Month: September 2016

Why is it dangerous?  Not because I am in any physical peril – I’ve not been to a Trump rally.  Rather, it’s difficult to be a dispassionate observer of politics without one’s own bias getting in the way, and then you can just sound like you are hectoring.  I don’t have too much of a bias in this election on policy, as my personal politics are neither Republican nor Democrat: I’m too socially liberal to vote for the GOP, and too economically liberal to vote Democrat.  Luckily, as an immigrant, I’m not allowed to vote so I don’t have to make that decision.

In any case, South Carolina is not “in play”.  According to the polls, South Carolina’s 9 electoral votes are around 93% likely to go to Trump.  Demographically, Trump gets more support from those who identify as religious, those who are older, those who are white, and those with less education.  Clinton takes all the opposite supporters: the young, the less religious, the better educated, plus around 85% support from blacks.

Given these demographics, it’s probably no surprise that Clinton is ahead on the West Coast and in the North East, whilst the rest of the country is swathed in Republican red, barring a few outliers like Colorado.  It’s all fascinating for data geeks – the problem is that the wall-to-wall news coverage is finally starting to grate.

Personally, I don’t find either of the candidates very inspiring.  Of course if I had to choose, I couldn’t imagine an unstable egomaniac like Trump as Commander-in-Chief, so I would plump for Hillary.  But it’s certainly not a positive choice for me, nor would it be for many others, more like the lesser of two evils.  Less pro-Hillary than anti-Donald.

And here is where the potential problem arises, and we can draw an unfortunate parallel with Brexit.  In the UK, Millennials were strongly in favour of remaining in Europe, but didn’t turn out to vote, only to be disgusted by the outcome.  Here in the US, Millennials and younger voters were strong supporters of Obama, but are not as enthusiastic about Clinton.  Of course, they would be appalled by the prospect of a Trump Presidency.  But will they turn out and vote?  Or will they, as in Britain, stay at home and then complain furiously on Twitter that they didn’t like the result they couldn’t be bothered to vote for.

Anyway, the best commentary on the Presidential election we have seen is this billboard, which has appeared just outside Charleston:

After a lengthy hiatus, where I was ill, we bought a house, we went on holiday, we were ill again, and so on, I have finally got myself back to the blog.  I hope you’ve missed me.

Two things to talk about this week.  First we are getting a good, old-fashioned, Yorkshire-style drenching from Tropical Storm Julia, who has parked herself just off the coast.  It’s been raining solidly for 24hrs so far and shows no immediate signs of stopping.  This being the Low Country, there isn’t a great deal of place for rain water to drain to, especially when the tides are high, so the lowest-lying parts of the area normally end up under water.  Apparently this is partly why so many people have SUVs or trucks, even though they live in town: so they can drive through the flooded streets without getting waterlogged.

Anyway, a day of solid rain prompted some absolutely hilarious jokes from my new colleagues: “I guess you’re used to this weather, Chris.” “I’m sure you feel at home now.”  Yeah, nice one guys, ha ha.

On a slightly drier note, it’s Charleston Beer Week at the moment.  So on Monday night, some friends and I went to two new breweries: one called Ghost Monkey, and one called Two Blokes – because the owners are, um, two blokes.  Here’s Ghost Monkey: despite being in an unprepossessing warehouse building with no obvious entrance, it’s pretty funky when you get inside, with a pool table, live music and a dog or two.

The beer is pretty tasty too, and strong – though pretentiously-named.  I couldn’t bring myself to ask for a pint of “Hey Bruh?”, so had to go generic and call it IPA instead!

The Charleston Brews Cruise (yes, really) took us to the next brewery, a similar warehouse-style place, run by the eponymous Two Blokes.  Both of said blokes have stupendous facial hair: the head brewer has gone full Fu Manchu.  I’m sure beards are obligatory for craft brewing.  The beer at Two Blokes was excellent, though it was also so strong that after only a couple more drinks I was trying to get myself home to collapse in an embarrassed lightweight heap.