Just One Thing
Colorado suffered a tragic loss yesterday with the passing of Hugh McKean, the 55-year old leader of Republicans in the state House of Representatives. My show listeners heard him on with me frequently for at-least-monthly updates during the last couple of legislative sessions. Hugh was known as a gentleman, as a pragmatic legislature who often frustrated the far-right of his party, and as a guy who could work with Democrats while not abandoning his conservative principles. As of Sunday afternoon, we still don’t know what happened though it’s being reported that on Saturday he had said he wasn’t feeling well.
Hugh is survived by two children, Aiden, 21 and Hanna 23, and his partner Amy Parks. If you’re a person of faith, please offer a prayer to the grieving family. Hugh McKean, rest in peace, my friend.
More here, including some touching comments by Republicans and Democrats alike: Hugh McKean, Colorado’s House Minority Leader, dead at 55 | Colorado Public Radio (cpr.org)
Hugh McKean, Colorado House minority leader, dies Sunday (denverpost.com)
News from the Twitterverse
Elon Musk posted, then deleted, a tweet linking to a ridiculous website positing conspiracy theories about the horrendous attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul. NOTHING justifies the attack. And frankly I don't think that macro-level comments about increasing crime are relevant here either even though they're true. The guy has apparently been mentally ill and paranoid for years. It appears that he glommed on to some right-wing idiocy along with believing that a fairy appeared to him as a bird. (I'm not making that up.) He could just as easily have glommed on to left-wing idiocy and gone after a Republican official or a police officer. Based on the clear mental illness here, I think the talk of overheated political rhetoric -- again, true -- isn't really the point. The nation would be much better off if fewer people believed and screamed that the election of their political opponents means the end of freedom or the end of democracy. But even if the nation got back to "normal" (which, in the US, always involves and should involve a healthy political debate with strong disagreement), crazy people will continue to do crazy things.
The problem with Musk's tweet is that it adds fuel to the anti-free-speech left who are already leaving Twitter because they're afraid to read something that someone who disagrees with them says in a forceful or "mean" way. The problem with exhortations to keep "misinformation" out of the "public square" (in addition to the fact that Twitter is private) is that it's often difficult to know just what's misinformation and what the news simply hasn't caught up to yet. (A good example is the COVID origin stuff, where people were suspended from Twitter for saying it probably came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab, which was, per Occam's Razor, always the most likely source though we still don't know for sure.)
This article contains examples of that kind of thinking, e.g. "keep misinformation out" without explaining who's going to decide what is misinformation: Elon Musk deleted a tweet about Paul Pelosi. Here’s why that matters. (msn.com)
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Today's Guests
The state of Colorado recently announced that they would start recycling wastewater into the drinking water supply. Of course, recycling water has been done for a long time but usually the recycled water ends up being used for things like irrigation, not human consumption. So what's changed, how will it work, and will customers go for it?
We'll talk about it with Greg Baker of Aurora Water.
Colorado OKs drinking treated wastewater: Getting over the 'ick factor' | News | gazette.com
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We've had Steve Shippy on the show several times in the past as he talks about supernatural stuff, ghosts, paranormal phenomena, etc. I thought it would be fun to have him on the show on Halloween to talk his latest project, SHOCK DOC: GHOSTS OF FLIGHT 401, which premiered last Friday on Travel Channel and is currently streaming on discovery+.
More info here and the trailer is immediately below: Ghosts Of Flight 401 | Shows | discovery+ (discoveryplus.com)
Here's the blurb:
It is one of the greatest supernatural mysteries in U.S. history. On December 29, 1972, Eastern Airlines Flight 401 crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing over 100 souls. Soon after, ghosts from Flight 401 began to haunt the land and other airplanes. In the all-new Shock Doc special GHOSTS OF FLIGHT 401, for the first time ever and on the 50th anniversary of the crash, paranormal investigator Steve Shippy and psychic medium Cindy Kaza will attempt to make contact with the ghosts of Flight 401 and find out the horrifying truth about what really happened that fateful night.
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Other Stuff
Brazil has elected a new (old) president, the corrupt leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Populist right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, whom many people compare to Donald Trump, had supported and implemented some sensible policies but his rhetoric was so egregiously divisive that, like Trump, he lost an election he probably could have won if he knew how to talk like a normal human.
Lula defeats Bolsonaro in Brazil's runoff election, pollster Datafolha says | Reuters
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Horror in Seoul: Seoul Halloween crowd surge | CNN
"There was no stampede; it was a slow and agonizing crush": South Korea crowd crush: Australian Nathan Taverniti recounts Halloween horror (smh.com.au)
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Real-life spy stories: Norway charges man accused of being Russian spy - BBC News
If the story is true, and I'm betting it is, thinking of the level of commitment of the GRU and of the man himself to go through years of college and graduate school in the west in order to build a very "deep" cover: Identity revealed of accused Russian spy posing as Brazilian researcher in Norway - CBS News
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Vladimir Putin is more than willing to let poor people in Africa and Asia starve to death: Ukraine war: Russia halts grain deal after 'massive' Black Sea Fleet attack - BBC News
More detail here: U.N. chief delays travel to try to bring Russia back into Black Sea grain deal | Reuters
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On the one hand, I understand the ruling and I'm glad that a company can't get away with firing someone for having religious beliefs that don't comport with a dress code. On the other hand, I wish there weren't all these protected classes of people who "can't get fired" (for the things for which they are protected.)
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Environmentalist radicals push Germany away from reliable clean nuclear energy and into...coal: Coal mine demolishes neighboring wind farm to boost country's energy supply, drawing ire of climate activists | Fox Business
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When even CNN calls out a Biden lie, you know it's egregious: Fact check: Biden falsely claims the most common gas price was over $5 when he took office | CNN Politics
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The headline is bad enough. The rest of the story is worse: Girl, 12, killed in crash of stolen vehicle in Aurora that injured 12 (denverpost.com)
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An "I've Been Wondering" question I didn't get to on Friday:
From Cindy: Why do lemons have seeds and limes not?
Why Do Most Lemons Have Seeds, While Most Limes Do Not? | Mental Floss
I may also tackle a listener question...why did yours truly become a talk show host?
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It's just one poll, but a nation that feels "out of control" to a significant majority of voters is a very ugly environment for the party in power: Republicans head into final week with lead in seats, voters feel things are "out of control" — CBS News Battleground Tracker poll - CBS News
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Score one for bikinis: Federal judge rules in favor of bikini baristas over dress - ABC News (go.com)
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As if we need another reason to be skeptical of the sorts of convictions that can lead to the death penalty. Men exonerated in Malcolm X killing to receive $36 million - POLITICO
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Today's Videos
Hurricane Ian had a massive (negative) impact on the Florida bee population...which could cause the price of honey to rise. It remains to be seen whether it will also have any impact on pollination of crops next growing season.
A brilliant political deepfake. Too bad not many folks will see/hear it, but please share.
"Let Me Buy Your Vote"