Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Sept. 25th through Oct. 1st

September 24, 2016 JanF Community 114

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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36 Comments

  1. Here is the PPP overnight with Hillary winning the debate 51/40:

    Perhaps most important for Clinton is that among young voters, who she has under performed with, 63% think she won the debate to only 24% for Trump. 47% of voters in that age group said the debate tonight made them more likely to vote for her, to only 10% who say it made them less likely to vote for her. For Trump with that group on the other hand, only 23% said the debate made them more likely to vote for him to 39% who said it made them less likely to. […]

    -By a 17 point margin, 55/38, voters say Clinton has the temperament to be President. On the other hand, by an 11 point margin, 42/53, voters say Trump does not have the temperament to be President. Among independents the gap is even wider- by a 56/36 spread they say Clinton has the temperament for the job, while by a 41/54 spread they say Trump does not.

  2. 45 just before dawn heading for 78 and sunny. Got 13 KWHs yesterday, monthly to-date is 339. Danged chilly this morning! I broke out my wool trousers, wool sweater, and gloves! Almost needed my boots (I hate being this sensitive to cold – 55 years ago I’d be running around in shorts, t-shirt, and bare-footed in weather like this), but not yet. As long as my feet aren’t numb when I leave the house and I keep moving, I’m OK

    Hillary did good last night! (Yeah, I know. Understatement.) We’re in the home stretch now and she’s several lengths ahead. Not bad for someone with weights on her legs that the Media’s been trying to turn into hobbles against someone the Media’s been feeding “speedballs” to. (A couple of people on El Mito’s live blog commented Trump looked and acted like he actually was on cocaine or something like that.) She looks good in silks. :)

    Gotta get to work. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  3. Morning all!

    What a great night Hillary had last night! When even a Republican operative like Nicole Wallace says “We hold Hillary to very high standards and tonight she exceeded them”, you know Hills swept the board in the debate. I recorded it but couldn’t bear to watch it live – I’ll take a look at it later. Following on twitter and live blogging at DKos was a lot of fun, though – I have to watch my recording to check out this snuffling he was doing (in the late night after debate show on MSNBC, Joy Reid was heard to say “Snufalupagus” about it), as on twitter people were saying it sounded like he’d done a couple of lines of coke before coming out. Hillary was poised, energetic, and prepared – and OF COURSE, Chuck Todd’s comment after was “well, she came across as too prepared”. /headdesk He’s getting slammed for that, justifiably.

    One thing I thought after all of this was this showed Hillary as the truly viable Presidential material precisely because she handled Trump so well – she poked and prodded and got him to lose control, just as she had planned. So who would you rather sit across the table with international adversaries or partners – the man who could so easily be manipulated, or the woman who so clearly knew how to expose his weaknesses? To paraphrase Rubio, let’s dispense with any notion that Hillary Clinton doesn’t know what she’s doing; she knows exactly what she’s doing, and it’s glorious to watch.

    I also could scarcely believe at the end that he doubled down on his attack on Rosie O’Donnell (“She deserved it”) and then after the debate and this morning, he went after the Miss Universe contestant AGAIN about gaining weight. Hillary’s campaign put out a wonderful heartbreaking video interview with that young woman, very effective. I also think she was great calling the birther stuff racist straight up, and on his taxes – he’s very vulnerable there, and he knows it.

    All in all, even if this doesn’t “move the needle” as the commentators are fond of saying, at the very least it will energize Hillary’s campaigners even more, as 100 million people got to see the Hillary we have all seen as the best qualified person, man or woman, to be President. Go Hillary!

    Have a great day everyone!

    • Good point!

      So who would you rather sit across the table with international adversaries or partners – the man who could so easily be manipulated, or the woman who so clearly knew how to expose his weaknesses?

      I don’t think I will ever watch the entire thing but I probably will read the transcript later today. I really loved how, after Trump blathered about temperament, she did a fancy shrug and went on to talk about NATO. From TPM:

  4. Good morning, 55 and cloudy in Bellingham. This moment, when HRC looked into the camera and spoke directly to our Nato allies was impressive, a Commander In Chief speaking.

    “Let me start by saying, words matter. Words matter when you run for president. And they really matter when you are president. And I want to reassure our allies in Japan and South Korea and elsewhere that we have mutual defense treaties and we will honor them.

    “It is essential that America’s word be good. And so I know that this campaign has caused some questioning and worries on the part of many leaders across the globe. I’ve talked with a number of them. But I want to — on behalf of myself, and I think on behalf of a majority of the American people, say that, you know, our word is good.”

    https://youtu.be/MR68InwAep8

    • I think if that person was impervious to “I will consider it a personal insult if you don’t vote” from Barack Obama, Fanny Lou Hamer is not going to move them. ;)

  6. Good morning, meese! Wednesday …

    It is 48 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 59. Showers will linger in the area for most of the day.

    I took some time yesterday afternoon to watch the debate video on CSPAN.org. I wanted to see for myself what people were talking about and also do a little vulgar talking yam desensitization therapy. :) I think we have to be careful about our own echo chamber. It was only a win among people who are thoughtful and caring and want a certain level of intelligence in our president. Trump voters will be unperturbed by the things that we consider disqualifying – his fans heard his stump speech and reflexive Republican voters, who have already decided to look past his vulgarity, saw him on the same stage as their lifelong nemesis and that blocked out any missteps.

    Was anyone’s mind changed? I doubt it. Maybe some fence sitters who had not been watching the race closely and did not know enough about Trump’s demeanor and “policies”, maybe some people who were trying to convince themselves that he was just an ordinary candidate, just a bit blustery than most. Definitely none of his fans and most definitely not any Hillary haters.

    So it comes down to us. Register people, get them photo ids if they need them, and get them to the polls.

    Hillary spoke yesterday afternoon in Raleigh NC to a group of community college students. I watched that live:

    Today she and Bernie Sanders will be speaking at 2:15pm Eastern at a college affordability event in New Hampshire, a state where Sanders is popular and where we need to win big downticket if we are going to take back the Senate. First Lady Michelle Obama will be at two Pennsylvania rallies, one in Pittsburgh at noon and one in Philadelphia 3:30pm. No CSPAN links for any of those events yet.

    Busy day for me today. See all y’all later!

  7. Good morning, Meese! It’s 64 F., going up to 72 F. today here in my little corner of NoVa. Too dark outside to see what sort of day it is, but we’re supposed to get rain later today. The best rain. The yuugest amount of rain! More rain than we have seen this year! (I’ll believe it if and when I see it.)

    Haven’t had tea yet so still only half awake. Back later to see what everyone’s up to!

  8. Not a good morning. Tired of waking up to twitter video of another black man murdered by police. His sister called cops for help – Alfred Olango – an epileptic with mental illness is now dead.
    #AlfredOlango
    #ElCajon

    • Things aren’t getting any better, obviously, despite the attention being paid. Too many cops just aren’t equipped to deal with mentally ill and/or disabled people or people who might be on drugs and appear “erratic”. The problem boils down to the use of deadly force – the first reaction simply cannot be to shoot them dead. :( A young black man in Madison on a mind-altering drug was shot because of scared-cop-syndrome after an encounter, there was an incident in Milwaukee a couple of years ago where a cop shot a mentally ill black man who was sleeping in a city park. A young man shot dead in Chicago last year (along with his aunt) was mentally ill. Why can’t they carry tasers or something that will let them de-escalate what they see as a life-or-death situation instead of killing black people??? And why aren’t cops required to go through training for implicit bias?

      An article on NPR this morning discussed implicit bias and how it, sadly, impacts how black children are treated in pre-school.

      At a big, annual conference for pre-K teachers, Gilliam and his team recruited 135 educators to watch a few short videos. Here’s what they told them:

      We are interested in learning about how teachers detect challenging
      behavior in the classroom. Sometimes this involves seeing behavior before it becomes problematic. The video segments you are about to view are of preschoolers engaging in various activities. Some clips may or may not contain challenging behaviors. Your job is to press the enter key on the external keypad every time you see a behavior that could become a potential challenge.

      Each video included four children: a black boy and girl and a white boy and girl.

      Here’s the deception: There was no challenging behavior.

      While the teachers watched, eye-scan technology measured the trajectory of their gaze. Gilliam wanted to know: When teachers expected bad behavior, who did they watch?

      “What we found was exactly what we expected based on the rates at which children are expelled from preschool programs,” Gilliam says. “Teachers looked more at the black children than the white children, and they looked specifically more at the African-American boy.” […]

      According to recent data from the U.S. Department of Education, black children are 3.6 times more likely to be suspended from preschool than white children. Put another way, black children account for roughly 19 percent of all preschoolers, but nearly half of preschoolers who get suspended.

      One reason that number is so high, Gilliam suggests, is that teachers spend more time focused on their black students, expecting bad behavior. “If you look for something in one place, that’s the only place you can typically find it.”

      It gets worse. When they shared information about a child’s background, to perhaps create empathy that would allow the teachers to deal more fairly with kids who might misbehave, this happened:

      “If the race of the teacher and the child were different and [the teacher] received this background information, severity rates skyrocketed,” Gilliam says. “And the teachers ended up feeling that the behavioral problems were hopeless and that very little could be done to actually improve the situation.”

        • Depressing but not surprising. I remember that attitude – and similar research – when I was getting my education degrees in the 1970s and 80s. And when I was teaching in the late 80s-early 90s. Not right but don’t know how the hell to change it. Just being aware obviously doesn’t work.

  9. Didn’t exercise, slept badly, blah blah blah. One of the 2 sleep supplements I take is a gummy thing — and my new bottle melted so I have to take it back.

    ACL Fest starts this weekend so there will be celebrity sightings. Not like SXSW, but still some big names in town the next 2 weeks. Playing Discotheque in my head — U2 being loud & dance-y, to keep me awake. Loud & dance-y, but they’re stull U2 so deep at the same time:

    Looking for the one
    But you know you’re somewhere else instead.
    You want to be the song
    The song that you hear in your head
    Love, love, love, love.

    It’s not a trick, you can’t learn it
    It’s the way that you don’t pay that’s okay
    ‘Cause you can’t earn it – love

  10. Clouds moved in yesterday evening so only 11 KWHs and lows only got down into the 60s. Heading for 80 but clear so hopefully a few more KWHs for the day. Good news for Aji – we’re only $700 from finishing Phase III and should be able to kick off Phase IV next week. And Buffy (the crew boss) says it can be done by Thanksgiving if we can just keep the funds flowing. (The bad news is, since they’re having to totally replace and move the septic system, Phase IV is probably going to be another $20K instead of the under $15K originally planned for.)

    Hillary won the debate because she didn’t lose. She exceeded the higher standards she was held to. It didn’t hurt us that he dug a hole below the ground-level bar he was held to, but basically it was always hers to lose. Fact checkers said 16 lies for him, zero for her. If they’d claimed even one as a lie (and even if it really wasn’t like the “Hillary lied about the emails” claim Comey later had to walk back), it would have been a “both sides do it” major loss for Hillary. The same for answering questions. Hillary addressed them all. Trump didn’t. If Hillary had avoided even one… No the needle didn’t move much – but it moved some. Trump has 35% baked in between the Deplorables and the Haters and has soft support from another 5-8% of the easily manipulated “give us a target” despairing. Hillary has a solid 40% progressives, not-whites of whatever nationality, LBGT communitie, and the “hold my nosers” with soft support from another 5-8% “never Trump” and “soft Haters” – we’re trying to firm up the soft support and maybe even energize it as well as reach for the totally gormless who didn’t start paying attention until after Labor Day. But the answer to “will we win” will always be GOTV.

    I never know what to say about another person murdered by the police. It’s bad. It’s wrong. And at this point in time the only hope we have for making it better, not good but better, is electing Hillary and as many Dems down ballot as we can. And while that is truth, it brings no comfort to those who are mourning the death of a loved one.

    Need to get some work done. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  11. Good morning, 48 and partly sunny in Bellingham. It’s a sad day in my garden…….the neighbor’s 100+ yr old maple tree was partially removed yesterday, and today another crew with a large crane is cutting down the remaining trunk and hauling it away. The sound of branches falling, and the chipper and chainsaws is unsettling. And I don’t like my new view of the sidewalk and uphill neighbors deck :::sigh:::

    I’m trying to think of this as a new gardening challenge and opportunity but I’ve got some work to do!

    We’re going to Oregon tomorrow to be with our grand girl for grandparents day at her school on Friday so I’ve got a busy day ahead. The time away will be good for me.

    Best wishes to all.

  13. I took tomorrow off. My O’Reilly/Trump loving co-worker spent 45 minutes this morning chatting with one person, going on & on about Benghazi & stuff. TBH I’d be just as pissed if she was exchanging recipes. I did 3 e-mails, set up a school for service and took 2 phone calls. While she chatted. I ranted at my supervisor about it, then toward the end of the day I said that I needed a day. So I’m sleeping in tomorrow. And maybe gonna go for a good long walk, maybe listen to music.

  14. Good morning, meese!! Thursday …

    It is 52 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 70. Sunny skies are in the forecast. Cool days, cooler nights – Autumn!!

    Today a slew of post-debate polls will come out. Instead of focusing on polls (which rumor has it show a nice bounce for Hillary), I am focusing on getting people excited to vote in this election. A story I have queued up to read, from an AP series on “Divided America”, suggests that white people, even affluent ones, are very glum about the future while people of color are hopeful. The haves, having had it all, are finding that the idea of the have-nots getting even a little more, is crushing their American dream. Trump is the perfect vessel for their anger and Hillary Clinton, a strong intelligent woman, picking up the baton from the first black president, is the perfect person to lead us into the future.

    Michelle Obama agrees! She was on fire yesterday at two HFA events in Pennsylvania. I watched the Philadelphia rally on tape delay and have the transcript and will post the speech shortly.

    While I was watching my Twitter feed last night and getting a peek at the polls, it struck me that the vulgar talking yam is not just determined to drive down his support among black voters and Latino voters, he is hell-bent on getting into single digits with women voters. Body shaming is dropping his support among women to a new low and, as he tees up his attacks on Hillary for Bill’s behaviour, he will probably find that number dropping. The phrase “glass houses” comes to mind.

    Gahhh! I need a fiery Michelle Obama speech to get back on the high road.

    See all y’all later!!

    • Yesterday’s speech:

      Michelle Obama: “We need an adult in the White House”

      This:

      Here’s the truth: either Hillary Clinton or her opponent will be elected President this year. And if you vote for someone other than Hillary, or if you don’t vote at all, then you are helping to elect Hillary’s opponent. And the stakes are far too high to take that chance, too high. (Applause.) Remember, it’s not about voting for the perfect candidate — there is no such person. In this election, it’s about making a choice between two very different candidates with very different visions for our nation. […]

      I just want you to remember what’s at stake, particularly for our young people. Because the choice you make on November 8th will determine whether you can afford your college tuition. It will determine whether you can keep your health care when you graduate.

      On November 8th, you all will decide whether we have a President who believes in science and will combat climate change or not. (Applause.) A President who will honor our proud history as a nation of immigrants or not. (Applause.) A President who thinks that women deserve the right to make our own choices about our health or not. (Applause.) That’s just a taste of what’s at stake.

    • It looks like Hillary will be in Iowa today:

      12:30pm – 2:00pm CDT
      Iowa Democratic Party Early Vote Event with Hillary Clinton
      Cowles Commons, 221 Walnut St, Des Moines, Iowa 50309

      Early voting starts today, September 29th, in Iowa – a state where 4 out of 10 people vote before election day. It is a state that has been trending red – where Barack Obama held back the tide in 2008 and 2012 but which has shown disturbing signs of me-firstism, nativism, and hatred of The Other in non-presidential election years.

      No CSPAN link yet. I will post one if I am still online when it is released.

  15. Good morning, Moosekind! Hi, Jan!

    My GOD, the Moose has given me trouble this morning! Tried to comment on the excellent post Jan put up re Michelle’s speech, don’t know whether I managed that or not. Had to log in no fewer than five times and finally had to clear all history, which means that for every website I visit I’ll have to look up the password. Sigh.

    However (cheering up), if that’s the worst thing that happens today I shall be fortunate indeed. People, it has RAINED!

    And not just the namby-pamby, nose-drips-from-a-giant type of rain, either. This was serious rain. One might even say it was a “determined” rain. It started raining mid-morning yesterday and kept it up all day. A rumble of thunder woke me up this morning, and more rain has been promised for today.

    With flooding and road accidents in the offing (I’ve been hearing police car sirens screaming from both parkways), I’ve decided to stay home rather than visit my friends in their retirement community today. Current temp. is 66 F., going up to 71 F. later.

    So it’s a day for making Slow Cooker Chicken Soup and either pears in chocolate sauce or apple-walnut cake for dinner tonight. Also, I’ll write and tidy the house and go to the gym.

    Wishing all at the Pond a good day!

    • I am sorry the Moose was being difficult this morning! I wonder if when there is a post – and the site software does all sorts of social media updates – maybe it makes things jumpy. There have been no WordPress changes so we can’t blame it on that.

      Yay, rain!!! And I am sure you are relieved that the federal government won’t shut down. I have to say I am not too thrilled that all the Democrats got on Flint was a “promise” that it would be included in the Water Bill that will be voted on AFTER the election. :( The only promises of Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan that one can rely on is the implicit promise from their party to be awful to every human being. Nancy Pelosi said we should trust them but the two Senators from Michigan voted no on the Continuing Resolution in protest:

      Michigan Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, both Democrats, voted against the compromise spending bill Wednesday, saying it’s unfair that Flint residents have to wait longer for help than other disaster victims. The bill provides $500 million in immediate aid to flood victims in Louisiana, West Virginia and Maryland.

      “My position on the government funding bill remains the same: I will vote no on any (bill) that does not treat communities equally,” Stabenow said. “It is wrong to ask families in Flint to wait at the back of the line again.”

  16. Slept in. Planning a busy but still relaxing day. Exercise & errands. But at least not at work, yesterday was just too stressful. Going to go for a walk & play music.

  18. Hi Meese –I managed to log in and finally comment on Jan’s FLOTUS piece – after several tries – and then got logged out and couldn’t post again here … Grrr.
    Gremlins!

    Gonna keep this short. It’s chilly and rain expected in my area.

    • There were a few queued up updates to the commenting tools for the site. In the off chance that it is causing the problems, I ran them.

      I suspect changes related to Facebook, personally. The Moose sends all of its posts to Facebook and I think that an overnight upgrade has caused a problem. Hang in there, meese!! I am sure the “Cyber” will get better soon!

  19. Good morning, 50 and partly sunny in Bellingham. Now the neighborhood is upset about trees and it’s not possible to please everyone so I’m glad we’ll be gone for a few days. We kept one fir tree (and had the ivy cut out of it) to preserve one neighbor’s privacy from the uphill houses, but another neighbor thinks the tree is now “ugly” and should have been removed. Another neighborhood walker asked Ron why we were neglecting to care for our trees, and needless to say that conversation didn’t go well. And as I was trying to come to terms with our changed landscape a deer slowly approached the old maple tree stump, sniffed carefully, and slowly walked away. For once I was on the deer’s side!

    I’ve got to pack and do a few housekeeping tasks so it will be a busy morning.

    Take care everyone.

  20. Morning all – short drop in from me as well, have to write up something for my WOW raid team and then get my big dog into the vet for his wellness visit. I’m boarding him there for a few days, to give me and the little dog a break from our divided household and let Jasper have free run of the house for a little while. Next month, I’ll do the same with the little guy, leaving Jasper there for a few days to give Max free reign – it’s a pain living in a bifurcated house, but it’s the only way I can keep both of them alive.

    My only election thought this morning is, looking at ALL the crap about Trump that continues to come out – the mysogyny, the corruption with his foundation, his shady business dealings now including violating the Cuban embargo – it is incredible to me that 40% of the electorate is still prepared to vote for him. I can only hope the continuing stream of sludge will at least discourage some of those folks from showing up at the polls – and will energize our side to get out there and vote no matter what. I think I’ll be getting my absentee ballot next week, and I can’t wait to vote for Hillary!

    Everyone have a great day!

    • Would be interesting to know how much local news (TV and print) coverage there is on scandals Trump in FL.

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