Traveler Tales

 

(This essay is from 2007.)

If you visit distant parts of the globe, you'll often end up bringing back some exotic mementos. That certainly happened to me, although those pictured above are not mine, but a friend's.

These antiques come from Tibet, China, Nepal -- mostly from the Himalayan regions. There are antique daggers, religious artifacts, gems, carved ivory, hand-painted containers, and ancient coins.

A friend brought them by recently to show the kids and me. Of course, the large dagger from China caught their imagination, as they all crowded in to slide it out of its sheathe and admire its possibilities.

I lost most of my own Afghan and Indian antiques when our van was burglarized in the alley next to our SunDance office at 1913 Fillmore Street in late 1971.

I filed a police report but nothing ever was recovered. The cops said I should cruise the many pawn shops then in San Francisco, and I did so for months, but to no avail. What we lost was priceless, not so much in monetary terms (we'd never had them evaluated), but as memories of two years in a distant society that all too soon was going to be essentially obliterated by unending decades of war.

I still have a few tiny things from Afghanistan and Kashmir hidden away so thoroughly than not even I can find them easily. But my friend's collection inspired me to look for them. Someday soon. 

Each and every item has its stories, of course, packed away inside itself. How and when and where I obtained these things is the only the last part of their stories and the only part I can tell --the rest have to be imagined.

NEWSLINKS:

• Home intruder was election denier who yelled 'Where's Nancy?' before attacking Pelosi's husband (NPR)

• The attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul is many things — but it’s not surprising (Independent)

• Battle for Senate control marked by volatility as midterms near (WP)

• Schumer says Warnock's Senate race against Walker is 'going downhill' in remarks to president (NBC)

• 2022 is turning into a stress test for the election system (Edit Bd/WP)

• Dems’ chances for Senate control fall again, to only 52% (538)

• Lindsey Graham’s surprisingly complex Supreme Court case about Trump’s Big Lie, explained (Vox)

• After the 2020 election, Trump allies attempted to access machines in several states in the hope of finding evidence of rigged results. A Post examination shows how forensics experts, paid by a nonprofit run by a pro-Trump lawyer, were able to copy voting system data in Georgia. This data has been presented — wrongly — as evidence of fraud, sowing mistrust in election results ahead of the Nov. 8 midterms. (WP)

• Democrats cautiously campaign on Jan. 6, democracy threats (AP)

• After Trump called the 2020 election rigged, this rural Ga. county gave his allies access to voting machines (WP)

• GOP’s Cheney endorses Michigan Democrat Slotkin in a first (AP)

• Gavin Newsom has quietly constructed one of the biggest digital forces in politics (Politico)

• Russia ends civilian pull-out before Kherson battle (BBC)

• Some Russian Troop Companies Down 94% in Ukraine, U.K. Intelligence Says (Daily Beast)

• Russian President Vladimir Putin showed no regrets for the war against Ukraine, insisting it was going to plan and playing down any nuclear standoff with the West, while both sides prepared for what could be a key battle in Kherson in Ukraine's south. (Reuters)

• Survey: Russians increasingly concerned about Ukraine (NHK)

• Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to cast his war in Ukraine as resistance to a Western plot for global domination. Putin said Russia isn’t the enemy of the West, but will continue to oppose the diktat of Western neo-liberal elites. [AP]

• A rare insight into Elon Musk's troubled childhood (BBC)

• Elon Musk Completes $44 Billion Deal to Own Twitter (NYT)

• Elon Musk cements his Twitter takeover, fires top executives — CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, and Vijaya Gadde, head of legal policy, trust, and safety, were fired, according to people familiar with the matter. Sean Edgett, general counsel, was also pushed out, one of the people said. (WP)

• Elon Musk fired top executives at Twitter, including CEO Parag Agrawal, immediately after the world's richest person completed his $44 billion purchase of the social media giant. Musk vowed not to allow a “free-for-all hellscape," but he reportedly plans to reverse lifetime bans, which may allow ex-President Donald Trump to return. He changed his Twitter profileto "Chief Twit." [HuffPost]

• Elon Musk has taken ownership of Twitter with brutal efficiency, firing top executives immediately but providing little clarity over how he will achieve the lofty ambitions he has outlined for the influential social media platform. (Reuters)

• Musk has taken control of Twitter and fired its top executives (CNN)

• Twitter takeover: fears raised over disinformation and hate speech (Guardian)

• Why Don't Rich Muslim States Give More Aid to Afghanistan? (VoA)

• Brazil’s Presidential Election Will Determine the Planet’s Future (NYT)

• World ‘holding breath’ over possible N Korea nuclear test: IAEA (Al Jazeera)

• Beyond Catastrophe: A New Climate Reality Is Coming Into View (NYT)

• Lockdown babies may be slower to communicate but faster to crawl, study says (WP)

• Massive learning setbacks show COVID’s sweeping toll on kids (AP)

• Devastating bouts of drought, drought-related bark beetle infestations and record-breaking wildfires have killed 30 percent of California’s Sierra Nevada forests. (Sacramento Bee)

• Space rock slams into Mars, forming a crater that revealed chunks of ice (CNN)

• Pictures show 'biggest ever' meteor impact on Mars (BBC)

• Shrew-like creature was placental mammals’ last common ancestor (Guardian)

• Ancient microbes like 'Conan the Bacterium' may be sleeping beneath the surface of Mars (KSL)

• A non-stop flight from Alaska to Tasmania may be for the birds — and a possible record (NPR)

• Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ back on display (AP)

• Maze With Cheese In Center Enters Human Trials Following Decades Of Testing On Mice (The Onion)

Zombie Election

All the signs are in place and the warnings have been issued. The impending midterm elections could be a disaster for America.

It is not only that Republicans will win the House and may also squeak out control of the Senate. (That one is too close to call.) It’s all those elections many people ignore at the state and local level, where hordes of election deniers appear to be poised to win control of the positions in swing states that will determine the outcome of the next Presidential election.

Reporters have documented that a massive number of GOP candidates in these races subscribe to the stolen election myth propagated by Trump and his minions. And most conservatives either agree with this myth or are not paying close enough attention to rebut their claims, so they will vote them in.

And with inflation hurting so many American families, voters already have plenty of reasons to boot incumbent Democrats out of office, and ignore what is viewed as a largely theoretical possibility that such a vote will actual damage our democracy.

Will the result be zombies in public office? Officials whose feast will hasten the death of our democratic processes?

The biggest lesson we learned in 2020 is how vulnerable our system is to manipulation. Trump waged an all-out effort to steal the vote — that he ultimately failed is a testament to the checks and balances that were in place at that time.

But the election deniers are determined to sweep away many of those checks and balances in the midterm elections.

Well, it’s that time of year, isn’t it — Halloween, the time for horror movies.

Better get ready for the worst horror movie of all.

NEWSLINKS:

• U.S. economy reverses six-month slump despite lingering recession fears (WP)

• ‘A madness has taken hold’ ahead of US midterms: local election officials fear for safety (Guardian)

• Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, attacked with hammer at home (CNN)

• Since the violent aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, secretaries of state, county clerks and poll workers have been besieged with intimidating threats and bogus claims of misconduct. A federal task force established last year to deal with election threats has fielded more than 1,000 reports and prosecuted about a half-dozen cases. California, Vermont, Oregon and other states have passed laws to protect election workers. (Cal Today)

• Democrats’ Odds to Hold Senate Fall to 53% (538)

• Fetterman’s Debate Showing Raises Democratic Anxieties in Senate Battle (NYT)

• Democrats scramble into defensive posture in final stage of midterms (WP)

• How Mike Lindell’s Pillow Business Propels the Election Denial Movement (NYT)

• Michigan GOP gubernatorial nominee invoked conspiracy claiming Democrats sought to ‘topple’ US in retaliation for losing Civil War (CNN)

• Trump-DeSantis rivalry breaks into the open (Politico)

• Inside the Dems’ elaborate attempt to woo TikTok influencers (WP)

• A Florida judge ruled Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) must turn over records connected with his taxpayer-funded flights of migrants from Texas to Massachusetts, saying his administration failed to comply with state public records law. The governor's office intends to appeal, claiming it already provided enough information. [HuffPost]

• Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the world faced the most dangerous decade since World War Two (Reuters)

• Russia’s Putin says he won’t use nuclear weapons in Ukraine (AP)

• Russian journalist and Putin’s rumoured goddaughter flees to Lithuania (Guardian)

• Ukrainian troops are holding out against repeated attacks by Russian forces in two eastern towns while those on the southern front are poised to battle for the strategic Kherson region, which Russia appears to be reinforcing. (Reuters)

• Mortgage rates top 7% for the first time since 2002 (CNN)

• Texas Goes Permitless on Guns, and Police Face an Armed Public (NYT)

• Immigrants' share of Canada's population has hit its highest point in the country's 150-year history and the biggest share among G7 countries, new data showed. (Reuters)

• How Elon Musk Could Actually Kill Twitter (Atlantic)

• U.N.: World ‘Nowhere Near’ Hitting Climate Targets Set In Paris Agreement (NBC)

• Saltwater is moving up the Mississippi River. Here's what's being done to stop it (NPR)

• Battle of the Alps? Water woes loom amid climate change (AP)

• How did Hurricane Ian affect 'Seashell Capital of the World'? (FMNP)

• NASA Detects More Than 50 Methane 'Super-Emitter' Zones Around The World (ScienceAlert)

• Fishermen face shutdowns as warming hurts species (AP)

• Microbes may have survived for millions of years beneath the Martian surface (CNN)

• Svalbard: The race to save the fastest-warming place on Earth (BBC)

• You might see ads the next time you take an Uber. The company is launching ads that will pop up in the app before and during your ride, and it’s testing in-car advertising screens. (WP)

• Chinese cities from Wuhan in central China to Xining in the northwest are doubling down on COVID-19 curbs, sealing up buildings, locking down districts and throwing millions into distress in a scramble to halt widening outbreaks. (Reuters)

• Why More and More Girls Are Hitting Puberty Early (New Yorker)

• Exhumations resume for DNA to ID Tulsa Race Massacre victims (AP)

• Report: Trying To Hug Oncoming Train Still Leading Cause Of Death For Nation’s Idiots (The Onion)

 

Headlines

NEWSLINKS:

• Putin says risk of world conflict is ‘high’; Moscow official calls for ‘de-Satanization’ in Ukraine (CNBC)

• Putin has been watching and waiting for this moment in Washington (CNN)

• Don’t be fooled: sanctions really are hurting Russia’s war against Ukraine (Guardian)

• Estonia’s PM: Russia nearing ‘breaking point’ in war (Politico)

• Russian forces are digging in for the "heaviest of battles" in the strategic southern region of Kherson, a senior Ukrainian official said, as the Kremlin prepares to defend the largest city under its control in Ukraine. (Reuters)

• Amid Backlash, Liberal House Democrats Retract Call to Pursue Ukraine Ceasefire (NYT)

• For Fetterman, verbal struggles, contentious exchanges in debate with Oz (WP)

• Russia’s Recruiting Afghan Commandos (FP)

• Mark Meadows, a former White House chief of staff, ordered to testify in Georgia election investigation (NYT)

• A man who was attacked while canvassing in Florida this week appears to be an activist with a prominent history of violence and racist comments. Christopher Monzon attended the white nationalist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in 2017 and later charged at a crowd of anti-racist demonstrators with a Confederate flag. He was also on the Florida Republican Party's payroll this summer. [HuffPost]

• Two in five U.S. voters say they are worried about threats of violence or voter intimidation at polling stations. (Reuters)

• Nevada county begins conspiracy-inspired ballot hand count (AP)

• Gov. Gavin Newsom’s re-election campaign looks more like a run for president. (CalMatters)

• DOJ asks judge to force Trump White House lawyers to testify in Jan. 6 probe (CNN)

• Trump bragged about new US nuclear weapons, Woodward tape shows (Guardian)

• Three men convicted of aiding plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Whitmer (WP)

• The 19-year-old gunman who killed a 61-year-old physical education teacher and a 15-year-old girl at a St. Louis high school was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and what appeared to be over 600 rounds of ammunition, police said. [AP]

• The International Space Station had to move to dodge space junk (NPR)

• More than 1 million vote early in Georgia, a dramatic increase from 2018 (WP)

• In lawsuit over student loan forgiveness, 6 states slam Biden for overreach (USA Today)

• The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program just got more flexible (NPR)

• The United States, Japan and South Korea warned that an "unparalleled" scale of response would be warranted if North Korea conducts a seventh nuclear bomb test. Washington and its allies believe North Korea could be about to resume nuclear bomb testing for the first time since 2017. (Reuters)

• Microsoft’s Struggles Enter the Metaverse (WSJ)

• Climate Pledges Are Falling Short, and a Chaotic Future Looks More Like Reality(NYT)

• Greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere hit record high in 2021 (NBC)

• Swarming honeybees can produce as much electricity as a thunderstorm, study shows (CNN)

• Indonesian woman swallowed whole by python (Independent)

• Possible RSV, Covid-19 and Flu Collision Has Doctors Worried. What to Know. (WSJ)

• Omicron keeps finding new evolutionary tricks to outsmart our immunity (NPR)

• Vague New Dating Site Caters To People Who Like To…You Know, Do That Certain Thing (The Onion)