July 17

 I didn't look at my e-mail or post yesterday. I got to see a bit of what the storms that went through Monday night did. The weather service put out severe weather warnings for our area including tornado warnings. We decided to sleep in our recliners on the lowest floor of our apartment instead of the bedroom on the upper floor--just in case. Shortly after we turned off the lights  the alerts started going off on our phones and the sirens blared. The wind was the most intense we have experienced for a good while. We came through with no problem. But other areas of the city weren't so lucky. I had to go out to get some stamps and take books/other materials back to the library. Along the way I passed through an older section of town where I saw a lot of tree limbs down, and one large tree uprooted and lying across the street. I had to detour a couple of blocks to get to the library but I didn't see much else. Our local power company posted an update to our e-mail detailing power outages and projecting when power would be restored. Again our own area didn't experience the outages.

We are NOT watching any part of the Republican Convention (a.k.a., Trump Coronation). I was, and am, skeptical that Trump's calls for "unity" indicate any kind of shift in his rhetoric or "policies." Some time ago Trump expressed what he meant by "unity" when, in an interview, he praised Xi Jinping saying that when he spoke every one in China did what they were told in lockstep. (my paraphrase) He was clearly envious and wished he got that kind of response over here. And the so called policies are simply restatements softening, mildly, Project 2025. His choice of J.D. Vance doesn't do anything to make me think any changes would be anything but cosmetic--putting lipstick on a pig.

The "Not Qualified" Chorus is starting with J.D. Vance in the subject line. I guess no one reads any part of the Constitution--ever. The qualifications are 1) 35 years old, 2) natural born citizen of the U.S. and 3) resident of the U.S. for 14 years. That is it. It really is time some of our so-called pundits (of what ever political stripe) stop wasting ink (or pixels) talking about this non-issue.

I wonder if there is anything the MAGA crew and their corporate handlers won't try to privatize to make a profit. Take a look at this piece. So, they think it just fine if only those who can pay for anything can get it and the rest of us are up a shit creek without a paddle. I have said before some things should not be for sale and not all services should have bean counters squeezing for as much as they can extort.