Thoughts

Is it me, but were the election results largely what was expected?  Maybe not on the margins?  Maybe the VA AG race?  But, overall -- losing the two blue state gubernatorial races, the CA redistricting -- is what was going to happen no matter what?  It is a concern for the GOP, as it reflects a general...unease?  I mean, it indicates Trump is losing (or not drawing out) the middle voter.  Can it be turned around?  Of course.  Will it?  Good question.  To be sure, the shutdown is something that weighs on people, but the GOP cannot cave; hell, I still think they need to extract... pain and suffering on the Dems for this in the first place.

On to happier things...Duke won tonight.  Maybe this was also expected, though it did not seem so at first -- down at the half, Boozer scoreless, you need a scorecard to see who all the new faces are (snark).  But, to their credit, they recovered, put out a big second half, and pulled away.  I forgot that Sean Miller came back from the dead and is coaching at Texas...then I thought that he really isn't the most scummy guy in the profession now.  What this says...

DDF vetoes use of ‘Co-redemptrix’ title - by Edgar Beltrán
Interesting; I remember this was a thing when I was in college, comes back every once in a while.  People used to say that there were millions of Catholics who believe this, but as there are a billion Catholics... that is like 1/10 of 1% of all Catholics?  More to the point, it is something of a dodge -- Mary is not direct path to salvation, but she has the inside track to Jesus?  Very Catholic, actually.

americanenglishThe Economic Geography of American Slavery
Interesting -- I love this sort of thing!