Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: June 18th

June 17, 2017 JanF Community 94

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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– Link to Page 1 of Comments is HERE

– Link to Page 2 of Comments is HERE

34 Comments

  1. Good “morning”, Motley Meese! The week begins …

    Morning low of 63 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 72. The forecast calls for partly sunny skies with a chance for isolated showers.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  2. “Our” new Cuba policy is an example of what happens when an incurious, ignorant man chooses policies based on who sucked up to him last and not on what is in our nation’s best interests. The 2016 election not only gave a vulgar talking yam an electoral college victory but in states where the Republican money machine revved up for Congressional candidates, returned old-thinkers like Marco Rubio to power. The Cuba policy is more likely to give more power to the Communist regime than “finally” destroying it.

    Many government officials and their supporters saw the Obama policy as an attempt to lull Cuba into complacency and undermine the foundations of a communist system based in part of near-total control of virtually every aspect of society, from animal-rights groups to the film industry.

    Trump’s hostile language toward the Castro government and his literal onstage embrace of Cuban-American exiles and Cuban dissidents has unmasked the United States’ true intentions toward Cuba and made it easier for the government to instill unity across Cuban society, pro-government figures said Saturday.

    “Faced with your words, the Cuban people stand up and, their flag held high, sing their war anthem!” said a Facebook post by Jennifer Bello Martinez, the head of Cuba’s official Federation of University Students and, at 25, the youngest member of the powerful Council of State. […]

    The Cuban government has given Trump’s speech extensive coverage on official media. A young state journalist who described himself as loyal to the government but eager to see faster, broader reforms told The Associated Press that the government saw the speech as “the best course in anti-imperialism that could be given.”

    “This is the dream of the hard-line here,” the journalist said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the foreign press. “It’s managed to unite the left and the center in Cuba.”

    Young Cubans, excited about new opportunities, have had their dreams crushed and can join the old bitter-enders. Our elections have consequences – for the entire world.

    • His stupid Cuba mouthings may gratify R politicians – it will win him little support from younger Cubans.

      • I worry sometimes that planning for the old ways to die off and the new ways to gain majority is dangerous. What if the old ways gather supporters from the next generation waiting in the wings? Or if before the new ways can gain majority, the franchise becomes so restricted – or damaged by big money and fake news – that we can never gain a foothold?

        We thought demographics were in our favor in 2016 and maybe the raw numbers were but only 47.6% of eligible Latinos voted. And only 50% of young people. Until we can convince people that their vote not only counts but is essential, we are going to continue to be disappointed.

  3. Sunday, Father’s Day and Juneteenth Celebrations happening today.
    72 here in the Catskills – going up to 87 with rain and flash flood watches.

    We never flood here on the farm – since we are on a high point – our little village does however. I hope people going out to dad’s day dinners stay safe.

  4. Today: church, get food ready for next week, go to the gym. Right now, I have tea steeping, that’s the only cooking I need to do. I saw a bit of the MSNBC thing on All The President’s Men, it was interesting. Had an interesting discussion on Twitter about how a man can tell jokes about rape (yes, among other things, but it was still there) for decades & still be considered a “clean” comedian — and how that man can get a hung jury in a rape trial. Then there’s the Castile verdict. I just don’t know what’s wrong with us. Listening to Yahweh, maybe Bono can help me with this.

  5. According to the weather widget it’s 67 outside – but it’s also raining fit to bust itself so I can’t open the windows and let some cool air in/turn off the A/C just yet. It’s so dark I’m putting off my normal Sunday morning cleaning until the storms pass through. Street lights are on, PV system is off (and only got 8 KWHs yesterday, darn it – m-t-d is 289). I did bake my muffins (orange-molasses). Can’t seem to energize myself to do the rest of the cooking – grilled the breakfast sausages yesterday afternoon (and had sausage for dinner). Also made the green bean salad. Need to cook the taters for the tater salad and slice/chop the cabbage for slaw. I found a packet of cooked ham in the freezer so that will be my other-than-dairy protein this week.

    In the short term I share Jan’s fear about propaganda and disenfranchisement keeping the Evil ones in power. In the long term I know Good will prevail. But I sometimes remind myself the long term may be a really long term. How many generations from “all men are created equal” to the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments – and how many more until the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts? (Or even the generations between the 15th Amendment and the !9th Amendment – and no ERA ratified to this day.) But I keep on keepin’ on – if not for me, then for my grandsons. If not for them, then for their children and grandchildren. The ground must be worked and the seeds planted now for a harvest later, just as we have benefited from the working and the planting of those who went before.

    If it gets any darker, I’m going back to bed. But I’ll check in at the Village “Breakfast” diaries, Denise’s FP, and also my fundraisers to see if there’s been any movement. sigh. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  6. Good morning, 58 and raining in Bellingham. Yesterday was fun but very busy for me. We enjoyed our Dad’s Day lunch outside but I had to start early to get everything done. It’s amazing how many pine cones and cedar twigs can accumulate in a few days. And the photos of perfectly appointed outdoor dining places never show the bird poop. Nature is messy, but with 4 dogs and 10 people I was glad the weather cooperated so we could be outside.

    I planned an easy menu……grilled salmon, Caesar salad, and lemon pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream. The Cup For Cup flour means I can bake from my Grandma Rose cookbooks again, so that adds to the busy fun.

    Good news re Fynn ,our daughter’s rescue dog. Thanks to good care and careful training can now be here with all the other dogs. It was so good to see him relaxed and having fun, a big relief for everyone.

    I pushed the limits of my new mobility yesterday so today will be a quiet day.

  7. Monday Morning Meese and today is Juneteenth.

    Had to smile with I saw this tweet

    The Orange Ball of Obama-envy must be fuming – look at the number of “likes” :)

    • I was trying to understand why they felt the need to kill her – what I read was that she was a very small woman, so the Michael Brown “he was a HUGE HULKING MAN!” defense won’t work. I think we need better cops – ones who aren’t scared every time they see a person who does not look like them. I seem to remember that Seattle has some issues with policing, a consent decree that the Obama Justice Department was working on and which Jefferson Beauregard Stonewall Lee Sessions III has probably cancelled. :(

      • Because they could – there have been other “standoffs” with white folks which ended peacefully.
        I’m so tired. So very tired of reading this crap – over and over again.

    • {{{Denise}}} – and Healing Energy to all concerned (as in all of us but especially the folks betrayed by the very ones their taxes pay to protect them)

  9. Good morning, meese! Monday …

    It is 59 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 70. Chance of thunderstorms in the forecast.

    Surprise! If you ratchet up hate against Muslims and make killing them “ok”, people will kill Muslims. I was horrified when I read about the 17 year old Muslim girl grabbed off the street and brutally murdered in Virginia and then the attack on worshipers in London. Meanwhile the Embarrassment-in-Chief did not even acknowledge the loss of life in the USS Fitzgerald collision – he was too busy tweeting about a right-wing pollster’s report that only half of America hates his fking guts. Actually it is closer to 60%. He cannot be driven from office soon enough to suit me.

    Tomorrow is Ossoff day – the day we test the theory that taking health insurance from 23 million people and transferring almost a trillion dollars from those in need to the wealthiest Americans will be electorally unpopular in even an R+5 district.

    See all y’all later!

    • Look! Thoughts and prayers!! Heartbroken and horrified!

      Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) said she visited ADAMS Sunday and met with leadership and law enforcement officials.

      “We are heartbroken and horrified by the news of the brutal murder of a beautiful 17-year old girl,” Comstock said in a statement.

      Here, Barbara, let me help you put it into words:

      “Well, yeah, Republicans elected a man who incites violence against religious, racial, and ethnic minorities but, you see, a Unified Republican Government, a government that could sign into law tax cuts for the wealthy, is more important than decency.”

      ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  11. Harvard is coming under attack for rescinding acceptance offers for offensive social media posts:

    The Cambridge, Massachusetts, university declined to comment, but the school does tell accepted students their offers can be withdrawn if their behavior “brings into question their honesty, maturity or moral character.”

    Its decision may have been rare, but the situation it addressed was not: young applicants crossing lines in their social media posts.

    Mike Reilly, a former college admissions officer in Washington state and now an executive with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, said Harvard’s move can be seen as incongruent with free speech.

    But Nancy Beane, a high school counselor in Atlanta and president of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, said zero tolerance for racist comments should be the standard for all institutions of higher education.

    “We’re all humans. We’re all going to make mistakes and make poor choices in our lives, but there are consequences,” Beane said. “I’m not sure why we’ve decided people can say whatever they want, do whatever they want, and there are no consequences for it.”

    I know why! Call on me – call on me!!! Because a vulgar talking yam, making horrible comments about everyone Not White Male, was rewarded for his disgusting behaviour with an electoral college victory.

    We need to make it clear – everywhere, including in college admission processes – that being a disgusting pig does have consequences.

    • The right to free speech says you won’t be arrested for it – not that you will be rewarded for it. Speech like everything else should have appropriate consequences.

  12. Hello, there, Moosekind. With the awful events right here in Virginia, London, and elsewhere, I don’t feel it’s a very good morning.

    That poor girl—it was just so random! Her friends were able to run away. Why, oh, why, don’t we teach girls to fight back? It’s outrageous that entitled males who feel they have a right to take the lives of black people, female people, and Muslim people do so without repercussions. It’s so sickening.

    There was a rainbow in the sky when I woke up at 6 a.m. It stayed a few minutes, then disappeared. Currently the temperature is 77 F., on its way up to 84 F. A cold front is supposed to come through, bringing violent thunderstorms. Although it’s very breezy at the moment, I’ll believe the thunderstorms when I see them. Those predicted for the last three days have failed to materialize.

    Must get dressed, Mr. Preschooler will be arriving in a little while! Everyone have as good a day as possible.

    • What I read is that she stepped on her long traditional dress (she was unaccustomed to wearing one, it was her mother’s) and tripped and fell – allowing her murderer to grab her. :(

      I was already having a difficult time with everything this morning and then I saw this:
      “Young boy holds on to his Mom while law enforcement tries to take her away for Immigration laws”

      What the hell are we doing? How can any decent person see that and not want to do everything they can to fix it?

      And the WaPo article about Nabra said at the bottom “The comment section on this story has been closed.” I can imagine that it was simply awful.

  13. Had an awful night’s sleep. But I’m awake so I might as well be at work. Watched 2 Smithsonian travelogues last night — Aerial Ireland, then New Zealand. Beautiful. Then the news about the London attack came in. People are just horrible. Today: work as long as I can. I’m awake but looking at the computer hurts. So, we’ll see how that goes. Gym stuff is in the trunk so when I leave, I’m going to go wear myself out.

  14. 60 at dawn of a beautiful sunny day – which is good and heartening but I would be a lot happier if my inverter hadn’t gone down yesterday after a couple of power flickers. So no production at all on one of the most productive days of the year. Waiting to hear back from the installer and the inverter company techies. Very 1st world problem but still aggravating.

    The Evil Ones have been released. We will corral them – but oh, the damage, the hurt, the deaths they will cause until we do. All I can hope is we do a better job of corralling them (and get them the eff out of our police departments!) than we have in the past now that we’re being shown how much was already out there anyway. And send Healing Energy to those hurt, those in danger, those scared – and those mourning. And keep doing whatever I can of loving-kindness to push back the Hate.

    Got to get to work. Got a maintenance guy coming to look at my chimney today so leaving around noon. Will log in from home whenever all that gets dealt with. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  15. SCOTUS has decided to take on the Wisconsin partisan gerrymandering case. This is good news because the case provides a strong argument – and science! – to show that the Republicans crafted these districts to block Democrats from having any power. The court ordered that the state must redraw the districts for the 2018 election by fall. The Wisconsin attorney general had asked for a stay while the case is pending and SCOTUS has not ruled on that yet. If there is no stay, we will have our new districts for next year. If there is a stay, that would likely suggest that the court will overturn the 7th Circuit ruling and leave the maps in place. This is a Big Huge Deal.

  16. Good morning, 59 and foggy in Bellingham. I’m going to the pool this morning, and then I’m going to try as hard as I can to find some peaceful moments. The worries of tRump America are overwhelming me, and the reality of what I can actually do about it is hard to live with. My faith in the values of American voters is being sorely tested.

    A sober assessment of the heath care debacle….

    The health care industry doesn’t love Obamacare enough to save it

    “You have to recognize that elections matter. They decided this is what they’re gonna do,” one of the hospitals lobbyists said. “At some point, it may be that you’re fighting a losing battle. There is only so much you can do.”

    There are still ample doubts that Senate Republicans, working with a thin margin for error, can coalesce around a plan and pass it. If that is what happens, the industry’s decision to lie relatively low and not enrage Trump could prove to have been a smart bet.

    As one of the hospitals lobbyists told me, “Why upset the Washington establishment when you don’t have to?”

    • The healthcare industry will come to regret their decision. Millions of jobs lost, more hospitals and clinics closed. For what? To put a little more money in the pockets of a few CEOs.

  17. Good Tuesday morning Meese.

    67 here in the Catskill mountains, going up to mid eighties – and hopefully we will not get any more thunderstorms today.

    Spending the morning writing BKos – keeping one eye peeled on twitter.

    Have a good day peeps.

  18. Good morning, meese! Tuesday …

    It is 59 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 72. Scattered showers are in the forecast.

    Today is the special elections for GA06 and SC05. Like the recent special elections in Kansas and Montana, they will be accompanied by much punditry analyzing the results as good/bad news for whichever party wins/loses and the margin of victory. We are expected to lose SC05, the seat vacated by Mick “No meals for you, granny!” Mulvaney in an R+gazzilion district. But Georgia 06 pits a traditional Democrat (for reproductive rights and civil rights) against a traditional Republican (hateful in just about every way) in a district that Hillary lost by only 1 point. Dark money sponsored some ads tying Ossoff to the berner who shot up the Republican baseball practice and Nancy Pelosi so the voters there will have decide if they want to vote on the candidates themselves, and the issues, or their fear and loathing. Polls show a dead heat with 2-3% still undecided. Ossoff is running strongly on the healthcare issue and, in my mind, that is the strongest issue we have for 2018. We are not going to win by going after Donald Trump, the disgusting pig – we tried that and failed. We are going to win by reminding people of the difference between Democratic Party values and Republican Party values – as embodied by Ryan and McConnell.

    Yesterday our Democratic Senators took to the floor of the Senate to talk about the secret ACA repeal bill that is being written by 13 white males from states that represent 25% of the country’s population.

    From what I understand, the text of the bill will be released on Friday, the CBO score will arrive on Monday or Tuesday and the vote will be on the 29th so that Senators aren’t forced, over the 4th of July recess, to face any constituents who might cause them to change their mind about the bill. There are 5 Senators reported to be wavering but I think it unlikely that anyone in a political party that ran on repealing the ACA will be able to muster the political courage to vote against Mitch McConnell simply because hundreds of thousands of people in their states will be left without healthcare and nursing home care.

    This bill is the repeal of the promise of Medicaid and anyone who thinks that these guys won’t come for Medicare and Social Security next have not been paying attention.

    See all y’all later!

  19. Good morning, Meese, and a beautiful morning in NoVa it is after the violent thunderstorm yesterday that blew out the power right at teatime! Currently we have 69 F. under blue skies and sunshine, going up to 89 F. The good news: it will be less humid. Even more good news: with the amount of rain we had, I won’t have to water either morning or evening!

    Had a good day with Mr. Toddler yesterday who ate all his lunchies and consented to take a nap after we read a storybook. Had intended to bake tiny scones for tea, but when the power went off that plan went out the window. Luckily our DIL sent us home with a generous chunk of the red velvet cake on Sunday so there was enough for everyone, including the neighbor’s child. My husband picked her up as well as Miss Pink Cheeks during the downpour.

    The news has been so horrifying this week. Police murders, two people killed by bears in Alaska, poor Otto Warmbier, the tragic Nabra murdered because of some stupid oaf’s “road rage.” Why do men think they have a right to kill women?

    Worried about the death of Medicaid, rollbacks of Social and Medicare, possible war with Kim Wrong ‘Un and Bastard Assad—can I go on soma holiday? Can we all? Even if Robert Mueller finds wrongdoing, will it result in removal of the Rat Problem on the Hill?

  20. Wow, it’s 77 at 6am. This does not bode well for actual summer. Eating oatmeal, drinking tea. Slept poorly again last night. I had a lot of temperature fluctuations — not night sweats as such, but hot then freezing. I saw a report that the murder of the girl in Virginia is NOT being treated as a hate crime. Wtf? Have I mentioned that I hate this planet? Playing U2’s Ultraviolet in my head

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