Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Oct. 9th through Oct. 15th

October 8, 2016 JanF Community 128

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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50 Comments

  1. Here is how you do it:

    “Mike Gallagher still says we have to support Donald Trump. No, we don’t. We don’t have to support Mike Gallagher either”

    This is an open seat in Wisconsin, one held by a retiring Republican.

  3. 51 just before dawn and heading for upper 70s. Sunny again, which is good. I’m right at 100 KWHs for the month which, while not great, is not bad for October. Once the leaves are off the wild cherry I won’t get afternoon shade – but if they aren’t off soon, the hours of daylight will have decreased anyway.

    Avoiding everything I can by and about Trump. I already know how bad he is. I don’t need the details. His whole effen campaign needs a trigger warning. GOTV is the key – but this looks to be a blowout election. Apparently GOP internals indicate even the House is in play. And Hillary’s team is not letting up. Even in states where her own polls have her solid, she’s working on GOTV and down-ballot races. That’s what “Stronger Together” means.

    “Staff Appreciation Week” here – being interrupted in my work by lots of “appreciation” that isn’t accompanied by salary increases and given all kinds of stuff I shouldn’t eat but do because the person giving it to me went to the trouble (and expense) of finding something gluten-free especially for me. Sigh. Oh well. I still have a bunch of stuff to do. Travel things that were on my desk yesterday but turned out to be incomplete mostly. Hoping I can get all the pieces parts together this morning and get this crud done and filed. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

      • {{{Denise}}} – do they ever get around to appreciating adjuncts like you? I know they pay you worse than they pay staff, but do they even acknowledge you folks at all?

        • I got selected as Teacher of the Year – along with a full-timer – which gave me an award – of $500 bucks to spend on something academic.

          • Well, the Teacher of the Year was right. The award of $500 to spend on something academic sounds like something our RWNJ legislature would come up with. NY been taking nutjob lessons or something? More {{{HUGS}}}

  4. there’s also this by John Scalzi:
    http://whatever.scalzi.com/2016/10/11/trump-the-gop-and-the-fall/amp/

    that has this:

    But note well: Donald Trump is not a black swan, an unforeseen event erupting upon an unsuspecting Republican Party. He is the end result of conscious and deliberate choices by the GOP, going back decades, to demonize its opponents, to polarize and obstruct, to pursue policies that enfeeble the political weal and to yoke the bigot and the ignorant to their wagon and to drive them by dangling carrots that they only ever intended to feed to the rich.

  6. Good morning, meese! Wednesday …

    It is 59 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 55. Cloudy with a chance of rain throughout the day.

    One thing I am going to miss about election season are the daily speeches. Yesterday was a speechophile’s delight: Hillary Clinton and Al Gore talking about the climate in Miami FL and President Obama bringing it in Greensboro NC. The Gore speech made me well up with tears near the end because I am still not over that our nation wasted 8 years and permanently damaged our democracy when he was denied the presidency. To see his brilliant geekiness and low-key humor again was both uplifting and sad. But what a speech!! I am going to post it without a transcript but with commentary and hope that a transcript shows up later.

    And the president!! Holding nothing back:

    He made a special reach out to young people that I hope moves them to vote. I know I will be able to find a transcript of that speech at WhiteHouse.gov.

    Today, Hillary is in Pueblo CO at 11:30am MDT and Las Vegas NV at 5:30pm local time. Tim is in Charlotte NC and Bill Clinton is in Iowa.

    I read an interesting back and forth about the state of the Republican Party from the writers at 538 and, while I did not agree with the conclusion of the majority – that the party will rise again after a cycle or two out of power – I found the numbers interesting. White nationalists are 15% of the country but a plurality of the Republican Party. That is how Trump got the nomination. And that is why the Republican Party cannot quit The Donald; when he is gone, assuming he leaves national politics which is not a certainty, they still have to contend with the fact that without 30-35% of their party base, they can’t win national elections and that with that base picking their nominees, they will never settle on a nominee who can win a national election in our majority minority nation. Interesting times we live in!

    See all y’all later!

    • Jan, are you telling me that Al Gore and Hillary Clinton were not immediately arrested for uttering the dreaded phrase “climate change” and hauled off to jail?

      Rick (Voldemort) Scott has stated that any state employees who utter that those words will be fired.

      If only Floridians would stop voting for Re-thug-licans!

      • They mentioned that “gag order” … but showed no fear!! ;)

        Florida, like Wisconsin and Ohio and Michigan and Illinois and Maine, has the problem with low turnout mid-terms resulting in dastardly governors. On presidential election years, we are blue and two years later we elect – and re-elect! – the most heinous state governments. We really need to figure out how to fix that.

    • Hope I can get the time to see President Obama’s speech today – thanks for this link, too. One thing President Hillary Clinton will have going for her in the 2018 cycle is President Obama pounding on GOTV for her. I hope she’ll have a lot of other stuff, too – if we can “blue wave” this election, she can do enough obvious stuff that even the Media can’t ignore (as they ignored what Obama was doing because it wasn’t as obvious).

  7. Sleepy, didn’t exercise. Yes, I know. The ironic thing about depression/anxiety is that you know what works, but your heels dig in about doing that very thing. Exercising would help, actually speaking to my mortgage company would help. Can’t make myself do either; though the 1st is far, far more likely to happen.

    Looks like there’s a real effort to get the Apprentice tapes, including collecting money for a reward for the leaker. Hmmm.

    Playing Everlasting Love in my head because it’s happy & pretty & might help me stay awake.

    • Sorry you’re going through such a rough time, anotherdemocrat. I can’t bear confrontations or quarrels either. When I noticed a charge that I thought had been dropped on my bank account I dreaded calling the company so much that I never did anything about it. Well, it turned out that the charge was a “ghost” charge—I don’t know why banks do this—and it was dropped! So I would have confronted the company for no reason. That was one case where putting off an unpleasant conversation worked in my favor.

      Sigh. Modern life is so complex. It was so much easier to live in a village where nothing much ever happened and, as Saki averred, people got up early to see if a new strawberry had happened during the night.

    • I hope that tapes worse (and newer) than the Billy Bush tape would surface. I am noticing that Republicans who unendorsed are now reendorsing after the debate “performance” and the Trump threat to destroy all Republican elected officials. It would be almost impossible to unendorse again and they would be stuck with him permanently. Tying Republicans to Trump will help in 2018, too.

      • looks like Mark Burnett would really like to release the tapes but has a nondisclosure agreement, and doesn’t actually own them anyway…. He says he’s a Democrat & had a history of being a donor, so I guess I’ll believe him.

    • {{{anotherdemocrat}}} holding the Good Thought and sending Healing Energy for physical and financial health. See if you can come up with something to reward yourself with for calling the mortgage company. Sometimes things fix themselves if ignored – but sometimes they get worse and you find yourself looking at a deadline that’s way too close. Moar {{{HUGS}}}

  8. Good Woden’s Day, Meese! Clear and lovely here in NoVa, current temp. 47 F., going up to 70 F. Dearly Beloved seems to be coming down with something, so I hope he’s going to be OK. When a person is 86 years old, one can’t help being a little anxious.

    Well…looks as if the cows are coming home as far as the election is concerned. Last night Tyler–from–the–Hillary–Campaign called and asked if I’d register voters. I told him no, it was too traumatic, but I would canvass on Saturday if I had a partner. So that’s what I’ll be doing. I am SO terrible at face-to-face interactions with strangers! I daily thank Goddess I’m not a customer service rep. in Recife or Hyderabad dealing with irate Americans who are having trouble with their computers.

    Speaking of computers, I finally figured out why I was constantly having to log in at every single site every time I visited. I was in private browser mode. It’s awfully handy for reading the WaPo, which has a paywall, but a tremendous nuisance otherwise. Also, Safari doesn’t make it easy to get out of private mode once you’re in it. I think I’m out of it, but let me say here and now I find NOTHING “intuitive” about Apple software or its arcane workings. Things that ought to be easy take half a day of laborious effort. However (shrug), speed…lightweight laptops…built-in word processor, etc.

    Darling niece is coming for lunch today so I have to think of something that won’t jeopardize our weight loss. Losing weight is no fun: no more mindless grabbing of Trader Joe’s delicious biscotti (I resisted buying the pumpkin biscotti but may be unable to resist what’s coming in December), no more scrumptious desserts that I used to make for Dearly, no more lovely cakes for tea. However, on the scale of problems, that qualifies as Very Small Beer.

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

    • Interesting about private browser mode! I am glad you figured it out – I was worrying that one day you would simply leave an email-only post saying “I can’t deal with this! Goodbye, Cruel Moose!!” never to be seen again. :(

      I once spent about 2 hours trying to get someone out of Private Browsing mode on a Windows 7 computer using Internet Explorer. I have no idea how she did it but I could not undo it. I ended up having to install a different browser for the sites that simply would not work any longer in IE.

      I have an older iPad that I know enough about to do periodic maintenance (with my daughter’s help). I have no interest in learning more.

  9. Good morning Meese

    Had to get up really early (2:30 AM) to get hubby out the door early – so fell back asleep.
    49 degrees here in the Catskills – going up to 68.

    Hope y’all have a good day.

  10. Rain moved in last night, drizzle anyway, so it never got below 65 overnight. It’s not going above 75 today and we shall see how much rain we get. A bunch (normal “bunch” not flood-type “bunch”) I hope to make up for getting diddly electricity generated. It’s just barely gotten light enough to come off night mode (12 watts right now) at 9 am Central.

    Our team’s speeches are even more uplifting than Hillary’s plans/policies – talk about the “A” team! Ignoring the Rs as much as possible. As they continue to reveal just how deplorable they are, they now need trigger warnings. They are definitely triggering nasty stuff for a whole lot of women and some men.

    Still trying to sort out travel stuff and need to do some funds moving so I’d best get to it. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  11. Good morning, 42 and partly cloudy in Bellingham. Looks like I forgot to check in yesterday, and I seem to have a sleepy empty mind this morning as well. I should be at the pool now but my painful knees kept awake for several hours last night so I’m staying put this morning. Ron and his brothers are in Victoria, BC now and my SIL is here with me so I’ll rest my knees this morning so we can go somewhere this afternoon. Fortunately Deb enjoys taking a long morning walk.

    Chris Vance is the former head of the GOP in Wa State and one of the more moderate R’s so his observations re the future of the GOP on the west coast are interesting to me.

    He told you so: Chris Vance warns GOP about what Trump has wrought

    “I’ve been campaigning for months with the message that I’m different than the national Republican brand, that I’m not Trump and never will be,” Vance said. “My plan is to keep making that case and hope voters hear it.”

    But a reckoning may be coming. The local GOP needs to convene after the election and find a way to differentiate itself, Vance says — perhaps by starting a “regional affiliate” system of West Coast GOPs that can be more moderate and speak to voters at a higher grade level than Trumpism.

    “We have to figure out a way to clearly signal: ‘Trump is never going to happen here again,’ ” Vance said. “If we can’t, we are done on the West Coast.”

    • I think at the state level it will be more difficult to tie candidates to Trump. But eventually, the national brand (especially if we yoke it to them) will make it impossible for the next generation of voters to pull a lever (or circle an oval) for a Republican. “Oh, Republicans, they are the party that hates women and black people and Latino people and LGBT and the disabled. I can’t vote for them.”

      Republicans did this with Reagan’s utterings and those got deeply embedded in the lizard part of people’s brains. “Republicans hate people” is a very sticky message and I think it will live past this election.

  12. Florida got their voter registration extended by 6 days, to October 18th, by a federal judge … overriding Gov. Scott:

    A federal judge in Tallahassee today extended Florida’s voter registration deadline to October 18 after voting advocacy groups filed a lawsuit arguing more than 100,000 voters could be disenfranchised because of disruptions caused by Hurricane Matthew.

    The League of Women Voters of Florida, along with counsel from the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and pro bono counsel Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP, released the following statements after the decision:

    “We’ll now be able to make up for lost time and help register people whose lives were disrupted by the storm,” said Pamela Goodman, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida. “Our goal is to help every Floridian register, vote, and be heard, and we’re grateful that the storm did not silence their voices.”

    “Federal law requires the state to provide voters with enough time to register before the election,” said Myrna Pérez, deputy director of the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. “With this extension, more citizens will be able to exercise their most fundamental right in our democracy.”

    Thankfully, the federal courts have been strong in standing up to those who want to limit or block the vote. Another win for Marc Elias.

  13. Meanwhile, First Lady Michelle Obama hosts a screening of the CNN documentary “We Will Rise”:

    Transcript: Remarks by the First Lady at Screening of Cnn Documentary “We Will Rise”

    CNN Films: “We Will Rise: Michelle Obama’s Mission to Educate Girls Around the World”

    The First Lady, Meryl Streep, Freida Pinto and CNN’s Isha Sesay take a journey to Morocco and Liberia, where they meet young women overcoming incredible odds to change their lives.

    Premieres on CNN Wednesday, October 12, at 9 p.m.

    • Woo-hoo! Wonder what my late father would have thought of this. He used to love TIME magazine and even MAD magazine, once I introduced him to the latter.

  15. So, I’m really active on Twitter: politics, science, science fiction, and fellow U2 fans. One of my fellow U2 fans is someone I’ve muted because she went from rabid Bernie person to Trump – she’s one of those crazy Hillary haters. Anyway, I just tweeted the link for my Children’s Shelter donation page — and she re-tweeted me! And I told her thanks & we had a nice twitter conversation. Really, really weird.

    • Yes, that is very weird. I remember giving blood at a hospital in support of a NARAL right to choose campaign many years ago, and being surprised when the nurse told me that the antichoice people had donated blood too. I tend to write them off as being human because they hate women so much. It really does make one think, doesn’t it?

  16. Good morning, meese! Thursday …

    It is 37 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 52. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    Whew! Can the election get any uglier? Don’t answer that! The funniest thing to come out of yesterday’s news cycle was the hacking of John Podesta’s Twitter account after his hacked campaign emails had been in the news all day. John!! Change your password from “john4hill”!! It is too easy to guess. :) The huffing and puffing over the campaign’s discussion of Catholic voters is precious. For years people have been wondering about the disconnect between the words of the Catholic church and the actions of elected officials who are Catholic. When bishops called for the excommunication of politicians who supported a woman’s right to choose yet gave a free pass to those who actively worked to create more homeless, deny health care to the sick, and starve the hungry, they set themselves up for mockery. And JHC on a popsicle stick!! Right-wing evangelicals are willing to forgive a repentant Trump but are curiously silent about Trump dredging up 20 year old sexual transgressions? They have no mirrors.

    Here is a palate cleanser: the best online ad of the cycle

    Hillary’s welcome in Pueblo CO was great and one analyst suggested her visit there was because Democrats are seeing that Republican House seat as a pickup. If we get that seat, we will have won the House. Please, let it be true!

    Today, Michelle Obama is in Manchester NH (noon Eastern) and Joe Biden is in Las Vegas (1:45pm Eastern). Tomorrow the president goes to Cleveland. I don’t see any Hillary events scheduled. The next debate is next Wednesday, 10/19 and she may already be prepping for it. I personally hope they cancel it. I am not sure there is much left to decide for most people.

    See all y’all later!!

    • 25 days for places that don’t have early voting. I think there are going to be a lot of early voters this year. Everyone is anxious to get this thing wrapped up.

  18. Good Thor’s Day morning, Moosekind! Partly cloudy here, current temp. 45 F., going up to 71 F. One news channel said we’d get a cold front around noon with a few showers, possibly, and then it would turn cooler. Suits me!

    So busy today I won’t have time for lunch. Beloved Niece and I made Peach Bran Muffins and Oatmeal-Walnut Cookies yesterday after our lunch of lentil soup, simple salad, and baked apples stuffed with half a dried apricot and walnuts. I’m going to take the cookies to Hillary HQ this morning. Have a mammogram scheduled after that, ugh.

    Well, well, well. The gawd-awful media are yapping like shrill Pekingese dogs about the Hillary campaign’s “exposed” emails. Goddess give me strength! So freakin’ what? However, Goddess in Her Wisdom has arranged for several of the women assaulted by The Donald years ago to come forward, thereby Trumping the Hillary campaign’s “exposed” electronic communications.

    Over at GOS yesterday early-voting Kossacks were reporting long lines of wimmen at the polls, getting ready to cast their votes. Yay! Hope to come back and read some of the fascinating front page posts later, if I ever get a minute.

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

  19. I saw a bumpersticker yesterday designed to look like a campaign one, it said “giant asteroid 2016”. I’m thinking of getting one. The People Magazine reporter’s story, the woman on the plane, the 10 year old girl, and yet people are still supporting/defending Trump. 2 men replied to me last night on twitter about how the Miss Teen USA stuff wasn’t that bad because: 1. beauty contests are there to sexualize women/girls 2. Bill Clinton.

    There was a story from Malcolm Nance last night about Russian attempts to hack or otherwise delegitimize the election. I replied that someday I was going to see something from him that didn’t scare the hell out of me; something about puppies or bunnies. He replied back with a puppy picture. I wish we could have a day where everyone on this damn planet just played with furry creatures & was nice to each other. Just one.

    Sigh. I’ll just turn up the music in my head.

  20. Low 50s now and last night going to mid 60s – still overcast although no rain predicted until tomorrow night. Only got 2.4 KWHs yesterday. sigh. Hope it will clear off this afternoon. I use about 5 per day (more on Sunday’s when I’m cleaning and stuff). Probably have a fire tonight. Fires are better than turning the furnace on both for comfort and not using fossil fuels. I live in the middle of a national forest so no net CO2 gain when I use firewood.

    Our team definitely goes high while the other team is still avidly seeking how low they can get. To the extent that the Australian Upper House unanimously voted that Trump is a revolting slug – GOS has the story if you’d like to see it: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/10/13/1581819/-Foreign-Leaders-Condemning-Trump-Australian-Parliament-Passes-Motion-Calling-Him-A-Revolting-Slug

    I’m doing a bunch of Community Fundraisers over at GOS and the latest one, FarWestGirl, shows what evil happens when teajadists by another name take over local government. Her back story is so much what my own county could become if we don’t get it back from them that I’m dealing with a reflux attack the like of which I haven’t had since I left the Court. Elections matter. Votes matter. Oh well, I’ve got work to do so I’d best go do it. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

      • {{{Denise}}} – it’s so funny that the only holdup in the unanimous vote was to check and see if “revolting slug” passed or was considered “unparliamentary language”. Considering that it passed the test I’m not sure I want any more information about how they run things in OZ. heh

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