All Politics -- Nothing About The Bakken --- February 5, 2020

Wow, wow, wow --- new Gallup poll -- after impeachment, but before the SOTU address. The percent of Americans polled who have a positive view of the GOP:

• September, 2019: 43%
• after impeachment: 51%

Americans:

• prefer fair play; the US House impeachment was anything but fair
• like the underdog; the longer this went on, the more Trump looked like an underdog

Best news all day: the opportunist shows his cards -- Mitt Romney says he will vote to convict President Trump. The big question: when will Romney declare himself as an independent? He will have a lot of free time. going forward. No meaningful committee assignments, and certainly no committee chairs. Won't be invited to (m)any White House functions or GOP luncheons. A man without a party. One of the nice things about these votes: the president will know who his friends really are.

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Market

Dow: up 483 points at the close, at the very time the vote on the US Senate impeachment trial.

NASDAQ: second consecutive day with new all-time record.

Both NASDAQ and S&P 500 with new all-time records. 

Stocks in the news:

• Tesla: warns of Model 3 delays in Shanghai.
• GM: drops Lyft as a partner. 
• PSX: no dividend change. 

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The Book Page

Rediscovering Homer: Inside the Origins of the Epic, Andrew Dalby, c. 2006.

Finally, a book that really, really explains how we got from the oral version of the Iliad and the Odyssey to the written works.

For the "reader's digest" version, two links:

• Milman Parry, wiki; and, 
• the making of the Homeric verse, NY Times