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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Good morning Meese
and Happy W.E.B. Du Bois birthday – will have a BKos post on that later to post here – don’t have the time this morning to do all the formatting stuff.
It is back to being cold here – 24. Sigh
Will look for it on black Kos, Denise!
Have some more coffee and here’s a shawl. :)
Morning all! and welcome to newcomers to the pond! I’m pretty new myself, and I am so happy to have this place to come to first thing in the morning – it’s lovely to hear what others are doing as well as discuss some politics in a safe zone.
That said, I’ve not a lot else to say yet today, except Happy Birthday W.E.B. DuBois! I look for BKos later Dee, where i’m sure to learn a bunch!
Have a great day everyone.
Today’s high is yesterday’s low and we’re already at it – rain moving in as my joints are all too well aware but we need it. Won’t get much electricity today – just as well I’m at 245 KWHs for the month (yesterday alone was 14.55 – highest for the month and since early Oct 2015). Aside from the piles of paper I just can’t seem to get off my desk I’ve got a really convoluted project – well the project is simple – how much “soft” (grant) money supported graduate assistant positions over the last 6 fiscal years – but finding the information is really convoluted. It’s due tomorrow (was handed it yesterday) and I still haven’t figured out how to isolate the GAs from the rest of the Payroll data on each individual grant. sigh. And my software will only look at 1 grant at a time AND one fiscal year at a time. sigh. Anyway, talked to my younger son last night and watched the full moon rise while I was doing it. Seemed significant at the time :) Glad everybody seems to be doing well (at least relatively speaking). Hope the day is good for everybody at the Moose Pond and elsewhere. {{{HUGS}}}
Good luck with that awful-sounding project, bfitz! How much longer until Lovely Retirement Day? You must be longing for it. :)
Current target retirement date is 12/31/2017 (or whatever Payroll says it should be considering that the University shuts down from xmas eve through the end of the year). And yes, at this moment I am really longing for it. I thought I’d figured out what I needed to do and have been working on my spreadsheet for the last hour – and just noticed I’d entered the dates wrong so I’ve got to go back and redo what I’ve already done. I think I’ll take a coffee break and visit HNV for a few minutes. sigh.
Good morning, 34 and sunny in Bellingham today. RonK is spending a few days with Ryan……the unrelenting pain and limitations of being on crutches is very hard for him. And now appointments with a physical therapist and an acupuncture clinic have been added so driving him to them has really disrupted his mom’s work. Time for grandparent assistance and support!
I worked my worries hard at the pool yesterday, so my intentions for the rest of the day faded as I napped. And I’m slow to wake up this morning so I hope I can find a few productive moments this afternoon. I’ll be attending a neighbor’s funeral later this morning. She was 91, but seemed timeless to me.
Oh, poor Ryan! It’s bad enough when we seniors are hobbled, but how much worse it must be for an active boy. Here’s hoping he’ll make a fast recovery.
In case you haven’t seeen it, as I had not, here’s a link to Meryl Streep’s wonderful introduction of Hillary at an event honoring her, I think in 2012.
I’ve seen it before but it’s always moving. “I’m alive because Hillary…” That’s got to touch anybody with a heart and a wee dram of empathy.
Here’s a great piece from an editor at HuffPo, someone who likes Bernie but raises a lot of good questions about not just his economic proposals, but about the effect of his campaign on the race in the fall.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-womack/dear-bernie-red-flags-frequent_b_9289954.html
It was an excellent article. “Boogeymen” is exactly right … demagoguery from either the right or the left is dangerous.
pictures of me from the marathon…. I hate pictures of myself so I’m not planning on buying any, but I thought y’all might want to see
http://www.marathonfoto.com/Proofs?PIN=D9A712&LastName=HELTON&utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=7%20-%20NURTURE%20-%20More%20Photos%20ID%20ENG%20%281%29&spMailingID=50519659&spUserID=MTg3MTMxMjY1OTYzS0&spJobID=862879238&spReportId=ODYyODc5MjM4S0
I wish there were a place that people could get actual facts instead of Fox Facts. From a Nevada Republican Latino (via ThinkProgress):
I don’t know why they willfully ignore what is right in front of their eyes and on the TV … maybe they can’t believe anyone would be so cruel? Or the promise of tax cuts and reduced regulations hollow out people’s souls and the missing empathy gene unites people in ways that allows them to reject their race and ethnicity.
Good morning, meese! Wednesday …
It is 32 degrees in Madison on its way up to 38. Cloudy skies and high winds are in the forecast. The weekend promises highs in the 50s … I’m ready!!
Trump. Really, America?
GOP Senators. Really, America?
A right-wing group found a judge willing to help them go after Secretary Clinton over her emails. Really, America?
See all y’alls later!!
Apologies – couldn’t post Bkos using my phone – cat knocked over my glass onto keyboard and it isn’t working – :(
Good morning
Yikes! That sounds like a pretty bad start to your day. :(
Sigh – guess I shouldn’t have had a glass of ginger beer on my desk. :(
Yikes, Denise! What’s the situation now?
Will be hooking up a new keyboard in a few hours.
Good Wodin’s Day morning, Moosekind! Raining again and 39 F. in Northern Virginia, going up to 60 F. later with storms expected. What a mess.
More Trumpetry this morning, I see. He gets so much free coverage from the media, no wonder he hasn’t had to spend much money on the campaign. Wonder when he’ll start getting Secret Service protection? What I want to know is why hasn’t anyone gone after Rubio’s non-appearances at the Senate? “No-Show Rubio” should be his moniker.
I understand that Secretary Clinton did very well in last night’s Town Hall. I didn’t watch because Dearly Beloved was watching something else, but I followed along in the open thread for HRC supporters.
Don’t know what to say about the state of the world: a toddler sentenced to life imprisonment in Egypt? And here I thought we lived in a crazy-a** country. Going to concentrate on the personal rather than the political today, I think, and retain my sanity. Wishing a good day to everyone in Moosylvania!
And it’s back to winter. Ok, our temps would probably feel springlike to many of y’all. But — Monday I wore sandals & a breezy summer-weight shirt. This morning it’s in the 40s & I wore wool socks & gloves. Crazy Texas weather.
Eating oatmeal, drinking tea. Trying to ignore all the stuff about Trump. Though maybe if he’s the nominee enough sane Rs will stay home to help us in down-ballot races.
Am elated to see this:
Univision Launches Campaign To Register 3 Million New Latino Voters
“In the past, we were described as the sleeping giant, but the giant has awakened. Now we have to show that power.” – Univision news anchor Jorge Ramos
YAY! I’d like to see a Hillary Clinton/Joaquin (do I mean Joaquin or his twin brother?) Castro ticket.
I get them confused, too. I usually just say “Secretary Castro”, because we want Congressman Castro to stay right where he is.
Bingo! Cannot afford to lose a solid Dem from Congress, either house.
and that district loves him, so he’s there as long as he wants to be
Maybe after Texas turns blue, he could be talked into running for U.S. Senate? Maybe Cruz’s seat after he is deported to Canada?
Can’t wait till Super Tuesday
Super Tuesday Democratic Polling Update
http://www.270towin.com/news/2016/02/23/super-tuesday-democratic-polling-update_219.html#.Vs2wd-ZBZnk
Good morning, 39 and partly cloudy in Bellingham. Going to the pool, then a dental appointment, and then renewing my drivers license will take care of my day. If I can stay awake during what’s become nap time I may get something done here too, but if the nap blankie calls I know what I will do!
President Obama, at SCOTUSblog……
A Responsibility I Take Seriously
princesspat—considering that Sree Srinavasan was confirmed 97-0 by the Senate, it would be interesting if President Obama were to nominate him and the TV cameras recorded the Rethug Senators turning him away as he tried to visit their offices.
Showing that on network news might spur some interesting developments.
The R’s have a stranglehold on our democracy……
Republicans are breaking the Senate
Senator Minority Leader Harry Reid this morning:
He calls out his “friend from Iowa”, Chuck Grassley, for “ineptness. :)
The whole process shows their fear. They know that if they hold hearings and people see how qualified the nominee is – and then they deny an up or down vote – they will be exposed as mere obstructionists. This way, the people never find out about it, except for people like us, because the press will not explain it in a way that the American people will understand. Fox will say “the Republicans are respecting the 2014 election results”, people will nod and say ‘Dadgummit, that’s wut I wanted!!”.
We need an Edward R. Murrow or a Walter Cronkite to tell people that this is unprecedented and damages the court and our country. Instead we get a Chuck Freaking Todd saying “it’s not my job to point out lies”.
I was tickled to see him post on SCOTUSblog this morning. They deserve all the accolades they receive for the work they do. It’s fun to think that the president might be reading the same posts that I read!
Started the day at “34 feels like 27” and overcast. We’re still there. Supposed to clear off and get to the mid 40s (you know, last week’s lows – heh) which I will appreciate but believe when I see. Almost got that convoluted information-sourced table ready for the Chair to present to the faculty tomorrow (prior to next week’s Chancellor visit). Still have paper on my desk I can’t move until somebody responds to something somewhere. sigh.
Didn’t see the Town Hall – actually didn’t know there was one but wouldn’t have watched it anyway. Bernie’s voice gets on my nerves and Bernie’s comments as well as attitude lights what’s becoming a very short fuse. But will, should I find the time, hunt out a video of what Hillary said. Great about Univision – for us Dems it’s always been “when we vote, we win” – but we have to be registered before we can vote. Hope everybody’s day is good, or at least getting better. {{{HUGS}}}
Morning all! Front moving thru today so we will go down in temp by about 10 degrees for the weekend, but that means into the 60’s so I believe we will survive! LOL
Hillary seems to have done a great job in the town hall last night, from what I could see following at the Hillary live thread at Dkos – but the media seems to have just overlooked it in the hubbub of the Nevada GOP mess. OMG what clown show that was – the Nevada GOP apparently is just not ready for prime time in running a caucus.
Daily Kos is just getting more insane every day as the inevitable ‘Bernout” draws closer – I can’t really look at anything but Lysis’ roundup, the occasional other pro-Hillary diary, and of course Black Kos and Dee’s diaries. Man I hope this gets settled by March 15th, and that some sort of crackdown on the anti-Hillary stuff occurs at DKos.
I’m very pleased but not surprised that the adorable 106 year old Virginia Mclaurin wants Hillary as the next president – I said over on Lysis’s diary that if I had any editing/video skills, I’d do a mashup of Susan Sarandon berating this little old woman the way she did Delores Huerta. I still can’t get over that – in what universe did that seem like a smart political move for Sarandon to harangue a beloved icon of the Hispanic workers’ movment? Unbelievable. And Mark Ruffalo has joined Sarandon now in my hall of “Actors I USED to Have Respect For”, with his tweet going after the President yesterday. Seriously folks, if you do not have the political sense God gave an ant, stick to your acting, ktksbye.
Trump is looking more and more unstoppable in the Republican race, and I have to say I am more worried about him in the general than I thought I would be. Yes, he’s a buffoon, an ignoramus, a racist and sexist, but the people voting for him either LIKE all those things about him (I think that’s about 15% maybe), or don’t care because they’re really voting AGAINST some vague “big government keeping the white working man down” idea, which is most of them. I mean, I know I shouldn’t be shocked at any new evidence of overwhelming racism amongst the right wing, but still, the poll showing 20% of Trump’s supporters disagree with freeing of slaves in Southern states after the Civil War is just so gross and disgusting, not to mention disturbing. Good god. Welp, that voter registration drive Dee linked above from Univision is going to be more important than ever!
Have a great day everyone!
I’m worried because Trump seems to be picking up Latinos. I wonder where those folks are getting their news? Maybe they are a small percentage overall and simply don’t see that the GOP, and that candidate in particular, hates their people. It would not be the first time; the Log Cabin Republicans and Senator Tim Scott and Justice Clarence Thomas come to mind.
Trump being the Republican nominee now has a lot of sensible people, both Democrats and Republicans, worried. His election would be a grade A catastrophe. I can’t leave the country, I am too old and too poor to emigrate anywhere so I would be stuck in Trump America. Gak!!
That’s being discussed over in HNV – Latinos are a very, very small part of the R caucus – it doesn’t take many of them to equal a large percentage.
You’re right bfitz. This made me feel a little better:
Jan–perhaps we could build an igloo in Nunavut and live in it.
Eeek!!
Coming up:
Good morning, meese! Thursday …
It is 30 degrees in Madison on its way up to 34. Cloudy skies are in the forecast.
Here is an important development in the SCOTUS nomination obstruction – it’s not just the op-ed writers anymore: Is The Media Tide Finally Turning Against The GOP’s Radical Supreme Court Obstruction?
It is unprecedented. I still don’t know why Mitch McConnell chose to do it this way. If he had just slow walked it to the Senate floor then filibustered it would not be so blatant. I think it was probably because he had a willing tool in Chuck Grassley and now doesn’t have to worry about his endangered Senators being persuaded into voting for a nominee. Grassley is taking a lot of the heat and is so stupid he does not even know he is being used. By the way, a Democrat named Rob Hogg (!) is running against Grassley in Iowa. I hope that people kick this incompetent stooge to the curb.
Excellent floor speech by Al Franken yesterday. I can’t find the YouTube but here is a writeup:
There’s more.
Busy morning here. See all y’all later!
This:
Waal, the breakfast menu in the local restaurant assures me that Iowa is filled with happy, corn-fed Hoggs!
I think it is pretty funny especially since the last Democrat to run for the Senate in Iowa hurt his chances considerably when he warned “if we lose the Senate, a pig farmer will be head of the Judiciary Committee!” As you can imagine, that did not go over well with Iowa pig farmers but he turned out to be correct in his assessment that a guy like Chuck Grassley, not because he was a pig farmer but because he was a dunce, was too ignorant to run one of the most important committees in the Senate.
It will be fitting justice(!) if he is replaced by Rob Hogg. The newspapers in Iowa are tearing Grassley to shreds over his embarrassing stance.
Here is President Obama on the SCOTUS nomination yesterday:
He makes an important point: if the nomination process becomes politicized, if judges are considered Republican judges or Democratic judges, we do damage to the entire judiciary and make it difficult for people to have any confidence in our institutions. Of course, that is exactly what Republicans want. The government is awful, kill it all.
By the way, Charlie Pierce has something to say about that and how to stop Trump:
Okay, what is this “He, Trump” thing? Because of Trump we no longer use the accusative case? We want to stop him, not stop he, right? Charlie, you wanna borrow my Fowler’s Book of English Usage?
People constantly misuse “We, the people” in this manner also. Roils my stomach.
Charlie Pierce assigns names to the various people he skewers and you need to read him regularly to figure out sometimes where some of the monikers come from. For example, George W. Bush is C-Plus Augustus relating to his legacy Cs and his faux lineage.
Trump started out as “I, Trump” a play on “I, Claudius”. Then it morphed to “He, Trump”. So technically he should put that in quotes but he doesn’t!! His turn of phrase often includes made up words and literary allusions and words that I have never seen and have to look up. I will admit to often being delighted by his use, and misuse, of the English language. :)