Update no.1178

 Update from the Sunland

No.1178

5.8.24 – 11.8.24

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

 

To all,

 

Democrat presumptive nominee Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Timothy James ‘Tim’ Walz as her vice-presidential running mate. Of the choices on her short list, I preferred Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, if it had been my choice, although on the flipside, I would hate to lose him as one of our state’s senators. The Harris-Walz ticket hit the ground running, campaigning heavily in battleground states and expanding their public appearances.

As an interesting footnote, the campaign of the other old guy spend millions on campaign adds against President Biden. Those advertisements are all now worthless. They must develop a whole new set of ads against the Harris-Walz ticket. 

 

My excuse this week is more sports of the 33^rd Olympiad and the side-effects of my recent radiation treatment. I will not bore you with Too Much Information (TMI). Let it suffice to say, these temporary physical effects make simple necessary things difficult. ‘Nuf said. This too shall pass.

Wow! What a finish to the Women’s basketball gold medal game. The U.S. women won by one point and a couple of inches . . . literally. The French shot in the last few seconds. Her foot was just few inches inside the three-point arc. A couple of inches back would have tied the game and sent it to overtime. As they say, close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and nukes.

I will note here that there are several Olympic “sports” that simply do not make sense to me. Examples: breaking, hand ball, and skateboarding. There are discussions about making chess an Olympic sport. Hey, while we are at it, how about tiddlywinks or parcheesi. Let us not carry this sport definition too far.

 

For me, especially in this silly season, I prefer a candidate with integrity, reason, and compassion far more than one who daily spews insults, accusations, and falsities. To me the choice is crystal clear. Each citizen will have his or her rationale for voting and for voting for each particular candidate, up and down ballot, but the important element is, vote!. We will deal with what comes.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1177:

Comment to the Blog:

“I see privacy as necessary to the ‘Blessings of Liberty’ in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.

“I’ll bring up a very current topic. The New York Stock Exchange opens at 9:30 Eastern Time; as of 9:44 AM Monday 8/5/2024, the Dow is down 2.91%, the S&P 500, down 3.56%, and the NASDAQ down 4.50%, per MarketWatch. Markets worldwide are dropping on the same scale. That is largely blamed, by DealBook and others, on fears about the U.S. economy. I’ve seen an allegation by the left that the Fed has delayed rate relief to improve King Baby’s chance of winning the election.

“DealBook this morning also points out that Kamala Harris has an official unpaid advisor in her brother-in-law, Tony West, who is a corporate lawyer who has worked in government. Among his tasks in government was negotiating settlements with banks that were too easy on the banks. He currently works for Uber.”

My response to the Blog:

Yes, there are several indirect references that can be interpreted as reflections of privacy. I will also argue that there is no freedom without privacy. But, I must also remind everyone that Associate Justice Thomas tells us privacy as a word or concept is not explicitly stated in the U.S. Constitution, thus did does not exist under the law, according to him. Yes, absolutely, privacy is essential to securing the “Blessings of Liberty,” which is why privacy is so bloody important and why I harp upon privacy as the vital struggle of our time.

The current market volatility is caused by many things, not least of which is emotion. I say it is not rational given the strength of the economy. I am reminded by the old adage in part, “If you see things as bad, they will be bad.” I also say, this too shall pass. I will not subscribe to the conspiracy theory. No matter what the Fed does with rates, someone will complain.

OK. I did not know that.

Oh so true, as a retired person, every day is just ‘day.’ Monday, Tuesday, et cetera, are no longer relevant. They are all just days, now. I opened my eyes and got out of bed—another day upright.

 

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)