Washington Post opinion columnist Jennifer Rubin is frequently quotable, and the article that I'm noting here exemplifies that fact.
Midterm voters rejected MAGA chaos. So the GOP doubled down on crazy.
Even though I am most fascinated currently with Michelle Keegan, Cheryl (who has had the last names Tweedy and Cole previously) still catches my eye when she shows up in the news.
And here's a recent appearance in the news.
There are a lot of pictures of her in the article. She was wearing the dress shown in the picture below, and looked quite striking/elegant/glamorous/desirable (take your pick, or use all of them).
I hadn't noticed Bridgit Mendler, youthful actress star of Wizards of Waverly Place, Lemonade Mouth, Good Luck Charlie, Undateable, and Nashville, around in recent times.
She's apparently left show business to become the CEO of an aerospace startup company.
Quite a change of direction on the career path.
Bridgit Mendler goes from Disney Channel to CEO as the head of a new start-up company Northwood Space... which just got $6.3M in seed funding: 'Expect the unexpected!'So what does it intend to do?
" 'The vision is a data highway between Earth and space. Space is getting easier along so many different dimensions but still the actual exercise of sending data to and from space is difficult. You have difficulty finding an access point for contacting your satellite,' she said.
The company won't be focused on building rockets of satellites, but instead ground stations, which are described as, 'typically large and often circular antennas that connect to satellites in space.'
Beyonce proves the point stated in the title.
The Daily Mail loves nakedness, even when there isn't much of it visible.
Whitby, England has the ghostly remnants of an abbey above the coastal port town. It's really spooky.
Perfect place for a first-order vampire to put down roots. (Ha.)
Other than the possibility of a massive earthquake or ash from a nearby volcanic eruption, this sounds like a bargain.
This Daily Mail article didn't indicate exactly where the island is, but I found the website that's selling it, which does show right where it is. |
You can review the news, even this blog, to read about recent concerns regarding a global Cavendish banana blight. This was, and to some extent still is, a serious agricultural concern.
Yet there may be succor for the bananas coming out of the lab. That's good news for triathletes everywhere, as well as anyone that needed to be on the BRAT diet for resolution of dietary difficulties.
World first: disease resistant GM banana approved for consumption
" “We welcome this decision as it’s a very important step towards building a safety net for the world’s Cavendish bananas from TR4 which has impacted many parts of the world already.” -- James Dale, Queensland University of Technology professor, also quoted below.
"QCAV-4 is genetically modified to be resistant to Panama Disease tropical race 4 (TR4) which has decimated banana markets around the world.
“TR4 is caused by a soil-borne fungus that stays in the ground for more than 50 years, wiping out banana crops and destroying farms for generations,” said Dale.
“It is a huge problem. It has devastated Cavendish plantations in many parts of the world and could cripple the Cavendish banana export industry worldwide.”
The Guardian reports that a "big" deposit of hydrogen was found in France. It's enough to meet global demand for hydrogen for TWO YEARS.
Whoop-de-doo. I think we need more than that, especially since this is global hydrogen demand now (all uses), not global energy demand.
Put the solar arrays on the parking lots -- a much better plan!
Underground hydrogen discovery in France raises hopes for clean energy
I cast around for a new location for a lighthouse this week, and though I've featured a couple of lighthouses from Puerto Rico, I haven't featured many. I actually looked at a couple of other Caribbean (West Indies) islands in the Lighthouse Directory, and in some cases the lighthouses were in a sad state. So I ended up finding this one in Puerto Rico.
This particular lighthouse is somewhat simple and by itself not remarkably picturesque, but it's in a great location and has a scenic view. It's on the southeasternmost point of the island, with a pretty beach next to it, and you can see Vieques from there. This is where that is.
So, since I spoke of the Lighthouse Directory, this is what it provides about this lighthouse.
"1892. Active; focal plane 111 ft (34 m); two white flashes, separated by 10 s, every 30 s. 49 (15 m) ft octagonal cylindrical brick tower rising from a 1-story brick keeper's house; 190 mm lens. Lighthouse painted white, lantern black; the keeper's house is painted cream with white trim. The original 3rd order Barbier, Benard & Cie. Fresnel lens, somewhat damaged by vandals, remains in the tower but is not in use. ... In 2009 the lighthouse became available for transfer under NHLPA and in October 2012 it was announced that it would be transferred to the City of Maunabo."
(NHLPA -- National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act)
I actually found two videos of this lighthouse, one from an "amateur", and both are below, followed by three pictures.
Read this article if you think nuclear power is not in the planet's future.
Nuclear power output expected to break global records in 2025
"China, India, Korea and Europe are likely to have new reactors come on stream, while several in Japan are also forecast to return to generation, and French output should increase, according to a report on the state of global electricity markets published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Wednesday."AND
"Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, hailed the developments as a positive sign for the fight against climate breakdown, though he said far more effort was needed.Oh, and about that ever-cheaper solar energy -- don't miss my update on parking lot solar arrays (or actually, the lack of them).
“The power sector produces more carbon dioxide emissions than any other in the world economy, so it’s encouraging to see that the rapid growth of renewables and a steady expansion of nuclear power are on course to match all the increase in global electricity demand over the next three years,” he said.
“This is largely thanks to the huge momentum behind renewables, with ever cheaper solar leading the way, and support from the important comeback of nuclear power. While more progress is needed, and fast, these are very promising trends.”
The Daily Mail is a tabloid, which explains headlines on articles like this:
"Annie Knight, 26, based in the Gold Coast, sent the internet into meltdown last year after sharing details of her active sex life, and has revealed her new goal: raising the bar to sleeping with 365 men in 2024.
But it turns out the 26-year-old, who boasts being part of the 'top 0.02% on OnlyFans' may well exceed her goal because she's already slept with around 70 men."
Only. This article was on February 14, Valentine's Day, which is about 45 days into the year.
I thought there were only about 70 men in Australia. (Well, of course I didn't think that, but the population of men available to fill one of the day slots -- ahem -- isn't that large -- ahem.)
I'm sure you're curious as to her appearance; she is quite comely.
 |
| Seen here wearing clothing, which must not be a very common state. |
A recent New York Times article highlighted the conflict between nature/wildlife and solar power development.
The Planet Needs Solar Power. Can We Build It Without Harming Nature?
"Animals need humans to solve climate change. But they also need places to live. Loss of habitat is the top driver of a staggering global decline in biodiversity, the variety of life on earth. The boom in solar, set to be the fastest-growing energy source in the United States, is predicted to fence off millions of acres across the nation, blanketing them in rows of glassy squares."
"One other reason for the persistent scarcity, according to Blocking The Sun, a 2017 report from Environment America, a Denver-based coalition of state environmental groups, is that utility and fossil fuel interests have repeatedly undermined government policies that would encourage rooftop and parking lot solar. That report described anti-solar lobbying by the Edison Electric Institute, representing publicly-owned utilities; the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a lobbying group known for inserting right-wing language into state laws; the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity; and the Consumer Energy Alliance, a fossil fuel-and-utility front group, among others.
Throwing Shade, a 2018 report from the Center for Biological Diversity, gave a failing grade to 10 states for policies that actively discourage rooftop solar. These states — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin — represent a third of the nation’s rooftop solar potential, but delivered just 7.5 percent in 2017. They typically make it difficult for homeowners or property owners to install solar and connect it to the grid, or they prohibit a third party from paying for the installation. Most also lack a net-metering policy, or otherwise limit the ability of solar customers to feed the excess energy they produce by day into the grid, to be credited against what they take back at other times. Most also lack renewable-portfolio standards, which would require utilities to generate, or purchase, a portion of their electricity from renewable energy sources."
What a surprise that is not.
Something sure needs to change, and I wish that I could be an agent of change. Meanwhile, I just have to hope somebody notices.
 |
| This is not hard to do! |
If people think that climate change is a slow and leisurely and linear process -- sometimes it's not. If the major ocean circulation patterns of the world's oceans change, climate change can be fast and brutal.
And yes, it could happen soon, even in my lifetime. Which, if that was the timetable, would be bad.
Ocean system that moves heat gets closer to collapse, which could cause weather chaos, study says
"A collapse of the current—called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation or AMOC—would change weather worldwide because it means a shutdown of one of key the climate and ocean forces of the planet. It would plunge northwestern European temperatures by 9 to 27 degrees (5 to 15 degrees Celsius) over the decades, extend Arctic ice much farther south, turn up the heat even more in the Southern Hemisphere, change global rainfall patterns and disrupt the Amazon, the study said. Other scientists said it would be a catastrophe that could cause worldwide food and water shortages."
Another title for this post could be: "Musseling up in shallow waters".
Here's the article that inspired it:
A New Creature Emerges From a Forest Drowned by the Gulf of Mexico
"Dr. Distel and his colleagues discovered the mussel while they were investigating an ancient underwater forest off the coast of Alabama. During the last ice age, bald cypresses grew in what was then a swamp a hundred miles from the ocean. Then, sometime between 45,000 and 70,000 years ago, as sea levels rose, the trees were swallowed by the advancing sea. Swirling sands wrapped the dead trees in a natural sarcophagus. For millenniums, all was still in the forest, until heavy waves stirred up by one of the hurricanes of 2004 scooped away the sand. Fishermen were startled to discover trees on the otherwise featureless bottom of the Gulf of Mexico 10 miles from dry land, and a journalist, Ben Raines, helped bring the site to scientists’ attention.
Since then, the ancient wood has provided a splendid buffet for organisms of all sorts, and Dr. Distel and his colleagues have been collecting and characterizing them as fast as they can. The wood won’t last forever, and the forest could be buried again by another big storm. But the scientists believe that this unusual environment could host organisms with unsuspected talents. Dr. Distel’s main focus is shipworms, a group of clams that tunnel through waterlogged wood, and that may be a source for new antibiotics."
Click here to learn more about the mussels and the forest and the picture above.
Nothing to argue with in this op-ed by E.J. Dionne Jr. in the Washington Post.
Let's just say it: the Republican problem is metastasizing
"The episode speaks to how the trends Mann and Ornstein caught on to early have metastasized. Power in the GOP has moved away from elected officials and toward those right-wing “commentators” on television, radio, podcasts and online. The creation of ideological media bubbles enhances their power. Republicans in large numbers rely on partisan outlets that lied freely about what Lankford’s compromise did and didn’t do, rather than on straight news reports."
and
"Then there is the denigration of science, dispassionate research and technical knowledge. In his book “The Death of Expertise,” writer Tom Nichols described this mournfully as a “campaign against established knowledge.”I am acquainted with some of those people in Twitter (X) conversations about climate change, and they are both unswayable and disagreeable, and virtually always wrong.
Challenging experts is, of course, a democratic right and can be useful in calling out those who disguise their interests behind claims of special understanding. But Republicans have put this practice to naked political use in pushing back against action on climate, necessary regulation and public health advice."
Because last week's lighthouse was the Duluth Harbor North Pier Light, it seems logical that this week's lighthouse should be the South Pier Light. I won't put the live camera on this post, but you can visit it in the last post.
And it's in the same location, which is here.
So let's learn about this one, from the Lighthouse Directory, my go-to source.
"1901 (station established 1874). Active; focal plane 44 ft (13 m); continuous green light. 35 ft (10.5 m) cylindrical brick tower with lantern and gallery, mounted on square brick fog signal building. The original 4th order Barbier & Fenestre Fresnel lens (1877, transferred from the earlier tower) has been replaced recently by an LED optic. Lighthouse painted white; lantern roof and fog signal building roof are red. Fog horn (two 3 s blasts every 60 s). The original wood keeper's house is located onshore. ... The original lighthouse was a square pyramidal wood tower. It was replaced when a new and longer breakwater was built. In 1995 the Coast Guard installed, as an addition to the modern fog signal, the historic type F diaphones originally installed at Kewaunee Pierhead Light, Wisconsin. In 2003 the city council approved a proposal of TOOT Inc. (reTurn Our Old Tone) to operate the diaphones during daylight hours, but the modern (and softer) signal was used at night. Sadly, the operation of the diaphones came to an end in 2006 when the Coast Guard stopped maintaining the electrical equipment needed to operate the horns; they are now dismantled and in storage."
I don't know if it's still available for purchase; it was in 2018.
Lighthouse Friends has a page with more history.
And I have three pictures. If you're thinking of living there, it does experience a little wave action at times.
Read it. If you aren't a subscriber, pay the money to read it.
As Switzerland’s Glaciers Shrink, a Way of Life May Melt Away
"Switzerland has long been considered Europe’s water tower, the place where deep winter snows would accumulate and gently melt through the warmer months, augmenting the trickling runoff from thick glaciers that helped sustain many of Europe’s rivers and its ways of life for centuries.There is a lot about the local culture, which includes cheese-making. Hah.
Today, the Alps are warming about twice as fast as the global average, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In the past two years alone, Swiss glaciers have lost 10 percent of their water volume — as much as melted in the three decades from 1960 to 1990."
"The [water] situation is expected to get worse as the glaciers retreat. The country’s biggest glaciers, including the Aletsch and Rhône, are projected to shrink by at least 68 percent by the end of the century.
In anticipation, the Swiss government has quadrupled funding for alpine water projects. In 2022, it approved 40.
Near the village of Jaun, a construction crew was laying pipes to deliver electricity and water from a new cistern to six local farms. In 2022, some families brought their herds of cows down the mountain a month early because of the drought and heat."
 |
| Lower Grindelwald Glacier in 1865 (left) and 2019 (right) |
I think I'll just leave this right here.
As a quick review, the Premier League is the highest level of English football (soccer), and the players in the league make lots and lots and lots of money (some of them make even more than that). Apparently they can afford their lifestyle choices, including the child support payments.
I am indicating my age with this, but decades ago, George Peppard starred in a rotating TV mystery show named Banacek. He specialized in solving mysterious disappearances and losses of major big things. It rotated with other shows/movies on Wednesday nights. It was good enough to last three seasons; the other ones that premiered with it the first year didn't have subsequent seasons. The original three: McCloud, Columbo, and McMillan and Wife, went on for longer, and of course Columbo became a TV legend.
This isn't really about those shows, though. I just happened to think of Banacek when a radio station had its broadcasting antenna stolen.
An Alabama radio station’s 200-foot steel tower is missing, manager says
This Lighthouse of the Week is slightly late, but I've done that before, and I'll catch up in a couple of days with the lighthouse for the current week. So for the lighthouse for the week that recently passed, I chose to go to the greatest of the Great Lakes (size- and depth-wise, at least), Lake Superior. And the lighthouse is located in Duluth Harbor, where Duluth is the city at the western end of the long and extended western "finger" of Lake Superior.
This week's lighthouse post also has a special feature. See below.
That would be here. Zoom out to see where it is with respect to the rest of the lake.
Having located it, let's learn about it, from the Lighthouse Directory's listing.
"1910. Active; focal plane 43 ft (13 m); red light on 3 s, then off 3 s. 37 ft (11 m) round cast iron tower with lantern and gallery, mounted on the end of the concrete breakwater. The original 5th order Henry-Lepaute Fresnel lens (1881) has been replaced recently by an LED optic. Lighthouse painted white, lantern black. Sibling of the Peche Island Light, Michigan. ... In 2021 the lighthouse became available for transfer under NHLPA, and in March 2023 it was awarded to Rethos, a historic preservation organization based in St. Paul. Rethos plans interior restoration and hopes to open the lighthouse for tours in the summer of 2024."
(NHLPA is the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act.)
On the other breakwater (the south one), there's another lighthouse, which you will see in one of the pictures. That makes it easy for me to select the next Lighthouse of the Week, too.
Now for the pictures:
Now, here's the special feature. This is a live view of the Duluth Harbor breakwaters. The north pier is on the left, and the south pier is on the right. Tune in anytime to see them both (but at night you might just see lights).
I wonder how this got there. Clearly somebody was not paying attention about 80 years ago or so.
WW2 bomb weighing 1,000 lbs unearthed at Florida airport prompting evacuations
 |
| It's the bomb |
WRI is the World Resources Institute, which does really good work tracking man's impact on the environment and climate change, and describing solutions that might work to address the increasing direness of both situations.
And they also publish articles that lay out the facts clearly, such as this one.
The Latest Data Confirms: Forest Fires Are Getting Worse
Mounting Temperatures Are Fueling More Severe Fires in Boreal Forests"The large majority — roughly 70% — of all fire-related tree cover loss over the past two decades occurred in boreal regions. Though fire is a natural part of how boreal forests function ecologically, fire-related tree cover loss in these areas increased by a rate of about 110,000 hectares (3%) per year over the last 20 years — about half the total global increase between 2001 and 2022.
Increasing fire activity in boreal forests is likely due to the fact that northern high-latitude regions are warming at a faster rate than the rest of the planet. This contributes to longer fire seasons, greater fire frequency and severity, and larger burned areas in these regions."
It's not about the number of kids, or where they live.
It's about the number of kids AND where they live.
I guess, even in Russia, they get government support for all the kids. But still, it's really tough."The narrator [of the YouTube video about them] reveals that 'older siblings look after the younger ones, ensuring they reach the nursery and school first to prevent them from freezing.'
In one scene, four of the older Pavlov children can be seen huddled together as they wait for a bus to take them to a university in the city center.
The voiceover says that the 'situation could quickly become dangerous, and with no bus in sight, they must rush back home or try to stop a passing car to avoid frostbite.'
Luckily the bus arrives in a matter of minutes. As seen in the film, the buses are painted red to make them easier to spot in thick fog or snow."
While I see a lot of articles about photography contests, I don't have the chance to post about all of them. But this one was pretty spectacular.
Winning Images from the 12th Annual Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest
I sure liked this one, by Alessandro Raho.
Cover photo from "Study reveals a widespread decline of snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere"
Climate change deniers make a big deal about a quote from years ago, that went like this:
"According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit of the University of East Anglia, within a few years winter snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event". "Children just aren't going to know what snow is," he said."
Anytime there's a heavy snow (even a lake-effect snow augmented by ice-free lakes that are warmer than the mean for that time of the year), this quote gets dragged out, and the sniggering begins.
However, parents are taking it seriously. Because as the persistent snow line moves northward, more and more places that used to get snow regularly in the winter are getting less and less of it in the winter, and some places are going years without any, or not enough for any kind of winter recreation.
This opinion piece from the Washington Post emphasized that:
What is winter without snow? Our children are finding out
"But there is an added layer of melancholy for parents who came of age in a time and place where winter meant snow, who realize that their formative childhood experiences might not be shared by the next generation. Snow days aren’t what they once were: Many parents are now expected to work remotely, and more school districts across the country have introduced virtual learning as an alternative to a day off. The climate is changing, and so is our culture.
“This is hard to explain to some people, because not everyone cares about snow, and some people assume snow grief is just connected to skiing,” Maria Finnegan, a mom to a 3-year-old in New Hampshire, told me. “But that’s not what it is to me. A huge part of my identity is connected to this seasonal shift that is just incredibly beautiful.”
Let's start with the headline:
Why these California developers want to build the country’s tallest tower in Oklahoma City
"Designed by the California-based architecture firm AO, the tower is a slender rectangular slab with a gently curved belly that would likely rise about 150 stories, and include a hotel, serviced condominiums, and private residences. Its top floors would be reserved for a restaurant, bar and observatory, where the public could look out over the Great Plains from more than a third of a mile in the sky."Artist's conception:
I'm going to have more to say about this. I'm probably going to have to say more about it soon.
The current situation is that the next James Bond, 007, English super spy, is still being cast. There is talk that the next movie will be Casino Royale -- again -- directed by Christopher Nolan. Nolan wants to make it a period piece, it is said, going back to the 1960s in which it was originally set.
I'm not sure I like that idea, which is part of my wanting to say more about this.
In any case, while the oddsmakers are trying to set the odds on who the next Bond will be (with Aaron Taylor Johnson reportedly having the inside track right now), they're also setting the odds on the next lead female, i.e., the next Bond girl.
Yes, THAT Michelle Keegan."According to the Daily Express, betting expert James Leyfield from Gambling.com, explained: 'Jodie Comer is the 6/4 favourite on specials betting sites to be the next female lead in a Bond movie.
'Michelle, who is 5/2 to be the next Bond Girl, started out in soaps, starring as barmaid Tina McIntyre in Coronation Street for six years.'
Meanwhile, according to the Irish Mirror, Saoirse got the odds of 5/1 to bag the next Bond role as the female lead."
I was following with interest the OSIRIS-REx mission sample return. There were lots of places where things could have gone wrong (and nearly did -- the drogue parachute didn't open).
But the main parachutes deployed, the capsule came down, they carefully took it to the lab, and then, speaking of not opening, they couldn't get the main sample container open because two screws were stuck.
If you didn't see what happened, they had to design a new special screwdriver to get those two recalcitrant screws to turn. After considerable effort, they finally opened up the main chamber. And if you'll remember back to when it was collected from asteroid Bennu, there was nearly too much in the container. So now there is lots and lots of sample to analyze.
"While 70.3 grams (2.48 ounces) of material had already been accessed from the outside of the sampler head, known as the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), the bulk of the asteroid sample material remained trapped within the capsule.
According to NASA's statement, the bulk of the asteroid material is now accessible after two of the 35 fasteners on TAGSAM that could not be removed using the existing tools approved for use inside the OSIRIS-REx sample container were finally freed."
Let the analyzing begin.
My title for this post is the main reason I wrote it, but it's still an interesting find.
‘Let’s find out’: shipwreck mysteriously appears on Newfoundland coast
"But what makes the latest discovery unique is the unexplained nature of the wreck’s sudden appearance.
Neil Burgess, president of the Shipwreck Preservation Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, suspects the ship was freed by a combination of coastal erosion and the force of post-tropical storm Fiona, which destroyed homes in the region last year."
First of all, because I had to clear this up for myself, Turks and Caicos are a British Overseas Territory. So while part of the UK, and the residents having full British citizenship, they have their own government, capital, flag, and currency (which happens to be the U.S. dollar).
Now that we've cleared that up, they have one major historical lighthouse, which is the one seen here, the Grand Turk lighthouse. It's historic both for being the only major lighthouse in the Turks and Caicos islands, and because it's made out of cast iron. And in some of the many pictures of it online, you can see that it rusts. But I found prettier pictures, after it was painted, I presume.
So here's more about it, from the Lighthouse Directory, where I get most of my information.
"1852 (Alexander Gordon). Reactivated (1998); focal plane 33 m (108 ft); white flash every 7.5 s. 18 m (60 ft) cast iron tower, painted white, attached to kerosene storage house. A 4th order Fresnel lens (1943) from the lighthouse is on display at the Turks and Caicos National Museum. The keeper's house and kitchen also survive. ... The lighthouse was prefabricated in London by Chance Brothers; it is a very rare example of this early design in cast iron. After many years of neglect, the lighthouse was partially restored in 1998. In 2006 Carnival Corp., the cruise line holding company, granted funds to repaint and refurbish the lighthouse, keeper's cottage, and other light station buildings."
The Directory also says it was repainted in 2012.
The pictures I liked are below.
The state of Minnesota is going to have a new flag.
Unless Republicans can stop it.
Senator Westrom: Save our historic Minnesota state flag
But wait, why is Minnesota getting a new state flag?
Let it fly: Minnesota officially has a new flag
"The Legislature set up the panel and tasked it with selecting a new state flag and seal before the end of the year. DFL [Democratic - Farmer - Laborer] lawmakers raised concerns about the existing flag being too cluttered and insensitive to some groups because the way it portrays a Native American man riding off into the sunset as a white farmer tills the land."
That's why. Senator Westrom says that the flag is really about this, regarding the Native American heritage:
"According to MN Statutes 1.135: “The Indian on horseback is riding due south and represents the great Indian heritage of Minnesota. The Indian’s horse and spear and the Pioneer’s ax, rifle, and plow represent tools that were used for hunting and labor."
You'll have to decide for yourself if that's true or not.
Meanwhile, here's the old and new flags, to assist the decision-making.
While they were in the redesign mood/mode, they also came up with a new seal, featuring a loon, in contrast to the old seal, which features the Native American and the invading white farmer who took the Native American land and heritage.
Not that I'm judgmental or anything.
The exemplary E.J. Dionne Jr. wrote a strong column in the Washington Post recently. I'm extracting a marvelous section of it here.
Sure, Trump and Biden are old. The similarities end there.
"It’s time for everyone, the media especially, to face up to the actual choice: Between constitutional democracy and authoritarianism. Between a normal human being and a self-involved, spiteful madman. Between a government that has performed well and a regime that would gyrate from one personal obsession to another."
