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Christmas musings
From this Kevin Williamson column
But that isn’t exactly what happened. Not really. He was not called wonderful or mighty — He was called criminal and heretic. We may call Him the Prince of Peace now, here at 2,000 years of safe reserve, but He knew very little peace in His own time. He was rejected even before His birth: We hear in the traditional account of the Nativity that “there was no room at the inn,” but many contemporary scholars believe that this translation represents a mishandling of the Greek, which specifies not a pandokheion, an ordinary commercial inn, but a kataluma, something quite different: the guest room in a family home. (I am indebted to the Reverend David Rea of Providence Presbyterian Church in Dallas for this insight.) That is a very different story: Mary and Joseph were not turned away by an overbooked hotelier but by their own family, who were no doubt filled with shame and indignation at Mary’s irregular condition. All the best people, the straight and the good and the true — they never really change. They’ve been insufferable since 6 b.c., at least.
How much can the interpretations change based on Greek translations?
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Quote of the day – Monday edition
From a comment on Crooked Timber (can’t find the link) the Intellectual Dark Web is “Edgy without being subversive”.
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Great tough guy line – Finnish version
From this video by Indy Neidel – here is a saying started by the Finns in the Finnish – Soviet War of 1939
They are so many, and our county so small
Where shall we find room to bury them all?
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Greatest danger sign this year
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Tyler Cowen channels me on Tom Lehrer
I’m just coming off of my latest obsession – and here is Tyler Cowen’s post on the topic.
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Cartoon of the day – seen somewhere
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Quote from Tom Lehrer
(Discussing his sort of retirement from music, written from memory)
I’ve always lived by the principle that if you’ve seen Cincinnati you don’t need to see Cleveland
Meaning that if something is no longer fun, then stop.
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Quote of the day – yet another Eric Hoffer
There are crumbs of everything inside us – all you have to do is be antiquated with yourself and you will know the whole world.
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2018 Election Results
So, it seems my earlier predictions where wrong by a bit. The Dems have taken the house, and they’re doing better in the Senate than I would have thought. Stacie Abrams does not seem to have won the governor’s race, but has come very close, which is quite remarkable for a Democrat in GA. Voter turnout was way, way higher too, in contrast, as of 6:40 AM the day after the totals are
Candidate Party Votes Percentage Brian Kemp GOP 1,962,547 50% Stacey Abrams Dem 1,887,161 49% Ted Metz Lib 36,706 1% Total 3,886,414 In contract, in 2014 the results were
Georgia gubernatorial election, 2014[16]
Republican Nathan Deal – 1,345,237 – 52.75%
Democratic Jason Carter – 1,144,794 – 44.89%
Libertarian Andrew Hunt – 60,185 2.36%
Total 2,550,216A difference of 1.4 million votes in only four years which is rather staggering.
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Midterm Elections – 2018 picks
Georgia – Although the Trump wing of the right has traditionally been undercounted by the pollsters, I’m going to go with Abrams here. The get out the vote effort is exceptional for the Democratic party, and she has avoided any unforced errors. Combine that with an uninspiring Republican candidate and I think she takes it by a nose, although the libertarian candidate, Ted Metz could be a possible spoiler. Also, the Trump style tactics seem to work only for Trump, so there’s that.
Everywhere Else – I think the Republican’s do better than expected, and there is no blue wave. The Democrats seem to have nothing to offer other than hyperventilating anxiety, and nothing to counter a (currently) strong economy, whereas the Republicans have at least that, and can minimize Trump more or less at will.
I’ll update this after election to see how I did.