Saturday, April 14, 2018

Progress!


31 comments:

  1. How ironic that I posted bulbs sprouting for today's photo. Today we are actually expecting 2-6" of snow with a nice glazing of ice into the bargain.

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    1. We have crocus and forsythia blooming and the white magnolia starting. See the end of the last thread for our weekend weather forecast. It doesn't sound good for the flowers.

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  2. My sister-in-law has crossed the bar. 💙

    She wended her way away on Friday morning. (This is not to be mentioned yet on Facebook, please.)


    Friday the 13th. How interesting. Her firstborn daughter was born on a Friday the 13th. And she herself was born on a 13th as well. It was like a wink on the way out. 😉


    CROSSING THE BAR
    Alfred, Lord Tennyson

    Sunset and evening star,
    And one clear call for me!
    And may there be no moaning of the bar,
    When I put out to sea,

    But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
    Too full for sound and foam,
    When that which drew from out the boundless deep
    Turns again home.

    Twilight and evening bell,
    And after that the dark!
    And may there be no sadness of farewell,
    When I embark;

    For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
    The flood may bear me far,
    I hope to see my Pilot face to face
    When I have cross’d the bar.

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    1. A favorite poem, though I'm sorry you have occasion to post it. ♥

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  3. I just deleted a spammy "used cars in Dubai" comment/ad. That happen a lot?

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    1. Thanks for the cleanup!!! I haven't seen that yet, Renee. Hoping it was a one-off.

      It's really sweet to see you here. And did you hear that there's a new private Facebook group for Dean Blog Alumni? Holler if you need an invitation. ♥

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    2. Haven't had to delete one in a couple of years, Renee, you just got luvcky!

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  4. That's on a par with Mark Twain arriving and departing with Halley's Comet. So good you could be with her when she was back for a bit, listener.

    Alan

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    1. Oh yeah, that's the picture.. I love it when bullies get taken down, when they're scared and have no escape and get to taste some of the fear they took such delight in causing in others.

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    2. It occurs to me to wonder if Leavenworth has a presidential suite...

      Alan

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    3. The only previous Presidential Suite I know of in a US prison is the one at Fort Monroe occupied by Jeff Davis. Now it is a museum; back then it was recognized as cold, dank and unhealthful. No TV, either.

      Apprehension of Jefferson Davis[Click]

      Jeff Davis complains about the food.[Click]

      —Alan

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    4. For Presidents the flames are hotter. 😉

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  6. Can't put my finger on it, but in that picture he looks like he's in some sad remake of an 80s movie. Like Ferris Bueller went down a wrong path in life or something.

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  7. From The New Yorker:
    Michael Cohen and the End Stage of the Trump Presidency [Click] By Adam Davidson
    Excerpts:
    “This is the week we know, with increasing certainty, that we are entering the last phase of the Trump Presidency. This doesn’t feel like a prophecy; it feels like a simple statement of the apparent truth. I know dozens of reporters and other investigators who have studied Donald Trump and his business and political ties. Some have been skeptical of the idea that President Trump himself knowingly colluded with Russian officials. It seems not at all Trumpian to participate in a complex plan with a long-term, uncertain payoff.”

    “However, I am unaware of anybody who has taken a serious look at Trump’s business who doesn’t believe that there is a high likelihood of rampant criminality.”

    “Of course Trump is raging and furious and terrified. Prosecutors are now looking at his core. Cohen was the key intermediary between the Trump family and its partners around the world; he was chief consigliere and dealmaker throughout its period of expansion into global partnerships with sketchy oligarchs. He wasn’t a slick politico who showed up for a few months. He knows everything, he recorded much of it, and now prosecutors will know it, too. It seems inevitable that much will be made public. We don’t know when. We don’t know the precise path the next few months will take. There will be resistance and denial and counterattacks. But it seems likely that, when we look back on this week, we will see it as a turning point. We are now in the end stages of the Trump Presidency.”

    --Alan

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    1. Thanks, Alan. A sober article that validates one's gut feeling.

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    2. My pleasure, Cat. However it ends, it won't be like Nixon. In the end Nixon went quietly--but (1) he was far more intelligent than Trump, and (2) he was not mixed up in international money laundering etc. The details we cannot foresee, but the general course of events certainly seems predictable. The author's basic premise seems sound. Oh, had you noticed that the feds grabbed some of Cohen's computers and cell phones, as well as raiding (one of?) his safety deposit box(es)? The latter should prove interesting.

      Alan

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    3. Very interesting. One wonders why Cohen kept anything here in the States. Surely, an operator of his magnitude would keep as little incriminating material as possible, and keep what there was safely offshore. Safety deposit boxes in the Camon Islands, for instance? If it's true that he knows everything about Trump and recorded most of it, well, wouldn't a canny chap cover his posterior? He may perhaps be able to cut a deal and avoid a zillion years in the pen, but he's never get off scott free, no matter how thoroughly he "cooperates with the authorities." Sounds to me like he's not too bright.

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  8. Central U.S. Storm Kills 3 In Blast Of Snow, Ice And Wind [Click] Good Heavens--this must be what is coming your way, Cat and listener!

    --Alan

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    1. The snow and Ice were all north of Chicago, but plenty of wind. I heard about 18-foot waves on Lake Michigan, which account for the warning about coastal flooding.

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    2. I heard St. Paul is/was having a blizzard today.

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  9. It Was Racism, Not the Economy, Stupid [Click]

    Republicans Lose Their Favorite Campaign Issue:

    Washington Post: “For the first time in nearly a decade, Republican candidates across the country find themselves bereft of what was once their favorite talking point: repealing and replacing President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act — and all the havoc they alleged it has wreaked.”

    “That’s because the GOP failed dramatically in its efforts last year to roll back the ACA as its first big legislative delivery on the promise of single-party control of Washington from Congress to the White House. That defeat has quickly turned attacks on Obamacare from centerpiece into pariah on the campaign trail, a sudden disappearing act that Democrats are looking to exploit as they seek to regain power in the midterms.”

    Comey’s Book Could Complicate Russia Investigation [Click]

    All of the World's Yeast Probably Originated in China [Click]

    --Alan

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  10. Opinion piece from the Washington Post:

    Trump is drowning in scandal. He can’t focus on Syria.[Click]
    Um, excuse me, but since when has he been able to focus on anything? I particularly liked this bit; it raised my opinion of John Bolton by a [single] notch:
    “The new national security adviser, John Bolton, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff sat ashen-faced as Trump unloaded on the career professionals of the Justice Department and FBI who, just like the armed forces, are pledged to defend the country against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Erm—so is the President of the United States. But I suppose an oath breaker, particularly a serial oath breaker—sees himself in others.

    And in other news, I find that now retired, I am more adept at catching gophers. Spotted a new and newly filled gopher hole in the back lawn, and caught one. BTW, the local gophers seem to find gladiolus bulbs to be particularly delectable.

    —Alan

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    1. Where do you deport them to? I trust you don't execute them!

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    2. To tell the truth, I have never heard of an effective way of capturing them alive, so the question of deporting them does not come up. La Migra wouldn't be any help, since the gophers were clearly here first. I suppose one might consider them part of nature's bounty, and I just now discovered that there are lots of gopher recipes on the Internet. I will leave those for the paleolithic diet enthusiasts.

      --Alan

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    3. Oh! Poor gophers! I'm sorry I asked!

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