Enrique Krauze is Livid

Well-known Mexican writer Enrique Krauze is livid at Peña Nieto for meeting with Trump. I understand his anger (elsewhere he compared it to Munich). I'm not as condemnatory, however:

Peña Nieto should have demanded a public apology for Trump’s insults against Mexico and Mexicans, for his repeatedly characterizing us as rapists and criminals. Not only did the elected president of Mexico fail to do so, but he referred to Trump’s ignorant allegations as “misunderstandings” due to differences of “perception.”

Peña Nieto should have publicly expressed his absolute refusal to pay for Trump’s absurd wall. In a tweet after the fact—fortunately picked up by the American press—Peña Nieto stated that he had, at the beginning of Trump’s visit, told him in private that Mexico would never pay for a wall. (A revelation of yet another one of Trump’s endless lies, since he claimed in their joint appearance afterward that there had been no discussion at all of how his pet wall would be financed.) But why did the Mexican president not bravely affirm his position in public?

...Trump came to Mexico to offer some supposedly laudatory words about we Mexicans whom he has spent his whole campaign insulting. Now we were “tremendous people.” And in exchange for these miserable crumbs of vacuous content, he was given a presidential treatment, incidentally alienating Hillary Clinton, a candidate who does understand and respect Mexico, who in her phrase wants to build bridges not walls (and whose husband literally saved Mexico from bankruptcy in 1995).

Donald Trump is a sociopath drunk on himself. His religion is hatred. His god is Donald Trump. He is also addicted to empty adjectives. He is not a man of his word or of words as markers of truth. If he wins the presidency (which seems improbable), the Mexican government will have to weigh the dimensions of this historic error, widely denounced in Mexico all across the political spectrum. From Trump, Mexico received only words, words worth no more than the paper they were scribbled on. In exchange, Mexico, filling the sad role of the useful idiot, gave a bigot the pat on the back that he required.

"Shrek, The Musical" - Runaway Stage Productions - September 2, 2016

Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades!

You Are In Thrall To Me

Interesting that you have to surrender your inalienable rights to volunteer for the Trump campaign. If he does this to volunteers, what won't he do to anyone else?:

The forms are extraordinarily broad, virtually prohibiting any volunteers from criticizing Trump or his family for the rest of their lifetimes, according to Rachel Sklar, a lawyer and CNN contributor.

On Twitter, Sklar noted that the forms also bar volunteers from criticizing Trump’s brands, disclosing anything personal about Trump (including his taxes), or from even employing people who work for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. (That last one’s illegal, Sklar says.)

"Equity"

Yesterday, I went to Tower Theater and saw "Equity", with Anna Gunn. Liked it very much! Anna Gunn displays much of her acting range.

Beware offering Anna chocolate-chip cookies that have not been fully-vetted.

Sarah Megan Thomas, featured in this scene, is most intriguing:

Hermine Might Stall

What's interesting is that the storm might stall off the New Jersey/Delmarva coast, and cause lots of disruption there.

"Who's That Guy?"

LaToya's story made me laugh. She was proudly showcasing the diversity of her Sacramento dancers to an Italian audience, and they were like, "Who's that guy?"

Trapped Birds

ZDR signature makes forecasters think some birds possibly trapped/seeking refuge in the center of #Hermine.

The Fitness Folks Come Up From San Diego

The New York Times' Love Letter To Trump

The New York Times tries biased coverage in support of Trump; gets screwed by Trump:

But that message didn’t come across in the New York Times’ initial coverage of the speech, which hailed Trump’s address as “an audacious attempt” to transform his image and reported that he shelved his proposal for a massive effort to deport immigrants who are in the country illegally. The story went through extensive edits when readers pointed out the story inaccurately characterized Trump's speech.

Readers on social media were quick to point out the inaccuracies and suggest the Times had bought into the campaign's song-and-dance about a softer touch on immigration issues.

Breathtakingly Two-Faced

Sliding towards dictatorship and oppression:

Donald Trump is the internet troll of presidential politics. When he’s securely removed from the objects of his scorn, he’s tough as nails; when he’s in their presence, he quivers like a bowl of Jell-O.

Such is the way of a bully.

Furthermore, when he is surrounded by supporters who cheer his base nature, he amplifies the enmity. When the applause of hostility is out of earshot, he tones down his vitriol to a whimper.

He is not only a bully, it seems to me, but also something of a coward, who lacks the force of his convictions — or who lacks basic convictions at all. He seems to be simply playing to the audience, whatever that audience may be. He’s amenable to the mood of any particular room.

Northeast Iowa GOP State Senate Candidates Have Same Kids In Ads

Just one big happy family:

So how many voters in Northeast Iowa will notice that all these Republican candidates are talking to the exact same group of people? If Republicans run these specific ads on TV – not just online like now – it’s possible voters will see five ads for five separate candidates, all with the exact same scenes – and possibly all one after the other on their nightly news. It’s not like the voters automatically stop paying attention when the ad that’s on their TV isn’t for the exact district they live in.

Authenticity is important in campaigns, especially for first-time candidates, and little things like this can matter.

Remembering The Chicano Moratorium

Fierce

I introduce my dog Bella to my "Beauty and the Beast" Wolf costume.

My Bionic Eye

Obama Pays Mexico Five Billion Dollars to Keep Donald Trump

Cash:

The President bristled at the suggestion that paying Mexico to keep Trump was “reverse ransom” and an extravagant use of taxpayer money. “There is only one accurate word for this payment: a bargain,” he said.

Analogies

Creepy Clown Sightings

We had a panic like this in my immediate neighborhood when I was a kid. I thought I saw a skulking man who looked like Freddie Krueger, but soon the neighbor kids were seeing all kinds of odd beings everywhere. Very easy to get a panic going:

At the edge of dark, dark woods in South Carolina, children have been telling adults that a group of clowns have been trying to lure them into the cluster of trees. They say the clowns live deep in the woods, near a house by a pond.

This tale sounds like a mishmash of newspaper clippings and pages ripped from Stephen King novels, but these are actually details taken from a report filed by the sheriff’s office in Greenville County, S.C., last week, after several residents at an apartment complex there said that people in clown makeup had been terrorizing both children and adults.

323!

Lightning!:

A lightning strike in Norway on Friday killed hundreds of reindeer transforming a mountaintop into a haunting scene of Norwegian noir. The rare instance of a mass death by lightning strike took place on the grasslands of the Hardangervidda plateau; the Norwegian Environment Agency says some 323 animals were killed during the lightning storm and the carcasses were clumped together.

Ivanpah Photos

I worked on Ivanpah air-quality permit modeling. Interesting to see the photos:

Stillings began photographing the Ivanpah Solar project in October 2010, with a flyover of the the Mojave Desert. He photographed the land that would be transformed into the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, the largest solar plant in the world. Construction on the Ivanpah solar project ended in 2014, the same year Stillings published his work—more than three years of aerial photography of the site—as a book, The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar (Steidl).

Salsa Caliente!

karen Forcano and Ricardo Vega

Albuquerque's Foolish ART Project

The City Council in Albuquerque appears dead set to foist the ART transit project onto the city no matter how many people, particularly business owners along Central, object.

So weird. I went to high school with Councilman Ken Sanchez. At the 2014 West Mesa High School reunion, I even did a Conga line with him. But he's of, and one with, the City Council, and he's a problem.

Rihanna's VMA Dancehall Medley

Second Annual Capitol Dance Project - Crest Theater - August 27, 2016

The Crest Theater.

An excellent show! I liked all the dances, choreographed by various dancers, generally working in a collaboration with an outside artist. I was anticipating not liking Stefan Calka's piece - I've not liked some previous work by him - but I was very pleased this time, with "skemas".

Dancers of the Capitol Dance Project (Alexandra Cunningham on the right with the mike).

Probably my favorite piece was "Emergence", choreographed by Shania Rasmussen. Crystalline symmetries that were very pleasing to my scientific side. Oddly enough, the field of small pyramids reminded me of a MIRV'ed nuclear payload.

Bows.

Beautiful costumes throughout!

A Party For Ned Roscoe

Interesting. I received an invitation to a party for Ned Roscoe on Sunday, September 25th in Napa. Is he getting out of prison? It's been four years - he was sentenced to six. Presumably. It's good news. I won't be able to attend, however, due to performing in "Beauty and the Beast" at DMTC in Davis at the same time.

I remember the Farewell Party.

Neon-Lit Cornucopia

Bella no longer sees her walks as healthy constitutionals. Instead, she sees them as foraging expeditions. She stitches together paths and destinations in order to maximize the possibility of finding food, making sure to always cruise by convenience markets, restaurants, dumpsters, and bars. You'd think she was starving, or something. Just the nature of dogs!

Bella's limp appears to be improving somewhat. A slow recovery.

The homeless folks continue to live their lives of quiet desperation. I witnessed a woman moving her campsite from one side of Broadway to the other. She put all her belongings on a tarp, folded the tarp like a taco, and dragged everything across the street. I guess she didn't have time to make a travois in the manner of the Plains Indians in the centuries before the advent of the horse. A homeless man at a traffic light spilled his belongings off an overloaded cart just as Bella and I came walking up. I wanted to say hello, but the man was facing down and muttering to himself as he gathered belongings. Later, I looked back, and saw another man helping him pick up things. I should have helped out too. I saw another man suddenly shout as if being evicted from behind a dumpster, but no one was there - his opponents were the voices in his head. He went around the corner, overturned his shopping cart in some landscaping, sat down at the curb, and hung his head in despair.

Urban wildlife has been sparse of late. I heard a noise on a porch, looked up, and saw an anxious raccoon gazing down at Bella. On Broadway, an erratic rat rattled a chain link fence and then ran straight up to Bella. The rat hesitated, thought better of it, then ran away. For sport, Bella charged a chain link fence to roust a construction-site cat.

Under the 16th Street/Highway 50 underpass, a fellow was repairing a bike. Just then, Sk8er Grrrl (whom I haven't seen since May, and who is, by far, the most interesting person out here) came skateboarding up. She told me "I've met you before!" before Bicycle Guy whistled and called her over. Sk8er Grrrl flipped up her board and walked over to see what he was doing.

Bella has been pushing farther and farther north of Fremont Park towards the State Capitol, entering areas recently-gentrified for the amusement of young urban professionals. Bella has discovered young urban professionals carelessly-spill the contents of their fish tacos on the sidewalk.

Bella's started to integrate these central-city forays with her visits to the inexhaustible neon-lit cornucopia of the Safeway parking lot. Last night, as we arrived at Safeway, several young people were preparing to bicycle away with their purchases. I explained to a young woman who came over to say hello that Bella was there because Safeway's parking lot has the best food. "Hell, yeah!" the woman exclaimed.

Bella and I are becoming intimately-familiar with the geography of the Safeway parking lot. Someone built a cairn with broken pieces of concrete at Safeway's north end - a monument to commemorate some unknown person or event. Under the concrete pad behind the Safeway South-End dumpster there is a kind of burrow - could be perfect as a Carlsbad Caverns for rats. Bella likes this area, and since it's immediately adjacent to a Wells Fargo branch bank, I'm sure there is plenty of security-camera footage of Bella's microexaminations of the area.

Sometimes Bella sits in front of Safeway's automatic doors, shifting position just enough to open and close the doors, in order to gaze inside at Safeway's Floral Department. I wonder what she makes of the Floral Department? A penny for her thoughts.

If Bella somehow ever gets lost, I'll eventually find her idling away in the Safeway parking lot.

Tropical Depression Nine

Tropical Depression Nine. This map suggests the center of the tropical depression is near the Keys, and will head into the Gulf and wait for now, but will eventually start moving northeast, and pass anywhere between Pensacola and Naples as it heads northeast sometime towards the end of the week (different models suggest different timing). Right now, all it's saying is that it will rain a lot in Florida, particularly towards the end of the week. Whether it means more than that will depend on developments.