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 (usually Saturday night with a Sunday date). 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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- Page One of Comments is HERE!
- Page Two of Comments is HERE!
Good morning, 46 and partly sunny in Bellingham. Thanks to a long nap yesterday afternoon I don’t have to write a list for today :) Getting Easter and April birthday cards in the mail needs to happen first, and then back to my messy desk.
Jan, I haven’t had any Moose log in issues, so fwiw here’s my computer info…..W10, with updates current. Chrome is my main browser, and I use their adblock app. I also check for updates and clear my browsing history at least once per week. I also make sure to turn my computer off and then restart it at least once per week.
I occasionally read in my iPhone and I try to remember to turn it off, wait a few minutes and then turn it back on regularly as that seems to keep everything working better. Thanks for keeping the Moose up and running!
Time for coffee, and my best wishes to all.
Thanks for that information on your browsing environment!
The problem comes from the Internet being pretty much “open source.” That means that all the bad actors know how a WordPress site works and how the logins work. So attacks on the login are pretty simple to carry out. The hosting site’s response is to temporarily shut down logins from the source of the attack which is very likely bots from web sites that are sharing browser space with the Moose. So if someone has, for example, a badly managed web site like Washington Monthly (where ad bots are allowed to run virtually unchecked) up in a tab in the same browser session that the Moose is up in, there can be attacks. The ad blocker annoys sites and I wish I didn’t have to run it but those sites need to stop with the auto-play video ads and the ads that have code that can hide malware. If they just allow any place-your-ad-here company to inject malware into their site, they don’t get any sympathy from me. I am sorry that Moose users are collateral damage. I changed some settings to clear cache more frequently so that cookies don’t get stale and I hope that helps some. If it doesn’t, there are some tricks I can play with the login screen but I don’t want to go there unless I have to.
I just got the message on my Android but was able to get in fine on my computer so it is not my Internet connection (it would be using the same address). I don’t have an ad blocker on my phone, by the way. I may have an idea for a way around the block and can test it this weekend.
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 48 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 57. The forecast calls for rain all day with thunderstorms expected later. These are the April showers that will bring May flowers, I suspect.
Donald Trump and his political party have put the Imperial Presidency on steroids. I am not sure if their intent is to completely neuter Congress – where sometimes those “pesky” Democrats have power! – or it is just a byproduct of their race to destroy the last vestiges of democracy in America. In a just world, Republicans allowing him to claim war powers as executive, allowing him to ignore Congressional subpoenas, allowing him to turn the Justice Department into his own personal law firm would come back to haunt them. There better not be a kumbaya Democratic presidency – President Obama tried that and had a Supreme Court seat and hundreds of federal judiciary appointments stolen from him. Our next president needs to treat Republicans like the literal scum of the earth that they are.
Tomorrow is Redacted Mueller Report day and thankfully I will be traveling and I can ignore the hot takes. It is a distraction from the deplorable practices of the Trump administration which are destroying lives and any moral authority we may have once had. The hard work of Barack Obama, to set to the world on the path of forgiving us for the George W. Bush years, has been wasted. :(
See all y’all later!
Here is the difference between the candidates – some people running realize we are in the fight of our lives, an existential crisis for women and people of color in Trump’s America. For the male candidates – and especially the white male candidates – there is no urgent need to fight, they will survive a second Trump term.
Wednesday Meese.
37 here in NYS going up to 65
We’re supposed to have severe weather overnight tonight, but it’s already sprinkling now. I hope the real weather hold off as long as the weather guys said it would, I have my Democratic club meeting tonight. Here’s another live Snow Patrol video: Empress. Love the 2nd verse:
So standing in the steady throng of restless hope
You don’t feel like an outcast anymore
And something deep inside of you has waken up
And you know that nothing’s gonna be the same again
It’s 62, overcast, and the wind is howling around the building again. The rain isn’t expected to start until this evening and the temps will be starting another long slow drop around noon but the front is moving in and my joints are creaky. sigh. Actually the clouds started moving in yesterday evening – we only got 18 KWHs so maintaining but not gaining. The m-t-d is 265 which isn’t bad but the forecasts for the next 10 days aren’t good for building on that. I’m sure we’ll get to 300 but how much more is totally in the lap of the goddess.
Evil Ones being evil. They will be stopped sooner or later, by us or somebody else. I hope it’s sooner and by us. That will save at least tens of thousands, possibly millions, of lives over later and not by us. It will save habitat and wildlife, and possibly level off global warming before the natural feedback loop goes into overdrive and it can’t be stopped. So I donate small amounts here and there, do what else I can, and pray a lot. Together we can do this.
No word for anybody on anything. I just hope to goodness/goddess something comes through soon. Aji needs results and revenue at minimum. The folks whose housing situations I’m worried about need revenue. None of the supposedly safety-net programs apply to any of them (or they’re already getting their “allowable”) so try things, wait, pray. & I send some grocery money when I can and wish to heaven it was more along with the prayers. That will be the bad part of re-retiring – my own revenue will go back to being just my Social Security which stretches for me (& my now 5 cats – who want more canned food than I had been used to, and budgeted for, feeding them) but not much further. Anyway I am still working so I need to get back to it. And more coffee of course. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, Meesefolk; 43 when I got up with a high of 57 today. The sun has broken through, so it seems possible, even likely, to hit the high before the rain moves in. According to my weather widget, our next sunny day is Friday…the 26th. If this is accurate, our spring flowers better be pretty darn spectacular!
I’m not particularly interested in reading what I expect to be a redacted-to-the-point-of-unreadability report tomorrow; I’ll let others do that. But I was heartened to hear about the GWBush-appointed judge who has said he make have to weigh in on the redactions relative to the FOIA case he is overseeing (https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/16/politics/judge-foia-doj-redactions-mueller-report/index.html). And while I think it’s obvious that part of the reason Low Barr was picked for AG is because of his past history of providing dishonest summaries, I do wonder if he’ll really be able to play the Brazen card again, now that his dishonesty is part of the public record. Why the heck the tRump Administration is the hill some of these folks want to die on is beyond me; I’m willing to listen if someone has an explanation.
Good day to and for all!
It is even more ridiculous:
1. Barr will hold a press conference to talk about his report at 9:30am.
2. The White House will releases their response to the Barr report at 10:30am.
3. Congress gets the report ON PAPER at 11am.
4. The public gets to see the Barr report after it is scanned and OCRed and copy/pasted onto a web page.
There is no reason to pay attention until sometime Friday when the layers of PR and lies can be peeled away.
Good morning, 51 and raining in Bellingham. Between tRump angst and family concerns I didn’t sleep much last night so today will be long. Our son and grandson’s birthdays are happening this week along with Easter, so means busy fun. My worries are no fun though. Our grandson’s muscle spasms have returned so he’s back on crutches and not able to go to school. And my sil has a newly discovered and very painful bone cancer. Treatment options are not clear because they have not been able to diagnosis the type of cancer or where it originated.
So, while we wait for medical realities to become clearer I will keep birthday and Easter plans ongoing and try to not let my worries be a burden to those needing my support.
Best wishes to all.
Oh, princesspat, I’m so sorry to hear about your SIL; I will be holding her (and you) in the Light.
{{{princesspat}}} – Healing Energy to your household/family and yes, birthday and Easter plans are good to focus on. more {{{HUGS}}}
This is why Democrats should NOT be going on Fox News. They not only provide Fox with cover that they are somehow a news organization but they help them sell ads for the next business cycle! DON’T HELP TRUMP TV!!
Here you go, anotherdemocrat.
I saw that! Totally adorable.
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 54 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 52. The forecast calls for cloudy skies with occasional sunny breaks.
I will be ignoring the Barr Report rollout – it is a press release from the Trump Administration and has nothing to do with the protecting the rule of law. Democratic Senators who fell for “Barr has great integrity” are fools and will forever be linked to this travesty. That the “Justice” Department let tRump’s lawyers work the redactions and prepare their own report shows how tainted the process is – House Democrats should go right to interviewing Robert Mueller and cut out the middle men. I would hope that the press learned their lesson after the pushback to the Barr Letter but that is expecting them to be anything other than craven click-chasers so I won’t hold my breath.
Meanwhile, civil liberties are being crushed, families are being separated at the border and housed in inhumane conditions, American cities are without safe drinking water, bridges are crumbling and Puerto Ricans will have their food and healthcare cut off by a racist political party scoring points off their misery.
See all y’all later!
Thursday Meese
48 and cloudy here in NYS going up to 53 with rain.
Curiouser and curiouser…
5 Weird Items In The New Bernie-Buttigieg Poll
No. 5: 43% of Pete Buttigieg’s support comes from Independent voters, not registered Democrats.
No. 4: Only 42% of those who voted for Bernie in the 2016 Primary selected him as their top choice in the 2020 Primary.
No. 3: 26% of current Bernie Sanders supporters said that they would rather vote for President Donald Trump over Senator Elizabeth Warren, if that were the eventual 2020 matchup.
No. 2: While 100% of Buttigieg’s supporters said they would support Bernie against Trump (if that were the General Election matchup), only 79% of Bernie’s supporters said they would vote for Buttigieg over Trump in a General Election.
No. 1: Only 51% of current Bernie supporters actually voted in the 2016 General Election for the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton – 7% voted for Trump, 23% voted for a third-party candidate, and 19% did not vote.
It is obvious that Bernie Sanders’ supporters are not Democrats and can’t be counted on in a general election. This shows just how deplorable his supporters are: “26% of current Bernie Sanders supporters said that they would rather vote for President Donald Trump over Senator Elizabeth Warren, if that were the eventual 2020 matchup.”
Sanders’ petulance gave us Trump in 2016 and he is determined to give us a second Trump term rather than encourage his basketful of deplorables to support someone other than him. Fk him with a rusty boat anchor.
Ha! Perfect!! (by the way, my dog does this to me when she needs pets!!)
We had strong thunderstorms overnight, but they’re gone now. I just remembered I have church tonight. And tomorrow night. I actually love these services, stark & quiet. Will be a welcome thing after all the screaming about Barr’s edited version of the Mueller report. Here’s Don’t Give In, by Snow Patrol.
Good morning, Meesefolk; cloudy 57 when I got up and going to a cloudier high of 68. The rain moves in soon, and tomorrow we fall off the cliff, going back to the low 40s. The net result is that at this point, I can’t tell if I’m coming down with a cold, have allergies, or my sinuses are just acting up. I took nighttime cold/sinus medicine last night, and it nailed me…I barely made it into bed before falling into a deep, drug-induced sleep. I’m struggling to wake up this morning, so its pretty clear that I won’t be taking that medicine again except on weekends.
I gather the “press conference” is going on right now; too busy and too disinterested to pay attention. I will pay attention to the after-reports which tell me which media personnel showed up as journalists and which as stenographers, and which decided that running to a Barr dog-and-pony show was a waste of time. As far as Barr Report 2.0? I can’t think of a single reason to trust what he releases.
Good day to and for all!
It’s a wet 55 in Fay., AR right now and doing nothing but going down as far as temps are concerned. Kitties have been seriously asking to have windows open – mostly Charlie but Murf too – but nobody’s been seriously asking to go outside for days. Even the nice days. Or at least if Murf is asking to go outside he’s not doing it in a way that I understand him. (Murf is starting to join in the family. He’s coming into the den with everybody else as long as I’m in there and even sat on my lap for a good 10 minutes last night.) Meanwhile we got just over 6 KWHs yesterday so yes covering what I use daily but no to being on track for even 300 much less 400+ by the end of the month considering the m-t-d is 272 and we’ve got lots more clouds/rain in the forecast.
Holding patterns everywhere and on all levels. Prayers/invocations that we (as individuals and in communities small and large right up to nationally) manage to find a landing site somewhere before we run out of fuel and come down wherever we happen to be. Meanwhile the barometric pressure changes are messing with my joints and my sinusitis. Hoping more coffee will fix the latter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 57 and raining in Bellingham. I wanted to see Baghdad Bill Barr’s performance, but my head is still spinning from his lame attempt to “take the sting” (Chuck Rosenberg’s comment) away from the truth of tRump’s “awful but perhaps not unlawful” (Joyce Vance) conduct. Seeing Barr act as tRump’s defense attorney and NOT as the US Attorney General is a sad sight to see.
It’s our son’s birthday today so we’re going to dinner tonight, and I have the fun of finding him a hanging basket full of flowers as his gift. It’s fun to share flower love with my kids :)
Best wishes to all, and sincere thanks for your support re my family health worries.
TGIF Meese.
57 and we are under a flash flood watch here in NYS – going up to 74 with torrential rains.
Heh.
Sarah Sanders Liar
Schiff
Puerto Rico
Great tweet roundup! The sad thing is that Republicans are incapable of feeling shame at their hypocrisy and Lindsey Graham has been blinded so much by Trump-love that he will NOT see any parallels between his words in the Clinton impeachment proceedings and the clear evidence of crimes in the Mueller report. I had been thinking that impeachment would be a distraction but I now think that impeachment investigation hearings would be a great thing to make sure that the facts come out ahead of the 2020 election. I don’t think we can peel anyone off from Trump’s base – the fundies see the repeal of Roe as a reality (thanks, Susan Freaking Collins!) and the white supremacists don’t care if he is a liar and a thief – but I wouldn’t mind Congress pointing out over and over and over again that Russia wanted Trump to be president (and they also wanted Bernie Sanders to run against him because he would be the easiest to beat). At some point someone might say “I don’t want to vote for one of Putin’s Puppets.” If nothing else maybe they will stay home, discouraged.
I see we’re moving in the same direction re impeachment hearings. I think if we don’t hold them, we risk deflating/redirecting the anger that created the Blue Wave. (I have not-so-nice thoughts about that possibility, but I’ll leave them aside for now.) I think starting with public hearings with Mueller is the obvious start, even if they’re not called impeachment hearings, and then build from there. And while a segment of Twitter was pissed at Speaker Nancy last night, I think I’ll trust her instincts. She clearly did get the message that people want tougher talk, but Nancy has a way of making polite, grandmotherly comments that are actually intimidating as all get out. So we don’t need her to be a fire-breather; as long as she is the Nice Grandma that nobody wants to piss off, I’m happy.
People attacking Nancy Pelosi really don’t get it and are driven more by reflexive hatred of her than by common sense. She is a grandmother but also a grand strategist – by slow walking this, if she were to then say “we must impeach” it carries a lot more weight.
I think that Trump’s mischaracterization of the contents of the Mueller Report is a huge mistake for him. It contains a lot of terrible FACTS about his behaviour and shows him as weak, corrupt and a dotard. Follow the Mueller hearings where they may go and if they turn into impeachment hearings right around the time the economy goes into recession, that will be a double-whammy that may make people stop and think “do we want this corrupt ignoramus to be president?” Stopping short of impeachment, perhaps even saying next January “we believe there is enough evidence to warrant impeachment but we don’t believe the complicit Republicans in the U.S. Senate will remove their president. We are close enough to an election that we can let the American people decide on removal – and on who should be sitting in the Senate as well.”
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 39 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 54. Sunny skies are in the forecast. On Sunday we are expected to get to 77 degrees!! Can Spring finally be sprung??!?
As planned, I did not look at any of the Mueller doings until late afternoon and then just scanned. The consensus seems to be that Bill Barr thinks it is the 80s and that the gravitas of the Attorney General will override whatever people can see with their own two eyes. Sorry, Bill! First, have you not been paying attention? The last attorney general was a member of the KKK – any respect people had for the integrity of the AG has shriveled to the size of tTrump’s er, fingers. Plus we now have alternative ways of getting information and we don’t have to rely on the three broadcast networks and the New York Times and Washington Post headlines to find out what we are supposed to think. My local paper, instead of trumpeting “No Collusion” had this “Trump tried to take control over probe” and the other paper I get electronically said “Special counsel refuses to clear Trump of wrongdoing.” What a difference ginormous pushback to the Barr Letter made! It makes me feel hopeful for the survival of the rule of law.
Anyway, I will read a few of the warm takes today but the next step has to be that Mueller testify to Congress about why he did not charge the Trump family for clear violations of the law (is “I didn’t know it was illegal” really going to be a defense??) and then they ask him if he really intended to have Barr make the obstruction charging decision (as Barr claims) or if it was essentially a referral to Congress for impeachment. I can’t imagine any scenario where Mueller can be blocked from testifying by the Justice Department and the hearings mean that this trumpian embarrassment is NOT going away.
See all y’all later!
Eating my overnight oats & drinking my nice cold tea. Making sure my phone charger is charged (easier to charge it connecting to the desktop here at work than my laptop at home). Haven’t found anyone to buy the 2nd ticket I accidentally bought, but since the show is sold out, I’m sure I will. I’ll let Ari Melber & Rachel Maddow read the Mueller Report. Rachel did a great job going through it last might — and she interviewed Andrew McCabe, which was really interesting.
Here’s a sweet love song from Snow Patrol: Just Say Yes.