Let's Pause at the Edge of the Abyss

We've hit the wall....let's pick through the wreckage

Well, wasn’t that an interesting night in front of our 80-inch OLED local-dimming smart TVs?

The commentariat is in full-bore panic—golly, he’s really old! As with any fall of an aristocracy (“Marie Antoinette actually meant free diamond tiaras!!!), the parasites are running for cover…or covering up.

Here, for example, was Oregon Public Broadcasting’s take on the carnage…

…while the Oregonian tried to take the high road—and, as usual, fell off it in a cloown-like pratfall…

…confident, of course, that the state’s progressive machine could run a gibbering idiot and still deliver the electoral votes.

Which is true.

For now.

Who knows what the elders (aren’t they all?) of the party will do as Trump takes his victory lap. Not in the pages of an obsolescing newspaper but in texts…

…which can’t be turned off, despite one’s pleas to “In the Name of God STOP!!! Which is probably something that will prompt the Department of Justice to kick off yet another prosecution.

My partner, Pam Fitzsimmons, sent me an email, asking what I thought of that night…my reply…

Pam…
I really had to push myself not to tune out in revulsion…two old farts at the end of the bar bellyaching about who has the lower golf handicap. And CNN’s “moderators” stopped the carnage so CNN could sell ads. America at rock bottom. No wonder they—the usual “they”—wouldn’t allow Robert Jr. into the club…he would now be the presumed next president.

The political class is now like all used-up, corrupt, tired, dumb, self-dealing, over-insulated, arrogant aristocracies. Their successors are, if gives history any hints, going to be even worse.

Well, it was a pretty good run for the republic. It hasn’t really existed for a long time (maybe never really did post-Madison), and since governments exist as a fiction we agree on, the next stage is about to unfold. Oregon, as usual, will be the last place to figure it out.

A good friend summed it up more succinctly, as she is so very good at doing..

[My daughter] and I are watching the debate. Poor Joe. This is just painful to watch. It’s elder abuse to have that poor guy up there.

…which brings us to a truism: politicians who are pitied don’t win.

Meanwhile, we have our own crap to contend with…

…Rubio getting the kiss of death from the state’s scandal-per-minute governor. While the public employee unions (the fourth branch of government) line up with the guy who will negotiate their next contracts. Corruption comes in many guises, but here the masks are off.

Back to OPB, with this giddy account of a different mode of corruption…

…which will cost the city $20-million. Readers are invited to do the arithmetic, dividing “at least 6,000 bikes” into the above figure. And don’t forget the 50 “mechanics” who will be turned out to keep the bikes running. At union wages.

Of course, in the midst of the rah-rah coverage…

The city’s e-bike program could also reduce greenhouse gas emissions from gas-powered vehicles that could also help reduce air pollutants tied to those vehicles.

…note the “could” qualifiers, and the lack of any actual metric for how much of that nasty CO2 will be removed. Tons? Ounces?

Meanwhile, the AP reported…

…but maybe those 50 mechanics will get free fire extinguishers. What the hell, everyone who …

…gets an e-bike through the program will receive a $200 safety rebate to help purchase a helmet or quality lock.

Here’s my question: how many potholes could PBOT fix with that $20-million?