Administrivia: We're Back!

[walkitout]

I'll do trip reports (backdated) hopefully later today or tomorrow. I'm also planning on doing a hopefully short but probably longer than I want it to be post about the electoral college, the decennial census and redistricting. This intersecting set of complicated aspects of our democracy is apparently completely opaque to many if not most voters, and has powerful, lasting effects on elections. The 2020 census is close enough that it affects planning for where we direct our energies (state legislature races in the next cycle(s) especially), and I am concerned that even though the 2010 redistricting was disastrous for Democrats and continues to deliver elections to Republicans, Democrats in general remain unaware of the importance of state legislature races in the years leading up to a census year and the associated redistricting. And we wind up blaming the wrong people when we lose elections.

But first, trip reports! Because there is a lot more to life than politics.