Tactical omissions, perhaps

I've given the benefit of the doubt up until now. While not buying into Christine Blasey Ford's version of events, I've considered she may have confused fragments of memory, while not necessarily accurate, that she believes her remembrance (recovered or otherwise) to be the truth.

But the longer this drags on, the more skeptical I become.

I have begun to wonder if there may be tactical purpose to Ford not remembering the location or the date of the attack she alleges. By omitting such detail, Ford, the accuser denies Supreme Court nomninee Brett Kavanaugh potential alibi.

Should Ford cite a date not knowing Kavanaugh's calendar in '82, it might be determined Kavanaugh was away on a family vacation, or at a concert, or a family birthday celebration.

Longer this drags out, and the accuser's lawyers put crazed conditions (like the accused being told to tell his side only before the accusation is made), I grow exceedingly skeptical.

Late in the season sighting

We heard rustling among our muscadines Friday evening.

When we looked investigate, this fella came scampering out from among the vines, and made a dash for the woods.

We thought he'd get away before we got a phone camera ready, he'd already run cross the driveway when he gave a final look back, and we got a snippet of video. This image was lifted from that video.

The divide is now clear. But where do we go from here?

"Will America keep dividing and soon resort to open violence, as happened in 1861? Or will Americans reunite and bind up our wounds, as we did following the upheavals of the 1930s Great Depression or after the protests of the 1960s?

"The answer lies within each of us." - Victor Davis Hanson

Fear Factor

"(T)he greatest fear in America is fear of the Left — the fear of what the Left will do to you if you cross it. Not fear of God. Not fear of doing wrong. Fear of the Left. Offend the Left and you will lose your reputation and, quite often, your job or your business." - Dennis Prager, writing at National Review

Democrat don't want justice

Democrats want government paralyzed.

Democrats push for a political lynching.

Will Republicans have the moral courage to do what's right and resist them?

Or will Republicans cower in some back room and let the Democrat mob have its way?

So tired of the government employee pity parties

Lots of people seem to be ga-ga over Time's pity party for public school teachers.

Haven't read the story, but what kind of decisions, besides becoming a teacher, led to this woman's financial distress?

I've know many teachers over the years, some in reasonably well paying suburban public school systems, others in rural systems where pay was poor, but was probably in-line or better than many in the same community were earning.

None expressed or showed signs of being in dire financial straits.

Frankly, I'm more concerned how raising property taxes (typically a means to finance public schools) to give teacher raises would impact families of all types as they struggle to meet their obligations.

Property tax rates have increased significantly in the past two to three decades, as local governments promise more and better services to both the community at large and special interest communities.

I'm tired of preachy media, and government employees, thinking all they need do to dole out pay raises for their public sector darlings is to click their heals and tax the rest of us more.

Tired of cheap stuff, both big and small

I'm so old, I remember when wire twist ties had enough wire in 'em to keep a bag tied shut.

Too good to be fiction

"I may not be Donald Trump now, but just you wait; if I don't make it, my children will." - Barrack Obama, 1991.

Get ready for a polling blitz

We're bound to hit with a barrage of political polls over the next two months.

But I have to wonder how accurate this political polling will be.

I'm not even suggesting intentional bias, but I am sensing behaviors have changed with the polled public that may have impact on how polls are conducted.

Some pollsters added cellphones to their calling samples as people ditched landlines. But with junk robocalls now at epidemic proportions, who bothers to answer a call from a number they don't recognize anymore?

Do pollsters ID themselves through caller ID? Are liberals more likely to answer an unknown caller, or are conservatives? Or do they both have similar call-rejection/call-answer rates?

Any difference in call pick-ups based on age?

Stealthy shooting

If you're looking to shoot where it's safe and legal, but you don't want neighbors nearby to hear, consider the CCI Quiet-22.

Yes, it still provides a bang when fired in a pistol.

But in an older long-barrel bolt action .22 rifle, all I seem to hear is the slam of the firing pin, and a "thunk" when the bullet hits a thick aluminum target (old frying pan). Seems much more quiet than a spring-powered Diana air rifle.

Not a high powered round, but for plinking it gets the job done. Probably also applicable for small pests. At about 50 yards, no penetration of the pan, but a decent dent lays testimony to impact.

Beto O'Rourke shows his nature

Beto O'Rourke is what the Democratic Party wants. A spoiled Leftist brat who had a powerful daddy as a fixer to get him past young adulthood, and now emerges has someone Democrats pitch as among their next great leaders.

O’Rourke rented out a Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall in Navasota, TX to hold a campaign rally. According to VFW Post 4006 Commander Carl Dry, O’Rourke’s campaign insisted the VFW Hall take down its American flags.

Democrats don't want best and brightest. They want slick talkers who can incite mobs and destroy tradition.

Another day, another tele-scam call

Got one of those scam calls from someone portending to be from Microsoft security yesterday.

"You don't sound like you're from Seattle," I said, "Where are you calling from?"

"I'm calling from India," was the reply.

"So why does my phone show you calling from Detroit?" I asked.

"I don't work for Detroit, I work for Microsoft," she said.

I'd had enough, that's where I disconnected.

After my conversation, I wonder if some of the foreigners making these calls actually think they're working in a legit call center.

They don't seem very sophisticated.

I once had a "Microsoft" scam caller tell me his name was "Barack Obama" as if it were a common American name. I wondered if he even knew who the real Barack Obama was.