I get asked to 'like' Caitlin pics a dozen times a day.  Things are seriously getting out of hand. 

OMG.  Now that I have been kidnapped by this pretended CC fan club, I'm getting to see a lot of sports griping, and it's ugly.  Caitlin seems to serenely go on her merry way, but all sorts of athletes are seriously grumbling, saying they should be given more money!  (I don't know whether it's the athletes themselves, or some people who have maintained web pages, supposedly on their behalf.)

Sports writers write the most atrocious English—probably many of them were too impatient to stay in school and learn to write—and a lot of the writing is illogical and ill tempered, and arrogant.  Caitlin was very humble, and took all the blows she suffered with patience and grace.  If she ever decides that she can't take all this crap lying down (I hope that never, never, never happens), it will be a sad day for all of us.  In contrast to all the athletes who feel slighted by the huge pay packets that Caitlin is being offered ("I'm worth more than she is!"), I don't believe Caitlin has actually demanded big bucks. 

[Added later: There needs to be nothing 'fair' about commercial sponsorship, as everyone should know; businesses can give a much money for white athletes as black athletes.]

Well, a happy October to all of you, and now that Halloween is truly close (unlike before, when the stores were getting excited over nothing) we can go out and decorate our fronts of houses with pumpkins (and little witches on brooms),

Kay

Once Again: Goldie Hawn!

I'm so relieved that Goldie Hawn is old enough to be my grandmother—if she had really tried—otherwise I would have spent so much time dreaming about her!  I just saw a photo of her somewhere, and that has derailed me, as always!

This is her in 1964.  I think her eyes are the dreamiest ever, but when she smiles ...