Early Voting in Downtown Shreveport

Early Voting: October 29, 2016

I voted.

This post will be a sort of preview for my post coming up Monday for DaTechGuy, but hopefully Pete won't mind too much. It won't be exactly the same so I should be okay.  ;)

Steve and I have election fatigue We are sick of it all.  I am, anyway. It's gone on too long and I've been sick of the Clintons for decades.  This has been one of the most absurd, most unpredictable, most irrational elections that I can ever remember. I don't have a good feeling about it at all. Not one bit.

So the weather was gorgeous yesterday and although it still feels like summer, it was nice to stand in that forty-five minute line, visit with neighbors, and make some new friends as we all waiting to exercise our American right to vote.

The line was literally a block long, extending all the way to the Hallmark store and reports are that earlier in the week it wrapped around onto Texas Street.  We didn't care. We got in line.

This really got me: there was an older gentleman wearing a face mask and his wife behind us. We visited a little, talking about the proposed Amendments mostly, and the man stepped out of line to sit in one of the folding chairs placed along the line.

"He's got Stage Four lymphoma," she said. "That's why he's wearing that mask. He was supposed to have surgery Friday but his platelets were to low."

It took no time at all for us to expedite these people to the front of the line.  I am so filled with love for this man who is so ill and so obviously felt terrible and all he wanted to do was vote.  God bless him!

We also met a very nice couple in front of us and before we reached the end of the line we determined our Six Degrees of Separation: she grew up in my neighborhood and her mother was my kindergarten teacher. She had her mother's absentee ballot in her purse.  She invited us to a Veterans Day concert at her church and we plan to go!

Veterans Day Concert

I was so busy visiting that I forgot to keep up with my Pokemon game - I was in the absolute middle of Pokestop heaven - with Gastlys and Haunters everywhere.

We voted, I got my Blue Dog sticker, and we walked down to Blind Tiger to eat. (They still do not have onion rings or any other craft beer besides Great Raft - shameful; support local beer!).

Blue Dog

After we ate we walked the length of Texas Street to the church so I could work the Pokestops and I noted that the voting line was still just as long as when we were in it; it was equally as long on our return trip back down the street later.

I am pretty confident as to how Louisiana is going to vote in the presidential race, but we have several other local races and a senate race that are all very important.

The Constitutional amendments are all gibberish - go here to decipher them before you go vote.  For example:

Act 677 (2016 Regular Session) amends Article XI, Section 5. “Do you support an amendment to provide that the manner of appointment for the registrar of voters in each parish is as provided by law and to require the qualifications of the registrar to be provided by law?”

Translation: Should there be standards for registrars and transparency in the hiring process?

We need a constitutional amendment for that?

It's Time to Face the Music

I can hardly bring myself to blog about Donald Trump, as you may have noticed.  I agree with practically everything Kevin Williamson wrote about him last week:

He is unfit for any office, morally and intellectually.  

A man who could suggest, simply because it is convenient, that his opponent’s father had something to do with the assassination of President Kennedy is unfit for any position of public responsibility.  

His long litany of lies — which include fabrications about everything from his wealth to self-funding his campaign — is disqualifying.  

His low character is disqualifying.  

His personal history is disqualifying.  

His complete, utter, total, and lifelong lack of honor is disqualifying.  

The fact that he is going to have to take time out of the convention to appear in court to hear a pretty convincing fraud case against him is disqualifying.

There's more.

Truth is, there are quite a lot of things about Hillary Clinton that should disqualify her as well, but they don't.

I loathe Trump.  He's boorish and crude.  He's as far from the Ronald Reagan archetype as any candidate can be.

That being said, he is going to be the Republican nominee and any attempt to derail that through a third-party run or a brokered convention will be doomed to failure and will only ensure to elect Hillary, in my opinion.

Despite George Will's conviction that Trump can't possibly win, and Josh Gelernter's third-party scenarios, I think that at this point, Republicans must unify behind Trump. Certainly nobody wants to, but reality bites.

All the talk about Mitt Romney coming in to save the day is simply garbage. He ran and didn't win, he didn't want to run this time, and he's not going to save you now. And he's the only one with a ghost of a shot.

If America wanted a successful businessman to save the day, we should have elected Romney when we had the chance, but we didn't, and we aren't going to do it now.

I had dinner with friends recently who tried to make the case that as offensive and boorish as Trump is, as president Trump will likely surround himself with people smart enough to do the job that Trump himself can't do.  Trump may be ignorant of the responsibilities of presidential office, but maybe they're right.  Maybe he'll appoint the right people.  It's the only hope we've got.

We are in for a long, miserable campaign and God only knows what after that.  I long for the days when we had class and grace in the White House but those are so far behind us now I don't think we can redeem ourselves.

Perhaps I will unplug from the internet for a few more months...

Loose Thoughts

Time to build an ark.

It looks like we're going to need an ark.  I was going to fertilize my lawn this weekend but I think I'll hold off on that as it appears it would all just wash away.  I love the rain but I'm feeling the need to batten down the hatches and hunker down.

The Cammie Book: As I noted yesterday, blogging has been light here lately.  I'm five months away from deadline on the Cammie book and that's consuming all of my mental and physical energy right now.  I'm heading back to Natchitoches over Spring Break to nail down a few details my publisher has asked for and I'm looking forward to that, actually.  I have loved the research aspect of this project -- it's truly been a labor of love.  However, we are not quite done yet, so ...wish me luck, please.  And if you feel so inclined, don't be shy about hitting the tip jar over in the sidebar.  Research takes money: gas, photocopies, lunch, postage, ink....help a girl out if you can.

The Louisiana Primary: Well, Cruz almost pulled off Louisiana, didn't he.  I expected Trump to win it and I maintain my position strongly OUT of the Trump camp.  I've been told that people like him because he is bombastic and will say things nobody else will say; they like him because he has his own money and nobody can buy him.  My personal opinion is that he is a buffoon, a clown, and a reality TV candidate who has offered no real substantive solutions to anything other than "build a wall."  Obviously we have no perfect candidate. But Trump is farther from perfect than most.

On a side note, I'm wondering how far in advance the ballots are printed?  Mike Huckabee dropped out the first week of February, but he received 645 votes. Jeb Bush received over 2000 votes.  Outside of early voting when your candidate may actually still be in the race, why would a person vote for someone who isn't even running?

Glenn Beck is predicting a brokered convention:

They are working on a brokered convention. Any sane leader of the party sees this is a two person race and asks the others to get out to bring us together. They are looking at a war on the floor! It could spill out further.. As I was listening to them and saw the loyalty oaths the party is along people take and the loyalty oath Trump made people take I couldn't stand it.

We are in real trouble, I'm afraid.

Political Clown Parade predicts Marco Rubio's presidential dream is over and I'm inclined to agree.

Stitch Fix:  I'm still getting Stitch Fix boxes - three so far.  I didn't blog the last one because I had to

Photo from Stitch Fix.

get two things altered: I got some flared jeans I requested and some white jeans, both too long.  It was okay because I had requested them no matter the length and they do fit perfectly otherwise.  All three of my boxes have been 5/5's - I've kept all five items in each box.  I'm requesting this green and white jacket in my next Fix -- I love this!

I have almost ten people who have signed up for Stitch Fix through my referral number, none of whom have ordered a box yet.  If they all ordered a box then I'd have a $200 credit!  Order a box for crying out loud!  It only costs you $20 and that applies to the total shipped to you if you decide to keep anything in the box.  If you hate it all, returning it could not be easier -- they include a prepaid mailer bag; just dump the clothes into the bag and drop in a mailbox.

Spring Projects:  We have ripped up the carpet in the living and dining rooms and have a guy coming to give an estimate on refinishing our hardwood floors. I'm also going to get estimates on good quality laminate.  I will always have dogs and dogs and carpet do not go together.  In fact, after pulling up this carpet, I can tell you that I will never have carpet again!  Can't wait to get the rest of it out of here.  If you know someone good who either does refinishing or installs laminate, let me know.  If you have experience with either or recommendations of one over the other, let me know.

In other projects we have trimmed five crepe myrtle trees, refreshed the mulch under the magnolia tree, pulled the pine straw out of the azalea beds and put down new mulch, and started weeding the back beds.  There is still a lot to do outside but I don't have Spring Break for three more weeks (and it'll probably rain and be cold that entire week, as is my luck.)

I'm going to head out and get some work done outside before the coming deluge and then spend the afternoon with Cammie.  My procrastinating must come to an end.

What is the Appeal of Donald Trump?

I've got a post coming up at DaTechGuy on Monday afternoon about Donald Trump in which I recount parts of a conversation we had last night with friends about Trump's candidacy. Like a lot of other voters, apparently, my friend is all in for Trump and really likes what Trump says.

You can read about that over there, but I'm going to put in my two cents about Trump here.

Sure, Trump is saying the right things (sort of, sometimes) because he's a pandering entertainer. A reality TV star. He might be a businessman, but part of that business is entertainment. He's not a conservative and I personally don't think he's serious about being president. I believe he's in there to get publicity, to agitate, to get attention, and maybe to get the candidates talking about the right issues, although I might be giving him too much credit there.

Victor Davis Hanson nails exactly why Trump is at the top of the polls:

Trump preps little. He has no real agenda. And he makes stuff up as he goes along. For such a New York brawler, he has thin skin, smearing his critics, often in creepy fashion. How can a former Democrat, once a pro-choice, pro-amnesty liberal and a supporter of single-payer health care, remain the godhead of the conservative base for weeks on end?  

The answer is that Trump is a catharsis for 15 percent to 20 percent of the Republican electorate. They apparently like the broken china shop and appreciate the raging bull who runs amok in it. Politicians and the media are seen as corrupt and hypocritical, and the nihilistic Trump is a surrogate way of letting them take some heat for a change.

Trump has reversed himself on nearly every single conservative issue.

I've been stunned at the number of presumably intelligent people who have voiced support for him. When I suggested to my friend last night that perhaps Ted Cruz would be a better candidate, he shut me down and said he'd already made up his mind for Trump.

Well, then.

Even The Washington Post, is befuddled:

Trump has supported universal health care, was once an abortion rights advocate (who has since evolved), has a record of donating to Democrats, and is (was?) friends with the Clintons. Plus, he's said this: "I probably identify more as Democrat," Trump told CNN in 2004. But for reasons we're still analyzing (here and here and here), Trump is the conservative darling of the 2016 presidential race at the moment.

It's also important to realize, I think, that while people like Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh might support Trump's right to speak out and confront these controversial issues, they may not necessarily support Trump as president.  The distinction is a large one.

And so, it's important for people like my friend last night, and others on the Trump bandwagon, to fully research the issues and the candidates, not just what they are saying today.  My fear is that we have too many voters who won't make the effort and will simply settle for a reality TV presidency.

I Still Like Marco

Funny, we were talking about this at dinner the other night:  who looks good in 2016 for the GOP?  My first response was "No More Bushes."  And now, Byron York:

The Tea Party surely has had its bad moments (the shutdown is one of them), but it has also developed a sizable group that works and plays well with others, and it is to these that the party should look. They are young, and make Hillary Clinton look tired. 

They come from humble sometimes immigrant, backgrounds, and make her look overly rich and entitled. Their diversity makes her look whiter than ever. None has a relative who has ever been president, but one has a mentor who is the son and the brother of presidents, and a Cuban last name: Marco Rubio. 

Rubio looks like a Bush, likes the Bush issues, has an eloquence equaled by none in his party, and has been called both a Tea Party and an Establishment figure, sometimes on the same day. 

The last three Democrats to be president won as outsiders, running against older, long-time insiders, who themselves came from rich and establishment families. Jeb Bush should call it a day, and become the godfather of the first Hispanic president, who, with Kelly Ayotte on his ticket, will fight Hillary to a race/gender draw.

I'm good with Marco Rubio.  He's made some missteps, but I'm just fine with him.  I've been in his camp since 2009.

Maybe if Marco runs we'll even rev up Not One Red Cent again!

And if you've forgotten how eloquent Marco can be, watch this one more time:



Honestly, I think it's too early for Ted Cruz, Romney says no more, Jeb Bush loves Common Core so he's not for me (though I'm really not a single issue kind of girl), Rick Perry has shot his wad, and as much as I'd love someone like Allen West, I don't think, at this point, he would garner the votes, although I'd love to see him in a primary.  Rand Paul?  Primary.  Get a good strong primary crew and duke it out.

But I like Marco.

On the record.

April 17, 2014.

Brace Yourself For Hillary

Via Drudge:

Sure.  Bring it on, Hillary.

Let's talk about Benghazi for starters. Then we can move on to Fast and Furious.

Drudge is, of course, stirring the pot a bit with his "She Makes it Official?" headline.  She has done no such thing although there is little doubt in anyone's mind that she will run.

The fundraising email to which Drudge refers is from Gen. Wesley Clark and directs recipients to a website where for just a simple trade of all your information (for future fundraising emails, of course) you too can have a free I'm Ready For Hillary bumper sticker.

If you want four years of Fast and Furious and Benghazi ineptitude, sign yourself right up.  If you think putting Hillary, a woman, in the White House (again) will be hip, cool, and progressive, sign yourself right up.  I think I'll pass, but "First Mate" Bill Clinton will be thrilled.

Added:  On a related note:  was it al Qaeda or wasn't it?