A novel solution to give Americans better access to fresh food is picking up steam across the country: government-owned, government-operated grocery stores. Such stores are touted by proponents as a way to provide groceries to so-called food deserts: communities that have been abandoned by for-profit stores that decided they weren’t worth the investment. But to succeed, public stores have to find ways to compete with the big chains that dominate the industry, keeping costs and prices low.
***
Mamdani isn’t the only lawmaker embracing this approach to cheaper and more accessible groceries. This year, Madison, Wisconsin, is opening a city-owned grocery store in a food desert of its own. Atlanta is set to open two publicly run grocery stores, while Chicago is opening a city-run market. It’s not an entirely new concept. Erie, Kansas, has owned Stub’s Market since mid-2020, buying it when it was at risk of closing, which would have left the city without any grocery stores; city-owned grocery stores exist in two other Kansas towns, including the St. Paul Supermarket, which manages to turn a small profit that is reinvested in store operations.
As we said, BYD is declaring war on Elon Musk and Tesla’s batteries. Better designed, better prepared, and everything suggests they will be a real headache for Tesla.
The research, published in Cell Reports Physical Science, thoroughly analyzed the two technologies setting the pace: BYD’s Blade Battery and Tesla’s 4680 battery. The results not only reveal differences in approach but also significant technical and economic advantages that could tip the balance in BYD’s favor in the coming years.
Oops, Elon. Better keep getting your government subsidies.
Now, I have no interest in returning to my old profession, but in this country all are supposed to be equal before the law. The law is there to protect us - not always well - from encroachments from those with power. Donald Trump is intent on removing that equality and that protection.
This is more than Trump’s revenge, the settling of scores by an agein g capo de tutti capi . It’s an assault on the rule of law, the unifying thread that has held American society together for more than two centuries. It’s a gunfight: between those who believe that, however irksome, due process matters — and those who think it’s superfluous.
And, by and large, Trump’s blitzkrieg is working. Resistance, so far, has been meek. The Republican party is supine, mesmerised by Trump or incapacitated by fear. Trump’s cabinet is starstruck. The Democratic party is comatose. Congressionally appointed public bodies like USAID and the Department of Education are coming out with their hands up.
The only meaningful pushback is from the courts, the third and equal branch of government under the United States constitution. But for now, this feels more like a rearguard action by isolated partisans in the face of well-organised onslaught.
***
For those who need reminding, Congress passes laws, the President administers laws and the courts interpret laws. That’s how America has worked for the past 200 years. It’s a three-ring circus – each intended to keep the other honest and the republic on an even keel.
Trump doesn’t like the idea. He doesn’t see the point. It cramps his style. JD Vance, his boorish Vice-President, goes further. “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power ,” he says. It’s what happens in China or Russia. It’s not what America is.
The presidential memorandum, “Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court,” also ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to recommend revoking attorneys’ security clearances or terminating law firms' federal contracts if she deems their lawsuits against the administration "unreasonable" or "vexatious."
The memo, which was issued Saturday, follows executive orders against three firms: Covington & Burling, which provided pro bono legal services to former special counsel Jack Smith, who indicted Trump multiple times; Perkins Coie, which represented Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign and worked with an opposition research firm that compiled a discredited dossier against Trump; and Paul Weiss, where a former firm partner, Mark Pomerantz, tried to build a criminal case against Trump while he was working at the Manhattan district attorney’s office several years ago.
Faced with President Trump’s shakedown, the Paul, Weiss law firmagreedto a “deal” with Trump that sure looks like a ransom payment.Trump then told reporters that firms like these have the option to make similar “deals” to avoid getting targeted—a straight-up extortion threat right in public. We keep hearing that voters don’t care about this kind of thing. But the White House’s top political adviser is warning that Democratic anger could be a big problem in the midterms—and Trump’s lawlessness is a key driver of it. We talked to New Republic editor Michael Tomasky, who’s been arguing that we’re actually facing multiple constitutional crises and that Democrats must find their footing in this moment. He explains what all this says about Trump’s escalating lawlessness, how Democrats can harness public anger over it, and why real heroics are needed to resist it. Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.
There they start, maybe they start on people you think not much of, but they will come for you, too. Trump likes chaos, right? The law is a bulwark against chaos. What starts far away will come closer and closer until you find that without the law, those in power can do what they like with you and yours.
As for the writing, nothing done, but the rejections keep coming in:
We hope this email finds you well. Thank you for submitting "Problem Solving." Although it doesn't currently meet our needs, we appreciate the chance to read your work.
As writers ourselves, we know that this isn't a pleasant email to receive. Harpur Palate's acceptance rate is less than 5%, and genre editors read each submission. We wish you the best of luck in placing it elsewhere.
Unfortunately, your submission to shortstory.substack.com was not picked as the December 2024 winner. That being said, please feel free to submit for the coming months as submissions are rolling throughout the year.
Remember, a rejection this month doesn't mean a rejection in future months.
I have been busy being busy since Friday, or whenever I made my last report on my existence as a federal prisoner on paper.
The PO did visit Thursday night. He came around 8:45. I heard knocking, not sure if it was not at the back apartment, and called out who was there. No answer. I went to the door, expecting who knows what. No one visits me but my PO. He said I looked happy to see him. Having been scanning for hours, after taking a nap (yeah, sleep is getting in my way), so I was tired, as well as wary of who was on the other side of the door.
He had his usual question about relationships, health, that I keep thinking are more appropriate to 2009. Then he asked about CC. I told him she had saved my life, no sex involved. I said she had saved my life twice. He wanted context, which kind of amused me since he has never been interested in context before. I think he is just surprised that there is a woman in my orbit.
I did not mention that she was in rehab. CC called me Friday. It seemed that rehab was going good for her.
Friday was group, a trip to Payless, a nap, and working on the scanning I had not finished on Thursday.
Saturday, I decided I had enough food to skip the Quaker food bank. I also decided to put off laundry until Sunday. I finished up the work I had started on Thursday. However, I went out to Payless for what I had forgotten on Friday and to Office Deport for a new keyboard. The other had gone on the fritz in the morning. I was working away when CC called, saying she was leaving rehab. I came close to turning her down; she claimed she had had food poisoning, and her boyfriend needed me to drive to Indy. So, I gave in. On the way there, I decided I had been played, and coming home I caught a lie or two from her. That she seemed rather healthy did not help justify my doubts. I drove for about 4 hours - and learned night driving might no longer be for me - and returned angry tempered only exhaustion.
Enough is enough, I decided. She saved my life, I have been trying to help her save herself, but she cannot back up her talk with action. I told her ages ago, she could waste my money but not my time.
I let my ride to church that I was not going today. Which was a good thing. I slept about 9 hours last night, without feeling really rested.
I have spent 3 hours doing some reading, and working on this post. Well, more like finishing off this post. I had started it a few days ago, saving links.
I should probably mention what I have been watching on Netflix, but won't.
In his book, “A Fever in the Heartland,” Egan tells the history of how Stephenson and the KKK ran Indiana in the 1920s.
The impact was startling: One in every three white men in Indiana swore fealty to the Klan, and in Indianapolis, nearly every public office — from the governor to the mayor — was under the Klan’s influence.
Egan’s book made a point to emphasize that Klan members weren’t on the fringe of society, they were “pillars of the community” — and the fact that the Klan was everywhere brought in more members.
“That was one of the most powerful things,” Egan said. “There was this feeling that you were missing something if you didn’t join this secretive organization.”
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In addition to reading “A Fever in the Heartland,” here are some places you can go to learn more:
Visit the Indiana Historical Society’s RESIST! traveling exhibit about Notre Dame students standing up to the KKK in 1924
In light of all this, it’s perhaps surprising that we haven’t seen more housing crisis ghost stories, or, as Róisín Lanigan’s debut has been billed, a “gothic novel for generation rent”. I Want to Go Home But I’m Already There is the story of Áine and Elliot, who have just moved into a rental together in a gentrified area of London. It’s a flat that, ominously, no one else seemed to want. They are both keen to enter a more adult stage of life, but something about the place unnerves Áine from the very start.
It’s a familiar premise, albeit given a fresh spin. Lanigan is a wry and witty observer of how it feels to live now, and some sentences are a delight (“she finished the fizz and put the tinsel in their recycling bin and thought about how long it would take before it disintegrated into the earth. A long time. Maybe never, actually”).
Debt, both as a real monetary burden and a symbolic relational pact, has been a recurring feature of Gurnah’s writing. In his 1987 debut novel, Memory of Departure, impoverished Hassan Omar invites himself into his wealthy uncle’s home in Nairobi, on the basis of an inheritance that is owed to his mother. By the Sea featured two Zanzibari migrants who reunite in an English seaside town, years after a loan gone awry had led one to lose his family home to the other. Paradise, shortlisted for the Booker prize, told the story of young Yusuf’s quest for freedom after he is pawned to an ivory merchant by his parents. It is set in what is now Tanzania; then, at the turn of the 20th century, a beleaguered place on the verge of German colonisation.
Theft is in dialogue with these books, with the motif of debt grounding wider ruminations: on hospitality, autonomy and servitude as well as the nuanced distinction between obligation and generosity. For Gurnah, the record-keeping principle underlying a ledger is also one that animates human exchange more broadly, corrupting even the most innocent of bonds. As the tale progresses, Karim increasingly hectors and dominates Badar, demanding gratitude, deference and eventually even subordination and silence, convinced that without his help, Badar “would have ended up living on the streets as some kind of a criminal”.
The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica, translated from the Spanish by Sarah Moses
Following the unsettling dystopian horror of Tender Is the Flesh, Agustina Bazterrica returns with The Unworthy, a novel that once again examines violence, hierarchy, and survival. This time, Bazterrica shifts her gaze toward a cataclysmic world where the very air could kill. To find shelter, a group of women have turned to the House of the Sacred Sisterhood: a brutal religious order run with an iron fist by Mother Superior, who herself only answers to a mysterious entity referred to as ‘Him’. In a series of letters, the protagonist recounts ceremonies, events, and nightly discoveries as Bazterrica touches on climate disaster, religious fanaticism, and, in the midst of all the darkness, the potential power of friendship. Gory and grotesque, this may not be for the faint of heart but for those who wish to delve deeper into the dark recesses of human nature.
I keep thinking foreigners are writing novels that should be read here because their interests should be ours, and American writers that I know of are not writing about these issues.
Who knew South Africa had a cyber-punk science fiction scene, then I saw the name Neill Blomkamp, and I went duh. Elon Musk and Peter Thiel have South African connections - most obviously Musk - that disturb me. What if Trump is not (only) a Russian asset but an Afrikaner one? Do give Science Fiction Predicted the Rise of the Tech Bro Oligarchy | The Nation a chance.
It should be underlined that birthplace isn’t destiny. Many South African Whites, Beukes and Blomkamp among them, are committed to democracy and determined to make their multiracial country work. Musk and Thiel have made a choice about how to respond to the racist culture in which they were raised, seeking to use Donald Trump and crew to create a 21st-century order based on digital authoritarianism and discrimination. Sadly, we have yet to see any of the libertarian racists now in charge of the US government grow a conscience as Blomkamp’s Wikus did.
Instead of acting like we’ve already lost, we should respond to the radical ambition of the Trump administration with our own radical ambition. For every dramatically destructive policy this administration attempts, we should attempt something as dramatically constructive. He is trying to completely remake society, so we should try to completely remake society. What’s the worst that can happen if we fail? A white supremacist rapist grifter with dreams of being a king becomes president for life with the support of both chambers of Congress and the Supreme Court?
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That idea of starting from one drop, also speaks to the critique that far too few people would actually read this to have any impact on national politics. Like losing our focus on local and state elections, I wonder if our focus on grand displays and gestures has actually hindered our ability to sustain the awareness and activism needed to keep fascism at bay. The Women’s March after Trump’s first election might have been a source for much of the organizing that lead to flipping the House in 2018 and, as positive as that was, Democrats couldn’t keep the House in 2022 and Trump has both chambers now. As big as Planned Parenthood is, it didn’t prevent the overturning of Roe v. Wade or the passing of abortion restrictions that followed. The Harris campaign raised record breaking amounts of money and still lost.
I keep wanting to write the Indiana Democrats, tell them they need to do something radical - take on the power structure of this state, change the state constitution. Procrastination of a sort has kept me doing this - I have only so much time left to myself, so I need to get business taken care of rather than being ignored. Considering how few people comment on anything I write on this blog, tells me how likely anyone listens to me.
I do believe that introducing the referendum, term limits for the General Assembly and county judiciary, an amendment removing political consideration from legislative districting, the recall for all elected officials, ranked voting in primaries, and proportional representation is the solution to many of Indiana's political problems. It would mean that Indiana Democrats would need to stop playing the game of being Republican Lite and learn to fight for their ideas instead of merely accepting second-place status.
Bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. Education and free discussion are the antidotes of both.
Now, for the Orthodox Church:
Education is not a privilege but a sacred responsibility and a fundamental human right. The Orthodox faith teaches that wisdom and knowledge should serve the common good, fostering a society that reflects justice, compassion, and truth. Dismantling the Department of Education or weakening public schools undermines these principles, disproportionately harming the most vulnerable. By defending public education, we answer God’s call to seek justice, cultivate wisdom, and build a community rooted in love and truth.
The Orthodox do not have parochial schools like the Roman Catholics, neither are they like the Romans in having a leader they follow, other than Christ.
Education means a better job. That is one premise that I will not retreat from.
Higher education has never had much of a cachet in Indiana. That an undereducated citizenry is easy prey for the Republicans seems possible to my mind.
Since Indiana's income is lower, it makes a college education seems to make no economic sense.
Therefore, I thought free tuition might turn people's biases around and improve the state. Think free tuition as an investment in the state's economy.
The numbers are stark. Scottish universities receive £7,610 per Scottish-domiciled student per year from the Scottish government. By contrast, English undergraduates pay £9,250 a year for the cost of their studies. As a consequence, Scottish universities have become increasingly reliant on fees from overseas students.
When stated baldly, the capabilities approach (CA) might seem simple – plain common sense. In fact, it is a subtle and far-reaching theory that changes the way we think about human needs. But let me start by stating it baldly: the CA says that it is the task of governments (or other bodies that make policy and distribute resources) to provide all citizens equally with the capabilities needed to lead a flourishing life. (The goal of flourishing, of course, reflects the influence of Aristotle, who held that it’s the primary goal of all organisms to flourish according to their nature.)
The CA could be described as the outcome of three propositions:
All human beings have the right to flourish.
Human flourishing can be broadly defined in universal terms.
It is the task of governments to provide citizens with capabilities to flourish.
Let’s specify what the CA is not. It is not a call for governments to give citizens what they say they need. For citizens may not know what they need. The CA arose in part as a response to the problem of adaptive preferences. A well-known example is the sour grapes phenomenon. The fox claims he didn’t want the grapes because they were green and unripe; but only because he couldn’t reach them. In the same way, people who lead deprived or impoverished lives may suffer from deformation of their preferences.
It’s therefore up to governments (or other appropriate bodies) to put capabilities in place. (Nussbaum has tended to focus on the need to do this for women in particular – not because women are more deserving but because, in many parts of the world, for women the capabilities are in shorter supply.) But what are capabilities? I give Nussbaum’s full list below, but to put the point in general terms, a capability is the opportunity (a genuine, realisable opportunity, not just a formal permission in a published document) to achieve a function required for wellbeing – such as the capability to be adequately nourished, or to be educated, or to choose one’s own partner, or follow the religion of one’s choice.
I went back to Anderson on Monday. Yesterday, I took Cc back to rehab in Indianapolis. Today, I saw the chiropractor. I thought to be asleep by 7 - I was that tired. Then MW called, and I woke up. We talked about an hour. Then I called KH. After that, I did some scanning - my biggest accomplishment of the day. Other than an email to Jennifer. Oh, I had a text from Monday from A. She seems to think I was wanting to get back with her.
Now, I am done with the day. I will need to be up early tomorrow morning.
