First of all, no doubt the White House had a heavy hand, but the East/Gulf Coast dockworkers strike of 45,000 union members reached an agreement, with these workers getting a 62% increase in pay.  This was the first stoppage since 1977.   Whew, for the Democrats on November 5.  Details worked out?  Well, no, for the negotiators will return to the bargaining table on 15January2025 to iron-out any outstanding issues.  Surely sounds like a nice political solution.  Credit President Joe Biden.   He today appeared on the regular White House Press Conference  and also underscored the economic success of the administration.  Looks like our economy will mostly look good for voters through November 5, with inflation downtrending and unemployment low. Aside from the economy, one matter Donald Trump and JD Vance keep talking about is immigration.    More specifically, that immigrants are committing crimes.  Sure, some do, but the more immigrants the lower the crime rate.  From the  New York Times

Before NIMBY, a few notes: The debate yesterday between JD Vance and Tim Walz was a TIE .  CNN showed that Walz's favorability rating went from 46% to 59%, while Vance's improved from 30% to 41%. Recent Veep debates have been mixed. Here is a  list of the three best and worst Veep partners in recent history .  The absolutely worst was probably Sarah Palin in 2008.   GOP nominee John McCain wanted to pick his longtime colleague Senator Joe Lieberman, but instead impulsively chose little-known Palin, who became a Saturday Night Live hit.   One reason is that Tina Fey played such a terrific Sarah Palin . Worse, Palin gave a series of disastrous interviews. About her debate against Joe Biden, she lost, but kind of redeemed herself for her "folksy grit."   Some reviewers went so far as calling it a draw.   This is something you don't want to do, but if you are a masochist,  watch the entire 1.5 hour debate .  In 2008, Biden already looked sort of old, and you got to wo

The death toll for Category 4 Hurricane Helene is now up to 64 .  Surprisingly enough, South Carolina is up to 23, with Florida at 11, with 10 of them from the Tampa Bay area.  Perry and Tallahassee had none.  Note that the dangerous quadrant is to the northeast ( 0 to 90 degrees ).  These numbers are expected to further rise.  There is particular worry about North Carolina.   4.8 million lost power.   Notice how the eye of Helene has circled back to Tennessee. I read an article by John Crisp on  Live on Mars? How about life on Earth? What should be the priority of NASA?  Send people to the Moon and Mars?  Or minimize mammoth expenses by focusing on telescopic explorations to find life in our solar system and beyond? I once worked on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence at the NASA Ames Research Center, and eight years ago Harry Jones, who works there, speculated that the  cost of the first human mission to Mars would be $500 billion . When President G.W. Bush in 2004 announced

Donald Trump tosses out lies...all the time.  Actually, worse, for they are abhorrent, appalling, atrocious, dangerous, dreadful, horrendous and worse.  He is a pathological liar, psychologically known as mythomania.  When The Amazing Randi lies, it is mostly for a good purpose.  Who is Randi?  I'll get to him later. Here, from Health Encyclopedia of the Rochester Medical Center: For your birthday, your aunt knits you a sweater that is, well, downright hideous. You tell her, 1) “I'd go out in an army blanket before wearing that;” 2) “It would look better on a peacock;” or 3) “It's beautiful, Aunt Sylvia! I really need a sweater.” If you chose the third response, well, you’re a liar. Don’t feel bad, however. If the truth be told, most of us lie to some degree, especially when faced with an alternative like hurting the feelings of poor, good-hearted Aunt Sylvia.   Some of us, however, lie so often that we don’t realize it. That’s when it becomes the sort of problem that may n