The "red wave" did happen; it just didn't win many seats. Republicans won six million more votes nationwide than Democrats, roughly the same margin as in the Tea Party wave of 2010, when the GOP won 63 seats in a landslide.
However, in this election, the map was different. In 2010, Republicans were largely claiming back seats they had lost in 2006, under that old map. In 2022, Republicans were looking to flip what were rather Democratic districts.
The Senate is a disappointment: the Republicans held onto everything they had, but lost the open seat in Pennsylvania. Debate will rage for years as to why that happened, most of it about Donald Trump's role in endorsing Dr. Oz.
We don't know the final result yet: the fate of the Senate is yet to be decided, as is the fate of Los Angeles. Though it's just a local election, a win by Rick Caruso locally could indicate a nationwide sense of voters' dissatisfaction.
Overall, I share the Republicans' disappointment, but I am hopeful. Voters seem to have culled the most extreme candidates on both sides, and the 2024 race for the White House is wide open. Trump is not a lock, and that's a good thing.
If Trump wants to be the GOP nominee, he has to earn it by showing he can unite the party, and by making the case that he can win again despite his polarizing persona. There will be a contest. That's good for everyone involved.
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
An interesting weekend -- one of the last of Daylight Savings Time -- in which there is much to celebrate, much to contemplate, and a bit to worry about.
The Gaza peace deal is shaky, but holding, after the living hostages returned; the shutdown is still going on, with no end in sight; the China trade war is heating up; and the confrontation with Venezuela continues to escalate.
The "No Kings" protest was a dud, despite the media's attempt to inflate it. What I find fascinating is that the Democrats have basically stolen the rhetoric and the imagery of the Tea Party protests, circa 2009. They claim they are defending the Constitution -- just like the Tea Party did.
On the one hand, this is good. How wonderful to have a political system in which both sides, bitterly opposed though they are, articulate differences through the Constitution -- and not, as in so many other countries, outside it.
On the other, this is sheer hypocrisy for the Democrats. Not only did they malign the Tea Party as ...
