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Annie Lowrey has an article in The Atlantic about cutting property taxes, especially on owner-occupied homes, which is popular with homeowners, but not necessarily good for the rest of the population, or even for some of the homeowners, if all of the effects are taken into account. Her perspective is not quite the same as mine, but there certainly is overlap between our views.

The article may not be accessible if you don’t subscribe to The Atlantic, but I still thought it might be worth pointing out, for those who subscribe, or for people eligible to read a free sample.

I would like to report an attempt to bribe me — and no, it wasn’t at my job. It was in an email sent to my personal account by “America First GOP,” telling me about Trump’s proposed $5000 “dividend,” and telling me (this is rich), “Democrats are already calling it ‘bribery.’”

They ask me, “Do you support the $5000 Trump dividend?” They offer the choices: “Yes — fight for my $5000” or “No — let Democrats keep it.” I no more expect Dishonest Donald to give each of us $5000 than I would expect him to pay a contractor in full, or to keep a wedding vow. However, even if the “dividend,” or something like it, ends up being appropriated and paid, where do Trump’s chumps think that the money will come from? It will be borrowed, of course, adding to the burden of debt on each American adult and on our children.

More than that, it will raise the cost of borrowing. If Congress authorizes the payments, or if Trump pays the dividends without a supine Congress doing anything to stop him, then every rational investor will see that any pretense of fiscal responsibility has gone where the woodbine twineth. We can expect the interest rate on government debt to increase accordingly.

This email, of course, was not aimed at rational investors, nor probably even at the average Trump voter. If one recipient in a thousand is stupid enough to fall for the scam, America First GOP will obtain a substantial infusion of funds, and if the country goes down the drain, the scammers will have had a good run first.

Two men came by from apartment management. Electrical work is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, so I will have to clear my countertops and other areas; my electricity will be shut off both days from around eight AM until five or six. I can be at work, and dine out, but this will still be a nuisance.

September 2 was Henry George’s one hundred and eighty-seventh birthday, so I wished a number of people whom I met a happy Henry George Day. This drew questions, and I hope that some of the people with whom I talked will go on to Google on the name, or otherwise do some reading.

I didn’t think to buy a Virginia lottery ticket the weekend before the day, so no chance for now to see if I’ve won a pile of money to donate to Georgist organizations.

I’m off duty, on my midday break. I haven’t posted for a while; I couldn’t connect, download email, or access websites for a couple of days last week, ending Friday. I’m not sure whether I had a problem with my device, an iPadAir, or with WiFi in my apartment. I thought it was probably with the device, since I couldn’t access the Internet through the Guest @ (apartment complex) WiFi either. When I tried to use my work computer at home (I usually telework on Fridays), I couldn’t do it at first, and then I turned off and restarted my router. Then I could use my workstation, which physically plugs in, but not my own device, which uses WiFi.

Later in the day, I could use WiFi, and downloaded a couple of days worth of emails. Go figure. Anyway, things are working now, but I am considering getting a new tablet, as the old one has been in use for years, and might die on me. On the other hand, it may last for some time, and I don’t want to waste money.

I have received several junk emails in Newt Gingrich’s name, asking me to support the Trumpists. I remember the 1990s and the Contract With America; back then, I didn’t think that Newt was an angel, and I wasn’t in perfect agreement with him, but I did think that he was to some degree a conviction politician, and I shared his opposition to bloated government and fiscal irresponsibility. Back then, my little chickadees, the Republicans claimed to be against these, and to some extent actually were.

Either I was wrong about Newton Leroy Gingrich, or he did have principles back then, agree with them or not, and subsequently junked them. As Dishonest Donald might put it: sad.

A new amendment appeared on my docket this week, so I’m up to five amendments. I have started working on the oldest of them.

I finished Office Actions in my oldest Regular New non-RCE application and then on my oldest (and only) Regular New Request for Continued Examination application, and I held an interview with an attorney about another case, so my production for the biweek looks pretty good. There are now two and two thirds biweeks until the end of Fiscal Year 2026.

I have received several emails from a Trumpist spamming source describing Karoline Leavitt as the greatest White House Press Secretary of all time, and urging me to thank her.

Some people are seriously out of touch with reality. Others are cynically misinforming and exploiting those who are out of touch with reality.

The other day, I received an email from Vice President J.D. Vance beginning, “As a Marine from the Rust Belt, I was taught to always keep my word!”

That’s nice, James David. And did your instructors teach you to lie about Haitians stealing and eating people’s pets?

My lunch today included a substantial wedge of cantaloupe from the farmers’ market, which I enjoyed. In the previous couple of days, I ate a pair of farmers’ market plums, far better than supermarket plums, and a peach, also from the farmers’ market.

I also enjoyed multiple servings of watermelon from the melon which I mentioned buying at the farmers’ market a couple of weeks ago.