It's the Constitution, Stupid...

There's been a lot of buzz about #MangoMussolini wanting to "defer" the election. But then again, today he tweeted that he wants it sooner. 

Here's the thing, folks: HE CAN'T DO ANYTHING about the date. Period. Full stop. End of sentence. This is what the Constitution (you know, that document he keeps trying to set flame to) says: Article II, Section 1: ‘The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.'

Back in April, 2020, the website Constitution Daily started speculating that, due to COVID-19, there might perhaps be a delay or postponement of the upcoming election. But before you start clutching your pearls, here's what they ultimately said:

What remains clear is that only the states and Congress have the power to delay that part of the election process. “Unlike the practice of some states that allow the Governor to postpone an election during emergencies, neither the Constitution nor Congress provides any similar power to the President or other federal officials to change this date outside of Congress’s regular legislative process,” the report says.

Congress also would have the power, by changing the appropriate statutes, to change the general election date and as well the dates electoral votes are received in Washington and counted in Congress. Such changes would require the consent of the House and the Senate and would be extraordinary since “the presidential election date has never been changed in response to an emergency,” the CRS concluded.

In essence, if we didn't change the election during the CIVIL WAR, there's not a snowball's chance in an Illinois August that we're changing it now. Even the Republicans are walking back (quickly) from that, with - gasp! - TEXAS saying, "Yeah...no. Election day is November 3, 2020." Even #MoscowMitch, TED CRUZ and #LeningradLindsey aren't budging on this one, though Cruz did kvetch about the "voter fraud" problem*.... Which isn't...

A professor of law and political science from University of California's Irvine School of Law (you will agree that this isn't exactly a schlock institution, ya think?) said, "Election fraud committed with absentee ballots is more prevalent than in-person viting but it is still rare," and he cites a dataabse created by News21, a national investigative reporting project that tracks cases of election fraud. The findings? Absentee ballot fraud comprised about 24% of reported prosecutions between 2000 and 2012 (twelve years). The number of cases? 491 - in a period where literally BILLIONS of votes were cast. 

Want a bit more irony? #MangoMussolini himself voted via absentee ballot in the 2018 midterm elections... 

Really. If the news media is going to publish every piece of manure that drips from his disgusting lips? At least have sense enough to do some basic research. 

The Garden...

Well, the wildflowers are in a riotous burst of color. And I've managed to harvest a couple of pods of poppy seeds. The Monarchs are looking a bit bedraggled, as you can see from this picture. Poor baby... I hope that the one caterpillar I saw is a survivor. My milkweed also looks a bit worse for the wear, too. 

OK, so I'm not liking the new Blogger interface... TWICE -- having to upload the same picture and now it just ate my text. Bah!!! So let's see how it reacts now; I'm just going to type what I wrote before, and see what the picture does. Hmmm. Not what I want it to do - I sort of thought that the text would wrap around the pictures. This isn't useful if it's not going to do that. Anyway, in this picture you can see the dill is even getting scraggly. I need to take the "weed whacking tool" and scrape out the weeds; without dislodging the wildflowers. Hubby still has a hard time telling one from the other. I'd love to get some Queen Anne's Lace in there - maybe next year. 

It appears that now, I have to figure out how to use the new interface; and it's going to mess up my process again. It used to be that the pictures kind of lead what I was writing about. I'd upload a bunch of them, write, and then insert them where they were supposed to go. But now??? Jeeze, Blogger!! Don't make it easy. Change for the sake of change is useless to me. Please pardon how wonky this will look till I figure it all out... 

Hubby's orchids are looking good - there's a beautiful cluster of the blossoms on one of the miniature phals. He's so excited! There's also a blossom on the wonky little butterwort plant we have near the orchids. It's supposed to keep away any "fruit flies" that come around; I haven't seen it do anything one way or the other, but it has tossed up a blossom, so there you go. He fusses over his orchids like a mother hen over her chicks, which is fine with me. We have two large cattleyas which I hope bloom soon. They're certainly throwing up the leaves! Now, let's show some blossoms, kids!

Crafting Away...

Today, I spent time in the sewing/yoga/music/office space... One day, it'll be a defined space, but then again, maybe that IS the definition. I still have to continue to organize and declutter in that space. It's taking a while. 

A few pics here. I tried a new way to do the ties for my masks and I finally did my alpaca ones. The tie, which is binding tape, goes over my head and ties around the back of the neck. It's a bit fiddly - and I should have just split the binding tape length in half. One of these is shorter than the other, but they both work. It's going to take a bit of messing around to get it to fit correctly. But I like the idea of being able to untie ONE tie and take the whole thing off. 

Isn't that alpaca fabric fun? I just love it. I also finished a green-ish mask for Kid #2. It has regular ties. I asked my sister if BIL would like one, and she said, "pattern is too flashy." To me, this looks like a Grandpa tie. But what do I know? I ask you -- does that look FLASHY?? Hubby even raised an eyebrow at that. But who are we? I'd rather make a mask for someone who'll wear it. The Kid said he had some "old cotton shirts" and wants me to make masks out of them. This should be fun. Hopefully, they're not t-shirts. I hate sewing jersey!

I have about 10 more of the 3-pleat masks to do to add to the "Mask Fundraiser" pile. Got several of them pinned, and will do the rest of the sewing over the weekend. I also have to mail Kid #1's birthday gift to him soon. It's going to be late, but I think he's not home anyway - at least his GF's social media feed looks like that's the case. 

On the other hand, I did also get my Backpack Buddha order of Mayan masks. The masks are made by the indigenous people and the proceeds go to help the local community, which I like. They're well-made and reasonably priced though there's not much information on how to care for them. I can't imagine just tossing them in the wash, mostly due to the velcro on the ties. It's all recycled cotton, which is always good. And it's tightly woven, also good. These are certainly different, particularly in the way they attach to your head!

I'm not entirely sure how to keep them clean, but I'll figure that out. I like the nose piece on these. They did not fog my specs and they stay away from my mouth. I just can't handle the masks touching my mouth because it feels like I'm swallowing it. And the ties are velcro! One over the head, one behind the neck. I had no choice of colors; I have one that's "Navy tones" and this one is "tan tones." I'm fine with that. I love the Aztec pattern and while the black on the nose and under the chin might be a bit dark, I can't help but think these might be more comfortable overall. I like the ones that are more fitted, as  you can tell. And so do most people. 

Hubby wears one that's got a washable, changeable filter. We got one for Kid #2 for school (in case they're going back - still not sure...) and I have one. I just have a hard time with it -- I really think it's more for guys because I have a hard time keeping it on my head. The velcro (points for that) is all the way at the smallest size when I've tried to wrap it around the back of my head. And it slips off my hair. But it has its good points - fitted and the filter thingie is handy. 

The Long Sands tee is moving along. I'm almost at the point of knitting in the round. The drop stitch row went ok -- I did find that I didn't exactly do the "P1, YO" row correctly - I did a couple purls in a row in more than a few places. But I don't care. Really. If you get close enough to the hem of this shirt to notice that? You and I had better be married! Belive me, Hubby won't even notice. 

And I have a Knitting Story to tell you, sweeties... I was reading the pattern, kind of figuring out what was going on. I saw StSt (stockinette stitch) and it said "Knit all rows." I pondered that for a moment or 10...and then I looked it up. 

Stockinette stitch is clearly NOT "knit all rows." That's actually Garter Stitch. But the photo of the project definitely shows StSt as the body of the tee. I'm now confused and doubting myself. And I'm staying up wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too late... So I fire off a query to the designer about the whole thing and I toddle off to bed. 

At 4 a.m. (I swear...) I sit bolt upright in the bed and say, "You moron... When you're knitting in the round, StSt automatically happens by knitting every row. Think of every single Vanilla sock you've ever knit, stupid!"

Later that morning, checking my messages, I find a very sweet message from the designer explaining exactly that, only nicer. I reply back with my "before dawn epiphany" and the designer replies, "Can't even tell you how many times I've done that!" I love me some Quince & Co.!

Random Picture...

We've been trying to see a comet; and I think it's gone now. It's been too light (too much light pollution) or too cloudy. Tonight, Hubby points outside...I thought, "This is it."

It wasn't. But it was beautiful. The sunset would've been perfect if the houses across the street weren't there. Not like I want to get rid of my neighbors. 

Maybe I just want to live where there's lots of sky... That being said, this does remind me of the old adage: Red sky at morning, sailors take warning; Red sky at night, sailor's delight. 

Whatever Mother Nature wants to show me in the evening? I'll take it. There are a lot of things wrong with Illinois. But the one thing we do really well here in the collar counties is "sunrise and sunset."                                                                                                                     Right now, we're on the cusp of taking every gain we've made in the past 4 months and flushing it.  We're doing crap on our COVID rates as we speak, but this sky is saying something: night follows day as day follows night.