We Know Hillary All Too Well

I think I figured it out. Hillary ain't perfect. We all know that.

I think the reason why so many don't like her is because we know her all too well. We know everything. TMI to the max! And in spite of knowing everything, she will be the next President of the United States because more people know that she is more good than bad.

Who else running for President has been the subject of numerous investigations, so many that we've lost track? - special prosecutors, Congress - it goes on and on. And yet, there is no crime to charge against her. Sure, I don't like some of her decisions. She's admitted that voting for the War in Iraq was wrong and I don't think she's learned all of that lesson because she's still too much of a Hawk. She's also a little too friendly with Wall Street. But Bernie and Sen. Warren will hold her back a bit on both of those.

What do we know about this McMullin guy? Pretty much . . . nothing. And what we know about Trump is pretty much all bad.

Closing in on Elinor Vaughan's Grave

My wife graciously agreed to take an extra day home from Disneyland and by the long way so that I could visit Jacks Valley, Nevada, again. I tried a number for the Ascuaga Cattle Co. but they said it was the casino that had been sold by Mr. Ascuaga. I started calling US Forest Service offices to see if they had a contact at the Ascuaga Ranch. They passed me to several numbers where I left messages but got nowhere. I called the Curator at the Douglas County Historical Society with whom I had previously corresponded. She suggested that I just try going up to the ranch and explain myself politely to ask for access to the old cemetery.

It worked. The Ranch Manager came out and after I rattled off apologies and numerous names and dates belonging to my family and the history of Jacks Valley, he gave me Mr. Ascuaga's phone number and said that on his authority, we could go up to the old Winters Family cemetery. He said Mr. Ascuaga would be happy to allow us and to talk with me.

We went down the road and parked as directed, then walked up the hill on the wrong side of the fence. Finding a gate, I slipped through then pulled the gate post hard until I could slip the wire loop back over after my wife got through.

It was as beautiful as imagined. In the early evening the light was soft and the view was clear down over Jacks Valley to the larger Carson Valley. Snow was on the highest peaks of the Sierra.

In the Cemetery, by gracious permission of the Ascuaga Ranch

It is a relatively unknown, Mormon pioneer cemetery, or of pioneers who were Mormons as they seem to have left the Church or the Church left them when the call came in 1857 to return to the other side of the Great Basin facing a threat from the U.S. Army. These did not go.

Faith in America (Guest Post)

This Blogger's photo of Mount Whitney, California, from Highway U.S. 395

Just returning from a week in Disneyland with the grandkids and then a quick side-trip back again to Jacks Valley, Nevada on an exploration for Pioneer Grandma Elinor's grave (more, later), I was privileged to travel a route I had never known before. It was up US 395 on the east side of the Sierra. I saw Manzanar National Historic Site, Mt. Whitney (above), the Owens River Valley (Boo, L.A.!), Mono Lake, the Walker River, a Japanese, motorcycle gang (some ironic justice there), and lots and lots of dang desert.

Too tired to blog on my own, I share with you a Guest Post with the kind permission of an anonymous friend (not Anon D, whom I also respect, but let's say, "Anonymous W"). I've worked with this person for a few years and we keep finding common friends and common interests.

I give to you, hope for America!

I love America. I have spent 30 years in public service. Governing a large and diverse nation is hard. There are no easy solutions to the challenges we face.

Facing those challenges will require more of political leaders, public servants, and citizens than in the past. Because many of our difficulties are rooted in spiritual, social, and cultural issues, they will not yield to political solutions alone. Individuals and institutions will need to rise up and mend the torn fabric of our society. We will need to love and respect one another. We will need to compromise. We will need an end to brinksmanship and seeking victory at all costs. We will need to stop rewarding the politicians, pundits, and entertainers whose rhetoric divides us. We will need to listen thoughtfully to those who disagree with us. And we will need to forbear, not saying everything we may think in the interest of civil exchange. We will need to trust one another.

Hillary Explains Abortion

This is too important not to share. In the debate last night, Secretary Clinton explained for the Religious Right and Trump supporters why abortion can be very appropriate.

And as my position has been for some time that if such situations may even be recognized by my church as a rare exception, then government should have no business interfering with a women, her doctor, and her religious beliefs.

This from Vox:

Best Legal Letter Ever

In typical bully fashion, the 2016 Republican Nominee for President of the United States had his lawyers write to the New York Times threatening a lawsuit for publishing claims of the Nominee's sexual assaults. The response back from the lawyers for the Times is, perhaps, the best legal letter ever written. Here it is:

Lunch-Break Rant

[this started as a comment on my last post. But apparently it was too long for Blogger to handle as a comment. So here it is:]

Here I am at Harmon's on a lunch break outside the federal building so I'm in full compliance with the Hatch Act. I feel a rant coming on. Maybe this will end up as an independent blog post. But I have been more and more stirred up about the things Anon-D and now a couple more friends bring up.

I made the mistake like Anon-D of looking over the FB posts of some cousins last night (one who has unfriended me) and am just flabbergasted with the anti-Hillary, anti-Obama, pro-Trump anger and emotion. I came to understand the sore spot I touched when another family member brought up the "thin-veneer" of religion that I wrote about in the SL Trib that seems to cover very strong political views.  I saw the point that maybe I was a bit harsh. But I'm changing back again. I find it very difficult to understand the vitriol in co-religionists and blood relatives against things that I believe in and admittedly feel strongly about. But hopefully not strong enough for ugly and irrational hatred on my part. I know I can get stirred up but how did the wildest conspiracy theories, sexual assault and crudity, and hateful politics get all mixed up in religion and my family blood? I don't get it.

Good Enough for Me and Anonymous D

Just to reveal the kinds of things Anonymous D and I talk about in private, I thought I would share the discussion we had after last Sunday's very disturbing Presidential Debate. I edited very lightly. If the original tapes surface of this or any of our private conversations, from any time, anywhere, they won't be anything near as shocking as the Donald's:


SUN 10:09PM

Oh, Grant, I just don't know anymore. Based on my Facebook feed I'd say a good portion of the country are just like Trump. We scarcely deserve our democracy.

Yes. Fascism is at our door but it won't win.

I was just telling a friend yesterday that things are really pretty good too and you know I believe that.

I just don't understand. It's like they're saying, "Bill was an adulterer and I want my own adulterer in there.". Where does Hillary come in?

Ugliest Political Event Ever!

I do not wish in any way to condone what went on in the Presidential debate last night. But I do think it would be good for America to sit back, think a bit, and maybe watch Spielberg's Lincoln, or listen to Miranda's Shakespearean Hip-hop tragedy of Hamilton.

You could even Google a few of these historical nuggets:

"You Would Be In Jail!"

There are a few people I'd like to see in jail that aren't right now. I still think Dick Cheney ought to be in jail for promoting war crimes. But even if I were running for President against him, I don't think I'd tell him that I'd throw him in jail if I were President. I might try to investigate or refer a matter to the International Court of Justice. But then I might also equivocate because this country doesn't need more turmoil over Iraq. We still have plenty.

There are also friends and family of mine that think Hillary Clinton ought to be in jail. They are among millions of Americans who agree. And I also think that if they were running for President against her, they would not threaten her with jail in front of an audience of millions.

Trump vs. Clinton (Sexual Assault, not the Presidency)

Regrettably, it seems necessary to lay out my views about the latest revelations of the Republican Nominee's crude language relating to sexual assault on Women and explain why I support Hillary even if she is married to Bill.

First, the latest revelations are only the culmination of numerous inappropriate statements and views of Trump about Women, Immigrants, Religions, Ethnic Origins, Physical disabilities, Veteran's struggles, etc. On every one of these issues he has been consistently offensive and over-the-top. His base seems to love it as he plays up the outsider role refusing to respect "political correctness." It's part of his shtick. He's a TV Personality and a bluff and bluster, entrepreneurial Capitalist famous for his own personal brand. No one should be surprised about this. His supporters who are now bailing on the "moral high-ground" never should have been with him.

Second, the latest comments along with many from earlier in this campaign, are not just sexual dirty talk that might be OK in private but inappropriate in the public square. They are inappropriate in any context. They reveal a deep-seated antipathy towards women treating them as sexual objects rather than human beings. And his actions speak louder than words. They include: multiple marriages and affairs during and between of which he has publicly bragged and sought media exposure; overt participation and self-promotion of a crass, sexual nature in Playboy publications and videos; appearances on the crude Howard Stern show where these things were openly discussed; comments during the campaign critical of the physical appearance of women and their very nature as women ("blood coming out of her . . . wherever") and nothing in the present to indicate these offensive attitudes and behaviors are a thing of the past only and not of the present.

All of this should disqualify anyone for the office of President of the United States. Now, on to Bill Clinton.

Jacks Valley, Nevada: Yesterday, Today, and Forever

Cross-posted from John and Elinor Vaughan Descendants:

On a typical less-than-busy evening at the North Bountiful Family History Library, I was working on my own family interests and came across a great picture of Jacks Valley, Nevada, from 1939:

Jack's Valley Pony Express Station
With the gracious permission of Sherratt Library Special Collections, Southern Utah University, Cedar City Utah, which owns the rights.

The photo caused one of those little mental shocks as should be obvious from this photo I took a couple of years ago at almost exactly the same spot:

North end of Jacks Valley, Nevada, looking Northeast from Jacks Valley Rd.. 20 October 2014
In the background against the hills is the Ascuaga Ranch, originally established by the Winters Family.

Yeah, pretty weird, right?

Not Live-Blogging LDS General Conference, Sorry

I haven't left the church. I'll be watching conference to the extent I stay awake. But I'm still in recovery from walking pneumonia and tire easily. Also, I am working on a project of scanning family photos that I can work on at my own pace as I listen.

For real-time and post-time internet access, you can watch conference now from pretty much any where in the world at: LDS.org.

I will be blogging later on some themes. I expect we'll here more about aiding refugees as we've already heard in the first session last week, traditionally Women's Conference, and as recently as yesterday from Mormon Newsroom on refugees in Italy.