I’ve been spending lots and lots of time in ‘observation’ in hospital for something that never actually re-manifested. I expect to be discharged to rehab Real Soon Now — maybe even today. Meanwhile, as proof of life, I offer you three thoughts on your Miami-Dade ballot:
Women’s right to bodily autonomy is on the ballot in two ways: In the Presidential and legislative elections (US Senate and House, and Florida legislature too), and also directly via Florida Constitutional Amendment 4. Vote YES, both to establish some justice and also to stop the brain drain in the medical profession, and soon in younger knowledge workers, to states with more civilized policies.
While you are at it, vote YES on Florida Constitutional Amendment 3 which would legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. Enforcement of this prohibition is a joke except when it is outright racially biased. The law needs to catch up to mores here.
Like everyone else, I was surprised by the news that South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem boasts in her forthcoming autobiography about shooting Cricket, her 14-months-old wirehair pointer, due to Cricket’s “aggressive personality”. Political commentators seem to think that she did this to show her toughness, with a particular eye, perhaps, to signalling to Donald Trump that she’d be a fine Vice Presidential candidate.
What surprised me more than the cruelty of the act — we’re talking about a modern Republican Governor after all — was that Noem seemed ignorant of the role of dogs in modern politics. Mitt Romney got pilloried for tying a dog on his car roof. Dr. Memhet Oz might be a Senator from Pennsylvania but for this video about his actually killing puppies:
And as I’ve noted before, in a 2008 Maryland Senate ad in the (ultimately losing) candidate tried to make fun of attack ads against him by invoking his love for … puppies.