Heard that Toni Morrison died.  I have to admit I have never read any of her books.  But I did read something she wrote less than a year ago (it seems so much longer ago than that) that I’m will repost for a second time.

Mourning for Whiteness

Here is what is going on in this country today.  I try to steer away from “politics’ in this blog, but this is important stuff.  From the UK newspaper The Guardian.

From Outside Online.  The end of meat may be closer than you think.

This Is the Beginning of the End of the Beef Industry

Alt meat isn’t going to stay alt for long, and cattle are looking more and more like stranded assets

From Texas Monthly:

The Texanist: If You Didn’t Live in Austin, Where Would You Live?

A Houston man wants to know if our columnist would be happy in another of Texas’s many wonderful locales.

Bought another Intel NUC.  This time a gaming version (NUC8I7HVK) for The Boy who is going off to college.  Nice package.  Added 32 GB RAM and a 512 GB m.2 SSD.  Booted Ubuntu for a quick test.  Just need to get Windows 10 installed.

Just a few more photos from the quick trip to New Orleans.

Back in New Orleans.  Been busy with some consulting work I picked up that took more of my time than I expected.  Interesting stuff, though.  Some pics from the first 24 hours in New Orleans.

I like Max Boot.  He gives a good view of what could happen after Trump.  He points at Franco in Spain, or something worse (it  is at the end of the article.  I won’t ruin the surprise).

What comes after Trump may be even worse

Some pseudo-ramen noodle soup I made, a check from Melania Trump (not really), a day at the lake, a Chicago concert at Moody ACL.

I grew up in Louisiana and much of my views on American politics is colored (ahem) by the David Duke campaign when I was a boy.  About half of the state voted for a Klansman for governor, in the 1980s.  I remember my grandfather, who I (perhaps incorrectly) took  to be somewhat conservative said “you would have to be crazy to vote for that man”.  Of course he was himself an immigrant and had probably been on the receiving end of American style racism at some point.

In November 2017 the Atlantic published an article that is worth reposting for the Walker Percy quote. Walker Percy was a National Book award winner,a south Louisiana resident and a keen observer of humanity.  His quote and the article:

“Don’t make the mistake of thinking David Duke is a unique phenomenon confined to Louisiana rednecks and yahoos. He’s not,” Percy said. “He’s not just appealing to the old Klan constituency, he’s appealing to the white middle class. And don’t think that he or somebody like him won’t appeal to the white middle class of Chicago or Queens.”

The article:

The Nationalist’s Delusion

Trump’s supporters backed a time-honored American political tradition, disavowing racism while promising to enact a broad agenda of discrimination.