There is that

 The Cubs managed to have the best record in baseball for about 24 hours. 

Hippy Music Saturday

 

I strongly disagree

 I have to disagree, Mr. President. Human trafficking is a scourge upon civilization and especially when it involves teens and children. It is no fake news or conspiracy. Epstein and Maxwell trafficked in sex. They were convicted. There were victims. Now you owe it to society to out the persons who engaged.If human trafficking occurred, it had to be to someone. I not only want the names, I want to know why they haven’t been prosecuted. 

I don’t care if it is presidents or princes, celebrities or computer mavens. I do not care if 1/2 of Congress is implicated. I do not care if half of Hollywood or Wall Street is destroyed . I want names named and people in jail. 

This isn’t about politics, it is about proving the law applies equally despite wealth and power. It is about doing the right thing. And if you are one of those trying to push this under the rug, then shame on you. 

If that makes me undesirable in your opinion, Mr. Trump, then you can kiss my ass. 

A very good DAY

Yesterday my oldest granddaughter and I drove over to Dayton, OH to tour the National Air Force Museum. 

This wasn’t a case of the old man dragging a ten-year-old to some boring museum so that she could learn something, like a school field trip. She chose to go there. I think she had a ball. I did. 

They have everything from Wright Brothers planes to B-52s to four different Air Force One planes. You can see the Memphis Bell and Bockscar, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb Fat Boy on Nagasaki. It took us pretty much all day to tour the four buildings. 

I had to explain some of the displays and the Cold War section was most difficult. How do you explain the need for the Berlin Airlift and the nature of the Cold War era to a little kid?  The evil perniciousness of communism is beyond the understanding of a fifth grader. 

She most enjoyed the space shuttle and the old Air Force One displays. She was awed to stand in the spot LBJ took the oath after the Kennedy assassination. Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool too. 

In a life filled with them, yesterday will be remembered as one of my favorite days. 

On the road again

 No post today. I’m going on a road trip with my oldest granddaughter. Just the two of us doin’ history. 

I think we are going to have a blast. 

Deep Cut

 

Dork Fish

In an aquarium in Florida 

 

Three minutes and forty seconds of life

I sat on the patio reading book 2 of the North and South series on my Kindle.  The resident cardinal  chirped good night in the gathering darkness as lightning bugs flashed their call for mates around the white and pink blooms of rose of Sharon bushes. The little fountain splashed quietly. No politics or work or worries about bills intruded on my thoughts of contentment. Movement caught my eye and a bunny hopped slowly across the lawn stopping to eat a bite of grass or weed, sniffing the air constantly for danger. I closed my book and sat, enjoying the summer evening. I offered a prayer of thanks and went inside still wondering why Ghislaine Maxwell is in jail if she trafficked minors to nobody? 

Hippy Music Saturday

 

I’m getting too old for this

Yesterday I helped the youngest move a couch and loveseat into his apartment. An upstairs apartment. It was warm outside. It is summer here in Hoosierland. 

Today I ache in muscles I forgot I had. Back during Covid when I was forced to work at the Big Box home improvement store to survive, I did lots of lifting and carrying of stuff - frequently very heavy stuff like grills and shelves. These days, I don’t get the same daily workout. 

These two of us managed to get the furniture up the stairs and into the apartment. All is well. Except my shoulders. And my legs. We won’t even discuss my aching back.  My bad foot is crying out for attention. I have these scrapes on my arms and hands…

Our Friend Ed

 Blogger EdB has been a reader and commenter here since almost the beginning. I consider him a friend I never met. 

Now, he is facing some real challenges. 

If you are the praying kind, I know he would appreciate it.  A comment of encouragement would certainly help lift his spirits. 

Should I go?

 

Hump day

 I have nothing. 

Willie Loman is my doppelgänger

After a well-deserved week of vacation I got mostly caught up yesterday. As with nearly every vacation in my professional life, I worked a little while I was off. I read every email, answered a few. I replied to a few texts and took a couple of phone calls. I logged on and listened to one short Teams meeting.  

The wife admonished, “You’re on vacation!” 

The thing is, that 3/4 hour or so I spent each day keeping abreast paradoxically helped me better enjoy my vacation. More importantly, it kept me from being completely overwhelmed when I logged on yesterday morning. 

Am I a workaholic? I don’t believe so. Do I care about my job? Very much. If I had the means would I retire? Absolutely, unequivocally, yes. 

I know TLDR

In the early decades of the country there was a lot of discussion and angst among the various states over the power of the federal government. The United States was exactly that- a collection of independent states married together. It remains so, even though the identity and powers of the individual states has been watered down . 

In those early decades there was a discussion of what was termed “Nullification”. I don’t want to get into the weeds, nullification is complicated political theory and the events leading to the attempted policy are far ranging, always coming back, in the end, to slavery.

The feds instituted a new tariff. This tariff helped the manufacturers in the north by limiting competitive goods from Europe. The increased costs hurt the agrarian South, who imported most of their commercial goods and exported their cotton, indigo, and rice. 

John Calhoun and the South Carolina legislators decided they did not have to abide by the federal law and announced the tariff was null in void in South Carolina. 

Andrew Jackson said “Like Hell,” eventually the next Congress reduced the tariff and the state backed down. 

Nullification continued to raise its ugly head right up until the Civil War when it was settled for good. 

Why am I going on about this? 

No state has the right to decide they don’t like Federal Immigration laws and refuse to cooperate. The way to get rid of a federal law your state doesn’t like is to change the law. 

Nullification is itself null and void and was settled in the 1830s.. 

That’s why politicians should study history. 

Hippy road trip song

 

About last week

 

This has been my view all week. 

No, that is not my backyard, believe it or not.

Now I’m back home. I wish I could say I’m refreshed and ready for work Monday. That would be a lie. I’m refreshed, let’s leave it at that. 

Celebrate

 The first No Kings Day

How to spot a scam

 If I walked into a psychic reading, the first thing out of her mouth better be “Hi, I was expecting you.” Otherwise  I would turn and leave, firm in my knowledge she was a fake. 

You’re welcome.

Lonely Lament

Now it is stuck in your skull too. 

Rise of the Squirrels

This is how it starts. He bangs on the door, his sharp claws making a click, click, click on the glass. “Let me in. I promise I won’t chew your face off.”

Yeah, I’m not falling for it. That bushy-tailed rodent wants to murder me.