Defense by Offense

My sister and I did indeed do our dinner for Burger Week, and we hit Twisted Taino in Parma Heights, and it was... quite good.  Mine was spicy but not hot, and it was a fairly good sized burger -- borderline worth it, if you will.  My sister liked hers as well.  Odd, though; they stopped selling burgers about seven, said they ran out.  Michelle was going to get one for the b-i-l, and when I went up -- after the line emptied out -- they said they were out.  Odd; I guess I would have just ordered something else, but people really wanted an $8 burger.  We did have much to discuss, mainly how the world is leaving people like me behind...but I am proud of this!

I went to buy bananas at 29 cents a pound at Giant Eagle this morning, and while I was the youngest one there, I was surprised there were not more people there.  I am not sure what that portends, but... I have several days of bananas, which is fine, given I have a dental visit tomorrow -- (semi) permanent crown goes on, so something soft will be nice.  In my hurry to get home for J! -- I forgot to Tivo it -- I didn't stop for soup on the way home.  I was also going to get more glue traps, as there is a permanent visitor in my garage. This pleases me immensely and I will definitely be reinforcing my big, beautiful wall of glue traps.

Why boys don't read very much: They want manly courage -- not teen angst (joannejacobs.com)
Dare I say this is exactly right?  I mean, I love to read, but I mainly read -- then and now -- stuff like war and military history.  Indeed, I would say that my expansion into other subjects came only because I had read my fill (if you will) of the battles and I wanted to know what else was going on.  Some of this is of course teachers, but some of it is parents not standing up to them.  I wonder, given the move away from public schools, if more parents threatened to walk away -- and take the money with them -- would that help?

Rural Republicans Pushing Back Against School Voucher Expansions — ProPublica
Then there is this...and I think they are right?  I mean, I think school vouchers should be expanded, but as they are going to existing students, and it is not means tested... this is not wise.  The point is true that if we have a downturn, we will spend less on them?  Or, don't we need to make sure that these schools are actually educating our kids?  Putting Humpty Dumpty together again might be difficult.

Why a New Conservative Brain Trust Is Resettling Across America - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
This may be new in America, but as any student of Christianity (reinforced by recent reading) knows, going far from madding crowd is...well, present since day one -- did not Christ spend 40 days in the desert?  More to the point, is that bad?  If people go and create these desirable communities, others will join them.  Maybe.  The issue, of course, is that these newcomers may or may not embrace their values -- good to see that some of these places are making their own HOAs -- and if they do not we are back to where we started.  

Duped On Biden's Decline? You're Too Dumb To Be A Journalist (thefederalist.com)
I don't doubt that journalists are stupid, but shouldn't every GOPer be asking them about this?  It shouldn't be that hard to find journalists saying Biden is fine from some recent vintage and ask them what happened?  To be sure, after about six weeks of this, no GOPer will be on any network other than Fox News, but that is not exactly a bad thing, and in an election year, anything attacking the media is good PR...