Here’s an update on this season’s big TV premiers (“big” as defined by my personal interest and expectations):

• Yellowstone! – begins again Nov 7, tomorrow! I expect it to be less disappointing than most of the science fiction releases. Costner rocks in this role. And please don’t kill off Beth.
• Dune – released a couple of weeks ago. Seems that everyone loved it but me. I tried.
• Foundation – released Sept 24. HUGE disappointment. Nice effects, some nice scenes, but an incomprehensible plot. I expected better.
• The Expanse season 6 – will premier at the beginning of winter, on Dec 20. This and Yellowstone are the big ones for me. They’re can’t-miss series, with stories and characters that I wish could go on forever.
• The Dexter reboot – also preniers Nov 7. I don’t have big expectations for this, but I sure loved the original series. And seeing Michael C. Hall as the oddly-likable serial killer again, though 20 years older, will be interesting.
• The Wheel of Time – premiers in about two weeks, on Nov 19. The trailers have been encouraging, but this would be another SFF series very easy to screw up. So fingers crossed.
• Raised By Wolves – season 2 to premier in early 2022. This is probably the least well known of the list, but I really liked the premise and production of season 1 in 2020. It’s a Ridley Scott gig, so it has some real director/producer-power behind it.

So…a big season for some of my favorite shows and books. The biggest in quite some time, actually.

Woke up to some good news today. First this, summed up in three facts:

1. Feb. 2021: Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects we will get to 4.6% unemployment by the end of 2023.
2. Mar. 2021: Democrats pass the American Rescue Plan Oct. 2021 (zero Republicans voted for it).
3. Nov. 2021: Economy reaches 4.6% unemployment two years ahead of schedule.

Then, in even better news, from Heather Cox Richardson:

At about 11:30 p.m., the House of Representatives passed the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) by a vote of 228–206. Biden promised to pass a bipartisan measure and after nine months of hard work, he did it: thirteen Republicans voted in favor of the bill; six progressive Democrats voted against it. The measure had already passed the Senate, so now it goes to his desk for a signature.

This bill is a huge investment in infrastructure. Axios lists just how huge: over the next 8 years, it will provide $110 billion for fixing roads and bridges, $73 billion for the electrical grid, $66 billion for railroads, $65 billion for broadband, $55 billion for water infrastructure, $47 billion for coastal adjustments to climate change, $39 billion for public transportation, and so on.

I really believe in the benefits of government stimulus of damaged economies. It worked in the Great Depression, it worked after WW2, and it worked after the 2007 mortgage and banking meltdown. So for all those who have been whining and wailing about government spending during and post-COVID…let’s hear the macroeconomic facts and examples that support your point of view (I’ll save you some time; there aren’t any).

It took the Dems long enough, and they still have some cleanup to do in their camp. But they got it done, as opposed to the previous administration’s often-promised-but-never-realized “Infrastructure Week”. Now, every week of 2022 will be Infrastructure Week.