TheCapeBlog

https://prospect.org/politics/warren-latest-plan-signals-time-talk-joe-biden-record/

“More important, (Elizabeth Warren’s) plan lets borrowers modify primary residence mortgages in bankruptcy, a concept known as “cram-down” that the Obama-Biden administration (to borrow Biden’s common terminology) openly fought against after promising to enact it. This would have significantly mitigated the foreclosure crisis, giving borrowers a fair shot at a clean slate and equitably sharing the losses from the collapse. “

While Ron worked on the laundry, I removed insulation that had gotten moldy from a long-ago commode overflow: finally.

Ron finished the job by sealing up a gap between the wall and the septic pipe and stuffing in more insulation.

We also cleaned the bathroom sink drain.

Yesterday, did some banking, got gas and returned the smoke/CO battery-operated detectors to Aubuchon in Marstons Mills. While I was there, picked up Chef Sigumund’s clam chowder. It was good but pricey, and not as good as the West Barnstable Old Country Store’s. Served it with leftover Moto salad for lunch/supper.

Opened a savings account and ordered more checks for the joint account online with Rockland.

Fixed a ridiculous string variable error in MRS.

Ron misplaced his glasses; I found them today on the table by the front door.

Cindy dropped off the blankets on her way off Cape. The smoke/CO sensors arrived from Amazon and I hope everyone is okay with them. I checked employee opinion of the company at that warehouse (Teterboro, NJ), and it’s actually pretty positive.

Working on laundry and changing sheets.

Made a big salad for lunch but I used too much red wine vinegar in the dressing and if that didn’t make it bitter enough, added raw cranberries. Ron said the acetic acid is good for us, a consolation, indeed.

The biggest shortcoming of “Dark Towers,” however, is that while it raises provocative questions about Deutsche Bank and Trump, it never quite answers them. Was it incompetence or corruption that caused American and European regulators to do nothing about the bank’s excessive leverage and mispricing of assets? Was Trump’s relationship with Justin Kennedy, head of Deutsche Bank’s real estate lending division, a factor in the decision of Kennedy’s father, Justice Anthony Kennedy, to retire from the Supreme Court and Trump’s decision to appoint one of his former clerks, Brett Kavanaugh, to replace him? Did Deutsche Bank help Russian oligarchs launder money through Trump’s projects? Why did the U.S. criminal investigation of the bank’s Russian money laundering suddenly go quiet after Trump’s election? https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-fall-of-deutsche-bank-lies-greed-money-laundering-and-donald-trump/2020/02/14/0ffd770a-30c3-11ea-a053-dc6d944ba776_story.html

Revolution (the real kind, the kind that actually changes things) is ultimately a fight against psychological compartmentalization on a mass scale. Compartmentalization is a tool people use to avoid the psychological discomfort (aka cognitive dissonance) that would otherwise be experienced by trying to hold on to two conflicting positions at one time, like, for example, seeing yourself as a good person and simultaneously giving your government your tacit permission to murder strangers on the other side of the world in your name. https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/we-want-to-keep-the-oil-8fc42d560a95

We met with Larry and had lunch/dinner at Moto: salad, fries, pickles, cannoli. Better than Valentine’s Day chocolate and pastry, although those would have been nice, too.

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Peter squared me away on the smoke/CO alarm situation. An electrician will be there on Monday. The sensors should be here on Sunday.

Yesterday, Peter and I loaded the truck. He wasn’t feeling great, recovering from the prior days’ medical procedures, so Ron and I did the transfer station run.

Ron and I dropped in to the Barnstable Senior Center for a veg soup luncheon and signed up for membership at the center and the mailing list for the soup group.

We picked up batteries and CO detectors for the Fire Department inspection today at Edgewater. Peter had managed to get their combo detector off the ceiling, but the unit was stuck to the base. I was able to pry it apart with a putty knife and Ron loaded it with batteries and tested it this morning. He’ll bring it to Edgewater later with a check.

Ron treated us to pizza, salad and deep fried pickles from Moto Pizza/Falmouth. Enough for at least two meals, maybe three.

I uploaded some schedule page revisions to MRS.

Rained for most of yesterday.

Found out that we need to pay off two betterments at closing.

Ron spent part of the day with Peter; me, with Robert, transporting to and from medical appointments. Robert and I had lunch at Chew, and afterwards, he introduced me to Moto Pizza. He got some nice photos at the canal and wetlands.

Two very nice gents from DeBarros pumped our septic. They said the system looked good, 11 inches of solids. Their pump leaked oil in the driveway, though.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2018/08/31/57-million-u-s-workers-are-part-of-the-gig-economy/#7e876ea17118

More than one third (36 percent) of U.S. workers are in the gig economy, which works out to a very large number of approximately 57 million people.

Gallup estimates “that 29% of all workers in the U.S. have an alternative work arrangement as their primary job. This includes a quarter of all full-time workers (24%) and half of all part-time workers (49%). Including multiple job holders, 36% have a gig work arrangement in some capacity.”

There are two types of gig workers. There are “independent” and “contingent” workers, the former being people who are truly their own “boss”, and the latter being the group that work for another company just like a regular employee might, minus the security and all the other benefits that come with being a full-fledged employee (me: not to mention union representation).

Spent most of Sunday afternoon with a dog friend and his owner, who served a delicious brunch of salad and clam chowder.

This morning, I mailed Valentine cards to the Rentonites and a birthday gift to Florida.

Ron had a routine appointment with his doc at 8:30.

We are punting on transfer station until Wednesday.

We signed the P&S yesterday. Closing is March 6. We liked P&B’s lawyer, he seems to have everything under control.

Ron drove by the beach at my request. It was very windy and the surf was up, about as much as it gets around here anyway.

Peter reported today that the bank is waiving an appraisal, relying instead on a Fannie Mae database of home values. This is a new thing, started in 2017.

I did two standouts today, one at Move to Remove and one at the Mashpee rotary. I was thoroughly disgusted by the progressives who gave me a ration about borrowing their crummy signs (I ended up taking none, made my own) but guess what, my Republicans were gracious and warm.

Go *ing figure.

I started the second standout a little before 1:00 with signs that were so ambiguous, the Trumpists liked them. I was inundated before long. So, I went home, made a new sign and stood on the opposite side of the Commons.

It was nice to be outside and though it was pretty blowy, the sun was out and I was quite comfortable.

Between standouts, I stopped at RiteAid in Falmouth for bargains. The store is being converted to a Walgreen’s and this was, literally, the last day for markdowns, some as much as 70%. I found a fine 50th birthday card for Bonnie and mailed it at the East Falmouth post office on the way home.

Ron made me a grilled cheese sandwich and heated up some soup for lunch. I filled out an online application for the fire department to inspect the smoke alarms at Edgewater.

We crashed early; then I remembered that I’d left my white folding chair at the rotary.

It was a little before 8 pm, so I threw a coat over my pajamas and retrieved the chair; it was still there, five hours later. That’s my Republicans, for you! I love those people.