No Justice

Well they stole yet another seat on the Supreme Court, the brazen hypocrites. There's talk about expanding the court so we can fill more seats, but I'm not sure if Biden, let alone more conservative Dems in Congress, will follow through. Can't get ahead of ourselves, anyway. We have to win this election first, then right this ship and get control of this pandemic.

Early voting is looking good, so much so that Bloomberg is buying ads in Texas to help out. The lawsuits and court rulings come so fast that I can't keep track. It's important for Texas Dems to win this year so we can have a say in the redistricting after the Census results.

Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble had some kind of hack recently, so that I couldn't connect and buy ebooks from the store for days. I think it's fixed now, and they're offering a coupon to make it up to members. That's nice, though I worry that eventually they're gonna shut down, and I have all my ebooks with them.

Vote for Change

I voted on Saturday. There was actually a line, though it moved fairly quickly. The early vote numbers are amazing this year in Texas. If only the courts had given us more wins against voter suppression, but I guess they've found workarounds such as the drive-through voting.

Even Cornyn decided to pretend that he disagreed with Trump, instead of voting for all his policies. Fucking bastard. Too little too late. What a coward. His TV ads also make cynical use of a sexual assault survivor, with Cornyn taking credit for a bipartisan bill that passed. Fuck him.

I finished watching Attenborough's new Netflix film. It includes footage of him over the years, contrasted with statistics about how the planet changed. The outlook is grim, but Attenborough ends on a hopeful note with tons of suggestions about how to combat climate change and reverse the damage. I do hope Biden can get us back on track with the rest of the world.

Vote Early

Well early voting starts in Texas today. I got mixed up about my work schedule and originally thought I would have the day off, but actually my day off was yesterday. So I'll have to wait until the weekend to vote.

I have seen some political ads on TV, and the Republicans are really trying to paint Democratic candidates as extremist liberals out to destroy the country. I heard that a court ruled we could have straight-ticket ballots, but I don't know if they actually had time to make the change to the ballots. The governor is still trying to limit drop-off boxes for absentee ballots; a court ruled against him, but he appealed. Just gotta keep screwing up the election to the last minute, huh?

Meanwhile, I saw the Yellow Rose movie last week. It's about a Filipina girl trying to be a country singer, but then her mom gets arrested by ICE, and she has to deal with being undocumented. Rose has an aunt that she tries to stay with, but the uncle doesn't want her there, so she has to look for other safe spaces to stay. Her boyfriend also gets her in touch with an immigration lawyer for advice. Country singer Dale Watson even plays himself, becoming Rose's mentor and helping her to make a demo tape. Sad, with nice songs.

Enola Holmes

This Netflix movie is very enjoyable despite its deviations from Sherlock Holmes canon. I've never read the original books by Nancy Springer, but the heroine is very likeable and clever, if a little naive at times. I was afraid that Helena Bonham Carter as the absent mother would be too quirky and wacky, but she was actually quite nice and used in small doses where appropriate. Wikipedia says the mother Eudoria left to live with the Romani, but this movie gives her a more compelling reason to disapear; she's a militant suffragist involved in making bombs, and no doubt thinks her daughter is safer without her.

Enola wakes on her 16th birthday in 1884 to find her mother gone without explanation. Her older brothers Mycroft and Sherlock come to the family estate, shocked to find it rundown, due to Eudoria having lied about upkeep expenses in order to squirrel money away for other purposes. Mycroft resolves to send Enola away to a finishing school, while tasking Sherlock to find their mother. The headmistress is modern enough to have a steampunk car, yet her ideas about women's education remain patriarchal and she even slaps Enola for talking back to her. Enola finds cryptic clues and money left by her mother, so she dresses up as a boy and runs away in the night. While escaping on a train to London, she meets another runaway, a young lord Tewksbury escaping his own family.

Hellscape

Still kind of stunned and numb about RBG's death. Fuck 2020. And with Trump recently blathering on about possible Supreme Court nominees, it looks dire. But Ted Cruz did say that he didn't want to be on the court, and there might be some senators we can pressure to hold the line against voting on a nominee so close to the election.

Meanwhile the issue of mail-in voting in Texas is still going though the courts. I am pessimistic that we'll get a favorable ruling (that's not appealed further) before election day. So I'm planning to early vote (as I always do) with a mask this time.

I'm told the Emmys are tomorrow as well as a fucking football game at the stadium in Arlington because Texas is stupid about coronavirus still.

September Rain

It's already Labor Day Weekend, and the hot weather is finally being broken up by thunderstorms. I guess this is what passes for fall in Texas.

Disney's new Mulan is now available for streaming. I wanted to see it, but $30 is a steep price to pay for one movie. I mean, I guess it's a good price for a family with kids, especially if you can see it multiple times, not just once, but you still have to stay subscribed to Disney+ to keep it. Also, I read that Disney plans on keeping it available for a month or so, putting it back in the vault for a month, then releasing it again in December without the $30 price tag. What kind of strategy is that? And if you paid the $30 in September, does that mean you can't watch it during November when it's unavailable to everyone else?

Meanwhile other movies are opening this weekend such as Tenet, but I don't care about Christopher Nolan. I did see that some theaters are showing Chadwick Boseman's 42 movie about Jackie Robinson too. I'm thinking of seeing the new Bill & Ted, but should probably rent the previous films first.