The Accumulating lies

I think the media, led by the Washington Post and the NYT , is about to start calling out the outrageous lie that is the heart of the Trump campaign.  The constant BS from The Donald is finally wearing down the "Both sides do it", meme that has so far characterized the race.   The WaPo finally admitted the e-mail "scandal" it had been peddling for months is dead.  After Colin Powell's e-mails to Hillary, ironically proved that both sides do do it sometimes, the press decided it didn't want to go down that path.  Meanwhile, the Miami Herald and the Tampa Bay Times are calling for a federal prosecutor to investigate Trump's contribution to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi's campaign shortly after it was announced her office would be investigating Trump University.   Within days of the contribution, Bondi's office quashed any idea of an investigation.  Talk about smoking guns!  Had anything like this been tied to Clinton, her campaign would be over.  However, I think the accumulation has finally taken its toll.

So it begins

I sure hope Lester Holt is better prepared to host the first Presidential debate on Sept. 26 than the hapless Matt Lauer was last night to host the "Commander in Chief" forum.   After spending a third of Hillary's  time focusing on e-mails, he basically allowed Trump to run him over.  Instead of elementary fact checking, he cheerfully moved on to another question answered with more word salad by master chef Trump.  To me, it seemed like Clinton came off as prepared for prime time and Trump like he just came out of a local bar and used the early evening drunks as his debate prep.  How anyone could think he came off well is a testament to how far the GOP has fallen.  Although, when you think about recent Republican presidents from Nixon through the Shrub, the standards are already pretty low. 

Revising the rules

Now that the mainstream media is again being called out for adhering to the "Clinton Rules" regarding their campaign coverage, the weasel words are being used again to defend papers like the NYT.  The paper of record has engaged in Clinton bashing for almost 30 years, and there latest reporting on the Clinton Foundation builds on that reputation.   The fact the foundation takes money from foreign governments and applies it to charitable and activist causes around the world gets coverage, but not for the altruistic aspects of its mission.  The "appearance" of conflict or the "optics" of Hillary as Secretary of State meeting donors to the Foundation is all the story they had.  So, instead of spiking it, or at least admitting there was no smoke or fire, the paper ran a story of innuendo instead of fact.  Meanwhile, the timing of a Trump Foundation donation to the PAC supporting the attorney general of Florida just days before the announcement the state would not be joining New York in a lawsuit against the now defunct Trump University got little or no coverage by the media.  The blowback of these stories is starting a little soul-searching on the part of some reporters.  There are some reluctant admissions the Clinton's automatically get closer scrutiny because they are the closest thing in America to a royal family.  

Getting dry

For the most part this gardening season we have gotten enough moisture at Casa Monzeglio that crops have not suffered.  That is no longer the case.  My late cauliflower and broccoli need rain or they will not form and grow normal heads.  The late lettuce plantings are hanging in, but also need a decent rain.  As the weather forecasters blather on about how beautiful the weather is and will be, I feel an unhealthy rage building at their ignorance about agriculture and the beneficial aspects of precipitation.  The dry weather is helpful for the tomatoes as it concentrates their flavor, but even they need some wet weather to develop later fruit.  The one unalloyed pleasure of the dry weather is the need to use the lawnmowers less often.

Stretch Run

It occurs to me the gardening and election season tend to overlap at this time.  As Labor Day recedes into the rearview mirror, the garden and the campaigns kick into high gear.  For me, it's all about the harvest.  Just about everything is in season in September and the challenge is to pick, sell, preserve and generally get everything possible out of the garden before the inevitable frost.  For Hillary and the Donald it's all about consolidating their bases and appealing to the few, rare, undecided voters.  After that, they have the same problem I do, after cultivating voters for over a year, they have to harvest them.  GOTV is Hillary's forte and Trump's Achille's heel.  Without a dedicated nationwide force of people making sure your voters actually cast a ballot, all those rallies with thousands of screaming fans are fruitless. 

It's Tomato Time

After teasing me with lush growth for the past couple of months, the tomato crop has really started to produce at an alarming rate.  I picked over 100 lbs. of blush, pink and ripe yesterday and there are plenty more on the way.  Some of the vines have a little early blight, but the majority of the crop is made and just needs to ripen.  Of course I wish we could have started harvesting a month ago, but the weather was cool and dry right after planting and it took several weeks for the crop to really get going.  I probably over fertilized, which caused the aforementioned growth.  However, unlike my eggplants, the tomatoes actually set and grew a good crop.  Unfortunately, everyone in the farmers' market has tons of the tasty fruit, so most of mine will probably wind up as sauce.  I don't think my daughters and their families will be upset by the news!   Meanwhile, in political news, The Donald's trip to Mexico was succinctly captured in a tweet from Rob Reiner. I quote, " We're not sending our best to Mexico.  We're sending liars, we're sending narcissists, we're sending sociopaths".  LOL...

Wilder than fiction

It's a pity Gene Wilder has taken his schtick to another place.  The master of neurotic comedy and star of the comedies I loved most in my teens and early 20s would have been the perfect film interpreter of the election we are now witnessing.  He would have been the perfect actor to play Donald Trump.  The totally un-selfaware  Trump would have been child's play for Wilder, whose various characters had some or all of The Donald's traits.  He would have had difficulty with Trump's woman hating and intolerance, but his character in The Producers was even able to make Hitler a "sympathetic" figure.  "Springtime for Trump"  has a certain ring to it.