Monday, August 27, 2018

Welcome to Pennsylvania, Part Two

My dog was poisoned on Friday. He died Friday night. He is not the first dog to die in this neighborhood this summer so no one believes that these are targeted killings. Rather the suspicion is that someone is putting out poison for other critters who then excrete the poison or die in someone's yard to be eaten by other animals. My husband and I had observed multiple dead animals on the roads on our daily walk, from birds to squirrels and snakes who did not seem to have any qualifying injuries. We had talked to the neighbors but thought that our animals were safe since we didn't have electronic collars on them nor did we have doggy doors and so monitored their outside visits. But somehow this past Friday, in the early dawn Watson ingested poison. Neither of us know how Watson ate poison. But he did, and he died. He was only seven or eight years old. We don't know for sure because he was a rescued dog from the Park City animal rescue.

Everybody loved Watson and Watson loved everybody. He was a gentle soul discarded by his first owner because he wouldn't hunt. His best friend was not our other dog but our Maine coon cat. There is surely a special place in hell for the person who puts out poison in a neighborhood full of animals and children. Rest in peace, Watson.

Friday, August 24, 2018

What A Guy

The younger Duncan Hunter, a Republican congressman from San Diego County, who "inherited" the seat from his father, was indicted this week for multiple counts of misusing campaign funds, a federal offense. Hunter fils and his wife overspent his income and used campaign money like a slush fund that they could tap whenever and wherever. Now there hasn't been any trial yet so the presumption of innocence is on his side, but he has already released two separate defenses. The first is that this is all a deep state conspiracy against him because he supports Trump despite the fact that the DoJ is headed by Republicans appointed and approved by a Republican majority. His other defense is that he didn't do anything at all, that it was entirely his wife's doing, thus throwing her under the bus.

Forget the "few, the proud, the Marines" motto that he espoused his whole life. Forget the "till death do us part" vow that he undoubtedly swore to when he was married. No more Semper Fi in that marriage.Forget any loyalty or honor--throw your wife under the bus when it suits your political exigencies.

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Inner Blocks Complete

I finished quilting all 16 blocks of the album quilt today. While that is a momentous step there are still the four very elaborate borders to go. I have gone through over 600 yards of quilting thread so far. These days that doesn't even sound like much since machine quilters use many times more than that, but it is still a great deal of thread. My new favorite hand quilting thread is YLI pure cotton thread from Japan. Very silky feel and doesn't split when threading the needles.

Just to remind you what the 16 blocks look like I have added a picture that I have shown before. I still think I will be done by Christmas and with any luck even before that.


Monday, August 20, 2018

Please Pay Attention

Ralph Peters, who spent some time as a Fox news analyst after retiring from the US Army as a lieutenant colonel, has been publicly pointing fingers at Fox since announcing his resignation. Today he went in the other direction, making pointed and directed comments about Trump. For so many of us who are about the same age as Trump (72), Peters (66) and me (68), the state of the country is of paramount interest and importance. When Trump makes calls to make America great again, he is calling for a return to when Joseph McCarthy had the country calling for loyalty oaths and blacks and other racial minorities, women, the disabled, and the lgbt community were either disenfranchised or despised or both. Roy Cohn was a personal mentor to Trump and if you don't know who or what Cohn was, you would be well served by finding out.

Today Peters declared, "This is a distinctly un-American president who really doesn't seem to like America very much, certainly doesn't respect it. And he's a president who appears to be enthralled to a foreign power, a hostile foreign power."

Trumpettes, you need to decide if you want an America that lives up to its ideals or an America that does go back to Trump's childhood.

Sunday, August 19, 2018

When Truth Isn't Truth

Rudy Giuliani, Trump's current personal lawyer, went on "Meet the Press" this morning and flat out said that truth was not truth. Giuliani was being pressed about the meeting in Trump Tower before the election that Don Jr. had accepted. The person who contacted Don Jr.told junior, according to the emails that junior shared with congress, that the meeting was with a lawyer with contacts within the Kremlin who had dirt on Hillary Clinton because the Russian government supported his father. You don't have to believe me when I write that because junior shared the emails with Congress and they are easily available online. If you need me to tell you how to search for stuff you are too confused to continue.

So when Chuck Todd asked Giuliani and Giuliani started his remarks by saying that junior didn['t even know the lawyer was Russian or if she had contacts within government in Russia, he was lying. He knows he was lying but he is being a lawyer, trying to parse words even when the words are there for the whole world to see. The Trump team is like the cage of chimpanzees at the zoo who throw their feces at visitors because they are upset at the spectacle they present.

Giuliani can't throw enough kaka at the wall to convince me but I already know that Trump supporters eat that kaka up.

Friday, August 17, 2018

How Many Enemies Does It Take?

Trump is now saying that the next name on his enemies list is Bruce Ohr who will soon lose his security clearance.

Prior to inauguration folks theorized that Trump was a narcissist. Those traits are still evident and still govern his behavior, but now he is showing signs of paranoia. Unfortunately he is hurting people with his behavior and I don't mean John Brennan who will endure anything Trump dishes out and give it back in spades. Every step he takes informs the thinking public not only of his frailty but of his ignorance. Will he go down in history? Absolutely. Very far down.

Thursday, August 16, 2018

Bless The Honest Man

Admiral William McRaven who oversaw the Navy SEAL incursion into Pakistan that ended in bin Laden's death came out forcefully against Trump's actions in stripping Brennan of his security clearance. In addition to praising Brennan as an honest patriot who had devoted his life to this country, McRaven said, "Therefore, I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency,"

Trump, who comes from a long line of draft dodgers and service avoiders, after all, that's how his family ended up in the US, will find some way to denigrate this man, you can make bank on that. If all you Trumpettes find that acceptable you will have earned any disparaging title given to you. The United States aspirational goals are not a reality show to find winners and losers. When Trump wins, everyone loses.

My one consolation this week is that the neo-Nazi freak from north central Pennsylvania now has two votes against him in any national contest.


Shame The Devil

So many strands of nefarious doings that it is hard to keep one's sense of humor. Yesterday, after a brief trial that was marked more by the judge's interference than by legal brilliance, the Manafort case was given to the jury. Despite repeatedly telling the defense that they could not rely on special counsel accusations nor hint of any tie to the Trump notion of a witch hunt, the defense went ahead and said that this was a selective prosecution caused by the government's obsession with destroying Trump. Judge Ellis who twice had to be reminded of his errors during the trial (once for reversing his own statement about a witness remaining in court and once for ignoring the statute that governed the bank fraud), was overly mild in telling the jurors that they shouldn't try to impute any motive to the government's prosecution. In some ways that is okay since Manafort has another trial starting next month but it is beyond shocking that a judge could be so manifestly prejudicial to one side.

Yesterday Trump revoked John Brennan's security clearance. Initially he claimed that he was doing so as a precaution to keep US security agencies safe. But then Trump, who wouldn't recognize truth or irony if they jumped up and bit his fat pink cheeks, told the Wall Street Journal that he stripped the clearance because he saw Brennan as one of the instigators of the "witch hunt". Since Trump doesn't even believe his own intelligence agencies, it is risible that he wants to protect them. Then it underscores again, as if anyone with any semblance of intelligence needed the reminder, that Trump cannot tell the truth to save his soul or shame the devil.  

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Tell The Truth

Rudy Giuliani said on TV that facts were in the eye of the beholder. Of course given his recent reversals he will probably claim he never said that or that he meant something different from the perceived sentiment but that is pretty incredible. Yes, eye witnesses to crimes often report different things, but facts are not simply mistaken testimony. Two days after the inauguration Kellyanne Conway said that Spicer presented alternative facts and the entire world laughed at the notion. Now we have become inured to lies in a way that is dangerous for our democracy and dangerous for us as individuals. If there is no objective truth then we have no need for laws of any kind from the biblical sort to our Constitution.

How do we fight back? Tell the truth. This isn't debatable. Just tell the truth.

Friday, August 10, 2018

Beyond Appalling

Laura Ingraham let loose in a tirade that declared that the US was turning into a place that she couldn't recognize. I don't have cable news and if I did I doubt that I would turn to Fox except to see what the other side of the political spectrum is seeing and thinking. But her comments were so vile and reprehensible that the next night she declared that she didn't align herself with David Duke or his minions. So how does she support her call to arms when she says that America doesn't look the way her listeners want it to look?

My family's history covers most of the history of the United States. Maternally and paternally I have relatives from the early years of the country and the man I married has a paternal grandparent who founded Mendon, Massachusetts before the dawn of the 17th century. But that doesn't make any of us better than people who came much later, including my maternal grandfather's parents who came to Binghamton, NY, in time for his birth in the last quarter of the 19th century. My husband's Japanese grandfather wasn't allowed to become a citizen and his American wife lost her citizenship when she married him because of the laws current at the time.

All of us in this country, that I really learned to treasure when I was five years old and coming back from Germany where my father had been stationed with the US Army, owe a debt to every single immigrant who endured prejudice like the prejudice that spewed from Ingraham's mouth. How does she explain it to her adopted children, one from Guatemala and two from Russia? 

Friday, August 3, 2018

Great World Leader

Trump is demonstrably a moron but he outdid himself when talking about the United Kingdom. That's because he doesn't seem to know the difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain, or any of the individual countries. He said during the world cup competition that he was glad that the Brits were playing as England because he missed cheering for England. Apparently his mother, a Scot, was a real fan of the monarchy who had all the doilies and other memorabilia. That's why he was so eager to meet her even though he showed up late and then showed her his backside.

That's the example we now have to follow.

Thursday, August 2, 2018

More Than Seven Lies A Day

There are lots of people who like to keep track of the most arcane information, akin to how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. In light of that, the latest tracking of Trump's pronouncements finds that he lies on average more than 7 times a day, a statistic that is more than shocking. But what is more appalling is that his adherents believe him at a much higher rate than they believe their own families. 90% of Trumpettes believe what he says while only 67% of them believe their own family members.

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

The Devil Made Him Do It

Paul Manafort's trial began yesterday with jury selection, opening statements by prosecution and defense, and testimony of first witness. Since this was just the beginning of what is expected to be about two weeks of testimony, not much has been revealed but the defense opening statement did show their apparent tactic. They have two main ideas, the first of which is that Rick Gates, Manafort's right-hand man, was the real mastermind and instigator of anything that happened in the Republican lobbying firm the two men ran. The second idea, focused more on the tax evasion and bank fraud part of the charges, alleges that Manafort had no choice in using illegal bank reporting and fraudulent claims to get loans because his Ukrainian clients insisted that he do so.

So if someone asks you to do something that you know to be illegal, but that is the only way you can get that person's business, then you are obligated to become a criminal (sarcasm). I don't know about any of you but that sounds both like an FBI sting or the most juvenile defense in the world. It tops Giuliani's "There was no collusion but collusion isn't a crime," by at least a few degrees.