Posts from — May 2019

In order to generate “local excitement” [sell stuff] the chamber of commerce is once again annoying people with the Billy Bowlegs Festival. This year the unavoidable part runs from Friday, May 31^st and finishes up on Monday. The really obnoxious parade on Monday screws up traffic and sends a lot of noisy people through my neighborhood.

Almost as bad as the parade traffic jam are the Friday fireworks. I know a lot of people enjoy fireworks, but they probably have not seen what loud noises and flashes of light can do to people and aircraft – I am definitely not a fan.

With luck it will rain the rest of the week… 😈

The Constitution, Article III, Section 3:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

Unless Congress passes a declaration of war, treason cannot be charged against anyone.

Coup, witchhunt, collusion, “deep state” – language has been a major victim of the Trump regime as “alternative facts” replace reality. There are 600 more days of this garbage. The House needs to impeach Trump to show the world that there are still sane people in the US.

This is a picture from one of the columbariums at the Arlington National Cemetery, the final resting place of many of those who served the United States since the middle of the 19^th century.

That is my Father’s marker. He didn’t know those located around his marker, but they all shared service to their country as part of their life.

The country continues to ask for service and people still respond to that call. As you think about the sacrifices represented by Arlington and other cemeteries, ask yourself if you have done what you could to prevent misuse of the willingness of some to serve.

It is rather for us the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us–that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion–that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

I’m willing to accept whatever 5 female Justices of the Supreme Court decide. Five Catholic male Justices have no business deciding what women can do with their bodies and legislatures have no business making medical decisions that are clearly discriminatory based on sex.

Further, you can’t say you are pro-life if you support the death penalty, but don’t support free/low cost prenatal care, free/low cost child care, decent schools, and a living wage.

We have had triple digit heat indexes for several days and the forecast is for more. Of course, I have been outside looking for any sign of leaks that would explain monstrous water bills and making repairs to the irrigation system to make it available for watering flowers and such.

In the midst of this, the main air conditioner in my house froze up. The humidity didn’t simply condense, it went from gas to liquid to solid, which blocks the vanes on the evaporator coils, resulting in a mess and no cooling.

The fix is to defrost the beast, which I did, and it started freezing up again. That meant tearing my self away from plumbing to go buy a backup AC. The main AC is 10,000 BTU, and the backup is 8,000. So far the new unit is working fine and I can sleep. As the fan on the main unit is working, I need to check to see if the evaporator coils are clogged, those are the normal causes of icing.

There were fireworks in the background as I typed this. These people think blowing things up is how you “celebrate” everything.

Position: 30.8N 68.3W [ 4:00PM CST 2100 UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [070°] near 8 mph [13 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [ 70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1009 mb.

Currently about 230 miles [ 370 km] West-Southwest of Bermuda.

The system has degraded to a remnant low. This is the final NHC advisory.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 29.5N 68.7W [10:00PM CST 0300 UTC].
Movement: North [360°] near 12 mph [19 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 70 miles [110 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1006 mb.

Currently about 300 miles [ 485 km] Southwest of Bermuda

First storm of the season that doesn’t officially start until June 1st.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

John Bolton definitely has to go. He should never be allowed in the same universe as any of the levers of power because he wants to use them to start a war. His answer to all questions is to “bomb somebody”. He is going to get members of the US military and innocent civilians in other countries killed.

Trump is attacking John Kerry and wants him charged under the Logan Act for acting like a former Secretary of State (which he was). Trump assumes that Kerry told the Iranians not to call the current Resident of the White House. There is no power on earth that would convince the Iranians to talk to Trump, much less negotiate with him.

Noz has a short and simple explanation as to why Iran won’t deal with Trump. Trump keeps pulling out of agreements. He unilaterally withdrew from the Iran Nuclear Agreement; he refused to sign the Trans Pacific Partnership; he insisted on changing the NAFTA agreement. He is acting lukewarm about NATO, and refused to offer the traditional guarantee on Article 5 of the NATO Treaty on collective defense. His word is no good, and he has made the world doubt the value of agreements with the US.

If you are in the US you received a white plastic bag as a reminder of the drive. If you don’t have a separate mailbox, you can drop it off at a post office.

Trump held a rally in Panama City which is not thrilled with the support they have gotten after Hurricane Michael. These are Trump voters and they don’t like being treated like Puerto Ricans: Frustrated Florida residents still waiting for help as President Trump visits.

Locally my Congresscritter is waiting to find out if he still has a law license: Matt Gaetz’s threat tweet to Cohen still matters to Florida Bar. In the meantime he is making a fool of himself: Matt Gaetz defends Barr by shouting Dems ‘Don’t have the guts’ to impeach Trump.

Of course, the Dems can impeach Trump after they impeach Barr, but will start with a contempt citation.

Over 600 former Federal prosecutors have signed a letter stating that the Mueller report provides all of the evidence necessary to indict Trump for multiple instances of obstruction of justice if the Justice Department didn’t have a policy of not indicting a sitting President. One of the signatories of the letter explains: Why I signed letter saying Trump committed a crime.

Trump is continuing to obstruct investigations into his actions by Congress. The House needs to take people to court.

You throw these fools out of positions of power, and in no time they are back.

John Bolton decided it was necessary to send a carrier group and bombers to the Persian Gulf because Iran is showing signs that it might be planning to do something that could involve US interests at some time in the future … possibly … and they might have Saddam’s WMDs or something.

Bibi Netanyahu has been saying that Iran would have a nuclear weapon in 5 years since 1992. The Saudis and Israelis blame all of the problems in the Middle East on Iran, without mentioning all of the side wars they have been engaged in.

Our aircraft carriers have a hell of a time operating in the Persian Gulf because of their size and turn radius. The Strait of Hormuz is a gauntlet of Iranian artillery and missiles. Annoying the Iranians without cause is a monumentally stupid thing to do, but then we have monumentally stupid people running the country at the moment.

Wikipedia usually has to “lock” its Cinco de Mayo page. I suspect it may be related to the sudden appearance of sites opposing the celebration of this semi-holiday and others who have a hissy fit about any Mexican holiday being celebrated in the US.

In Mexico Cinco de Mayo or Batalla de Puebla, is only a really big celebration in the state of Puebla, where the battle took place.

The Mexican army won the Batalla de Puebla on May the 5^th, 1862, but the French went on to Mexico City in 1863 after receiving reinforcements and installed Emperor Maximilian.

It has the status of St. Patrick’s Day in the US, an excuse to eat different food, and drink different booze, and be obnoxious show an interest in other cultures.

Margaritas, tacos, and the destruction of piñatas, that’s what it is really about.

Next Saturday, May 11^th, is the 27^th annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive of the Postal Workers. I participate every year by filling a bag with non-perishable food items and putting it on the mail box Friday night. The food pantries need the help, because they are serving an ever-increasing number of people as wages are not keeping pace with the cost of living.

If you don’t have a mail box, most post offices have a collection bin.