Welcome to The Moose Pond! The Welcomings posts give the Moose, old and new, a place to visit and share words about the weather, life, the world at large and the small parts of Moosylvania that we each inhabit.
Welcomings will be posted at the start of each week (every Sunday morning). To find the posts, just bookmark this link and Voila! (which is Moose for “I found everyone!!”).
The format is simple: each day, the first moose to arrive on-line will post a comment welcoming the new day and complaining (or bragging!) about their weather. Or mentioning an interesting or thought provoking news item. Or simply checking in.
So … what’s going on in your part of Moosylvania?
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NOTE: The comments page will now split off after 20 or so left margin comments with the most recent comments on the current page. To see the older comments, scroll to the bottom of the page and use the link.
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“You rape our women, and you’re taking over our country”
Words reportedly spoken by the shooter
It is chilling seeing him sporting the symbols of apartheid. What? Not enough homegrown racism to keep him happy?
Once the president’s speech is posted online, I am going to put up a post along with the links I have found. That church was more than just a church … you wonder if Dylann Storm Roof know that.
I was infuriated seeing the press take the president’s statement (which I watched live) and make it about gun control so they could brush it off as same-old-same-old. WEREN’T THEY LISTENING TO HIM!??!!
Of course they weren’t listening to him. They are programmed to respond in a set way with set paragraphs to certain code words – of which “guns” is one. It’s a “push the button, get the coded response” situation with the Press and has been since the Fairness Doctrine went away.
Coates:
Good morning, meese! Friday …
It is 55 degrees in Madison on its way up to 76. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
I am still shell shocked from the news out of Charleston and the reaction. I really don’t know how we fix this and, worse, I don’t even know if enough people care to. The governor of South Carolina holds a press conference and cries while her flag of hate flies over the capitol. The NRA calls out one of the victims because he voted against open carry … and no one will EVER will call out the NRA as a hate organization. And politicians and commentators on the right are calling it a hate crime against Christians and using that to get them off the hook for drumming up the racism that led to these murders.
I will put up the president’s remarks in a post.
See all y’alls later.
Today is Juneteenth
May the hope of the day help us heal
When are we going to stop talking about “healing” and start talking about “fixing this gdamn mess”?
I am still too angry and have to wait until that burns off because I just want to punch something.
I think we have to talk about both. The Black community has been wounded once again – it happens almost weekly.
Fixing is not up to us – we can’t fix the racism of this society – it is really up to white people of good will to take up that challenge – and given the ugly remarks I just finished reading about this – comments attached to news stories – the work will take generations. Plus people need to accept that the work must be done by whites – the denial about that was clear yesterday by certain responses on Daily Kos – where whites who were calling for that to happen were branded racist. Sigh.
That’s the thing: I know it is up to me but I feel helpless! I dipped into the Twitter conversations a few times and the racism is so thick that I don’t see how anyone can cut through it … ever. We keep hanging onto “the next generation is not as racist” and hope that when the older generation dies off that the animus will die with them. But, holy mackeral, that kid was 21! South Carolina needs to fix the fact that they are one of only 5 states that does not have a hate crime bill, they need to face up to the racism that is part of their culture and they need to take that freaking flag down! But their state is so steeped in the worthiness of the Confederate cause that if they cut out the cancer, they would be removing vital organs. Their U.S. Senator is a black man in denial about racism … a member of a party that came to power by drumming up hatred of The Other and vowing to never let their former slaves gain equal rights. So how do you fix that?
The worst thing, the very worst thing , is hearing people who know better claiming that we defeated racism and we are post-racial. Tell that to the families of those murdered Wednesday night. Tell that to my daughter who asked me why people do those things and who is starting to realize that the country of her adoption is filled with hateful people.
Same here – I KNOW that only white people can change the system because white people designed the system in the first place to give them as close to absolute power as is humanly possible. And I feel helpless because there really is nothing more than what little I am already doing – not participate as much is possible for a white person in a white privilege society and call it out when I see it – to fix this. Sometimes I take a little comfort in the fact that it’s mostly white MALE and we white females are victims, too – but there are enough “Stockholm Syndrome” white females out there supporting the system to erase that little comfort. I don’t have an answer – just hope.
I want a dollar for every time over the past 7 years that someone said “this has to stop” because I could retire and sit around eating bon bons and writing blog posts.
The 7 years was not some arbitrary number. The rhetoric heated up when we had our first black presidential candidate and first black president and when the teaparty saw that they could motivate their side to vote in every single election by reminding them about The Black Guy in the White House, ruining our country.
I despise the Republicans for caring more about winning elections than being party to the ratcheting up of the race war and the rush to weaponize our society.
I am stunned by the cluelessness of supposed “white allies” and have unfollowed some folks on Twitter today.
Someone said that being an ally is a process not a badge you wear to show how wonderful you are. I hope I can figure out what I can do that is meaningful. Twelve hours later and I am still not past rage. Maybe because it keeps getting heaped on. Rick Perry calls the murders an “accident”, the judge tells people that the family of the killer are also victims, and white America wants blacks to move “more quickly” into forgiveness. I did read something on PBS about what the black preachers will be talking about this Sunday and it is that love is the only response to hate. Maybe I will try to find a way to connect to that feeling.
Good morning, Meese! Denise, you beat me to it. This is the anniversary of Emancipation Day but will we ever be emancipated from racism and hatred? I believe what drives these white MALES is a feeling of powerlessness: they know they’re good-for-nothings, insignificant, so the only way they can feel powerful is to oppress people of color and women. With a gun, they become powerful. A sane country would ban handguns.
The NRA is, as Jan points out, a terrorist organization that keeps us all in a state of fear, just as men keep women in a state of fear by the threat of rape. We don’t feel safe anywhere—a first-grade classroom, a movie theatre, a church. If life has to be so circumscribed, is it worth living? Reminds me of a sci-fi story I once read, where the world was so overpopulated that the only way they could control it was by periodically closing tunnels and gassing all the people in the cars that were inside. Yet people still went on vacation in their cars, hoping they wouldn’t be caught in a “closing.”
Sorry to start rambling. I’m just little incoherent this morning—yesterday we had a mini-tornado here that toppled trees so that roads were impassable and electric power went out from 4:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. We had barbecued chicken and scorched corn on the grill for dinner. Later on we gave up hoping the power would come back on and used the generator. It gave us lights in our indoor bathrooms, at least.
Also, the news about my cousin in Connecticut is not good. The next two days—today and Saturday, that is—will determine whether or not she survives. Our whole family is praying nonstop. The head-on collision happened at 3:30 in the morning: my cousin was on her way to the airport and the other driver was a 22-year-old male driving the wrong way.
Going to read the paper for once since it’s a no-baby day. The WaPo has profiles of the murdered women and men today. Their lives shouldn’t have been cut short so cruelly.
Hope we get good news from Portlaw today.
The WaPo did a nice job with that memorial and one of their reporters who I follow on Twitter Tweeted out each person’s name one by one. I put them in the post with the presidents words. My heart was breaking watching tears well up in Joe Biden’s eyes … he cares so deeply about our country. If you want to get angry all over again, Jon Stewart went off on the insanity and I posted a video of that in the comments.
I hope Portlaw checks in!! I assume that since we did not hear from her again yesterday that she got in for her surgery.
(p.s. Is “scorched corn” a good thing or a bad thing?)
Jan, I emptied a small tin of corn into a little saucepan and Don put it on the burner part of the grill. It heated too quickly but it tasted all right. :)
Diana – glad you are okay after the tornado – it is always sad to see trees felled.
The NRA is blaming the church leaders – for being political so therefore they are at fault for their own murder.
So sorry about your cousin – will offer up prayers.
I too want to hear from Portlaw.
They never change do they? Blaming the church leaders for being political – though they didn’t call it that at the time – is the reason that church was burned down the first time.
Thank you, Denise.
There are so few hopeful/helpful things to hang onto right now – Juneteenth is sort of one of them. Absolutely it’s that feeling of powerlessness/worthlessness that drives these young males into the waiting jaws of the Evil Ones – those who teach them that because of their white skin or penis or gun in their hands they are Chosen of God. It’s the same recruiting tool ISIL uses. Probably Julius Caesar used it. Yes, the NRA is a hate group and a terrorist society. So were Hitler’s Brown Shirts and you know what it took to get rid of them (and they still aren’t truly gone, just hiding in the woodwork like cockroaches).
Holding the good thought/sending healing energy to your cousin. Imagine Jan’s candle here. Were it possible I’d have those music thingys I gave Portlaw playing in your cousin’s hospital room non-stop.
Thank you, bfitz!
sending good thoughts for your cousin
Thank you, anotherdemocrat!
I like that the news is talking about the victims – even my local news talked about them & showed their pictures. This from Jessica Valenti hits it right on the head: it’s racism. And today is Juneteenth. Wonder if we’ll talk about racism/the legacy of slavery?
Preparing for a long day of work, we’re even shorter staffed than usual for a Friday. Ugh. Playing some Hozier in my head to make it bearable.
70 but supposed to get to 85 today – once the sun comes out. Still drizzly at the moment in Fay., AR. Considering how bad the situation is this is just petty but I absolutely hate it that the little turd has the same name as one of my gransons. My Dylan Storm is 7 years younger than that bastard, just going into 10th grade next year. At least he goes by his middle name and nobody will give him flack for the actions a sick, deluded, and evil person with the same name. Sending healing energy to Portlaw. Hope she can check in soon. {{{HUGS}}}
Jan – I just put up a diary at orange about how we can help the church in Charleston –
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/19/1394582/-Emanuel-African-Methodist-Episcopal-Church-You-can-help
I couldn’t get it to work here – but feel free to post some of it here if you have time
I can port it over for you.
Done. http://motleymoose.net/2015/06/19/907/emanuel-african-methodist-episcopal-church-you-can-help/
Thanks!
The problem may have been the image … only DK posts can use the DK image library. So you have to make sure the photo is on your computer and import it into the moose image library.
Thanks – I should have remembered that – I had it in photobucket
Good morning, 58 and cloudy in Bellingham today. I’ve got a tend to business day….going to the pool, paying some bills, a blood check for coumadin, laundry, and if I can, more planting to do. Being in the garden has been my priority this week but today it needs to be my reward for doing the chores I don’t want to do!
One of my flower shop friends is recovering from double knee replacement surgery so I hope to see her today as well. Her surgery was 10 days ago and she’s finally feeling like she’ll survive. I hope Portlaw is as comfortable as she can be. New knees are wonderful to have, but getting them isn’t easy.
Good morning, meese! Saturday …
It is 53 degrees in Madison on its way up to 81. Isolated thunderstorms are in the forecast.
I am still trying to make sense of the senseless and I think this is when my logical brain does me a disservice. I keep trying to figure it out but there is no logic to what happened. It makes no sense, and, really, it serves no purpose. We don’t need a “wake up call” we don’t need to “start a conversation about race”: we have been talking ourselves blue. And, really, taking the flag down will not take the racism out. I do want it to come down (and put into a museum, as the president suggests) … from there and from license plates and from Republican Party rallies … I want it as vilified as the nazi flag so that when people see it on someone’s shirt or truck, they shrink from it in horror and want nothing to do with those display it or wave it. I want businessmen to tell Nikki Halley that they do care about racism in South Carolina (she claims that they never mention the flag when they are talking to her about doing business there). I want people to shun those who spew racist slogans and who run political campaigns based on fear of the other. But above all, I want the killing to stop. Please, stop killing people for being black, or Latino, or Asian, or gay. Just stop.
Catch up day. See all y’all later.
Good morning Meese
62 and rain later today.
The Dixie Swastika has got to go.
The president said “To heck with it … I am going to talk about gun violence”.
Someone pointed out that the Civil War only lasted 5 years. The “heritage” being celebrated by the Confederate flag is not the heritage of those 5 years of war but the heritage of 75 years of officially sanctioned American slavery followed by 150 years of Jim Crow and white supremacy.
One of the most virulent hate groups is The League of the South
I’ve been paying attention to them for some time
Here’s what they have to say about the flag – they are talking about taking down the American Flag:
Take it down and keep it flying!
They represent the far far right – but they are also associated with groups like The Constitution Party and run people for office – like Tom Tancredo.
Yup, the flag of sore losers … not celebrating their war dead but bemoaning that they lost.
What is it with the right-wing and Caitlyn Jenner??? I saw an article excerpt on one of the news aggregation sites I follow with Erick Son of Erick shrieking about how the Charleston murders happened because of Jenner. Does the idea of gender identity and sexuality freak out those whose definition of manliness requires the barrel of a gun?
Good morning, Meese! It’s too bad I can’t use the “Fierce” buttons. I wanted to enthusiastically fierce Jan’s and Denise’s comments.
First, the wetter—oh, excuse me, I mean the weather—gray skies this morning (and every morning, come to that), 74 F. right now, going to 87 F. later today, with thunderstorms. The tomato plants are just drinking it up and the watermelon vine is sprawling drunkenly all over its grow-bed, clutching at the little black wire fence we put up to keep out the Mont-ster (our dog Monty).
Last night we went out to dinner, very unusual for us, to celebrate Father’s Day early. My husband is so great! He helps look after the children and does amazing things around the house. His latest project was putting up a second long bamboo blind on the screened porch so on super-hot days we can lower the blinds and feel a mite cooler. We were going to go out tonight but because of the festival we knew we’d never get a parking space.
Jan said:
Until recently I had no idea that the rag they keep flying was not the real Confederate flag. I saw a picture of the real one. Yecch. We keep saying these people are insane but they aren’t. What’s really the matter with them? How can they be so consumed with hatred? How can they pretend to “worship” a man who may or may not have lived in the Middle East some 2,000 years ago, who was dark, bearded, and had dirty feet from wearing sandals as he walked through the dusty hill towns of Judea? I guess their blue-eyed, brown-haired Caucasian Jesus only loved white people. Yet, in Sunday School one of the chief songs we used to sing was:
Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red and yellow, black and white
They are precious in His sight
All the little children of the world!
Or something like that. I will never understand these virulent racists, never.
Took Miss Pink Cheeks to the dentist yesterday. The dentist later came into the room I was in (we had twin appointments) and said, “She’s lovely! She’s six years old going on 26! She is very smart.” Miss PC was later heard to remark that she liked going to the dentist because the dentist has a Leggo table in the corner. She was given a pink “diamond ring” to wear before we left, along with the regular goody bag. Unfortunately, although we can and will do something about the cavities, there is nothing we can do about the upper front teeth until she’s old enough for braces.
Today will be a day of doing laundry before the power goes off during the thunderstorm and trying to write my next story. Can’t decide whether to call it “Getting Unhexed” or “Lifting the Curse.” The action takes place over several years. It seems to me the first title sounds vaguely humorous—“hex” is a funny word—but the story itself will be anything but humorous. What do you think?
Going over to the front page to read Jan’s posts re the President’s word on the tragedy now. Wishing all Moosekind a good Saturday!
We shall consider ourselves Fierced. :) I have it on my list to try to figure out what is going on and find a way past your nanny computer. We need cookies because I found that if I used the IP address method, then when I fierced things on my smartphone, they did not show as Already Fierced! when I got back on my computer. I can also possibly open it up so that people not-logged in (per the cookie) are allowed to vote. Since we don’t have a Meh button, there is less likelihood it will be used in a rude way. I don’t want non-users to come in and downrate our comments.
Titles are important! I like the “unhexed” because “curse” bothers me on some level. But I have been known to change my titles many times. I usually start with a title because it provides an anchor. But then as I start writing … and I let the words take me where they want to … often the theme changes because of something that flows off my keyboard. So I go back and change the title. Good luck writing! I hope your power stays up!!
Thanks for the comment, Jan! You’ve made a good point about the title. The story involves a gypsy. It’s based on a real-life story a friend of mine told me, but in that case the hex was never lifted. And “Getting Unhexed” is shorter, too.
Well, it’s definitely time for me to do some housework—nearly 11 a.m. Yikes! I’ve borrowed your word, “Yikes,” and have become very fond of it. It’s emphatic without being profane. I notice that all my cousins on Facebook are now using it too. LOL!
Ha! You can blame it on me. I can’t remember where I picked that up … I believe it was from working with a blogging team where profane was avoided. We have a wealth of words at our disposal and finding one that fits perfectly is one of the greatest pleasures of writing.
But sometimes you need an exclamation!
I must leave as well. I spent a lot of time reading this morning and I have projects I need to do so that I can enjoy our beautiful weather before the storms arrive.
Have a pleasant day!!
Didn’t go to workout this morning. Stomach suggested I should stay indoors. Watched great discussions on Charleston on Up & MHP. Long, in-depth, various opinions…. just really good. And I’m going to take a nap after the show. Or record the last hour & watch later…. since I can’t eat, maybe a nap is best.
another, hope you are feeling better now! Take it easy this weekend, y’hear?
Good morning, 58 and partly cloudy in Bellingham today. I finally gave in and rested the day away yesterday so my knees are feeling much better this morning :::sigh::: My natural inclination is to just push through the knee pain but when elevation and rest stops the pain I need to be wise and patient enough to listen. We’re going to our son’s house tonight for a family dinner so it’s important to be able to enjoy the evening.
Good news for our son! Yesterday’s CT scan showed some occlusion on his left side, but not enough to require another surgery. And he doesn’t need to continue trying to wear the heart monitor. He’ll see the surgeon again in 6 months, and has the ok to resume working and exercising. He will be monitoring his meds very closely and will have more frequent check ups with his GP. Given all that happened to him this is an amazing outcome. I am so relieved….couldn’t stop crying yesterday, but today my heart feels lighter.
So on to the laundry I didn’t do yesterday and maybe I’ll plant a few more flowers after I make a strawberry cake for tonight’s dessert.
Dear Princesspat, so glad to hear you’re feeling better and that your son is well on the road to recovery! This is wonderful news. Have a good time tonight at your dinner party!
Strawberry cake? H’mm, I have a recipe for strawberry cupcakes. The strawberries are over in our area—I should have made something with them instead of just scarfing them down.
Wish we could hear from our sister Portlaw. Wonder how she’s doing.
Portlaw – where are you? We are worrying here!
I second that!!! Let me light a candle so she can find us …
Just checked in to see if Portlaw is OK – I see nobody knows yet. I’ll try to get back later today and definitely tomorrow sometime. And of course will continue sending healing energy. (Good to see princesspat’s son is doing better.) As for that little racist, terrorist turd who at least spells his name differently from my grandson – I’m more than ever of the opinion we need an “Enterprise holodeck” we can banish these people to so they can live out their nasty little fantasies without hurting anyone! {{{HUGS}}} to all.