Another musical icon of my youth died yesterday – Jimmy Buffet. Parrotheads everywhere are in mourning. JB lived a great life, but at 76 he’s gone too soon. Rolling Stone was quick to publish a wonderful piece on JB’s discography, complete with pictures. I can’t say what my favorite Buffet song is; there are so many. I’m pretty sad knowing that he’s gone.
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My new car rental business is going great. Since handing over my new vehicle to my business partner (a weird feeling – while I vetted the shit out of the guy, it still felt a little naive to just hand over the keys and leave), the car has been rented nonstop. And that’s what you want. It’s called “sweating the asset”. If you have a capital asset making money for you, you want it in service making money for you 24×7. Turo just sent me my third notice of rental, and it’s only been a week. Consider the asset sweated.
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Political news is full of what-ifs thinking that Mitch McConnell might have to be replaced as KY Senator. Gov Beshear has his hands tied pretty tightly on this one, as KY law now says that the Gov must replace a Senator from a short list of three candidates, supplied by the party of the departing Senator, within 21 days. And that person serves until the next general election.
If, and it’s a big if, MM’s condition deteriorates and he’s forced to step down, the new law (passed in 2021) means the KY Republican party doesn’t have much to worry about. But if Beshear had some real guts, he’d do what Mitch would do. What Mitch did with Supreme Court appointees. Beshear would simply slow-roll the required appointment, refusing to appoint anyone until 2024. Republicans would scream and threaten, and eventually the matter would be taken to court. That could get interesting, because the KY Constitution is clear and unambiguous that the Gov has the sole authority to replace a Senator – the new law is in conflict with the KY Constitution. So it would likely take a while, and then the end of 2024 scheduled election would make the whole thing moot.
Mitch is an unmitigated piece of shit who deserves no sympathy. He stole two US Supreme Court seats and gave them to Republicans, and for that he can never be forgiven. He’s the most craven of politicians. I feel sad for him anyway, as no one deserves to have their mind slip away from them.
But back to Beshear, a genuinely good person and politician. It’s unlikely he will play hardball with this issue, but it sure would be great to watch. The fact that he’s dodging questions about whether or not he would comply with the KY law is encouraging, but not conclusive. Stay tuned and pass the popcorn.
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More insomnia, same every night. Last night I spent my time coming up with a potentially-patentable approach to automating a large-scale document tagging problem with generative AI and RPA (robotics process automation) tools. That’s how bad it has gotten. I’ll write up the idea this weekend, but damn, I’d sure like to get some sleep.
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Here’s a great article on writing versus editing. Turns out I’m a much better editor than writer. Mistakes on the page just jump out at me, identifying themselves with no apparent effort on my part. I just see them. One of my writing challenges is that I drop into editing mode way too quickly. I should just write, let the first draft suck, and then go back and edit.
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Finally, I watched one of my all-time favorite movies last night – Bulworth. Bulworth is my favorite movie about politics. Warren Beatty and Halle Berry are brilliant in it, along with a huge cast of all-star actors. It’s crude, a satire, but just as relevant today as when it was made in 1998. The dance scenes with Beatty and Berry – wow. Travolta’s got nothing on them. And the core messages of the film are direct, honest and true. Really enjoyed watching it from start to finish again.