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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Good morning, Motley Meese! The week begins …
It is 43 degrees in Madison WI, on its way up to 76. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
First Lady Michelle Obama addressed the graduating class at Jackson State University yesterday:
You beat me to the punch – was just reading all the stories about her speech. :)
I was looking for video and transcript. The White House usually posts it but they are often a days delay.
I thought her calling out the names of those who died for civil rights and the right to vote was especially powerful. In this day and age, when a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination dismisses the votes of Black people and people of the South, it is an important reminder by the First Lady that not all Democrats think that way.
Me too, but I thought she was in the UK with the President? I guess the time thing screwed up my sense of dates, she obviously flew back while he went on to Germany. I’m going to miss her as our FLOTUS so much.
Sunday is here …and we actually have sun – yay!
Tulips are bursting out all over – a bit late this year. Hope everyone has a good day.
Didn’t ride my bike yesterday. Bought groceries & cooked oatmeal. I wanted to cook ahead so I don’t have to next weekend. And this afternoon, there’s a 1916 film at the Irish Consulate that I want to go to…. But it’s at 1 & I don’t want to leave church right away, I want to try to get some more Ride donations. So I’m not certain what I’ll do this afternoon. And there’s rain in the forecast. But I’m wearing my purple silk blouse anyway, because purple.
Morning all! Beautiful warm sunny day here – I guess we’ve probably moved on from spring to summer already, up to 80 degrees every day this week, NOAA says.
Every time I think my respect for Sanders and his campaign has hit rock bottom, he manages to find a way to crash through the floor. “I lost because poor people don’t vote” he says. No, Senator, you lost because they don’t vote for YOU. Rosario Dawson flinging out a gratuitous mention of Monica Lewinsky in her intro of Sanders at a rally yesterday just almost causes me physical pain – how in hell do the shenanigans of Hillary Clinton’s husband have anything to do with her fitness and ability to be President? Seriously, I don’t think I can ever watch Dawson on screen again, which is sad because I always liked her as an actress, and she has a recurring part in Daredevil, on Netflix, which I love. I hope they’ll cut her out of future episodes. Yes, that’s petty, but she’s just been awful as a surrogate to Bernie and her vitriol toward Hillary just has been poisonous. I really, really hope Hillary sweeps this Tuesday and just crushes him.
Well, on a lighter note, the opera broadcast on Saturday had something happen that I personally had never “seen” (well, heard) before, although I’ve heard of it happening – I noticed the tenor sounded awful throughout the first 3 acts of Otello, couldn’t hit the high notes, etc., and I thought he was either really just not a good singer or that maybe he was ill. Then, the last act – very short, where Otello comes in and strangles Desdemona then kills himself in remorse – he sounded a lot better, hit the high notes and everything. The opera ends, and the radio broadcasters say “and now there’s an announcement on stage” – out comes the stage manager to say the original tenor was unable to finish singing the performance, so a substitute tenor sang the last act. What’s so unusual about what happened, though, is that there was no time to get the guy in costume – he was in jeans, t-shirt and sneakers – so they put a black cape on him, and he stood at the edge of the stage singing while the original tenor “walked thru” the part, and I guess mouthed the words! He came out with the rest of the cast and he and the original tenor hugged to huge applause. So cool. I looked it up this morning – the substitute tenor is 54 years old and this was his Met debut! I love when stuff like this happens – you see the humanity and happenstance of live performance!
Ok, today, I need to finish writing my exam so I can just get that over with. My brothers are supposed to be signing the purchase contract for this property in Tennessee that we’re selling (last bit of stuff inherited from my mother 7 years ago), and then get it back to me via e-mail, so I’ll have to deal with putting that together for the Tenn agent tomorrow. Have a great day everyone!
Yes, the latest from the Sanders campaign suggests that they are becoming increasingly unhinged.
Favorite Tweet, from one-time Moose Joe Trippi:
I hope that Tuesday’s Super Tuesday 3.0 puts an end to any remaining delusions.
Thanks Geordie…..I love the humanity of live performance as well. My daughters studied ballet from ages 5 through high school so my involment grew from sewing costumes to managing the backstage for performances. The annual Nutcracker had a caste of about 100 kids and adults and we did 4 performances so it was challenging to keep everyone where they needed to be and to manage the fast backstage costume changes. One memorable moment was when the guest Sugar Plum Fairy realized while on stage that she couldn’t dance in her very expensive tutu (not one I made), and so she twirled into the wings and I made careful slits so her legs were free to move…..and prayed the whole thing didn’t just give way!
Good morning, Moosekind! Late today because we took Miss Pink Cheeks out to breakfast and stopped to chat with her father afterwards. Our son imparted the fascinating news that he and DIL are trying to move AGAIN! I would miss having them around the corner. They sometimes walk here in the summer to spend time with us.
Oh, and it’s 55 F. now on a gloriously sunny, blue-skied day, going up to 69 F. Great for rooftop solar energy collectors (if I had any)!
Last night we attended our very first Passover Seder and it was wonderful! Miss Pink Cheeks hated the horseradish-haroset mix, which she termed “sour cranberry sauce.” Mr. NewBaby cried at the sight of so many unfamiliar people but cheered up when his father, Elder Son, started making faces at him.
I really need to spend time in the garden today, ripping out weeds and dead plants. Tonight I totally need to write the last scene of my Fiction Cafe story. Will I get it done? Tune in tomorrow and see. Wishing a wonderful, peaceful Sunday to all!
Good morning, 50 and cloudy in Bellingham today, and if I can ever wake up I may enjoy chocolate cake for breakfast. Yesterday’s birthday lunch was fun and tasty, but today gives new meaning to the words, ” feeling tired.”
Game of Thrones tonight!
58 at dawn but the house was still in the low 60s even though I had the front porch window open (of course all the porch windows are still shut), 72 now and heading for 80 maybe on this bright sunny Sunday. Got all my housekeeping, cooking (almond butter muffins, grilled pork chops, oatmeal cookies – still have soup from last week), prep for next week done except bringing in and putting up the laundry once it dries which should be shortly after lunch time. Early summer here we come. Well it figures, almost to Beltane.
I’m glad there are so many more “Hillary spaces” over at GOS. As more and more people notice that there are more of us no matter how loud and nasty the “Berners” are, they’re stepping up to comment and even write diaries. Since I was a Hillary supporter in 2008, I have a lot of sympathy for the Bernie supporters who aren’t Berners. They’re starting to drop in on the Hillary diaries and say stuff like, “I’m in mourning. Give me time. I’ll get there.” I sincerely hope Kos will get rid of the CT’ers and Hillary-Haters soon, but I really do think he didn’t realize back when he gave the 3/15 deadline how difficult it was going to be to separate the Berners from the Bernie Supporters . They’ll separate themselves out when they’ve had time to mourn. Of course it would happen faster if B.S. helped but he’s not going to do that. (Not asking that he drop out, just stop trashing Hillary and the Party.)
I’m giving it another week before I clean out the wood stove and cover it until next Fall. It would take a heck of a front to move in before I’d actually need it – temps are still occasionally getting low enough overnight that one would be nice – except the temps don’t even start to drop until after sundown which is almost 8 p.m. CDT. Was thinking of buying a new mattress maybe for Beltane (May Day mattress sales are all the rage I hear – LOL) then realized the mattress in the spare room has maybe a full year’s “wear” on it compared to the almost 15 on the one I’m using and just swapped them out this morning when I changed sheets. In dealing with weeding invasive honeysuckle out of a couple of my flowerbeds yesterday I managed to get something in my eye, It’s still bothering me so I think it scratched something. sigh. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
A May Day mattress sale? H’mm, you’re giving me an idea for next year’s Beltane story. Almond butter muffins? You do make the most delicious-sounding things! Are they the same as your cherry-almond muffins?
Happy to oblige re: giving you ideas. :) The muffins are the same recipe except I used 2 T. brown sugar instead of the cherry jam. Both are good, but the ones without the jam in them work better when you’re planning to put jam on them. heh.
If y’all didn’t watch Fahreed Zakaria’s show today….. wow. I’m looking for video or a transcript or something. The interview with the Italian Prime Minister and with the Education Minister of Lebanon were both fascinating & devastating — especially the Lebanese one. But the one I can’t stop watching — I’m on my 3rd re-watch — is with Irshad Manji. She’s Canadian, a refugee from Ethiopia. She is trying to reform Islam from within. She’s a gay, feminist, Muslim. No, really. This interview will be part of his Why They Hate Us, so if you can’t find today’s GPS online, watch that. But this woman…. just wow. She went to Madrassa as a child, and asked questions, and this displeased her Madrassa teacher who told her to leave. So she went to the public library & read — about belief systems, including Islam. And found that Islam has a tradition of independent thinking & debate, called Ijtihad. She said a secular institution, the public library, taught her about Islam, that she would never have heard about this tradition at her Madrassa. Talking about being gay & reconciling that with her faith — I think she non-plussed Zakaria, because she said she did not struggle at all. If God is omniscient & omnipotent — then He knew what He was doing when He made her. She has faith in God, whom she loves & she believes, loves her back.
As my United Methodist heads into our General Conference, I think her points about reforming Islam are something we should listen to. She said “I’m not saying I’m right. I’m saying let’s have the humility to leave the final judgment up to God”. She says she & other reformers are coming to the table with re-interpretations of Islam — which is not the same thing as re-writing. And about the cherry-picking accusation, she says “Yes. And so are you. By not acknowledging the freedom-loving verses of the Koran. Let us have diversity of interpretation within Islam. I could be wrong, you could be wrong, maybe we’ll both see each other in Hell. We won’t know until we meet our Maker.”
And her take on the “72 virgins” thing….. just, wow. Radically simple & sensible.
That is so interesting, anotherdemocrat! That’s an argument I’ve thought of myself: that if God is omnisicient and omnipotent, She knew what she was doing when she created gays and lesbians.
There’s another woman trying to reform Islam, the author of Standing Alone in Mecca. I read that book. What she basically wants is for a mullah to tell her it was okay to have a child out of wedlock, which she did. However, that is something that neither Islam nor any other patriarchal religion will do. Their whole premise is that women are inherently evil and must be controlled.
Good morning, meese! Monday …
It is 52 degrees in Madison, on the way up to 75. Scattered thunderstorms are in the forecast.
I just updated the moose to WordPress 4.5. This version is called “Coleman” following the pattern of naming releases after jazz musicians.
I am not sure what was changed but it feels good to get it done. The notification has been sitting there in the corner of my eye for weeks.
Tomorrow is the big day! Harry Enten at 538 ran the numbers and thinks that Hillary will pick up 60 net delegates and that she will end the nominating contest with a 300+ delegate lead. Good. She needs to win decisively to cut through the dense thicket put up by primary truthers. I am past ready to pivot to the general.
Jim “probably never really a Democrat” Webb wants to defend Andrew Johnson and coins the new term “intentional genocide”. Cuz if it just sort of happens based on your actions, it is not your fault! Who could have known that driving tens of thousands of people off their land would result in their deaths??!!? Meh.
I was shaking my head over the movie poster that Thom Hartmann Tweeted out. It was an image of Bernie Sanders with an AK something or other slung over his shoulder ready for an “Assault on Wall Street”. Gun violence and mass shootings are a real problem in this country. To not only make a joke about it but to suggest that killing your enemies is how we resolve political differences is unconscionable. He was shocked at the outrage, living as he does in a the left-of-the-left echo chamber where he is god … and where PC is scorned as much as it is in the right-wing. Meh, again!!
See all y’all later!
Good morning Meese. Hubby is home withe the flu. I’m trying hard not to get it too.
Still trying to wrap my head around Sanders proclaiming “Sanders said that poverty in the worst areas of Baltimore rivaled conditions in “The West Bank in Palestine,” “North Korea,” and “distressed cities in Nigeria, India, China, and South Africa.”
Sigh.
I guess it is clear that BS knows very little about much of the world. Sure we have poverty here. However, in no fucking way does it compare to conditions I’ve seen elsewhere.
Wasn’t that incredible, Denise? Really!
Yes – it goes far beyond stupid
Clueless does not even cover the half of it. Willfully ignorant pops into mind.
I saw this Tweeted out yesterday:
Everything is seen through the lens of economic class and it has created tunnel vision. He cannot see anything else — and really doesn’t care!
Good beautiful Moon Day morning, Meese! It’s 47 F. now in NoVa, going up to 80 F. later.
What a morning for news: (1) President Obama sending 250 ground troops to Syria. Groan. I’d hoped the war wasn’t going to get any worse. We’d better start learning Arabic. (I actually tried that, once, but the lessons became too time-consuming after a year.) (2) Cruz Missal and Kasich teaming up against The Trumpet? Desperation City—not gonna work. (3) People in a small town in Wisconsin are “searching for answers” as to why an 18-year-old took an assault weapon to the high school prom and shot two of his former classmates. Wait, I have the answer right here (pulling it out of desk drawer): Guns are too easy to obtain, that’s why! Mercifully, for once the students were not killed nor even seriously injured. The shooter is dead.
Busy day of pulling more weeds, doing laundry, working out at the gym, and trying to get a Happiness Engineer to help me with a couple of website things. Caught up on three out of four of my letters last night. Not bad! Wishing everyone a good day!
Plus bullying:
Schools do not do enough to reach out to those who are being bullied. Our schools have a zero tolerance for bullying but other school districts, especially in the less enlightened (“toughen up!” “pull yerselfs up by yer bootstraps!”) parts of the state. Sad as hell.
Early voting starts today for a municipal election caused by a hissy fit Uber & Lyft pitched when the City Council enacted a safety ordinance requiring finger prints for drivers. Of course the billion dollar tax-dodging companies have misleading commercials up. I sent an e-mail to HR about early voting. It’ll be in the building next door on Friday. Of course, I took Friday off.
another random song popped into my head (saw that the theme of Hilary’s latest commercial is “Love and Kindness”), my brain started playing Love and Happiness — a good way to start off a 4 day week
Just posted a quick diary about this at orange
You must see this clip, which includes Lin-Manuel Miranda:
Saw it over it GOS. I don’t like Rap, but Miranda had me in tears in about 10 seconds flat. Oh, do I hope John Oliver giving this some exposure does the job.
60 at dawn and 65 now heading for 80 – sunny so far although the forecast is for partly cloudy. Topped at 20 KWHs yesterday/385 for the month. Should crest 400 today which is nice.
B.S. and Thom Hartmann, like the friend who introduced me to them many years ago, are so fixed in their white male upper-middle class privilege they literally do not see others as real people with real problems – or the ability to feel pain. The Hartmann tweet was so “out of left field” – I mean for real? Dirty Harry for CiC? Kill financial and insurance company CEOs? Using the same weapon as the Sandy Hook Murderer? Hartmann and B.S. may get some Trump voters that way, but they’ve lost a whole lot of Dems and Dem-leaning Indies.
Got some HR messes to deal with so I’d best get to them. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 48 and cloudy in Bellingham. I’m waking up slow this morning, but the electricians will be here soon and I’m going to the pool so awake or not I need to get moving.
Have a good day everyone!
!
I hope we don’t need to explain “Bernie Math” after tomorrow.
Oh, mah Gawd.
Good morning, meese! Tuesday …
It is 43 degrees in Madison on its way up to 55. Cloudy skies are in the forecast. This weather is quite chaotic … almost as if the earth’s atmosphere is being messed with!
Not so great news out of North Carolina where the voter id law was upheld in district court. However, the successful appeal of the Wisconsin voter id law in the 7th Circuit suggests that there may be a path forward. I hope they can appeal quickly and get this law struck down for the Nov. 8th election. North Carolina is a state we can win if we can vote.
The Harvard IOP Poll released yesterday has some really good news for Democrats in general and Hillary Clinton in particular.
Of course the pundit class had to say that it was a “Bernie Effect”. No. It is the Barack Obama effect. It is the effect of the Democratic Party policies of inclusion. And Hillary Clinton, in supporting both the president and his agenda, will win the millennial vote despite the best efforts of Sen. Sanders.
FiveThirtyEight says that Hillary needs 195 delegates to stay on track for the nomination so when you are watching the news, anything above that is pure gravy. The latest polls (PPP) show a tight race in CT and RI, PA a 10 point Hillary lead and MD pretty well in hand with a 25 point lead. I can’t see anything on Delaware.
It should be all over but the wailing and gnashing of teeth tonight.
See all y’all later!
Samantha Bee goes after the anti-Tubman [bad word redacted]ers. Turns out they are history challenged also! p.s. Bad words NOT redacted in this video:
Good Tuesday morning Meese!
Well – I guess many of us will be up fairly late to watch the primary results roll in.
I’m headed off to school in the rain.
Here’s hoping that a few more people will stop the vile attacks on Hillary and realize that Bernie has lost. I’m afraid we will be in for more meltdowns
I had to laugh when I saw this Bernie Bingo posted over at orange
That’s hilarious, Denise!
This poll really ticks me off.
Lose, and it’s because of cheating. Win, and it’s because he was the better candidate. Meh.
Peeps who watched the Sanders town hall on MSNBC last night were angry at the #BernieOrBust blathering. When Hillary wins the nomination, Sen. Sanders should do everything in his power to get his supporters to support her. It is actually his image that will need to be rehabilitated – he has lost a lot of fans.
Sadly – I have no faith that he will do that – I hope I’m proved wrong
I was glad to see Hillary stand up to Rachel Maddow’s blathering about if she had the votes and the delegates in June: