Graced By "Traffic Conflict" Over Burque

Landing in Albuquerque was fun. The pilot did a low altitude tour of the city, but was forced to abort the approach and fly directly over the Sunport due to a "traffic conflict". Then we did the tour again at an even lower altitude!

The road between To'hajiilee and I-40.

Route 66 Casino, I-40 and the Rio Puerco.

The Rio Puerco.

Caliche exposed at the boundary between the Rio Puerco and Rio Grande watersheds.

The Albuquerque Volcanoes.

Urban sprawl on the west side laps up against the prehistoric lava flows.

The Albuquerque Volcanoes.

The Rio Grande, north of I-40.

The Rio Grande, north of I-40.

Montaño Road Bridge over the Rio Grande.

Los Poblanos Farm.

Arroyo del Oso.

Sandia Mountains.

Menaul and Wyoming Blvd., looking east along Menaul. The Walmart Supercenter and Hoffman Park really show up.

I-40, from Lomas Blvd. to Tijeras Canyon.

Sandia Corporation.

Central Avenue, from Wyoming Blvd. to Tijeras Canyon.

Schott Solar and Q Studios.

The Rio Grande, south of Rio Bravo Blvd.

Foothill Manor Estates and the Walmart Supercenter at Coors Blvd. and Dennis Chavez Blvd./Rio Bravo Blvd. SW.

Looking southwest from Gibson Blvd. SW past Rudolfo Anaya Elementary School.

I-40, Atrisco Vista Blvd., Central Avenue, and Nine Mile Hill.

Mt. Taylor.

Petroglyph National Monument parking lot at the mouth of Rinconada Canyon.

Paseo del Norte and Coors Blvd. NW, and Paradise Hills.

Corrales, Sandia Pueblo, Bernalillo, and the Rio Grande.

Sandia Mountains again!

Rain showers in Bear Canyon!

Montgomery Blvd. NE.

Candelaria Rd. NE.

Coronado Mall, and Menaul Blvd. NE.

Uptown neighborhood, between Coronado Mall and I-40.

I-40, from Pennsylvania Blvd. to Tijeras Canyon.

Central Avenue, from San Pablo St. NE to Tijeras Canyon.

The Murder of the Tea Party - RIP

An inside job:

As we watch the Republican Party tear itself to shreds over Donald Trump, perhaps it’s time to take note of another conservative political phenomenon that the GOP nominee has utterly eclipsed: the Tea Party. The Tea Party movement is pretty much dead now, but it didn’t die a natural death. It was murdered—and it was an inside job. In a half decade, the spontaneous uprising that shook official Washington degenerated into a form of pyramid scheme that transferred tens of millions of dollars from rural, poorer Southerners and Midwesterners to bicoastal political operatives.

El Chapo's Son Among Group Kidnapped From La Leche

On our 2010 cruise to Mexico's western coast, I was comforted knowing the area was under the imperial sway of El Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel, the world's most powerful criminal organization. Tourists were generally safe. There was order and a sense of normality.

The kidnapping of El Chapo's son in Puerto Vallarta this week may signal the end of that. Empires end, after all:

A son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was among a group of men hauled at gunpoint from a restaurant in the Mexican beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, authorities have confirmed. The abduction was seen as a possible sign the power of the imprisoned drug lord is waning and a new cartel is trying to take his place.

Officials in the western state of Jalisco, where Puerto Vallarta is located, originally said that as many as 12 men had been taken early on Monday morning, but prosecutors later clarified that six were abducted during a celebration at La Leche restaurant on the city’s main boulevard.

Purple Googly-Eyed Cuttlefish

Fun!:

A team of scientists exploring the Pacific Ocean off the Southern California coast have come across a creature that looks like it could be part of a “Pokemon Go” game.

The purple, googly-eyed animal — which according to scientists aboard the exploration ship E/V Nautilus looks like a cross between an octopus and a squid — is known as a stubby squid, but is more closely related to a cuttlefish.

The creature was observed last week as the crew explored the ocean floor at a depth of 2,950 feet with a remote-controlled vehicle equipped with a high-definition camera.

It's A Small World

I read about the terrible kidnapping of 16 people from a fancy restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, then wondered if I might have any pictures of the restaurant from 2010, when I went down on a cruise as part of the wedding party for Mark Mill and Lauren Mill.

Sure enough. It's a small world! Looks nice on the outside. I bet it's gorgeous on the inside.

2016 DMTC Teen Dessert Cabaret

And numerous other videos. A selection....

Pals

Fabulously-rich, totally-politically-connected people. Potentially a very dangerous combo:

Surprise, surprise! Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and the ex-wife of Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch and current girlfriend of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Wendi Deng Murdoch, are best buddies who just went on a lavish vacation together. Might that explain Fox News’s unbelievably slanted favorability towards Trump’s despicable brand of politics? Could you imagine the outrage by Republicans if one of President Obama’s daughters were hanging around with Putin’s girlfriend? ... Right — like the two met coincidentally at the supermarket while buying supplies to cook for the homeless. One really can’t make this stuff up.

Hulk Dance

Joe The Plumber's Off To The Circus

Now that Joe the Plumber has decided to become a carnie and join a traveling circus, I rely on fortune cookies to provide Home Improvement tips.

"I Woke Up Like This"

Last Thursday, wondering if it would help me sleep, I took half a tablet of the hormone Melatonin before walking Bella. Made me a bit dizzy and put me in a fatigued haze.

On Friday, Bella and I passed Willy's Hamburgers on 16th Street. We saw an arresting sight. In Willy's outdoor patio dining area a couple was eating their midnight snack. The woman had a beautiful smile on her face as she looked dreamily at her handsome guy. Out of their sight, eight feet away and over the fence, a young, lanky homeless man lay sprawled over his belongings, mouth wide open as he faced upwards. It was such a startling contrast that my first inclination was to take a picture, but it would have ruined the romantic moment, plus the unconscious guy might have awakened.

We traveled north along 15th Street, passing the R-Bar area, and entered Fremont Park - a first for Bella. Despite the late hour, a Pokémon guy was still afoot in the park. I heard a woman speaking from a parked car. A statuesque black woman with skintight white jeans and a fabulous physique exited while talking on her cell phone to someone nearby. Despite her youth, she had trouble standing up straight. "I have to pee so bad; you don't know how bad I have to pee," she told her friend. "Oh, do you see me?" she added. She wobbled away on her stilettos to meet her friend.

It was near the 2 a.m. witching hour, and happy and sad bar patrons were making their way home, or to their cars, or to parties, on foot. A man was loudly singing the refrain to Beyoncé's "Flawless" over and over: "I woke up like this," he shouted over and over. Another woman was yelling angrily into her cell phone, "I didn't go in the store, YOU went into the store, and YOU took it!"

A fire engine roared past, and an EMT vehicle too. They went to pick up a woman who had collapsed on the sidewalk, outside Safeway supermarket, next to one of Bella's prime feeding areas. Bella followed a dilatory, time-wasting strategy until they took the woman away, which opened up the area again for feeding.

On Saturday night, Bella and I were approaching the 16th Street underpass when a thin man huddling in the dark with his backpack and bicycle exploded in frustration. "In my lifetime, I've probably spent $25,000 on California lottery scratch tickets, and I have never, ever won the Bonus Spot! Do you have any idea the odds of that happening?" I reassured him that 2016 will be HIS year.

In the 16th Street underpass, a lucid elderly man asked the time. It was 1:22 a.m. He explained, "I'm waiting for daylight. I'm lost. I'm from San Francisco. I was living here in Sacramento with a couple, but they moved away." He showed me an ID plus several cash cards. The address on the ID was located in Del Paso Heights. "You're a number of miles away from there," I informed him. "Really? Beats me. You see, I have dementia. I should probably check into the hospital. I'll be all right, though. I just need some coffee. I'd panhandle, but I'm no good at that." I wished him well, and Bella and I disappeared into the dark.

"Sausage Party"

I have trouble with animated movies featuring characters with big eyes. The "uncanny valley" comes into play. I feel a serpent writhing around in my head.

This movie made me very uncomfortable. But, hey, it's perfect for your 12-year-old at heart.

The Devil Whispered In My Ear

Hillary's Dank Memes

400-year-old Greenland Shark ‘Longest-Living Vertebrate’

Wow!:

"The Greenland shark's eye lens is composed of a specialised material - and it contains proteins that are metabolically inert," explained Mr Neilson.

"Which means after the proteins have been synthesised in the body, they are not renewed any more. So we can isolate the tissue that formed when the shark was a pup, and do radiocarbon dating."

The team looked at 28 sharks, most of which had died after being caught in fishing nets as by-catch.

Using this technique, they established that the largest shark - a 5m-long female - was extremely ancient.

Because radiocarbon dating does not produce exact dates, they believe that she could have been as "young" as 272 or as old as 512. But she was most likely somewhere in the middle, so about 400 years old.

Just Like Backstage At Our Theater

"I Don’t Know That We Need To Get Out The Vote"

A marvel! Here is a man who truly believes in the magic of media, and just doesn't believe in what politicians know in their bones to be true:

"We are gonna have tremendous turnout from the evangelicals, from the miners, from the people that make our steel, from people that are getting killed by trade deals, from people that have been just decimated, from the military who are with Trump 100 percent,” he went on. “From our vets because I’m going to take care of the vets.”

“I don’t know that we need to get out the vote,” the Republican nominee concluded. “I think people that really want to vote, they’re gonna just get up and vote for Trump. And we’re going to make America great again.”

And THIS Is Why God Gave Us Star Portals!

Best Accent Ever

Trouble comes for Laurel County:



The Aussies are almost as good:

Ru Paul Gets It

Go Hillary!:

I fucking love them. I have always loved them. And let me just say this: If you're a politician — not just in Washington but in business and industry, you have to be a politician — there are a lot of things that you have to do that you're not proud of. There are a lot of compromises you have to make because it means that you can get this other thing over here. And if you think that you can go to fucking Washington and be rainbows and butterflies the whole time, you're living in a fucking fantasy world. So now, having said that, think about what a female has to do with that: All of those compromises, all of that shit, double it by ten. And you get to understand who this woman is and how powerful, persuasive, brilliant, and resilient she is. Any female executive, anybody who has been put to the side — women, blacks, gays — for them to succeed in a white-male-dominated culture is an act of brilliance. Of resilience, of grit, of everything you can imagine. So, what do I think of Hillary? I think she's fucking awesome. Is she in bed with Wall Street? Goddammit, I should hope so! You've got to dance with the devil. So which of the horrible people do you want? That's more of the question. Do you want a pompous braggart who doesn't know anything about diplomacy? Or do you want a badass bitch who knows how to get shit done? That's really the question.

Who Will Rid Me of This Meddlesome Woman?

He Didn't Mean That

Robert De Niro Gets It

Travis Bickle, in the flesh:

During a question-and answer session Saturday at the Sarajevo Film Festival, De Niro said, like Bickle, the U.S. Republican presidential candidate is where he shouldn't be.

"God help us," he added.

De Niro says the media, which he claims has given Trump too much attention, are now starting to say "come on Donald, this is ridiculous, this is nuts, this is insane."

At the end of "Taxi Driver," Bickle goes back being a cab driver, De Niro noted.

OK, Paul Petrovich, This Is War!

I've studiously avoided the Curtis Park Village/SCNA controversy, because it mostly affects the southern part of my neighborhood, and I live on the north side, but this means war. The City of Sacramento was WELL WITHIN its authority and Petrovich was WELL OUTSIDE his authority at that City Council meeting.

The lawsuit alleges that the city wrongfully denied the permit and violated the developer’s right of due process. Petrovich wants a judge to overturn the city’s decision.

City officials have denied Petrovich’s charges, saying the council decision came after a lengthy debate and “a clear basis for council action to deny the conditional use permit.”

According to a city staff report, Petrovich’s lawsuit also charges that the city “did not adequately respond to a request for records pursuant to the California Public Records Act.”

In a move met with alarm by some neighbors, Petrovich’s lawyers last month subpoenaed 38 Curtis Park residents asking for records of their email and other communications with city officials about Curtis Park Village.

The subpoenas were put on hold late last month under an agreement between the attorneys for both sides. But the idea that Petrovich would come after private citizens as part of his lawsuit has left neighbors, with whom Petrovich has frequently feuded over the development, feeling especially upset.

“This is really just harassment, an attempt to harass private citizens exercising their right to petition their government,” said Patrick Soluri, an attorney for the Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association. “There’s a laundry list of 38 individuals he was trying to serve. It’s his way of trying to exact some kind of petty revenge against residents.”

Bill Dause Has a Libertarian Attitude Problem

Looks like Bill Dause at the Parachute Center has a Libertarian attitude problem. That doesn't work in a heavily-regulated field like aviation. The FAA has a difficult mandate and one way they cope is through attention to record-keeping as a proxy for attention to detail. Treating instructors as independent contractors, failing to monitor certifications, and failing to register the Center as a USPA member signal a disdain for detail - the sort of thing that gets you killed:

The instructor killed Saturday in a tandem sky dive with an 18-year-old student near Lodi was not certified, a violation of federal regulations, according to the national certifying organization.

The United States Parachute Association has no record of certification for Yong Kwon, 25, of South Korea, said Executive Director Ed Scott.

Kwon and first-time jumper Tyler Nicholas Turner of Los Banos died after sky diving from a plane operating out of the Parachute Center in Acampo. Authorities said their parachute did not open and the two hit the ground.

Under federal regulations, the instructor is responsible for packing and maintaining the main parachute used in a tandem jump.

Yeah, A Little Consistency, Folks

Trying To Get Some Sanity In Here

Can't...Resist

Truthtellers

A new statue in Germany:

Berlin, Germany –This past Friday life-size bronze statues of Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning were unveiled in Berlin’s Alexanderplatz Square in front of German politicians and activists.

In Germany and much of the world, the three are considered heroes in the fight for freedom of information and speech, for their respective leaking of classified U.S. documents.

“They have lost their freedom for the truth, so they remind us how important it is to know the truth,” said the artworks creator, Italian sculptor Davide Dormino, during the unveiling.

Trump Goes Travis Bickle

Truth:

.@realDonaldTrump makes death threats because he's a pathetic coward who can’t handle the fact that he’s losing to a girl.

The Struggle Is Real

Life Support

Evan McMullin announced his candidacy for the Presidency on Monday. The national security branch of the GOP is panicking. And rightfully so. The GOP is responding by running pictures from February when Hillary slipped on some stairs. Lotsa luck with that. Meanwhile, the UK press puts Trump on life support:

The lasting impact of Trump’s disastrous week came from its echoes of the Democratic convention. Each round of dispute with the Khan family only served to reinforce the criticism that he had sacrificed nothing. Each bone-headed response underscored Hillary Clinton’s attack on his temperament and qualifications to serve as commander-in-chief.
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In the middle of his own circular firing squad, Trump decided to shoot at the one unifying Republican who has politely ignored his insanity: House speaker Paul Ryan. Trump’s support for Ryan’s primary opponent was – like the construction of so many hideous Trump Towers – wholly unnecessary.

Not a Jobkiller

E-Mail

35th Annual Elly Award Nomination Party

Oy. Just two.

Brush Your Meerkat

I Hate Thinking

Searching

People break wide when Bella comes down the sidewalk, but there are exceptions. One fellow on a bike flagged me down to ask if I had a flashlight for sale; puzzling, since I wasn't using one.

Mostly quiet on our walks, of late. I've been wondering why people have been idling in their cars not far from our house - some Pokemon thing? I was startled by someone slamming an apartment window directly above our heads. Bella has been working out the food-friendliest parts of the Safeway Supermarket parking lot. I've been working out the comings and goings of the Midtown bat colony.

I finally turned in the stolen purse we found to the Sacramento Police Department, after first getting word to the victim via Yuba Community College's Police Department that her purse had been found.

Overheard part of a conversation between a homeless man and woman. Apparently the woman was in the process of stealing back a bicycle cart from another woman. She said: "She took it from me, and she completely trashed it, and it was like ripping my heart out, you know?" The woman then followed Bella and I back to our home alley. A little strange.

Last night, about 1:10 a.m., when Bella and I turned into the 16th Street/ Highway 50 underpass, two cops bearing flashlights came from the opposite direction on the other side of the street. They were searching for something. Uh, oh.

The AM/PM Convenience Store at 16th & W Street was closed with police tape. We approached and learned that a robbery had been committed. Police were interviewing witnesses. (No report yet on Sacramento Police Log.) That convenience store has such easy access via freeways - the perps were likely far gone.

Bella dragged me on to the 17th Street corridor. A block away, police were continuing to search for something, perhaps a weapon. I started looking in the shrubbery too. Bella picked up on the searching theme, and found a cat under a pickup truck.

I like the fact that the people in this area are concerned with self-esteem issues (on 16th, near R Street).

[UPDATE: Here is what we missed, by 40 minutes, or so: "16-232125 (Robbery): 2200 block of 16th St at 0029 hours.

A male suspect entered the business location armed with a firearm. The suspect fired the weapon striking the victim employee. The suspect stole an undisclosed amount of cash and fled on foot. Sacramento Fire Personnel responded to the location to check the non-life threatening injuries. Officers canvassed the scene for evidence. The investigation remains active and no arrests have been made."]

Nirvana on Nineteenth Street

Every night, Bella has been making a beeline for the Safeway Supermarket parking lot, where much food can be found. Nirvana on Nineteenth Street!

On Thursday night, the Delta Breeze roared in remarkably cold and strong from San Francisco Bay. The surprised, night-dwelling folks in front of Safeway blamed government weather control for the unexpected weather.

The Friday night theme was: Missed Connections.

Uber or Lyft? There was a quarrel in front of Pour House on Q Street. A woman in front of the club was shouting "Lyft?" out the passenger-side window of her vehicle. A man on the sidewalk answered "Uber?" The woman elaborated "Someone here ordered a Lyft." Another woman on the sidewalk proclaimed "I had a friend order me a ride, but I don't know whether it was Uber or Lyft, and I'm not going to get in a car with a stranger if you can't tell me who placed the order." The driver apparently couldn't comply with that request. So, the standoff continued. Bella and I walked away.

After we turned right down 20th Street, about 2 a.m., we found a purse on the side of the sidewalk between Q Street and the light rail overpass. It's a bit dark there, and not that far away from several nightclubs - a convenient place for a thief to rifle through a stolen purse and toss the undesired remnants away. The purse had no money or credit cards, but was full of ID. The owner is a Yuba Community College student, and I taught there in 2014, so I can connect eventually, but not on the weekend. I know, it's uncomfortable to be without your ID, and I hope she can wait. If all else fails, I suppose I could try to locate her residence, but it's 40 miles away, I might miss her, and there are 2 possible addresses. No phone number either, or Facebook contact, or discoverable contact on Google. As my friend Jonathan says, "Is it not amazing with all the various ways we have invented to talk to each other it is now damn near impossible to actually do that?"

I somehow injured my strong right ankle walking from the bed to the bathroom at 7 a.m. Saturday morning. I wasn't able to find my cane (last time I used it was in 2009), so I borrowed one from Joe the Plumber. I worried about walking with a cane. It might signify weakness on the street - an undesirable quality. As it turned out, it made me "safe" and easier for people to approach. But it also meant I walked much more slowly than usual, to Bella's great exasperation.

The Saturday night theme was: Da Fuq?

Walking on Broadway at 20th St., a frustrated, elderly black man approached and asked "What's going on? Tower Liquor on 16th is closed, and C&B Liquor is closed too." I was surprised. I replied, "It's not even 1 a.m. yet. Why would they be closed?" Further on, at 19th, two men in their late 20's approached and one said "All the liquor places on 19th Street are closed." I informed them that the liquor places on Broadway were closed too. Something had to be going on. It was like the Apocalypse, or something. How could the entire neighborhood run out of liquor on a Saturday night? Sacramento residents are tough, and ready for any contingency, but not for something like this. I told him, "You'll have to go home, get in a car, and drive somewhere else for liquor." Clenching his jaw with resolve, the man said "I might do just that!"

The ankle issue lasted just one day. I recycled all the expired medication in my house last month, so I had no medication left in the house, but I got some of that wonder drug, aspirin, and it did done wonders! Sunday night, I was back to normal.

The Sunday night theme was: Wonder!

Someone abandoned a big catalog of wall coverings outside of Safeway on Sunday night. It was as if they were overwhelmed by all the possible choices of wallpaper, despaired, and left.

We discovered an astonishing thing too. There is a small colony of bats in Midtown. Bella and I watched one or two dozen squeaking bats leave their home and travel a tiny distance to a bright street light to scoop up flying insects. How convenient! I was amazed how the accidental architecture of the place was perfectly designed for the happiness and health of bats.

Bella and I looped back through the 24th Street freeway underpass, where someone was loudly singing. I'm surprised I haven't heard singing under the freeway before. The acoustics there are great for voices loud enough to overcome traffic noise. I couldn't make out if the song was a rap song, or an improvised drinking song, or a string of epithets imaginatively strung together. As we approached, the man retreated from the underpass to a nearby apartment. I guess he goes there for stress relief. Damn, I should have thought of that! I wonder if I can get Bella to howl there?

Approaching home, there was an unexpected shuffling of cardboard in an otherwise quiet corner. An older, bald-headed man was making a bed for the night.

Ice Cream Tension

There is no more iconic summertime Sacramento activity than visiting one of the city's storied ice cream parlors, so Joe the Plumber and I decided to go to Gunther's Ice Cream Parlor on Franklin Blvd.

We arrived at the height of the crush. The stress was incredible. We were trapped in a hellish seventh level of an ice cream inferno - noisy, crowded, grasping - a Willy-Wonka-like hellscape. After 40 minutes, we finally retrieved our garbled order and walked outside into traffic, grateful for the stress relief of just dodging cars. They do an amazing job there at Gunther's, don't get me wrong, but trapeze artistry or BASE jumping is more relaxing.

Wannabe Predator

I've never played Paintball, but out of curiosity today, Joe the Plumber and I wandered into Predator Paintball on Watt Ave.

RIP, Pete Fountain

So sad! Pete Fountain passed away! He had the hardest time adjusting to the ascetic Lawrence Welk Show:

Mr Welk said to me, "Peter, I would like you to run the bubble machine tonight. You will be backstage anyway, waiting to come on, so just put the fluid in it and then let the machine run during the first number."

...I poured in too much fluid. I didn't know any better. The bubbles were supposed to drift gracefully up from behind the band and float out across the ballroom.... That night they crowded down over the band like Niagara Falls! There were bubbles everywhere. I thought that the effect was great, so I poured in some more. There were so many bubbles that the guys couldn't even read their sheet music.

Early-August Conjunction

I caught a glimpse of the conjunction Friday night - so pretty!:

From the eastern U.S., the moon will appear to hover about 2 degrees below Jupiter, but the gap between them will get noticeably smaller as they both descend in the western sky. From the western U.S., the celestial bodies will appear even closer together — only about a degree apart.

The Best Fate For Assholes

Gimp Saturday

Today is Gimp Saturday. I dance hours every day, and walk nearly three miles with Bella every night, and yet somehow injured my strong right ankle walking from the bed to the bathroom at 7 a.m. this morning. Wonder where I put my cane? It's been years since I needed it....

[UPDATE: Non-Gimp Sunday: I recycled all the expired medication in my house last month, which meant I had no medication left in the house, so I went out and got some of that wonder drug known as aspirin. It's done wonders! Today, I went to ballet class without a problem. It's still a little sensitive, but should be fine with any luck.]

Security

Bopping around Stockton Blvd., buying pieces and parts to fix things with Joe the Plumber. Ran into Chris Petersen at Yankee Hardware!

Stolen Purse

Well, dagnabit, I found a stolen purse, and I have a name, but no phone number to get in contact with the woman.

I found the open purse at 2 am on Bella's walk, lying on the side of the street in a nightclub district. It looked rifled, no money or credit cards, but full of ID.

I have an address - two addresses, in fact - one in an apartment (later) and one in a house (earlier). What I was hoping to do was get word to her this weekend, but no phone number is a complication. If I give it to the police, they will mail the purse, which means it could be more than a week before she gets word.

Like Donald Says, Something Is Going On Here....

"Captain Fantastic"

Saw "Captain Fantastic" with Viggo Mortensen tonight at the Tower Theater. Loved it! Connected with me on several levels:

1.) Counterculture, but with a hard survivalist edge;
2.) Beautiful Pacific Northwest locations, but parts were filmed in hometown Albuquerque (that church is in Paradise Hills), as well as Las Cruces, New Mexico;
3.) Has the great actor Frank Langella in it;
4.) Has strange absurdities, like a celebration of Noam Chomsky's birthday.

Here, three of the girls sing "Sweet Child O' Mine" (which they do so beautifully in the movie). And the youngest has taken to pleading with her mom to let her bring home roadkill so her taxidermy skills don't get rusty:

Gary Johnson Is Worse Than Trump

Johnson hasn't updated his positions for years:

If all you’ve done is watched a few clips of Gary Johnson on the internet, it’s easy to be taken in. He knows how to talk like he wants to stand with ordinary folks against those big corporate interests. But Donald Trump does that too, and he doesn’t mean it either. Gary Johnson is a deceitful person who sells himself as Bernie Sanders lite while in reality he has consistently supported a far right agenda that would devastate the country. He hawks his liberal positions on social issues while concealing a deeply disturbing and malicious economic agenda.

There is Always Hope

No, It's HER fault!

Southside Park Neighborhood

People sometimes say things to Bella and myself on our long walks around Sacramento. A high-speed bicyclist passed by, and apropos of nothing, said "Have a nice evening." A man on a door stoop asked "Do you want to buy a bag of limes? Large breed!" Women, in particular, will call out to Bella, "Come here, baby!"

Two nights ago, Bella got bored of the 17th Street corridor - seriously deficient in cats as of late - and struck out west along X Street. Soon, we were following a limping man who kept looking back over his shoulder. I worried about approaching too closely - paranoid people can be unpredictable in the night. He was slow; Bella was fast. Soon we caught up.

"Where is the church?" the gaunt man with a tiny mustache and a Southern accent asked. It was an awkward question. We were standing next to the largest Buddhist Church in Sacramento. Bella dragged me through the freeway underpass as the man kept looking back over his shoulder, hooting and shouting for a follower (who wasn't there) to come join him.

We were now in the Southside Park neighborhood, brand-new for us. We skirted William Land Elementary School (where they have free lunches!) and the Lam Kwong Deli before returning.

Last night, Bella went back up the 17th Street corridor, and repeatedly barked at a tree. I didn't see anything, but two weeks ago there had been three raccoons nearby, so that's probably what it was.

Bella once again branded the Safeway Supermarket parking lot, that cornucopia of spoiled and discarded food she's become so fond of. I notice another user branded the parking lot with chalk - the Instagram user @orphansofmidtown. This person posts pictures of random items of clothing and personalizes them with stories.

Overnight on August 2nd or 3rd, someone died under one of the Highway 99 underpasses. The Sacramento Police report was clinical:

16-223079 (Casualty ): Broadway / Alhambra Blvd at 0752 hours.

Officers responded to the call of a deceased subject in the area. Homicide detectives responded to the scene and based on the preliminary findings, no foul play appears to be a factor in this incident. The Sacramento Coroner’s office responded and a report was generated.

Always worry when one of these incidents happen. Part of the community, after all. Condolences to the person's family.

A Whinier, More-Entitled Group Than The Tea Partiers Never Strode The Earth

Nursery school on Capitol Hill:

Tea Party mainstay and Kansas Rep. Tim Huelskamp lost his primary to a more moderate Republican candidate, an obstetrician named Roger Marshall who earned $3 million in backing from outside groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and is now the presumptive favorite to win the seat in the fall. House conservatives are viewing the loss as a betrayal of their movement, and they are placing the blame squarely in one place: on House leadership, including Ryan.

"Clearly the war continues," Huelskamp told CNN. "The establishment never sleeps. They spend more time going after conservatives than going after Hillary Clinton. It was about sending a message, and the message is this: 'They came after me to get a scalp.' "

The Impossible Dream

Mormon's May Be Inclined To See Themselves As The "White Horse"

Trump hits all the wrong notes:

The Mormon distaste for Trump also goes beyond establishment Republicans like Romney and Flake. In late June, Tea Party–backed Sen. Mike Lee of Utah responded angrily to a conservative radio host who chastised him for failing to toe the party line and endorse Trump. To explain his refusal to back the nominee, Lee pointed to Trump’s “religiously intolerant” statements, which have made him “widely unpopular in my state, in part because my state consists of people who are members of a religious minority church.” Citing one of the darkest days of the Mormons’ long history of enduring state-sponsored religious persecution, Lee continued, the Mormons are “a people who were ordered exterminated by the governor of Missouri in 1838. And statements like … [banning Muslims from the U.S.] make them nervous.”

Love!

Location, Location, Location!

If it's Tuesday it must be Belgium:

Loudoun is the richest county in America. That’s due in part to the enormous amount of money the federal government spent on the War on Terror in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The place is replete with defense contractors, engineers, and rocket scientists. And it’s recession-proof; while the rest of the country struggled through the Great Recession, Loudoun kept sprouting up neighborhoods of McMansions, seemingly with a swimming pool in every backyard.

But Trump seems to think it’s part of the Rust Belt. Toward the end of his speech—to an atypically preppy, professional, clean-cut audience—the candidate bashed the county economy.

“You’re doing lousy over here, by the way, I hate to tell you,” he said.

That is empirically false.

He then listed a number of factory closures, including Ball Corp., which was five hours away in Bristol, as far from Loudoun as you can get without leaving the state. And he mentioned the closure of a Smithfield Foods Inc.

“Anybody used to work for Smithfield?” he asked the crowd.

It’s almost certain none of them did. The Smithfield plant that closed was in Hampton Roads, Virginia—three hours from Ashburn, in the southeast corner of the state.

Plastic Cups

Lower Courts Now Have Their Opening To Trash Voting Rights Restrictions

Taking the option:

They are fed up with being treated like dolts by Republican legislators who lie through their teeth about the intent of draconian voting restrictions. They are fed up with brazen efforts to diminish minorities’ voting power by targeting and eliminating their preferred voting methods. And most of all, they are fed up with the pretext: The shameless insistence by GOP legislators that these explicitly partisan, outwardly race-based voting laws serve any purpose other than helping Republican legislators entrench their own political power.

Jiggling Wind Turbines

The wave of the future:

The company says
that its design is 40% cheaper than traditional turbines because the huge blades those require are expensive. Plus, they expect upkeep to be cheaper since the bladeless turbines have fewer moving parts. Bladeless turbines will also be quieter and create less wind disturbance, which are both popular arguments against bladed turbines.

July In Sacramento Was Unusually Hot

Hot, hot, hot!:

There were 11 days of 100-degree weather, instead of the average of seven for the month. And toward the end of July, Sacramento endured eight consecutive days of triple-digit temperatures. The month’s hottest day, July 26, topped out at 108 degrees.

The record for the most days of triple-digit temperatures from June through August in downtown Sacramento is 36 days, according to the National Weather Service. Downtown Sacramento is up to 21 days so far this summer.

Uh, Oh. A Friend's Aunt

Worried:

The Alpine County Sheriff’s Office reported Monday that it was still searching for a 71-year-old woman who was last seen walking away from her campsite near Lake Alpine about 2 p.m. Thursday.

A media release described Rosalyn Saxenmeier as 5 feet 1 inches tall, 130 pounds., with short red hair and glasses. She has no known medical issues but may suffer some memory impairment, according to the statement. Her campsite was at the east end of Lake Alpine.

Agencies assisting Alpine County with the search include search and rescue teams from Calaveras, Tuolumne, El Dorado, Marin, Contra Costa and Placer counties, the California Office of Emergency Services and the Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit.

Deputy Rob Lyons from Tuolumne County says that anywhere from 30 to 60 personnel are searching, as well as about five marine enforcement personnel searching the lake.

Courtney Barnett - Avant Gardener

Doing my slacker best to paint the walls of my basement, which is huge - about the size of a tennis court - with all kinds of dirty surfaces to paint, with a few black widows secreted away in the intricate folds of the surfaces.

I got my mask on, but the air isn't so good. Reminded of Courtney Barnett's song about an asthma attack:

When The Moon Is In The Seventh House

The Dog Days of August Commence

I opened the back yard gate and Bella charged into the driveway. Suddenly, she became transfixed by the sight of an airliner's moving bright light in the distance. I wondered what she was thinking....

Bella's walks have been challenging of late. Sometimes they are more like sprints, as she tries to hit all her favorite spots all at once. Or she wanders very far afield, like her stroll up to Fremont Park and along Q Street. Or her puzzling zig-zag path back and forth across the railroad. The plan isn't always clear.

We have seen many dogs as the dog days of August commence. Bella chose to visit San Fernando Way for the first time in six months. I knew why - there is a large Huskie who lives over there. Bella just wanted to make the Huskie jealous of her freedom, and she did. We saw some homeless guys on Broadway last night. One was changing clothes and another was doing a kind of lilting dance. But in their midst were one, possibly two, large dogs, and I had to pull Bella away fast. Another time, next to the AM/PM at 16th & W Streets, we started probing around a mysterious baggage-laden children's red wagon when I noticed we were being silently watched from the shadows by a large, apprehensive Boxer, and I quickly pulled Bella away. We saw a large poodle wearing a handsome flashing-blue diode around its neck. Despite the colorful hi-tech amulet, even from the distance, Bella could still tell it was a dog.

On S Street at the railroad, we heard a roar, then saw a car take off down the street with a police car in hot pursuit. I expected flashing red and blue lights any second, but instead, the police car abruptly dropped the chase, did a U-turn, and came roaring back at high speed, forcing Bella and I to scramble out of the street. Some puzzling police cat-and-mouse game at work.

Last night, Bella started bucking on her leash in excitement, but there was no raccoon or cat. Instead, Bella had been fooled by my spectral shadow cast by street lights.

Bella and I were across the street when all the teenage employees of Gunther's Ice Cream Parlour on Franklin Blvd. came bursting out of the front door at closing time. They were all dressed in uniform black, and now that their many, many chores were finally done, they scattered to the winds like high-spirited ravens.

Courtney Barnett - Elevator Operator

Next Step of the Political Revolution

Would Trump Go There? Do You Need To Ask?

I'm disturbed by the chaos that Trump might unleash in November, when he gets beat by Hillary, yet refuses to concede, and tries to whip up a coup d'etat. Since 2011, Trump has worked hard to deny the legitimacy of Obama; he'll do the same with Hillary, except worse:

It was a line of attack that longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone pushed on a podcast with Breitbart's Milo Yiannopoulos that was posted online Friday. Stone suggested voter fraud is "widespread" and said if Hillary Clinton wins a state like Florida after polls show Trump in the lead, the election would be "illegitimate."

"If there’s voter fraud, this election will be illegitimate, the election of the winner will be illegitimate, we will have a constitutional crisis, widespread civil disobedience, and the government will no longer be the government," Stone said. He also promised a "bloodbath" if the Democrats attempt to "steal" the election.

Obsessing About Medical Intervention Scenarios

There it is! My dental nightguard! I thought I swallowed it in my sleep. Now I can stop obsessing about medical intervention scenarios.

As Leighton says: "Ask your doctor if obsessing about medical intervention scenarios is right for you."

Such A Large Black Widow Spider!

Knocking down dust for painting in the basement (first time since 1998). Encountered the largest black widow I've ever seen in California. (Southern Arizona, particularly Phoenix, is black widow central. I remember once finding one at home behind my bed's pillow.) Sprayed feeble insecticide at her. I dub this Cali spider "Shelob".

I need a flamethrower....

That's OK, We Don't Need No Stinkin' Presidential Debates

This just confuses me:

Donald Trump gave his first hint last night that he might try to get out of the Fall presidential debates. I have thought for months that he'd likely try to get out of them.

Regarding debates, there is an established kabuki whereby the stronger party tries to evade or limit debates and the weaker party tried to get more. Since Trump's polling numbers are down, he's the weaker party. I guess he wants to be seen as the stronger party no matter how weak he is. That's OK. Hillary can shrug her shoulders and watch football instead.