Another exciting day here in WV, as it election day, so I dutifully went to the polls and voted for a bunch of people who will NEVER EVER EVER get elected here because I vote in the Democratic primaries, so that was eventful. Afterwards I had to drive to Morgantown because in my infinite wisdom while in Arizona in December I scheduled a bunch of appointments today, not knowing that it was election day and every place would be packed.
Regardless, it was a nice drive, made better by the fact that I spent the whole drive down and back listening to a fabulous podcast by none other than a Balloon Juice commenter (I honestly forget her handle) Rose Judson. It’s called “Books of All Time,” and it is described as “Books of All Time tackles classic literature in chronological order. Each month, host Rose Judson summarizes a classic work of literature in one episode and then dives into the story behind it in the second episode.”
It’s REALLY good. The stories are fun and informative, the background episodes are equally fun, and what I like most about it is that it is SOOO ACCESSIBLE. It’s not super inside baseball- someone with only a passing knowledge of some of the texts will be on the same footing as an expert or someone who has never heard about them. Plus, Rose has a delightful voice and the time just passes by.
I was just chatting with her the other day and she mentioned her podcast, and I am glad she did! I’ve also asked her if she would like to do a zoom book club with us at some point, and she said yes and seemed excited about it, so we are going to try to schedule something in July/August. That way all of you should have plenty of time to listen to the podcasts if you are so inclined.
You can find it on Spotify here, Apple here, and you can search your other podcast delivery places on your own. I give it two thumbs up.
The first appointment was with a dermatologist to check two tiny rough patches on my back to see if they were something I should be concerned about, and they are in fact basically aging spots that everyone gets, but while I was there I had them remove some skin tags that had grown on my back. My doctor was super nice and she had a nice young PA who was only on her second day, and I told them that it would be perfectly fine with me if the PA did them to help her learn, and they were very excited. I lay down on my stomach and I didn’t feel a thing and it was over in a jiffy, and I was told that I “did a great job,” to which I responded that I am very good at lying down in fact I was a natural and practiced as often as I could.
Next up was the eye doctor, and that was kind of irritating because they did the whole numbing drops and dilated my pupils. I hate that. At any rate, everything was ok and I am developing cataracts, albeit very very minor ones, but I should keep an eye on them to which I said “ehh what’s another torpedo in a sinking ship,” which seemed to upset her a little as she winced. She’s young. She’ll understand one of these days.
Back to WV politics. By the Way of Joe My God, I learned this about my Governor, Jim Justice, who may one day be my Senator:
The son of a coal magnate, Mr. Justice took over the family business in 1993 and expanded its interests beyond coal, with acquisitions in agriculture and high-end hospitality. Like many sprawling enterprises, the Justice companies have taken on prodigious debts. But they have also taken on a reputation for not paying them — and that may be catching up to them.
A bank in neighboring Virginia that has served the Justice family for decades has begun the process of collecting on more than $300 million in defaulted loans. Some of the family business’s prized assets, chief among them the 246-year-old Greenbrier resort, are in the bank’s sights, and collections on the governor’s personal bank accounts and even his house are now a possibility. Efforts have already been underway in Virginia to seize properties belonging to Mr. Justice’s son, James C. Justice III, the president of the family companies.
In West Virginia, the tax authorities have placed liens on Greenbrier properties for millions in unpaid taxes, only months after auctioning off tax-delinquent properties owned by the governor elsewhere in the state.
Collecting on such substantial debt has pitted creditors against one another, at times to the Justices’ benefit. One bank sued Mr. Justice along with a number of banks last month after discovering that the collateral for one of its loans, some land near the Greenbrier, had also been pledged to a host of other lenders.
I’m officially over right wing fake billionaires running the world, I really am.
That’s it for me. Battlestar Galactica is streaming for free on Amazon Prime, so I am off to rewatch Caprica first before starting that. Take care.