Geography Div (Grand Theft Auto subsection)

Just so you'll know what brand of vehicle NOT to buy ........

A Little Saturday Nite Bluegrass Div

The IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year for 2014, Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen performing Yeah Man.



Dirty Kitchen: Frank Solivan - Mandolin, Mike Munford - Banjo, Jeremy Middleton - Bass and Chris Luquette - Guitar

Geography Div (stereotypes subsection)

Well, there is a certain population that we've heard a lot from lately, eh ?

A Little Saturday Nite Bluegrass Div

On this day in 1997, Alabama Governor Fob James joined the mayors of Montgomery and Georgina, AL, in the Alabama State Capitol to dedicate a 50-mile stretch of Interstate 65 to the memory of Hank Williams. The section of roadway was renamed the "Hank Williams Memorial Lost Highway."

The song was written by Leon Payne in 1948 and became one of Williams' defining recordings.



Band of Ruhks : Don Rigsby - Mandolin, John Meyer - Banjo, Ronnie Bowman - Bass and
Kenny Smith - Guitar.

Campaign Div (Broadway Musical/Movie subsection)

Thanks and a Hat-tip to Tengrain over at Mock, Paper Scissors for this: Trump Youth.
As Tengrain put it: "This is scary shit."

For some historical perspective ................... the mini-bears are very confused.

Geography Div (Upcoming election subsection)

Well, by now (already !) many folks will be fed up and simply waiting for November to roll around and get the next one started. 

Lots of despair with the choices made by both major parties this time. However, there are, and as in the past, other choices of where to mark a ballot -- and, at least get out there and mark one !!

For more on this go here:https://nickconwayblog.wordpress.com/2016/07/03/average-third-party-vote-by-state-1948-2012/

GOTTA GRIFT Div ( Sturgis Motorcycle Rally subsection) UPDATED

Well the 76th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is winding down. Actually, it's officially over today, but the rumble of the exhaust pipes will probably linger for another few days. The local fishwrapper always has a spread every day on rides, tattoos, and personalities of the participants. Today's article - front page, above the fold, was on this Chris Cox guy selling 'Bikers for Trump" gear.
Here's the prescient quote from the article:

                  A person working with Cox claimed the proceeds go to the Trump
                  campaign, but Cox, under questioning from a reporter, acknowledged 
                  that the money goes into his own pocket.

Take a look at the whole article. I'm sure the Great Republican Grifter er, Candidate would be proud.

UPDATE: In my haste to get this on-line, I left out the best part:

Cox does lack one potentially important qualification for a biker lobbyist, which was awkwardly revealed when he was asked about his "ride" for a Q&A in Sturgis Rider Daily, a co-publication of the Journal and the Buffalo Chip Campground.

"I don't," said Chris Cox, founder of Bikers for Trump, "have a bike right now."

                 

A Little Saturday Nite Bluegrass Div

One of the groups ( Mashtag ??) at the Black Hills Bluegrass Festival last month did a number I hadn't heard in quite a while. Anyway, here's New Grass Revival from 1987 doing the late John Hartford's Steam Powered Airplane.



New Grass Revival: Sam Bush - Mandolin, Bela Fleck - Banjo, Pat Flynn - Guitar and John Cowan - Bass

Geography Div ( This just in Update subsection)

Well the full articles are on the front page:  Here    and   Here .

I would expect that the comment sections of the on-line articles will start filling up by noon today and the letters to the editor will show up in a couple of days. Should be fun !!

This Just In Div (Special to the Geography Div -- What's in a Name subsection)

Well, it appears that the U.S. Board of Geographic Names has decided to rename Harney Peak - the highest point in South Dakota's Black Hills to Black Elk Peak.

The Guv ain't happy and I'm sure the controversy will continue.

Sure is a lot better than what was originally proposed.

Campaign Div (Incitement to Idiocy subsection)

“Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment,” he said. “By the way, and if she gets to pick — if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.”

Those were DDT's words to a crowd  er, mob in Wilmington, NC today. 

His campaign immediately started spinning the reaction and blaming rational, sane people of "mis-understanding" his threat. Oh well, what can you do ?

Maybe DDT should take Mr Kahn up on his offer to provide him with a copy of the  Constitution of the US.

 There is a specific method for amending our governing document; and neither the President nor the Supreme Court has one wit to do with it.

After you get your copy,  read Article V (I know, the words are big, but they are in English).  Its the one that tells how amendments are made and ratified (and yes, some amendments can rescind others  - think Prohibition, dummy).

Just in case that's too difficult (oh yeah, right, you don't read), here's a picture:

         (Just go down either the left or right column - there, isn't too hard, eh ?)

So, ya see, there ain't no Preznit or Supremes ever mentioned. 

Can't you go twenty-four hours without lying or simply showing your ignorance ??

Geography Div (Labor subsection)

Yep !! dem immigrants is overrunnin' da country.

A Little Saturday Nite Bluegrass Div ( Townes van Zandt subsection)

Old & In the Grey doing Townes' Pancho and Lefty from 2003.



The Players: David Grisman - Mandolin, Herb Pederson - Banjo, Peter Rowan - Guitar, Vassar Clements - Fiddle and Bryn Bright Bass.

Sacrifice Div (recognition subsection)

On my way home tonite from a day volunteering at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, I heard that DDT had accepted a Purple heart from a wounded veteran. He then proceeded to make a complete ass of himself (like he usually does).

I never got to obtain one during my service. I spent the Vietnam War 45 - 90 feet under the Montana prairie or at 30,000 feet in an EC-135 over the Central USA. Oh well. Very few people were awarded medals for heroism during the "Cold War" in Europe.
However, here's someone who really earned one:

My Dad at Guadalcanal with the 1st Marine Division in 1942 at age 25.
He carried Japanese steel in his body until the day he died at 93.

DDT knows absolutely nothing of sacrifice or just what "earning" a Purple Heart means. Perhaps some other veteran will offer him a Silver Star, a Navy, Army or Air Force Cross or, heaven forbid, their CMH because "they believe in him."

Give me strength.

Do not demean my Father's Silver Star or Purple heart with words like "I always wanted one of these."

No, you didn't. You did not serve. You were never in Harm's way. You did not sacrifice anything. You
never were in any position to "earn" any decoration for heroism or sacrifice from the Armed Forces. You have no idea what any military decoration or award (even those not earned in combat) mean to the recipient.
I'm sorry that the veteran who gave you his medal doesn't seem to know either, but maybe I'm being uncharitable and should thank him for his sacrifice and service  ........  Maybe  not.

Geography Div (Campaign subsection)

Well, the conventions are over (thank heaven or something)  Let the rank speculation begin !!!

 U.S. states based on the most recent time each one helped put a Democrat in the White House. In other words: it shows which states would be the most and least likely wins for Hillary (and perhaps the most and least unlikely ones for Trump) and vice versa.

In blue are the 26 states (plus DC) who voted for Obama in 2012. They include Hawaii, the three West Coast states plus Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico, and most of the Midwest and Northeast. One could assume that these most recent Democrat-voting states are the most solidly pro-Democrat ones. 

Only two states switched sides in 2012: Indiana and North Carolina (in purple) voted for the Republican Mitt Romney, whereas they had chosen Obama over McCain in 2008. A Hillary win would be less sure here. 

The re-election of Bill Clinton in 1996 was the last time these eight states (in green) voted Democrat: Arizona, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virigina. Could his wife pick up these states again after a 30-year hiatus?

In 1992, two more states (in pink) voted Hillary's husband into office: Montana and Georgia (in pink).

We have to go back forty years for Jimmy Carter, the previous Democrat, to be elected president. And 1976 was also the last year that Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina (in orange) voted a Democrat into the White House.

And it's more than half a century ago – 1964, to be precise – since the remaining nine states (in red: Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma) helped a Democrat gain the nation's highest office – Lyndon B. Johnson, who had taken over the office after JFK's assassination a year earlier.

H/T  Frank Jacobs -- bigthink.com