Welcome to The Moose Pond! The Welcomings posts give the Moose, old and new, a place to visit and share words about the weather, life, the world at large and the small parts of Moosylvania that we each inhabit.
Welcomings will be posted at the start of each week (every Sunday morning). To find the posts, just bookmark this link and Voila! (which is Moose for “I found everyone!!”).
The format is simple: each day, the first moose to arrive on-line will post a comment welcoming the new day and complaining (or bragging!) about their weather. Or mentioning an interesting or thought provoking news item. Or simply checking in.
So … what’s going on in your part of Moosylvania?
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NOTE: The comments page will now split off after 20 or so left margin comments with the most recent comments on the current page. To see the older comments, scroll to the bottom of the page and use the link.
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Morning all – bit chilly here this week, which I can deal with. I was just thinking as I walked Jasper outside for his first morning outing, that one of the attractions of Florida and other warmer climes, for older people is that I can see being able to take care of myself and be independent for probably longer than I could if I lived where I had to shovel snow. Doesn’t completely make up for the abysmal politics and racism of living in the South again, but it’s one plus anyway.
On the Oscars, this is the second year in a row with no black actors nominated – and it’s especially insulting given that Straight Outta Compton, which I didn’t see but which got rave reviews, about rap music for god’s sake, only got one nomination, for screenplay, which was by two WHITE writers. And the performance nominated for Creed was Sylvester Stallone, not the brilliant Michael B. Jordan who played the title character. Faw. Many other great performances, including Idris Elba in Beasts of No Nation, were also ignored. I will also boycott the broadcast, even though the producers of the show have nothing to do with who gets nominated, although it would be interesting to see what Chris Rock, this year’s host, does with all this. He’s already called this year’s Oscars the “whte BET awards”.
Dee, hope all goes well at the doctor! Thanks for that clip of the ad from Human Rights Campaign – I liked the way they had clips going back 10 years showing Hillary commitment to LGBT rights.
Have a great day everyone, and stay warm!
Good morning, 43 and cloudy in Bellingham. My quiet morning was just interrupted by a scam phone call from someone saying they were calling from Microsoft and needed to take over my computer to remove a virus……sure! Seems like the nuisance calls are increasing and they are getting past the “do not call” blocks, grrrrr.
Time to reset my attitude and find another cup of coffee….
Good morning, meese! Wednesday …
It is finally above zero to start the day! It is 11 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 21. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast.
Sarah and Donald. Goddess save us. If you want to read Sarah Palin’s word salad (and watch the video) Buzzfeed has it. All I can say is Trump may have finally found something that will ding his ratings. One wag on Twitter said: “I’ve been trying to imagine the sort of American who wasn’t going to vote for Trump, but will now that Palin has endorsed him”. I do wonder if we are in an alternate universe (I think we split off when SCOTUS appointed GWB president, rendering elections meaningless and degrading the presidency forever) … can this really be how Americans want to be represented?
The Supreme Court agreed to take up the administration’s challenge to the Texas judge’s order halting the DAPA/DACA enforcement executive order. The case will be decided by June 30th and will definitely have a role in this presidential contest. The just released Pew Poll showed that the increase in Latino voters is fueled by millennials reaching voting age. So our challenge this election cycle will be to engage youth. I am not sure “vote for us or your life will suck” will work – even if true. I hope our nominee has a plan.
Gov. Badwater said he is sorry he poisoned a generation of children and is going to fix it. In other news, the governor of Wisconsin gave his state of the state speech and the theme was “the Wisconsin comeback”. He wants to invest in education(!) and our university system. “Comeback”? Maybe shouting “COME BACK!” to those who have left the state in droves, some of our best and brightest from the universities and families who saw that there was no future in a state run by the teaparty. Plus businesses (10,000 jobs lost last year). The die was cast with the nearly billion dollar cut in education in 2011: Walker’s base of rural white voters and racist suburbanites have now created the state that they want. Sad for them that it is unappealing to both businesses and innovators who might be able to create a vibrant economy. Mississippi … but cold.
See all y’all later!
Good morning Meese
Watching weather forecasts for the storm that looms this weekend – still not clear how hard we will be hit.
I’m at work mostly out of habit — my allergies are just really killing me. Exhausted from just about literally sneezing my head off. Very few thoughts. Head is playing Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses — I love the guitar in this, very pretty
Good mornin’, Moosylvania! It’s 17 F. here in NoVa on a cloudy day, going up to 33 F. later. Dearly Beloved wants me to do our weekend shopping today to avoid the rush. Washington, DC, is preparing for a “historic, paralyzing” snowfall. We probably will get some snow—whether it’s going to be 2 feet or 2 inches remains to be seen. Forecasters so often miss the boat predicting the weather here.
Over on GOS the only readable diary (HN&V) quotes Peter Daou on the subject of “institutional gender bias.” Daou says if Elizabeth Warren were to run for POTUS, it would be directed against her too. Men simply do not like women to be in positions of power. Men remind me of little kids with one cookie: one kid wants all of the cookie, the other says, “Let’s cut it in half and then we’ll each have some, if not all.” But no—they gotta have it all.
In other non-news, I will contact Janus today to find out how to download and print my tax form, although the Web site has made it impossible for me to access it. Such fun!
Feeling very anxious about HRC’s chances. Hope they’re better than they appear. The WaPo keeps reporting gleefully that there’s no “excitement” about her campaign. Huh? Whom are they talking to, 18-year-old boys? I’m VERY excited about it, thanks. If she’s not elected this cycle, I don’t think I’ll ever see a woman POTUS in my lifetime, nor will my granddaughters, aged 21 and 6, respectively, in theirs.
Wishing all a good day!
“Whom are they talking to, 18-year-old boys? ” Yes!!
I happened to be on Twitter last night when they announced the poll showing that Bernie Sanders’ lead over Hillary in New Hampshire had ballooned to 27% (or was it a gajillion … it was difficult to tell as facts had been set aside). A closer examination showed that the pollster was not very reliable (UNH) and that people should wait before they set their hair on fire. Polls are funny things. To the extent that they create a bandwagon effect, polling can change election outcomes (“Holy mackeral, EVERYONE is voting for so-and-so … I better vote for them also or I will be left out!!1!!”). But I think that most sensible people realize that polls are a snapshot in time and that voters can change their minds a thousand more times before the lever is pulled (or even choose to stay home and not vote). I think that there is a strong likelihood that Bernie will win New Hampshire and that it really does not matter. The sitting Democratic president lost New Hampshire.
Diana, next year at this time we will be getting ready for the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States. I fervently hope that it will be a Democrat and also the first woman president. Let’s make it happen.
Sounds like you’ve let the orange narrative get to you – driven also by the nasty social media barrage from fans – and the TM need to nurse a horse race,
i refuse to get side tracked by mythology – I have my eyes fixed on polling in NV and SC and for Super Tuesday – like this one for VA
Part of the problem, from my perspective is the constant dismissal by many on “the left” of the power of minority voters – very sick of hearing that somehow we are going to “wake up” and jump on the Bernie bandwagon.
Just my opinion – no offense to Sanders supporters – but I am irked.
In my mind the “waking up and jumping on the Bernie bandwagon” by people of color is about as likely as the Politico fantasy you posted a link to yesterday suggesting that Blacks will vote for Donald Trump in large numbers.
I found the Ta-Nehisi Coates article on reparations in The Atlantic interesting, with this Bernsplaining quote:
The pragmatist label is indeed guffaw inducing but he really needs to stop sounding like a one-note johnny … this year it is more than “the economy, stupid”. It is “will my children be gunned down on the streets”, “will me and my people be allowed to vote”, “will my kids even be considered for college admissions”, “my city’s drinking water is killing me”. The issue is more complicated than “jobs”.
Yes – saw that. He is now getting thrown under the bus by certain fervent supporters of Sen. Sanders.
This quote said it for me:
People (willfully?) ignore the actual words “white supremacy” and pretend that they refer only to the KKK and hate organizations tracked by the SPLC. It means the notion that white people must be in charge of all the levers of power, that white people have AS THEIR BIRTHRIGHT claims to a place at the fancy college or the elite suburbs or the chance at a family supporting job … that they don’t have to go hat in hand to ask for an opportunity.
The discussion of reparations deserves more debate (not whether or not they are owed but how they would be paid) but if we can’t even get the politicians in our own party to admit that there is institutionalized racism, we have a lot of work to do.
The “how” on reparations – to both the Black and Native American communities – is so big to be almost overwhelming to me, but yes, it’s a discussion we should be having. Some step-by-step way of getting there would make it much less overwhelming. (One of the reasons I really love Hillary is that she analyses things, breaks them down to the steps needed to get us there, and then proposes the first steps. She’s not blowing off the remaining steps, she just knows that one step, or two, or even three are manageable without freaking everybody out into total immobility.) But to blow it off entirely like Bernie did, well, sort of shows who’s actually “establishment,” doesn’t it?
It’s another damp, chilly (just below freezing), overcast day in Fay., AR. The roads were OK but the sidewalks are slippery. The office feels cold and we’ve got the lamps as well as the overhead lights on in the hopes of not falling asleep at our desks. Which I’d prefer. Sigh. Hopefully I’ll manage to get the Payroll stuff dealt with today. Hope everybody manages to stay safe and warm (or at least comfortable). {{{HUGS}}}
Jan, you beat me to it! Logged on again to remind people that a year from today the next president will be inaugurated, so make your hotel reservations NOW. (You don’t have to, really, you can stay at my house.)
Thanks for my first laugh of the day, appreciate this, Jan!
I was just looking for the matches…
Good morning, 41 and cloudy in Bellingham today and I can finally see the branches and the sky outside my window. I welcome every moment of daylight!
I’ve got a busy but quiet day ahead with the pool this morning and then some sewing and housekeeping for the rest of the day. And I’ve got some primroses to plant as well so that should keep be occupied and away from the tv. I made the mistake of watching the news last night so I’m still recovering from a near toxic Palin/Trump exposure.
Good morning all, late as usual- I have been working on prep for my class tomorrow, so at least i was doing something productive.
I looked at GOS last night and gave up in despair – they’re seriously parroting right wing talking points on Benghazi e-mails now!!!!!! Simply appalling. I agree with Dee, NH and Iowa are mostly important as visuals, not as overall indicators – still it would be nice if it were close there. Nonetheless, in a year where we have a large delusional minority supporting a buffoon for President (someone called the Palin endorsement of Trump “Hot Mess endorses Dumpster Fire”), the unwilliness of many of the left to closely examine Sanders’ chances of getting ANYTHING he wants done doesn’t really surprise me. I just hope sanity prevails in the later primaries.
Hope everyone has a good day – and it’s probably better to prepare for a big snowstorm and have it not happen than the other way around. That’s the view I always take for big storms predicted down here.
HA!!! “Hot Mess endorses Dumpster Fire” … excellent.
It is important to put the Berned Ones on the GOS in context. Many of them (not all) are those who called President Obama a corporate whore for not jailing, hell, executing, all the banksters, and who spent the last 7 years saying Obama=Bush. In other words, completely bat guano crazy. People heard candidate Barack Obama’s words and set them to their own internal music and when he did not “deliver”, he was immediately the worst of the worst. I do not doubt for a minute that the same thing would happen to Bernie Sanders. No one will ever put those kind of expectations on Hillary Clinton so in many ways she is in better shape to govern. It is my belief that she will be an excellent president: competent, pragmatic, calm in the face of crisis. If she turns out to be inspirational, I will be pleasantly surprised. I just want the trains to run on time, the nation’s debt paid when it is due, and my daughter to have a planet that won’t be uninhabitable, because of wars and/or climate chaos. There is no one on the Republican side who can promise anything that comes close to stability.
President Obama will speak from Detroit Michigan live and is expected to address the Flint crisis. His advisor Valerie Jarrett has been in Flint talking to the newly elected mayor.
Here is the YouTube. Scheduled to start at 3:25pm Eastern
President Obama Speaks at the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources
Good morning, meese! Thursday …
It is 16 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 27. Cloudy skies are in the forecast.
I hope our east coast peeps are prepared for the storm; it looks like it is coming in a little early.
Dee, I don’t know if you saw this Vox article about the Flint water crisis. It is a scathing indictment of the Snyder administration and what happens when you essentially “privatize” city government – citizens have no say and no power to stop someone from low-bidding them into hell. The article starts with the author’s lament about his daughter’s future and tells the story of how Republican starve the beast policies led to the current situation:
The citizens of Flint had only one vote, their vote for their lone “representative”, the governor-dictator. And Snyder could not have cared less about them, their city … or their future.
See all y’all later!
No – didn’t see that one – thank you!
Good Thursday mornin’ Meese
It looks like my area is not going to get hit hard by the snow (fingers crossed) – we shall see.
First day of school tomorrow – so I am doing prep today.
BBL
School??!!?? I hope you are rested from your time off.
What are you teaching this semester?
Am teaching “Women of the Caribbean” for women’s studies – one of my favorite courses (which I developed)- amazing how little students here are taught about the Caribbean basin – even though they are our neighbors and so many Americans have Caribbean roots. When I developed this course – I only found one school that offered anything like it – and that was at the University of the West Indies. Currently – there are a few, listed under black studies – but they only cover women of African ancestry, and don’t usually cover Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic – and the Caribbean has other ethnic groups – like Indo-Caribbean women.
I am also teaching Introduction to Cultural Anthropology – which will be full of first year students – and is a general education requirement – it is difficult to engage all the students who are enrolled – my challenge is to make anthropology accessible and interesting to all of them.
Your course on “Women of the Caribbean” sounds fascinating, Dee! Wish I were a student again and lived in your neck of the woods. I’d want to attend your lectures.
I have fun introducing the students to women’s spirituality there – including Pombajira ;)
Heh, heh! :)
Good morning, Moosekind! There’s a light dusting of snow on the roads, which has caused 1,239 accidents already, and the public schools in Fairfax County are closed, a fact that our local station, which prides itself on its meteorology department, did not see fit to mention even once. Luckily, Younger Son gets texts about it. We will be looking after Miss Pink Cheeks again today. What with the teacher work days Monday and Tuesday and school closings today and tomorrow, she will have attended school exactly one day this week.
Had hoped to go to the gym and finish my Snowmageddon shopping this morning, but with the roads the way they are, that’ll have to wait.
I’ll just get some writing done this morning. Have finished the February Fiction Cafe story. It’s not a short-short, but if I post only the first half in Feb., that would mean I have to delay “Temps in the Eighties.” Our own bfitz gave me with regard to that one.
Wishing a good day to all at The Pond and Beyond!
Was worried about you – after hearing the forecasts this morning.
Thanks, Dee! The roads are improving because of the sunlight. There won’t be much to worry about until noon tomorrow, but conditions are expected to worsen tomorrow night. We expect the power to go off—it always does. Luckily, we have a generator that will at least keep the lights on and the fridges running, although it will be difficult to cook anything.
Looking forward to both stories :) – and do please be careful if you have to go out in the mess.
Thanks, bfitz! I meant to say you gave me an idea for a detail about the March story, but somehow I lost it in my post. Just proves my theory that Early Morning is not a Good Time. :)
Heh – It took me a minute, then I remembered the conversation way back when. :)
Morning all – a quick post before I head off to teach today. Diana, stay warm and be careful when you go out for supplies – it sounds like the blizzard may actually materialize, so hopefully you all have food and drink and won’t have to go out for a few days after today. I’ll be engaged tomorrow in Florida’s favorite winter pasttime – watching it snow in other parts of the country!
I was so irked at all the negative stuff about Hillary over at GOS that I was contemplating writing a diary there titled Bernie Sanders: Carpetbagger. Which he is – he’s not a Democrat, he just decided to hijack our party’s primary process for his own campaign purposes. If he truly had the courage of his convictions, why didn’t he run as a Socialist? Well, we know why, because he wouldn’t have gotten out of Vermont – so he coopts the Democratic Party process for his own purposes. But I’m not going to write it, I don’t have the strength of mind to put up with the reaction there.
Ok, off to school – have a great day everyone!
You can vent here! The moose was originally created to provide a safe haven during the last open Democratic Party primary. I was not here but Dee will remember the details. I think that the acrimony was all over LeftOfLeftBlogsphere. Primary voters are passionate (huge understatement) possibly because it is really the only chance we have to be different … we cannot vote for a Republican! I will say this – at first I thought it was Bernie’s surrogates who were not serving him well but lately I have come to realize that it is Bernie himself. Hillary Clinton = Dick Cheney? Really??? An article I was reading yesterday (can’t find it!) suggested that Bernie Sanders is free from the institutional restrictions of the Democratic Party because he is not a Democrat. That allows him to go after Hillary for things that, really, any Democrat will be vested in like womens issues and issues of race. We know he does not care for President Obama either, another member of the Democratic Party.
I just hope it ends quickly. I think we will be done by March 15th at the latest. Unless Bernie Sanders gets pumped up by his millions of supporters and millions of dollars in the bank and decides to go third party. :(
OMG, Jan, let’s hope he doesn’t. How he thinks he can win in the general, I don’t know. Trump will have a field day, calling him a socialist-communist. He’s already started doing that, and says he’d love to run against Bernie.
What I find hilarious is that Moose in the beginning was a safe haven for people to support Barack Obama – safe from the sturm und drang of Hillary supporters who had gone off the deep end over at MyDD
I’m perfectly willing to support Hillary this time around – and some of the worst Obama haters from that time period have now become fervent Bernie supporters – it is really ironic. Or maybe not.
I was thinking that also, Dee, how funny it is that people fled the lefty blogs to escape the HillBots bashing Obama. Now folks need a refuge from the BernBots bashing Hillary and President Obama and we meet again at the Moose. :)
Seriously, though, there are still some wounds not healed from the PUMAs in 2008, deadenders who refused to give up just like Japanese snipers in palm trees on Pacific islands after World War II ended. They left an unpleasant taste in many people’s mouths and she may never win them over. I cringe whenever I see Hillary’s surrogates saying something tone-deaf; would it hurt to keep those words in your thought bubble?
In July 2016, we will all lock arms and sing Kumbaya. Or at least start working for a common goal: win the presidency, take back the Senate, and shrink the Republican majority in the House.
Allergies killing me still. Staying home from work because I’m just too tired. I swear I will get in a walk today. Probably not the best thing with allergies, but I need to exercise. Also, I just shouldn’t waste the day.
Geordie, I will be very careful! Thank you. I’m not going out until early afternoon.
I know how you feel about Sanders. I started out rather liking him but as time goes on I like him less and less, especially because of this latest brouhaha re the endorsements. And one of the people I excoriate most on DK had the nerve to say that HRC supporters are just as mean as the Sandernistas! If they are, I haven’t read any of those diaries.
My advice is NOT to post the diary. I posted a couple of pro-HRC diaries and lived to regret it
I’ll tell you, there are people over there for whom I have completely lost respect. Judging from the titles of the diaries they post, they seem demented.
Another, hope you’ll get the rest you need. The allergies sound really debilitating.
If you have a minute, could you be very kind and repost the link to your donation page for the Austin Children’s Shelter? I got paid yesterday so I’d like to follow through.
Take care!
thank you!
http://www.teamfxaustin.org/newsite/sponsor-a-runner/
Sitting at the freezing point in Fay., AR this damp, chilly, overcast Thursday – we got some frozen rain overnight which is just sort of sitting there as ice pellets. Not cold enough to solidify the mess, not warm enough to melt it. Seeing some progress in clearing the crud off my desk. Seeing no progress over at GOS regarding St. Bernie and the Hillary Hate. Sigh. You folks on the East Coast stay safe – and warm if you can. Well, I wish that for everybody, but you’re the ones in the path of the storm. {{{HUGS}}}
Thanks, bfitz, we are getting in the firewood, kitty litter (for safe walking over ice), and doing the necessary. Hope you get your desk cleared before the weekend!
Good morning, 49 and raining in Bellingham. Our plans for the day just changed because Ava is sick and staying home. So no rag doll sewing for me, and no after school doughnuts for Ron! I’m going to spend the day in my sewing room regardless, and if I listen to music and avoid the tv news I’ll be happier.
Ross Douthat is regretting his infatuation……
My Sarah Palin Romance
We will know Palin is in complete disgrace when Rich Lowry stops seeing starbursts. :)
Douthart refuses to blame the Republican elite for allowing their party to get hijacked. Instead he blames it on a burbling up of resentment. Please! The seeds of resentment were sown in the Southern Strategy and nurtured by Willie Horton and cultivated by Real America (that his heroine coined) and finally harvested with Romney’s 47%. He can’t claim this is some sort of groundswell … the GOP fracked the country and out of the fissures came Trumpism.
Jan, I LOVE that analogy! “the GOP fracked the country and out of the fissures came Trumpism.” Wonderful and true!
This kind of ties in with the polls Dee is reading:
And this kind of ties in with something many of us have noticed … where does Bernie Sanders get a cabinet and trusted advisors and, especially, foreign policy help? Martin Longman wonders what a Sanders administration would look like …