Mossy Character writes: VISIL Day?

Given how much hysteria there was about ISIL in 2014, it is puzzling that its defeat has not been bigger news in the United States.
[...]
Daesh, and Muslim extremism more generally, have become a bogeyman, driving American nightmares, fears and foreign policy. This is not to say that ISIL isn't a real threat. Those people are meaner than rattlesnakes. Nor that the US cannot suffer from a terroris[t] attack. It can. But the discourse of Daesh or ISIL is not rational. Their state can collapse and it isn't a big deal here because there will be a new ISIL, since it is key to US policy making now.

Heebie's take: Hi guys! Sorry for the radio silence! It's my grandmother's 100th birthday and I haven't been near a computer. It's funny - my generally political and very lefty family seems to have all tacitly agreed not to really discuss politics this visit. It's just too much. No one is on the wrong team, so it's not like we're failing to take advantage of an opportunity to enlighten someone, but nobody has much appetite for the kind of conversations we used to enjoy, at least not when it's a short, limited visit and thus would replace a more personal conversation.

But anyway, this link is short and good. I literally did not know we'd defeated ISIL.

We have a president who is staggeringly dumb. He's so dumb that it's common knowledge that if you see a tweet from his account without any strange capitalization, he must not have written it. He does not ever give any impression that he knows the difference between truth and fiction. He is completely unable to incorporate new information into his worldview, or to digest more than a few sentences strung together, or to perceive any sort of complexity. On top of that, he is the absolute worst on every single moral failing. I started trying to enumerate them, but so very many people have done so before. I started to talk about his voters and the Republicans who enable him, but we talk about them quite a lot. Trump himself is such a monster in every dimension.

I know this is not late-breaking news. It just sometimes hits you over the head all over again.

J, Robot writes: I'm sure this is peak SWPL, and it doesn't help that I saw the magazine article on the train, but damn, would I like to live in a community like this.

Heebie's take: What's up, Serenbe?

Serenbe is one of a growing number of so-called "agrihoods"--also called farm-to-table communities or conservation communities--popping up across America, their most salient common feature being a working farm integrated into a residential development.

I guess there's over a 100 of these new things popped up all over the country?

Thirteen years after he broke ground, the community has grown to encompass over 250 residences, with a thousand more planned. Local businesses now include a spa, a bicycle shop, an independent bookstore and an impeccably merchandised high-end pet supply shop. Serenbe's 25-acre organic farm produces more than enough fruits and vegetables to fill over one hundred CSA subscriptions, and supplies Serenbe's farmers market and its three local restaurants. There is an inn that hosts conferences and weddings, a Montessori school and a professional theater company in residence. There is also a whole lot of pristine forest, crisscrossed with running trails and dotted with benches perfect for silent reflection. Early in the planning process, Nygren appealed to local government to have Serenbe and the surrounding 40,000 acres rezoned so that 70 percent of the land would remain undeveloped in perpetuity.

I'm torn between saying that this is the left's answer to gated communities and saying this is 2017's answer to the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. We'll just have to wait and see if it ends up in racial segregation or large-scale bio-terrorism.

This is a bit of a redundant post, since there's an active Jones thread immediately below, but I just want to give a huge thank you to the black communities of Alabama. Obviously lots of bizarre events aligned for Jones, but I can't imagine the drive and coordination it took to overcome substantial disenfranchisement and get enough turnout to win last night.

Stormcrow writes: Some useful context to keep in mind as the results roll in is what a fuckhead Alabama SOS John Merrill is: "The Republican Overseeing the Alabama Election Doesn't Think Voting Should Be Easy". "As long as I'm secretary of state of Alabama, you're going to have to show some initiative to become a registered voter."

For those deep in the weeds on this stuff, here's a link to a spreadsheet by Dave Wasserman of his estimates of the "break even" results for each county. May be useful as result come in.

Also we can talk about other related and topical father-raping stuff in our Group W political world.

Heebie's take: I stocked up on anger and disappointment already, so I'm ready to watch the results come in!

For those of you with kids:
1. how many extra-curricular activities did your kids do, at different ages? I'm interested also in distinguishing the activities with negligible parental load - like after-school clubs - versus those with substantial parental load.

2. what kind of technology access did your kids have, at different ages?

I feel like we're on some sort of escalating treadmill of work, and I want to make informed decisions instead of being on autopilot.

Mossy Character writes: Anarchy:

The United States lacks the wherewithal to pursue strategic primacy, and would at any rate generate balancing coalitions if it tried. Virtually everyone but China and Henry Kissinger rejects a G-2 order. And Asia's institutions lack the character, cohesion, and enforcement capacity to sustain a rules-based liberal order.

Heebie's take: It's not a long read!

The short story Cat Person is going viral, and leading to really good conversations on my FB feed, and I think we should have really good conversations here, as well. I also very much liked the offshoot post Bad Sex.

I personally found the short story intensely realistic, and I think the main character will be very much relieved to mature a little bit and learn to harden herself against taking care excessively of other people's feelings, and how to be willing to judge someone to be an asshole and not have that spark your curiosity about them, and have a better read and handle on new stage relationship drama.