Just like there's no such thing as bad publicity, any strong reaction to my writing is welcome.

I did mention blackmail in connection with Linda's offer to stay with me forever. I explicitly stated that I would not do it. Accepting that offer would have been blackmail.

An apt analogy would be if I had evidence that somebody stole some money and told that person I would not take the evidence to the police if they gave the money back. Would that be blackmail? I don't think so. I was demanding that the thief do the right thing, and give the victim his money back, something the victim was entitled to in the first place

I told Linda that I would not report her to the authorities (in this case Regina) if she gave me what I was entitled to in the first place: common courtesy, respect, and dignity.

Terms such as misandry, misogyny, toxic masculinity, mansplaining, manspreading, etc., are instances of ideological jargon. I try to avoid the use of ideological jargon in my comments. Besides getting you blocked, if you refer to her as a misandrist, she can deny it.

"No I'm not," she might say.

"Yes you are," I might counter.

That would end up leading to a Monty Python Argument Clinic:

I try to anticipate and avoid situations that can degenerate into a Monty Python Argument Clinic.

I am a fellow Trump voter, but I avoid discussing politics on the internet. I learned the futility of political discussions by listening to the lunchroom discussions at work. Mostly, people from each side simply repeated what they heard on the news the previous night. There was nothing new to learn since everyone heard essentially the same news. The conversations were similar to conversations promoting one's favorite sports team. If I'm going to have that kind of conversation I'd rather stick with sports.

I don't watch political debates either. There are better ways to ascertain each candidates views. In this election, we had already seen how Trump handled the presidency.

I did make it a point to clap for any comment that corrected the common mischaracterizations of Trump's statements:

-He never said that he actually grabbed anyone's "pussy."

(I've always wondered who made that recording of a private conversation on a bus. How did it become public?)

-He never said that there were "good Nazis" in Charlottesville.

-He did not say that all Mexicans are rapists.

It was important to correct those mischaracterizations wherever they appeared.

Judging by the articles on Medium and elsewhere and by the polls, it seemed to me he had no chance. I didn't watch the returns (I never do) they are handled like some sporting event, except the outcome is already decided. I was pleasantly surprised that Wednesday morning.

I'm optimistic that Trump will aim us in a better direction. Whether we continue in that direction will be up to his successor.

Feminists are claiming "misogyny." It's just their way of having a temper tantrum when they don't get their own way. They seem to be overlooking the fact that no conservative-minded woman has ever run for president. If a conservative Republican woman was running against a liberal, "progressive" Democrat, no doubt we "misogynists" would vote for her.

My dispute with Amazon is partly settled. They have terminated the automatic withdrawals that they were taking for an Amazon Prime membership that she never requested. They also partially refunded what they already took. I am pursuing a full refund. Talking to people is not very effective. I wrote letters to a few Amazon executives and mailed them return receipt requested. It always helps to create a paper trail.

I have a bit of experience involving these kinds of disputes. I am pretty adept at handling them. Going against a massive corporation by myself reminds me of David and Goliath. I have slain a few giants in the past.

One thing that impressed me about Fifty First Dates was the conclusion. I am impressed by stories in which a clever but obvious solution is found. One that leaves me saying, "Why didn't I think of that?" in that case though, I did think of it.

There is an episode of an old TV show, The Outer Limits, where that happened. In that case I never thought of it, but it was obvious once it happened.

I've had that happen in real life. Someone says, "Try...." and I wonder, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Happy Anniversary. You have me beat by many years. Mine is at the end of December; it will be our 14th, but we have been a couple for 30 years. I think we were as good as married after our first date. It took time for each of us to realize that neither of us was pretending to be other than who we really were. Neither one of us went out of our way to impress the other. We started growing together from that day forward.