In Case You Missed It (v53)

Can I tell you, remodeling your kitchen really cuts into writing time? 

There's the supervising, and the cleaning, and the demolition, and the decisions-on-the-fly, and the keeping the cats out of the way, and then there's the getting rid of the derbis (a Dad word), and the corresponding exhaustion...  

Before you know it, seven days have gone by with only three posts to show for it. Sigh. Here's your short and sweet review of the posts that did manage to make it out of my head last week.

Our Sunday School lesson was all about voting, and voting security, and it also included  couple of references to what folks in charge of elections in their states have to deal with. Here's Karen Brinson Bell, the State Board of Elections director in North Carolina, talking about the efforts she and her team are making.

Benson said there's been "near constant communication" with postmasters and postal leaders, trying to ensure "the system works, that citizens can receive their ballots and return them on time." The drop boxes are "a workaround" for folks who aren't comfortable mailing the ballots in, or who wait until the last minute. But, she said, 

we're now also facing a perception issue. That the changes in the postal service, if nothing else, have created confusion and chaos where none existed prior. And so, the voter education and the confidence-boosting we now have to do and will do to ensure voters feel confident that their vote is sent through the mail and will count is a key part of our work moving forward.

Part of that perception issue? Yeah, the drivel from the president who (among other things), suggested that voters in NC vote by mail and then vote again in person.  

For your Extra Credit, I looked for guests who were on to talk about the 'suckers and losers' comments allegedly (and probably) made by the president. Here's Chuck Hagel, a former senator and former Secretary of Defense offering his thoughts.

But let's go back to the words from Trump himself, coming out of his own mouth, starting in 2016 about - what he said about John McCain and what he continued to say about McCain. 

How he degraded the service of Generals Mattis and McMaster, and just recently, General Kelly, the history of this president over the last three, four years is pretty clear. The 2018 experience when he did not go to the American military cemetery in France, to recognize and honor the World War I Marines, every other leader went, every other leader drove, leaders of Germany, France, Canada. And you can go through a litany of past things that he said from his mouth, actions that he's taken, and it corroborates really the Goldberg article in "The Atlantic.”

But my favorite thing from the article was this comment from a voter in Colorado, speaking about the president:

It didn't surprise me. You can see what he said about Senator McCain from the very start. I think that (he's) someone who respects the military vote but that's not the same thing as respecting the military. 

Give yourself a pat on the back if you also realize they're not the same thing.  

Wondering on Wednesday was all about silliness coming out of the Administration, including this section on another whistle being blown.

• Is anyone wondering that another whistleblower is coming forward in this administration, or that the issue he's blown the whistle on is Trump's downgrading Russian interference and upgrading Ch-eye-na's and Eye-ran's instead? Because we know that fits the narrative that Trump likes. His minions have made no mistake about that in many appearances in the Sunday classrooms. The experts say Russia, the minions say the other two. The experts say Russia, Trump says the other two. The whistleblower says Russia, and says that Acting DHS Director Chad Wolf says the other two...  I can't help thinking I'm not the only one seeing a pattern here?

There was one segment in the piece about those random seeds from China and what Americans did with them that prove our unique American-ness, or our MAGAness, or something. I'll let you decide on that part. 

There was nothing noteworthy in my emails to warrant an Email of the Week feature, which usually hits on Thursday, and Friday was not the day to bitch about political stuff, so I stayed away from things for the most part. 

So, that's it -- three posts, a lot of work done on the kitchen, and now I'm ready to get back into the swing of things. Thanks for hanging out and sticking around. 

See you back here later for Sunday School.