Dem infighting

Man, am I sick of moderate Dems blaming progressives for every loss or problem - this has been going on my entire adult life.

Progressive policies and approaches are hugely popular (Child tax credit, negotiating pharm prices, sensible gun control, universal healthcare coverage, etc, etc, etc). 

As someone else said, only Republicans are talking endlessly about trans rights and DEI.

Dems need to stop letting the Right define every issue and every debate. For example, "defund the police" was about putting more resources into social services and supports, rather than expecting every societal problem (homelessness, drug addiction, mental health issues) to be solved by law enforcement. Instead of explaining the value of this approach, moderates threw progressives under the bus and let the Right harp on how ridiculous this issue was. It's not ridiculous, it's super important and evidence-based and popular, when you get beyond the (admittedly poorly chosen) slogan.

The Dems have public opinion on our side, it's absurd that we are fighting for credibility. We've let the Right define the issues for years - Obamacare is case in point - the elements of that legislation are hugely popular, but "Obamacare" polls badly. WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU?

The Left needs to stop bitching about Trump's golfing and tell voters about how hard we are working to make life better for average Americans. Because we are, whether we are moderates or progressives.

Podcasts by smart people make me smarter (and more hopeful)

 Submerging myself in podcasts and it's giving me so much hope.

Anand Giridharadas

Pete Buttigieg incl about communicating effectively

https://the.ink/p/live-from-iowapete-buttigieg

Political consultant Anat Shenker-Osorio

https://the.ink/p/watch-the-leaders-we-need

Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson about their book Abundance

https://the.ink/p/watch-will-abundance-be-hijacked

On Morning Joe about the reckoning that hasn't happened

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQRgiJDHrDU

Ezra Klein

Talking with Zack Beauchamp and Andrew Marantz about Trump & authoritarianism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO7-Ij8l9jI

Talking with Hasan Minhaj

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUNSNXcfAgg&t=1s

AI blunders

I'm increasingly convinced that higher education has completely boggled the response to AI. Schools I work(ed) for, and other schools as well, basically told students "don't use it" and then looked away. Meanwhile, students embraced ChatGPT and used it for all sorts of purposes for which it is not well suited. Now it is only harder to get the genie back in the bottle. Librarians and others in higher ed could have taken the lead and helped students navigate this new information landscape, but the vast majority of librarians I know were the furthest thing from early adopters. Some have finally arrived on the playing field, but the game is well into late innings. "AI" is everywhere, and we have not assisted our community in making useful distinctions among the various tools and platforms. At my current school, the number of hallucinated ILL requests is increasing - 2 and a half years into this, our community is less equipped than ever to effectively deal with it. I keep chipping away at it, with faculty and students, as well as in conversation with other librarians, but it kind of breaks my heart that we have so poorly represented our profession in this arena.

More wasted time

Talk about a bait and switch. This guy was so promising...but, it turns out, almost nothing in his profile is an accurate reflection of his lifestyle. He works 2 jobs, 7 days a week, so he can afford to maintain his wine collection (which he told me at least 4 times). No real interest in movies, art galleries, or going for walks, doesn't cook, eats Jimmy John's sandwiches every day, says he goes home after work and sits on the couch.

At first, we were having an interesting conversation, but, as time went on, he started giving me a very similar vibe to someone I used to work with, who has what could be reasonably called an obsession with collecting board games and thinks you're enthralled by his views on every esoteric interest he holds - TL;DR, not dating material. 

Telephone trouble

This guy really wanted my number and then I didn't hear from him for several days. Now this is our conversation. More wasted energy. 

I've been chatting with this guy for a while; he's been very tentative but persistent, so I've been hanging in there. Any time someone asks for my number, I ask them to give me theirs, and I have never had anyone refuse. I don't have the bandwidth to explain to this guy that women have more reasons to be concerned about their number being on the internet than men do. But whatever. He's not worth the aggravation. 

 

wtf

 I gotta move. My landlord assumes I pulled down his sign??? 

I know exactly what happened: the sign got pulled out of the wall on a windy night, I heard it. I guess at some point, it fell down. 

But he sees the sign on the ground and thinks it was vandalized by the middle aged librarian who lives there...

Losing my religion

 I've been the ray of sunshine and the glass half full in conversations with my liberal friends these past weeks, but, after this weekend, I'm seriously worried. Why is no one stopping this train wreck?

I listen to almost constant political commentary and it has not been reassuring. Despite DJT's minions out in force trying to explain the inexplicable, the people who actually know how these things work are not convinced.

Manufacturing would take years to "reshore" in America and most of the work would be automated, plus the cost for consumer goods would skyrocket. The global supply chain has taken decades to establish and Trump will do permanent damage in just a few months, not to mention all the good will he is incinerating with his approach. 

The stock market has lost trillions in value, for no discernable rational reason. That's the retirement accounts of millions of Americans. I hope the 529 I have for my daughter has enough left in it after this debacle to cover her final year in school. If not, I suppose it will go on my credit card.

People are saying, why are we surprised, this is what he ran on. But he said he would make things better. He didn't say he would put the steadily recovering economy into the shredder.

I just hope it doesn't get as bad as it could...