Odd Neighbors

I've mentioned my odd neighbors across the street before.  The lived there a couple of years several years ago, and  moved back last year.  It is a rental place.  I think the guy is the son of the McMansion guy next door to that house.

They yell a lot late at night and usually outside and I mean 3 am.  The one child I see always seems unhappy.  

Now there is something new going on.  They change the color of the light bulb at the side door every few days.  Sometimes it is red, sometimes blue, sometimes purple.  Well, fine, you display and decorate as you like.  None of my business, I suppose.  But I tend to try to understand patterns and this one is "interesting".  

When the guy changes it to red, the woman comes out and screams "not again"!  Talk about a mystery...  Drugs?  Prostitution?  Poker game night?  Who knows...

I worry about my immediate next-door neighbors sometimes too.  They are the ones who decided to burn brush near my wood fence underneath small dry trees last year during a drought until I demanded they stop.  Their only fire control was a small bucket and a kiddy pool.  Well, their 2 young kids were suddenly outside screaming at midnight.  Midnight?

I went outside and saw the woman standing on the porch and asked if everything was OK.  In a monotone, she said "yes".  I asked again and mentioned that neighbors can help if there is a problem and she called the kids inside and closed the door.  

The lady across the street in the McMansion was out walking her dog and I asked if she had heard the screaming.  She didn't answer directly, but said the kids play in their yard sometimes and seem OK.

How do you know what to do in a situation like that?  Maybe they just let their kids stay up late in these odd pandemic days.  Maybe they are having problems but feel safe in the neighbor's yard around the friendly lady and the friendly dog.  Maybe there is nothing wrong and I am becoming a busybody.

Or maybe I will see police cars at the house some day and know I should have called some authority. 

I VOTED!

I voted.  Not sure whether it counts as Friday when I watched the Mailperson pick up my mail-in ballot or when the Election Board acknowledged (by email) receiving it Tuesday (and they initiated the email).  But apparently it was acceptable and will be counted as if I was there on Election Day.  My State of Maryland has a general view that as many people as possible should vote, that IS sort of the purpose of a democracy after all.

I watch the political news channels most of the day*.  I see about States where the Republicans fight to reduce voting as much as possible and the Democrats fight to make things easier to vote.  It amazes me.  I would rather my candidate lose honestly than win through trickery.   MSNBC discussed a list of lawsuits the Republicans have tried or are trying to reduce voting.  

My apologies to any Republicans who also want to see increased voting.  There are honest people in both parties.    Just, it seems, fewer.  

Fraud is not the actual cause of Republican concerns.  Republican, Democratic, and neutral academics  have all looked for examples of voter fraud the past few years and none of them ever find any.  Well, there was a minor case of a Republican who did some deliberate trickery in North Carolina, but it was easily detected and had little effect.  And one Democrat tried to help elderly local voters by going around and collecting legitimate ballots and delivering them to a Ballot Drop-Off Box (but the investigation revealed he delivered ballots supporting both parties so he was merely advised on the law).

There have been some more serious local concerns.  In some majority-Democrat areas,  Ballot Drop Off Boxes have been set on fire inside to destroy ballots.  It is the major and organized attempts to suppress voting that concern me and I won't go into detail here.  Since those are on the major news channels, I don't have to go into that.

*  Cable TV is becoming lower-quality again.  There isn't much information stuff to watch.  The Science Channel used to have great shows about actual science, now they show cheap garbage about alien contact and paranormal stuff.  The History Channel thinks shows about pawn shops buying 50 year old stuff is "history".  National Geographic thinks shows about animals is "geographic".  National Geographic Wild thinks shows about zoos is "wild".  Animal Planet thinks Vet shows are about the only animals.  And they even deceive about that.  "Dr Pol treats cats" actually means 10 minutes of cats and 50 minutes of dogs and horses.

I have a lot of good science, nature, and history DVDs.  But I know them all by heart now.  We need new ones...   I really need to get my CD player working again.  If it isn't just some failed wire, I have a new one sitting in a box for 3 years.  I really need to pull everything away from the wall and solve some problems.  I just hate wiring and plugs. 

 

Laz

I have mentioned recently that Laz has been getting better in adapting to the house.   I may not have have mentioned HOW much better he is doing.

There is still an occasional hiss from Ayla (she is reluctant to trust him) and when you get attacked, you remember it.  And I don't blame her for remembering being attacked.  But I haven't heard a screech in a week (maybe 2) and only softer hisses.

Laz is reacting positively to being let outside.  He got over the fence once a couple/few weeks ago (I think from my compost bin) and observing him desperately trying to jump back up (down is easier than up), I don't think he will do it again soon.  And besides, I now have a board set on the likely jump point loose on edge.  If he tries to jump from that, he will have a very negative experience.  On the other hand, if he does do it, I have one fence board barely attached so that he has a way home.

I know I said I was going to build a small enclosure for him to sit outside in, but I realized what he needed was "running around space".  He is young, full of energy, and I think the outside (in limited and controlled conditions) are good for cats.  

Being outside and exploring the yard (usually with Marley and/or me outside with him) has calmed him.  At first, he did not respond to my calls to return to the house.  The outside was too strong an attraction.  But lately, he has been responding.  That is a major success.  

I am pleased to say he now routinely comes in when called.  It helps when he sees Marley coming back to the house, but he more often does it on his own.  Not always, of course, but what cat ALWAYS responds to calls immediately?

The point is that he usually does and is getting better at it.  That I give treats to all when they do helps.  Well, you can't give treats or food to one and not all.  They KNOW!  I swear, I could give treats to Laz out in the yard and Marley and Ayla would be waiting for theirs inside.  Ayla has several special places where she expects food and sometimes I think that if I even WROTE about food, she would go to one of her places expecting some.

Not to get off-topic entirely, but Ayla decides WHERE she will eat.   I sometimes have to follow her through 3 rooms until she decides where the RIGHT place to eat is.  LOL!

But back to Laz...

Laz is calmer around Ayla.  Ayla has been more willing to come out of the bedroom and Mews Room.  Laz is much more "touchable".  He used to stay just out of reach walking by, but now he comes close enough for a back stroke and sometimes attention.  He loves chin rubs and strokes when he is on the cat tree platform and he flops right over on the waterbed seeking attention a LOT more than he used to.

He talks constantly.  He has a voice like a rusty gate, but even then, not as loud and worried-sounding as a couple months ago...  He is getting better in bed.  He used to push and shove against me very hard.    That might have been desperation about contact with his "new safe Being".  Now he has learned he can stay there longer with softer contact.  Laz and Ayla have peacefully slept around me the past 2 weeks and that would have been impossible a month ago.

Thinks are looking a LOT better than just a few weeks ago.  I think Laz has made some adjustment in his mind (forgot some bad memories, learned new ones, reconsidered his position here, learned to calm down, discovered he could expend youthful energy running around the yard, learned to trust me, connected to Marley, accepting Ayla, etc).

So Laz is here.  And he won't be going anywhere.

 

Political Stuff

It's a week before the US Presidential et al elections and I'm losing my mind.  I don't mind saying that I voted for Biden.  If Trump wins I think my head will explode.  I have disliked the candidate I didn't support before, but never felt complete utter disgust.

I mailed my ballot Friday.  I hope it gets there on time.  I mean, it only has to travel to the next town and 11 days should be way more than safe.  I could probably mail a letter to someone in China in 11 days.  I have a tracking number, so I will check in a couple days.

My State (Maryland) is so Democratic it probably wouldn't matter if it didn't.  Even my County (which was very Republican when I moved here 34 years ago) is now thoroughly Democratic.  Maryland is so completely Democratic that neither Trump nor Biden bothered to visit here (that I know of).  I don't even get political telephone calls or emails.

Still, you never know until it is over.  I went into some shock when Clinton lost in 2016 and even waited 2 days for everyone to announce they reported it wrong.

I was watching some TV interviews with people doing early voting in person today.  It was about how long they had been waiting to vote.  Most said "several hours".  But when the interviewer asked one lady, I just KNEW the answer.  "4 years".  And that is exactly what she said a few seconds later.  I often do that with movies, new commercials, and political speeches.  

I'm waiting with bated breath for Trump to do or say something dramatic to try a last-ditch effort to win.  Announcing  a Covid-19 vaccine, a major tax break for the non-wealthy, firing Mitch McConnell, a war with North Korea, something, who knows?  

He's desperate.  If he loses the election, a half dozen States are just waiting to charge him with a boatload of tax crimes, loan fraud, and who knows what else?  If the Department of Justice is free of his control, they might have things to investigate even he can't pardon himself for.

So nothing Trump does between now and the election will surprise me.  But watch me get surprised.  "Aliens are arriving November 2nd, NASA says so"...

If Biden was up 20 points in every State, I would still be worried.

And I ponder the consequences of Trump still being in office until January 20 even if he loses.  He could do a lot of damage in rage and revenge.  And that would be in his pattern of past behavior.  Let's just say politely that "he does not respond well to rejection".

If Trump loses, I will credit Biden for staying calm and rational in the face of insults and attacks.  I will credit Harris for energy and support and fundraising.  I will credit Obama for getting on the campaign trail at the end (not too early, not too late) and being himself at his best.  His campaign speeches were great.

But mostly, I will credit the Democratic voters who turned out in 2020 who didn't turn out out for Clinton (though if they had, we wouldn't be in this hot mess),  the Republican voters of 2016 who realized that they made a mistake (everyone makes a mistake sometimes) and changed their minds about Trump,  all the Republican strategists and columnists who turned away from Trump in the past couple years (that must have been hard to do).  

And I also will credit the resiliency of American Democracy.  Not that other Nations don't have some strong traditions and history of their own, but the Trump Presidency has been a particular challenge. The US is often said to be a "Nation Of Laws".  Sometimes that means we pay more attention to "laws" than we do to "justice".  My personal opinion is that we depend on law and limit justice in hopes of fairness and consistency.

But, as we have discovered in the Trump Presidency, we are more a Nation of "norms" than we realized.  It wasn't until Trump and Senate Leader McConnell started ignoring the informal rules that this legal loophole became clear.  Decades and even a century of informal rules have been broken or ignored for short-term political gain.

Past political leaders have always played "hardball".  They bullied their own party members to get things done and threatened the other party with consequences.  Political leaders have a lot of control over campaign funds to recalcitrant party members, funds to States, and laws which benefit some industry or not.  Politics at the top level are not for sissies.

But some rules have been agreed upon by both sides.  You don't kick the opponent party TOO hard when they are down, because the boot will be on the other foot soon enough and revenge is certain.  If you want something, you give a little bit to get what you really want.  You talk to each other to understand what they care about the most.  If you need a bridge built in your State, you look for someone on the other side who needs a highway in theirs.  Give and take.

In a democracy, "politics is the art of the possible".  In an authoritarian government, politics means "stomping on the opposition and grinding them into the dirt".  It means destroying the Civil Service.  It means ridding the government of any and all of the people who are experts in their fields who disagree with you.

Trump has been working toward "authoritarianism" for 4 years.  It's time to call a halt to the whole damaging process and get back to the usual "fight like hell but obey the norms" again.

Secret Pooper

I have a wildlife camera.  One of those things you set up to take pictures of deer and whatever.  I set it up to figure out which of the Mews were pooping on the bath mat.  Well, I knew it wasn't Marley, I've been cleaning litterboxes a long time and 16 lb Marley's are larger (and I know he uses them because he isn't shy about it when I am in the basement near them).  And Ive never caught Ayla or Laz using them when I could see.

So it is either Ayla or Laz and it started when Laz was here a few months.  But Ayla was stressed when he arrived.  Aya could be avoiding wandering the house, or Laz could be claiming territory.  So can't tell.  

I set up the camera.  Sadly, it was too close to get a decent picture and both Laz and Ayla went in and out of the frame.

So I set up a raised platform which gave a better view and was slightly farther away.  That should work.  And there were 2 pooping incidents.  

Aha, "gotcha ya".  So I pulled the little SD disc out of the camera yesterday and loaded it into the back of the computer and opened the file.  Nothing. 

The camera was "off".   It's maddening sometimes.  There isn't any light that tells you it is "on".    The display that says the "battery condition" apparently doesn't mean the camera is on or off.  There is a small "status light" that never lights either way.  

So the "Secret Pooper" remains unsure.  There is no great harm being done.  The bath mats are easy to wash and I have 2,  one to set to air dry after washing (I wouldn't risk running a rubber-backed mat through the dryer)  and one to set down.  And better on an easily washable bathmat than a room carpet or wood floor.  

But the mystery continues...

Got Some Yard Stuff Done

It wasn't easy, but at least it isn't raining most days,  That sure helps.  It;s uncomforable pulling up overgrown weeds when everything is wet.  I tend to agree with the cats - yuck on the WET!

So it was dry enough to get into the overgrowth.  And it was still bad.  Brambles, wild blackberry canes, and those damn little triangular green "sticky seeds" from some weed.  And those plants with purple stems and purple berries that stain everything they touch.    

Well, you start by cutting them all down. and dragging them out.  And heavy leather gloves even let you handle the damn blackberry canes.   So I got most of the bad stuff eliminated at ground level.  From there, I can dig without being grabbed by thorns.  

So of course, it started to rain...

I have a trailerful of sapling debris loaded.  But the County yard debris drop off place is a pit.  So if it rains,  its all mud.  And it has rained most of this Summer.  I need a week of no rain to dispose of this.  And I have 2 more loads to go.  

The extra unloaded debris has been stacked up in "easy to move" piles and the grass has grown up among it 18" high!  I need 2 days to bring it all away.  I'm not allowed to burn it.  

The backyard has gotten overgrown again.  I have a brush mower.  But thinking I would use it one more time last Fall, I left gas in it.  Now I can't start it.  And the only repair shop here is a slow expensive place for even such a simple repair.  I deal with wood, not engines.  I need to drag the darn thing out and try some tricks about cleaning carburators.  Or hand it over to the repair place and wait 6 weeks for a $200 bill.  I really hate messing with gas engines, so it falls 50/50.  But I need to clear the back yard of the overgrowth.  

I have other stuff that needs chain saw work.   Half a tree died and fell over a couple of months ago.  Fortunately, it barely missed the 2 nearest saplings I planted 2 Falls ago and are getting established.  But vines are growing up them.  I removed vines last Fall, and have to do it again.  I think I will cover the ground around them with 3 feet square of old carpet.  I've done that with other young trees and it works well,  Regular old carpet lets rain through but not weeds weed up.  Dont try that with outdoor carpet though.  It has rubber backing and rain won't sink through.

The meadow bed has reached its full growth of  weeds and grasses and desirable flowers for the year, so I know what to pull out and what to leave.  That should improve things a lot for next year.  The bad news is that it is mostly weeds.  One thing I have learned is that a meadow bed is HARD to establish and takes more attention than I realized.  The bad news for the weeds is that I am VERY persistent.

It is a constant struggle, but some meadow bed enthusiasts say that persistanse WILL win out and the the flowers will shade out the weeds.  I hope they are right.

Where I leave bare spots in the meadow bed from pulling up grasses and large weeds, I will dig up black-eyed Susans and Purple Coneflowers from the garden paths where I don't want them (volunteers) and transplant them.  And I'll be saving seeds from the desirable flowers for scattering around next Spring.  They are all self-seeders but I will help them a bit with a very thin layer of compost in March,

You do what you can...

Laz Screwed Up Yesterday

It wasn't a great day yesterday.  In the morning, Laz suddenly decided to  attack Ayla when she dared to come out of the bedroom.  He had been good for days, so both she and I hoped he was getting used to the house.   And I thought that the outside time of the past few days was calming him down.  

He got to run around, explore, discover new things, wander around with Marley, etc...

No such luck.  He suddenly lit into her RIGHT AT MY FEET.  Forgive me, but I had to kick him to get him to stop!  And he went right after her again!  She ran for the bedroom with him right behind her.  I followed.  She hid.  

And he had the nerve to look back at at me like "what's wrong".  I comforted Ayla.  No wonder she is peeing on the bathroom mat and in the toilet.  She dares not go down to the litterboxes.

Laz follows Marley around outside.  When they tussle inside or out, he tussles friendly.  I don't know why.  Maybe he tussled rough and Marley beat the crap out of him...  But Ayla can't do that.  She is becoming terrified of him.

I've been patient and attentive to Laz.  I know he had a hard start in life and I've treated him carefully and gently.  But basically, he is a mean bastard.  I don't know what to do.

And yesterday afternoon, when I let him out with Marley, things seemed fine.  At one point I briefly went out front to get the mail.  When I came back in, he was in the neighbor's yard.  He jumped the fence.  And he was crying and calling.  Well, there is a spot where a cat can can halfway up so getting UP is easy.  and getting down is easy.  Getting BACK up is harder.

I got him to follow me back and forth near the fence.  He tried to jump up but couldn't.  I finally unscrewed a fence board off so he could walk right through.  Would he?  NO!  Not will I was there.  He doesn't respond to whistles, clicks or any sound I make.  After 5 months, he doesn't recognize his name or even "dinner".  I practically have to shove a bowl under his nose.

He came back through the removed fence board only WHEN I wasn't there.

Laz needs to be an "only cat".  And I think an indoors cat.

He is GREAT around ME!  Flops down in front of me and requests scritchies.  Never suggests using a claw.  Likes me a lot.  And for himself, I like HIM.  He just can't be around other (or maybe just "smaller") cats.  

I have never given up on any cat in my life before, but I am beginning to now.  Maybe I'm just depressed, but this is not working out.  Laz needs a different home and I feel like such a damn failure saying that.

Any suggestions? 

Politics

 I have given some thought to the comments I received on the previous post.  In once sense, I do apologize.  I shouldn't have discussed politics among friends.  

I AM very political personally, but I usually keep that to some discussion boards dedicated to controversial subjects.  And I would be wise to simply drop it now.  

Well, who ever said I was wise?  I do want to reply.  

A commentor replied...

“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice,” McConnell said in a statement released after Scalia’s death. “Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”.

 

And indeed many Republicans agreed.  Some even said they should be quoted about that in the future if the situation came up again.  It has. and they are reversing their positions for political convenience.

 

I don't care if a politician or individual is Republican or Democratic or Green or whatever in their views.   We all have the right to our political views.

What I abhor is hypocrisy.  If you support "A" today, you should support "A" tomorrow.  Even if it is not convenient or beneficial.  I do, and it is sometimes rather painful.  

For example, Senator Mitt Romney declared that he supports Trump naming a new Supreme Court Justice now just weeks before the election.  Well, he said the same thing when Obama wanted to name a Supreme Court Justice in an election year (though that was 10 months before).  But that was basically consistent and honest.

 

The commentor also expressed  (about the Kavanaugh Hearings) "If you don't think that was atrocious and vicious and senseless I don't know what I can say. I watch the hearings from gavel to gavel and it shames me how some people used politics and smearing lies on such a man with fine character."

 

The hearings focussed on contradictory statements made by Kavanough, not his character or "smearing lies".   

 

Kananugh had written previously that “I am not sure that all legal scholars refer to Roe as the settled law of the land at the Supreme Court level since Court can always overrule its precedent, and three current Justices on the Court would do so.”

 

Yet he told the Senator hearings he considered Roe “settled as a precedent of the Supreme Court".

 

You can't say both.  That was a hypocrisy.  

 

My personal objections to Donald Trump are many.  In an ordinary year, they would be about political views and programs.  But he has gone beyond  "political views and programs".

 

He has admitted he wants to become President-For Life. He is deliberately damaging voting systems by slowing down the US Mail and directing supporters to eliminate ballots, directing his supporters to vote once by mail and again at voting booths, suggesting armed supporters to intimidate voters, suggesting that he will not accept election results, and wants the courts and the Senate to overturn oting results.

 

The newest idea is that if he can delay voting results long enough, College Of Electors will be tossed out and State Legislatures will decide.   Most of which are Republican-controlled.  But that might cause even conservative Supreme Court Justices to gag.

 

That's why he wants a new Supreme Court Judge in place BEFORE Election Day. One more might go in his favor...

 

OK, I've said enough.  But I felt a response was owed... 

Can't Stay Away

I thought I would probably just stay offline for a week and see what developed after US Supreme Court Justice Ginsberg died, but there is little value in doing that. The Republican party has made it clear that they will appoint a very conservative justice to replace a liberal one.  I just didnt expect them to act so fast.

There are couple things going on here and I just can't stay silent.  The first is that Justice Ginsberg was an unusually thoughtful and careful thinker.  I always personally thought she was special.  While I don't try to read detailed legal decisions, I always found summaries of her questions and arguments to be clearer and more focused than most other Supreme Court Justices (some of whose were downright bizarre and represented political goals more than they did law).

The second is that her replacement will likely be extremely conservative and likely to tilt the Court to a degree of reactionary conservatism.  I am scared, angry, and worried about a generation of reversals of basic civil right decisions.

For the benefit of those who do not pay as much attention to The Supreme Court as they do the Presidency or Congress (as so many do not in the US and do not really need to elsewhere), here is a brief summary of the politicalization of the US Supreme Court...

In our history, there have been times when the Supreme Court nominees were very political chosen.  But after WWII until a few decades ago, nominees were generally moderates chosen for legal expertise and a sense of some political neutrality.  That was mostly because both the Democratic and Republican parties had liberal and conservative members and no extremely ideological judge could get through the Senate for approval.

As the political parties began to chose a side in "self-purging",  Supreme Court candidates became more representative of party politics.  One could blame Richard Nixon for bringing Southern Democratic conservatives and Republican conservatives together to form a new majority Republican party under the idea of "law and order" (a code word for racism and white supremacy).  Economic and liberal Republicans moved to the Democratic party which promised "a big tent".  I was one of them.

Over the next couple of decades, both parties spread apart ideologically.  The Republicans realized that taking over The Supreme Court had advantages for a decade or more (the Democrats, to my constant amazement, never seemed to catch on to that).   Republicans went for advantage; Democrats stayed respectful of the Preident's right to select Judges at all levels

In this century, timing of Supreme Court retirements and deaths has given the Republicans the opportunity to name more Supreme Court judges than the Democrats.  But it isn't JUST that.  There is a major difference between Republicans and Democrats.  

Republican politicians come from businessmen and lawyers used to fighting to win by any means.  Democrats tend to come from community activists used to succeeding by creating consensus among groups.  Republicans enjoy high-stakes poker; Democrats let their kids win at Candyland*.  Let's say both play chess.  Republicans will try a a Fool's Mate playing their Mother; Democrats will try to let their friends get a draw.  Republicans are Dad who sends you to your room for not finishing dinner; Democrats are Mom who sneaks you dessert later. 

That may be changing as Democrats see the lack of benefit by seeking consensus and getting kicked in the face for trying.   

But here's my point...  

In February 2016,  conservative Supreme Court Justice Scalia died.  It was the right of President Obama to name and expect to have approved a replacement.  He nominated Merrick Brian Garland (who serves as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He has served on that court since 1997 with good reputation).  

Republican US Senate Leader Mich McConnell declared it was improper for a President to name a Supreme Court Judge in an election year  (this was 10 months before the election).  Most all other Republicans agreed and some even swore on camera that they would never change their minds on this issue as a "matter of principle".  Because the nominee should be chosen by the next President.

Now it is 2020, only 48 days before the next election.  President Trump is demanding to name Ginsberg's replacement and those Republican Senators who swore never to allow a Court approval at any point in an election year are saying they will approve anyone Trump names within days.

My Dad hated "lying"; I hate "hypocrisy".  They are close but different.

In a way, it doesn't matter what the views of Trump's nominee are.  It is the hypocrisy of the Republican Senators who changed their views just as a matter of winning.  I am disgusted by the amorality and
hypocrisy of the Republican party in this matter.

    -----------------

* When I was growing up, my family played board games a lot.  Dad was lethal.  Mom probably was kinder.  But Dad never explained how he won.  He just LOVED winnng at anything.  And when I got better at any game than him, he stopped playing it.  Granted, I learned a lot from losing and DID figure out his secrets slowly.

Move ahead to 1980.  My parents (who said we should always stay close together as a family) suddenly went and moved from MD to NH taking my minor sister with them.  So I visited them each Summer.  Sis liked to play board games too.  Her favorite was Careers.  I was lethal, like Dad.  And that probablt distressed her at first because I was her "adored Big Brother".  

But I kept showing her what I had done to win (and there were many ways), and she caught on o the idea that I was teaching her how to play games.  I explained there was a way of looking at how a game worked and taking advantage of that.  In Careers you could win by meeting goals you set in your mind at the start.  Any version of $, happiness, or fame that got you to 60.  But you just had to focus on it.  She mentioned that to me years later saying I had helped her look at some parts of life more analytically and clearly.

The point was Dad killed, Mom was kind, and I explained.   Dad was  Republican, Mom was a Democrats, and I was somewhere between...

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died tonight.  I am turning off the computer and TV for a while...