At last, here’s something everyone can do that will help us get rid of the Trump kleptocracy in the next few elections. Educate your friends and relatives.

Convict Donny is gonna go on TV Thursday night and kick off the new GOP campaign, in which he tries to rebrand Democrats as Communists. Digby recognizes this, and includes this now (sadly) again relevant quote from 1981:

As Lee Atwater admitted in 1981, Republicans can’t say ni***r, ni***r anymore. It’s gonna be commie, commie, commie all the way until November so long as Trump and MAGA Republicans think it’s working for them.

So we need to get ahead of this. Americans are poorly educated, and it will be easy to get voters to confuse one concept with the other. Let’s explain to anyone who will listen (and some who won’t) that socialism is NOT communism, that America’s culture/government has been part capitalist, part socialist for many decades, and that NOTHING in the Democratic Party or candidates support Communism. That anyone who says Democrats/liberals are Communists is lying.

Ask people if they want to give up Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid. Ask them if they want the government to build safe roads and bridges, to make sure their food, their air and water are clean. All those things are due to America’s socialistic laws allowing the government to take our tax dollars and do things that benefit everyone. Socialism is about doing a few important things for the greater good, leaving the rest to capitalism and free markets.

On the other hand, Communism is a system in which government rules and owns EVERYTHING. There is no room for capitalism, no voting, there are no free markets. The idea of doing things for “the greater good” makes Communists laugh.

The concepts of democracy, capitalism, socialism, communism, authoritarianism, are hard to keep separate, and that’s what MAGA Republicans are counting on. They’re counting on voters being poorly educated and too lazy to sort things out for themselves. But the difference between these concepts is crucial. America is and has been a democratic capitalist/socialist society for over 100 years. And we have fought communism for at least that long, at least until Convict Donny started moving us away from democracy and toward authoritarianism.

Here’s a simple “cheat sheet” for explaining things:

• Democracy = the people (citizens) rule the nation by voting in free elections.
• Capitalism = free markets. Corporations are the citizens of capitalism, and people are just part of the consumption cycle. Capitalism, taken to an extreme, is just as bad as communism or authoritarianism. Do you want to be ruled by Amazon?
• Socialism = using some of a nation’s wealth to benefit everyone. Socialism is typically combined with another system, most often capitalism – that’s what we do today in America. Much of Europe operates on a capitalist/socialist system, with greater emphasis given to socialist spending than in the US.
• Communism = the government (or Party) rules and owns everything – no free voting, no free markets. 1960s Soviet Union is the best example of Communism. Orwell’s prescient book 1984 warned us against authoritarians and communism.
• Authoritarianism = one person rules the entire nation, the economy, the military, everything. North Korea is the example.

Explain to your friends and family that yes, communism is a terrible idea and we should fight against it, but that’s not what Democrats and liberals stand for, and that those who tell you differently are lying to you. Try to make them understand that maintaining our capitalist/socialist system is a good thing, and that moving toward authoritarianism – what MAGA seems to want – is not in their best interests.

It’s something to try. It beats feeling helpless.

I just read two articles in The NY Times about what Democrats must do to start winning elections again. I disagree with both authors – they don’t go far enough. I believe what the Dems have lost is common sense, and that’s exactly what a rebranded Dem/liberal party should call its updated strategy – Common Sense. Here are some of the basics of the Common Sense party:

• We have a democracy that we must defend, and within that democracy there’s room for both capitalism and socialism. Capitalism is our foundation, it drives our economy, and socialism provides for those Americans who need some help. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, infrastructure spending on roads and bridges, federal spending on clean air and clean water, federal spending on national parks and forests, some farming subsidies, are ALL examples of socialistic spending some of America’s wealth to help all Americans – that’s socialism in a nutshell. Socialism has been a part of American culture for over 100 years. Socialism is NOT the same as Communism.
• There’s nothing wrong with an adult wishing to identify as a sex other than the one they were born as. We should have a society that respects their wishes. However, until children reach adulthood, generally 18 years old, they cannot undergo permanent sex change operations. Once they are an adult, they can choose.
• There is no upside to American society in allowing men who have transitioned to female to compete in women’s sports. The common sense truth is that even transitioned men have a biological speed and power advantage over women. Let’s keep sports and identity separate, just like church and state.
• Israel and Palestine both have rights to exist. Neither has a right to genocide or war crimes. Other countries should do what they can to encourage Israelis and Arabs to co-exist.
• Every study performed on American elections indicates that they are fair and accurate, with very few exceptions. We don’t need armed forces policing polling places. Illegal immigrants are not allowed to vote.
• Under recent administrations, Presidential power has become too strong. Congress must re-take their role in establishing law and controlling spending.
• We need a strong border and a working, effective immigrations system. Immigrants who have been inside the US for years, working and paying taxes, without criminal records, should be given a pathway to citizenship without fear of their lives being upended by deportation. This is a country built by immigrants, and we need lawful immigration for our future economy.
• We do NOT need a masked, nameless, lawless, poorly-trained, ruthless gang of armed men enforcing immigration rules within our borders. ICE is poorly conceived, poorly managed and needs to be curtailed.
• We need term limits for Congress and for judges. Lifetime appointments make no sense in an era where people may live well past their physical and mental peak abilities.
• Access to basic healthcare should be a universal right for US citizens. We have the wealth to afford that.
• Money is not the same as free speech. Billionaires and corporations should not have the ability to buy elections by spending infinite money on media and influence. Restore limits on donations to political candidates and causes.
• There is no state religion in the US. Freedom to worship as you choose is a basic Constitutional right.

Those are the big ones. If we focus on common sense answers to those issues, I think we stand a chance of rebuilding the reputation of the political party we call Democrats. I’m happy to consult with Dem leaders to move them toward Common Sense.

Happy Birthday to my HS friend Mike today! He joins the 70 club.

Some intriguing political news today. SC Senator Lindsay Graham died, making the possibility of a Dem SC Senator more likely. And KY Senator Mitch McConnell is still missing, presumably on a ventilator and effectively dead. Though both were/are enemies of everything I believe in, I won’t speak ill of them other than to say good riddance. Mid-term elections just got a whole lot more interesting.

And of course the Iran war-that-is-not-a-war just got much worse. There’s no longer any pretense of a cease fire, and Iran has announced that the Straits are now closed. Idiot Trump has truly created a monster with his dumbass attack on Iran, and I can only hope it’s his undoing. Energy prices are going to spike again, we’re going to kill more people on both sides, and we’re going to further destabilize the Middle East.

There’s a really good article in the NYTimes about the effects of US population decline. It’s a frightening future with lots of uncertainty. My grandsons’ generation is the one that will face it most squarely, circa 2050.

In better news, here’s my favorite moment from my septuagenarian celebration a couple of days ago. We had a great evening with family and friends.

It’s my last day in cool Socal for a while – tomorrow MikeD and I fly east for the crazy hot Midwest. he’s getting off the plane in Nashville, while I’m connecting onward to Louisville. I have plans to ignore the heat and head out for golf the first few days of July…we’ll see if that works. I like heat more than cold these days, but the temps are extreme.

Yesterday we took a long walk along the beach in Oceanside, while today we’re going to the other extreme with a drive up Mt Palomar and a hike at the top.

SCOTUS has been busy again, supporting Convict Donny in almost every decision. The government is in a flat spin, with ever more power being given to a power-mad elderly sociopath. Not quite sure how we’ll pull out of the spin.

Meanwhile, news today reported that Donny used a secret $500M no-bid contract to start construction of the new East Wing bunker/ballroom/shitshow (you know, the one that was supposed to be paid for by private donations), and he has started construction on a surprise helipad for the White House. The man is a menace.

And a financially corrupt menace, though that’s no surprise. The NY Times reports that Convict Donny increased his wealth by two billion dollars just last year. It’s sickening. And to think we have 2.5 more years of this…..ugh.

It’s Sunday morning, hours before anyone else wakes up. Time for deep thought. Today my thoughts go toward encoding exactly what I mean when I argue for a better government. Now that MAGA has hijacked what used to be the conservative right, and an equally radical faction is in the process of hijacking the liberal left, it’s important to be clear about things.

The first question is “why have a government at all?” Anarchists, criminals, and corporate extremists like the idea of abolishing government, but that always leads to a Mad-Max style tribal warfare model. With no controls, humans default to “might makes right”. We’ve been there and tried that, and the sociopaths always rise to the top – they’re willing to kill as many people as required to gain and stay in power. We need a government to have a non-violent way to get large numbers of people to co-exist and cooperate. Agree on the rules and create a system to enforce the rules with as light a hand as possible. That’s called civilization.

Here’s what I think a good government looks like and does. The one caveat prefacing all these statements is a rational budget – spending as little as possible to accomplish things on the list, and balancing the budget in all but the most extreme circumstances (world wars, pandemics, comets hitting the earth, etc).

• Protect the environment, protect the nation’s natural resources.
• Regulate people (enforce laws), equally and justly.
• Regulate corporations, making sure they don’t run roughshod over citizens and municipalities, but give them room to succeed as capitalists.
• Regulate the national economy and currency.
• Run fair and open elections at every level – local, state, federal.
• Educate US citizens – all citizens get a free K-12 education. Subject to budget constraints, all citizens can get 2-4 years of higher education, in either academics or trade studies.
• Defend the US from enemies. (Notice I do NOT say have the largest defense/war budget in the world. And I do NOT say be the world’s military enforcer).
• Run a rational, humane border control and immigration system. Manage immigration to optimize our labor force and economy.
• Build and maintain critical infrastructure for energy, communication, transportation, and sanitation.
• Ensure that every US citizen has access to health care.
• Ensure that the nation’s food, water and medicine supplies are safe and plentiful.
• Assist in the financial welfare of those who cannot provide for themselves – the homeless, the poor, the chronically ill, the elderly.

That’s a lot. Some level of taxation is of course necessary to provide these services, but our current system is bloated beyond belief and skewed wildly to favor the rich. Some kind of per-capita budget should be used as a way to control/balance taxation and services.

And now that I’ve written this, I realize it’s not the “what” a good government does that’s hard to define, it’s the “how” the work gets done. We had an answer for how until Trump and MAGA came along and blew it up via corruption, lies, racism and greed. Now we need a new or at least modified system of governance – the old one is broken. That’ll take a Constitutional Convention or a civil war. Or both.

I’m reading a LOT about AI lately, and I’m learning that the world really is changing right under our feet. Most people are unaware, but big changes are coming. And I’m not sure if those changes will make our lives better or worse.

• Medical advice and diagnosis will be nearly 100% AI-driven. MDs and nurses better get used to patients armed with credible diagnoses and reams of information.
• Digital security / cybersecurity is in for a wild ride. AI-driven threats will make most current online security useless.
• Writing – generating content that people read – is in big trouble. LLMs can write almost anything at this point. There are tools that can detect AI-generated text, but many people cannot detect the same. And many people won’t care that their new favorite author is a bot.
• Within a year it will be foolish to believe ANYTHING you see or read online. Very convincing fictions, text, image, audio and video, will be used to generate a large percentage of everything online. It will look and seem real – 99% of people won’t be able to tell the difference.
• All professionals in data-intensive jobs – lawyers, accountants, engineers, data analysts – will get their jobs turned inside out. Radically changed. Maybe replaced, but definitely changed.
• Countries and companies that can afford to build frontier-level LLMs will have (already have?) a huge economic advantage over those who can’t. The US, China, maybe the EU, maybe the Saudis – will do fine. Everyone else…relegated to second or third world status.
• AI-generated content is already influencing US elections. Voters are influenced by media, and media is about to get overrun by AI content.
• The ability of frontier-level LLMs to act independently, to gather information and take real-world action based on conclusions from that information, grows every day. It’s already waaaay past what I would consider safe.
• Our collective ability to understand the implications of frontier-level AI is pathetic. We have no laws, no governance, no rules, that will help us keep the genie in the bottle. I’m reading and thinking about this a lot, and I can’t see where this all leads. We could be building Skynet right now. And this hard-to-understand change is happening when US leadership is at an all-time low.

What’s happening right now is both a shitshow and wildly fascinating. We may be building a wonderful new world, or we may be building a demon that will destroy us quickly. It’s really hard to know.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! From Heather Cox Richardson today:

It looks as if Trump’s war on Iran has cost the U.S. the lives of thirteen service members, injuries to 400 more, and at least $132 billion so far in immediate costs, lost income, and higher consumer costs, only to leave the U.S. in a significantly worse place with regard to Iran than before Trump started bombing. 

The costs to the world have been significantly higher in terms both of lives—beginning with more than 175 Iranian schoolchildren and their teachers—and of economies.

Here’s a nice summary of Mr. Art of the Deal’s Memorandum of Understanding Memorandum of Fucking Surrender.

Well done. Plus, so much winning even beyond Iran!

Trump Administration to Pay $765 Million to Cancel 4 More Wind Projects  

Reflecting Pool algae blooms have roared back, reaching highest levels in years 

Republicans fear Trump is hurting their chances.  He can’t understand why. 

Seems clear to me that Convict Donny is spiraling down the drain. Even his cult members can see the decline and the dementia. The incompetence. The only real question is does it come to a head before or after he’s completely ruined the US.

The article about the Feds paying companies to stop wind farm developments is particularly galling. Because Trump has some weird phobia about wind farms, he’s spending our tax dollars to stop them. Sure, I’d go all NIMBY if there was one planned for my neighborhood, but farms in the god-forsaken TX panhandle, or atop some uninhabited mountain ridge…let them be. It’s mostly free energy. But spending our money just to buy the investors out – that’s criminal. I’m sure at this moment multiple VCs are spinning up new wind farm developments, anticipating they’ll get a zero risk buyout from the US government.

On more esoteric subjects, I’m spending some time trying to grok both sides of the AI argument by reading the incredibly verbose advocates of each side:

Argument A – AI is economically unfeasible and is a dead end, supporting only Capex-focused investors.

Argument B – We’re already in The Singularity, and AGI (artificial general intelligence) and ASI (artificial super intelligence) are just around the corner. AGI and ASI will transform the world.

Proponents of each are quite persuasive. It’s also possible that both extremes are true. This is turning out to be a very, very interesting period for tech and society. I keep wishing I hadn’t checked out of professional life.

Now, off to work. Gotta clear leaves off the driveway and fix some of the window smears our window cleaners left yesterday. Nothin’ but fun.

I have no idea what’s going on in the minds of twenty-somethings. This take on voting rights by the tradwife wing of conservative America is shocking. From Digby:

“My perspective as a Christian woman,” one young woman says, “is that my husband and I are one flesh. I vote the same way he does, so honestly, I would be okay with giving up my right to vote, because I know that he would represent me well.” Another chimes in that her daughter won’t need to be able to vote because she knows she’ll marry a godly man.

The viewpoint is shocking and even laughable when most people are exposed to it for the first time. And it does give rise to a number of questions.

Vance posts a couple of snarky comments from social media:

These women, Vance writes, are “willing to bargain away their own personhood for what they perceive to be the security of marriage and motherhood.”

I’m starting to believe that the age of 18 or 21 is way too soon to let people make any significant life decisions. Like getting married or voting. They’re biological adults, but they’re mental morons. We really, really need some civics and history education for young Americans. Maybe before voting they should take (and pass) the same citizenship tests as naturalized citizens. And Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale should be required reading for all high schoolers.

Speaking of reading, I’m re-reading an obscure Greg Bear trilogy called War Dogs. It’s the story of first contact, a war with aliens, and Mars colonization all told from the point of view of a front-line soldier. It’s very, very good. Bear is an under-appreciated author, one of science fiction’s “killer-Bs” from southern CA (Bear, Bedford, and Brin).

As I fight through accumulated time zone debt, I’m also watching some World Cup action. It’s irritating to have to watch it on Fox – even their commercials contain conservative propaganda – but the games are really good. It’s LOTS better than watching American football. Call me a convert.

Back to the driving range today to try and find my golf swing after an eventful month of travel. After about 30 hours sitting in an airliner seat, plus maybe double that amount sitting in cars/vans, my fitness and flexibility isn’t great. Time to work on that.

Back in Socal after a long, hard travel day. Three hour drive to Nashville, a three hour wait at the airport (flight was delayed), then a 4.5 hour flight to SAN – must’ve been some big headwinds. Landed at 5pm in SD, so traffic was at its worst. I decided to stop at Costco and shop (company coming, need lots of provisions) rather than just sit in traffic. So I made it home at 7pm, about 13 hours after leaving Cleveland TN. Felt every minute of it.

Having said that, if you’re going to be stuck in an airport for a while, Nashville is a good one. Modern, spacious, good food, good seating options, and lots of live music in bars and restaurants. So that part was OK.

Today it’s mostly rest and recover mode. Some light chores around the house.

And of course I’m catching up on the news, drinking coffee. Some quick thoughts:

• The UFC fight on the White House lawn was a new low for American dignity, and that’s saying a lot. Really sad.
• I’m laughing my ass off about the Washington Monument reflecting pool turning green with algae. Everything Trump touches dies.
• The end of the Iran war/not a war is laughable. Actually tragic, but laugh is all you can do about our dimwitted federal government. We made more enemies in the Middle East, killed a lot of innocent people, blew through billions of dollars, wrecked the global economy…for absolutely nothing. Iran is in a stronger position after the war than before. Nice job.
• I was very sorry to hear about the B-52 crashing at Edwards AFB. A true tragedy. But what do you expect when you’re flying 65 year old aircraft? The B-52s should be retired, right now – they qualify for Social Security, fergawdsake.. They’re a relic of another time, another era in warfare. We don’t need them today.
• The NY Times has a compelling, long article about Jeffrey Epstein’s suspicious death. It supports my contention that he was murdered, silenced by people who he might have testified about. I’d say Convict Donny is a prime suspect. We’ll never know the truth.
• Zac Brown and Nate Bargatze just became dead to me after performing/appearing at Trump’s UFC/Idiocracy shit show. As a celebrity, you support Convict Donny, you lose my support. Period. Same for Roku, a company just bought by Fox. I’ve bought a lot of Roku gear over the years, but no more.
• Convict Donny is in Europe, at the G7 again. Any minute now he’s going to do something that will embarrass America further – it’s inevitable. You put a spoiled child in a group of adults, and the child is going to act out. Wait for it.

That’s it for now. Time to get my golf game in shape, as a month’s worth of birthday golf starts on Thursday.

I’m in Cleveland, TN tonight for my brother’s memorial service tomorrow. I’m as tired as I’ve ever been – not an exaggeration. I’ll go to bed early tonight and wake up based on whatever my body decides is morning. Might be 1am, might be 3, who the fuck knows. But this is appropriately the end of the road – from this point on I have two brothers to lean on, not three. A sobering thought.

The flight from SAN to BNA was awesome – I barely remember it. I was so tired I slept hard most of the way. Started in San Diego, woke up in Nashville a minute later. Sweet. The drive from Nashville to Cleveland was great until I hit Chattanooga. Three interstate lanes became one, and I went 5 miles in one hour. Ugh. But I’m here, probably for the last time in my life. It’s a nice area, but without Don there’s no draw. There’s a nephew to consider, and I’m giving that some thought.

I find that the more weary I get the less I give a fuck about what I say. My two brothers (plus Deeanne) and I had a meal tonight and the service wasn’t great. Normally I’m verrrrry polite, but tonight I let people know when they didn’t do so well. Maybe that’s why oldsters have that reputation – at some point, feeling sick and tired, you just can’t ignore even little slights. That sounds petty, and perhaps it is. I may have to work on that.

Tomorrow we say a final goodbye to Don. Breaks my heart. But that’s the reality of it – we’re here, and then we’re not. I hope our consciousness survives the death of the body, but who knows?

I can’t decide on any pictures to capture the moment tonight. Words will have to do.

Sixty seven years old, gone way too soon. Here he is with wife and son ready to go to our high school football reunion in 2003. Better days.

He is already missed.

Yikes. Up at oh-dark-30 yesterday and today, due to two weeks in the Euro time zone I suppose. Going further west tomorrow will be a challenge. I’m zoning out hard about 830pm here (530pm) on Left Coast. And tomorrow I have a Rush concert in LA at 730pm PST, or about 130am on my body clock. Better find some rest along the way.

I just looked at the first Youtube videos from last night’s FIRST Rush concert in a decade or more. They look and sound great, so I’m stoked for Tuesday night, late or not. Annika Niles crushed it as drummer, so that’s settled. It’ll be interesting to see what the VIP package I bought along with the pricey seats will be, but whatever it is, I know the show will be stellar. Here’s a taste.

Took a quick trip to Crescent Hill for an early morning 9 holes, playing before an expected storm. Felt great, and after a 3 week layoff my swing was as good as it gets (for me). I finally started getting my right side into the swing and hit it very, very well. Three miles of walking hills carrying clubs before 830am, in moderate heat/humidity. Feels great.

In 24 hours we’ll be mid flight, on way to Socal. And the Rush show.

In the meantime, here’s a nice little creek with boats near Ross Castle, in Killarney. The Ross castle story is a long one, for another day.

It’s still June 6, and we’re back in Trumpistan. Boston, to be precise. We’re waiting on a flight to Nashville, a flight that we would not have taken except for wanting to see my brother. Which won’t happen, but that’s a story for another time.

JetBlue, our connection after Aer Lingus, has a weird, weird process of not assigning seats until 50 minutes before departure. Really? I thought Southwest was quirky. Never flown JB before, probably won’t again. So here we sit in Boston waiting to know where we’ll sit on the next flight. With my luck it’ll be on the wing or in the restroom.

On the way in I decided to listen to some music instead of reading, and I really enjoyed listening to all of my usual tunes via headphones. Wolf Alice, Rush, Tame Impala, Blue Oyster Cult…I was rocking at 30K feet over Greenland. I might become a headphones guy after all – the sounds were really good. As an engineer and a gear freak, I love speakers and amps, but music played straight through headphones…it’s pretty great. Pure. I can hear a few things that I don’t hear with any of my systems, and that’s saying a lot.

Speaking of systems, I just bought a sweet Harman Kardon 330c on eBay, and it’ll get delivered to CA in 4-5 days. It should sound spectacular with the Spatials. Call it a Fathers Day gift or a birthday gift. I bought it while chilling out in the back of nowhere, Ireland – actually, on the upper lake of the national park in Killarney. Weird. Almost as weird as buying our KY house sight unseen while on a volcano in Hawaii. But that’s the way I seem to roll. That said, the KY house was almost exactly 1000x the price of the HK, so…not a big deal.

Another hour and we’ll be off to TN. Yee haw.

I’m waaaay behind posting items about the trip. In Dublin airport lounge now, waiting for our flight to Boston, connecting to Nashville. Nashville, because we wanted to see my ill brother before going further west.

We’re on our way back to Trumpistan, and the news from there is predictably not good. Maddening, like this note from a health conference. All the shit that Convict Donny and his minions want to impose on US citizens is done in the name of “security”. Fuck them. We won’t be secure until we root out every last MAGA minion in every branch of government. It’ll take a generation. Here’s another atrocity example – convicted criminals get favors from the Preznit, again and again.

It’s pretty sad, going home to a place being destroyed from within. Unless something dramatic/wonderful happens, we have many more months of destruction to put up with.

In the meantime, here’s a picture of the windy wild Kerry Cliffs.

It’s Tuesday, June 2, even though my WordPress account thinks it’s June 1. My Mac has been wonky since I fired it up this morning – it rebooted itself unexpectedly, so…we’ll see what’s up. It’s mostly working now.

The last 24 hours after arriving in Ireland have been interesting. We arrived in a foggy, driving rain that only got worse as we were driven toward the coast and our hotel, the Armada House. I checked the weather and the outlook for our entire stay is/was the same – rain, fog, etc. Our first impressions of Ireland were a bit rough.

The Armada House was first class, though we were only there for about 12 hours. We had a meal across the street at the Armada Hotel – great seafood, as expected from a North Atlantic island. The next morning we had a short drive up the western coast of Ireland to the Cliffs of Moher, an allegedly beautiful sight. We couldn’t see it much at first, as the fog was in, thick and cold. Not conducive to sightseeing. Here’s a selfie and what we saw of the Cliffs.

It was cold and windy. Of course.

We decided to leave and visited the shops toward the entrance. Just as we were leaving, it cleared up a bit. Of course. So here’s a slightly better view of the Cliffs that we got by hustling back the quarter mile to the view.

After that we had a looooong 3.5 hour drive from Moher to Dingle, where we are in the middle of a 2-night stay at Pax House. Pax House was advertised by our travel agent as the highlight of our two week vacation, so we had high expectations. When we arrived, the House met expectations, but our promised room did not. The travel agent messed up and booked us what is politely referred to as a “Snug Room”, a tiny room without a view, underground ( a basement). It was a shock, to say the least, given what we paid and what the travel agent knew. I had a few tense go-arounds with the agent, and we’ve got it mostly sorted out by now. We’re still in the Snug Room, but we have some significant compensations/reconciliations for that. I did pretty well not letting this setback ruin even a day of our vacation.

Today we had a great tour around the Dingle peninsula. I’ll post about that later.