Sunday, June 10, 2018

Peony!


27 comments:

  1. WOW! That was some G7 photo!!! Angela Merkel is First!
    They all looked like they're thinking "You can't fix stupid."

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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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    2. Here's Auntie Beeb's take. There are four photos, apparently none of them kind to our Great White Leader.

      Trump at G7: Who's who in Merkel's photo? - Click

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  2. The New York City Subway Is Beyond Repair [Click] "Forget trains. It’s time for something radically different."

    --Alan

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    1. Is this guy kidding? Or is he just an idiot?

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    2. I agree with Bill. That's not just far out, it's ludicrous.

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    3. Well, when you consider that the NYC subway system needs to have replacement parts custom made because the companies that made the original parts departed this world decades or even generations ago; that they cannot locate their trains; that they cannot develop a system that will predict when various (or even one) train(s) will arrive at a station; that grafting electronic upgrades onto an electromechanical system of such complexity has proven pretty much impossible at any price; and that replacement with the same sort of century-old equipment might cost more than could be paid off before the subways flood for good; it sounds like it's worth study.

      Alan

      P.S.: I am informed and reasonably believe that the London Underground, which has hardware comparable to the NYC subway system, has breakdowns so frequent and widespread that one if foolish to assume it will provide timely transport to any destination.

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    4. I've never ridden the NYC subway system, and my experience with the London Underground is fairly limited. But none of what you say applies to the CTA EL/subway system, and I don't see why they should be all that different.

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    5. Just saw this from county government: Connecting Cook County You'll notice that it proposes to spend public funds to directly benefit the public, rather than to subsidize private companies in the hope they will benefit the public.

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  3. Trump Goes to War Against the Democracies
    [Click] “Through the G7 summit, the brittle pretense of unity held together. Then came the tweets.” By David Frum

    “…all this blatantly contradicts yesterday’s message line…Trump has signed documents attesting that he imposed tariffs to protect vital defense interests of the United States. Now he has changed his story. The tariffs on steel and aluminum from Germany, the U.K., Mexico, and all the others were not a national-security measure, but a retaliation for Canada’s restrictions on dairy imports. Whatever you think of Canada’s milk protectionism… it is not a threat to U.S. national security.”

    —Alan

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  4. https://www.rawstory.com/2018/06/paul-krugman-goes-ballistic-media-siderism-one-two-sides-just-completely-insane/

    "It's normal to feel that people you disagree with politically are offering bad solutions to our problems. But Trump has brought something new: his policy agenda is almost entirely directed at problems we don't have -- problems that exist only in his warped imagination 1/"

    "These include:
    - A wave of violent crime by undocumented immigrants
    - Massive illegal voting by the same
    - Massive Canadian tariffs against US goods"

    "Journalists obviously have a hard time coping with all of this. They're afraid to say that the president is completely out of touch with reality -- that sounds "unbalanced." So, all too often, they pretend that he's talking about something real 3/"

    "This amounts, in practice, to huge pro-Trump bias: you're bothsidesing a debate where one side isn't even wrong, just completely insane"

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    1. If this isn't a case of the emperor's new clothes, I don't know what is. Unfortunately, though, in this instance an innocent, non-clued-in child can't save us as in Anderson's story.

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  5. Wow! Love the photo, Listener.

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    1. Thanks, Cat! It's from the garden of the Inn at Shelburne Farms. More photos from that place to come!!

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  6. If they handed out Nobel prizes for Facebook comments, this lady would win hands down.

    Sara Joseph: Not getting along with Canada is like not getting along with a Golden Retriever.

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  7. France blasts ‘incoherent’ Trump after G7 fiasco[Click]

    Donald Trump does Brexit — it’s HUGE[Click]

    The ‘God Damn’ Tree That Nearly Brought America and North Korea to War[Click] A history lesson.

    A Sneaky Theory of Where Language Came From[Click]

    America Alone?
    A bitter end to the G7 summit could have consequences for America’s alliances.[Click]
    “Trump and the other G7 leaders had smiled and posed for the cameras…Trudeau even managed to get all of them to agree to a joint communique. Among other things, the communique called for Russia to ‘cease … its destabilizing behavior’”

    It seems rather self-evident that a Russian agent could not agree to that, and would have to cook up some sort of excuse.

    —Alan

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    1. If he is found to be a Russian agent, how if at all would that affect his eventual passage through the criminal justice system? I mean, would it change, either prospectively or retrospectively, anything Muller is doing?

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    2. Well, it seems to me that were he to be found a Russian agent, it would both bring a charge of treason and prove the existence of a benevolent God.

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  8. This comment is from Seniors for a Democratic Society, which posted the above link: ""Companies do not want their advertising to be associated with rank partisanship, bigotry, or deceit. They recognize that it’s bad for business. But Fox News continues to offer all three in spades, and as a result, I suspect it is beginning to have a downward effect on the network’s commercial viability as a whole."

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  9. DT, in his insanity, tears up presidential documents that are supposed to be preserved as part of record. So his staff has to tape them back together like a jigsaw puzzle.
    https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/10/politics/white-house-presidential-records-act/index.html

    We will all be speaking North Korean by the end of the year.

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  10. Maybe we should all learn to blink in Morse Code, so we can ask the world for help.

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  11. We have our own Caligula.
    From Wikipedia: "There are few surviving sources about the reign of Caligula, although he is described as a noble and moderate emperor during the first six months of his rule. After this, the sources focus upon his cruelty, sadism, extravagance, and sexual perversion, presenting him as an insane tyrant. While the reliability of these sources is questionable, it is known that during his brief reign, Caligula worked to increase the unconstrained personal power of the emperor, as opposed to countervailing powers within the principate. He directed much of his attention to ambitious construction projects and luxurious dwellings for himself"

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  12. (I probably sound discouraged, but not to worry. I am actually far more angry than anything, yet attempting to temper it with some dark humour. Anger can be a source of energy for action. We just need to discern and choose wisely.)

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