Civic Duty

Let’s get the small stuff out of the way, shall we? The endless election is finally over.

We could reveal the results this morning, but Legal tells us is there is some additional detail work that needs to be filled in by the other 161,4189,999 eligible voters, so we will stand by until they figure out who those are and what their preferences might be.

In the meantime, you can be assured we did the right thing. We successfully voted against all the incumbents available, rank-choiced the three Marxists running for the county Planning board and wrote in the names of members of our group not present as substitutes. We split on the four bond measures, which we were assured would spend some $350 million assorted dollars on an equal assortment of good things, some of which might be.

So, rest easy. We are done! We have the press-on decals for the shirts to prove it.

You can see that leaves us a little awkward this morning. It is Wednesday, of course, the middle of the hump of the week’s activities. The one in New York they chose to have is still unfolding. The President made what may be his last speech of global significance at the United Nations. He was a little halting in his delivery, but widely praised for the fifty years of public service that have brought us to our current ambiguous situation.

In attendance was Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who failed to appear when summoned by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. They decided to hold him in contempt. There may be more on that, but probably not before the President’s meeting with Ukraine’s Chief Zelenskyy tomorrow to determine the way forward in that mess. He had been Making campaign appearances in Pennsylvania yesterday, a new phenomenon in our usual pastoral politics.

That is just one of the reasons we are happy our electoral participation is done. Or almost done. The lines were fairly short at the Courthouse, and the volunteers were still rested in the morning as we shuffled through the stations. They are well prepared, and the last several dozen millions we contributed to the County were well-spent on chrome and glass covering the concrete to the elevators to the 3rd deck of the shiny building.

We checked in, surrendered additional baggage and successfully identified ourselves with photographic embossed justification. We were informed that we had signed up for mail-in balloting when we left Refuge Farm after the last General Election, which was a bit surprising. They told us to return the ballot if it came in the mail, and we agreed not to vote twice, which would be a felony, or at least used to be.

The other stuff? Goodness! So, foreign affairs in New York, bringing the international to the national, the campaign continuing even if our part is done, and some of the more interesting stuff right down the block.

Puff Daddy’s troubles are in the news, and a bit surprising. The racketeering and trafficking charges against the music mogul are related to a bunch of stuff. The campaign, of course, but more about whoever has had all this information for years and kept it with the laptops and the Epstein video that needed to be kept quiet while the Deep State kept things organized. They need a hedge for this, or are placing some new bridges to set fire to in the event of a change in figurehead.

But that is just one of the curious things up n New York. There was the recent “hush money” case that was trumped up to derail some other candidacy, we forget which, and the recent seizure of City Mayor Eric Adams phones and communications devices.

Like the ones the Israelis are using to kill and wound hundreds of Hezbollah’s leaders in Lebanon, more of them yesterday.

Lot of activity related to communications in all forms. States made news as well. We aren’t aware of anything beyond our Virginia segment of the General Pandemonium. Better news was from Arkansas, but they had to do it here across the river. The states each get to place two statues of their citizens in the Capitol’s Statutory Hall. They were represented for the last century by a couple dead white guys who supported the customs of their times. They have been swept away by two new ones, one a leader in landmark educational civil rights and the other some kind of music.

Then there was the uproar in the County. We will be dragged into that one as well since it is covered by one of the infrastructure bills we just voted for. Or against, depending on if you live here or in the hovel the Chairman maintains as a storage locker across Route-50. It all depends on perspective, you know?

Those are just some of the thrills. There might be more to come. Vote.

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