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- In the Infosphere, United States
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My dentist said he needed a hand like this...
3,526 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 1001 – 1200 of 3526 Newer› Newest»Portland, though a smaller city, has created a substantial problem for its light rail system. The Steel Bridge across the Willamette River downtown is an unusual old double-decker with heavy rail (including Amtrak) on the lower deck and cars, buses, and light rail sharing the street above. It's a vertical lift bridge, a design that doesn't survive earthquakes.
The Steel Bidge should have been closed to street traffic years ago. Fortunately, there's a new bridge down the river that ONLY carries light rail, street cars and buses, along with bikes and pedestrians, taking the bus load off a busy nearby bridge. But the longer-term prospect of possibly installing a transit tunnel under the Willamette is barely in the thinking phase. The city has ever so slowly managed to upgrade buildings and infrastructure against earthquakes. It'll be interesting to visit in September after more than a decade of absence.
Good discussion on IanMasters.com (redirects to https://fdmedia.org) tonite on the Magnitsky Act, and an argument that the way to get at the Russian crooks is via their money. They launder it through people like Trump, and then it's in the US or UK, and subject to freezing or seizure under US or UK law, so Putin's top foreign policy priority is to do away with such laws, or have them not be enforced. One suspects that was on the agenda at the recent Putin-Trump meeting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnitsky_Act
I would not call a Putin-Trump meeting a "summit" in the way that Ike-Khruschev was. Two Mafia dons meeting in the sewer, perhaps.
Dave, here's the Duluth aerial lift bridge (we ate at a restaurant on the waterfront, where we could watch the bridge rise and fall as dinner entertainment):
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Aerial_lift_bridge_duluth_mn.jpg/1200px-Aerial_lift_bridge_duluth_mn.jpg
Long ago, the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge had commuter trains as well as cars on its lower deck:
https://assets.rbl.ms/5360835/980x.jpg
Nice to turn off the ol' brain for a few hours and just watch the All-Star game couch-potato style (with some chocolate/chocolate-chip ice cream to soothe me). One minor annoyance: Aaron Judge isn't the first outstanding 6'7" slugger; what about Hondo???
Lower deck was trains, and trucks were required to go there. Cars could also, but would generally stick to the top deck unless the top was badly congested. As I recall it was 2x3 lanes on top, and 2x1 below. Now it's 5 lanes in one direction on both levels.
That was me. What happened to my ID?
Apparently in the intelligence world, an offer like the Russians' to DTrump jr is called a dangle. You offer something, and see what the reply might be. Does he report you to the FBI? Or not reply? Or give a favorable response? That gives you some idea about how you might play him, or not, in the future.
Sort of like would-be burglars casing a joint, in order to come back later and steal.
"See the Amazing Kids' Maps That Won a Global Contest":
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/cartography-kids-maps-global-contest (#14 is incendiary)
Jim, WaPo's "Daily 202" this AM jibes with your post of 11:16 PM EDT last night:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/07/12/daily-202-trump-dysfunction-follows-family-from-the-campaign-to-the-white-house
...- Former spooks say the way Veselnitskaya's meeting with Trump Jr. went down fits with everything we know about Russian spycraft: The Kremlin was probably using this lawyer as a dangle to see if Trump Jr. would bite. And he did. Just Security’s Rolf Mowatt-Larssen and Ryan Goodman explain in a smart piece that the media is asking the wrong questions about Trump Jr.'s meeting: “It is difficult to conceive of a scenario in which a private citizen in Russia has access to derogatory information on a U.S. presidential candidate. The act of offering such information was likely, at minimum, a trial balloon, and at best (from Moscow’s perspective), a chance to pass certain information from an agent of the Russian government to the Trump campaign through the candidate’s campaign manager and son, thereby also implicating Donald J. Trump himself. Vesilnitskaya may have had her own agenda in requesting a meeting with Trump. That part could be legitimate. But Russian intelligence practice is to co-opt such a person by arming them with secret intelligence information and tasking them to pass it to Trump’s people and get their reaction. Did Trump’s associates like it? Do they want more? … In sum, Vesilnitskaya’s advocacy of other causes is irrelevant to her mission on behalf of the Russian government. Based on what we now know, this interaction had all the hallmarks of an overture by Russian intelligence to the campaign, and it is utterly damning that Trump Jr. took the meeting, brought in Manafort and Kushner to the meeting, and none of them reported the events immediately”... [my emphases]
A possible sign of the times? From today's Orlando Sentinel story on fundraising by Republican gubernatorial candidates:
"The Florida Democratic Party’s fundraising numbers for the second quarter significantly beat the Republican Party of Florida. According to state reports made public Monday night, RPOF took in just $339,000, its worst quarter since at least 1996, while the FDP brought in $1.7 million."
Disney has made a handsome contribution to the Republican Commissioner of Agriculture, Adam Putnam, who does stand out in a crowd by being red-headed.
The Dem fundraising efforts are heartening, but I wonder how much it matters when billionaires can fund PACs and individual candidates, not to mention voter suppression efforts.
seasea
I agree that state political parties are becoming mere fan clubs. Our local beach community was important enough for Romney for him to fly in the day before an important primary.
Less than fan clubs, ever since the parties decided to commit suicide and hand the process over to primary elections. Trump is an example of why those "smoke-filled rooms" weren't as bad as they were made out to be.
There was an article published last year that describes how the loss of the processes in those smoke-filled rooms was actually a painful loss to our political process.
"In a large and diverse country, to get things done, people need devices to navigate the political system, organize themselves, channel particular interests and ideologies, and negotiate with others who have differing interests and views. Political parties have traditionally played this role in the United States. And they have often played it as a counterweight to the momentary passions of the public."
Sounds a little different from current practice, doesn't it? Here's the link:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/political-reforms-that-have-helped-to-cripple-the-gop/2016/04/14/7bba2c08-0265-11e6-9d36-33d198ea26c5_story.html?utm_term=.7e99ceaedf6f
VERY interesting article!
A lot of voters found the establishment Hillary Clinton so disturbing that they held their noses and voted for Trump. The notion that "this is the last election, the last chance to save Christian America from its enemies" was sufficient to raise turnout by about 5%, at least according to research reported in news stories in the past week or so.
The Trump administration is likely to turn into a debacle, but with much of the public apparently convinced that Obama was corrupt, evil, Communist, or whatever, voters might view Trump as a bumbling amateur and therefore better than a wily lefty intellectual.
Then again, I can't figure out how the general public view public affairs. Reading newspapers seems to be of no help.
Brad Sherman has filed articles of impeachment, for firing Comey and for asking Comey to go nice on Flynn. Probably nothing will happen, it's just symbolic, but maybe later it will go against some members who reject it.
Jim, it appears that Sherman could soon have more allegations to add to the funeral pyre, I mean articles of impeachment:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Sherman#Controversies
On January 9, 2017 while being interviewed on CNN's Newsroom, Sherman claimed that Moscow helped Donald Trump win the Electoral College. Sherman said, "The fact is that in the campaign Trump said things that would have hurt him just a little bit with American voters, but helped him with the Electoral College votes that are controlled in Moscow. And Moscow returned the favor. The fact that [...] they didn’t do a secret meeting or secret found call doesn’t change that"... [my emphases]
Note to Jumper: I'm having difficulty with ReCAPTCHA, so if this post appears multiple times, please remove the duplicates.
I always had pink phlox in my garden but this year for the first time a white phlox popped up. It's either a miracle or an amazing mutation.
...or maybe a white-phlox seed dropped out of one end or the other of an overflying bird ;-)
Especially for Dave, who was just there. "Londoners Pack Site Of Terror Attack In Show Of Resilience":
http://www.npr.org/2017/07/13/536995531/londoners-pack-site-of-terror-attack-in-show-of-resilience (audio already online, transcript later today)
London's famed Borough Market was the site of a terror attack last month. Upscale restaurants say tourist bookings are down, but locals are packing the market in a show of solidarity.
(One of the points made is that older Londoners lived through the IRA bombings, so this latest terrorism is nothing new)
NP, the bird must have had extraordinary good aim because it placed the white seed right next to the pink plant. If that's the case, I am grateful to the bird for once because usually it or they aim for my car.
Via James Hohmann's daily email: Bruce Mehlman, America in the Age of Disruption.
http://mehlmancastagnetti.com/wp-content/uploads/Mehlman-Age-of-Disruption-Q3-2017.pdf?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_daily202
And a glum assessment from a distinguished Yale historian, the sort Anne Applebaum no doubt admires (he's the author of Bloodlands). Timothy Snyder thinks some sort of coup attempt is likely, perhaps in early 2018 if election prospects are looking bad for the Republicans. I think the negative nature of the Republican agenda means that keeping control of the Senate is crucial (judicial appointments) but the House might not be such a big deal. Trump or Pence can wreck the Executive Branch via executive orders and appointments, or lack thereof.
http://www.salon.com/2017/05/01/historian-timothy-snyder-its-pretty-much-inevitable-that-trump-will-try-to-stage-a-coup-and-overthrow-democracy/?utm_content=inf_10_3115_2&utm_source=SocialEdge&utm_campaign=influencer&tse_id=INF_fd834290679711e790011d41b85aaeb5
Timothy Snyder was on Ian Masters sometime near the date of the article, which was May first.
Well, gmbka, Trump WAS just in Poland recently. Perhaps he picked up a few strong-man tips...
Trump objectified Mme Macron yesterday during his visit:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2017/07/13/trump_tells_brigitte_macron_she_s_in_such_good_shape_video.html
To Mme Macron: You’re in such good shape (tacit implication: "for your age").
To M. Macron: She’s in such good physical shape. Beautiful (tacit implication: "she's your property")
"Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz to critic: ‘Watch your back. . . . I already know where you live’":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/07/14/trump-lawyer-marc-kasowitz-to-critic-watch-your-back/
...Kasowitz’s spokesman said [...] that Kasowitz regretted his words and that the email “came at the end of a very long day that at 10 p.m. was not yet over”...
Past the lawyer's bedtime?
Could someone please forward this info to our FTB? (Hope she's doing well these days). Unlike most of us, she has standing to report Marc Kasowitz's threats to the NYSBA.
New York State Bar Association contact info: http://www.nysba.org/contact/
Ethics opinions: (518) 487-5679, ethics@nysba.org. Please note: inquiries may be submitted by attorneys only and must be in writing.
SCC: Kasowitz's threats against the person who emailed him.
For the American Bar Association, you can fill out the online form (nothing about only attorneys being allowed to file an ethics complaint):
https://www.americanbar.org/about_the_aba/contact.html
A sword in the stone with an inscription: Leader of the Free World. Young man. Merlin. "Go ahead. Give it a pull. Trump isn't interested." David Horsey, yesterday, LA Times.
The young man Merlin is speaking to is Macron.
So, I've been thinking... the original email to little boy Trump is such a smoking gun. It seems to precisely fit the definition of election law. So, is this also comprimat for the Russians to hold over the Trump family. It's certainly a test to see what kind of influence they can make, but from the get-go he's violated the law and they could hold it against him.
Regarding "little boy" Trump, Emmanuel Macron is 10 days older.
What a difference 10 days make, Macron is so much smarter.
Macron was no doubt smarter 11 days ago than Donny Jr. is today.
As it spills out how many people really were at that cozy tete a tete with the Russian lawyer, it looks worse and worse... for the GOP as well. I'll wait for consequences before I engage in schadenfreude.
There seems to be an increasing "My mind's made up. Don't confuse me with the facts" trend in the US these days, leading to rejection of knowledge BECAUSE it comes from authority figures. Some of this seems like nothing more than a superannuated version of Oppositional Defiant Disorder ("I'm not gonna, and you can't make me"), which Trump tapped into, inflamed, harnessed and marketed enough to make the difference during his Presidential campaign:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppositional_defiant_disorder
Exhibit A, on last night's CBS Evening News. "'The swamp's deeper than he thought': Trump supporters stick with him":
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/we-need-to-get-behind-the-president-trump-supporters-still-loyal (transcript)
Exhibit B, last week. "These Coloradans say Earth is flat. And gravity’s a hoax. Now, they’re being persecuted. The Flat Earth movement is growing in Colorado, thanks to technology and skepticism about science":
http://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/07/colorado-earth-flat-gravity-hoax/
And from six years ago (although, on the up side, at least they seem to believe the earth is round), "Some Catholics seek to counter Galileo / Splinter group says the Earth, not the sun, is, indeed, at the center of the universe":
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-07-04/news/ct-met-galileo-was-wrong-20110704_1_modern-church-universe-splinter-group
The gun, he is smoking
https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/democrats.judiciary.house.gov/files/documents/7.12.17%20LETTER%20AG%20SESSIONS%20-%20WE%20WANT%20ANSWERS%20ON%20FRAUD%20SETTLEMENT%2C%20MEETING%20AT%20TRUMP%20TOWER.pdf
That is explained here:
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/07/12/doj-settled-massive-russian-fraud-case-involving-lawyer-who-met-with-trump-jr/
Thank you for your diligence, Jumper. Already duly forwarded to the usual suspects.
N.B. this line: ...In May, the Justice Department settled the case for $6 million instead of $230 million and did not demand any admission of wrongdoing. According to the lawmakers’ letter to Sessions, [Russian attorney Natalia] Veslnitskaya was surprised by how generous the settlement was, telling one Russian news outlet the penalty appeared like “an apology from the [U.S.] government”...
I haven't read the Foreign Policy article yet, but I'm pretty sure that the lawsuit which the Dept of Justice settled for such a wee piddly bit of money was the one Preet Bharara had been working on before Bigly suddenly fired him. As I recall, Bharara was putting the finishing touches on a case that would punch the Russians in the face -- and then he was booted out.
Story in today's NYT about how Iran dominates Iraq, 14 yrs after GWB launched the invasion to eliminate Saddam Hussein and minimize Iran. That didn't work out too well. One wonders what similar Trump presidency initiative will work out the opposite of planned. Surely some. Even presidents we like have plans that achieve the opposite from the initial objective, but one suspects Trump will have more than most.
Or maybe Trump will not have plans. He will keep withdrawing from objectives, letting Congress make any new ones, so he can say he hasn't fallen short of his goals. He certainly has abandoned claims from the campaign, because he doesn't seem to be able to create legislation, only to tweet about what others are creating.
When I think about it, the president is mostly facade or a showboat. Even many of his hotels are his in name only. I think he created the golf courses, though. Therefore just putting his name on legislation without any input from the WH would be typical.
ALEC is working hard to put a bug in his ear equal to their control of Congress.
Check out who is behind ALEC. So many of our pals, such as Duke Energy, Pfizer, etc. etc
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Corporations
Or here:
http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
or Alec politicians
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Politicians
Find an Alec legislator near you.
My state representative who would like to be House speaker is an ALEC member.
I've been getting the puppies "manager's specials" meat at the supermarket, steaks usually, and they really love me for it.
The political musical comedy troupe, the Capitol Steps, were doing a summer concert near me yesterday. This group started with a group of Senate staffers who did topical musical parodies for a Christmas party. I haven't seen them since the Clinton administration, so I took this opportunity. When I arrived at the park where they were playing, the place was completely parked up. I assumed there was a big baseball game going on... but no. I chuckled, turned the car around, and went home. One more bit of evidence that Trump has at least made one industry great again, comedy.
HF, the Capitol Steps have continued to have their specials aired on selected NPR stations (I just heard their 4th of July special a couple of weeks ago), and they also tour. The founders were Chuck Percy staffers:
http://www.capsteps.com/about/
Calypso and I (and at least one Hax peanut, Glad Grace) have already weighed in re the Senile-in-Chief in the comments section. "Hearing loss, diminished verbal fluency and hospitalizations can signal cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease, studies find":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/hearing-loss-diminished-verbal-fluency-and-hospitalizations-can-signal-cognitive-decline-and-alzheimers-studies-find/2017/07/16/edfa276c-6a3a-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html
Sea level trends interactive map from NOAA, via a story running in several Florida newspapers, including the Gainesville Sun.
https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends.html
There can be significant differences within short distances. At a few spots on the Pacific coast, sea level is actually dropping a bit. Tectonics.
https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends.html
Time and tide wait for no boodler, Dave ;-)
Jim, did you see today's Google video-game doodle honoring the ICC 2017 Women's World Cricket Cup?
Humble-brag alert: Sometimes my work boils down to little more than glorified typing; today's been one of those days. Although necessary, it's not difficult, but neither is it intellectually stimulating either. After five hours of it already this AM, however, my brain's turning to mush. Must find something more engaging to work on for a while, before returning to the rest of the task.
Did anyone else hear this on NPR this AM? "Timeline Of Trump And Russia In Mid-2016: A Series Of Coincidences Or Something More?":
http://www.npr.org/2017/07/17/537323120/timeline-of-trump-and-russia-in-mid-2016-a-series-of-coincidences-or-something-m (audio embed and transcript both online already)
I think Trump loves the "poorly educated," and is also advocating less higher education, because he wants fewer Americans to possess the critical thinking skills necessary to recognize the fallacies of his claims.
There's a lot of political pressure to reduce public colleges to trade schools. And of course DeVos has a fan club.
Politically, I'm holding to Congress passing the Senate's Obamacare bill, and Republicans gaining a few Senate seats in next year's election. I suppose the Koch Brothers will continue to work their magic on state legislative races.
BTW, that Florida news story on sea level has NOAA projections for sea level rise. Unfortunately, they only give the low and high extremes, which are very divergent. For 2030, locally, it's 3.9 inches to 12.9 inches. In other words, we could possibly get a rise of a foot in less than ten years.
For 2100, the range is about 14 inches to 12 feet.
The lower estimates, at least, are having lots of practical effect. As the story points out, Fort Lauderdale's fabled canal system is now a liability. Over at Marco Island, they're probably too politically conservative to admit their very similar system has a problem.
NP, I've been singing the Capitol Steps 'Sound of Music' parody everytime North Korea does something awful... "How do you solve a problem like Korea." They wrote that one in the 90s, IIRC, still applicable.
The value of a special prosecutor...
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-litman-the-special-counselor-is-already-getting-the-truth-out-20170714-story.html
Sometimes the LA Times is interesting. Thanks, Jim.
So the Obamacare repeal bill is dead, for now. I'm really surprised. Earlier this evening, The Hill ran a story alleging that senators were being told, very quietly, that Medicaid wouldn't really be cut; that was merely Potemkin stuff to mollify conservatives. That doesn't relate to the publicly-expressed concerns of the senators from Utah and Kansas, but it did seem the kind of story Guy Fawkes would have loved.
A teeny pudu fawn, a red-haired kangaroo youngster, a litter of sleepy wolf pups, a penguin with ginormous feet, an adorable cougar orphan, a bright orange Langur baby, and a couple of frisking rhino calves. ZooBorns.
http://www.zooborns.com/
Do they have pix of koalas? When I was 13 and sis maybe 3, mom took us one drizzling winter morning to Melbourne zoo on a couple of trams. We were nearly the only people there, so the koala keeper brought one of them out and gave it to me to hold, to get them used to people. Do you think koalas are cute and cuddly? Kangaroo skin toys are soft and cuddly, but a real koala has fur like steel wool and long sharp claws like a linesman or lumberjack's boots for tree climbing.
William Finnegan looks at Trump and coal in the New Yorker. Loves coal, but isn't going to do anything to help the industry or people working in it.
I'm off to Kennett Square, Pa. tomorrow, coming back on Saturday. I flubbed the timing--will miss the National Theatre broadcast of part 1 of "Angels in America" on Thursday.
Along with Longwood Gardens, I might get down to Winterthur or Nemours, conceivably to New Castle, likely to Tyler Arboretum and Chanticleer garden toward Philadelphia. No great desire to go into the city, though Bartram's house would be relevant.
There's so many museums around Wilmington, it's hard to make picks. I did get the tour of Winterthur while in high school.
Dave, what about the Hagley Museum?
http://www.hagley.org/
Hagley's a possibility.
Did anyone else hear Cooch on NPR this AM re primarying? With any luck, he'll fail bigly.
"Conservative Activists Target Republicans Who Oppose ACA Repeal":
http://www.npr.org/2017/07/19/538040051/conservative-activists-target-republicans-who-oppose-aca-repeal (audio already embedded, transcript later today)
Quiet times for me. Been busy keeping busy or else being morose over memories of people past. Friday is Beligan Natioanl Day. https://visit.brussels/en/event/National-Day
I noted a stormy mystery this morning that I think is most important to share, oui? https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/07/17/disturbed-weather-in-atlantic-grows-into-tropical-storm-don-but-has-bleak-future/?utm_term=.3d32eb5a93f3
The same Capitol weather gang has tweeted that as this tropical storm weakens, another, called Hilary, is gathering strength in the Pacific. I know these names were selected before this year and that it is coincidence. I do not indulge in the superstition or omens-- yet-- the framing and humorous parallels ares such that it reminds me of a whimiscal American legend that the British were stalled from burning down Washington in 1814 by a chance heavy storm, often said to be a stray hurricane. In fact this same source has recounted this legend before, back in 2010.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2010/07/the_thunderstorm_that_saved_wa.html
A jest, or a barbed hint, perhaps, of an non-physical storm to come to douse things before a foreign power entirely burns down our government?
Always good to see you, HP! How's Hastings doing these days? Still learning new duties and refining his older ones, presumably. Have you been doing any writing lately, or interesting cooking? I've been trying to ration my news exposure in the name of my mental health, instead burying myself in work as much as possible.
Work is good. May not make you free. Some writing, not a lot. Hastings had to play guide dog after an eye exam-- dilation drops, you know, and he did reasonably well, although I see he has a problem not detouring to investigate. He nearly made me fall pulling me uphill on grass, and he also learned I would keep walking and pull him into a post if he stopped at the post to sniff instead of detouring me. He also wanted to walk past the house and needed prodding to even consider going back inside.
He also had problems figuring out how to make a U turn at the end.
So he will get a little more work practicing that. I also let him show me the way the next day, I have questions about his sense of direction-- other than finding the exit in a hurry; he can always do that. A handy talent in these investigations. And he did so, very fast.
I would be happier if he wanted to find home; that would make measuring his navigation skills easier to do.
Wilbrodog could always find where his food bowl and my gear was currently staying at as "home" no matter if it was my house, a friend's house, or a hotel room.
Interesting cooking-- well, I've foraged wood sorrel and made a good wood sorrel soup, learned the pleasure of using chickweed like spinach in salads (vinegar perks it up, and it cooks like watercress) while they last, decided that I am too sensitive to the chamomile-like effect of a pineapple weed (Matricaria matricariodes) tisane or maybe it was eating the flower heads. I may be allergic to it; I do not drink chamomile as I don't like the astringent taste, but I admit the pineapple weed tasted better--mild chamomile taste, definite pineapple candy smell/taste. Easy to identify by taste and smell.
Otherwise, nothing particularly exotic or adventurous in my cooking recently (I made hummus a while ago, and that knackered me out), but it is nice to have fresh greens to pick even if they are weeds, in quantities I can eat. I had a bad batch of salad spinach a few weeks ago and I am not keen to buy any more bagged greens at this point.
I think my next wild food attempt will be spiny sow thistle. I have to weed it anyway before it gets big and milky. http://www.eattheweeds.com/sonchus-sow-thistle-in-a-pigs-eye-2/
HP, could you adapt this light family watercress soup recipe to your chickweed? Amounts depend on your tastes, of course, but here's a general outline. Wash/chop watercress.* Sauté 1/2 peeled, chopped onion and a couple of peeled, chopped garlic cloves in a bit of oil. Slice a potato or two into 1/8"-thick rounds. Add several cups of water to the onion/garlic, bring to a rapid boil, and add the potatoes (which cook quickly). Add watercress, season to taste with S&P. Serve over large chunks of stale French bread.
* Lazy person's substitute: frozen chopped spinach or other leafy green.
Substitutions: Omnivores could use chicken stock instead of water. Precooked thin-sliced carrots and/or white beans would add further nutrition and color to the soup.
Navigation sent me on a scenic route from Wilmington burbs to the Longwood area. The stone wall topped with broken bottles of teen memory was indeed Nemours mansion; went by Hagley and Del. Natural History museums. 90F.
Nosy, that is similar to the wood sorrel recipe I used, although mine used freshly made beef broth. Makes a great potato soup. I skipped the cream and egg that is used in French soup, and just drank with milk-- better calcium offset for the oxalic acid. You can put 1-2 tsp boiled lentils in (easy cook), too.
I have a light spinach rice recipe I like-- around 1/3 cup chopped or canned spinach to 3/4 cup cooked rice, put in very light garam masala (1/2 tsp or so), light nutmeg, and water. I also sometimes put in beans when I have precooked available-- works with chickpeas, black, white beans, or lentils, but a small amount. Just cook up to 40 minutes (even with white rice) because the spinach will slow cooking.
Nice one-pot meal, delicate taste, and saves cooking saag channa from scratch. I may top off with Parmesan cheese to reduce oxalic acid hit and also because it tastes good. Sour cream would be suitable, too.
I use a light garam masala (about same amount) and turmeric with dried cranberries to cook cranberry rice too, similar to a fancy saffron rice only easier. It's good when you want a sweetish rice.
I am eating bread with the hummus I had frozen nearly two weeks ago. They recommend adding more oil on top to seal the homemade hummus for freezing, and I put parsley on top. It works, it tastes fresh if a bit richer than originally. I will have to make more with my next batch of chickpeas and freeze in small lots for later. That would be good, freezing these in one-serving jars is so much better than getting one pound of hummus and trying to finish within a week or so.
That sorrel soup recipe: http://ledameredith.com/sorrel-soup-recipe/ Don't remember if I used thyme specifically. But she is correct that it is a very basic recipe that can work with many vegetables.
So nice to read about visiting museums, recipes, and other non-political topics rather than you know who for a couple of days.
But now I see DJT says Senators who oppose him re repealing ACA might suffer at the next election. Hmm. I wonder if the effect might be the opposite of what he thinks. His world is pretty much the opposite of the real world in many dimensions.
I guess the 30% of Americans who support DJT also believe in his anti-world. This is not the country I thought I lived in, although living in the "progressive" world of my youth may have given me rose-colored glasses. Where did all the people without those glasses come from? There seem to be a lot of them now. Were they always around, in places like the South where I would never encounter them?
"Betsy DeVos' Latest Speech Draws Protests, Even Before She Speaks":
http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/07/20/537958123/betsy-devos-latest-speech-draws-protests-even-before-she-speaks (audio embed and transcript already available online)
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is speaking to the annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, today in Denver, but protests from left-wing activists and teacher groups started yesterday...
Every year ALEC brings together state legislators, free-market conservative lobbyist groups, and corporate sponsors. Currently listed on the "leadership" page of its website are executives from the insurance, pharmaceutical, energy, and telecom industries, as well as Don Lee, a former Republican legislator from Colorado turned head lobbyist for the for-profit online education company K12 Inc.
Together, these groups collaborate on model legislation. ALEC has a track record of getting the laws that it writes on the books in dozens of states with few changes.
"We see the same pieces of legislation being proposed in state, after state, after state," says Julie Underwood, an endowed chair in education policy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who has been investigating ALEC's actions in education for the past five years. She has tracked versions of ALEC bills through public records in state libraries.
In education, says Underwood, ALEC backs "vouchers, vouchers, vouchers," with variants such as education tax credits and tax-credit scholarships. They have written policies that make it easier to open charter schools, and to run for-profit and virtual schools. Other model bills weaken teacher tenure and other protections associated with unions, and also promote digital learning...
"Why Are Dogs So Friendly? Science Finally Has an Answer / Our pet canines have alterations in their genes that make them more sociable than wolves, a new study says":
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/dogs-breeds-pets-wolves-evolution
Not a periodical I've ever read before nor would expect to, but thanks to Google News it's amazing what one can find online. I wonder what the real reason that Mueller quit was.
"Robert Mueller conflict of interest? He left Trump National Golf Club over fees":
https://thegolfnewsnet.com/ryan_ballengee/2017/07/20/robert-mueller-conflict-interest-left-trump-national-golf-club-fees-106034/
...The Washington Post reported Thursday night that Mueller allegedly resigned his membership to the club in 2011 in a dispute related to membership fees. However, that's the story from two "White House advisers." A Mueller spokesman denied membership fees were an issue when he resigned his membership.
Mueller, according to Bloomberg News, is also digging into potential Russian-related conflicts in connection with real estate dealings and other Trump Organization financial connections. That investigation could turn toward how Trump financed his spending spree on golf clubs, particularly in the last 15 years. Golf author James Dodson told NPR in May about a 2014 interaction with Eric Trump in which the Trump son divulged Russian capital was crucial for the expanding Trump golf empire... [my emphases]
What will Melissa McCarthy do now?
That's the go-to joke today:
Paul Krugman Verified account @paulkrugman 10m10 minutes ago
Condolences to Melissa McCarthy
The assets of the former Soviet Union magically ended up in various private hands, and then were used to purchase other assets around the world, draining Russia. That's the classic case in the AML (anti money laundering) training I do every year at the bank. My bank would question those transactions, but apparently there's no question if the money goes to purchase a Trump Tower condo. IMO that's a sort of Russian connection that Mueller could be looking at, perhaps why Trump is getting edgy about having his finances and tax returns potentially examined.
This report on yesterday's All Things Considered made me think of FTB. Hope she and her beloved Zambian family are doing OK these days (and that she's availing herself enthusiastically of the farmers' market bounties this summer).
"After Supreme Court Decision, People Race To Trademark Racially Offensive Words":
http://www.npr.org/2017/07/21/538608404/after-supreme-court-decision-people-race-to-trademark-racially-offensive-words (audio embed and transcript now online)
Unfortunately, it's not enough to register a trademark in order to prevent bigots from using it. Holders must sell products using the trademarked words and or symbols. Of course, one guy is proposing to sell his item for $1,000 ;-)
Re breaking news in the past 24 hours, I'm (almost) beyond words...
Had a nice day at Longwood Garden yesterday. The heat continues, will try for Tyler Arboretum and Chanticleer Garden today.
Articles quoting legal "thinkers" claiming Trump can pardon himself, or that sitting Presidents cannot be indicted for anything at all, in the Times. What rock do these advocates crawl out from under?
Jumper, the great minds are divided on this. Besides, anyone receiving a Presidential pardon loses their 5th Amendment claim against self-incrimination re the crimes in question :-)
Laurence H. Tribe, Richard Painter and Norman Eisen: "No, Trump can’t pardon himself. The Constitution tells us so":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/no-trump-cant-pardon-himself-the-constitution-tells-us-so/2017/07/21/f3445d74-6e49-11e7-b9e2-2056e768a7e5_story.html
Glassbowl Jonathan Turley: "Yes, Trump can legally pardon himself or his family. No, he shouldn’t":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/yes-trump-can-legally-pardon-himself-or-his-family-no-he-shouldnt/2017/07/21/6134fb12-6e2d-11e7-b9e2-2056e768a7e5_story.html
Meanwhile, RIP Jim Vance.
Especially for Gilbert & Sullivan mavens:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCIpC3Jpj4A&feature=youtu.be
He can pardon them again for refusing to talk to a grand jury.
If Trump can pardon them the first time around, then presumably he can keep pardoning them. But his risk of impeachment would likely increase.
I wonder if Trump was busy picking up fascism tips from President Andrzej Duda and Law and Justice (ha!) party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski during his recent visit to Poland:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/polands-senators-approve-contentious-court-overhaul/2017/07/21/cc2bb548-6e76-11e7-abbc-a53480672286_story.html
...protests [...] have broken out across Poland over plans by the populist ruling party to put the Supreme Court and the rest of the judicial system under the party’s political control....
Additional background re Poland: they're going after the news media, too. "It only took two years for a ‘robust’ European democracy to fall apart":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/07/21/it-only-took-two-years-for-a-robust-european-democracy-to-fall-apart
...it is becoming a case study for why liberal democracy should not be taken for granted. The Polish government has pursued a number of strategies to weaken its opponents and democratic institutions, including repressions against journalists or judges and the dissemination of conspiracy theories...
Senior party officials took a decidedly anti-immigration stance in the days before the election, even warning that migrants might carry dangerous diseases...
The country’s public broadcaster, TVP Info, essentially turned into a mouthpiece of the government months after the election...
Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has blamed former Polish prime minister and current president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, for somehow being complicit in the death of Kaczynski’s twin brother seven years ago... [my emphases]
In the meantime the EU is considering denying Poland voting rights.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/19/poland-may-lose-eu-voting-rights-over-judicial-independence
I don't think Drumpf needs tips from Poland or anywhere to become an autocrat.
No, but he just loves like-minded people: Putin, Orban, Kaczynski, and the Saudis.
> In the meantime the EU is considering denying Poland voting rights.
Maybe the same should happen in the US for certain States.
Hey, Jim! Sorry about the delay, but yes, ZooBorns has lotsa pictures of koalas. Adorable little faces, big ole claws, steel-wool fur, and all!
http://www.zooborns.typepad.com/zooborns/koala/
If you have a special liking for a particular kind of critter -- say, binturongs, or gerenuks, or nyalas, or just whatever -- there's a list of said critters on the right-hand side of the screen, and you can pull up whatever you like. There's also a list of zoos and aquariums whose babies have been posted in ZooBorns, below the critter-list.
Mozilla has decided to get into the voice recognition game and wants to crowd-source it to ensure that this technology is not owned by large companies alone.
In this case of crowd-sourcing your contribution consists of donating spoken text. I hope it will give me the opportunity to complain about their dropping of Thunderbird, the mail system. :-)
https://blog.mozilla.org/internetcitizen/2017/06/19/commonvoice/
Thunderbird is far from dead, with new release last month. Just reorganized in the Mozilla Foundation.
Thanks, Jumper. I'll look into it. I read somewhere that they dropped it.
I disagree re the US and certain states. Remember this party in power has gotten there by gerrymandering and vote jigging. Do that and the states will declare exits from the union and that the constitution has been breached at a fundamental level.
It would speed up a constitutional convention and with nearly 2/3 of states in the pocket of Koch-funded GOP, this would spell disaster for democracy and our civil rights. Not a risk I want to take at this point.
But I didn't come here to talk politics. I tried sowthistle in basic cress/sorrel soup recipe. It cooks like swiss chard, more or less. Is it worth keeping in my yard instead of weeding, I'm doubtful of it as the prickles have to be trimmed off the older the plants is (young leaves can be boiled-- long time is best) the thorns will soften.) But I will remember to weed and snack on it henceforth.
Been sleeping a lot on and off. Not totally sure why, but my shoulders do seem to be in recovery at least.
A friend sent me a PDF of this. A great discussion of how the Rs have been winning via Gerrymandeirng. I don't know if he had to purchase it, or was able to find it somewhere for free.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016APOCRU/
Escaped from Philadelphia Saturday night on a flight that was originally scheduled to leave 6:25, actually took off about 9:30 after waiting for about 1:30 in a line of about 30 planes. Weather in the east had been awful. Apparently chaos with international flights. Spent most of Sunday sleeping.
Tyler Arboretum had some rather gnomish garden ornaments for the kids. The hot weather had by then cut my interest in photos; also, the giant insects, recently migrated from Orlando, were impressive. As were the giant tulip trees in adjoining forest.
Looked at today's email grocery list from Foreign Policy. Ex CIA chiefs horrified by the Trump administration, Tillerson likely quitting State before serving as much as a year (marginalized), Russia pursuing a "hot war" not a cold on on Ukraine. Yeesh.
I want to hear Jered Kushner do a Bill Clinton impression when he says "I did not collude with the Russians" and "it depends on what the definition of collude is."
Listened to Trump while waiting at the dentist's office. He explained all the evils of Obamacare that Repeal & Replace will cure, in front of suffering families, one of them on Medicaid.
Did anybody comment?
Waiting room was fairly empty. My county voted 60% Trump, which means a lot of white people don't know anyone who voted for Clinton, and probably can't imagine why anyone would have.
The free medical clinic in Wise, Virginia got lots of attention. The Post's story on the clinic using a brand-new efficient way to make dentures is both encouraging and very discouraging; the region is badly in need of false teeth.
Interesting that for the past few years, many waiting room TVs have been showing Fox TV's alternate reality. I wonder why that is chosen. I take a book [the paper kind] if I know the place isn't well stocked with good magazines.
This year is the 100th anniversary of Claude Shannon, the creator of Information Theory. This is a very interesting article:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/history/a-man-in-a-hurry-claude-shannons-new-york-years
Some short Videos:
Claude Shannon: A Mathematical Theory of Communication
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pRR8OK4UfE
What is Information Entropy? (Shannon's formula)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4OlXb9aTvQ
And more on Information Theory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0ASFxKS9sg&list=PLbg3ZX2pWlgKDVFNwn9B63UhYJVIerzHL
I never paid attention to the tvs in waiting rooms because I too always have a dead tree book to read. In the future I will check and ask questions about who choses the channel if it is Fox.
Ecologists made desperate efforts to use information theory. I haven't bothered to look for a long time, but I think they've long since moved on.
So Ted Cruz is under consideration for Attorney General? Seems Giuliani blew off the notion.
Come on John. They're dragging you cross-country out of your convalescence. It's time to re-engage that mavericky gear and make a vote that'll be right with history.
We always can hope.
[NP gingerly pokes nose out from under the covers, peering around furtively]
Is it safe to get out of bed yet?
Oh dear, it looks like at least six more weeks of political winter, mercury notwithstanding.
It looks like Trump went to Boy Scouts with a suitable prepared speech, forgot about it, forgot about what event he was at, and just babbled on. The two senators who were caught worrying about him being crazy might perhaps have wondered whether he's mentally capable of much more than the minimal daily requirements for staying out of assisted living.
I can imagine about September 7, Congress is getting stuck on the debt limit. A big hurricane hits the coast. Freedom Caucus, along with blocking raising the debt limit, blocks emergency aid (it's not the government's business). Trump does an address to the American people and babbles about everything but the political crisis and the rapidly worsening hurricane mess.
Head Fool, so much for our hopes.
A scout is trustworthy loyal helpful friendly courteous kind obedient cheerful thrifty brave clean and reverent.
gmbka, I may be delusional, but the game ain't over yet.
Okay, A VERY busy day in Washington.
1) MCain voted for the continuing discussion and then the danged bill verisonCruz itself, which was shot down 57-43. 9 Republicans, including Lindsey Graham broke ranks. He also made a fine speech on the Senate not being a tool of the president and bipartisanship-- which went nowhere in regard to his own action on this bill.
2) However today the House like the Senate did, nearly unanimously passed a Russian sanctions bill (their bill includes Iran and North Korea, so the Senate will have to revote, but or 2/3 majority is likely considering it was 98-2 the first time around.)
Once passed, Trump has to sign or let it become law without signing. However some watchers are worried about the pocket veto provison, which means if Congress adjourns during the 10 days the president has to veto the bill, the bill is dead.
However, this is easily remedied since the bill has to b presented first. If the Senate can do it ASAP, then it is a good thing that McConnell delayed the AUgust recess. In fact, Trump plans to take a vacation in NJ in Early August, for 18 days straight, with a what is rumored to be a "full medical facility" set up and on hand. The Constitution says NOTHING about a president being indisposed during these 10 days. In fact, a president is supposed to turn over power if he is indisposed and unable to do his duties (Trump will do much not to do that.)
Heh heh heh. I have a feeling this sanctions bill is not the last such bipartisan bill coming up.
Look for a flurry of bills to be passed this week and the next, plus continuing hearings. They will just have to not adjourn for a month and try and get stuff done.
People also have observed that he has not set foot in NY State since the inauguration. Rumors are that he fears being arrested-- and there are open indictments and arrest warrants out for him from the state of NY.
Seatbelts on and let's keep fighting for our country all the way.
http://www.redstate.com/sweetie15/2016/05/19/trumps-long-list-tax-troubles/
I don't quite know what to make of this website because they advertise themselves as conservative but attack Trump. Perhaps they are "real" conservatives.
Newt Gingrich had a meeting at the White House yesterday, purportedly urging Trump not to fire Jeff Sessions. Of course, Newt also wants Callista to be US Ambassador to the Vatican, so he has to kiss Trump's derrière.
So, did anyone else hear Gingrich's phone interview re Sessions on NPR a few minutes ago, ranting and raving against a Democratic tilt in the Justice Department in general, and by Robert Mueller and his Special Counsel staff in particular? OMFSM, dare I say he's claiming something akin to a "vast left-wing conspiracy" in the institutional DOJ (shades of Joe McCarthy and the State Department)? Ol' Newtie has gone bat-guano crazy. And he also has a new book to flak, which he managed to work into the phoner.
Does the Pocket Veto run into the same problem that Obama faced with recess appointments in that Congress is never technically on recess anymore. Someone comes in, gavels congress in to order, and closes it moments later.
Audio of phoner now available online, transcript later. "Newt Gingrich On Jeff Sessions And Russia Investigation":
http://www.npr.org/2017/07/26/539451693/newt-gingrich-on-jeff-sessions-and-russia-investigation
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich talks with Rachel Martin about President Trump's recent comments about Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Russia investigation. Domenico Montanaro has analysis.
So the price of keeping the heat on Trump is having this throwback Jim Crow supporter as AG. What a choice.
Oh these minorities, such as transgender people, they should be excluded from everything. They are different, and that is reason enough. Who said the quality of a society is expressed in how it treats its minorities?
The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free
is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities.
Lord Acton, The History of Freedom in Antiquity
Sam Brownback will become our ambassador at large for religious freedoms. So long, Kansas.
I saw some good commentary on recent issues. Too exhausted to share. I was back on the phone today, this time insisting that big pharma have their prices regulated. No matter what all health care bills will fail (even single payer) if pharma is allowed to rip off people (and the government) without consequences.
Will phone more people tomorrow on that subject and ask about fixing the constitutionality of the sanctions. https://takecareblog.com/blog/the-russia-sanctions-bill-is-unconstitutional-and-unnecessarily-so
There are thousands of minorities. People with red hair, for instance. It seems what matters is getting into the set of minorities whose rights matter and are part of a national discussion. There needs to be a cut-off or eventually we are all part of some minority.
My own minority is people with blue eyes. Because it's recessive, it's becoming less frequent. Ask Mendel. Should I ask for Federal help?
Jim, did you experience being disadvantaged because of your blue eyes? In that case I would create a blue-eyed movement for equal rights.
According to Jane Elliott's famous experiment, the blue eyes are favored not disadvantaged.
What about Episcopalians?
"Who was she? A DNA test only opened new mysteries":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/she-thought-she-was-irish-until-a-dna-test-opened-a-100-year-old-mystery
...About half of Plebuch’s DNA results presented the mixed British Isles bloodline she expected. The other half picked up an unexpected combination of European Jewish, Middle Eastern and Eastern European...
Owe, the humanity!
I have very little understanding for the drama of this story. So the lady found out that she is half Jewish and that changed her life? I grew up with the assumption of being 25% Jewish. I too used 23andme for the test, only to find out that I was Northern European throughout, no Ashkenazi genes whatsoever. I would have preferred a little more interesting background, but that not being the case did not change my self-perception at all.
We're all descended from pirates.
I managed to get a bad sunburn in Cornwall recently.
Just saw news of the power outage on Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands. Visitors are being evacuated. It seems a pile driver working on the new bridge to Hatteras Island drove a pile into the underwater electric cable. No one seems to know when power can be restored. What a calamity.
Dave, I am sorry for your skin damage but I still find it hilarious that a Floridian travels to Cornwall and gets a sunburn there.
There may be a certain asymmetry to finding out one's true origins. If a person turns out to have some hidden ancestry of a group that's been historically oppressed (e.g., Jewish, non-northern European, non-White), the revelation seems different than vice versa, as especially in the past there was understandable motivation to conceal such a fact in hopes of avoiding bigotry and discrimination.
I speak from experience. Mr. P and I were both raised being told we were WASPs (my dad's family was Catholic, but he became an atheist). Genealogical research revealed that between us, we have Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Hispanic Christian and Black ancestors as well as our WASP ones.
Finding US Census records of the master who owned one's ancestor and doubtless raped her repeatedly in order to produce as many more slaves as possible, as though breeding livestock for profit, is one of the coldest slaps in the face you can imagine. Knowing that one's Sephardic ancestors were pursued by the Inquisition until they became "New Christians" is nothing less than cultural genocide.
In both of our cases, such revelations have rent our extended families asunder, between those in denial and those who embrace (even treasure) the truth.
NP are there any cultural connections to Spain or Eastern Europe 600 years ago? There certainly would be genetic connections, but two generations living in the US seem to wipe out all previous cultural patterns in favor of what's on TV for most people.
Jim, some traditions endured among Hidden Jews for centuries after forcible conversions, that were kept secret from the public and passed off as merely "family customs," although scholarly research has revealed them to be in fact Jewish traditions (e.g., lighting special candles at Friday night dinner, covering mirrors when someone dies, sweeping the house from the inside outward...). See generally:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marrano (BTW, some consider "Marrano" a dirty word)
Some Hidden Jews spread to the Americas. When the Inquisition did too, some started heading northward through Mexico into modern-day New Mexico, as far north as Santa Fe and even into southern Colorado around Pueblo. As late as a century ago, folklorists and oral historians were collecting descendants' accounts of their families' customs that turned out to be in fact Jewish in origin. I first learned of all this on a program on NPR in the early 1980s, although it was so long ago that I've been unable to track it down on the Interwebz. (If any boodlers can find it, please post a link here).
Some Spanish and Portuguese Jews fled to the more tolerant Netherlands. Later some of the Portuguese refugees went to northeast Brazil when it was under Dutch rule and they could practice their religion and culture openly. But then the Portuguese defeated the Dutch, and also ousted the Jews. Although scholars quibble over details in the book, the most popular account of the 23 refugees who ultimately landed in New Amsterdam in the 1650s is Stephen Birmingham's The Grandees (hint: Gov. Peter Stuyvesant was a virulent anti-Semite, not a good guy). Perhaps the most famous descendant of "the 23" was SCOTUS Justice Benjamin Cardozo; tennis star of my youth Vic Seixas has long denied his heritage, however.
Jim, since you're in Southern California, perhaps you have access to info re descendants there of hidden Spanish Jews whose ancestors came up through Mexico, and Central and South America.
"I may be delusional, but the game ain't over yet."
12:28 AM, July 26, 2017
Well, well, HF was not delusional after all.
Will Trump tweet "I like people that don't have cancer, OK?" and threaten that McCain could get primaried in 2022? Oh yeah, John's really gonna be scared of that...
Will Trump tweet accusations of "the failing New Yorker" leaking Anthony Scaramucci's phone call to Ryan Lizza? Never mind that Scaramucci never requested his comments be off the record or on background, just as Scaramucci's records that were published were in fact publicly available, so by definition couldn't have been leaked and therefore constitute no probable cause for grilling Priebus as to whether he leaks.
Will Trump's disdain for political correctness embolden him to double down on Scaramucci's accusation that "Reince is a f**king paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac"? I'd suggest in Priebus' case that "It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you." OTOH, I question the mental health of both Scaramucci and Trump.
Any decent President would have already unceremoniously fired Scaramucci forthwith, but then again Trump relishes political incorrectness, so I'm dreading this morning's impending tweet-storm.
Also, I heard on NPR that the Senate has adjourned, so worry that it means the body won't stay open pro forma in order to preclude Trump's making a recess appointment of a new AG who'll be willing to fire Robert Mueller.
1. a) Speaking of Southern California Hispanics who are part Jewish, Pomona-born actress Jessica Alba is part Sephardic:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Alba
...In 2014, Alba appeared in Henry Louis Gates's genealogy series Finding Your Roots, where her lineage was traced back to the ancient Maya civilization. The show's research indicated that the surname Alba did not come from a Spanish man, since her father's direct paternal line (Y-DNA) was Haplogroup Q-L54, Indigenous in origin. Her father's matrilineal line (mtDNA) showed Sephardi Jewish roots...
b) The series revealed to actress Gloria Reuben that she has part Sephardic ancestry, too: http://jewishjournal.com/culture/lifestyle/134378/
c) Perhaps the US's most famous living Sephardic-American is actor Hank Azaria.
d) A famous Sephardic-American of the past was poet Emma Lazarus, best-known for her "The New Colossus," posted at the Statue of Liberty: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Lazarus
..."Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
2. Goodness only knows how many perceived Whites have some Black blood.
a) Finding Your Roots confirmed the story in actor Ty Burrell's family about such an ancestor, although his was much slighter than some other people's.
b) Perhaps America's most famous living perceived-White quarter-Black is Carol Channing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Channing#Early_life
...Channing was born in Seattle, Washington, on January 31, 1921, the only child of George and Adelaide Channing (née Glaser; 1886–1984) Her mother was of German-Jewish descent, and Channing considers herself part Jewish... ¶ When she was 16, she left home to attend Bennington College in Vermont, and her mother told her for the first time that her father's mother was African American and his father was German-American. ¶ Her mother felt that the time was right to tell her since now that she was going off to college and would be on her own, she didn't want her to be surprised if she ever had a black baby...
Potentially answering my own question at 7:24 AM EDT:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/07/28/daily-202-trump-s-hardball-tactics-backfire-as-skinny-repeal-goes-down/597a7cf630fb045fdaef0fd5/?utm_term=.74a31ef5fdc0
...Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) announced plans yesterday to introduce legislation that would prevent Trump from being able to fire special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. “Some of the suggestions that the president is making go way beyond what’s acceptable in a rule-of-law nation,” Graham said. “This is not draining the swamp. What he’s interjecting is turning democracy upside down.”
“If you’re thinking of making a recess appointment to push out the attorney general, forget about it,” added Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), also a member of the Judiciary Committee. “The presidency isn’t a bull, and this country isn’t a china shop”...
NP, I find all this genetic stuff somewhat entertaining, but that is all. Really important for me is what a person does with the genetic package she or he was dealt.
I'll never forget the mother of a friend who said after getting her PhD in her forties: "See what you can do with a relatively low IQ?"
Of course, what a person does with the hand that's been dealt in life is important. But the genetic make-ups now being discovered provide vital evidence for history, including how people and peoples moved throughout the world (voluntarily or otherwise), and in the case of the US the consequences of slavery.
A bit of comic relief in the inbox this AM (I get a few similar such emails every day, but this one takes the care!) No doubt she DOES think my home is humble ;-)
Mrs. Melania Trump mrsmelianatrump00@gmail.com
ATTENTION DEAR BENEFICIARY I am Meliana Trump, and I am writing to inform you about your Bank Check Draft brought back 26/07/2017 by the United Embassy Mr John Moore from the government of Benin Republic in the white house Washington DC been mandated to be deliver to your home address once you reconfirm it with the one we have here with us to avoid wrong delivery of your check draft Eighteen million united states dollars $20,000,000,00usd that was assigned to be delivered to your humble home address by Honorable president Donald Trump the president of this great country this week by a delivery agent Mr John Moore Also reconfirm your details for the check delivery by filling the form below and send it immediately to our in for verification and for prompt collection of your fund. Fill The Form Below...
Reply-To: "Mrs. Melania Trump" melaniatrump00@yahoo.com
SCC: "...takes the CAKE!"
Our high was 96º. Yuk. Good news: we'll be back to having two Parisian patisseries, a hip one and a less fancy one. The owner of the hip place unfortunately died suddenly. Someone from Queens got interested.
Yellojkt noted the elaborate Post story on the hurricane threat to Tampa. It takes a storm coming from a precise trajectory to flood Tampa Bay, so the yearly risk is low, but when things line up, it'll be catastrophic. Lots of development barely above sea level, and a large, shallow bay that's good at setting up big storm surges. When I was a kid, the family lived very close to Old Tampa Bay, and we had water creeping up the front lawn on one occasion. The 1960 hurricane fortunately (for us) went inland and emptied the bay. The 2004 hurricane passed even further inland, so evacuees from Tampa who drove to the "safety" of Orlando were treated to that city's first hurricane winds in known local history. In Winter Park, decrepit laurel oaks fell in their thousands.
Poor Reince. He's gone. I somehow suspect Gen. Kelly won't fare much better. To put it another way, why would Kelly accept a transfer to that snake pit?
Dave, maybe Kelly took the job because his ego is so great that he imagines he could do it better while staying impervious to the snake-pit culture. Sort of like the delusional person who marries someone s/he thinks s/he will be the one finally to be able to reform. Yeah, right.
TWO patisseries, how delightful! Let us know more about the hip one's offerings (drool).
A letter from a Trump fan, abridged.
Dear Donald Trump,
it is really unbelievable what you were able to achieve during your first 6 months in office.
1. For the first time a majority of Americans are in favor of health insurance for all. For years Americans resented Obamacare, but ever since you are in office they are fighting to keep it.
2. In maybe your most genial move, you helped Americans to see the importance of climate change. If you had just stuck to the Paris agreement, nobody would have noticed. But now people are aware of the seriousness of the situation and start thinking about what has to be done.
3. You made it clear to us that civil rights and democracy are values worth fighting for. Before your presidency people thought of it as a given, but now they have the phone numbers of their senators and representatives on their smart-phones.
4.You mobilized the masses. 52% of Americans are now more interested in politics (Pew) and 15% (Pew) attended a rally or demonstration for the first time.
5. You supported feminism. Alyssa Rosenberg wrote in the WaPo: Every time you insult a woman, I am grateful to you. Young women did not know that we are under attack before you became president, now they do.
6.You made Merkel the leader of the free world. Europe was not on even keel before you, but now it banded together. Maybe you even saved France from Marine LePen.
7.You made journalism great again. WaPo and NYTimes report two-digit increases in subscriptions.
8.You break all records. In only 6 months you spread 836 "alternative" facts. That's about 4.6 lies a day. Other politicians are not blessed with such creativity.
You may even be able to re-unite the United States, and not only that, when it comes to you it is possible that the whole world unites.
Michaela Haas
Loosely translated from Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
gmbka, sometimes things work out. I claim no special vision.
Dave, a buddy of mine has a rental place in Key West. Seems to me that whole chain could very easily get wiped out. He claims historical evidence that hurricanes either go up the east coast or into the gulf always bypassing the islands. Color me skeptical.
Also, someone posted a particularly apt cartoon on FB. I can't find it. But it showed an assembly line with people coming in on one side Trump greets them with a hat, and stabs them in the back going out.
That may well be what usually happens, hurricanes going elsewhere. But it only takes one category 4-5 storm to destroy the place, esp after sea level has increased a bit. I'd be interested to know (a) how many more strong hurricanes we will get and (b) how 2 or 3 inches of sea level rise increases their impact. I suspect the multiplication of the two effects is what we're going to deal with, and it has been estimated by someone.
Isn't it nice, having a boy autocrat in both North Korea and the USA.
Finding anything on Facebook is impossible, so it occurred to me to look for "Five Stages of Trump" which led to a Huffington Post reprint of the New Yorker cartoon. It's memorable and was published precisely on time.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-yorker-cartoon-five-stages-white-house-employment_us_597bb2f0e4b02a4ebb758eb5
They linked it from Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXBU8i9l06D/?taken-by=newyorkercartoons
The upper and middle Keys suffered terrible hurricanes in 1935 and 1960. The 1992 hurricane was rather small in diameter and mostly hit just to the north. Key West was badly flooded more recently.
How often have hurricanes made landfall right at high tide? That would be the model for future hurricane damages as sea level rises. As it is now or in the recent past, there was a continuum of possible storm surge levels based on that. So I will see what Google turns up on high-tide landfalls.
Yesterday I realized I had confused harissa and sriracha. I wish for either, whether on food, or in Boggle or Scrabble.
Dave, that's the one.
http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/special-reports/exclusive-winning-candidates-helped-voters-fill-out-their-ballots/V0ieae6VcZNNWF6I9ylRdM/
Here's the sort of election tampering which actually should be investigated.
Re exceptional flooding, from Bob Mondello's review this Thursday of Al Gore's new documentary An Inconvenient Sequel:
http://www.npr.org/2017/07/27/539734176/-an-inconvenient-sequel-is-an-effective-cautiously-optimistic-i-told-you-so
...Take a graphic created for An Inconvenient Truth in 2006, that he recalls in this film.
"The single most criticized scene in that movie," he says as a map of lower Manhattan shows streets flooding with water, "was an animated scene showing that the combination of sea-level rise and storm surge would put the ocean water into the 9/11 memorial site which was then under construction. And people said, 'That's ridiculous. What a terrible exaggeration.' "
Then you see news footage from October 2012 of Hurricane Sandy slamming into New York as a newscaster talks of flooding at the World Trade Center site. And that's followed by a somber New York governor Andrew Cuomo reacting to billions of dollars in damage that he calls "a wake-up call" about climate change and our vulnerability to it.
Have any other boodlers encountered this enhanced WaPo comment-posting protocol yet? Thoughts? It sounds more onerous to me:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/ask-the-post/discussion-and-submission-guidelines
We invite you to submit your videos, photos, articles, and comments in certain areas of our website. It is our hope that you’ll take the opportunity to contribute to these interactive forums and share your original content with our community. In order to keep these interactive forums enjoyable and interesting for all of our users, we ask that you follow the rules outlined below...
Exactly Jumper. Vote by mail is so ripe for fraud, the focus on in-person voter fraud is silly. Folks who think online voting is the solution miss this fact too. Independent of the security of the online voting system, this sort of influence is always possible on the human side of the system. I don't think that the political candidates & the parties are the only source of influence... bosses, unions, and organizations of all sorts could use their influence over people to tweak the vote in their favor. It's happened before, but for the most part we're past that. But it could come back with a vengeance.
Some of Germany's flourishing economy seems to be based on illegality: The five biggest auto producers formed a cartel.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/the-cartel-collusion-between-germany-s-biggest-carmakers-a-1159471.html
Courtesy of a cousin:
https://onsizzle.com/i/timeline-p-first-time-in-history-a-rat-jumps-onto-17825645
For intrepid travelers among the boodle. Scroll down to see also dozens of prior airport photos. "Name that airport ...":
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2017/07/28/name-airport/519902001/
I've said it before and I will say it again - all vote by mail is the way to go. Certainly there have to be safeguards in place, and penalties for fraud, but I live in a state where all vote by mail has been done for years, with no widespread problems (I've heard of none, but will concede there could be some). We haven't had voter roll purges or long lines to vote, which seem worse to me. If you don't want to spend money for a stamp, there are ballot box dropoffs, at libraries and other places. You can track your ballot online as it goes through the various stages. Colorado and Oregon also have all mail-in voting, and California has a lot of voluntary absentee balloting.
This from a Denver source:
http://kdvr.com/2016/09/23/signature-verification-designed-to-help-prevent-mail-ballot-vote-fraud/
As far as people being unduly influenced - I don't see that as much different with in-person voting. The influence by unions and bosses is what led to the prevalence out West for open primaries and primaries that don't take parties into account - top 2 or jungle primaries, which I don't like.
seasea
JFC, this is morally disgraceful. Isn't it somehow illegal for Americans to contribute funds this (just as it is to ISIS, al-Qaeda, etc)? They're "rescuing" these migrants about as much as anti-abortion groups do when they seek to "rescue" pregnant women. Of course, Trump probably has no objection to such an enterprising effort that doubtless includes part of his base :-(
"White nationalists target seafaring migrants":
http://www.pressherald.com/2017/07/29/white-nationalists-target-seafaring-migrants/
..Funded with money from American white supremacists and the “alt-right” movement, a group called Generation Identity has chartered a ship it plans to use to snatch Muslim migrants out of Mediterranean waters and deliver them back to the Middle East...
David Duke, anti-Semite and former Ku Klux Klan leader, tweeted out a link to Defend Europe’s fundraising page. The Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi and white supremacist American information site, calls for it to be replicated “on a massive scale.”
Defend Europe sought $80,000 for its ship. It raised more than $158,000.
It’s this transatlantic collaboration that has hate group trackers worried.
“Everybody’s on the same page that essentially a white genocide is ongoing and that all white people across the Western world need to protect their interests and fight against this,” said Heidi Beirich, who tracks extremist groups at the Southern Poverty Law Center...
So far, the mission hasn’t been seamless: The C-Star crew was detained this week in Cyprus on its way to Catania, Sicily, to pick up the rest of the team planning to carry out the mission. They have been released and Defend Europe has stated on Twitter that it plans to go forward.
Generation Identity, whose members call themselves Identitarians, is Europe’s alt-right equivalent. The group opposes non-white immigration, particularly of Muslims.
In the hurricane department, Sandy and Charleston's Hugo were relatively rare events (I think the Weather Gang explained why Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey seldom get hit--they don't stick out into the Atlantic). But shallow water along the South Carolina coast makes huge storm surges possible. The 1892 Beaufort area hurricane killed many and happened at a time when neither the South Carolina nor federal governments thought they had the authority, much less responsibility, to conduct relief operations. The American Red Cross finally provided help.
This month, our church sent fifty people and lots of resources to the North Charleston area for a week of repairing houses in that still needed repair from hurricane Matthew. New roofs, new floors, wallboard, wiring, decks, steps, whatever. Nothing elaborate, all essential.
Really, they are all rare at any one place, but not rare overall. We will experience a really strong hurricane landfall in some populated place in the Caribbean/Southern USA region every few years. There are a lot of places, so any one particular place won't be hit very often. So what does that tell us about what to do? Extremely high risk, extremely low probability, cases freak out insurance companies, and also cause those at risk not to acquire insurance. So as a result we self-insure at a National level, i.e., the Federal Gummint steps in. I don't think the Rs understand this sort of Insurance, like the way they don't understand health insurance.
The Rs present this as health CARE, not health insurance -- providing it vs paying for it. When they yelp about Socialized Medicine they imply the gummint will provide it. No. Medicare or Obamacare only pays the bills, doesn't provide the care. Sure, there are certain things it won't pay for, but it doesn't forbid those things. If people who want or need them have other ways of paying they can have them.
For VA, the gummint provides it, but that's true with or without Obamacare.
I just went to the optometrist. On the bill, most things were included in insurance, but not the retinal scan. (Dilation plus optometrist having a look is covered.) I don't mind, I made a decision to have that scan done, for $39.
Once I was discussing with a work colleague after work. He said the vision insurance isn't real insurance, therefore we Liberals shouldn't be getting it. How it works is, we pay a little bit every week, and then when we go to get a new pair of glasses, some of that is covered by the "insurance" money already set aside. That sort of "insurance" is like putting $2 in a jar every week, so that at the end of the year you have about $100, that will help you pay for something you need every year. It's not real insurance, in that it doesn't unload some of the risk, rather it's a form of savings account.
In a sense, the right wing guy was quite right, this is not real "insurance", rather it's more like the money in the jar. But why does he care? If I want to put money in a jar via my employer's payroll system, why should that bother him?
Hurricane landfall probabilities vary widely along the coast. Miami is about the worst spot anywhere in the western hemisphere for major hurricanes. Cape Hatteras is bad. This site is a nerd's delight:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/
South Florida, especially Miami, has extraordinary needs for wind-resistant buildings to make insurance costs manageable. A Miami entrepreneur who made wind-resistant window glass widely available was in large part responsible for today's booming city, complete with tall buildings. The Miami Herald gave him quite an obit.
I'm sticking to my prediction of a September government shutdown over the national debt limit and a major hurricane almost simultaneously. Cuba did offer humanitarian assistance in the past.
During today's chat, Alyssa Rosenberg linked to this Trump-lacerating piece by a columnist with whom she otherwise often disagrees viscerally.
"Death of a F***ing Salesman":
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/449988/donald-trump-cant-close-deal-failing-salesman
...Trump is the political version of a pickup artist, and Republicans — and America — went to bed with him convinced that he was something other than what he is. Trump inherited his fortune but describes himself as though he were a self-made man.
He has had a middling career in real estate and a poor one as a hotelier and casino operator but convinced people he is a titan of industry. He has never managed a large, complex corporate enterprise, but he did play an executive on a reality show. He presents himself as a confident ladies’ man but is so insecure that he invented an imaginary friend to lie to the New York press about his love life and is now married to a woman who is open and blasé about the fact that she married him for his money. He fixates on certain words (“negotiator”) and certain classes of words (mainly adjectives and adverbs, “bigly,” “major,” “world-class,” “top,” and superlatives), but he isn’t much of a negotiator, manager, or leader. He cannot negotiate a health-care deal among members of a party desperate for one, can’t manage his own factionalized and leak-ridden White House, and cannot lead a political movement that aspires to anything greater than the service of his own pathetic vanity. He wants to be John Wayne, but what he is is “Woody Allen without the humor.” Peggy Noonan, to whom we owe that observation, has his number: He is soft, weak, whimpering, and petulant. He isn’t smart enough to do the job and isn’t man enough to own up to the fact. For all his gold-plated toilets, he is at heart that middling junior salesman watching Glengarry Glen Ross and thinking to himself: “That’s the man I want to be”...
Wow, that was fast!!! Gen. Kelly's doing, perhaps?
WaPo BREAKING: "Anthony Scaramucci is out as White House communications director, sources say."
This will give the Mooch the opportunity to go on Dancing with the Stars and to learn the Fandango.
I thought Scaramucci reported to Trump, not Kelly. So presumably Kelly demanded and Trump acceded.
I guess Trump has no problem upending the org chart for a new hire.
Yeah, Kelly must have said I'll take the job only if you fire Scaramucci my first day.
If what I posted is true, this may be the first example of Trump demonstrating loyalty to a subordinate. He demands loyalty but until now had shown none himself.
Doubtless our Commander in Chief will be screaming "Leaks" on his next round of tweets (re the "fake MSM" claiming "Trump dictated son’s misleading statement on meeting with Russian lawyer").
Owe, the humanity!™
I see the 2028 Olympics might be here. I wonder if I will last that long, I would be 84. Getting Olympics seems to make the city feel good, but I wonder if there is a real boost. London got new infrastructure with real value. I doubt LA will be able to acquire much more of value to general life like railways or subways, other than maybe a new sports stadium, but then LA already has most of what's needed in that area, so the bill might not be as high as other cities'.
I wonder how long DTJ will tolerate Kelly-style military management. I thought DJT appreciated the variety that resulted from his previous organization.
I wonder what Donnie Jr. testified to Congress re his 9 June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with Natalia Veselnitskaya et al. Even though he wouldn't have been under oath, it's still illegal to lie to Congress. If he testified to what his father dictated to him, then the President might well be susceptible to being charged with suborning perjury, which could be a high crime or misdemeanor. Is the nutcracker squeezing tighter yet?
Or maybe POTUS will just add a "Don't snitch" line to his MAGA caps.
SCC: It was the Senate Judiciary Committee before which Donald Jr. spoke behind closed doors. And it IS a crime to lie before either house of Congress, whether officially testifying or not, whether under oath or not. If Jr. related the version his father dictated to him... well, the mind boggles.
London's Cross-Rail project (just now profiled in the NY Times) has no parallel in any American city. Not even the endless Interstate reconstructions. As the story notes, NY has opened only 4 new subway stations in a century and the system's on the verge of collapse.
Florida is attempting some large expressway projects with completion of a toll beltway for Orlando about 4 years away and reconstruction of I-4 though central Orlando underway. The Tampa Bay area (roughly the size of San Diego and Minneapolis but with only a third of the bus system of those) Buses have been viewed as a welfare service. Miami-Dade's mayor has concluded that new rail lines are unaffordable. And meanwhile, real estate values in relatively high-elevation neighborhoods, often low-income, are rising as developers get interested.
The Post's reporting of leaks from in and around the White House is getting really touchy. If Trump and family thought Priebus was a big leaker, I suppose a lot of other staff will have to go, too.
With the sanctions making Russian increase hostilities via North Korea, I am hoping our allies can pick up the slack because heavens knows as long as Trump is president we will not have an active State Dept.
Kelly as DHS in charge of ICE and he is unbalanced himself. I'm fine with him going but dreading who is in next. HIs appointment left no clear directions to who is in charge (should be acting whatever, but the DHS is a new agency and grew like a cancer without a lot of organization.)
I also suspect that Trump now will play musical chairs and try and shift Sessions out from the DOJ and put a more loyal (and as yet unimplicated) flunky in place to try and fire Mueller. We have seen he is not that good at "No."
Bizarre drama, but Mooch seems to have been brought in to fire the GOP-aligned staffers and maybe isolate Pence. MIght have worked if he hadn't been on cocaine throughout, a sociopathic sleaze anyway, and all too easily mocked by Colbert.
Bye, won't miss his cocaine-crazy. Wish he had fired Bannon, not insulted him, before he went, though.
Priebus was careful not to burn bridges and act classy and insist he supported Trump anyway. Stockholm syndrome or trying to get hired back or keep access so he can get more dirt?
I saw an article by Reich saying the House Republicans are sort of ready to 25th amendment Trump and thinks it will become very apparent soon he is not competent. (It is apparent already.) They won't impeach unless Mueller comes up with something. It's absurd because they have grounds NOW. They had it since day one. So that GOP colleague is just bullshitting and playing chicken with America as usual.
A telethon is indicated sometime this week on the bipartisan health care bill, and pressuring for impeachment. I recommend maximum pressure on representatives to get articles of impeachment out of committee.
The Trumpies cry "fake news," but in a classic case of projection appear to have committed the act themselves.
"Behind Fox News' Baseless Seth Rich Story: The Untold Tale":
http://www.npr.org/2017/08/01/540783715/lawsuit-alleges-fox-news-and-trump-supporter-created-fake-news-story
The Fox News Channel and a wealthy supporter of President Trump worked in concert under the watchful eye of the White House to concoct a story about the murder of a young Democratic National Committee aide, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday...
Unfounded conspiracy theories involving Rich abounded in the months after his murder, in part because WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cryptically suggested that his death may have been related to the leaks of tens of thousands of emails from Democratic Party officials and their allies at the peak of the presidential campaign.
Fox News' story, which took flight online and ran in segments across major shows, breathed fresh life into the rumors. Fox reported that the leaks came from inside the party, and not from hackers linked to Russia — despite the conclusions of the nation's most senior intelligence officials. The network suggested Democrats might have been connected to Rich's death and that a cover-up had thwarted the official investigation...
A credible recent commentary, I forget where, notes that Matt Drudge should be observed for hints as to where Trump may go. He remains enormously influential. He's also condemned McCain's health care vote. That's the political problem for Republicans. Their base, and the people they listen to, want repeal while a few cautious Republicans are willing to do a deal with a relative few Democrats. Looks like there might be 50 or so such members in the House.
I'm betting Trump sabotages the Affordable Care Act unless McConnell and Ryan make a very clear case that tax "reform" comes first and creating health care chaos won't do any good.
Dave, did Emily dump much rain on your region? Or did you all emerge relatively unscathed (or, more accurately, unsoaked)?
Emily was nothing. About 1.5" of rain. May last year, we had a record of over 10" in a single day. It was messy, some minor flooding, but little serious damage.
The Post reports a meeting on the Debt Limit. Nothing happened. Congress will have about 12 legislative days when they come back from summer vacation. There will be proposals to impose strict spending caps. Democrats will not be happy with Republican notions of huge tax cuts.
And news from a familiar location. I was there a week ago, going to and from Longwood Gardens and Tyler Arboretum https://www.flickr.com/photos/45621748@N05/
Orlando Sentinel:
"A federal officer accidentally shot his left foot late this morning in Orlando International Airport’s busy passenger lobby near the Hyatt hotel, startling scores of people who were nearby."
Meme forwarded by a cousin: "If you bought milk when Anthony Scaramucci was hired, it's still fresh today."
You know, if he can get out from his current charges, I expect Pharma-bro Martin Shkreli to take over the Mooch's position.
Officials in Martin and Indian River Counties, Florida today claimed that the 2015 environmental statement for passenger rail service from Miami to Orlando is out of date. One reason is that freight traffic along the rail line is increasing, and with it the possibility of hazardous chemical gas releases a mere 7,000 feet from Mar-a-Lago!!! President Trump is at risk.
Hi Dave,
I did not have the time to look at all your pictures, but what I saw proved to me what I somehow always knew, that I prefer to look at meadows over formal gardens. Those meadow pictures just delighted me, as well as your New Zealand pictures. That's just personal taste. Thank you ever so much.
As far as the mishap of the federal officer goes, shamefully I not only lack any empathy, but even laughed about it.
I hadn't visited Longwood since I was in high school, and I'd gotten a bit of an inside look at their reputation from a summer high school research project at the University of Delaware, where the horticulture department had close ties. I rather liked Longwood's unabashed showmanship and display over the more tasteful stuff at Winterthur.
By now, the revived fountains (the smaller Italian fountain garden was rebuilt within the past decade) are truly wonderful. The main garden not only has the superlative fountains, but you can wander around during a show, or sit on the grass, or in the stands, or whatever. Mr. Du Pont did a great job of setting up a huge garden party.
I spent a lot of time with the flower beds, in part because they're such an anachronism. Of course there's plenty of places where such beds are useful and Longwood offers excellent resources for design and execution. But their Flower Garden Walk is in most respects a grand anachronism. Blessedly, much of its power comes from the easy stuff--big swathes of zinnias and ageratums, which can follow the tulips.
High-concept garden design has really moved on to meadows. There ought to be a lot of interest in low shrub borders. The Longwood store was selling (discounted) "Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes" by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West. It's certainly beautifully illustrated.
The Longwood meadow wasn't yet flowering much and I was out in mid-day sun in 90 degree heat. Fortunately, there were enough bits of cloud moving overhead that it paid to take lots of shots and, later on, pick some with good lighting effects.
Architectural puzzle: I'd never noticed that the White House has pilasters on the south front but not the north. I happened to look at a side view just now, and the pilasters continue around the west side. So the north is the back side? Or the portico was intended from the beginning and portico + pilasters was seen as overdecorating the cake? I know the portico had been planned by Latrobe before Andrew Jackson got around to it (botching the design).
https://www.whitehousehistory.org/photos/benjamin-henry-latrobes-drawings-for-porticoes-to-the-white-house
I wish I was next to a chicken coop in the path of eclipse totality, which is a 2 hour drive. I may try to go.
The nephew just got laid off the nuclear power plant. Poor guy has two young kids and a house payment.
I can recommend the latest Stonekettle Station, btw. Torrid.
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