One of the houses I canvased is a confirmed Sears kit house - a Mansfield (brick) model to be exact. A few others on my amble are probables. There are about 75 surviving Sears Houses within the current city limits. The owners of the Mansfield weren't home....I know this because my adventure was data directed by a smart phone app....which worked pretty well and certainy beats map/clipboard/pencil.

I was wondering if it was just me or if anyone else thought Trump's word salad is getting worse.

Trump was obviously shaken enough when his mental stability was questioned to have the White House physician release those ridiculous physical results.

Poor Trump. He's still livid at Jon Tester for telling the truth about Dr. Jackson. Trump was gunning for Tester hard in Montana... the lies getting so crazy that it's an obvious con to all but those deeply indoctrinated into the Trump cult.

We know that Trump isn’t going to be shamed out of office because of his misdeeds, but even his base supporters don’t want a president who is mentally unfit.

Many of them seem to not care one whit whether or not he's a pathological liar; however, it does seem that some of them are catching on. Then there are the others who genuinely believe his pathological illness is a shrewd political/business strategy when it's nothing more than the usual modus operandi of a con artist who's spent decades lying shamelessly in order to separate people from their money and in search of anything that will fill his unquenchable thirst for fame. Sad.

3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749
445923078164062862089986280348253421170679821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489549303819644288109756659334461284756482337867831652712019091456485669234603486104543266482133936072602491412737245870066063155881748815209209628292540917153643678925903600113305305488204665213841469519415116094330572703657595919530921861173819326117931051185480744623799627495673518857527248912279381830119491...

And that's a fact, at least approximately so.

Sounds awesome. :)

Nice of you to concentrate your usual bullshit into it's basic substance.

Wrong again, Don. That was an indication on my part that I believe the author of this blog you endeavor to hijack near daily so perfectly defined the substance of your posts as "blah blah blah." CW's definition of your comments was so dead on accurate that I believe it bears frequent and regular repeating.

Also:

You don't get to define other people's choices to fit your desires. ~ Don Harris

.

http://www.searshomes.org/index.php/tag/california-kit-homes/

We've gotten a vicarious thrill, I admit, to see what a hypothetical match-up between arguably the two most charismatic men in America would be like.

And it's pretty much as I expected. Obama effortlessly mocks Trump, reminding his audiences that Trump's current success didn't come from Trump himself: "Where did that start?" he asks delighted crowds, and reminds them that the economy created more jobs during his last two years in office than have been created during Trump's first two.

Trump decided to make 'the caravan' his piñata for the midterms, even going so far as to move troops to the Mexican border. But his staff clearly has other ideas, writing a 'closing argument' Op-ed on the Fox website for Trump that doesn't mention the border or the Caravan at all. It does, however, include this gem of historical distortion:

"If House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., take control of Congress, they will drag America back into the economic abyss we struggled so hard to climb out of.

..which is premised on such a big fat lie that it boggles the mind: it's exactly the opposite of the truth! (Did Miller write this?) Pelosi, you might remember, was instrumental in getting the programs passed that dragged us out of the actual economic abyss that the Republicans left us in exactly ten years ago.

This is what Obama does. He reminds us of the truth. He's our witness, and at present the most effective reality-check we have. I'm sure that this will be his swan-song, at least in this mode: next year a worthy opponent to Trump must arise from the Democratic ranks to lead a new offensive, and I can only hope that whoever it is, is watching and learning from Obama's Master Class in both mastery and class.

There is a great podcast that dives into the "Sears Homes" that people bought and built.

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-house-that-came-in-the-mail/

BTW, if you are looking for an interesting podcast, 99% Invisible is one of my favorites.

In Akron there are plenty of places to vote, many within walking distance. Summit County delivered the numbers for HRC - hopefully we'll do the same by end of day tomorrow.

The neighborhood you were in sounds like mine - the houses were all built by the same developer in the late 1920's-30's and they're chock-full of charm and interesting architectural details. Some are perfect, some need work and some will be pulled down.

Go look at this book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A73FI8O/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

The house-plans in there are all over my neighborhood!

that's the spirit! make america pie again!

JL

The media shows the 3 or 4 minutes of Trump speaking coherently, and while it’s usually him saying something that is offensive in some way or repeating one of his “go-to” lies, but we are all used to seeing this from Trump. What people do not normally see is Trump offering up his babbling word salad to the world.

Trump’s mental state still should be a point of concern for everyone. Can you imagine how effective the N.Y. Times front page headline of “?????” could be? The press would simply be accurately reporting how Trump typically communicates and asking if anyone knows what he is actually saying!

Trump was obviously shaken enough when his mental stability was questioned to have the White House physician release those ridiculous physical results. We know that Trump isn’t going to be shamed out of office because of his misdeeds, but even his base supporters don’t want a president who is mentally unfit.

Saturday was the perfect day to mobilize the vote - warm, with a deep blue sky. I lucked out again and was assigned another route with lots of architectural interest, this time single family homes built in the 1920s. Every house was unique, if small by today's standards. The quality of design, materials and craftsmanship was incredible...decorative arches, high peaked roofs, bedroom balconies, stucco and fancy pattern brickwork. Architects of the day must have been plentiful and cheap.

Unlike last weekend, most of the properties I visited were well preserved and well maintained, although half the doorbells didn't work. Most inner city owners have a dog who barks when you knock, which is functionally about the same as doorbell. I had a lot of friendly conversations doing my bit.

I will take JL's pies over Don's lies every single time. :)

I am afraid that all my time and effort dedicated to pie might be wasted.

So the pie isn't perfect? Cut it into wedges. Stay in control, and never panic. ~ Martha Stewart

Please, please, please pay attention to me so i can talk some more about pie?

The answer to your not question is pizza pie. :)

Blah, blah, blah.

Nailed it. :)

Me three! Busy weekend. :)

GTFO and vote.

LL&P

https://img.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/files/2012/11/why-not-vote.jpg

That's worth a rim shot (cf. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CdVTCDdEwI ) right there.

Frum was and is no match for Bannon. Someone needed to drive a wedge into the narrow edge between the two sides of the populist coin, which Bannon framed by his "tomorrow belongs to me" version, and the alternative that he branded with the well-tested scare term "socialism." Someone needed to describe government in the liberal democratic tradition that is empowered to deliver popular social protections and initiatives along with policies to enhance the infrastructures of the common good.

I listened to the debate (and hat tip to Canuck for the reference), and Frum sounded, for the most part, as convincing as a poly sci 101 part time instructor. By any objective measure of debate, Bannon mopped the floor with him, and the final polling result showed that.

One thing I took away from the experience was; anyone who went in thinking there was a great schism between the administration and Bannonism should think twice. The crowd laughed aloud every time Bannon fed them a 'FOX-like' alternate fact..."Trump isn't a racist"--"the economy is all down to Trump's business acumen"--"Trump is about the working man and not the elites", so on and so on. Bannon realised early on that he was in front of a left-leaning, erudite crowd, why else truck the obvious lies, if not to stir up the discussion in the hope to win over the crowd with light-hearted acquiescence.

All that being said, I wouldn't have reversed my views based on what was said. Both men fell short in making a case for any other system over the one I now enjoy. It's a well made point that Bernie Sanders has been pushing a version of left-wing populism, the difference between Sanders and Bannon though is, Sanders' version of populism is inclusive. Bannon left me in no doubt that right-wing populism can only breed in a divisive society, one where the politicians can have a foil for their followers to blame for their supposed woe and disenfranchisement.

GTFO and vote.

LL&P

If they wanted to debate populism, then have two populists - Bernie representing liberal populism, best seen in Scandinavian countries, vs. Bannon representing national populism as represented by Trump.

Bannon is right that there is a lot of middle and lower class discontent, but he places the blame on government institutions, whereas I would contend that we should be looking at inequality and the vacuuming of wealth upwards.

The average Trump supporter isn't angry about the Iraq war, and neither are they angry about Fed liquidity - these are Bannon's battles, not theirs. They are angry because they see their future and the future of their kids being, at best, the same as it is today.

They are angry and fearful for their station in society, and fear and anger are easy to exploit by the next demagogue in line. Look at all the systems that build wealth and distribute it and you will see that capitalism with strong restraints to counter its negative effects (e.g. buying power, the tragedy of the commons, winner-takes-all) has delivered the wealthiest and happiest societies humans have ever created on a large scale.

The populism of Steve Bannon is the latest smoke screen by the very wealthy to ensure that they can buy politicians, grab an even bigger share of the wealth, and evade as many costs as they can (such as taxes). Bannon may believe his "power-to-the-people" message, but he is either a fool or a knave - the people he helps to power have only one thing on their minds - grabbing as much money as they can from the people to enrich themselves.

I'm in a Republican gerrymandered district, the suburbs and rural parts will probably elect a Republican congressman. My legs are being used to help prospects further down the electoral food chain. I'm going to the inner city, some of it deep into 35 years of decay, but a few historic blocks are on their way back. Many teachers, active or retired. Five mansions in various states of restoration. One is French Revival.

Going into the debate, a Toronto crowd, a decidedly left-leaning mob, to be sure, voted 28-72% against Bannon and his premise, after an hour and a half he had turned that into a 57-43% resolution.

I see now why many people see Bannon and his band of populists as a force to be reckoned with. One thing that's certain is, both sides of the midterms know what's at stake on Tuesday...

GTFO and vote.

LL&P

Paula - I'll be out canvassing too.

Polls are looking pretty good for Tuesday on a number of fronts - but the possibility of accumulated dirty tricks raises concerns. When you have the people running for office (who are also scumbags) actually in control of the mechanisms of voting - like Kemp and Kobach - concern is warranted. Etc. But if we manage to overcome all the voter suppression efforts and prevail - if we get the House, a bunch of state offices and maybe the Senate, we can start turning the ship of state around.

I'll be canvassing all weekend.

Tiny has reportedly mooted the idea of announcing Dems cheated if Repubs lose the House. So the next chapter is going to be a different challenge, but still a challenge. A better challenge, though.

4 days to go.