Democrats....You Own This Now

This evening Donald Trump became the third President in history to be impeached.  I wasn't sure after the Clinton impeachment that I would see another one of these in my lifetime, but now I'm thinking I might see two or three more.  The standard of impeachment has now been cheapened to where a President can be impeached simply because those engineering the impeachment simply don't like him.

I had stated an opinion in my last post that the Republicans would not retaliate in the future.  I am thinking that I may be wrong in this.  Trump is a fighter among the likes we haven't seen since Andrew Jackson, and I think he's going to take this one to town.  The Democrats now own an issue that they can't run from, so they will have to run on this, and they're about to find out that 63 million Americans (and likely more) are angry, and this will come back to bite them.

Did I just say that the Republicans might retaliate?  I'd better re-think this.  I'm now going to bring up another thought I had earlier today.

After Trump leaves office, there is the possibility of the fatass politicians retaliating against the voter.  The Democrats certainly don't like the way that people vote and there is ample evidence that Establishment Republicans don't like it either.  Remember Trent Lott?  "Talk radio is running the country, and we've got to do something about it."   Do I dare accuse the Republican party of being in *support* of the Constitution?

Some of them will want to retaliate against a future Democrat President.

Whether or not that happens depend on how much of the swamp gets drained.

The Democrats are going ahead with this, and in one way I'm in favor of it.

It will be fun watching Mitt Romney squirm on this one.

They Can't Stop the Train Now

It's been announced that two Articles of Impeachment against President Trump will be drafted, voted on, and likely sent to the Senate.  Neither one alleges bribery, or "quid pro quo".  The charges are "abuse of power" and soliciting interference for an election that hasn't even started the primary process.  Not one witness observed evidence first hand.  Hearsay is not permitted in any court of law under United States jurisdiction but we are now finding out that it can be considered in a Congressional inquiry.

The odds of a Senate conviction are about half as likely as the Beatles getting back together, yet the House Democrats are going forward with this anyway.  There are two questions to ask.  One is "why?".  The other is "why not?"

Let's take the why.

One reason why they are doing this is because they can.  Another is that if they do this at this time for the reasons thus cited, they've lowered the bar for impeachable offenses......meaning that they can do this again if the first attempt fails.  Now I can observe that if they do this, that the Republicans at some future point can also retaliate in kind against a future Democratic President.  (Hold that thought, we'll get back to this).

The two reasons why listed above don't quite cover this.  A third reason is that Madame Speaker Pelosi can't stop the train.  The process was allowed to start to placate that wing of the party that has been hijacked by "the Squad" and their followers.  Speaker Pelosi doesn't have the tight grip on her caucus that other Speakers and party leaders have had.  Their dam started cracking when they regained power and all attempts to patch it up have failed.

Now we'll go into the why not.

One, why not do this if you have the opportunity?  How do the Democrats know that they'll have the House in the next Congress?  They can't run against the economy.  They can't run against record low minority unemployment.  They can't run against the United States being an energy exporter for the first time in decades.

For the second reason along the why not line of thinking.......and now we're back to that thought I asked you to hold.

Does anyone think that the Republicans are going to retaliate?  If they wouldn't go after the Obama administration gunrunning "assault weapons" then why would they go after a future Democratic President for something less than that, but something more than "abuse of power"?  Did the Republicans repeal Obamacare?  Did the Republicans secure the border?  Did the Republicans do anything about the national debt?  Let's be honest about something here.  The Republican Establishment is just as much as an enemy to your way of thinking as Organized Media is.

And this now goes on to something else.

What reason do I have to vote for Martha McSally next year?  I know, she's being primaried, but the the McCain machine won't let her opponent succeed, and if for some reason he does then the McCain machine will back Mark Kelly for that Senate seat (and Mark Kelly will win too).  There's a swamp in Phoenix that needs draining too.

Meanwhile, the Impeachment Train is rolling right along.

My opinion is that it's only a matter of time before it jumps the tracks.

A Quick Visit to California

Last Thursday Sheila and I got on a plane for San Jose.  We were picked up by an old friend of mine that I hadn't seen for a long time, that being Craig P, who I heard described as (and I will describe him as that too) "an amazing guy".  He is one of the few from the old days that has remained in San Jose.

The purpose of the trip was to take possession of my dad's pickup truck, and to drive it back to Tucson.  We took Craig, Debbie (a friend of my mother's) and my mother out to a favorite Mexican restaurant of mine, after which there was some bank stuff to do and a visit to DMV.  I had wanted to take to the road at 2:00 PM to beat the traffic rush, but we were held up and didn't leave until 4:00ish.  Traffic was the worst I'd ever seen, but we were able to get into Los Banos for the night.

On most of my road trips, I've taken I-5 down, but with this one, and the previous two, I came down state highway 33 in the central valley.  Sometimes you don't want to be on the interstate.  It was Sheila's first time seeing that part of California, which is enjoyable (you're away from the urban centers).  When we got to Mendota, we headed over to state highway 99, and then it was down that road to state highway 223, through Arvin, and on to Mojave for the night.

It would have been nice to have made Victorville, but I wasn't sure I wanted to attempt I-15 traffic on a Friday afternoon, so Mojave it was.  Our motel of choice was across the street from a Subway that is collocated with a Shell station/convenience store, which is nice as that I got to enjoy a beer with my sandwich.

The next day we were on the road again.  We realized that if we had made it to Tucson, we would have been dog tired that night and useless the next day, so night number three was in Quartzsite, AZ.  I've stayed in Quartzsite a few times and the Super 8 had a room.  I really wanted United States soil under me that night which is one reason we didn't stop in Blight......excuse me, Blythe.

We returned home Sunday afternoon at 1:30ish.  I was tired but not too tired to indulge two very special cats who were glad to see their daddy.  They were on the clingy side that day and the next, (which I had off), and now it's back to work,.

The getaway was nice, but it wasn't long enough.  I really wanted to drive down the coast and visit with my dad in his resting place, but I wasn't sure about US101 and the wildfires that some parts of the coast are having.

About work, I'm going to say this.  Things there have gotten better since I last mentioned it.  I'm seeing the team members work with each other instead of against each other.  I think it's a matter of the divergent personalities learning how to grow together.  It appears in a few weeks I will be involved in testing UHF/SATCOM radios, which is good.  I can't call myself a satellite engineer anymore and that may not happen again, but my desire for that experience is more borne out of a desire to learn some new things.

That's going to be it for the time being.  The holidaze are fast sneaking up on us.  Right now it's the calm before the storm.

Living in California? I Don't Think So

Today was a busy day as far as my email inbox went on one of my three accounts.  I use one for "social', one for "business", and one for ham radio.  The inbox for the business account brings in emails every day for recruiters looking to fill engineering positions, but one recruiter found a way to my personal inbox to ask me to apply for an engineering position in California.....Northridge, to be exact.  That employer has a presence in several states (including Arizona) but they, like a lot of employers in California, are hurting for engineers.

I'm somewhat tempted to troll for some information (I've been known to do that), but I don't see myself doing that this time.  One, I already know of the incentives they are offering.  A $20,000 signing bonus.  Relocation assistance.  Buying your house out from under you.  A one week househunting trip.

Although I could use twenty thousand smackers, I'm not biting.  One, the job is in California.  Two, 20K doesn't go very far in California.  Three, California has some serious problems and I believe it will get much worse there.

Now some Californians will brag online about how great their state is.  World's 5th largest economy.  Great weather.  Great places to visit.  Beaches.  Mountains.  Sand dunes.  Redwoods.  Wine.  Skiing.

I can't argue about the weather and most of what I listed.  But world's 5th largest economy?  It appears that way, when you look at it strictly in the volume of dollars that are spent there, but does that mean things are golden in the Golden State?

Prices and cost of living are MUCH higher there than elsewhere.  The dollar volume, in my estimation, is inflated due to dollars not being worth as much there as they are elsewhere.  Sure, I can get a higher salary there, and I might even realize a 30% raise, but what good is that going to do if I don't get to keep it?

I am paying less on a monthly mortgage for a nice house in Tucson than what I would spend on a third rate one bedroom apartment in the Los Angeles basin.  I pay anywhere from $1.50 to $2.00 less for a gallon of gas here in Arizona.  My property tax bill is about 25% of what that would be for a similar house in CA, I would be in much worse traffic, and I would be in a higher tax bracket.  In a per capita sense there might be more dollars available, but what good is it if you have a lower standard of living?

There's more.

I've read where California now has one third of the nation's homeless and one fourth of the nation's illegal aliens.  This thing called Proposition 47 has sent property crime through the roof.  Photos that I see on the net's top news sites depict rows of tents along the sidewalks of Los Angeles, and I've seen those rows of tents in San Jose.

The state also has trouble keeping their lights on.  PG&E has cut off power to tens of thousands of customers so as to prevent their aging infrastructure from setting off more wildfires.  There is a convincing argument that they can't replace that infrastructure since the environmentalists won't let them.  (There is also an equally convincing argument that PG&E has some corruption amongst their top management).  If you do get electricity, you're going to pay a lot more for it.

I will be responding to that email with a thanks, but I will be declining invitations for discussions.

I may not be living in the world's 5th largest economy, but I am living very well.

An Apology

I wish to apologize to the American people and to the rest of the world for voting for Mitt Romney when he was running for President in 2012.  I originally was going to sit that one out, but I fell for his phony line about how he was a true conservative, even though there was evidence that he wasn't.

I also feel bad for having once endorsed his choice of Paul Ryan as Vice President.  Once I saw how Speaker Ryan was, I realized Romney could have done better.  I guess I can make the argument that it was the best choice he had available at the time, but I didn't know Ryan as well as I should have.

Mitt Romney, a/k/a Pierre Delecto. 

Mitt Romney, setting up a fake Twitter account.  That's as dishonest as Hillary and her missing emails and those smashed hard drives.

Voters of Utah.........will you now please step forward and apologize too, for sending Mitt Romney to the Senate?

Why the Rush to Impeach?

For at least a week, most of what we have heard about it is the so-called "impeachment inquiry" against President Trump.  I will note here that it has not gotten past me that Speaker Pelosi has NOT scheduled a vote on this.  This reminds me of when she openly speculated she would "deem and pass" the legislation called Obamacare when she didn't yet know she had the votes she needed.

There is a lot of speculation as to why.  I think the answer lies in something the Congressman Al Green said.

If we don't impeach him now, he will be re-elected.

What I don't get is why the Speaker won't bring this to a vote.  In a way, it's clever.  Yes, she caved to the Squad, but she's also protecting those Democrats who are the swing districts.  OK, I've just answered my own question, but if you're going to make this a campaign issue then vote.

There is another reason being speculated on.  A lot of dirt is about to make the light of day.  Attorney General Barr has someone looking into this, who is threatening to produce more than Robert Mueller did and in less time at that.

We are in some very interesting times.

The Man Who Was Shot in the Neck

Many years ago Mark told me a story about his earlier days.  When he was in elementary school, there was a construction trailer on the grounds near the perimeter.  It was largely ignored until a rumor about it was started.

The rumor was that there was a guy who was living in that trailer.  He was shot in the neck.  He was in perpetual bleeding from that wound, and was a danger to anyone who would go near that trailer.  Of course he wasn't seen, but that little factoid was ignored.  There was a man who was shot in the neck living in there, and he was a threat.

As with some childhood rumors, this one got out of hand.  No kid wanted to walk by that trailer, whether he or she was alone or with a group.  The area was avoided during PE.  And soon it got to where the kids didn't want to be outside waiting for their parents to pick them up.  The Man Who Was Shot in the Neck just might come running out of that trailer, snatch you, and do you harm.  Think about it some.  Would you go near a trailer with kind of person living inside of it?  I wouldn't.

It got so bad that the prinicipal finally got on the intercom one afternoon.  He insisted emphatically that there was no man who was shot in the neck.  There was no one living in the trailer.  There was no danger.  Again, there is no such thing as the Man Who Was Shot in the Neck.  No such person ever existed, no such person exists, and no such person will ever exist in the future.  End of story.

We laughed about that when he told that story to me.  It reminded me of an incident when I was five years old, and convinced that there was a monster living inside of the storm drain on the street where we lived, and if you looked in the hole you would see it in there and you would see it looking at you.  And because we wanted to see it, we saw it.

Anyway, events at work have reminded me of the absurd story of the Man Who Was Shot in the Neck.

In other words, it's a lot like an elementary school atmosphere there these days.

My lead and my manager would disagree with that.

They insist that it's a day care center.

Yes, we're having some personnel problems.

No, I won't tell you what they are.  Not at this time.