Yes, I'm falling down on the job again, but there just aren't enough hours in the day or night. Mrs. T and I put in some hours in the garden, then I spend a couple of hours spraying grasshoppers. We have a plague of grasshoppers here in the dry foothills of the Sapphire Mountains (SW Montana). I've been killing them by the literal thousands, spraying every couple of days, both on our property and down the mountain a little ways on our closest neighbor's property. They have some new bushes they landscaped with, along with a new young tree (flowering plum? I can't recall) that they would like to keep intact along with some other landscaping (trees and bushes) that were almost killed by the grasshoppers last summer.

They have been hitting us harder each year, starting four summers ago. This year I started early, spraying all around both of our homes and gardens as soon as I saw the very first tiny grasshoppers jumping in the grass. That was back in late April. Now, in spite of having sparyed several hundred dollars worth of malathion on many thousands of the little bastards, they are thicker than ever. Today I had over a hundred on the deck, and when I stepped out into the grass around the deck, there were over fifty grasshoppers in every square foot of ground. There were over fifteen hundred hanging onto the lattice work enclosing the deck all around its base - just on one side of the house (it's 360° wrap-around deck).

May1st I slipped on some ice on our deck (we're in the mountains, n'est-ce pas?), and fell on my shoulder. I rolled intentionally onto the shoulder, because I knew a Deputy Sheriff who slipped on some ice years ago and fell, breaking both of her arms. Think about that for a moment. Both arms in casts. As much as her husband loved her, the duties he had to perform due to her inability to use either arm left him less than ecstatic. Not wanting to be that helpless, let alone condemn my wife to similar duties, I chose the shoulder.

I had no idea how much damage an old guy can do to a joint by falling off of a deck - about eight feet from shoulder to ground. That the pain lasted more than two months was a good clue, although the x-rays didn't show anything. No broken bones, no large separation in the joint, no dislocation, no obvious tears. But getting horizontal - in any position, on any side, even with a pillow under the arm - was quite painful. Sitting or standing was only sightly uncomfortable, but lying down meant no sleep at night for the first seven weeks. I would eventually pass out from lack of sleep sitting up in my recliner, but the lack of sleep was running me down.

Finally, an orthopedic surgeon did an MRI with contrast which showed extensive damage to the rotator cuff, muscle, a number of tendons, and the cartilage in the joint itself. Yet, in spite of several large tears, including in the tendon of the biceps where they attach at the top of the shoulder, the arm still functions and doesn't hurt much at all. Strange. The doc told me I may need to have a "reverse shoulder replacement", where the "cup and ball" of the joint is reversed. The "cup" is normally a part of the scapula (shoulder blade), and the "ball" is the head of the humerus (that's the upper arm bone, not the "funny bone" ;-) Reversed is where they attach a "ball" to the shoulder blade, and a "cup" to the top of the upper arm. It is suposed to work fairly well if done properly, but we're talking major surgery. The whole shoulder has to be opened up, muscles cut, etc. A big job, calling for a long recovery, a lot of physical therapy, etc.

So, depending on what the surgeon I am being referred to says (he specializes in shoulders), I may choose to wait, and not do the surgery until such time as my shoulder either won't function any more or develops so much pain that the surgery becomes unavoidable. Hopefully I will go to the Great Beyond before that happens.

Attempting to cause a war should be a hanging offense

Just as the Democrats love to cause trouble in order to divide blacks and whites in our country, indulging in the most vile of race-baiting techniques, so do they want to cause trouble between Russia and America, because that will cause problems for President Trump.

This claim about Russian troops paying a bounty to Afghani Al-Qaeda or Taliban fighters to kill American troops has about the same truth value as the Steele dossier and the Dems stated reasons for impeaching Trump. Zero. And maybe "Zero" was involved. Remember how Zero tried to cause trouble with Putin just before President Trump took office, back in Late December or early January 2017? It was a nasty shot at possibly pushing Russia into serious conflict with the U.S. Although it doesn't work in mathematics, dividing by Zero worked just fine for the last administration.

"A senior career CIA official made the decision not to have President Donald Trump briefed on raw intelligence that suggested the Russians might be offering bounties to kill U.S. soldiers, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said.

'She made that decision because she didn’t have confidence in the intelligence that came up,' O’Brien told reporters outside the White House on Wednesday.

'She made that call. And you know what? I think she made the right call, so I’m not going to criticize her. Knowing the facts that I know now, I stand behind that call,' he added.

The raw intelligence was leaked to the New York Times, which falsely reported that Trump was briefed on it and chose not to do anything, according to intelligence officials.

' That was a hoax, and there’s no question about it,' O’Brien said."

Why in the world would anyone waste money to get the Taliban or Al-Qaeda to do what they love to do on their own? Even if someone did give them money to kill American servicemen, it wouldn't make any difference from what they normally do.

GOP senators advised that the New York Times leak that they claimed was "solid" was believed to be a fabrication, that the intelligence currently in our possession did not support the claim.

Ratcliff, the new DNI, stated, “I have confirmed that neither the president nor the vice president were ever briefed on any intelligence alleged by The New York Times in its reporting yesterday [June 26].

“The White House statement addressing this issue earlier today, which denied such a briefing occurred, was accurate. The New York Times reporting, and all other subsequent news reports about such an alleged briefing are inaccurate,” Ratcliffe added.

The Democrats are desperate, and will try any ploy to cause trouble for Trump. Joe Biden - certainly reading off of a teleprompter or paper notes - said Trump had cognitive issues about the rumor of a bounty. Can you say LMAO? Biden's handlers - who know he can barely string three coherent words together - think he can score points by questioning President _Trump's_ cognitive competence? What Democrat "strategist" (clown) thought that one up?

Who will be Biden's V.P., and how was she chosen?

My friend Bill Doyle and I have believed for some time that Hillary will be "chosen" by Biden as his VP. I've been giving it a lot of thought, and I'm having second (and third) thoughts.  I think it might be Michelle Obama, instead. First, she is not under a cloud of multiple felony crimes as Hillary is. No, Hillary will never be charged, let alone tried, for even the felonies she has _admitted_ being guilty of committing. But many people may still understand she is a criminal - just an "undocumented" criminal.

Another reason is that - in my opinion only - her sociopathic personality and extreme anger when things don't go her way would make her less controllable by those who operate (like a marionette) the various Democrat leaders, such as Barack Hussein. Given the power of the presidency, even those in control might fear finding their names on her "List". I'm not sure she _could_ be controlled, and the PTB may feel the same way.

It could be claimed by the DNC that Michelle is far more popular, that she would win the bipartisan black vote, the bipartisan "female" vote, the total Democrat vote, and even the vote of  non-Democrat white male virtue-signalers. So, if all the Democrat election fraud by mail-in vote, hacked voting machines, vote harvesting, illegal alien votes, multiple voting by Democrat voters, and other methods were in actuality overcome by the real votes of the majority of legal American voters choosing Trump, they could still manipulate the vote _count_ itself, and claim she won due to her "widespread bipartisan popularity". That would be a far easier sell than it would be for Hillary. (DNC ad for Biden VP: "No hags need apply").

Think about this, and point out where I am wrong. Please. I think Hillary might still be easier to beat, so seeing Michelle made VP by the DNC could be a very bad thing.

How the DNC disenfranchised Democrat voters

Has anyone come to the same conclusion that I have on the whole Democrat candidate for President farce? On why they have been running a demonstrably mentally "disadvantaged" candidate for President? How they can even imagine that running him would be good for the country (which they obviously DON'T care about)? The DNC may have been throwing nominees at the wall by the bushel, looking to see who might stick, but - as we saw in 2016 and again now - the DNC is who actually chooses the candidate, NOT the voters.

Don't get me wrong, the Republicans do it, too. Ron Paul was very popular when running against Obama, too popular for the establishment Republicans, the RNC and influencers hired by them (and the bankers, especially with his determination to "audit the Federal Reserve"). So the Republicans refused to count most of his votes, and he eventually dropped out, in spite of receiving far more donations, far more money than McCain. He either figured out, and/or was actually told, that he would "never be the man".

We saw it happen again this year, with Bernie. Oh, they let him run with the rest of the Democrat Rat Pack, but it was a forgone conclusion that he would be bought off (was given a very nice house last time) once again. Still a downer for him, but I'm sure it was explained very well that he would step down, and why.

So, this time they are bypassing the Democrat voters altogether. Yes, all of the primaries were a farce, a sham, as the DNC knew it would be running a man suffering from dementia. That way _they_ can pick who they truly want in office by picking the VP. If their voter fraud mojo is strong enough (they will go all-out this time, not making the mistake they made with Hillary, thinking they had it in the bag), they will inaugurate him, and then sadly use the 25th Amendment to remove him from office (Hillary would probably have just "tagged" him), making _their_ choice for President the new President.

Pick this apart if you can, but it makes sense to me that this is what we are seeing here, in slow motion.

The Western Journal Kneels for BLM

I just attempted to comment on a Western Journal article written by Michael Austin, a bright and articulate young man. He wrote about an entire "pro" sports team (I guess fast-pitch softball is a pro sport these days) of young women (can't say ladies) who called it "reverse racism" when their manager made a positive comment about President Trump. My comment was:

"Good article, Mr. Austin. These fools getting butt-hurt because they believe the lies spread by Kaepernick, BLM, Antifa, and the scum Democrats in Congress led by Pelosi, simply prove how low their IQ is, how ignorant they are, and how easily they are manipulated and used by the Left/Democrats. Fortunately, more and more blacks such as Candace Owens and numerous other black conservatives are awakening black citizens to how long the Democrats have been using them for their own Democrat agenda. The KKK was Democrat, _not_ Republican, Democrats, not Republicans, were the party of slavery, and the Democrats fought tooth and nail to prevent the Civil Rights Act from passing. But now they act as if they are the only ones who can save black people from oppression. Anyone - black or white - who believes that lie deserves the abuse they get from the Democrats. Ask yourselves, folks - how much did Obama do to increase black employment, to free blacks from excessive prison sentences, or anything else that really helped black people in America, during his TWO terms in office? Look at Mad Maxine's district - the pot-holed streets, the trash, the crime - and then look at the district where _she_ lives, which is NOT the district she represents. 

BLM is operated by Marxists. They say it right on their web site. They don't care about blacks, they are using them - along with ignorant, virtue-signaling whites  - to crash America, which will damage blacks as much or more than whites, Hispanics, or Asians."

WJ refused to post this comment. They said it violated their "community standards". So WJ is getting as bad as Wordpress. Are they related? Is WJ published using Wordpress? I didn't see any indication or explanation of that.

Well, they _did_ accept my next two comments:

"WJ - your community guidelines suck. FO and get real, will you?"

"WJ doesn't care for the truth any more than Twitter, Farcebook, or any other organ of the Left. Their modserators/monitors or algorithms refuse to accept any criticism of BLM - an openly Marxist group that does NOT believe that black lives matter, only Marxism and the destruction of America. They have openly stated they intend to "burn down the system". How about it, WJ? Does that sound like it will help our black citizens? Will that help make life better for them? Get a life, would you please?"

It's becoming rather frightening how so many entities on the Internet are afraid to allow any criticism whatsoever of BLM. Are they afraid they will get their offices trashed? Then they should nut-up and pay some staff to stand guard with a couple of ARs or AKs and stop ther violence before it happens. BLM, Antifa and the rest of the scum will run home to Mommy if they get the idea that someone might _shoot_ them before allowing them to vandalize, burn and destroy their business, their livelihood. They are quite used to getting away with it right now, but I just read that a town - Summerlin - in Nevada near Las Vegas posted armed citizens in the neighborhood (who were encouraged by their local cops), and the little scummers ran their tiny tallywhackers back home, without throwing a single brick (a number of which had been brought in to assist in their intent to damage the town).

If more people, more businesses, don't grow some wevos and stand against the violence, it will get much worse, and it will not end well.

Black Lying Marxists

I posted this on Farcebook today. It was actually meant for here rather than FB, but because I have been neglecting STL for so long, I wrote it there first. The few friends and family who bother to read my disjointed sputterings don't visit here. Hopefully, a few "old timers" who still have a link here will read this and get something out of it.

BLM: Black Lying Marxists. They have no interest in helping blacks, only in tearing down our country, our communities, our culture. "Systemic racism" is merely one of the lies they tell to push gutless Democrat politicians/mayors/city council members into allowing them to destroy cities, tear down American history, ignore the true issues blacks are dealing with (like black-on-black crime), and "burn down" our society.

They are a vile, vocal, violent minority subsidized by people who want America destroyed - like Soros and the organizations he has created and financed (e.g. the "Open Society Foundation"). Soros believes only America stands between him and his goal of global government, an oligarchy which will take away the God-given/natural rights that every _individual_ possesses.

You have only to look at Cuba and Venezuela in order to see what will happen to America if we allow the Democrats to push the Marxist agenda of BLM and other groups which are trying to divide Americans and destroy our country. These small groups would be unable to succeed if Democrat politicians such as Pelosi did not assist them in their destruction. Pelosi and the Democrat politicians who assist her in these endeavors are truly traitors, aiding and abetting the enemies of America.

There is a young lady who left Venezuela to come to America, and she stated that the end of liberty _begins_ with tearing down the statues. With demonizing our history - which is happening every day that our K-12 schools are open - and indoctrinating our children. They have been teaching for some time now that "old white men", who killed the "First People" ("Native Americans", although they didn't originate here in America, either), were evil, and responsible for every death, every crime against reds, blacks, yellows, and even other whites, never mentioning that they simply killed each other until we arrived. That the white Europeans (who created all of the wealth of the culture and knowledge of Western Civilization) were evil, oppressive devils who abused and debased everyone else. Those "teachers, using Common Core and other nonsense curricula in their goal of reducing the knowledge while increasing the ignorance of children, have been teaching students all across the country to hate themselves for being white, or to hate whites because they _aren't_.

They have been teaching far too many lies to list. Another popular one is that the muslims created our system of mathematics. This has been told for so long and so often, that many people believe it. India created our system of mathematics, and the muslims simply lied and laid claim to it, to enhance the reputation of their crude, perverted, and violent actual culture. Their claims (repeated without any basis in fact by NASA and other muslim apologists, thanks to Obama's love for his brothers in islam, a love far superior to his disdain for  the American citizens who elected him, and for whom he swore an oath to protect and defend - along with the Constitution. Of course, he had his fingers crossed behind his back when he stood there in front of millions of us (those who watch TV, anyway), pretending to mean everything he said.

The Marxists were, and are, very clever, even though they are ignorant of much of the truth. They understood, more than a hundred years ago, even before the progressive Woodrow Wilson and FDR -   who was an extreme socialist himself, far preferring the company of Josef Stalin to that of Winston Churchill (much as Obama also preferred) - that taking over and changing the nature of education was the best way of perverting the culture of America. They started by subverting the teachers' colleges, pushing deeper and deeper into socialist thought, into believing in the collective, rather than in the individual and individual rights. The moved away from phonetics - a method of teaching reading that did not require the memorization of individual words to actually . They continued to develop teaching methods that made learning difficult, thinking for themselves almost impossible. 

The Left wants people to be docile, ignorant, and unable to solve their own problems, dependent upon the state for either employment or welfare, but not developed into a strong middle class. Permitting the establishment of a strong, knowledgable, independent middle class is too risky. People capable of using logic and reasoning to make their way through life would be a threat to an oligarchy, to a government run by those who consider themselves elite, smarter than the "common man", better able to decide what is "best" for the peons. Those people currently exist - many of the bureaucrats in the State Department are of that mind. Many are related to each other by blood or marriage, have attended the same Ivy League universities, joined the Council on Foreign Relations as did their fathers, brothers, friends of the family. The Deep State™ is populated by those believing themselves superior to the rest of us. Think of the arrogance of Comey, Strzok, Brennan, and so many others in various bureaucracies and three-letter agencies. Think of the Obamas, the Bushes, Pelosi, Schumer, Schiff, Nadler, McConnell, Boehner, Ryan, and so many others.

Well, enough. I've probably bored you to death, if you've even read this far. If you are not already familiar with how long-winded I am, you are now. I apologize, but I was raised before the advent of the "sound-bite", the catch-phrase, the "tweet". If you get something from my meanderings, my often scattered thoughts, feel free to take it just a paragraph or two at a sitting, like you might with a novel or textbook. If there isn't enough substance, or my conservative views are too much, too far out to enable you to agree with anything I write, that is fine. Thanks for visiting, and I appreciate your willingness to come this far. If any of this rings a bell for you, or causes you to re-think your assumptions, reach different conclusions than you had before, you are more than welcome to return and visit at your leisure. I am no pundit, no Victor Davis Hanson (barely on the same _planet_ with him), but I think some of my conservative beliefs can bear repeating. If they caused you to think about some of these issues, I can ask for no more.

A new lease on STL? Let's try.

It has been many moons since I last posted here. Although I was able to write something, some times it would not post. Also, I was unable to comment on my own post - even in response to someone else's comment, which certainly should be allowed.

So, here we sit, on the day of our Lord Saturday, June 20, 2020. No, I am not actually religious, although I was confirmed as a Catholic back when I was ten or eleven. Lost the faith when I was fourteen, and haven't looked back. I fully support Christianity, and try to live by the Judeo-Christian moral code, but I am no longer Christian myself.

The U.S. of A. is going crazy. Because Marxist groups like Black Lies, I mean Black Lives Matter rioted across the country, with the blessing of many Democrat mayors, city councils, and Democrat governors, looting, burning buildings, cop cars, the cars of homeless people (blacks also) who lived in them, looting and destroying black businesses, and killing cops - including black cops - and a number of whites civilians as well, it is now unacceptable to speak badly of Black Lies Matter. You can lose your job, be physically attacked, receive death threats, and be treated like a criminal by whites (progressives/liberals) and blacks.

Do I sound like I give a damn about who likes my First Amendment-protected right to free speech? No, I don't. I've been blocked numerous times on Farcebook, by Mother Zucker's drones, because "community standards". Well, guess what FB? BFYTW. Your censoring of truth, simply because it conflicts with your Marxist agenda is simply a sign of your desperation. Conservatives find work-arounds, and the signal cannot be stopped.

Black Lies Matter doesn't give an airborne rodent's backside about black people. Their "leader" (self-proclaimed?) in "Chaz" or "Chad", or whatever ludicrous name they currently give the blocks of Seattle that the Governor and mayor are enthused about providing for them in order to try their hand at anarchy (at least one shooting death so far - probably gang-banger vs gang-banger), openly stated herself that she is a Marxist, and that "it isn't violence to fight violence". She added that she is willing to use any means whatsoever to effect her goals, including removing the police. Undoubtedly, she has some brown- or black-shirts waiting in the wings to be the "organ of the state" as soon as the mayor and/or governor completely shut down the Seattle PD.

If Black Lies Matter was actually concerned, actually cared about blacks, they would try to do something about the thousands of black-on-black murders in Democrat-controlled cities and states, instead of loosing the dogs of war when one of the unarmed blacks - a number usually one _half_ of the number of unarmed whites killed by cops - gets killed by, or is allowed to die by, a white police officer. But they don't really care.

People need to force businesses, corporations, city councils, and local and state courts to stop punishing those brave enough to speak out against the violence done by BLM and also by Antifa (a fascist group pretending to be anti-fascist, much like BLM pretends to care about blacks. First, because it _needs_ to be said, and second, because we have a natural/God-given right to free speech.

More to follow later, but I'll cut this short to see if blogspot will allow my blog to function as it did when I first started writing here. Take care, folks, and VOTE in 2020 - NOT by mail-in vote, unless you are physically unable to do it in person.

Edit: I tried twice, and am still unable to comment on my own blog, even though I was able to do so at a time in the past.