Saturday, June 09, 2018

Jacob's Ladder


12 comments:

  1. Mr. Rogers Had a Simple Set of Rules for Talking to Children[Click] The TV legend possessed an extraordinary understanding of how kids make sense of language.

    —Alan

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  2. https://www.rawstory.com/2018/06/john-mccain-holds-nothing-back-blasts-trumps-call-readmit-russia-g7-meeting/

    “The President has inexplicably shown our adversaries the deference and esteem that should be reserved for our closest allies,” he continued. “Those nations that share our values and have sacrificed alongside us for decades are being treated with contempt.”

    “This is the antithesis of so-called ‘principled realism’ and a sure path to diminishing America’s leadership in the world,” McCain predicted.

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    1. Yep. Heaven knows there are things Sen. McCain and I disagree about, but I certainly respect the man. Can't say that about Cadet Bonespurs and his jolly crew.

      Alan

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    2. I wholeheartedly concur ... with John McCain ... and with Cat and Alan.

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  3. Today I feel terrible: in a rotten mood, restless, anxious, angry at everything and everybody. And it's because I got off schedule last night and forgot to take my flax seed oil and evening primrose oil. There was a time, not so long ago, when I would scarcely have noticed such feelings and thoughts, they were so commonplace. They have hardly occurred for some time now, since I resumed taking the evening primrose and added flax seed. So, I can be pretty sure skipping them last night is what caused my distress this morning. Amazing! Who would have thought missing one dose of two simple, over the counter supplements could make such a difference?

    This experience really brings home to me the vital importance of not going off one's meds, especially serious, prescription drugs. Arbitrarily deciding to stop taking your medication without consulting your GP, psychiatrist, etc. could have devastating consequences.

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    1. Primrose and flax seed; I shouldn't have expected that they would be that effective. But if they are for you, they are. Once burnt, twice shy.

      I remember a case of neglecting medicines; it was a moderately well known phenomenon at the time, when anticonvulsants were neither as good nor as numerous as now; phenobarbital was about it, and it caused the patients to feel dopy. A college freshperson, away from home for the first time, was tired of it and decided to quit. She had a gran mal in the chemistry lab I was teaching; if it had happened ten or fifteen minutes later she wold have been at much greater risk of being seriously injured because of that day's experiment, which involved heating oil for melting point measurements. It was scary--the first gran mal I had witnessed. She got her glasses between her teeth and broke the frames; I managed to get them out before her gums were badly injured (there was one cut) and restrained her enough to keep her from banging into the fixed furniture, while someone else called the campus paramedics.

      --Alan

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  4. The following from Andrew Janz in my e-mailbox.--Alan


    Andrew's headed to the General - pitch in $5 now

    I’ve got a story from the campaign trail for you, Alan.

    Right before our primary victory, we planned a meet and greet at a local retirement community. It was scheduled and approved weeks in advance. I was so excited to talk to Central Valley seniors about my plans for lowering prescription drug prices, saving Medicare and Social Security, and how I’m going to protect their interests when I get to Congress.

    And I should have known — Nunes’ tentacles are far-reaching in CA-22. Because of political pressure, management asked us not to come.

    But we’re not going to let anything (or anyone) stop us. We bused our finest generation to Janz HQ and had a great conversation about how I can serve their needs in Congress.

    Your grassroots donations to our General Election Kick-Off Fund mean we can have more events just like this all the way until November. I won’t be able to compete with Ivanka and Devin’s elite “Protect The House” Fresno fundraiser in a few days, but I’m sure as hell going to try.

    We’ve got the momentum. We’ve got the grassroots. Now we just need you.

    DONATE NOW

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  5. A spot of mid-day humor.
    --Alan

    Dear Mr. Morris -- Do you know the source of the phrase "lame duck?" -- Barb Bumann, Spokane Public Library, Spokane, WA.

    Now here's an easy one. The phrase "lame duck" comes to us from Aesop's Fables, specifically the tale of Androcles and the Duck. It seems that an escaped slave named Androcles encountered a ferocious duck in the forest. But rather than eating the terrified slave, the duck merely asked Androcles to pull a thorn from his paw, or foot, or whatever. Androcles complied, and he and the "lame duck" became fast friends, frequenting local bars and often sharing a cab home. Many years later, Androcles found himself at a banquet where the main course was roast duck. (Aesop, of course, is best known as the founder of the Greek philosophy known as Cheap Irony.) Unable to stomach the thought that his feathered old friend might be integral to the repast, Androcles decided to leave the banquet, but on his way out stepped on a lion's paw and was summarily eaten. The moral? Eat what you're served and never share a cab with a duck.

    Oh, all right. A lame duck (I suppose I ought to call it "flight-challenged") is one unable to keep up with the flock and who is thus easy prey for predators. The phrase "lame duck" was first applied on the London Stock Exchange in the 18th century to brokers who could not pay their debts. Beginning in 19th-century America, "lame duck" was used to describe a Congressional representative who had failed to hornswoggle the voters into re- electing him in November, but who was not due, under the Constitution, to actually be booted out until the following March. Thus freed of even the pretense of accountability to the voters, such "lame ducks" usually voted themselves a scandalous jackpot of perks, until a stop was put to the practice by the "Lame Duck Amendment" of 1934. Today, new Congresspeople take office in January, their defeated opponents no longer have an opportunity to loot and pillage on their way out, and thus Congress has become a temple of honesty. And you thought the duck story was ridiculous.

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  6. Trump Warns G-7 Countries On Trade: ‘If They Retaliate, They’re Making A Mistake’ [Click] Criminal to police: "If you arrest me, you're making a mistake."
    ==============
    The One Policy Trump Really Believes
    June 9, 2018 By Taegan Goddard

    Jonathan Swan: “The biggest key to understanding Trump’s dogmatism on trade is that even as he switched political parties and changed his views on issue after issue, his one consistent stance over 40 years is that other countries are ‘ripping off the United States’ in trade deals, as he put it in 1987.”

    “This is the one thing the president really believes, with his protectionist roots going back to the union-friendly environment where his father, Fred, courted Democratic pols.”

    “Nobody can claim to be surprised about what Trump is now doing. It’s everything he promised during the campaign.”

    The Washington Post quotes Trump at the G7 meetings: “We’re the piggy bank that everybody is robbing. And that ends.”
    ===================================
    Macron gets a grip--again [Click]

    Running Late: Trump Disrupts Gender Equality Meeting At G-7 [Click]

    A Photo for the Ages of Our Unfolding Disaster [Click]

    --Alan

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    1. Notes re photo for the ages:

      1) John Bolton's mouth is hanging open

      2) Miyoko points out that Mr. Abe's crossed arms are held high enough to convey a message something like "Oh my, what to do?" in Japanese. If held lower, they would be a sign of anger. (Hmmmm......I wonder if the latter would be roughly the position from which to draw swords.)

      Alan

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