Dog Days Of August News Cycle - And One Year Away From Knowing Who Will Be Running

I got an email from a cousin asking me who I thought the next president of the US would be and who I thought the next president of the US should be.  Here is my response:

THE SITUATION IN AUGUST 2015​

• ​The current front-runner (Hillary) is taking a lot of heat​ this week.
  
  I wonder how much of it is just misogyny and how much of it is Dog-Days-Of-August-News-Cycle.  The split is probably pretty even.
  
  And to be fair: The exact same comment could be applied to Trump's situation. (Except Trump is doing everything in his power to push along the misogyny angle).
  
  This time next year (August 2016) will be very interesting as compared to today.  I am not enough of a crystal ball gazer to say how but I do think things will be different when we have both tickets decided.

THE NEXT PRESIDENT WILL BE

• Given that the current state of things do not change in some huge way, Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton will be the next President of the United States of America.

THE NEXT PRESIDENT SHOULD BE

• Back in 2008 I supported Hillary, until Obama came to the front and I supported him and continue to this day to support him.
  
  I think Obama is the best thing that ever happened to the United States. I make that statement based on what I consider the state of our country in 2008 to have been, from a foreign policy and financial standpoint. And, when you throw in the Affordable Care Act my statement is even more correct.
  
  In 2008 the whole world had great hopes that Obama would pull its chestnuts out of the fire and Obama delivered. (That is, he delivered if you are not one of those folks who keeps their head in the Fox-News/GOP "Echo-Chamber").
  
  And that very echo-chamber's existence is a tribute to just how good Obama is.  I say that because there is zero content coming from the echo-chamber; only ugly-spew against Obama which proves that he is getting things right, otherwise you can bet your life they would be calling out real ideas rather than the junk they do spout.
  
  Back in 2008 things were a wreck, and now six and a half years later our situation is much, much better thanks in large part to the Obama administration (and no thanks at all to the other side).  I include in my assessment the fact that we are not fighting a war in Syria and we are not fighting a war against Iran.  Instead the Syrian situation will sort itself out without us losing our young people in a fight and the situation with Iran is better than it has been since their revolution.
  
  
  For sure Hillary is no Obama.  However, I do think she is smart enough not to send the country off the rails and back into the ditch that the Obama administration so carefully dug us out of and the rails they put us back on.  So for that reason and because no other serious Democrat is challenging her, I think she is the best candidate from both parties.
  
  Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are both very truthful about how things are and how things should be, but the Democratic establishment would never stand still for either of them to be the top of the ticket.  That and the fact that Senator Warren is not even running.
  
  
  Hillary sounds more middle-of-the-road than either Senator Sanders or Senator Warren for good reasons:  The election will not be decided by the Wing-Nuts in either the GOP or the Democratic Party but will be decided by more moderate voters.

A Nice 36K Greenway Ride

I'm back in the US now and am tuning up after missing 3 weeks of swims and bikes.  So today I decided to do an easy greenway ride.

I left Allan's Landing and headed down Old Lead Mine Road to Prospector which will cut-the-corner over to Sawmill.  Down and up Sawmill to Longstreet.  Down Longstreet to the start of the greenway.  Down the greenway crossing under Lynn Road and North Hills Drive and around Shelly Lake.  Then on down Lead Mine Creek to where it joins Crabtree Creek.  Then up Crabtree Creek to near Crabtree Valley Mall where I took the greenway over to where it crosses Blue Ridge Road.  I actually actuated the solar powered 'pedestrian-crossing' blinkers and after a few cars went past one actually did stop and let me cross.  It was then on up House Creek Trail all the way to the pedestrian bridge that crosses I440 near Wade Avenue.  That was the official turnaround point.  On the way back I decided to throw in an extra 6K and ride all the way up Crabtree Creek to the end of the trail and back.  Then it was just retracing my route to the house.  I placed the route on MapMyRide.COM and took the screen shot below.

Here are some stats:

36.43 KM .... Total Distance
16.10 KPH ... Average Speed
57.00 KPH ... Maximum Speed (sawmill road)
02:15 HH:MM . Elapsed Time (on the bike)
107 ......... Average HR
135 ......... Maximum HR
1773 ........ Calories Burned
02:42 HH:MM . Elapsed Time (wearing HR monitor)