Sunday, July 29, 2018

Selective Deafness In His Own Echo Chamber

I have written many times about the dangers of Trump's attacks on the press. This week the publisher of the New York Times went to Washington to talk to Trump in person about the same idea. Sulzberger didn't make any comments about the tete-a-tete preferring to keep their interaction confidential until Trump tweeted this:

"Had a very good and interesting meeting at the White House with A.G. Sulzberger, Publisher of the New York Times," Trump wrote. "Spent much time talking about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, 'Enemy of the People.' Sad!"  

After that tweet, Sulzberger came out very forcefully, correcting the record of their conversation. Not only did the two men not have a meeting of the minds, Trump's characterization of the discussion is written by someone who apparently thinks the little voice in his brain is an entirely different person. When someone quotes himself as if he were quoting someone else there is no reasonable response except the rapid indignation of Sulzberger.


Sulzberger said he accepted the meeting to raise concerns about "the president's deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric" and that he told Trump his language was divisive and "increasingly dangerous." 

Now Trump is tweeting that Sulzberger revealed private information by responding to Trump's nonsense with the truth.

Giuliani Past Sell By Date

Candidate Trump notoriously declared that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and no one would care. This utter disregard for consequences isn't simply a sign of Trump's grandiosity; it describes those who vote for him as well. Case in point--Rudy Giuliani. Last week the Trump tam waived privilege on certain dealings with Cohen. At the beginning of this week, Michael Cohen's attorney released the taped conversation between Cohen and Trump that apparently outlined how they were going to "catch and kill" the publication of Karen MacDougal's story. So first the Trump side sends out Giuliani to try to convince listeners that the tape doesn't say what most of the world thinks it says. Then last night Giuliani declared that Cohen needs to be very careful because he will be disbarred (surely he is past that point anyway) if he continues to release privileged conversations (where privilege no longer attaches), and that in any case Cohen altered the tape prior to its release.

So there are so many competing narratives just in a few days of Giuliani's appearances on television that the rational human will discount absolutely everything that Giuliani says. As Judge Judy always says, "If it doesn't make sense, it isn't true."

But the Trump voter nods his head because the whole point of being a Trump voter is to pick the guy who hates the same people you hate.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Demagoguery and Bluster; Me Or Your Lying Eyes II

Trump has been saying that a free press is the enemy of the people for more than his term in office. He started before November of 2016 and enough people believed him that he won the electoral college. But Trump's lies have also been growing, both in number and scale and his free press description is simply the same lie repeated. But when he does get caught in lies as with the Cohen tape of Trump agreeing to pay Karen MacDougal when he swore that he had not done so, then Trump really doubles down on his repulsive language and behavior.

On a side note about his comment today that the tape ended abruptly and didn't reveal if had said something nice one has to wonder what that might have been. I mean after he agrees to make the payment, even trying to convince Cohen to pay in cash thinking no doubt that cash could not be traced back to him, what is left for him to say? "You know Michael, Karen is a really nice young woman who loves me." Or perhaps, "You have always been on my side, Michael, and I know that you are helping me now." I mean what is there to say after you discuss with your lawyer how you want to pay off the Playboy bunny you have been banging but do so in a way that prevents her voice being heard? In all fairness MacDougal had been paid by the parent company of the National Enquirer but Trump wanted to prevent anyone from buying the rights to the sleazy story from them so he bought those rights for $150K. So strictly speaking it wasn't a payment to the woman in question but that's pretty much splitting hairs.

Anyway, Trump spoke to the VFW, giving another one of his campaign style presentations. He didn't promise better health care or fairer treatment or even jobs for veterans. What he said was:

"Stick with us. Don't believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. ... What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening."


Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Stranger Than Fiction

The US House of Representatives and the speaker of the house, Paul Ryan, promised a vote on a comprehensive immigration bill before the August recess. The problem was they had not written the bill at that point. So they started the process and started whipping up the votes without completing the language of the bill, a fairly normal procedure. This time they hit a huge snag though.

Now keeping in mind that there is a great deal of sentiment, especially in Republican circles, against illegal immigration as the foundation of most of society's ills from crime to welfare, which sentiment drives the comprehensive immigration language. So on the face of it, one expects the Republican party, who dominate in numbers in the House, to write a bill that does all it can to stop or at least slow down illegal immigration. But hold on and maybe hold your nose. Lobbyists from the California Farm Bureau (full disclosure-my husband worked for the CFB for a while) have come out strongly against the two bills that are currently being written and discussed because both versions require all employers, including farmers, to use e-verify to guarantee that any employee is legally able to work in the US. Not only is the Farm Bureau opposed to guaranteeing legal workers but they have described verifying legal status of workers as "socialism".

You can't make this stuff up.

Trump said that US taxpayers would benefit from his tough trade rules including his tariffs. So how does a regular taxpayer benefit from $12billion dollar bailout of US farmers who are losing money because of the tariffs? How does a US taxpayer benefit from Whirlpool, among other companies, raising its prices at least 25% and possibly more because of Trump's tariffs? Donald J. Boudreaux, economics professor at George Mason University described Trump's tariffs as "economic suicide".

You can't make this stuff up.

 

Monday, July 23, 2018

Need More Evidence?

Last week Trump was forced to "correct" a couple of statements, one made in Helsinki and one in response to a reporter's question, about whether he believed that Russia was behind the 2016 election tampering. Now of course everyone knows the correction wasn't really real, and Trump is still Putin's poodle. Last night before he blasted Iranian president Rouhani he tweeted that the Mueller investigation was a hoax. Since all the intelligence services have concrete and verifiable evidence that the tampering was not a hoax and was orchestrated by Russia at the behest of Putin, Trump's late night tweet undermined his own team's "correction" of his statements. Then came the Rouhani blast to deflect interest.

Whiplash is the least of our worries with Trump.

Saturday, July 21, 2018

90% Of People Are Crazy

It was reported today that 90% of Republicans think Trump is special. Registered voters in the Republican party are not by any means a majority of United States voters but the very idea that 90% of that group still thinks Trump is the bee's knees astounds me. Don't they care that he cozied up to Putin? Don't they care that he continues to attack our freedom of the press by labeling the press as the enemy of the people, echoing Stalin when he does so? Don't they care that he didn't even consult with his NSC chief when he invited Putin to Washington? Who the hell do they think is supposed to keep the United States safe?

Does anyone remember the confusion after 9/11? Who was supposed to be reporting to what and which services were supposed to talk to each other and which weren't? Dan Coats didn't even know that Trump had invited Putin to Washington and if you think Trump is better at national intelligence than Dan Coats you really need to see a doctor.

The economy is heating up so the Federal Reserve raised interest rates. So what does Trump do? He excoriates Powell because he thinks that Powell's move advantages China. Never mind that the Federal Reserve is supposed to be above politics (that's kind of the point of having a Federal Reserve). Trump just cannot let anyone else control any other part of anything. The last man in the WH who did that was Carter and that didn't end well for anyone's pocketbook. Inflation is already hitting US pocketbooks. Do you think Trump cares?

He always brags that he went to Wharton. There are two Whartons at Penn--one is the undergraduate degree program and the other is the Graduate School of Business. Trump did two years at the undergraduate level (because he couldn't get in to Penn after high school), but that was only for the undergraduate degree. Given that Penn undergraduate degree is still a liberal arts degree, his two years there weren't focused on the deeper parts of economics or theory or even anything that could equip him to understand what Jerome Powell understands.   Don't count on Trump understanding economics, or history, or even geography. Does he know where Montenegro is?

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Anniversary

It is not my wedding anniversary but next week will be the 50th anniversary of my husband and I meeting. It is easy to remember because it happened just a few days before his birthday so when his birthday rolls around we know we can celebrate our anniversary as well. He was in NROTC and had just come down to Corpus Christi for his flight training requirement after being in Little Creek, Virginia, for his Marine training. A friend of his hooked us up via letter (remember those) and I arranged to pick him up for a weekend away from the base in an air-conditioned house with a swimming pool. I remember looking at him and thinking, "That poor guy looks like he could use a shower." He told me later that he had just taken one but of course the barracks weren't air-conditioned and it was nearly August in South Texas. I also thought that he had the roundest head I had ever seen, a fact that was painfully obvious because of his Marine haircut.

Naturally no one expected anything to come of this. It wasn't even supposed to be a boy meets girl sort of thing, just hospitality. But here we are fifty years later.

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Just One Block

Here is a photo of just one block that is completely quilted.

I really like the batiks of the pears and peaches and the watermelon looks nearly real.

Monday, July 16, 2018

Some Call It Treason

Trump stood next to Putin today and said that he believed Putin when he said that Russia had not interfered with the US election. This despite Putin saying in Russian that was translated for everyone that he had wanted Trump to win and had taken steps to see that happen. Trump went on to blame the United States and Obama and the DNC for the election meddling and went on to say that the intelligence services were not doing a good job. Stunned Republicans in Congress all made comments condemning Trump's statements with some saying that it was treason. I didn't read any comments from Democrats yet.

Of course none of them have the cojones to do anything about it.

There is a quilt shop in Newark, Delaware that sounds interesting. It's about a 40 minute drive away from my house so my husband and I plan to go there tomorrow. And yes, my husband likes to go to quilt shops. He likes to look at all the fabrics and designs and he has been all over the western US and western Europe going to quilt stores with me. He really liked the one in Edinburgh. So I will let everyone know about The Blue Hen Quilt Shop after we visit tomorrow.

Sunday, July 15, 2018

There Was A Time

There was a time that news organizations held off on criticizing the White House occupant when he was overseas. It was supposed to be bad manners and worse diplomacy. But Trump cares nothing for norms and his followers, all you Trumpettes, love him for it. So when Trump says while overseas that news organizations are enemies of the American people, it is only fair to point out that Trump is a lying, philandering, stupid, and vile sack of excrement who is deeply in debt to Russians. News organizations are not the enemies of all Americans, and the ones that Trump excoriates are among the good ones. And yes, all you Trumpettes, I do make a point of reading opposing views and I do make a point of watching at least Fox News Sunday. I even had a comment read on air on that show.

He is going to Helsinki tomorrow to meet with Vladimir Putin, to whom he owes his election. If you don't understand how that works, then you are a prisoner to social media. That's understandable since even intelligent people are prisoners to social media and Trump supporters are definitely not in that group. Inflation is up, and up quite sharply. World tensions are higher than ever but Trump thinks that's fine because American defense contractors are making more money.

I am making good progress on the quilting. It's funny that so many women have made this very same quilt, more or less, and for the last few years at least one version has won multiple prizes. But when I think of how the machine quilting was done on the quilt two years ago at Paducah, I look at my blocks and smile because I am sticking to the old fashioned style and focus.

Saturday, July 7, 2018

Played Like A Fiddle

I have been avoiding writing about Trump and his world view because I find the topic distasteful and defeating, but Pompeo's visit to North Korea, that is still going on, brought on comments from North Korean spokespeople, who you can bet are vetted by Kim Jong Un, that have been reported in the press. The statements, even in translation, are very funny in an uneasy and unsettling way.

We all know that Trump came back from Singapore proudly exclaiming that he had a new BFF and that everyone could sleep more soundly now that he, Trump, had conquered the NK demon. What was curious even before the June meeting in Singapore was Trump's nasty little letter and NK's quick subsequent acquiescence to the meeting even after that nasty little letter. Of course Trump thought it meant that Kim recognized his strength and might and Trump really wanted that Nobel prize so when he got that oversized letter (which many people thought was intended to emphasize Trump's small hands), he fell over and chortled. As has been reported, he never read the letter.

Then he came back to pronounce the whole sleeping soundly nonsense but as soon as he left, NK began revisions on launch sites and uranium enrichment sites and did so deliberately and without trying in any way to hide the activity. So when Pompeo spoke to NK yesterday, one of the negotiators on the NK side made sure that his own statement was very public--"I don't think you slept soundly last night." That was only one of the obvious, very obvious, digs at Trump who thinks he knows how to negotiate deals when all he has ever done is drive everyone else into penury or bankruptcy.

All you Trumpettes own this f'n mess--that's your guy playing way out of his league. You better hope that the monster in the mansion doesn't blow us all up once he understands how he has been played.

The Center Is Quilted

The center four blocks are completely quilted now and I am moving around from there. They look great with added details and the quilting also makes the applique really stand out. It always seems weird to me when I am quilting during the summer and sitting under a big quilt during the current weather is occasionally tough. We do have air conditioning but it doesn't keep up that well with the humidity which has been above 75%. We purchased some very cool small room dehumidifiers, and they work well but I am used to about 12% humidity, especially in the summer. Utah is so dry we had to add water to the air to keep all the furniture from cracking and splitting. Oh well, my skin feels very soft and silky here which at 68 is not a bad thing. The heat has let up a little today as well so our morning walk wasn't as tough.

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Happy Fourth of July

My poor coonhound will probably have a nervous breakdown before all the fireworks stop. Every night for a week there have been booms and bangs in the night. We tried giving him benadryl but it didn't help much. Last night my husband slept in the room with the dog just to make him feel safer. I know the fireworks are supposed to represent the "rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air" but this is getting very old.

I finished the third block yesterday and started on the fourth, the giant tableau of fruit. Although it is tempting to leave large pieces such as the watermelon unquilted that would mean a big blank area. I do like the quilting though I think I need to get a quilter's light. There aren't any overhead lights in this house and the table lamps are not ideal.

Monday, July 2, 2018

Magical

My husband's poison ivy rash made his sleep very fitful which in turn made my sleep non-existent. The big upside to that was I got up in the pre-dawn hours and let the dog out. The fireflies were out in force, some in our yard winking and blinking, but thousands and thousands in the forest primeval across the road. It reminded me of seeing photo flashes at a rock concert. I haven't seen fireflies since I was 9 years old so greeting the day with this amazing performance was just magical.

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Welcome To Pennsylvania

The title of this entry is meant ironically as we have been here for nearly three months. But I had to laugh because we had to go to the store this morning. What items were on the list? Well we needed to buy mouse traps for the rodents that have been pooping in my kitchen. We had to buy ant traps for the ants that are trying to invade my kitchen. And my poor husband had to buy calamine lotion for the poison ivy he got clearing out some weeds that the previous owner had let run rampant. Now she may have let them run rampant because she knew they covered up the poison ivy but there is no way in January, when we bid on the house, that there would have been any evidence of poison ivy and there certainly wasn't any disclosure of the noxious plant nor of the rodent problem. I am not sure if ants are supposed to be disclosed.

I have never had poison ivy or poison oak though I have lived near both in multiple places. My husband is almost as sensitive to the stuff as my poor brother was who could walk across the street from the plants and break out in oozy welts. My husband is only slightly better but he suffers tremendously. I don't know if it is possible to hire someone to clear the plants out of the yard and I am not sure it would do much good since the woods around us are filled with the stuff.