20/21/22-08-2016: struggling to listen (mp3--sansa--449s/440-IIs) amidst insomnia and catastrophe

tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1

j reacts to trudeau's curious decision to emulate obama, and why it empowers the right

i just want to point out that nobody - no academic, no civil servant, no politician - really thinks that this is sufficient stimulus for meaningful job creation. they'd have to spend way more to get any kind of measurable result.

....but, the infrastructure spending is necessary because we're behind on it. we need the work done. and, it's what a government does.

the government should probably be aligning it's messaging with it's actual analysis, so as to create a proper set of expectations. and, fwiw, this isn't actually a partisan issue up here in canada, either.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/infrastructure-ontario-1.3731947

again: the media in canada is very right-wing. all they want to talk about is the budget, and they want to frame every issue in terms of budget expenses. there was an important infrastructure announcement today, but all the media wants to talk about is how much it cost for the ministers to travel and do promotional work.

i frankly don't care how much these things cost. but, if i did, i'd hardly even find what's been reported upsetting. it's just this constant dull narrative of expense accounting. and, it's directed at baby boomers.

i really think that he needs to do everything he can to not just reject this narrative but make moving past it an issue of generational overturn.

the minister needs to get around. no, she's not going to take the bus. get over it.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/trudeau-not-ruling-out-changes-to-reporting-expenses-1.3040094?autoPlay=false

j reacts to the long term consequences of virginia becoming a blue state

if those kinds of numbers from virginia hold up (clinton +15? that's absurd. it's virginia.), then there is essentially nothing trump can do to win the election. and, if virginia has truly flipped entirely from red to blue over one cycle, the republicans are going to need to implode before they can grow. they'll lose every election for the foreseeable future. there's just no way to make the map work that doesn't involve reclaiming virginia for the south. they're going to have to start doing crazy things like rebranding themselves as libertarians in oregon.

the democrats could be in charge of the white house for the next fifty years.

honestly. not exaggerating.

it'd be nice to pull them a little back to the left...

but, thanks dubya?

==

i don't expect it to be this close. but, this is pretty much the best map that trump can possibly hope for - and probably the best map that any republican can hope for for a generation, at least.

so, again: if he doesn't win virginia, what else is he going to do? he's going to have to get creative. but, it doesn't currently look competitive.