Yesterday’s 4th of July fireworks meant several hours of herding scaredy cats into and around the house, beginning sometime in the mid-to-late afternoon and continuing until we went to bed for the night, at which point all nine cats were in the house and secured. Actually, there really wasn’t much in the way of fireworks apart from a few of the faux bunker-busters that rock the foundations of the house. I think the cost of gas (or diesel, which was $5.33 a gallon at our last fill-up) soaked up a lot of money here in Kaaawa, leaving a lot of folks to prioritize the other basic needs. Beer? Or firecrackers? Beer appears to have won out.

In any case, I got up a bit early this morning to free the Haahaa Nine, most are now splitting their time between enjoying their restored freedom and begging for breakfast. So it was already an eventful morning by 5 a.m.

My head hurts. I’ve wasted a bunch of time this morning wading in the strange political sludge being dredged up by something being pitched as the Just Say No Deal Coalition, which on its face is a bunch of people who backed Hillary Clinton’s candidacy and now think it makes sense to torpedo the Democratic Party.

A Washington Post story last week credits public relations consultant Diane Mantouvalos with creating and packaging this effort. I have to wonder–Does she have a client in this case?

Ah, check the press release that was issued last month with contacts via two public relations firms, Allen Media Strategies and Andonia Public Relations.

I did a quick check of campaign contribution records, and according to the Federal Election Commission, Diane Mantouvalos never made a reportable contribution to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. If she gave anything at all, it was less than the $200 that would trigger disclosure to the FEC. Not much of a record for a reputed mover and shaker.

In fact, according to the FCC database, Mantouvalos has never contributed more than $200 to any federal candidate in any election covered by their database.

That just isn’t the background I would expect of someone now leading a political scorched earth campaign against the Dems in which venom rules.

Is there a whiff of a Rovian-style mind warp here? Undermine your enemy backing their other opponent. I’m not implying that it’s all a GOP con job, but it would be very naive to think that there aren’t conservative forces taking every opportunity to promote this annoying political diversion. Obviously, I’m not the only one to follow the PR trail.

Not to say there aren’t internal tensions facing the Democratic Party as it proclaims “Unity Now“.

Now, say it again, isn’t Denver going to be fun?

And now, another little glimpse of Kaaawa. I’ll probably add a couple of 4th of July photos a little later in the day. On second thought, that might just wait until tomorrow.