Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Sept. 25th through Oct. 1st

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.

30 Comments

  1. 45 at dawn heading for low 70s today and sunny – not getting much over 11 KWHs per day right now even when it is sunny, so I think the angle of the sun is such that the oak tree in my front yard is shading some of the panels. Still, since I haven’t run the A/C since 8/6 and I haven’t turned the furnace on yet, I’m doing fine. FYI – Aji’s fundraiser met Phase III last night. She’s got to verify materials estimates and then will put up the Phase IV (should be the final) widget on Saturday.

    Our team is golden – and that’s all I have time to say about politics today. :) Just got handed a bunch of stuff to do, so I’d best get to it. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  2. Good morning Meese

    Much of the news here is dominated by the Hoboken train crash -rightly so. So much of transit in, out and around the NY Metro area is via train.

    Prayers for all the injured and for the families of those who died.

    Hoboken is a major entry point into NYC.

    • What a tragic event! I wonder what on earth happened. Did the driver have a heart attack, or…what?

      I will pray for the family of the young woman who died. May she walk in peace in the Otherworld.

  3. Good morning, meese! Friday …

    It is 57 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 63. Rain in the forecast.

    Hillary will be back in Florida again after her visit to Des Moine Iowa. The campaign added Ohio back into the mix for a visit next week suggesting that they are seeing some numbers that might make it worthwhile. As it sits now, Ohio will be a tough sell.

    Geordie, how does the #TrumpInCuba story play in Florida? Are there enough Republican Cubans to move the needle? Will Rubio have to disavow The Donald (again)?

    Wisconsin got the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to reject the trial judge’s plan for affidavit ballots by lying. Not. Shocking. Now the question is if the Attorney General will be brought up on contempt charges like Kris Kobach in Kansas was. Kobach blinked, by the way, and reached an agreement with the ACLU to notify 18,000+ voters he had suspended that they can vote in November.

    See all y’all later!

    • I’m not a good source on local stuff in Florida, since I don’t watch local news or read local papers – and I’m in north Florida anyway. But I saw on Maddow last night a report from Caputo, a real Florida politics expert, and he said the attack on Alicia Machado was really resonating already, and now the violation of the Cuban embargo is hitting older Cuban Cuban-Americans very hard. They’re disgusted. They’re not the majority of Latinos in Florida, but they have concentrated influence in south Florida, so this could affect both the Presidential and the Senate race, as Rubio hasn’t really distanced himself from Trump, even though he’s expressed “concern”. We’ll see.

  4. G’mornin’ Meese

    I’m pissed off this morning – woke up and TV was on with rerun of NBC news – A smarmy Brian Williams spent the entire time in the segment “discussing” Clinton infidelities and new Trump “strategy”.

    On another note:
    Am looking at the bullshit polling being touted about NV – distorting Latino voting figures.


    Morning Joe Inaccurately Hypes Latino Support For Trump In Nevada With A Misleading Poll Report

    Figures since it is Morning Joke – better to look at Latino Decisions – their polling shows Trump has 78% unfavorable rating

    Hillary is campaigning in Florida today.

    I have school all day – have a good one folks.

    • The Bill Clinton infidelities, besides being nearly 20 years old, would have more “power” if Hillary Clinton were running against one of the Republican religious right candidates. But a twice divorced admitted adulterer who wants to date his daughter should probably not bring up “sex” as a campaign issue. And a woman being blamed for her husband’s wandering eye is only going to get traction in the Phyllis Schlaffly wing of the Republican Party, people who are already voting for Donald Trump.

      The media, by the way, is STILL disgraceful despite their faux mea culpas. Those were just part of another news cycle … on to sex scandals!!

      Here is a palate cleanser! Ruline, 103 year old Democrat from Iowa, casting her early vote in Des Moines:

  5. Still grumpy – and sick of media concern trolling/polling. Was composing a comment for Orange – which I’ll share here:

    Concern trolling (polling) in the news

    Every time I turn on my public radio station — I get hit with NPR election coverage — seems like hardly a day passes when they don’t have an interview with someone black talking about why they aren’t voting …”concerns” they have with Hillary etc. Have seen very similar print articles too

    Sure…black folks (the most reliable Democratic voters — no matter what color the POTUS candidate is are all gonna run off and stay home or vote for Stein or Johnson)
    I call bullshit.

    Went back to take a look at some Obama “predictions” from 2012
    In June 2012:
    Obama Is Losing A Stunning Amount Of African-American Support In North Carolina

    President Barack Obama is rapidly losing support among African-American voters in North Carolina, a new poll out today from the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling shows.
    The poll finds that Mitt Romney would get 20 percent of the African-American vote if the election were held today, compared with 76 percent for Obama. Overall, Romney has a 48 percent to 46 percent lead on Obama in the crucial swing state.
    Obama received 95 percent of the support from African-Americans in North Carolina in the 2008 election, compared with just 5 percent for Republican nominee John McCain.

    In October: In Oct- NY Times headline
    Uncertainties in Obama’s North Carolina Black Support

    Who actually voted?
    North Carolina Black Voter Turnout Tops in US

    On the other hand, when the state’s 6.6 million registered voters are divided into groups by race, gender and party affiliation, the segment with the best performance was African-American female Democrats – the same group that posted the best turnout rate in 2008, when Democrats voted at a slightly higher rate than Republicans and Barack Obama narrowly won North Carolina.
    Overall, 68.3% of registered voters cast ballots in 2012 in North Carolina, down from the modern turnout record of 69.6% set in the 2008 presidential contest.
    Black registered voters turned out at a 70.2% rate, exceeding the rates of 68.6% for whites and 54.3% for Latinos (based on how voters identified their race and ethnicity on their registration forms).
    It’s the second presidential election in a row that black voters in North Carolina have outperformed white voters, said Bob Hall of Democracy North Carolina, a nonpartisan voting rights organization. He pointed out that in 2010, when only 44% of registered voters cast a ballot, registered whites outperformed blacks by a 46% to 41% margin; turnout among white Democrats also trailed white Republicans by five percentage points that year.

    In actuality – BHO won 98% of black vote

    I think black folks will be voting as we always do — no matter what color the top of the ticket is.

     photo 383e9cd2-b71a-4d63-9c90-a3a51df1f95d_zps0tyukrao.jpg
    What is also going on now is more and more trolling with the Latino/Hispanic vote — no one can tell me that 30% of Latinos are voting for Trump in Nevada — I’ll stick to Latino Decisions predictions.

    Check this bs running on MSNBC:

    Latino Nevada voters pledge Trump: Here’s why

    Claiming Trump is getting 30% of Latino voters

    Media matters has a piece on it:
    Morning Joe Inaccurately Hypes Latino Support For Trump In Nevada With A Misleading Poll Report

    MSNBC’s Morning Joe hyped one poll to suggest 30 percent of Latino Nevada voters support Trump, but the survey’s participants who fit the description of Latino likely voters provided such a small sample size that Morning Joe’s blanket statement was likely inaccurate.
    On the September 29 edition of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, co-host Mika Brzezinski and correspondent Jacob Soboroff reported that an NBC News/WSJ/Marist poll found 30 percent of Latinos supported Trump. Soboroff, after referring to the results as “surprising” and “frankly puzzling,” went to see if “Latinos for Trump” were “a real thing” by interviewing callers on Jesus Marquez’s radio show on the Las Vegas station La Voz de Nevada.
    Marquez is one of the remaining members of Trump’s National Hispanic Advisory Council — several of them quit, calling the group a “scam” and denouncing Trump’s August 31 anti-immigrant speech as “horrible,” “dishonest,” and “tone-deaf.” Marquez often makes media appearances as a Trump surrogate, so callers to his pro-Trump radio show aren’t likely to be the most representative sample of Latino voters in Nevada.

    Um — Trump has a 78% unfavorable rating among Latinos in NV according to Latino Decisions:
    2012:

    Nevada (45 percent): Obama won this state in 2012. Exit polls show Latinos were 19 percent of the electorate. Romney got 24 percent of that vote. Obama got 71 percent.

    In other areas — like FL — and I’m cherry-picking here — Monmouth — which Silver rates as A+

    Clinton has an overwhelming advantage among Hispanic, black and Asian voters who make up about one-third of the electorate, garnering 69% of this group’s vote to 16% for Trump. Her lead among non-white voters was a similar 69% to 19% last month. Trump’s 53% to 35% advantage among white voters is also about where it was last month (51% to 37%). (my bold)

    How did Obama do in FL 2012? According to PEW

    Obama carried Florida’s Hispanic vote 60% to 39%, an improvement over his 57% to 42% showing in 2008. Also, Hispanics made up 17% of the Florida electorate this year, up from 14% in 2008.
    The state’s growing non-Cuban population—especially growth in the Puerto Rican population in central Florida—contributed to the president’s improved showing among Hispanic voters. This year, according to the Florida exit poll, 34% of Hispanic voters were Cuban while 57% were non-Cuban. Among Cuban voters, the vote was split—49% supported Obama while 47% supported Romney. Among the state’s non-Cuban voters, Obama won 66% versus 34% for Romney.

    Hillary is far more popular with Puerto Ricans than Obama was.

    I am really really sick and tired of the false “data” being dropped on the news, day in and day out.
    Sure – if we are doing poorly – we need to know to make adjustments.

    The bullshit poc numbers – and the weighting of “Likely Voters” in 2016 polls using the 2004 electorate as a base – full of white males no college – completely ignoring shifting demographics – is lying with numbers.

    • Yes, Sis, it’s extremely irritating. It’s best to discount the “news” for the time being, rely on common sense, as you appear to be doing, and check Sam Wang’s polls.

      My local rag, the WaPo, which has done its best to bring down HRC’s numbers, is suddenly panicking because it thinks the possibility of a Trump presidency is alarmingly real. Now the WaPo’s skinny little hairy white legs are running faster and faster to dump Trump and promote what it perceives to be a “flawed candidate.”

      I’m so sick of those two words that I want to follow Helen Mirren’s example and tell people like that to “f*ck off.” Really, I’m getting so irascible that Dearly Beloved remonstrates with me at least once a day!

      • The media (WaPo, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, NY Times) is tripping all over themselves NOW to say “wow, don’t vote for this completely unsuited person!!” But they were willing to allow racism and misogyny and hatred of the other drive voters to their party of choice for the past 4 decades and particularly over the past 8 years. They and their party deserves to suffer for getting this close to the precipice but sadly they won’t. I hope that they lose sleep over this because I certainly have.

        My fervent wish is that people become so angry at the Republican Party presenting Donald Trump as an acceptable nominee that they sweep them all out of office.

  6. Good gray Friday morning, Moosekind! It hath rained mightily in our corner of NoVa and lo, the grass hath turned a grateful green. We might actually need to mow it one day. Current temp. is 61 F., going up to 67 F. today. I might make Skinny Baked Ziti for dinner because tomorrow we’re going to a pre-Rosh Hashana dinner at the home of DIL’s parents.

    Feel very sad about the news from Hoboken. It just goes to show you how much we need to improve the infrastructure, which is something HRC has promised to do if elected. Apparently a safeguard that could have been installed was not.

    I’m scheduled to visit the doctor this morning for yet another ear infection. One would think that an ancient crone such as I would no longer suffer from these afflictions. One would be wrong—I have more of them than my grandchildren!

    Still, doctor-prescribed meds may keep me going long enough to canvass for HRC tomorrow morning. The house where the training is to be held is across the road from our subdivision. I can walk there. I might spend the afternoon resting before going out to dinner.

    We’re going to have more showers today and some tomorrow morning.Wishing a good day to everyone at the Pond and Beyond!

  7. So, I didn’t walk yesterday. Try to contain your surprise. I did run several errands & did laundry & watched some things on the dvr. We are having gorgeous weather — highs in the 80s. Half the people who come to the Austin City Limits Fest will want to move here.

    Today’s to-do list: pay bills on my morning break, stay awake through the day, early to bed because ungodly hour workout tomorrow. Brain is playing Snow Patrol’s Chocolate, a total nonsense song but I love it anyway.

    Goodness knows I saw it coming

    Or at least I’ll claim I did

    But in truth I’m lost for words

  8. 45 at dawn, 56 now and heading for 75. Sunny but as sunny as it’s been this week, I’m not getting much over 11 KWHs per day – I’m at 373 KWHs for the month right now so will probably top out at 383 or 384 for September, so about 75 KWHs less than Sept 2015.

    I am so glad I’ve been avoiding The Media for over 25 years. I get polling news in the Hillary diaries at GOS – mostly only believe Benchmark – and let it go at that. We will win or we will lose based on GOTV. Hillary knew she was running this race in cement shoes compounded of misogyny in general and Hillary Hate in particular. Her team has countered by running ads that both show her strengths AND her opponent’s weaknesses. The vote count doesn’t care whether a person voted for her or against Trump, just as long as it was cast for Hillary. So GOTV and hang out with like-minded people.

    Bunch of interruptions this morning. Still trying to figure out what I was doing when the first one came in so I thought I’d check in and go get some more coffee. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  9. Good morning, 45 and partly sunny in Forest Grove, Or. Yesterday’s drive was long (over 6 hrs) but it was easy. Everyone has left for school and work now and Penny (the grand puppy) is staring at Ron, hoping for a walk. We’ll be at our grand girl’s school for Grandparent’s day this afternoon. It’s good to be here.

    Best wishes to all!

    • Oh, and if you’re worried about polls, this should cheer you up too!

      4 battleground polls from today (all conducted after the debate):FL: Clinton +4MI: Clinton +7NV: Clinton +6NH: Clinton +7— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) September 30, 2016

      • Post debate polls show her up in 11 battlegrounds. Fox poll showed her winning the debate 61 to 27. Even MicrophoneGate, where the microphone in the hall may have caused the audience to not get the full impact of Yam in Disarray, won’t change those numbers.

        The Hillary strategy of “if your opponent is digging a hole, hand him a shovel” is working well.

    • My favorite was a Tweet (quoting his tweet complaining about the criticism from people over his early morning Tweeting) saying “Mr. President. Sorry to disturb you, but there’s been an incident. Another former beauty queen has gained weight.”

      I was shaking my head all day. If Republican leadership had an ounce of self-respect, they would denounce this guy and try to salvage what’s left of their tattered reputation. I cannot imagine what is going through their heads, lashing themselves to this sinking ship. Do they think that the Clinton’s marriage is going to be the “October surprise”, making everyone rush to vote for Trump so he can win and sign the laws repealing the ACA, Medicare and Social Security?

  10. Had the worst night sleep in a long time. Bill day makes that anxiety thing worse, it’s really concrete. Anyway, I’m up for my ungodly hour workout. Hope I can take a nap after.

  11. Good morning, meese! Saturday …

    It is 59 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 61. Light showers now and expected most of the day.

    I had a few errands to run this morning and am still catching up on the news. The president’s weekly address is about paid family leave and I will post it later this morning.

    Hillary Clinton released a new national service plan yesterday:

    The generation coming of age today has already changed our politics and our country. From racial justice and marriage equality to economic opportunity and climate change, they have put the key issues of our time at the top of the national agenda. Hillary Clinton believes we must do more to support their activism and create pathways for young Americans to serve and to lead. This is the generation that will break down all of the barriers and build ladders of opportunity.

    That is why today Hillary Clinton is announcing her plan to create a National Service Reserve to engage 5 million Americans, with a special focus on people between the ages of 18 and 30, in service to their communities and their country. This plan is built on her core commitment to expand AmeriCorps to 250,000 members annually as called for in the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. As we seek to do more for our citizens, we need to ask more of them as well.

    When young adults are engaged in something outside of themselves, it enriches their lives and helps their communities. My daughter, who is still in high school, wants to get into the Peace Corps after college. This kind of program might open up more opportunities here in the United States.

    I wish this election were about real issues instead of whose tweet “burns” more. I cannot wait for the blessed quiet of November 9th – and pray that the 2020 election does not start until at least 2018.

    See all y’all later!

  12. Upper 40s over night and heading for 80 today – sunny again. (Clouds moved in yesterday afternoon so topped at 9 KWHs for the day and 384 for the month. Partly cloudy so far today – we shall see what October brings as far as electricity is concerned.

    Hillary is the most qualified candidate to ever run for president. Hillary’s team is the most qualified ever put together to get her in the White House (which figures that the team of the most qualified candidate ever would be the most qualified team ever). They all knew that Hillary was running this race in cement shoes – but she’s used to that. So many of her roles over her life start out with “first woman ever…” Only someone was both as qualified as she is and as used to breaking glass ceilings as she is would be able to break this one. She’s gonna do it.

    Just finished putting up food – most of which will be cooked tomorrow and eaten next week – and am taking a coffee break before dealing with all the bird and cat supplies I got last night and just dumped on the porch. Probably take one more coffee break before I make my lunch and head to Dem HQ. Trying to find someone who can/will do some tree work for me – not a lot but I’ve got two overgrown hazelnut bushes and an oak tree that have branches growing into the carport roof. I’m giving up on the arborist I’ve been trying to get for the last 2 months. Oh well. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

    • Hope your tree work is less fraught than our’s was last week! Urban trees do require maintenance and pruning.

  13. Did 2.55 miles. 9 running bursts, 2 of them 45 seconds. Not bad for a day I didn’t feel good & had barely slept.

  14. Good morning, 54 and partly cloudy in Forest Grove. We’re enjoying coffee and conversation in our daughter’s kitchen while they cook breakfast for everyone. We have an easy day planned with a visit to Erica’s new office and to a newly opened fabric and craft store. Then we’ll rest and visit some more while cooking dinner.

    Have a good day everyone!

Comments are closed.