But gee--out here we are battling weeds in our flowerbeds... There is one (maybe Queen Anne's lace?) that quickly puts down a considerable tap root--even longer that the plant is tall. Only the very smallest ones can be pulled out by the root without digging. A fair trade for continuing snow, I think.
I love Queen Ann's lace. Haven't seen it in years. I suppose a weed is any plant that's growing in a place you don't want it to. If memory serves, Queen Ann's lace is a relative of the carrot.
The name ”Queen Anne’s Lace”[Click] may be applied to at least three flowers with similar flowers, but is usually taken to mean [are you ready?] Daucus carota.[Click] Domesticated carrots are cultivars of a subspecies, Daucus carota subsp. sativus.
And yes, the plants growing so abundantly in our flowerbeds are definitely Daucus carota.
The Self-Destruction of Paul Ryan and the G.O.P.[Click] A pleasant op-ed in the NYT. “Mr. Trump’s brand of scapegoating demagogy, which Mr. Ryan as speaker has done nothing but enable, is a turbocharged Democratic turnout machine that converts swing districts into Democratic seats and converts enormous Republican advantages into razor’s edge contests.” I like it. I also like the lead photo of Mr. Ryan. ============================== “I’m very happy. I’ve not had a moment of regret or remorse. Every morning it’s hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, this is not my problem.” — Former Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), in an interview on the Today Show, about retirement. =============================== Voters Take The Wheel On Fixing Gerrymandering[Click]
Two Decades of War Have Eroded the Morale of America’s Troops[Click] “After nearly 17 years of war, service members have seen plenty of patriotic displays but little public debate about why they’re fighting.” Yes, very much yes. I think the passing of the WWII generation of politicians has been bad for us; perhaps the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans can fill that missing part of the political puzzle.
In Illinois, it has proven almost impossible to draft an anti-gerrymandering initiative that is constitutionally acceptable for voters to put on the ballot by petition. Any ballot measure that affects anything other than the powers and duties of the state legislature must come from the legislature itself. And while gerrymandering is fundamentally a legislative activity, two consecutive elections have seen anti-gerrymandering ballot measures rejected because they also had effects outside the legislature.
Why they're fighting is one thing. The other, that makes me apoplectic is that the same, overwhelmingly Republican, arssholes who trip over themselves to vote for wars and to increase the Defense budget to obscene and mind numbing amounts then turn around and trip over themselves to defund the VA. If it's so goddamned patriotic to send other peoples kids and spouses to get maimed to protect the oil supply and other corporate interests, how come it isn't patriotic to care for them when they come home? I guarantee, if it was *their* children and grandchildren, the VA would be the best funded, best run department in the entire government. I HATE the Republicans! Even if I agreed with them about everything else, I would hate their hypocrisy when it comes to funding wars and defunding veterans' care.
Unlike previous wars (even including Vietnam), the Iraq and Afghanistan vets who have entered politics, at least as far as I have noticed, are overwhelmingly Democrats. That is to say, the Republican party is not being infused with new, young veterans.
Just wait, Cat; I think it was the CBO that said as things stand now, with the tax cuts for the rich and increased spending, interest on the national debt will exceed the Pentagon budget in a few years.
Pardon my poor attempt at humor, Cat. We agree. I can understand Nixon ending the draft because of the political pressures of the time; but I felt then and feel now that it was a poison apple for the republic. By stopping the interchange of people between the military and civilians, it made an isolated military caste more likely. Then again, I have wondered if Nixon had another motive: to make it impossible for the country to ever again get bogged down in another Vietnam War, which was enabled by an almost endless supply of cannon fodder. I think he could not imagine that the government would exhaust the volunteer military by insanely frequent redeployments. Remember, Vietnam was a single-deployment war; one year and you were out, unless you volunteered for more. My brother served three tours there.
I think we are the poorer for the passing of the WWII generation; my generation has not replaced them with veterans in Congress. I have hopes that the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will do what we did not.
Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford and Bush Sr. were all WWII veterans. LBJ’s transport plane came under attack by Japanese fighters in the Solomons (or thereabouts). Carter graduated Annapolis in 1946; WWII had ended 2nd September 1945.
Fox and friends told Cheetolini he should bomb Syria to distract from Comey's book. So that is EXACTLY what he's doing. I have never, ever, ever hated a human being with the intensity of my hatred for him.
Meanwhile Ivanka is off in a foreign country being "Acting Secretary of State".
And Pence is hiding out in his hotel (I think in Peru) probably because of the Orange Idiots' bombing Syria.
I mean, how stupid is he? Oh, these poor people were gassed, so let's bomb them.
Well, lots of news. Brief excerpts follow from politicalwire.com[Click] in chronological order and omitting mention of Syria bombings because there are no field reports yet.—Alan
“Trump administration officials looking to escape to the private sector are getting a rude awakening: No one wants to hire them,” BuzzFeed News reports.
“With rumors swirling that President Trump could soon fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, key Democrats this week began putting together an emergency action plan,” National Journal reports. “Step one: Don’t call for impeachment.”
Federal agents who raided Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s home, office and hotel room this week seized audio recordings, sources familiar with the raid tell ABC News.
“A former Russian spy helped Donald Trump’s business team seek financing for a Trump-branded tower in the heart of Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign,” BuzzFeed News reports.
President Trump’s advisers “have concluded that a wide-ranging corruption investigation in New York poses a greater and more imminent threat to the president than even the special counsel’s investigation,” the New York Times reports. “As his lawyers went to court on Friday to try to block prosecutors from reading files that were seized from his longtime personal lawyer and fixer this week, Mr. Trump found himself increasingly isolated in mounting a response. He continued to struggle to hire a new criminal lawyer, and some of his own aides were reluctant to advise him about a response for fear of being dragged into a criminal investigation themselves.” ================================= And now to check on talking points memo.com[Click]:
Prosecutors Reveal New Details About 'Months-Long' Probe Of Michael Cohen.
McClatchy: Mueller Has Evidence Cohen Traveled To Prague During Campaign
"McClatchy: Mueller Has Evidence Cohen Traveled To Prague During Campaign" The big flaw in that dossier thing was the false claim that Manafort had met Russian agents in Prague. Is it possible that the author simply got the people involved mixed up?
Bill, Reuters[Click] and others say the Steele Dossier had Cohen going to Prague. Coulda fooled me either way; I can’t tell the players without a scorecard.
Right. I was trying to reconcile this with what a read a couple of months ago: That the passport of the person named indicated he had never been to the Czech Republic and that on the date of the alleged second meeting there was concrete evidence he had been in southern California. Not clear how this conflicting evidence fits together.
We had a high of 70 today. By as early as 5:00 tomorrow evening, parts of our region will be down to 32 and throughout the evening the entire region will experience freezing rain and sleet. Sunday morning church going time sounds iffy enough that Dad is glumly contemplating missing yet another week. What can I say? It's New England.
Already you had alternating hot and very cold a while back, Cat; I think you need a new weatherman. In fact, I'd bet a weatherwoman would do a much better job!
LOL My condensed report was from watching the weatherman on Channel 22. Usually, I read the weather report on Channel 40's web site. Those reports are written by either of two meteorologists, one Don Mahar and one Jenna Brown. Sorry to say, the weatherwoman brings us equally bad weather as the weatherman.
This week I've been reading Madeleine L'Engle's books about the Austin Family: Meet The Austins, The Moon By Night and The Young Unicorns. Not greatly looking forward to the next, A Ring Of Endless Light, since the blurb says the beloved grandfather of the family dies. *sigh*
I love that!
ReplyDeleteBut gee--out here we are battling weeds in our flowerbeds... There is one (maybe Queen Anne's lace?) that quickly puts down a considerable tap root--even longer that the plant is tall. Only the very smallest ones can be pulled out by the root without digging. A fair trade for continuing snow, I think.
ReplyDeleteAlan
I love Queen Ann's lace. Haven't seen it in years. I suppose a weed is any plant that's growing in a place you don't want it to. If memory serves, Queen Ann's lace is a relative of the carrot.
DeleteThe name ”Queen Anne’s Lace”[Click] may be applied to at least three flowers with similar flowers, but is usually taken to mean [are you ready?] Daucus carota.[Click] Domesticated carrots are cultivars of a subspecies, Daucus carota subsp. sativus.
DeleteAnd yes, the plants growing so abundantly in our flowerbeds are definitely Daucus carota.
—Alan
The Self-Destruction of Paul Ryan and the G.O.P.[Click] A pleasant op-ed in the NYT. “Mr. Trump’s brand of scapegoating demagogy, which Mr. Ryan as speaker has done nothing but enable, is a turbocharged Democratic turnout machine that converts swing districts into Democratic seats and converts enormous Republican advantages into razor’s edge contests.” I like it. I also like the lead photo of Mr. Ryan.
ReplyDelete==============================
“I’m very happy. I’ve not had a moment of regret or remorse. Every morning it’s hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, this is not my problem.”
— Former Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), in an interview on the Today Show, about retirement.
===============================
Voters Take The Wheel On Fixing Gerrymandering[Click]
Two Decades of War Have Eroded the Morale of America’s Troops[Click] “After nearly 17 years of war, service members have seen plenty of patriotic displays but little public debate about why they’re fighting.” Yes, very much yes. I think the passing of the WWII generation of politicians has been bad for us; perhaps the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans can fill that missing part of the political puzzle.
—Alan
In Illinois, it has proven almost impossible to draft an anti-gerrymandering initiative that is constitutionally acceptable for voters to put on the ballot by petition. Any ballot measure that affects anything other than the powers and duties of the state legislature must come from the legislature itself. And while gerrymandering is fundamentally a legislative activity, two consecutive elections have seen anti-gerrymandering ballot measures rejected because they also had effects outside the legislature.
DeleteYes, it's frustrating.
DeleteSo you're saying Ayn Rand is not a good role model for the Speaker of the House?
DeleteGreat op-ed, BTW!
Why they're fighting is one thing. The other, that makes me apoplectic is that the same, overwhelmingly Republican, arssholes who trip over themselves to vote for wars and to increase the Defense budget to obscene and mind numbing amounts then turn around and trip over themselves to defund the VA. If it's so goddamned patriotic to send other peoples kids and spouses to get maimed to protect the oil supply and other corporate interests, how come it isn't patriotic to care for them when they come home? I guarantee, if it was *their* children and grandchildren, the VA would be the best funded, best run department in the entire government. I HATE the Republicans! Even if I agreed with them about everything else, I would hate their hypocrisy when it comes to funding wars and defunding veterans' care.
DeleteUnlike previous wars (even including Vietnam), the Iraq and Afghanistan vets who have entered politics, at least as far as I have noticed, are overwhelmingly Democrats. That is to say, the Republican party is not being infused with new, young veterans.
Just wait, Cat; I think it was the CBO that said as things stand now, with the tax cuts for the rich and increased spending, interest on the national debt will exceed the Pentagon budget in a few years.
DeleteAlan
Pardon my poor attempt at humor, Cat. We agree. I can understand Nixon ending the draft because of the political pressures of the time; but I felt then and feel now that it was a poison apple for the republic. By stopping the interchange of people between the military and civilians, it made an isolated military caste more likely. Then again, I have wondered if Nixon had another motive: to make it impossible for the country to ever again get bogged down in another Vietnam War, which was enabled by an almost endless supply of cannon fodder. I think he could not imagine that the government would exhaust the volunteer military by insanely frequent redeployments. Remember, Vietnam was a single-deployment war; one year and you were out, unless you volunteered for more. My brother served three tours there.
DeleteI think we are the poorer for the passing of the WWII generation; my generation has not replaced them with veterans in Congress. I have hopes that the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will do what we did not.
Alan
Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford and Bush Sr. were all WWII veterans.
DeleteLBJ’s transport plane came under attack by Japanese fighters in the Solomons (or thereabouts). Carter graduated Annapolis in 1946; WWII had ended 2nd September 1945.
Alan
Fox and friends told Cheetolini he should bomb Syria to distract from Comey's book. So that is EXACTLY what he's doing. I have never, ever, ever hated a human being with the intensity of my hatred for him.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile Ivanka is off in a foreign country being "Acting Secretary of State".
And Pence is hiding out in his hotel (I think in Peru) probably because of the Orange Idiots' bombing Syria.
I mean, how stupid is he? Oh, these poor people were gassed, so let's bomb them.
Democratic Senators Demand Trump Provide Legal Justification to Attack Syria - Click
ReplyDeleteWell, lots of news. Brief excerpts follow from politicalwire.com[Click] in chronological order and omitting mention of Syria bombings because there are no field reports yet.—Alan
ReplyDelete“Trump administration officials looking to escape to the private sector are getting a rude awakening: No one wants to hire them,” BuzzFeed News reports.
“With rumors swirling that President Trump could soon fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, key Democrats this week began putting together an emergency action plan,” National Journal reports. “Step one: Don’t call for impeachment.”
Federal agents who raided Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s home, office and hotel room this week seized audio recordings, sources familiar with the raid tell ABC News.
“A former Russian spy helped Donald Trump’s business team seek financing for a Trump-branded tower in the heart of Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign,” BuzzFeed News reports.
President Trump’s advisers “have concluded that a wide-ranging corruption investigation in New York poses a greater and more imminent threat to the president than even the special counsel’s investigation,” the New York Times reports. “As his lawyers went to court on Friday to try to block prosecutors from reading files that were seized from his longtime personal lawyer and fixer this week, Mr. Trump found himself increasingly isolated in mounting a response. He continued to struggle to hire a new criminal lawyer, and some of his own aides were reluctant to advise him about a response for fear of being dragged into a criminal investigation themselves.”
=================================
And now to check on talking points memo.com[Click]:
Prosecutors Reveal New Details About 'Months-Long' Probe Of Michael Cohen.
McClatchy: Mueller Has Evidence Cohen Traveled To Prague During Campaign
Valerie Plame: Trump Pardon Of Libby Is ‘Absolutely’ About ‘Trump And His Future’[Click] NOW it makes sense.
===================================
Elsewhere:
Stephen Colbert on Trump and hush-money claims: 'These women need to unionize'
The attacks on Syria seem to have commenced; I suspect it is by ship- and airplane-launched cruise missiles rather than aircraft.
"McClatchy: Mueller Has Evidence Cohen Traveled To Prague During Campaign" The big flaw in that dossier thing was the false claim that Manafort had met Russian agents in Prague. Is it possible that the author simply got the people involved mixed up?
DeleteStephen Colbert on Trump and hush-money claims: 'These women need to unionize'
DeleteYou know I'm a big believer in unions. They would definitely do better with collective bargaining.
Bill, Reuters[Click] and others say the Steele Dossier had Cohen going to Prague. Coulda fooled me either way; I can’t tell the players without a scorecard.
Delete—Alan
Right. I was trying to reconcile this with what a read a couple of months ago: That the passport of the person named indicated he had never been to the Czech Republic and that on the date of the alleged second meeting there was concrete evidence he had been in southern California. Not clear how this conflicting evidence fits together.
Delete'Constitutional Crisis Not Seen Since Watergate,' Warns Senator, If President Trump Fires Rosenstein - click
ReplyDeleteWe had a high of 70 today. By as early as 5:00 tomorrow evening, parts of our region will be down to 32 and throughout the evening the entire region will experience freezing rain and sleet. Sunday morning church going time sounds iffy enough that Dad is glumly contemplating missing yet another week. What can I say? It's New England.
ReplyDeleteAlready you had alternating hot and very cold a while back, Cat; I think you need a new weatherman. In fact, I'd bet a weatherwoman would do a much better job!
DeleteAlan
LOL My condensed report was from watching the weatherman on Channel 22. Usually, I read the weather report on Channel 40's web site. Those reports are written by either of two meteorologists, one Don Mahar and one Jenna Brown. Sorry to say, the weatherwoman brings us equally bad weather as the weatherman.
DeleteThis week I've been reading Madeleine L'Engle's books about the Austin Family: Meet The Austins, The Moon By Night and The Young Unicorns. Not greatly looking forward to the next, A Ring Of Endless Light, since the blurb says the beloved grandfather of the family dies. *sigh*
ReplyDelete