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”, Motley Meese! The week begins …
Morning low of 41 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 52. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
I thought yesterday that I had found a good space, starting to come out of my own personal fog enough so that I could poke around and try to find a glimmer of hope, something to grab onto as a path forward. But the reality is, we can do nothing but hope that someone in the Republican Party can fix this thing that they allowed to happen to our country. They control all the levers of government and we are at their mercy. That the vulgar talking yam was unfit to be president was really not a question. He was elected because too many people didn’t care about fitness or competence, just power.
I’m not sure what happens next but I am pretty sure it will suck. I guess the puristas will get to test their theory that when bad people are put in charge and civil society, the safety net and the rule of law are destroyed, folks will see how awful things are and will clamor for them to save America! For me, I will do what I can to shelter my family from the worst of it. We have no power to change anything electorally for 2 years and where I live the state Democratic Party is in shambles.
By the way, the celebration by Sen. Bernie Sanders over the TPP no longer being considered is disgusting. No one should be celebrating anything right now, especially a “victory” that comes as the result of an election like we just had. Yes, no TPP, but also, the XL pipeline will be authorized, the Paris climate agreement withdrawn from, and 750,000 DREAMers deported. Single issue voters on the right and the left have brought us to this terrible place.
Sanders- my response is unprintable.
There is a scathing critique of Bernie and the Bros just published by Marcus H. Johnson
Sunday morning – 31 degrees here in Saugerties , going up to 59.
On my 3rd cup of coffee.
Not much to say.
Thanks Dee. I wish I felt more optimistic re the Dem’s ability to have electable candidates in place for the next mid term elections.
Democrats need to stop bickering and focus on coming up with a plan to help the most vulnerable, people who will lose healthcare, whose families will be deported, who will lose jobs and benefits when the next round of tax cuts are paid for out of the money taken from the already shredded safety net.
On January 3, 2017, the 115th Congress meets. President Obama is our president until noon on January 20, 2017. There will be plenty of time after that to figure out what happened – and didn’t happen – and come up with a plan to win elections in the current political climate. Right now it is all heat and no light. I have muted the noisiest people on Twitter and those who are making it worse by floating every crazy thing that the incoming administration will do. It is only adding to the stress. I have no doubt it will be horrible but let’s let things play out quietly for a while. Believe it or not, right now there are also Republicans in Disarray; they have no idea how to govern and will not magically find consensus after a contentious primary season and the #NeverTrump movement.
Wait and watch. We’ll know when it is the right time.
The full moon is tomorrow. I am going to gather energy from the light and then let my anger and distress drain away during the waning moon cycle. On the 29th, with the new moon, I will see where my energy needs to be directed.
Good morning, Meese. It seems a mockery that this is such a flawlessly beautiful, although frosty, November morning. Current temp. is 24 degrees, going up to 62 F.
Haven’t looked at the news yet. Still can’t bear to read or watch. Last night Dearly insisted on having “Washington Week in Review” on during dinner. I took out my hearing aids and inserted ear plugs. Annoyingly, I could still hear voices, so I read the AARP Bulletin. My husband, like all other men, doesn’t feel the impact of having a lifelong dream destroyed.
So I’m wondering…will this be our last normal Thanksgiving? What are we going to be thankful for, to be alive, healthy, and still able to have food and shelter? Thankful that we haven’t been nuked yet? And Christmas. Will this be our last normal Christmas?
Still dealing with the fallout from the Great Mistake in August. Will have to make a couple more phone calls this week. Still have this nasty cold.
See you later.
Am with you – I have not looked at tv news at all – except local weather.
Diana, my husband keeps asking if I’ll ever get over this and want to eat dinner again :( Not any time soon!!!
Princesspat—I still eat. Far too much.
It’s different for men. To them, Thing’s elevation to the presidency is merely a disappointment. To women, it’s the utter destruction of our lifelong dream—to see a woman president before we die. I feel devastated, as I’m 72 and shall never see Hillary’s like again. What woman would ever dare to run again in the face of such utter misogyny?
So, no, I’m not “over it,” and I won’t ever be “over it.” I might accept it in time, but I don’t know when that time will occur. Right now, to hear that name is like someone punching me right in the soul. It hurts.
No TV news, mostly HGTV and sporting events. The main section of the newspaper is quickly scanned for local news then discarded. It is a blessing that there are no more election ads – I was getting PTSD from them.
Slept in, felt good. My earworm is Kate McKinnon singing Hallelujah. Great Goddess. And “I won’t give up, neither should you.” I think I can feel my heart start to mend a little. Just don’t read the comments section. Joy Reid was amazing yesterday and should be again today, she is also making me feel somewhat better. Somewhat.
I might go to the Love Will Prevail thing (“demonstration” seems the wrong word) at the Capitol after church. But I have food to put together for next week & my feet hurt from my walking yesterday……
Good morning, 50 and partly cloudy in Bellingham, Election angst is literally making me sick…..stress and my immune system don’t like each other, so I’ve got to find a way to cope.
Apparently the nagging anger I feel re how white women voted in this election reveals my naivete…..
The Myth of Female Solidarity
Fifty three percent of white women voted for the yam :::sigh:::
I never expected female solidarity – I have lived long enough to know that some of the worst misogyny is from women. But I did expect the Obama Coalition to hold together and it mostly did. Sadly, just enough people stayed home, discouraged by the sturm and drumpf and/or disenfranchised by the new voting regulations. In the end we will have won more votes but that is not how our elections work – we need to win at the state level, fix state voting laws, unskew the gerrymanders, and build from the ground up. If nothing else, this warns us that there are no national campaigns, only state campaigns, and we ignore that at our own peril.
Mid 40s at daybreak going to mid 60s on another bright sunny day. Except that I need the electricity it almost seems like a slam. Finished most of my normal Sunday routine. Will head to GOS shortly for Denise’s diary. Also to post Sunday Street Prophets Community Fundraiser Ojibwa asked me to do. Probably visit the Village that ironically I started (the official DK community – the group has been together since the early days of the primaries) – I say ironically because I’m being attacked by our version of Bros for supposedly curtailing somebody’s freedom of speech when I asked her (politely) to not fire-breathe about Bernie in the Hangouts. While I agree with every word she said about Bernie, I’d been trying to make the Hangouts a positive space for healing and brainstorming what we can do next. And since that isn’t much, as Jan noted above, it’s going to take a whole lot of minds to find any of it.
My grandson decided to have a late birthday gathering – his birthday was the 9th and this was his first time voting (he’s 19) – so originally he thought we’d get enough celebrating without him. So we’re having a BBQ and cake this afternoon. And I’m almost as worried as Diana about whether or not we’ll have anything approaching normal next year.
I don’t have any mixed-race kids or grandkids (BIL is of Mexican heritage but that’s pretty much it) but we’re all in the bottom quadrant and depend on SCHIP, Medicaid, Medicare – and Social Security for retirement. And we all work at jobs that mean making it to full retirement is an issue. So about the only thing I can hold onto – and would only say in here – is the history lesson of the Witches of the New Forest. They couldn’t stop Hitler from coming into power. They couldn’t stop the Nazis from genocide or invading other countries. They couldn’t stop the Blitz. But they were part of what kept the Nazis from invading Britain. So. We need our “army” and our “RAF” – but we need to back them up with a different kind of power to hold off the Powers of Darkness until the world comes together to drive them back into their caves again. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
G’day all – I’m still in a fog of despair, mostly, but one thing I know. We have to stay angry – only the anger of the public, and bombarding Congress about that anger, will keep Ryan and the right wing from destroying not only ACA, but Social Security and Medicare as well. There is much other damage they will do, but those are the programs that if threatened, can move people to the phones to scare their representatives with loss of their jobs if they vote to privatize and gut.
I tried to watch Joy Reid, and she’s great, she’s going to keep fighting, but I’m just not ready yet. Have a good day everyone.
if you’re on Twitter, next weekend check out the #AMJoy hashtag – you’ll find strong, sassy people, it might make you feel better
Good morning, meese! Monday …
It is 46 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 57. The forecast calls for mainly sunny skies.
So it begins. The basketful of gullibles essentially voted to phase out Medicare. For new enrollees, the government will provide a voucher to go purchase health insurance on the open market. Good luck with that! First, I cannot imagine what insurance company will want to insure people over 65 who, by definition, have only declining health to look forward to. And if some can find insurance, the premiums will be outrageous and you know damn well that the government will lag behind keeping the premium subsidies high enough to cover the costs. And anyone who thinks that this new program will only be for new enrollees are deluding themselves. As the Republican trillion dollar tax cuts deplete the treasury, people in the current single-payer plan will be shifted to private pay. So our covenant with old people, to take care of their health care needs, is broken. Ryan is pitching this as “necessary” because the ACA bankrupted Medicare which is, of course, a bald-faced lie. But it is said with an earnest and sincere face so old people without health care can blame it on Obama.
The revolution that sunk the Hillary Clinton campaign because she would not embrace single-payer health care, Medicare for All, has managed to destroy Medicare for Everyone. Nice job, berners! I wish young people would learn history from history books and not by experimenting with our political system.
When I challenged my Republican mother (as gently as I could) about the yam’s plans for Medicare, she said “oh, he won’t do that”. Right.
The moon is full today (Monday, Nov. 14, at 8:52 a.m. EST) and she is a Super Moon, the “largest” she has been since 1948 and the largest she will be until 2034. Grab some energy … you will need it.
See all y’all later!
It’s literally “Moon Day,” Meese. Currently 27 F., going up to 54 F. here in NoVa. It’s almost a week since the Awful Event. Jan, you said:
Oh, yes, he will. This is what disheartens me: the appalling naivete of otherwise intelligent persons. “He won’t do that. He won’t really set fire to Jewish businesses, he won’t really take over Jewish homes, he won’t really deport Jews to concentration camps…”
Yes, he can and he will. Believe there will be horrors in store for us.
Still ill, literally and figuratively. So tired of this nasty cold. Also have three issues related to the Big Mistake in August. For one thing, my bank has been sending me monthly statements in Braille. Why? Yesterday when I tried to get money out of the ATM the machine took my debit card and refused to give it back. I’ve got to the point where I’m extremely wary of donating to anything nowadays, even though I’d like to contribute to Planned Parenthood and send the certificate to Mikey Pence.
As for me, Thing will always be “Thing.” He is not my president. Can’t read or watch the news, will not watch the “Inaug,” will not watch the SOTU. Over at GOS Angela Marx offered a script for contacting one’s senators’ local offices (mine are Dems) re Medicare and Social. I could try doing that.
For what it’s worth, wishing everyone a tolerable day. I still can’t believe this has happened.
Someone on Twitter said “I am not sure how I will be able to stand watching the SOTU.” Sheesh, it is not mandatory! We only did it the last 7 years because we love and admire Barack Obama. The vulgar talking yam has nothing to say that I care to hear.
I am not sure why Ryan is laying all his cards on the table regarding Medicare. This is sure to rile up a bunch of people and result in his president coming into power with a boatload of negative mojo. I am wondering if he will get 50 Republican Senators to vote to destroy Medicare? In theory, every state has old people. I also hope that they talk to the insurance companies before they send the old folks off to get policies – I can’t imagine they want any part of that.
The president will be holding a press conference this afternoon before he leaves for an international trip. Every time the president does something as part of the office, I cannot imagine the yam doing it. When President Obama was at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Veterans Day, I could not picture the yam having any of the dignity that takes. President Obama will be going to meet foreign heads of state, discussing trade and shared defense.
Gawd, what have we done to our country!!
Here is the link to the presser:
President Obama Holds a Press Conference – Start time 3:15 PM EST
Jan, I think it more likely that a real move to gut Medicare will sink the Republicans in 2018, as people WILL react, call their Senators and Reps and threaten them with unemployment if they vote for it. There’s a reason this hasn’t happened before – people will be motivated by the threatened loss of health care. I’ve seen it happen several times, under MUCH more popular Presidents than Trump, and if the Dems are smart, they will head the move to save Medicare and by extension Social Security. I don’t believe there are anywhere near 50 Senate votes for anything like this – of course, I was wrong about the election too, so weirder things have happened. But IF we fight, it won’t.
Our only hope, of course, is that the Republican Congress won’t walk in lockstep with their president and with Paul Ryan’s plan to shred what is left of our safety net. I really don’t know what kind of person really does not care about the elderly, the poor, the sick, and the homeless – what kind of person wants to relegate old people to poverty just so that the wealthiest 1% can have a lower marginal tax rate? Really, the whole Republican Party, willing to cede America’s place in the world community to enrich a handful of billionaires. We had hoped that a Trump candidacy would lead to soul-searching by the Republicans, win or lose. But a Trump win and power over all three branches of government has brought that to a screeching halt. Power corrupts and absolute power is like crack for the soulless leaders of the Republican Party.
I’m glad I went outside when I woke up at 5 to look at the moon because it’s very foggy now. I went to the Capitol yesterday afternoon but by the time I got there it had wound down. There was another protest last night, I didn’t know about it till too late. Church yesterday was great. Mourning and girding for battle. I went in with Hallelujah as my earworm & left with Brave in my head (the pastor said we’re going to have to be brave to stand up against anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT, anti-woman things that will be coming) Still in mourning, but moving toward being ready to fight.
I’m also wondering what kind of alternate universe I’ve wandered into, where David Frum is a voice of wisdom
https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/797500219726430208
The election did not magically knit together all the warring factions in the Republican Party – some of them really don’t want Trump to be president. I hope enough of the #NeverTrump’ers keep calling out their party and holding the establishment wing of the party to account.
40s this morning – saw the moon just before daybreak – she is beautiful. Going up to mid 60s and sunny. Still sick at my stomach. Chocolate has always been my go-to and now the smell of it makes me sick. sigh. We’ll survive. Most of us anyway. I have to remind myself that there were generations between abolishing slavery, women’s suffrage, Native American suffrage, and the Civil and Voting Rights Acts – there was violent backlash to eat step forward but as a nation we survived. We’ve been blessed with 8 years of a Black president. Here’s the backlash. I don’t know how many generations it will last. I know what I hope.
Lots of work met me when I walked in the door. Probably just as well. Over the last 6 months I’ve spent entirely too much work time online. But I’ll keep checking in. It’s not just that we’re stronger together, it’s that we’re targets alone. Not a cheery thought but Bright the Day anyway, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 51 and partly sunny in Bellingham. A bit of good news this morning…….I could walk normally down the stairs! I have no idea why, but if the arthritis misery I’ve been hobbling around with is easing I will be ever so grateful.
So it begins……I started my online time phoning for health care for all and will now do so again. This web site has the contact info for the Wa State Congressional Delegation. I’ve found I have a better response when I call the local offices. I can usually speak to a person so the calls seem to receive more attention.
http://www.wsha.org/policy-advocacy/legislative/u-s-congressional-delegation-contacts/
The ache in my heart re this election will remain but I need to start responding in a more hopeful way lest despair corrodes my soul. Leonard Cohen’s beautiful song, If It Be Your Will, is easing me into the day.
Good morning, meese! Tuesday …
It is 37 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 55. The forecast calls for mostly sunny skies.
I hope you all had a chance to see the Super Moon last night. She was spectacular!
I still cannot get over how quickly our lives have changed. A week ago today, we were giddily awaiting the opening of the polls – later to be watching the “I Voted” stickers showing up at our foremother’s gravesites. I think the biggest thing about my sadness is that it feels like permanently sad. Personally, we were counting on help with being able to afford college, the natural extension of President Obama’s call for free two-year colleges. Now, taxes will be cut and there will be no money for the basic safety net much less new Good Government programs. We will lose our healthcare and now I won’t have Medicare to look forward to. People can say “oh, it was just an election” but really, it changes everything. I despise people who don’t vote, I despise third party candidates, and I despise purists who literally ruin life for everyone so that they don’t soil their beautiful minds.
President Obama held a press conference yesterday and he believes that America’s institutions are strong enough to withstand one bad president. I don’t share his optimism. We had barely gotten back after one disastrous presidency … I am not sure we can handle another one just 8 years later. Here is the presser:
Transcript: Press Conference by the President
See all y’all later.
Morning – wonder why more attention isn’t placed on the fact that we have one more Democratic Senate race with the possibility to flip the Senate.
I have no money – but sent him 25 bucks
This is a good article:
The 2016 Election isn’t over yetWhat you can do right now
I don’t think that a Campbell win flips the Senate but it certainly gets us closer. Right now we would need to shift 4 Republican Senators to block a straight majority (assuming that the filibuster is nuked). If we win that Louisiana seat, we “only” have to shift 3. Still a pretty tall order – there are no moderate Republicans left and no blue state Republican senators left. Heck, there aren’t many blue states left!!
But more is better than fewer and that election might be an interesting test of how people feel about the just completed election.
Yes, you are right – it would make it 51-49 – and there is still a chance that 3 Republicans could be sane enough to preserve certain rights.
Better to get him in – and pray for a few special elections.
There will probably be a few Senators named to cabinet posts but they are in solid red states.
But it is always better to be one vote closer to being a firewall. As disappointed as I was by the presidential election, I was stunned that our Senate candidates did not do better, especially Katy McGinty and Katherine Ross. I think there is a lesson in the Feingold, Bayh, Strickland debacles – maybe people lose elections because voters don’t like them! Why not start with a fresh face and new ideas? I always thought that running Tom Barrett against Scott Walker in the 2012 recall (a rematch) was a mistake. But no one listens to me!!
Good morning, Moosekind! No, we did not see the Supermoon. Clouds moved in yesterday morning and obscured the sky all day and night, thereby negating our chances of seeing it. The rain that was supposed to happen yesterday at 3 p.m. was 12 hours late and there wasn’t much of it. Now the sky is clearing, with the current temp. 46 F., going up to 60 F. later today.
Agree that I can’t believe how much our lives have changed. What happened a week ago still hurts. I am particularly disgusted with Petula Dvorak, whose columns I previously read assiduously, for urging us to “play nicely, Thing is our president whether we voted for him or not.”
No, Petula, honey, he is not my president. And you’re naive.
That said, I am very proud of the Montgomery County high school students who walked out of their classes and marched yesterday, protesting Thing’s ascension to the presidency. Students in DC plan to protest today.
Yes, it is the end of everything we dreamed of. Jan has said it so well that I won’t elaborate on it. Is anyone here planning to go on the Million-Woman March on January 21st? I thought about going but it’s going to be very cold and I don’t need to risk getting ill, and I’m at the age where I need to bolt into the nearest toilet every 5 minutes, which will not be possible on a march.
Going to spend the day busily catching up with life I’ve neglected while glued to the computer since January. Wishing a good day to all!
Another day, another breakfast & tea. Beautiful moon. Must get in a walk this evening. No, really. Saturday sucked because I hadn’t done the weekday stuff, so I have to walk after work. Wonder what fresh hell Trump will unleash today.
I am headed to school today – and will spend much of the week writing out a call to action plan
spent a lot of time on the phone this weekend with people my age from the civil rights movement – time to put much of what we learned back in play.
I am looking forward to reading your positive posts and your plans. I saw some idiotic statements yesterday on Twitter suggesting that the Democratic Party needs to pay attention to “white working class” issues. The Democratic Party pays attention to working class issues and does not differentiate between black and white – there is already a party for those who think that white people are oppressed.
Right now the only hope that I can see is that distance between aspiration and implementation of the Republican agenda is wider than it looks. But two years out from any reckoning is going to make it difficult for us to tie Republican actions to the next election. The 2013 government shutdown was too far from the 2014 midterms and people forgot how awful, and expensive, that temper tantrum was.
I am going to update some successful tactics used during the 60s and 70s – teach ins and community “PE” (political education
I have been really disturbed by the complete lack of understanding oabout how government and politics works – by almost every millennial I talk to. The schools won’t fix it – so we will have to do the work
Morning all. I got to see the super moon last night, and it was gorgeous – since I likely won’t be around for the next one in 2034, glad I went out and caught the sight.
Jan, I understand your fear and worry – believe me, I’m on Medicare now and will be on Social Security next year. But we don’t rely on the ethics or kindness or morality of Republican officeholders, we rely on their wanting to keep their jobs. Trump’s voters did NOT sign up for losing Medicare or Social Security, and if they can be convinced that those programs are in danger, they will write letters and make phone calls to their congresscritters, I’m convinced of it. And if Campbell can win in Louisiana, a 51/49 split means every single Republican pretty much has to stay in line for them to get things through.
Of course, it also means the opposition have to stick together, a far more problematic proposition in my view, since that requires holding on to both Joe Manchin in WV who is essentially a Republican, and Bernie Sanders, who’s not a Democrat, still, despite his thinking he can tell our party what to do now. I am so tired of seeing Bernie tweeting as if he has a right to lecture Democrats on what went wrong this year – you know one of the things that went wrong, Senator? Your constant drag on our candidate in the primaries, feeding the flame of distrust of her – and now I see both you and Sen. Warren have said you’ll work with Trump on common aims? Really? What possible common aims could real liberals have with Trump? No infrastructure program purchased at the price of massive tax cuts for the 1% would be worth propping up this worthless piece of trash’s administration. Democrats have got to FIGHT, not negotiate.
I still can’t imagine that our national security apparatus is thrilled with the Trump Family Combine running national and international affairs, complete with top security clearance for the Trump children and son-in-law, without their having formal positions and while they’re running the Trump family businesses world wide. This should be a scandal of the first order, but of course, the national press is too lily-livered to make it one, preferring to do fluff pieces on this godawful group that poses the greatest threat to our democratic institutions since the Civil War.
Ugh, well, I look forward to Dee’s thoughts on how to fight this, and I will do what I can – in the meantime, will send a few bucks to the La Senate race as the first thing I can actually do in the coming War for Democracy. Everyone have a good day.
40 at dawn heading for 70 or so. Sunny again. I keep trying to see that as a sign from the Universe that while things are bad we will survive and the cycle will continue. It feels like salt in the wound. So I remind myself that while salt in the wound hurts like hell, there was a beneficial reason for it – it closed the wound so it didn’t fester.
Hillary did address working class issues (even white ones) – never reported. We have two systemic problems here (racism and media) and I don’t see how we get around or through them. Maybe Denise can show us the way. If you find even a candle, please hold that light high, Sister Dee, so we can at least see where the road is. The white people – especially males – who are the problem have internalized a “divide and conquer” meme – “if you are for them, you are against us” – it doesn’t matter how good a program is for wwc, if it’s good for anybody else, then they are against it. They literally do not believe it can be good for them if it’s good for anybody else. And since that’s faith-based, facts do not matter. Show them facts and they call you a liar (if you’re lucky). And part of what has set that meme so strongly is the media. 90% of the media is owned by 6 corporations – Molly Ivins was warning about this as early as 1994 (I went to a lecture she gave on the subject when I lived in KC, KS). Most people don’t believe there is a media monopoly – how could there be? there are a bazillion TV channels, radio stations, and newspapers – and it’s impossible to fix a problem the majority doesn’t believe exists. (See climate change/global warming). But knowing what the core problems are doesn’t protect Medicare or Social Security. Let’s see if the Rs who voted for The Wall, or anti-Muslim, or Trade War with China will have enough sense to join us in doing that.
Bright the Day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}