I'm Back

I'm not even sure where to start.  The election night was a real kick in the gut.  Its not that being for the losing candidate is such a shock.  I supported McCarthy, McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis, Kerry, etc over the years, and I knew by Election Day they were losing..  Gore's loss was a hard blow to take too, and he actually won!

I suppose it is partly than I never considered the winning candidates I didn't support "evil or "sick".  Nixon in 72 seemed at least experienced and competent, Reagan had been Governor of a large State, and Bush Sr had been in government and politics for decades.

My biggest disappointment before was Bush Jr winning but even that was only because I thought he was rather stupid, Cheney WAS evil, and I thought Gore got cheated.

And part of it is that I thought Trump was a bad joke from the start, "running" only to improve his business prospects, and he would fade away like Ben Carson or Herman Cain.  As the Republican Debates and Primaries went along, I kept expecting Trump to be eliminated.

He was obviously not qualified for high political office, and as more information about his personal and commercial actions came out, I was sure Republicans would turn away from him in favor of some more standard like Jeb Bush, Kasich, Ryan, etc.

Even when Trump captured the Republican nomination, I wasn't all that concerned.  I thought it meant a Democratic landslide, and the polls seemed to support it.  Right up to Election Eve, it seemed there was no way Clinton could lose.

1.  That the voters realized she had experience when Trump had none.  That as a Senator, Clinton had domestic experience and a reputation for working with both Republicans and Democrats.  As Sec of State, she had international experience and a good reputation abroad.

2.  That voters realized the Clinton' "scandals" were minor.  The email server thing has pretty much been shown to be a molehill instead of a mountain, and even the most angry House Republicans published their Ben Ghazi report without any specific blame on Clinton.  The suggestions of Clinton Foundation conflict of interest proved to be way more minor than Trump Foundation outright theft and deception.

3.  That Clinton's personal behavior was so far beyond reproach compared to Trump's that there was no comparison.

So I went into watching the election returns come in slowly.   I watched a science DVD...  Later I returned to TV just in time to hear "So we are calling the election from Donald Trump.  Other channels agreed.

I went into a sort of shock.  I felt like I had shifted universes like in some sort of science fiction movie.  But wherever I am now ;) I am there and Trump won.  I was so stunned I considered moving to Canada or Australia.  It's harder than you might think AND if I can't get myself to relocate within my own State, I'm hardly going to leave my country.  I realized I was acting like a child considering running away from home.

The past few days of watching political shows on TV (I generally watch MSNBC, PBS, and CNN) have given me some hope.

1.  They point out that Trump is not yet President and we don't know what he will actually DO once in office.

2.  They point out that some people elected President have been considered unqualified yet gone on to do well in office "the office makes the man" idea.  Lincoln is the best example.  He was considered to be a buffoon by most; and "accident' of  politics.

3.  They point out that close associates say that Trump is very different in private than in public.  That in private he is a listener, thoughtful, and a fast learner.  That he adopts public personas that suit his private goals and casts them aside when he has gotten what he wants.

4.  They point out that Trump has previously considered himself a Democrat and has given more money to Left and Centrist candidates than Conservation ones.

5.  They point out that Trump considered the Republican party more vulnerable to a takeover than the Democratic party because of Clinton's assumed victory there.

6.  They point out that Trump is extremely practical, holds no extreme political views, and is creative in negotiations.

7.  They point out that he is entirely willing to talk to people of extreme opnions, while not being swayed by them.

8.  They point out that Trump has a habit of sitting be himself in a private room and thinking carefully about what he will do.

9.  They point out that Trump has a habit of trying to beat his oppenints into the ground, but recognizes and admires opponents who make good arguments and fight hard.

So I have decided to wait and see.  I don't have much of a choice.  I have no allusions that Trump is a nice person.  His sexist, racist, nativism, anti-immigrant comments cannot be erased.  I suspect most of his comments reflect his true beliefs.

But I also have to think that the pressure of the US Presidency can change people.  Some people change greatly after sitting in the Oval Office.  Truman was pushed for VP as a result of the powerful Pendergast political machine out of Kansas City.   Truman was basically told to "go home and don't bother us" by Roosevelt after the 1944 election.  But Roosevelt died and Truman was President.  O won't say he was a Top 10 President, but he did pretty well.  He pushed down the Pendergast political machine, and acted on his own.

He forced the Japanese surrender in 1945,  he pushed the foundation of the United Nations, Issued the Truman Doctrine to contain Communism, passed the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, Supported and recognized the State of Israel, ordered the Berlin Airlift in 1948, helped create NATO, and helped save South Korea as a democratic nation.

Not bad for a former VP politico who was told to "just go away".    So I hope Trump can improve.

We will know a lot more when he announces appointments to executive agencies.  Does he have the slightest idea what HUD or the EPA does, or will he just trade those jobs to political supporters in return for political support?  Well he just put some gas company VP in charge of the Energy Dept so they can rip us all off and destroy renewal energy .  We don't know.  We will find out.

Will he govern from the middle, or from his party on the right.  Maybe not, Establishment and Conservative Republicans distrust him.  Democrats hate him.  Perhaps he will find middle ground, move left or right, or just fail.

We just don't know yet.

What I do know is that I have spent enough time angry about the election, and life goes on...

Gone

...

President Donald Trump

President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump, President Donald Trump, President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump, President Donald Trump

President Donald Trump.

Sorry, I just get can't get a grasp on that.

Something is very very wrong here...

It is one thing to disagree with a choice of President.  I disliked Reagan, weird choice.  I disliked Bush Junior intensely, but I never considered him a COMPLETE idiot.  And surely not evil.

Trump is evil, sick, and psychotic.   And I have 2 choices.  Stay the 4 years or leave.  I am exploring leaving. 

And it is not so much Trump, it is the people who elected him.  Nations thrive and eventually fade.  History teaches us that.  This election may represent the end of America.

In the 1930s, many smart people left Germany and the surrounding nations, thinking that bad things were coming.  This might be a similar time...

I am looking at immigration rules for Canada and Australia.  I am prepared to sell everything I own, keep personal stuff, and move.  Because I don't want to live in a country that thinks Donald Trump is a good choice as a leader. 

Leaving your country is scary.  But my ancestors did, and for similar reasons.  I don't know if I have the same bravery they did.  I'll find out. 

In a sense, nothing President Trump does will affect me much.  I have a retirement annuity, I don't actively engage in politics, I keep a low profile, and I am not much known on the internet.  Just doing nothing would be safe.

But I can't do "nothing". 

Still, I'm between horrified and "sick" about this travesty of an election.  The people chose, and that is what democracy IS.  So do I flee or fight?

My initial shock is over.  I've talked myself a way through it.  What do I do tomorrow to end the Trumpism?

I guess I have my answer.  I had to work through it. 

Election Results

I am ashamed more than I ever thought I could be.  I never thought it possible that such a person as Donald Trump could lead our nation.  I have disliked some elected presidents, like George Bush the Shrub, as being an embarrassment.

Trump goes beyond all bounds of decency and obvious leadership failure.

Which means my fellow citizens are failing in the basic requirements of choosing leaders who have ANY basic leadership skills. 

The next 4 years, and maybe 8, are going to be a period of utter insanity and inanity in the US.  I won't accept the guilt.  I tried in many discussions and discussion boards to warn my fellow citizens about his insanity.  I failed. 

Apparently, the majority of Americans are very angry about the world.  That is not a good thing for the world.   Anger combined with power is very very bad. 

I sort of saw it coming, but I didn't see it coming so fast.  America is breaking up.  I was hoping I would die of old age before it happened. 

I am considering leaving the US.  I want to live in a more liberal and peaceful place.  Another option is to move to where I can basically go "off the grid" locally. 

I'm retired, I get an annuity, I have savings.  I could simply ignore almost anything Trump could do.

I bet Canada, Australia, and England are getting a lot of questions today about immigration requirements.   I never thought it would come to this.

The "Pax America" is over.  

I am reminded that through history, the people who dare to leave a failing place are the smartest ones.  They take chances in better places.  I'm not sure that makes sense to me at 66.  But I'm giving it real thought.

I have a few months to decide what to do.  But I don't expect to be blogging like I used to.  My heart isn't in it.  The idea of not wanting to be part of my country again is too distressing.  A country of people who want a leader like Trump is not a place I want to be.

Election Results

I am withdrawing from posting for a while.  I do not respect the majority of my fellow citizens.  I have to think about this.

VOTED!

So much trouble...

Walked in and went directly to the registration desk.  30 seconds...

Went directly to the ballot desk.  15 seconds...

Went directly to a voting booth.  Filled in  some circles, 60 seconds...

Went directly to a scanner which read and stored my ballot.  10 seconds...

Received my "I Voted"sticker, 5 seconds...

Total time spent voting, 2:00 minutes...

I could have almost held my breath the entire time!

UPDATE 3pm:  I voted at about 1pm today, ran some minor errends, and went home.  Where I did some minor yardwork.  That was mostly laying traps for the last generation of mosquitoes for the year.  I set out a bucket of water in some shrubs last week and checked it every day to see if there were larvae.  

There were some today, so I dumped THEM on the ground to die and set out 6 small inviting containers  nestled down into groundplants and sprinkled some mosquito bT into each one  with some water.  This bT is a bacteria that specifically attacks moqsuito larvae.  If you see anything called "mosquito doughnuts, that's the stuff.  It is about 100% effective.  Used at the very end of the year, it REALLY cuts down on their start next year.

Update 6pm:  There won't be any election information for an hour, so I made dinner.  Full of nervous energy, I did too much cooking.  I cooked a 1.5" Del Monico steak, corn on the cob, a potato that I fried in the steak fat, a tossed salad in 1,000 island dressing, stir-fried mushrooms and onion and red bell pepper, and some fresh spinach.  Too much to eat for me, but half of everything was fine.  The rest tomorrow.  

Whenever I'm not sure what to do, I cook.  Some people clean, others read, I cook.

Update 10pm:  The election results are too close to be predictive.  CNN breathlessly announced that Trump was leading Clinton in North Carolina - with 1% of the vote in.  That is both utterly meaningless AND maddening.  I turned the TV OFF!  I will wait to see meaningful results later.  

I did some USEFUL work finding out what self-propelled surface-level brushcutters cost to rent for a day at the local Home Depot (only $94 per day) and confirmed that they have at least one to rent.  

I also have a serious gas roto-tiller and a mower than won't start, so I checked on the most likely problems and how to fix them.  Basically, I suspect the problem is old gas.  I haven't used either in several years.  That is "medium" easy to fix.  

Take a couple parts loose and spray the cleaner in usually does it.   And if it doesn't solve the problem, there is a local repair shop that does good work.  I have a trailer to deliver them.  

Meanwhile, I would still prefer to hire someone to do the brushcutting and debris removal (especially because they are mostly brambles and briars).  I'll accept any reasonable quote.  But it is good to know what the actual equipment cost is.  $94 per day rental is a LOT lower than what I expected.  

 
Update 12:30am.  I am horrified.  It looks like Trump might win.  I do not comprehend this.  Fortunately, there are some uncertain States to go.  It was just reported that Canada is postponing immigration requests from US citizens.  So they don't make rash decisions, I suppose.  Good idea.

Personally. I'm not sure what I would do if Trump wins.  More about that if it happens.

3rd Yardwork Project

The other major thing I want to do this Fall is move the surviving fancy hostas from the open front yard to the fenced back yard where the deer can't get at them.

The fancier they are, the more the deer seem to like them.  The good ones are marked with landscaping flags.  So where the impatiens and coleus have grown this year, there will be the best hostas.  The others will go into a 50'x6' long bed where there are some empty spots over the years.

I will be moving the numerous Japanese Painted Ferns all around after the far back yard gets cleared of blackberries in a week or two..  They seem to like it here and spread well.

The place where the fancier hostas will go is a framed area around my sunken patio.  And there is a reason.  I was in a carpool for years that met at a spot where hostas were up at stomach level.  I loved the effect.  I am replicating it.

Most will be Captain Kirk and June




With Blue Cadet


 And small gold drop all around.







The deer DON'T seem to like the large rough-leaved 'Sum and Substance' and 'Big Daddy' hostas.  So I will be dividing them and filling the spaces in the front where I am taking out the other hostas.

I prefer to deter them from eating my plants passively.  But I will set up a motion-detector strobe light to drive them away.  And if that doesn't work. I can sit quietly in a blind in the corner of my yard with a crossbow.  Deer need to relearn to be afraid of humans again.

2nd Yardwork Project

The next most important project is the bulb bed.  It is a 20' diameter edged circle.  I planted 100 tulips there in wire cages (to protect them from voles) last year.  They looked great this Spring.  I also had 200 daffodils of 2 varieties (one early and one late).  Voles don't bother daffs, so that was just drilling holes with an auger and setting them in.

I ordered more daffs for this year.  50 more each of the existing ones and 150 of a different one for the unused space in the circle.

I should have marked the space where the existing daffs were planted.  Well, you know, you think you won't forget exactly where they are but you do.  I have pictures, so I should be able to guess pretty well where to plant more of the same ones safely.  And where I can start planting the new ones next to them.  I HOPE, LOL!

But over the Summer, weeds grew.  I want a clean planting area for all the new bulbs.  My gas powered roto-tiller is just too big for the area, so I bought a small 10' tiller.

I tried it out today.  What a disaster!  Every grass leaf and root wrapped around the tiller blades  2 10' rows and the things was stuffed like a hard ball of cotton.  It took 20 minutes to pull them all out.  But it did do a decent job of tearing up the soil an inch deep, which was exactly what I wanted.  But that was way too slow and difficult.

So I used my electric string-trimmer to beat down all the long grass leaves.    That was an amazing 3 wheelbarrowfuls of plant debris!

So I tried the little electric tiller again.  It was actually worse.  The previous use has a lot of grass leaves in it, this time it was all roots.  It took 30 minutes to pull them all out.  They get wrapped and tangled very tightly.

So that wasn't the way to go.  The little electric tiller is great for small areas of bare dirt.  But it doesn't chop up roots.

So I raked off all the weed-whacked debris.  Then I decided to pull out the serious tiller.   It is kind of big for the job.  I couldn't get it to start.  So I thought about mowing the area.  I can use the drill auger to make holes for all the new daffs if weeds are down to ground level.  I couldn't get the push mower to start.  Last option was the riding mower but that is really awkward changing from forward to reverse (you have to stop the blade each change).

So Monday, I bring the gas rototiller and the gas push mower to a repairshop.  There is a good local one.  Fair prices.  I hope they aren't busy.

And then I can get back to MY interests which is USING the equipment to do things I need doing.

Yardwork

The approach of Winter is pushing me to get some yardwork done.  My knee is about back to normal as long as don't kneel on something hard (walking is general fine again even stairs feel normal).

I have several projects to complete.  The major one is a 1/3 of the backyard that has become overgrown with ivy, volunteer saplings, and blackberries.  What a weird combination!

I attacked it 2x this week.  I can cut down the saplings with loppers (a few demand a saw), but getting at the blackberries is horrible.  They drape over in a circle, so every one I cut HAS to fall on me and grabs my skin and clothes like an angry cat.  I was spending more time getting each individual came loose from me than cutting them.

The area is 50'x65' and that is not going to work.  The job requires EQUIPMENT!  I priced those glorified gas-powered ground surface hedge-trimmers and decent ones start at $2500.  Not the best idea for something I'm not likely to use again.  So I called a couple of brush-hoggers.

One came by today.  He just cuts everything off at groundlevel.  A high-powered mowing and debris removal service.  That might be good enough depending on the price.  With that, I would have a clear area.  I have a good roto-tiller and used it back there once.

It's rough work, but if all that is left is 1" stubs and roots, it WILL tear them out and a regular mower will keep them cropped until the roots are exhausted and die.  I can handle THAT.

I would PREFER someone to come in with a small bulldozer and scrape the soil a couple inches deep, remove the plant debris, them spread the soil out smoothly.  I haven't found someone to do that yet.

Landscapers want to turn everything into lawn or planted areas with their own shrubs and flowers.   I don't want that.

Excavators just want to flatten everything in sight and leave the debris in place.  They really don't want to mess with removing piles of brambles.

Part of the problem is that it is a tricky area.  There is a 9' diameter pond needing a new liner and a 40' water raceway uphill that flows pumped water down into the pond.  They don't want to get close to that.

I may have to take what I can get and try to do what I can afterwards.  But at least on this, I am willing to pay someone to do the rough work.

This is all because I had some trees that were shading my garden removed.  As some as they were removed, the space under them received a lot more sunlight.  I knew I had ivy around, but the blackberries were a complete surprise.  They just erupted out of no where.  I assume the tree shade prevented them from growing before.

So here is my plan.  I have five 2' tall specimen trees (2 korean dogwoods and 3 sourwoods) that should grow only about 20' high.  They won't shade my garden.  But they shold shade the ground around them to replace the shade that kept the blackberries and ivy from growing.  The ground under the older taller junk trees was nearly bare.  I'm hoping for a return to that.

I will help the 5 specimen trees grow by surrounding them with scrap carpet.  Carpet lets water through but not plants up.  I done that with many shrubs and trees and it works great.

The trees I bought are not yet dormant.  I water them every couple of days waiting for the cold weather.

If it works, I will have lovely Spring and Fall small trees in the back, no wild growth, and no new shade on the garden. 

Humor

I just HAD to post this...


That one was just too funny...

More Political Silliness And Illogic Comment

I received a comment from Angel Abbygrace's Mom in response to the original post.  The comment is detailed and it is valued.  And I don't want to change a normally personal and friendly blog into a heated discussion in the stress of the last week of an angry and partisan political campaign.

But a response is deserved, and I'll put hers it italics for ease of identification.  And unless noted otherwise, I will accept the accuracy of her statements (this is not Fox News, after all, and we are not competing talking heads.  She is a friend whom I respect).

And unless otherwise noted I am commenting on her quote, not her conclusions FROM the quote. 

As she quoted, From the group of 30,000 e-mails returned to the State Department, 110 e-mails in 52 e-mail chains have been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received. Eight of those chains contained information that was Top Secret at the time they were sent; 36 chains contained Secret information at the time; and eight contained Confidential information, which is the lowest level of classification. Separate from those, about 2,000 additional e-mails were “up-classified” to make them Confidential; the information in those had not been classified at the time the e-mails were sent.

"Chains" are series of emails on the same subject.  They can, as we all well know, contain many subjects varying widely as the "chain" goes on.  What starts as a chain can be about personal family matters, get into a brief argument about politics and then go right back to family matters.

In this case, I see that there are some numbers that seem to have meaning and some that do not.  "110 emails in 52 email chains" sounds like a whole lot.  Many people will multiply 110 by 52 and think "about 55,000 emails".  No.  It is still only 110 out of the original 30,000 emails.

That is "not many".

The numbers of emails that were "sent or received" is deceptive.  It is not a crime to receive improperly-marked classified information.   If I sent anyone of my friends classified information not properly marked as such, you would not be guilty of anything.  *I* might, IF I knew the information was classified.

The question is whether the information in the emails was known to either of us.

From what I understand, most of the emails considered to include classified information fell into 3 categories.

First, there was information not classified at the time but classified at a later date.  You are not guilty of handling information that was classified LATER! Such as, if you take a medication today and the Government declares it illegal next month, you can't be charged.

And even with classified information, there is a "lag time".  If some agency declares "Fact X" classified today and you refer to it tomorrow before you are told about that, you aren't guilty of anything.

It gets worse.  Suppose Agency A declares Fact A classified and Agency B says it isn't?  You still aren't guilty because there is reasonable doubt.

Second, classified information has to be properly identified.  In the movies, every classified document has a big red "CLASSIFIED" stamped at the top.  And maybe they do.  But they don't always show up that way in emails.  I have seen claims by seemingly objective sources that WHEN a classified email or  attachment in an email was sent to Clinton, there was simply a large "C" at the end.  

And there are 2 problems with that one.  If you only learn the information was classified AFTER you read it, there isn't much you can do to forget it.  And a "C" is not the same as a "classified" stamp...

Third, most of the information that is being challenged was "upclassified", meaning it was classified only after recent review by one Federal Agency or another and at a later date than the emails.  And if anyone has to choose between classifying information and NOT classifying it, it gets classified.

If my job was classifying documents, I would classify my office softball team schedule rather than make a mistake.  Because the is no penalty for over-classifying docoments, but a HUGE one for not when you should have.

Which leads me to my last 2 point, which I will combine.  Just because a document is classified doesn't mean it should be.  Just how many secrets to you think we have from the Russians and Chinese?  I think it was Kissinger who said that the only Nations we can keep secrets from are our Allies.  And apparently, we can't even do that anymore.

So I ALMOST question our whole habit of secrecy.  The only people who DON'T know US government secrets are the US citizens, LOL!

From AbbyGrace's Mom:  "The Top Secret email chains alone should set off alarm bells whether you support or don't support HRC as a candidate. If you had sent or received classified email on your own private server while working in the Government do you think the FBI would have been as lenient to you?" 

HRC has about the highest clearance.  I don't.

"Also from the director's statement: Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.

"Careless" is not the same as "illegal".  If one classified person mentioned classified information to another privately at a party,  that is not illegal, but it is careless.

"One other note on classification from the Director: But even if information is not marked “classified” in an e-mail, participants who know or should know that the subject matter is classified are still obligated to protect it"

At a certain level, probably almost anything could be classified.  And you have to be able to talk to people in real time without having staff research every fact for classification status.  I suspect that our classified system has gotten way out of anyone's ability to keep within the rules. 

I bet I could find half of the US classified information on the internet without trying too hard.  I think the whole classified argument is a mountain made from a molehill. 

Not that some information shouldn't be classified, but that most shouldn't.

And let me finish by saying again, no harshness, just my best answers to a good comment...

More Political Silliness And Illogic

This is partly about "the political games" but also about the illogic and careless language used by the talking heads on TV.  And I don't like either side of both issues!

First, the "the political games".   The Facts:  FBI Director Comey sent a letter to "Congress advising them that more emails were found that might involve their previous committee investigations, as he had promised to do if new information was discovered.  No specific information was included, and he noted that the possibilility of misunderstanding.

The basis of concern is that Huma Abedin (wife of Anthony Weiner of sexting shame-fame) is an associate of Clinton and there MIGHT be some Clinton emails not yet discovered.  She used a family laptop to send some emails to Clinton.  The content has not been made public at this time is not known at this time. Nothing suggesting anything improper has been offerred. 

The FBI, after reviewing all the emails on Clinton's server, has found nothing of concern and closed the investigation months ago.  A very few emails with classified information were sent TO her without proper notifications.  Her replies were lawful; if you don't know received information was classified, YOU are not at fault. The FBI said so.

OK.  As far as I can think, if Huma sent Clinton any emails, they are on Clinton's email system and already examined by the FBI.  This starts to look like the Kevin Bacon game.  Can you connect anyone socially unacceptable to Clinton?  LOL!

As far as I can tell now, the letter was addressed TO House Committee Chairman, all Republican of course.  I will explain something about the details of Government letter-writing.  There is "TO", there is "cc" (courtesy copy), and there is "bcc" (blind courtesy copy) just like on emails.

Only in Government letters, the cc and bcc is not on the original TO letter.  The "TO" recipients do not know about the cc and bcc list unless they ask for a file copy of the letter.  The cc list does not know about the "bcc" list unless they ask (and the originators admit to it).

So, unless things have changed (and they might have - I've been retired for10 years),  the Republican Committee saw only that they had been sent the letter, the Democratic minority leaders saw they had been sent a copy of the letter to the Republican Chairmen, and only Comey and his staff know who got sent a bcc copy (bcc's are usually sent only to internal staff who need to know about such things for media questions and file-keeping.

Is that confusing enough?  I spent 30 years in Government and got very used to those kinds of subtleties, LOL!  It all makes sense to me!  LOL!

Second, the talking heads discussions...

Everyone I heard on MSNBC and CNN got it all WRONG!  Clinton mentioned the Comey letter send to the Republican Committee Chairmen.  As usual, she was utterly technically correct.  The letter was indeed addressed to the Republican Committee Chairmen.  She said that with the same accuracy I would in discussing "TO, cc, and bcc".  She understands that stuff  and speaks of it accurately.

The TV talking heads did not!  They said Clinton claimed the letter was sent "only" to the Republicans and casitigatd her for a deception..  The ccs were sent to the ranking Democratic Minority Leaders.  But they received cc copies; they were not the original TO recipients.

Meanwhile, Clinton is saying that she would like any available information to be released ASAP, as there is noactual information in Director Comey's letter but there are suggestions.  Trump, on the other hand is claiming the non-information in Comey's letter as some proof of guilt  

As odd as that might seem in the real world, it matters in Government.  Comey very DELIBERATELY and EXPLICITLY sent the official copies of the letter to the Republican Committee chairmen  and NOT the official copies to the Democratic Ranking Members.  But cc'd them to cover his ass.  A true Washington wimpy asshole who needs to be removed...

Conclusion:  Comey wished to try to stay out of trouble by playing it both too carefully and too ineptly.  Whoever wins the Presidency, he is going to be gone for the crime of political incompetence.  He can't claim it was urgent (the FBI had the information 5 weeks ago), and he can't claim any factul reason for presenting the mere statement that the FBI was investigating new information 11 days before an election. 

Ex FBI officials have said there is an informal, but previously modern unbroken rule of avoiding all political statements 60 days before an election.  That Comey broke that rule says a lot about his intent. 

Scary Movies

Cat blog friend http://www.15andmeowing.com asked about scary movies and I realized I had more to say about one than would fit as a comment. 

When 'Alien' came out in 1979, a friend and I went to see it opening night.  We stood in line for hours in the rain, and missed the first showing by only 3 people.  We thought is was about bad things from an alien's POV.  Boy were WE wrong.  When the first viewers cane out, they were pale and shaken!  I turned to my friend and asked what we had gotten ourselves into?

Neither of us were particularly frightened by monster movies.  I'm realistic, and my friend was a cinema buff, so we weren't either really TOO worried.  Space aliens were generally silly, and Earthly ones too unlikely. 

But as the movie started darkly, and a sense of unease came over us, and we thought about the looks on the faces of the first audience as they came out, we began to worry.  When we first saw the queen alien skeleton in the derelict ship, we both said "Oh crap"! 

And even then, we weren't prepared for the first egg.  How harmful can a newly-hatched creature be?  We found out!  And it all got worse from there.  By the time Ripley was searching for her cat Jonesie, I was watching most of the screen with partially-shielded eyes.  The SUSPENSE was what was killing me!

Right up to the end, I wasn't sure who was going to win.  The movie had been unique enough that it might well have been the alien left, sending the ship to Earth...

It is the only movie I have ever left with popcorn uneaten!  As we left the theater, I turned to the nearest people in line and said "You aren't prepared for this one".

I still have a T-Shirt I had made afterwards that says "Alien" on the front and "Here, Jonesie" on the back.  But I have never watched that movie on TV.

The following Alien movies were easier to watch, but not by much.  Enough (since I knew Ripley would win) to watch though.  My favorite parts of the later movies were when Ripley confronted the Alien Queen using the personal equipment-mover outfit in Alien2, and when she let herself fall into the molten iron pit in Alien3.  I cried as she fell holding the newly-irrupting Queen hatchling to her to prevent it escaping.

Tgere was Alien; Resurrection, but if I saw it, I can't recall anything about it.

But I was surprised some years ago by the movie 'Prometheus'.  I watched for a few minutes and realized it felt a bit like 'Alien', so I kept watching.  I had no idea it was a prequel.  As prequels to movie series go, it was much better than most.   It involved a superior humanoid species (likely  space-faring ancestors to ourselves in some way, 8' tall, built like giant wrestlers, and technologically-advanced) developing dangerous interstellar creatures as weapons.  I didn't watch the whole movie (in and out of the room cleaning) but apparently the human heroine is fighting and losing to the humanoid when a cage is damaged and a dangerous captive octopus-like creature gets loose. 

Apparently, it was like a dozen strong humans could capture a panther, but one would have a very hard time of it.  And even then, it was a close struggle but the humanoid loses.  And the octopus-like creature absorbs him - and his DNA.  Making the Alien of the original movies...

The heroine escapes the planet in a makeshift spaceship and instead of returning to Earth goes after humonoid race seeking revenge.  That last part is a bit weak, but I guess they couldn't have the Earth being warned about the dangerous aliens.

I understand that there is a Prometheus 2 movie in the works which may explain how the Prometheus heroine fights the sperior humanoid race

But I still can't watch "Alien'...

US Election

Well, we are down to the final few weeks of the US Presidential election, and quite frankly, I wish it was tomorrow.  Or even yesterday.  I am SO tired of it I could scream!

At least it seems that the decision is no longer in doubt.  We will be referring to "Madame President" for the first time ever here, Democrats will have won a 3rd consecutive term controlling the White House since 1940 when Franklin Roosevelt was re-elected to a 3rd personal consecutive term, and (to steal a phrase from an previous generation) a long national nightmare will be over.

The election results will probably give nominal control of the US Senate to the Democrats by a small majority.  It is possible that the House of Representatives will become Democratic , but I'm not expecting it today (but who knows what things will look like in 3 weeks)?  Trump and the Republicans have the 3 weeks to make things better or worse.

If the Al Smith Foundation Dinner last night was any clue, it will get worse for the Republicans.  As background, the Dinner "is an annual white fundraiser in the United States for Catholic charities supporting needy children, held at theWaldorf-Astoria hotel in New York, on the third Thursday of October. It is organized by the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation in honor of Al Smith the former New York Governor and the first Catholic US Presidential candidate.  The dinner is hosted by the Archbishop of New York.

The idea is for the 2 major Presidential candidates to engage in self deprecating humor and some gentle digs at their opponent.

Trump failed at that utterly.  That's not just my opinion.  He received boos and several points when he just made his regular speech at a few points.  Commenters said afterwards that they had never heard boos at the event before.

Apparently, Trump does not understand humor at all.  He did have a few funny lines, none of which were aimed at himself, and even as delivered fell flat.  I suspect several of them would have gotten laughs if delivered by a professional.  Sarcasm can be funny, but not when delivered in anger.

Trumps best joke was when he mentioned 'Michelle Obama made a speech and everyone loved it. It was great.   My wife, Melania, made the exact same speech and everyone gets on her case.'

The audience loved it.  It is probably the best humor about plagiarism ever!  But even THEN, it wasn't aimed at himself.

The crowd stayed with Trump while he ticked down a list of what he called "corny" jokes about being a former Democrat and sarcastically calling himself "modest." And they mostly laughed along when he joked about Clinton accidentally bumping into him back stage and saying "pardon me."
"I very politely replied: Let me talk to you about that after I get into office," Trump landed the punchline. Trumps as said previously that Clinton should be in jail for various reasons.  Clinton was seen laughing.

His 20 minutes went downhill rapidly after that.

Clinton, on the other hand went straight to herself for humor.  "I took a break from my rigorous nap schedule to be here," Clinton told the audience.   And "Usually, I charge a lot for speeches like this."

She got in some rather harsh zingers, but they didn't get boos and there were definitely Trump supporters in the audience.  Rudy Giuliani was there and was the subject of one Clinton joke.  Clinton mentioned the many dignitaries in the audience positively, and then said "and then there is Rudy Giuliani".  Ouch!

“Now, many don’t know this,” Clinton continued, “but Rudy actually got his start as a prosecutor going after wealthy New Yorker's who avoided paying taxes. But, as the saying goes, ‘If you can’t beat them, go on Fox News and call them a genius".  Giuliani, a Trump surrogate speaker of increasing vicious attacks on Clinton, looked like he had a hot coal up where the sun doesn't shine...

But for the most part, Clinton was making jokes on herself and light digs at Trump, and Trump was his usual mean self.  I understand that.  People who are internally confident and happy can make jokes about themselves.

Not to say too much about myself in all of this, but I don't find self-humor threatening.  I tripped over a cat once while a friend was there, and landed on my hands and knees.  My first words were "so this is what it looks like from their point of view".

People like Trump can't laugh at themselves.  If one of his staff had written the absolutely funniest self-deprecating joke ever created, Trump would not have used it.  It would be against himself, and he can't imagine anyone against him.  Because they would simply be "wrong".

My point here, long time in coming, is that Trump can't be President because he lacks the fullness of self-awareness that allows most of us to laugh at ourselves.  I had a friend who did the almost slapstick gag of stepping onto a small boat from the pier and fell into the water as the boat moved away.

I laughed my ass off.  It was as if you actually saw someone slip on a banana peel.  He was livid, angry, enraged...  If I had done that myself, I would have keeled over in laughter at myself as I pulled myself onto the boat, and asked if anyone got a picture of it!

Narcissistic megalomaniac bullies cannot laugh at themselves.  Most of the rest of us can.  At ourselves, and at them...

But basically, all this means that the US Presidential election is decided.  Clinton will win; the question is by how much and will she carry the Senate and/or House along with her.  For the Democratic party, life looks good for 2 Presidential terms.  The interim elections are always iffy.  But the gains of the day are sufficient for the day.

I will be glad after election night Nov 8th.  No mor3e Trump for a while.

But do you know what is generally annoying?  In several places around the US, some people are starting their campaigns for the 2020 Presidential elections...

Yardwork Again

I wasn't sure I was gong to be doing much yardwork the rest of the year.  I usually try to do at least one useful thing each day.  Sometimes I don't, but that is the goal anyway. 

So when I twisted my right knee in early April, and it was difficult to walk the first couple of weeks, I grudgingly waited for it to heal.  I do these sorts of injuries every so often but generally heal quickly enough.  I'm used to it.  You live on your own, you push yourself to do more than you should sometimes, and there is the occasional time your body says hey ease off on me a bit. 

It has happened before.  10 years ago, I casually tossed a rock at a squirrel and strained my rotator cuff and I could barely raise my arm over my shoulder for 4 months!  But it healed fine and I kind of expect that.

But this time, April rolled into May, and May into June and eventually September and it was better but not normal.  Some projects got delayed.  I had planned to repaint the bathrooms and kitchen, but crawling all around washing the walls, putting tape along all the edges and then doing the actual painting seemed too awkward.  But it could wait.

I had also planned to use my gas-powered weed-whacker with the steel cutters to eliminate the backyard brush and brambles that sprung up after I had a few trees removed  several years ago.  That didn't happen.

A few weeks ago, my right knee suddenly felt much better.  Not perfect, but good enough, and I started some minor yard projects and felt ready to do more.  I got some work done.   Mostly de-clutterring the basement the computer room, and the cat room.

And then I went and did something to the left knee.  No idea what I did.  It felt like I had banged it against a door frame, but for 2 weeks, I had 2 bad knees.  I was worried I was sufferring some serious problem (like Lyme Disease affects your joints, or longer term problems like arthritis). 

But I woke up 2 days ago and the left knee was back to normal and the right knee wasn't bad.  I could walk around pretty much normal.

So I had found a sealed bag of grass seed in the basement left over from last year .  I mowed the front yard grass very short.  Today I raked all the loose grass and dumped it where I plan to put a flowerbed island around a large rock and tree in order to smother the grass and weeds and leave some improved soil.  Then I spread the grass weeds all around.  And then I spent 90 minutes carefully spraying straight down onto the grass to beat the grass seeds onto the soil surface and give them enough water to germinate.

It is a bit late to do that.  But I had the seeds and they won't last another year.  And we are having a warm spell, so the seeds should germinate if they are still viable.  There are 2 bare spots, so I will know if they germinate.  At least that is SOMETHING done.

And both knees felt just fine after all that.  So that's good.

The next things to do are planting Daffodils in mid November, tilling some dead areas of the flowerbeds, and eliminating weeds in the paths between the framed veggie beds.  

Are you familiar with those long strips of brown paper used as packing material?  I've been saving the longest strips for several years.  The stuff comes all twisted and crinkled, but I untwist it and lay in on the basement floor and use a push broom to flatten it out.  That works very well.  Then I fold it up in 4' lengths and put a piece of plywood on it to flatten it further and keep it out of the way.  I have several hundred linear feet of it now.

It seems like great stuff to put between the framed beds, on top of weedy dead sections of the flowerbeds, and on top of all the Spring bulbs to smother weeds (with shredded bark on top).  It will probably decompose by Spring, and in not, it will certainly be easy to pull up at planting time.

It may not kill all the weeds, but it sure won't do them any good.  I am reminded of a W C Fields vaudeville joke where he says he swallowed a few moths and said he swallowed a couple of mothballs to get rid of them.  The sidekick asks if it did any good.  Fields says "well it sure couldn't have helped them any".  (Do not do this at home, mothballs are toxic).

My point is that the brown paper cover is worth trying.  If it works, GREAT!  If not, it is easy to remove and will make good compostable material after 5 months exposure to rain and melting snow all Winter and early Spring. 

Gardeners might object that  covers the soil gives voles safe space to run around under.  I did cover part of my flowerbeds with black plastic 10 years ago, and they did love it.  They ate every tulip bulb, safe from predators.  But this time, there won't be anything for them to eat.  Well, the weeds, and if they want to eat the roots of those, they are not welcome, I encourage them.  Otherwise, they don't touch Daffodils or Daylilies (toxic to mammals), the Tulips and Hyacinths are in wire cages they can't get into, and the seeds from the birdfeeder will be on top of the paper where they waill actually have trouble getting to the spilled seeds. EVIL LOL!

So I am getting into the yardwork late, but not impossibly late.  The last project, which is to plant specimen trees that won't grow tall enough to shade my garden and flowerbeds is still in reach.  By "specimen trees", I mean Korean Dogwoods, Sourwoods, Wisteria shrubs, and Star Magnolias.  Those will shade out the brush and brambles like the taller trees used to do, but not cause shade problems across the yard.

I will surround the new trees with used carpeting.  That has really worked well for me over the years.  Rain soaks right through, but weeds won't grow up through it.  And it it is usually free.  Just look for some place being renovated and ask for the old carpet.  They will usually just give it away. 

OK, I'm off to buy some specimen tree saplings...

Back, I ordered 3 Sourwood trees and 2 Korean Dogwoods.  Sourwood trees are great in Fall.  They have small grapelike clusters of yellow berries and burgundy leaves and grow to about 25'.  The Korean Dogwoods are great in Springs, don't have the same disease problems as American Dogwoods, and spread sideways.  I have one on the shady side of the house that has been happily existing for 25 years at 20 feet, and I will take some tip cuttings next June.  It has pink flowers. The dogwoods I ordered have white flowers, so that will make a nice change.



I also filled in all the screw and nail holes in the main bathroom a week ago

Odd Connections

Last night, I was thinking about a couple of songs that run through my head.  One is "Maria" from West Side Story.  I had read that the central syllable was a "dishordant" note. So I brought it up to hear.

Apparently, I don't know music.  It sounded fine to me.  But the lovely sweet song 'Maria' was followed by 'America', a joyful contratemps song where the boys expressed having to fight there way into NYC society and the girls expressed how much better life was for them even in the slums.

And I thought of the current times, where things are so much better for their children, but not yet equal for all.

And then I thought of the current election. 

Where some people do not want "others" to join in our grand US adventure.  Where some are afraid of change and "others". 

I was an "other" once, or at least my ancestors were.  Everyone here is "other" except Native Americans.  My English and French forced their way here and decided THEY were the new native people.  When Germans came here later, my ancestors decided "they" were too strange and didn't belong.

A few generations later, when the Germans were part of the culture, the Irish came, and they were treated like dirt.  But they became part of the culture.  Do even the most fanatical "nativists" now think Germans and Irish people living here aren't part of "us"?

Then the Italians and Eastern Europeans came.  They moved into the slums and worked their way out of them.   After  couple of generations, they lost their language (but added some to ours) .  Can you tell who of us it from those places anymore?

And other people came here.  Chinese who built the railroads, Russians fleeing the Czarist monarchies and the Soviets, Jews, fleeing from everywhere, and people from all over.

Can you tell who's ancestor was Russian or Polish now?  I can't and it doesn't matter. My BI is half Korean and one of the finest people I ever met.  I can't guess at the ancestry of my youngest sister's life partner,.

I might be surprised at my own.  I bet I come from all over Europe and given my maternal Canadian French ancestry, there might well be some Native American there too.  It doesn't matter!  I'm proud of everyone in my past and present.

So there is this loudmouthed, boastful, lying, deceitful, cheating,  groping, hate-filled nativist asshole  demanding MY vote, as an American,  to keep other hard-working people out of this country.

This country, where people dream of a better life not for themselves but for their children, this land where the best and the hardest-working people come to work and prosper, this land where we have a statue holding a shining beacon to the world saying all you who are willing to try your best, "come here, come here, our golden light shine bright", join us, become one of us, make our land a better place...

And this demogogue, this would be dictator, who feeds on fear says NO!  Stay away, leave us alone, we don't want new people and new ideas, DARES to want to become our President. 

There are always frightened people fearing for their routine life, afraid of "others".  They forget that their grandparents or great-grandparents were "others" once.   They forget what makes us strong.  

We grow and thrive in diversity.  New thoughts match to old habits, and better things come from that.  New ideas lead to new ways, new thoughts, new discoveries; a continuing change, a look toward the future. 

The German Chancellor Bismark once said that America is fortunate to have friendly neighbors North and South, and oceans East and West.  But he only saw a part of it.   The people matter more.

In 1860,  before our massive Civil War, people said "the United States "are"; after it, they said "the United States "is".   That was a profound difference.  The war was fought between some States against the Government. When it was over, there was a Nation.

And it was a "Nation" for the first time.  Nebraska farmoys and Massachussets  fisherman boys met for the first time.  Alabama cotton growers and Virginia tobacco boys met for the first time.   None had ever had a sense on the whole place as a "nation" before.  By the end of the Civil War, they did. 

And now we have the party of Abraham Lincoln and General Grant living in the South in fear.

Shame, I say SHAME on you Republicans for claiming Lincoln as your birthright and denying his ideals!

Nations come and Nations go.  All that is required is the failure to to keep striving toward democracy.   Let the first little dictator in, and others will follow  One just a little worse than the last.  Like a frog in a heating pan.

The time to act is not the next election; the time to act is NOW.    We have to choose the President who will keep to the ideals of Democracy, not the one  who says "trust me I will figure it all out myself and tell you what to think"...

That is how democracy ends, in dibs and drabs,

OUCH!

I messed up my right knee in April.  It still bothers me.  But I know what caused it.

Last night. I did something that messed up my left knee.  It is as if I hit it on a door frame.  But I didn't.  Can't think of anything I did to cause it.  Damn...

I guess I'm going to have to see a doctor...  I used to just heal in a week from these sorts of problems.  But not any more.  Getting old is really annoying.

Angry Voters

I have been hard on Donald Trump (and rightly so).  But I haven't discussed his supporters much.

I sort of understand them.  They are angry.  They are desperate.  They aren't living the life their parents enjoyed.

In a general sense, we all know that some people succeed in life better than others. And the others don't.  The reasons are not my point here.  My point is that they know the world is somehow passing them by, they are not succeeding,  and they are angry.  There are few emotions stronger than anger.

Hate is usually directed, anger is diffuse.

Trump has activated the angry people.  He wouldn't have gotten the Republican nomination for President if anger and fear wasn't a real thing in significant part of the population.

I do not fear Trump.  He will go down into crushing defeat on Election Day.  It is the angry people who concern me.  Their anger is justified.  They used to have decent-paying jobs putting headlights on cars, collecting coins from parking meters, loading luggage on airplanes, etc.  There used to be jobs you could just learn to DO without having to work on a computer, make decisions, or attend meetings and argue with people.  Some people are just not good at those things.  And they have fewer places to do work now.

And I understand because in the 1st 10 years of my adult life, I had cruddy jobs too.  I pushed a lawn mower in the hot sun for 2 Summers on an Army Base.  I spent 2 Summers pumping gas at a full service station where the owner dipped his sticky fingers into the till and charged us workers for the "losses". 

I worked at minimum wage in several department stores while the rent went up faster than my wages.  I even got to where I was in charge of a 1/4 of the department store and my hourly pay was 25 cents above minimum wage.  And the store managers cheated us every chance they could get because every dime they took out of our pocket went into theirs!

But I took a competitive exam for Government work and scored 100% in 5 categories of jobs.  That was because *I* spent my time in high school studying while "other" kids were goofing off.  I learned "stuff".  I practiced general skills.  I did well.  I was promoted regularly.  I retired well.

But not much better than the middle class in the US did in the 50s and 60s.  The high point of the US economy was when unions were strong (but not overly strong), when the percentage of the total wealth held by the top 1% was low, and when a college education for children was withing reach of most middle class families. 

There was a chart in Scientific American magazine a month ago that showed the percentage of national wealth held by the top 1% of Americans. 

In the 1920s, it rose to 20%.  At the end of The Great Depression, it was down to 15%, and the end of WWII, it was down to 10%.

In 1970, it was down to 8%.  After the Republican Tax Reform act of 1986, it rose rather suddenly to 16%, and after the 2000 Bush Administration, it went back up to 18%.  That is wrong.  The trickle down theory of wealth only means every one below the top 1% gets peed on.

The Republicans are doing it very very wrong, in pay to their super-rich supporters.  But the Democrats are doing things a whole lot better.

What we need is a Centrist-Union party dedicated to recreating the middle class.  No industrialized nation can survive without a strong middle class.  That is what makes democracy work.

Democracy works best when the poor have a path up, the middle class has some basic stability in life, and the rich are accepting a lower level than "outrageously fabulous".

I'll give a sports example...

Say you are a farmkid in Kansas and you have a choice between driving a tractor around cornfields for $20K a year vs earning $100K a year catching balls in the outfield.  Of course you would take the $100K.  But is it worth $50M.  No, you would do it for $100K. It is idiodically super-rich people playing their own game, competing with each other.

If they weren't, the seats would cost $10 and they would all still make a fine profit.  THat's what a generally middle-class world would look like...

Annoying Commercials

I have a love/hate relationship with TV commercials.  I love humorous ones and hate annoying ones.  Dad used to mute commercials, but I always found the deafening silence more annoying than the commercial themselves.  So I grew pretty immune to them.

That doesn't mean I didn't hear what they said.  The mind just filters out the brand names  And sometimes there is a new product that will actually draw my interest in the general product.  Then I research similar products that do the same work better.  Then I sometimes find stuff that really works. 

And they have learned a couple of new tricks this year.  In the first, they repeat the same commercial the 1st and 3rd time in a single station break.  In the second, they have the same commercial played on related channels at the same time.  So if you are watching the Science channel and an annoying commercial comes and you switch to the History channel, you are likely to see the same commercial.

But, my favorite disliked commercials...

1.  Some allergy medication that says their competitor treats 1 problem and they treat 6 AND 6 IS GREATER THAN 1.  Was 6 being greater than 1 supposed to be a revelation to me?

2.  A car insurance company that criticizes a competitor for telling a customer they should have bought "full replacement insurance" and says the customer should have researched that company better.  And then offers to sell you "full replacement insurance".  Just like they criticized the competitor for doing.

3.  I'll name names for this one.  For several years, Comcast has been comparing its cable service speed to Verizons DSL service saying "we are 5x faster".  I don't know if you remember what DSL is, but it stands for "Digital Subscriber Service".  DSL is about 40 years old technology.  It worked over old twisted copper wire telephone lines that were basically cleaned of static so that 9600 kbs could be transmitted over old-fashioned telephone lines. 

Its like comparing a 1940s Oldsmobile car to a 2016 Mercedes Benz in terms of spped, safety, and features.  And you only know Comcast is comparing their current service to DSL if you listen the the fast-talk and the very end on the commercial.

4.  All the car insurance companies who claim to have better rates than the others...  Every insurance company has slightly different rates for coverage and cost.  Everyone has SOME combination where they are cheaper than the others.  They can all prove they are better than the others at SOME specific coverage even if that coverage combination is so limited and bizarre that almost no one would choose it.

5.  Another one I dislike is a medication that says ours can start working in 30 minutes while out competitor's can take up to 24 hours.  I get such a kick out of that.  From what little I can discover, they are the same chemical.   Medication tests show a range of response times to the medications.  For the same medication, some people respond very quickly and some respond very slowly. 

So a particular medication may work very quickly on some people and very slowly on others.  There are many causes for that, but don't worry about that.  What Company "A is saying is that SOME test subjects self-reported an effect in 30 minutes.  And that SOME of Company X's test subjects reported irt took 24 hours.  What they are NOT telling you (because they don't have to" as that some of THEIR test subjects took 24 hours to respond and some of the Competitor test subjects took only 30 minutes. 

In other words, they were identical.  One company took the absolute lowest response time and compared it to the other company's longest response time.

  -----------------------

It can be hard to stay ahead of the advertizing.

Rule 1 is to look for hidden insults.  Advertisers assume everyone is stupid and gullible.  "6 is greater than 1" is the best example I have seen of that in many years.

Rule 2 is to think about the assumptions.  Is a car showing it being driven at 120 mph better than a car being driven at 60?  How often do you drive at 120?

Rule 3 is to read the fine print at the bottom of the screen at the end of the commercial.  Puse it or record it.  That's were ALL the truth is.

Rule 4 is to turn off the sound and look at the commercial without the expensive talented narrator.

Rule 5 is to do the opposite. Close your eyes and listen to the narrator.  Sometimes what he or she says doesn't actually make much sense. 

Rule 6 is to apply some basic knowledge.   All through history, people have claimed benefits from and sold common or bizarre substances.   Most people are basically honest.  They have to be to keep the respect of family and friends and neighbors.  Salesmen don't! 

If anyone says "Scientists (or Doctors) Don't Want You To Know This", that's because the claim IS NOT TRUE.  Wearing copper bracelets or moving "special" magnets over your joints does not work.  Otherwise, doctors would be doing that!  Any doctor who could show by patient recovery that some odd idea worked would become FAMOUS.

Rule 7 is that "If it seems to be too good to be true, then it isn't true".  Ideas that are good generally don't need much advertising.  There isn't a lot of business advertising telling you to eat more fruits and vegetables.  There ARE a lot telling you to eat more Toaster Sugar Blasts and Chocolate-Frosted Sugar-Bomb cereal.  Because YOU KNOW that fresh fruits and vegetables and "some" meat is good for you and eating a pound of sugar a day isn't and they have to work hard to convince you to buy their sugar/fat products.

And since the sugar/fat foods, copper bracelets, magnets, etc, etc, etc are their only way to make a fortune, they try it.  And when it works, they are gleeful.  They think it is sure better than having a REAL job...

Trump's Commennts About Women

I am posting this Saturday evening, before any new news about the Presidential debate or further news discussion about Trump's comments about how he views or has treated women comes out.

So this is general.  You know I don't like Trump.  He lies.  He lies about what he said years ago and he lies about what he said yesterday.  There is nearly no position that Trump has ever claimed that he has not denied afterwards.

My point here is not to list them.  Professional journalists and fact-checkers have done that before and found/proved him to be a pathological liar about almost everything.  That is what he is.  You can accept him for that or deny it, but he is that so frequently proven.

My concern today is the video of his comments about women.  Trump was politically-fatally damaged by the video.  Trump will never be a President of the US.

What I want to discuss is his justification for the comments.  His claim was they were locker room comments.  I've been in locker rooms.  I played soccer in high school and that was a rough bunch.  And we often shared locker room time with the football players and they tend toward crudeness.  Comments about cheerleaders, comments about fans in the stands.  Never in any locker room did I hear statements like Trump made.

In college, I tried rugby for a few months, and never did I hear such comments there.

And let me try to explain it.  In the locker room, some guys talked about expectations of having sex with their girlfriends.  Some talked about about going out to a local bar and trying to hook up with "fangirls".

Those were mostly established monogomous relationships or just plain fantasies.  There is a difference!

That isn't what Trump was talking about.  He was talking about outright predatory sexual assault, he was talking about using a position of power and influence to get unwilling sex, he was talking about taking advantage of fear of retribution and career destruction to have sex with women.  He wasn't talking about vague "desires".  He was talking about actual factual experiences in his life and the expectation that they would continue.  That is a VERY different thing.

The terms "creep, "vile", and "predator", come to mind.

His apologies are insipid, deceitful, and vapid! His first response was "I apologize if anyone was offended".  Now THAT is a standard political trick.  He isn't apologizing for what he SAID or DID, he is expressing some vague regret that OTHERS were upset by what he said or did which he considers perfectly OK.  In other words " You are an overly-sensitive, politically-correct annoying twit who doesn't understand reality".  That isn't an apology; that's an insult.

An apology is a clear unambiguous statement that you were wrong by all social standards, that you wish you had never said or done the thing, and that it was a strange inexplicable action that was totally out of character.  Allowable reasons are things like utterly mis-speaking, medication effects, typos on your notes, etc.

When you say you can get away with things like that when you are famous, you can't even apologize at all.  It is just "who you are"!  And that IS who he IS!

So, Trump is no longer viable as President of the US in any consideration.  That is simply an "absolute".  I don't care what any supporter thinks of his general political views, I don't care what his supporters think of his list of Supreme Court nominees, I don't even care if he COULD improve the economy (which he wouldn't).  That no longer matters.

Donald Trump must NOT ever be President of the US...

Recent Posts and Comments

First, thank you to everyone who commented about my recent house searches. The comments all made good sense (and they were easy to agree with since I was coming to that understanding myself).  I have MUCH to like about my current house and LESS than I imagined to dislike.  After enough years, you have everything where you want it.  Minor problems seem larger than they really are.  Sometimes it seems easier to escape them than just fix them.

I argue with myself about many things.  I see both sides of issues and that can really make decision-making difficult.  I've had friends for whom any question gave them an immediate answer which they acted upon with no further concerns.  Personally, I thought they tended to make bad decisions sometimes, but at least they were never tortured by doubt. 

But thinking too much about everything can lead to "analysis-paralysis" and that can be just as big a problem.  You get to a close decision and you are STUCK in between.  I recently saw a TV ad that used the term "FOBO" (Fear Of Better Options).  I get that.

2 years ago, I looked at houses with County water and sewage and cable and large open yards with sunlight for gardening.  Last year, I looked at rural lots of converted farmland that I could build a new home on.  Starting from scratch in the yard and a new house that would outlast me seemed good.  But all the lots I could find were surrounded by working farmland with overpowering fertilizer smells and I never found the open house structure I could afford (like 100'x50' for one-level living and a workshop attached and a garage.   This year, I looked at large Ramblers about the size of my current size  over a large open basement large enough for my woodworking equipment, and had a 2 car garage (one car, one boat).

The good house was on a lawn dome that fell off into ravines in back and the large side, the house with the good yard had crumbling foundations and obvious water problems in the basement, and the last one had a good yard but was smaller than my current house and, even filtered and softened, the water tasted bad.  And was $150,000 more than my house is estimated

So I have decided to remain here for a while.  Perhaps in a few years County water and sewage will be installed in more rural areas, the cable companies will expand, solar panels will become cheaper and more efficient, etc.  But that time is not now.

There isn't a whole lot I can do about my lack of gardening sunlight, though some ideas occur to me.  Putting up silver-painted sheet metal on the shady side would reflect a fair amount of sunlight back into the garden, for example. 

There isn't much I can do about the trees.  They are tall and narrow.  It's not the overhanging branches; it is their sheer height.  And it has been years since I asked about removing them.  Perhaps paying to have them professionally removed and replacing them with flowering trees like dogwoods would work.  I'll at least ask again.

And if that doesn't work, I do have the right to cut out all roots invading my soil.  Since they are so close to the property line, that might kill them.  And THEN I can offer them lower growing flowering trees that won't cause me problems.  From the shade angles, all I need is that trees be not more than 20' high.  The current ones are 50 to 75'.

As far as the house itself goes, most of the things that bother me are fixable through my own or contractor efforts.  The basement bathroom I installed myself 20 years ago was a mistake, but it can also be removed.  I've never used it except for storage.  It goes back to when I paneled 3/4 of the basement and carpeted the area thinking I would have parties.  I didn't throw parties and tore out the carpet in favor of a wood-working area, but the bathroom remains as dead space.  The ancient refrigerator can go, in favor of a medium chest freezer in the cat room upstairs.

I have 3 rooms with original 30 year old carpeting.  The master bedroom carpet is still oddly good (it gets so little use), but the other 2 are trashable and I'm thinking linoleum for the computer room (getting rid of the annoying chair mats) and tight pile carpet for the cat room).

I have new shingles on the roof, a new deck, new siding, and I have raised the front lawn to solve  drainage problems.  The asphalt driveway is deteriorating gradually; that can be removed and replaced with concrete. 

My 25 year old perennial beds have less in them than my pictures show these days (which is why you have been seeing more pictures of potted deck plants this year).  I can dig up the good plants, rototill the areas, replant the good ones and add more.  But that is what I would be doing in a new place anyway, and with greater effort. 

I could go on, but you get the idea.  I was desiring to escape redoing and fixing things and just starting over.  Starting over is neat and clean.  Summer's Mom mentioned that HER passion was big beautiful houses  and those are what she wants to spend her time and effort on.    I when I lie in bed at night, thinking about what's not perfect about my house, my thoughts are on doing work to make it better.

I have reasons to want to move, but less than I thought a month ago.  I'm staying.  And if you are the kind of person who remembers things like this and I mention moving again next year, remind me about the past 3 years of searches.  LOL!

Houses Again

I visited another house today.  This one was listed a shade over $400k, but I could tell they would accept a lower offer.  The elderly lady and her son seemed to want to leave ASAP. 

The house is nice.  3 decent bedrooms, 3 baths,  large kitchen, combined dining/living room, 2 car garage, decent basement (divided into several rooms but they didn't seem to be structural so they could be removed).  Large front lawn, backyard sunny enough for gardening, and the place comes with a separate deed for 20 surrounding wooded acres.  I could probably sell a few acres and even make a profit on the cost of the house.

I discussed the purchase procedure with the agent and suggested starting the paperwork.  I could afford the new place, and what is the point of dying wealthy when you have no descendants?

There were some negatives.  The place is on  well water and a septic tank.  The direct water is OK for washing and showering etc, but not for drinking.  Even filtered and softened, the water tasted terrible (the agent looked at the system and said better ones are available).  I would need to build a 300' fence around the backyard to protect the cats from neighborhood dogs and the garden from deer.  I would have to have a large toolshed added.  I would have to remove interior basement walls.  The deck was tiny and I would want a much larger one. 

But those are problems that can be overcome.  The problem is ME!  I sat down after I returned home and thought about it.  Then I looked around the house and yard and realized I JUST COULDN'T GET MYSELF TO MOVE!  I have become part of the property.  I'm rooted, affixed, nailed down.  I don't want to change, I don't want to learn a new house, I like the taste of the water here, etc, etc, etc.  I have never lived in "someone else's" house before

For possibly the 1st time, I understand both sets of grandparents.  All 4 died "oldish" in the houses they moved into in their late 20s.  They had become part of their houses.  Or their houses had become their larger "skin".  My house and yard are part of me, and I can't shake that feeling.  Everything in the house is exactly where I want it to be.  The yard needs work, but that is always an ongoing process.  If I moved, I would feel like I abandoned a friend in need of assistance and care.

I don't need to move for a new job or anything.

For what it is worth, I can easily afford to buy the new house outright, empty the current one, and then have it professionally cleaned before selling it afterwards.  I could even sell the current place "as is" and not even bother with making the kinds of repairs that 30 years of living have inflicted.

Has my train gotten completely de-railed here?  Am I talking myself out of a good life decision?  Have you faced a similar uncertainty of moving, and if so, what decision did you make?

Annoyed

Well, I'm a bit depressed today.  I've lived here 30 years, improved the property, improved my gardening area, and I gain NOTHING!  Because every year, the neighbors' trees bordering my property grow taller and cut out more sunlight. 

If I had known those trash saplings of 2 feet 30 years ago would grow to massive shady sunlight-sucking monsters 50' tall by now, I would have mowed them dead!  I have asked the neighbors' if I could pay to have the tall trees replaced with fancy flowering smaller ones.  They say "no" because they like the shade.  Hint, hint; on the east and south sides THEY DON'T GET ANY SHADE FROM THOSE TREES!  But they are oblivious to that.  "Just saying NO" is easier.

So last year, after the gardening season was over, I looked at new homes on the internet.  I would like an open house layout with rooms defined vaguely by 30" high walls (all the better to put plants on). and a large enough property so that trees can't block the sunlight in some 40'x40' garden.

I visited some open lands.  They were all corners of farmland being sold off for cash, with working farmland next door.  Well, if you don't know what farmland fertilizer and/or a horse stable smells like all Spring and Summer; *I* do!

So that idea was a failure.

Last week, I looked for existing houses on 1-3 acres of rural land away from farms.  I found 5 that looked good.  Within a day, I learned that 2 were under contract for sale, 1 had a fussy homeowners association controlling almost anything you can image, and 2 were still available.

I visited those 2 houses with a realtor agent today.  Gosh, photographs can be deceptive.  Both were 3 bedroom/2 baths and 3-5 acres. 

The first, pictured here, was great inside.  Lots of great features inside, nice interior, high wood beam ceilings, a kitchen island with an induction cooktop, granite counters, large rooms, 2 car garage (in my case that would be 1 car and 1 boat), dual fireplaces (right in the center of the house), etc.  The basement was chopped into small rooms ( I want a workshop).  But mostly, the back 2 acres fell right into a ravine practically straight out the back door.  No chance for gardening there.  The house is basically like a Monopoly Hotel sitting on a baseball cap (good front visor, nothing behind).

So we went to the other house.  An acre wide and 5 acres deep.  The backyard was sunny ("gardeny").  And it was flat further back, so I could get for open space cutting down some trees.  Nice toolshed.  The upper interior was cramped but more space than I have now.  The basement was large; plenty of room for woodworking equipment.  

But it stank of mildew and showed water damage.  The reason was obvious when I looked under the deck.  The foundation is crumbling from long-term rain exposure.  The backyard drains TOWARD the house.  Whoever leveled the terrain originally should be drawn and quartered!  There were chunks of foundation spalled off from water damage.  Looking back into the basement, it became obvious the basement had been routinely flooded and the owners had tried a cheap paint job to cover it up.

Both properties were being sold for $350,000 in a rural area with well water and septic fields.

The realtor pair with me had never shown the properties previously and were dismayed by the problems I pointed out.  They seemed genuinely upset.  To the point were they took pictures of the problem areas and even noted some they found themselves ( a water-stained ceiling tile, for example). 

I'm sure that won't stop them from selling either place to anyone who wants them; that IS their job.  But they WERE surprised at what they saw.  I'll bet both places drop below $300,000 very soon. 

For someone who never bought a used house (and only my current one new-built) I sem to have a knack for discovering evidence of problems.  I noticed some other tricks the homeowners tried.  One front door rubbed hard on the carpet, yet there was no wear showing.   That meant the carpet was new.  So when I rapped on the carpet, the subfloor didn't sound solid.  That meant rain-damage through the roof.  Sure enough, there was discoloration in the ceiling above.  It had been re-painted and poorly, so you could see the spot if you knew to look. 

So my search continues.  A rambler on a basement on an open yard.  That's all I ask.  Looks like I will be staying here another year, though I will continue to check the listing "just in case".

Bad as my sunlight is, I refuse to move in the middle of Winter or in the middle of gardening season.

My plan is to buy a house, move, then clean/repaint/renovate the existing house.  I can have 2 for a few months because the current one is paid off so there is no expense holding it for sales prep.

But I'm sure not going to move unless I like the house better and I can garden better!!!

VP Debate

 The VPs had one job in their debate; defend their Presidential candidates.

My initial thoughts (listening to it on radio twice) is that Pence defending Trump and Kaine did a good job defending Clinton and got some jabs in on his own.  Kaine came out ahead.

Pence mainly denied things that Trump had said, while Kaine kept pointing those things out.  That made it hard for Pence, who doesn't really support most of Trump's opinions.  But given that, Pence did the best he could, and in a technical sense, skillfully.  He has set himself up as the top contender for the Republican nominee in 2020.

But he will face most of the losing Republican candidates of 2016 , so it will be another crowded field.

Kaine did a good job of defending Clinton, Obama, and Democratic positions in general in general, so he has a future also.  Whether an elected VP, or the losing one, he did well enough to establish himself as a leader in the party.  Obviously, being a winning VP will be better than a losing one, but either way, he is "noticed". 

If Trump wins and fails at leadership, the 2020 election could well match Pence and Kaine and I'm sure they are both planning for that.  Or if Clinton wins, as seems likely, Kaine will bide his time as VP and go for the Presidency in 2014.

But overall, Kaine won because he supported the likely next President and Pence won because he represented the conservatives who hate Trump.

This election might be the last of the Boomers, with Clinton.  The next might be even more contentious.

Trump/Clinton Presidential Debate

I just can't help responding to the Trump/Clinton Debate  as it was just so odd.  In my 48 years of watching presidential debates, I have never seen anything like it. 

Right after the debate, Trump tweeted that the Moderator was very good and that he (Trump) had clearly won.  Then, after a few hours, Trump learned that he had not done so well in the debate, and suddenly the Moderator was merely "OK".  The next day, when the first polls came out showing that Trump had lost the debate in the opinion of the viewing public, he decided that the Moderator had been really tricky and against him personally.

Since when does the Moderator's performance change over time as one's ratings of the debate performance go down and it is not your fault?

I'm not claiming that Trump lost the debate because polls said so.  I'm not claiming that Trump lost the debate because CNN said so.  I'm claiming that Trump lost the debate because even Fox News admits it!

And it gets worse for Trump.  He jumped at a Clinton suggestion that Trump paid no taxes like most of us have to, saying "I'm smart not to".  Well, maybe that is good for his business, but it means he can't claim to support our military forces, our economy, or domestic security groups.

He lost the rest of the debate by constantly making snide remarks during Clinton's turn to speak and insulting groups of voters in his turn to speak.

Then he attacked a former Miss Universe ( a business he controlled at the time) saying she was "too fat".  Have you seen pictures?  She was as forced-self-starved as all beauty-pageant contestants are.  As I understand it, she gained a few pounds after the contest, and that was probably good for her health.

And Trump couldn't let it go about her.  I tweeted several times after midnight to dawn about her.  Really?  How wants a President how fixates on irrelevant issues in the middle of the night?

Trump claimed that "polls" suggested he won.  Yeah, those were the kinds of online surveys where people can set up their computer to vote repeatedly.   The real polls, conducted by professionals say he lost the debate about 55% to 25% (the rest unsure).

I wish Trump would discuss some details of his plans to defeat ISIS, solve US poverty, reduce crime in cities, and apportion our tax dollars among problems like infrastructure rebuilding, military training and equipment, tax reform, rebuilding the middle class, education, etc.  But he just won't discuss those things beyond "I'll Make America Great Again".  Good, tell me how you'll do that!

I want to hear details.  Blind assurances do not move me.  Clinton gives details. 

I read an fairly neutral analysis that Trump stated a positive lie every 3 minutes 15 seconds as he spoke (12).  They caught Clinton on 1 (about a trade agreement staement).  I can accept a few deceptions for "Reasons of State", but a 12 to 1 ratio does not encourage me to support Trump.  Most of his lies don't even make sense! 

And then there were a couple interviews with the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson.  What a sad joke.  He didn't know what or where Aleppo was.  And then couldn't name a single world leader he admired.   A smarter person, blanking on names might have said he didn't admire any of them.  But that wasn't his problem.  He actually didn't know any names.

Seriously, *I* could have come up with Merkel, Cameron (only recently out of office),  and Hollande,  and I don't keep track of foreign leaders (paying more attention to places as nations).

His VP candidate tried to mention former President Vincente Fox of Mexico, but I haven't liked him since he referred to the illegal hispanic migration into the Southern US as "The Reconquista".

So Trump is an unqualified habitual liar and ignorant of world affairs, Johnson is just ignorant and ignorant of world affairs, and Clinton is telented at dealing with world leaders, nuanced and thoughtful.

That's a contest?

The Clinton/Trump Debate Tomorrow

I'm worried about the debate.  Clinton has to show great command of all national and international issues (and she will).  She probably has to know the Minister of Finance of Slovakia and the exchange rate of Dollars to Laotion Kips (and she probably does).

All Trump has to do is not pull down his pants and moon the audience...

And then too many people will think him "presidential" for restraining himself. 

If there was ever a difference in expectations between 2 people in a debate, this is it.  And it is not fair.  I grew up taught that knowledge, experience, and nuance matters in life and leadership.  I went through my career that way and I have lived my life that way. 

If Trump becomes our President, my brain will just EXPLODE.  And not because he is, but because enough Americans thought he should be.  It will be a society I no longer want to be part of. 

I live in Maryland.  Maryland is not a contested State.  Maryland will go for Clinton without any doubt.  It is some of the other States I worry about.  Personal opinion of States that go for Trump; they are obviously insane.

I read a very interesting book decades ago (and re-read it sometimes) called 'They Also Ran' by Irving Stone.  It details the losers in presidential elections, why they lost and what kind of presidents the losers would have made.  Stone's general view is that the American voters have generally made good decisions, but sometimes really made bad ones.  His judgements on the elections seem sound.

As he said in his epilogue, the American People have made the better choice rejecting Hayes for Tilden (the election was crooked in Florida and Hayes was chosen badly),  Douglas for Lincoln, Blaine for Cleveland, Landon/Wilkie/Dewey in favor of Franklin Roosevelt, Dewey over Truman,  Nixon over Kennedy,  and Goldwater against Johnson. 

We erred grievously choosing  Taylor over Cass, Grant over Seymour, Coolidge over Davis, Eisenhower over Stevenson,  and Nixon over Humphrey

We made a difficult choice between Smith/Hoover  between equally good candidates.

The rest of the elections seem to have been the better choices.

Let's hope this election doesn't go down in history as the worst decision the voters have even made...

Groundhog

I have a particularly wary groundhog this year.  I set out my live cage trap but it wont go in.  I've named it Radar.

It is unusually observant.  And, apparently, groundhogs  have great long-distance vision and hearing.  Radar creeps out of the backyard underbrush (which I really ought to get out and cut down) slowly.  To the extent that it can think, it might call ME Radar too.

Radar can see at least 200 feet and can tell if I so much as slowly poke my head over a windowsill.  If I do, he stands up, looks straight at me and runs away.  On the other hand, he cannot creep out into my wildflower garden (which must seem like a Eden of food to him).  I know every stem as well as HE does and he can't hide his little head whenever I look out the window.

I see him as well as he sees me.  I've been kind.  As long as he eats the clover in the lawn, I don't mind.  And my garden is covered with chicken wire he can't get into so far.  If he would stick to the lawn clover, I wouldn't mind.

But he has a natural taste for the wildflowers I am trying to grow in a patch for the cats to prowl through, and when it comes to the cats desires to prowl seeking mice and voles vs the groundhog's eating habits, Radar has to go.

I have tried to scare him away.  I have tried to just discourage him when he wants to eat the wildflowers I'm, trying to grow.    No success on that.

So I will have to set up the Hav-A-Hart live trap cage again.  I set it up in years past when I had groundhogs and caught them right away.  Radar is more cautious.  I read that covering the cage with long grasses is good for suspicious groundhogs, even draping it with landscape fabric is good.

I don't want intelligent cage-wary groundhogs around.  From my point of view, stupid and catchable is better.  The websites say that cantelopes and peaches are the best cage bait.  I have a honeydew melon bigger than I will eat, so I will try some of that.  Radars predecesors ate my honeydews last year before I finished enclosing my garden are last year, so that should work.
I'll hang a slice from inside the top of the cage (because otherwise the ants just eat them). 

Apple Intrusions

I had an annoying incident today.  I decided to download a new version of MacKeeper, some protection software. 

Usually, you just press a few buttons to download a program.  Instead, I got a live Apple Helper.  Who took over my screen...  I won't tolerate that from anyone.  THEY TOOK OVER MY COMPUTER!!!  For all I know, they still have control of it.  I'm uninstalling the program (but who knows if that actually works). 

When that is done, I will use a few anti-virus, anti-intrusion programs NOT from Apple. 

But this really bothered me.  I might have to consider Windows again.