Here We Go

It was a beautiful day today.  The skies were sunny and the temps might have reached 80 degrees.  There was a pleasant breeze.  I managed to get in a nice long run this AM and followed it with a ride on the bike.  Then it was work in the yard, Michael and I carrying and spreading about four yards of shredded bark (about half the pile of eight yards) and then doing some trim work on the blue spruces.
I know we need rain, a lot of it, but it's tough to grouse about a day like today.

Aren't the polls all over the place?  Didn't one of them have Clinton ahead of Trump by about 11 or 12 points just a week or so ago?  Then today a Rasmussen poll has Trump leading by 5 points.  November is still a long way off; lots could happen.  I suppose it wouldn't be too strange a scenario to have different candidates than we have now.  Clinton has legal and, supposedly, health problems.  I imagine if things are carried through with some honesty (you know, with the thoroughness and scrutiny that you and I would face!), who knows--she might be indicted?  I doubt that, but......  And the Republicans keep tossing out the idea of changing their rules for the convention in Cleveland to prevent a Trump nomination.  I doubt that, too, but......  Until I see any changes, major ones, I'm sticking to my election mantra, "When given a choice between two evils, choose neither."

BTW, I read an article lambasting Richard Nixon the other day.  I'm no fan of his and think he received what he deserved.  I know I've written about this before, here and in some publications, but I don't quite understand how and why Nixon was properly treated, but Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have not.  What, exactly, is it Nixon did that Clinton and Obama didn't?  All lied and covered up their activities.  All had enemies' lists for their political opponents.  All used the federal government for their own advantages and to the detriment/punishment of their opposition.  The LameStream media have, for decades now, crowed about their role in bringing down Nixon.  Yet, they sit silently and have allowed Clinton and Obama to skate.  (No, Clinton's impeachment was a joke, a blip.  All it did was to make him a martyr in the eyes of the Democrats.)  Can we use this as explicit evidence of the bias in the LameStream media?

I saw several articles this week about the Democrats' sit-in in the US Senate last week.  And, perhaps shame on me, I laughed at it.  The Democrats tried to equate this with the sit-ins of the civil rights era, the '60.  They even trotted out Rep John Lewis, a civil rights icon.  Of course there were many things wrong with this, despite the spirited defense of it in this week's newspaper by Congressman Sandy Levin, who, to me, is overrated and hypocritical.  The protest was, in part, over the failure of Republicans to cave in to Democrats' insistence that people put on "no-fly" lists be prevented from purchasing guns.  This came after the tragic murders in Orlando by the ISIS-inspired terrorist.  (Yep, we know that, despite the Justice Dept's attempts to redact the official report, including the 911 call the terrorist made to the police during the attack.)  Even the ACLU, yes, the ACLU!--you know, that ultra-right wing group--opposed this.  I would like to know who gets to put one, anyone, on such a "no-fly" list.  Would this power be given to bureaucrats?  Great, just great.  Worse, would it be given to politicians?  Right, we can trust them, can't we?  Hey, wasn't Lewis once put on a "no-fly" list?  (I'm not sure, but I think he was.)  The participants in the sit-in were very disingenuous, if not dishonest or even stupid.  There was nothing in their protest law that would have prevented the Orlando tragedy.  As Casey Stengel often said, "You could look it up."  There may be sound reasons to look more closely at gun legislation, but the misinformation, deception, and lies coming out do nothing to persuade.

Here's one for all of you U of M, esp Harbaugh, fans.  It's a sign that the Apocalypse is nearly upon us.  An 8th grade QB was offered a football scholarship to U of M, by Harbaugh.  You read that right, 8th grade."  Long ago I started chuckling at the insistence of many U of M supporters that it is "the Harvard of the West."  Ha Ha Ha......