Election analysis can be taxing

Whiles in the early winter eve, we pass amid the gathering night, it’s Monday Mail.

Gathering night

Today’s opening is from the poem “The Days That Were” by William Morris.

Winter’s eve

We near the eve of winter now that December’s coming up. The gathering night grows longer until the winter solstice arrives at 5:44 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21, when the sun taps the Tropic of Capricorn and comes south again, and the daylight lengthens incrementally.

December

Thursday will be Dec. 1, which marks a special milestone here in Muscogee County.

It’s when the balance of your property taxes is due, if you didn’t pay the full amount Oct. 1, when you had to pay at least 40 percent.

The tax office in Columbus’ Citizen Services Center at 3111 Citizens Way, off Macon Road by the public library, is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Anyone with questions may call 706-653-4211 or email dfloyd@columbusga.org.

You can pay in cash, checks or money orders, but not credit cards. Checks should be payable to the Muscogee County Tax Commissioner.

The address is P.O. Box 1441, Columbus, GA 31902-1441. Any taxpayer mailing a payment must get it postmarked by Dec. 1 to meet the deadline.

Election rejection

In the email today we have reader responses to last Monday’s column making fun of all the election analysis dominating our news channels, a sickening rehash of everything we’ve already heard proffered as insightful and enlightening.

A more apt description can be found in the Bible, Proverbs 26:11: “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.”

Lucky for some, cable TV offers a variety of options:

Tim,

I loved your column today! Couldn’t agree more, as far as getting away from TNN — “Trump Network News.” In similar desperation, we’ve tried (1) Public Television (nature shows are pretty restful), The Travel Channel (this guy can eat more food than Anthony Bourdain), and especially The National Geographic Channel (watching dire threats about global warming is more cheerful than having to look at The Donald’s face).

Charlotte Kennedy.

Dear Charlotte:

You know global warming is a hoax that China invented, right?

“The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive,” Donald Trump tweeted.

That’s just the sort of prank we’d expect China’s leaders to come up with. Those guys have a great sense of humor.

Groovy movies

Here’s another message:

Tim,

I couldn’t agree more about not listening to news analysts. Most everyone was wrong about the election so why would they have today’s analyses right? And as for Trump, his position changes every day, so why hear him? I can do without political rhetoric for four years. Turner Classic Movies has greater appeal than it has in quite a while.

Cliff.

Dear Cliff:

I don’t get cable — literally, I mean, though I guess that also could mean I don’t get what makes it worth the cost, too — so my options are limited, as far as TV channels. All I have to choose from is broadcast TV.

So I spend a lot of time watching old reruns of “The Andy Griffith Show.” It reminds me what a simple, peaceful era the 1960s were. I look forward to returning to it when we make America great again.

Wordless

Also regarding the election is this email about an analysis of how Columbus voted for president. It appears to come from someone named Mike:

It looks to me like there is a correlation with the precincts voting overwhelmingly for Clinton and the location of our failing schools. I can’t understand why people just don’t get it. Unfortunately, this trend will continue until we become a country of illiterates.

Dear Mike:

Then no one will be able to read all the fake news stories posted on Facebook, will they?

That’s a shame.

This story was originally published November 27, 2016 at 7:17 PM with the headline "Election analysis can be taxing."