a bouncer with a sense of humour might direct him to menjo's as a more appropriate choice for his attire and hygiene.

and, this is the culture in detroit: it's techno. it's a little cyber punk. it's not islam. 

he's going to see low turnout, like he just did.

most of the night cubs i would go to in detroit would not let abdul el-sayed through the door, at least not until he washed his face first. he would be told he looks too scruffy, and basically comes off as a loser.  the bouncers would be concerned he's there to harass the girls.

call it a fluke, call it corruption, call it a failure on his opponent's behalf. but detroit is not new york. detroit isn't 70% immigrants. he's going to have a hard time attracting voters in michigan, outside of two or three core regions that are quite small.

i don't live in michigan, but i certainly wouldn't vote for a neo-populist crypto-fascist like this guy. there's no way. it doesn't mean i'd vote for the republicans. it's the kind of election where i'd vote for a left leaning third party or not at all, because i wouldn't see any benefit in voting for a right-wing democrat.

who was funding all the big money super pacs supporting this guy that popped up out of nowhere at the last minute?

we don't know.

but it seems to be foreign interference from draconian, authoritarian, right-wing arab governments.

we know that it didn't succeed in increasing votes for this candidate, but we don't know yet if the superpacs succeeding in suppressing the vote for the other candidate, or if she just flopped on her own.

the math is easy enough to understand. in any election anywhere, this right-wing progressive fringe is going to get a certain number of votes, and they tend to be true believers, so they tend to get out to vote. something like 6, 7, 8% sounds right. those voters are always there, and they always choose these loonies.

but you expect an electable candidate to get the vote out and just plow over the fringe. they should be able to get 10% of the vote out, even in a low turnout primary. she couldn't do that; she got something more like 5% out.

my analysis still holds, the arab vote in michigan is concentrated in some areas and can result in local representation, but is actually very small overall statewide and really less important than the chinese or indian votes, although this outcome is certainly annoying to me. the guy won with like 8% of the vote because the mainstream candidate had no enthusiasm and swaths of people didn't vote at all. if you can't get the vote out at all, the fringe wins, and that's what happened. but, usually, the result of that is that they then get smashed in the general.

what i'm suspicious about here, however, is the influence of foreign arab governments as that seems to be a growing problem for the democrats, and it's clear that he was the big money candidate. the big money candidate didn't win by getting voters out. did all the money succeed in suppressing the vote, or did the congresswoman just not succeed in building her support? or did something more sinister happen, and votes disappear?

regardless, it seems like stevens couldn't get the vote out enough. even if there was fraud, american elections often have fraud and strong candidates beat fringe candidates anyways. money or not, and fraud or not, the fact that she lost to a fringe candidate indicates she wasn't a strong candidate.

with this matchup, rural michigan is going to vote 99% for the republicans in november and that's probably enough for an easy win. further, this candidate will have difficulty generating a voting coalition in the urban centres of liberal white women and blacks, which he just very convincingly proved. if you can't get urban blacks to vote for you in michigan, the rural whites will win in a landslide.

turnout in the michigan senate primary was reported at around 13%. whatever the reasons were for this, it demonstrates a lack of enthusiasm for the electable democratic candidate, and the result is that the growing right-wing progressive fringe overran the party and the democrats now have a far right crypto fascist practically nazi candidate in michigan of all places that really has no chance at all against the republicans.

my suspicion is that trump's claims of electoral fraud might have some value. primaries often have low turnout, but 13% is a little hard to believe. this guy has a lot of money from foreign states backing him. he was really the monied candidate. it's opening a new and concerning era in american politics, where the democratic party is finding itself at the whim of foreign interference.

this guy is not electable. i would expect to see michigan elect a republican senator for the first time in quite a while.

the only part of the vacuum that seems to be missing is the power adapter. i have the charger. and the vacuum revs up, indicating it works, but it's not charged.

power adapters don't cost much, and i might even one. i tried plugging one from an old modem in and it fits but i don't know if it' enough.

i should be able to figure that out.

on second thought.

i bought that shop vac because i needed it to clean a filthy basement and it was on sale. it wasn't a high quality device. they gave me back cash for it rather than replace it, but now it's no longer on sale.

i want to get a new shop vac. do i want this shop vac? not at this price, not really. it was a steal at half price. it's a rip off at full price.

further, i already cleaned the laundry up. i just don't need the shop vac in the same way that i did, then. that's no longer how i'm going to be cleaning in here regularly. yes, i want a shop vac, but now i want a better one for cleaning up messes, not one on sale for cleaning up piles of rat shit. i can actually get a better shop vac than that one on amazon for two thirds of the price. 

what i need now is a device to clean the dirty floors up with. the lysol and wet wipes worked well, but it took all day, it wasn't very much fun and i seem to have gotten sick from it. i had previously purchased a $30 electric spin scrubber, and it seemed to lift a lot of the dirt off, but it came right back, and that's not enough. i need more than that in here. i find mops to be gross and question how well they work.

so, i used the $55 they gave me back for the exploded shop vac to buy a $130 spinwave corded steam cleaner (regular $199), which is both a steam mop and an electric scrubber and is what i actually need in here. that uses the money i received from the refund to help me do the cleaning i need to do now. i then bought a $60 stanley shop vac with the same power rating as the one that blew, but that is a little bigger, has a longer cord, has more accessories and comes with a few dozen disposable dust filters, which will reduce strain on the motor. this device will behave more like a normal inside vacuum, that i can use to clean up dirt and other debris.

i also need to replace my dustbuster because it was used in the laundry, after having been previously broken. it's been worn right down through simple use. it still works, but not well; it clogs up quickly. it's held together with tape. it has busted through holes in the bottom of it's discoloured plastic. the only part of it that works is the motor; it's not worth fixing, it's done. i'm looking at getting something i can charge via usb, rather than plug in directly like this one.

the floors are clean enough for right now but i want them to be spotless and i want them to stay spotless.

what about the shorted shop vac?

it's a 4.0 hp mastervac with an 18.9 L bucket. it's not their cheapest model, but it's their cheapest more expensive model. after looking at my options, replacing the motor looks like it might be hard. i might be better off looking for a similar model secondhand. i should make sure that there's not a short somewhere else and i can't salvage it, but the light sparks would suggest that the short circuit is pretty certain. i may find myself buying a second hand shop vac for cheap instead, and just letting it break as i clean up the garage. i will need some other option for in there. i'm not breaking either of the vacuums i just bought in there, or a new dustbuster, in there. these are going to last a while.

the other two vacuums i have are a pet lover eureka that i bought when i moved to windsor and may just be clogged but that i've had difficulty opening to clean and decided wasn't worth the time in the previous basement (i'll try again) and a buture vc50 that i found here and that i actually think works but that might need a new charger. either of these would be good general vacuums, but the latter is maybe more likely to actually get fixed. i'm going to have to fix or give up on that pet lover pretty soon. it was a very good general vacuum, but it wouldn't get the floors clean in here the way i need them cleaned.

there we have it.

- the mastervac may be difficult to find parts for, except to buy a similar used one, and i may buy something else to start and look for something used in the long run. it will go in the garage and stay in there. 

- i have a better replacement shop vac coming for less. it will stay inside and be a general inside vacuum to clean debris off the floors. it may not be so good for carpets.

- i have an expensive $250 steam mopper coming at 40% off and the refund, for a total of 57% off, which will clean the floors (tiles mostly and some hardwood) up well and be pulled out for periodic use. it's a great tool to have.

- the versatile electric scrubber i bought for $30 will be better used as a tool to clean in harder to get to areas, baseboards, doors, etc. it's pretty good for what it is, but it's not enough for these floors.

- i have a usb dust buster coming to replace the very used dirt devil, which does have other parts, too. i never really used it as a general vacuum. the parts are still available to use for the next dust buster. i haven't usually had a dust buster but i'm going to in here, after shifting to the shop vac as a general vacuum. a little device in the kitchen is a good idea. 

- i'm pretty sure that i can fix this buture stick vac i found here, which is itself apparently worth $200. i think i just need to charge it. i would use this mostly for the carpets in here.

- i bought the pet lover vac cheap second hand, list price: $350. i'm not sure if i can disassemble it to clean it or if it just doesn't come apart. the device was engineered for dog and cat hair, which was great for me, because i drop a lot of hair. it never clogged. if i can fix it, great. if i can't, i might have to let it go.