Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Oct. 2nd through Oct. 8th

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?

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.

38 Comments

  1. Started the day at 56 heading for 82 and clear. Too much shade on my solar panels though – only getting about 10 KWHs a day which sux. I do not want to take those trees down – wildlife habitat as well as shading the places I want shaded in the summer – and not sure the city would let me even if I did (we’re a “Tree City”) but I sure wish those leaves would drop.

    I’ll be on DK for the El Mito live blog at GOS tonight. I don’t want to hear Pence’s voice any more than I want to hear Trump’s. I really don’t care for the “act as if we’re x-number of points down” meme – I’m much more in favor of the quote attributed to Harriet Tubman. “If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going…” – that assumes that you are ahead but you’d better keep moving or you’ll get caught. It also points to the seriousness – at least for some demographics – of this election.

    I’ve got stuff to do, as usual, so I’d best get to it. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

    • Whatever works for you to keep running! We all have different ways of motivating ourselves and different takes on politics. For example, I prefer the disparate “voices” of Twitter for my debate live “blogging”. I also like the mute feature, something that if it had existing on the GOS, would have made my time there more enjoyable.

      I think I will probably watch the debate live. Pence is an annoyance, not an existential threat to our democracy, so I can watch him and just think about how ugly he is inside and out. I want to see how Tim Kaine functions under the hot lights … he is going to be an important part of our government for the next 4 and hopefully 8 years and I am still getting to know him. Also, the debate is on early enough that I can watch it and not lose any sleep. :)

      • I steadfastly refuse to be on Twitter (or Facebook) – although I’m very grateful to the folks over at DK who tweeted and retweeted for Catnip Manor’s Pootie Pad Kickstarter (we met the goal this afternoon). Sadly I’m getting to the point where more and more voices annoy me – at least voices coming through some kind of speaker. I can deal with Hillary’s and Michelle’s pretty well, the guys on our team a little less well, and the other team not at all. But you have fun watching the debate. :)

        • I don’t know if you’ll see this, but I am so with you on

          Sadly I’m getting to the point where more and more voices annoy me

          I wish I could change jobs, but job hunting in your 50s….. ha, no

          Anyway — this is why I have Twitter & FB. I followed the debate fine by my friends’ comments on twitter. Didn’t have to listen to it myself.

  2. Morning all! Pleasant here today, but all eyes in Florida are on Hurricane Matthew as the cone of uncertainty of his future path has inched westward and now is over a good chunk of the eastern part of the peninsula. It’s doubtful I would get a direct hit here, as we are as far inland as you can get in the state, but we may feel effects, so we have to keep an eye out.

    I am recording the VP debate as I have a raid in WOW tonight – I expect Tim Kaine to do just fine, but I do wonder how hard Pence is going to be pushed not just on Trump’s many missteps and misbehaviors, but also on his own horrific record. The Trump tax stuff continues to have legs – here’s an interesting blog post perspective on it talking about where all that debt that Trump used to created those NOL’s went. The NOL is of course a legitimate tax provision – but Trump took advantage of special treatment afforded real estate investors to, I think, essentially steal a billion from the US Treasury – he never actually experienced a billion dollar loss, he just has the tax benefits of creating a paper loss with debt. That’s the scandal to me – but hard to explain. An old friend of mine from Hill, Dan Schaviro, was on the O’Donnell show (Last Word on MSNBC) last night, along with David Cay Johnston, and even he, one of the most brilliant tax minds I’ve ever known, didn’t try to explain it! lol

    http://brontecapital.blogspot.ca/2016/10/some-comments-on-new-york-times-story.html?spref=tw&m=1

    Ok, have to go get the big dog and bring him home from the vet – he’s been boarding there for a few days while they treat his ears and the little dog and I took a break from our House Divided life. I love Max, but he almost killed us both when I took him in last week, trying to climb in my lap as I was driving. So hopefully I’ll get home in one piece – pray for us. Have a great day everyone!

  3. Good morning, 53 and raining in Bellingham. I was still working when my kids bought their first houses, so I made custom draperies for all of their homes. Then they all moved, taking as many of the curtains with them as they could. So then the process of making the existing curtains fit the windows of the new homes started. Just a few more windows to go and all the curtains will be out of the closets!

    It was good to have a rest from the worries of home and to see the world from a 9 yr old’s point of view for a few days.

  4. Good morning, meese! Wednesday …

    It is 63 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 70. Scattered showers and possible afternoon thunderstorms are in the forecast.

    Political debate overload! Men shouting over each other!! I think the VP debate was for political insiders and for the Clinton campaign to push Pence to his denial in the courtyard moment. Instead of just denying Trump’s positions, he denied Trump’s recorded words!! That will be a much easier target. I saw a few themes developing on Twitter that I might weigh in on later. But this one summed it up “@ddale8: ‘From start to finish, this is the Denying Plain Facts campaign.'” I haven’t read all the post-mortems yet but will head off to Twitter to pick up my favorited Tweets and see what transpired overnight.

    Here is a palate cleanser. Yesterday, Michelle Obama campaigned for Hillary in North Carolina, in Charlotte first then Raleigh. Here is a snippet from Charlotte via AP:

    At 1:40, Michelle throws shade on the yam’s complaint about the microphone in the most subtle way. She rocks!!

    Today, Hillary’s surrogates will be all over and she will be in Washington DC for a fundraiser.

    See all y’all later!

    • there’s a rec list diary about that at GOS, it is a beautiful thing, the very best shade

  5. I had the debate muted most of the time, the talking over each other — and the moderator — was annoying. And Pence trying to gaslight the nation about Trump (“he didn’t say that”) was, wow. Glad I missed this, because I’d have thrown things at the tv:
    https://twitter.com/JoyAnnReid/status/783494839665131520

    It’s supposed to be 93 today & I have errands to run but I swear I’m getting in a 30 minute walk.

  6. Good morning, Meese, what’s up with The Moose? Every time I come to the site I have to log in! Oh, for the days when I could just log in once and leave it at that.

    It’s 55 F. on a low-light morning—pale blue sky, some clouds—going up to 67 F. As soon as I finish this I’ve got to put the beef stew on in the slow cooker.

    Watched the first hour of the debate and regretted it. Thank Goddess there is only ONE veep debate! Tim Kaine interrupted constantly at first (someone accurately nailed this as “trying to overcome the spineless Dem image), and Pence was like Alice in Wonderland. To say that a candidate “never said that” when we all know Trump DID bloody well say those things is delusional. Consensus: Pence is running for 2020.

    No wonder I woke up with a headache! I did get eight great hours of sleep last night, uninterrupted, which hasn’t happened for a very long time. Think I worked out a little too hard at the gym Monday and Tuesday.

    Wonder whether someone will break it to The Trumpet that Pence did not defend him. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and Beyond!

    • I think that when today’s narrative becomes “Pence refuses to defend Trump”, and Trump’s handlers aren’t standing over him watching his Tweets, we will see the reaction. Pence flat out lied about Trump’s deportation force. I want to see the spin on that.

      Kaine interrupted and you could see his frustration that Pence refused to acknowledge the words that came out of his own mouth. I don’t think that story (the interruptions) has legs beyond the very freshest takes of the day. AP downplays the interruptions to highlight Pence’s denials:

      Republican Mike Pence was calm and steady in the face of Democrat Tim Kaine’s fiery and frequent challenges. But when it came to defending Donald Trump, Pence dodged, sidestepped or was silent about some of his running mate’s most provocative words.

      Kaine aggressively pressured Pence to vouch for Trump throughout the 90-minute debate, often citing the brash businessman’s own words. Pence defended Trump’s tax history, but maneuvered around criticism of Trump’s demeaning comments about women, his public doubting of President Barack Obama’s citizenship and broader questions about temperament.

      “I can’t imagine how Governor Pence can defend the insult-driven, me-first style of Donald Trump,” said Kaine, the Virginia senator and Hillary Clinton’s No. 2.

      The overnight polls suggest that Pence “beat” Kaine but I suspect that might be because more Republicans watched the debate and more Democrats did what you did … turned it off!

      I am not sure what the Moose is doing to you. There was a WordPress update from a little before you reported that the site was going crazy on you again. But there have also been about 100 other updates to the bazillion other pieces of software we all run when we click on a page. I think a lot of it is still related to cookie integrity. I never have to log in first thing in the day but I am at least once a day “kicked out” of my login when I click Preview or Post. But I also have a dozen or more tabs open when I am reading the overnight news and all of those sites are interacting with the Moose and with each others cookies. Don’t give up!!!

  7. Good morning Meese

    I watched the debate – however I found the whole thing a waste of my time – I don’t think it will make any difference in the overall voter choice – or turnout.

    Not impressed by the moderator. Am glad that twitter took up “Mike Pence’s Galling Amnesia” and #ThatMexicanThing

    Had a great class yesterday on Misogyny in Politics – decided to write about it for
    Sunday

    • Someone noted that the moderator got her economic policy questions from a group that promotes the deficit and debt as the most important crisis facing us. I am glad it gave Tim Kaine a chance to reiterate the Democratic Party’s position on Social Security, though.

      She tried to push back a few times on the Pence’s Amnesia but either gave up or didn’t know the facts. This Tweet:

      @BrianYoung: Debate recap:
      Pence: My ticket is right for America
      Kaine: You’re running with Donald Trump
      Pence: No, I’m not

      I think that Pence refusing to acknowledge Trump’s “Deportation Force” is going to have the most legs. There are still Latino votes to be won in Florida and Nevada.

    • One of the other things about Mike Pence, by the way, is that a lot of people forget that he was a right-wing talk show host after his first failed campaign. He has the patois down quite well and knew how to deflect what was said by denial or mocking laughter. He is Rush Limbaugh playing a role:

      [Mike Pence] sets his jaw. He slows his pulse. He practices a bemused chuckle, perfects deafness to anything he prefers not to hear and purges from his memory anything he doesn’t want to own.

      That included the whole grotesque cornucopia of Donald Trump’s slurs and bad behavior, which Tim Kaine had studied up on exhaustively, knew by heart and kept throwing at Pence, pressing for the barest glimmer of shame or the slightest hint of apology. It was pointless — a point that Kaine himself made about an hour into this exercise in futility.

      “Six times tonight, I have said to Governor Pence: I can’t imagine how you can defend your running mate’s position on one issue after the next,” Kaine said, his voice somewhat squeaky with frustration. “And in all six cases, he’s refused to defend his running mate, and yet he is asking everybody to vote for somebody that he cannot defend.”

      That’s a fair enough summary of the vice-presidential debate, and it flagged what made the event so fascinating, which was Pence — specifically, the astonishing peace he has made with Trump and his wholehearted readiness to promote a man who should be so offensive to him.

      The reality TV presidential candidate has a reality-denying right-wing talk show host as his running mate. No surprise that he would “out hustle” a decent person like Tim Kaine.

  8. Here is a clip of Hillary’s press conference from yesterday, after her visits to Pennsylvania:

    I was struck by one part of her comment about the health care law that I think needs to be talked about more. At about 10:10, she talks about the benefits of the ACA (pre-existing condition coverage, young adults on parents policies, lifetime limits), what would be lost with a repeal, and ends with this:

    There is so much that [Donald Trump] either doesn’t understand or care about.

    Donald Trump does not care about ordinary Americans and their health care needs. Shorter: Donald Trump does not care about ordinary Americans. Period. That needs to be stressed more.

    • I saw some Twitterers remarking on Tim Kaine’s shoutout to Barbara Rose Johns:

      Barbara Rose Johns (1935–1991) was a young, American civil rights leader-pioneer and the niece of one of the “fathers of the Civil Rights Movement,” Vernon Johns. On April 23, 1951, at the age of 16, Barbara led a student strike for equal education at R.R. Moton High School in Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia. After securing NAACP legal support, the Moton students filed Davis v. Prince Edward County, the largest and only student initiated case consolidated into Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring “separate but equal” public schools unconstitutional.

      Tim’s comment:

      It is so great to be back at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.

      This is a very special place. Sixty-five years ago, a young, courageous woman, Barbara Johns, led a walkout of her high school, Moton High School. She made history by protesting school segregation. She believed our nation was stronger together. And that walkout led to the Brown v. Board of Education decision that moved us down the path toward equality.

      I am so proud to be running with another strong, history-making woman, Hillary Clinton, to be president of the United States. I’m proud because her vision of stronger together, building an economy that works for all, not just those at the top, being safe in the world not only with a strong military, but also strong alliances to battle terrorism and climate change, and also to build a community of respect, just like Barbara Johns tried to do 65 years ago. That’s why I’m so proud to be her running mate.

    • Thanks for sharing this link! I was busy last night so the debate was in the background and I didn’t get to read along as I usually do.

  9. Front moved in overnight – thunder at 2 a.m. but only one “crack” the rest nice rumbly thunder followed by rain which we desperately needed. My grass was crackling again. Got at least an inch. I also overslept by an hour – mostly because my feline alarm clock hides when it rains and so was off the job until the rain let up. :) Anyway because of the cloud cover overnight lows in the 60s, as they are still, and going up to the low 80s. Just barely light enough to get any electricity generation at all (a whole 110 watts at the moment) – hopefully it will clear off my midday.

    I did the live-blog at GOS (mostly in the Hillary Evening Edition – El Mito didn’t do one) til about half-way through then gave up and went to bed. Apparently on “style” Pence won and on “substance” Kaine won. But Pence told enough flat-out provable lies that HFA has already got an ad out rebutting with Trump’s own words according to what little I’ve seen at GOS (just brought up a tab on everything I want to visit today – haven’t really read anything yet).

    Got some stuff to get off my desk, a meeting in 20 minutes, and heffans only knows what else cause I’m groggy but I’ll manage. (Managed to stir up enough folks to get the Pootie Pad Kickstarter to it’s goal yesterday afternoon – It was one of those really fun DK fundraiser diaries at least as far as the comments are concerned – everybody was posting the new total left to go as we powered it through. So while I don’t take credit for making it happen, I certainly feel joy and a sense of accomplishment that we, all together, managed to get it done.) Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  10. Morning all. Hurricane Matthew is bearing down on us, and we will feel it here, although hard to say how bad it will be at this point as the path can still change. Still, I need to get ready today, cook some stuff to have to eat in case the power goes out for an extended period, fill bathtubs with water, etc.

    I didn’t watch the debate, but this video ad up on the internet from the Clinton campaign seems to sum it up:

    At the #VPDebate, Mike Pence tried really, really hard to deny pretty much everything Donald Trump has said and done. Let's replay the tape: pic.twitter.com/5XNKyFX6az— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 5, 2016

    I think that remark from Pence about “whipping out that Mexican thing again” is going to reinforce the already negative week Trump has had with the Hispanic community – so racist and dismissive!

    Ok, have to get myself hurricane ready, everyone have a great day!

  11. Good morning, 55 and cloudy in Bellingham. I’m slow to wake up today so I’ll pass going to the pool. I have a Dr’s appointment this morning to discuss the sorry state of my knees. I’ll be surprised if he has some new management suggestions, but the changes should be documented. Arthritis is frustrating!

    I’m always late to the morning discussion but I appreciate reading along. Thanks everyone!

  12. Good morning, meese!

    It is 54 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 72. Cloudy now and storms are expected this afternoon and into the evening.

    The Paris Climate Accord now has enough signatories to enter into force. The president spoke on it and I will post his remarks later.

    The White House @WhiteHouse
    “No nation, not even one as powerful as ours, can solve this challenge alone. All of us have to solve it together.” —@POTUS #ActOnClimate

    This is a BHD for our planet and another reminder of what will be lost if the Republicans win the presidency: the accord would be cancelled, the EPA dismantled, and progress lost. The Clinton campaign is sending Al Gore out on the campaign trail to energize millennials to care about the upcoming election and get out and vote. The foolishness of the “let it burn down and we will rebuild it” strategy is particularly ignorant when it comes to climate change. We are out of time: the time diddled away during the Bush years after Nader sold his lie of “both parties are the same” was lost forever. If young people vote third party, or stay home because there is no “perfect” candidate, there will be no fix in 4 years that will undo the damage done and get back the time lost.

    On that cheery note, see all y’all later!

  13. Good morning Meese

    Am sitting here this morning thinking about how much I learn from my students.

    Since the days when I attended middle school (back then it was Junior High School) are lost in the mists of time, and since I don’t have children or grandchildren – I’m not in touch with the happenings in middle schools or high schools.

    Last week my female students – mostly freshman had a long discussion in class about the “danger of collarbones” which at first I thought they were joking about. They all had stories about being sent to detention, to the principals office, or sent home from school for “dress code violations” ….
    I had no idea that a glimpse of a collarbone or a gasp bra-strap would distract boys so much they can’t concentrate so girls must be punished ….

    Thanks to them – I’m’ educated now. Spent the morning looking at the floods of outrage and protest that dates back several years ((you tubes, facebook posts, twitter) – and is going on now – it seems the messages of the women’s movement are alive and well in youngsters – I’m elated to see.

    • I think that is why the Trump misogyny is striking such a chord. Trump is the master objectifier, a man who has never treated a woman with respect, who considers them possessions and then discards them and/or demeans them when he is done with them or when they refuse to bow to his demands. Young girls still have a big job ahead – it is impossible to eradicate a millennia of objectification – but they are developing a new awareness because of the bright light being shined on campus rape and reproductive rights and pay equity and the terrible disrespect that women are subjected to by the patriarchy.

      Good for them! We need to stand with them and encourage them to push back.

    • that is so infuri-depressing
      I found your tweet & forwarded it. I hate this planet.

    • Here is something else to cheer you up. After the newest Latino Voter poll showed that the “Machado Effect” dropped Trump by 18 points in Florida (and 6 nationally), this sad Tweet by a Republican Party muck-a-muck:

      John Weaver @JWGOP

      Trump’s collapse among key demographic groups further imperils our GOP congress.

      Insert sad trombone sound here!!

    • Nothing new under the sun as far as punishing girls for boys’ behavior. Or even expected behavior they weren’t actually doing – maybe I should call it projected behavior from the males in Administration. I have long said the majority of males in this country are unweaned pedophiles. About the only thing girls these days have better than I did in school in the 1950s and 60s is they can wear pants. In “my day” girls wore skirts, no matter what the weather, and those skirts had to cover the knee. Apparently knees are at least as arousing as collarbones. sigh.

  14. Yesterday, a patron I talked to said I sounded like I need chocolate. I may take a couple of vacation days, if I can convince myself not to spend them curled up on the couch. Still hot here — low 90s again today, cold front coming that will make the weekend perfect & gorgeous. Hugely strong tea (was strong to begin with, then I added about 8 spoons of instant) & I’m playing my darling boys in my head. And a co-worker gave me a bar of super dark chocolate.

  15. Good morning, Meese! It’s cloudy in NoVa this Thor’s Day, with a temperature of 51 this morning, going up to 71 F. tonight. I am loving this cooler weather!

    Not much in my head except the sinus thing that refuses to leave. Lots of household chores to do; writing isn’t getting done.

    Having lunch with two of the ex-Circle Sisters today, so that will be nice to look forward to.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and Beyond!

  16. Strong new Hillary ad:

    It does not appear as if there are any public appearances scheduled for Hillary as she preps for Sunday night’s debate. Surrogates all over, though! Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan, Minnesota today. Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Maine, Pennsylvania tomorrow.

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