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I watched the debates last night as a matter of civic duty. The most impressive aspect for me was the restoration of the downtown Fox Theater, a moving picture palace of a different age. As a sometimes Detroit, I used to go by the place in the years after the riots, when the magnificent public space had been abandoned.

It even made some of the Ruin Porn tours of the Motor City. Now, it is reborn and might even offer some hope for a once-great city. Maybe they could try something like that in Baltimore.

Much as is pains me to say it, CNN did a nice job of moderating the fractious candidates, who offered platforms ranging from “free unicorns for all” and some more sober proposals that voters might actually find reasonable. We will see- I suspect the latter folks will not be around for the next debate.

So I was foggy this morning from staying up late, and became alarmed when I discovered by two resident buzzards on the stairs to the back deck. Shouting at them managed to get enough of their limited attention span to provoke them into relocating to perch on the fence by the barn. They gazed at me balefully from thee safer distance and paid no attention to my entreaties to get the hell off the property.

Normally a single pistol shot suffices to get them to take wing and depart. It is always a source of wonder at how magnificent they are in flight, and how plug-ugly they are up close. There is escalation in progress, an arms race of a sort. This morning it took three rounds into the ground to convince them to go elsewhere for lunch.

Anyway, that is life in the country. In The Swamp, the legislators are either with the Speaker on a junket to Italy, running for President, or raising cash for their war chests.

The Deep State is alive and well. Dan Coats, former Senator and current Director of National Intelligence finally took the hint and will depart in the middle of the month. The President named a three-term Texas Congressman named John Ratcliffe as his replacement. He was recently famous for his frontal attack in the Mueller hearings last week.

Confirmation is not certain. The Deep State prefers the elevation of Principal Deputy DNI Sue Gordon. She joined CIA in 1980, served in all four major directorates, and is deemed reliable by the permanent government. Certainly more than Mr. Ratcliffe. There is a technicality in the legislation that enables her to serve until a replacement is confirmed. I took civics a long time ago, and vaguely thought that this wasn’t the choice of CIA regulars.

You would almost think someone has something to hide.

Anyway, the back-to-school sales are starting even as we swelter in Virginia’s sultry August. Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here.

– Vic

Copyright 2019 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com