Ned, I think this one is more the case that the OP didn't read the docs ;-)

That said, there's a level of complexity here that seemingly can't be reduced:  the distinctions between the `datetime` and `time` modules' views of the world, and between `datetime`'s notions of `aware` and `naive` datetime objects.  Those are general distinctions that apply all over the place, not just in a method or two's docs.

Given that those are understood, the OP's results "are obvious".  But it takes some work for users to get to that point, and best I can tell the current docs have been successful at helping users get there - but they do have to do the work of reading them thoughtfully.