caucus99percent

free-range politics, organic community

In Busan, South Korea earlier today:

두번째사진 퇴진 머리띠 졸귀 https://t.co/SLtRAYNY6b

— 삼신(할머니 아님) (@samsin_goddess) November 23, 2024

Good morning, good people!

Seems a few of you are getting rain in your neck of the woods. I hope it is needed. Here is East Texas, we have a hot weekend, then a cold front for next week. A chilly thanksgiving.

A/C and heat pump both get workouts.

Meanwhile, we have a courthouse security office who acts as bailiff for county court dockets. It is his job to take people's call phones away from them if they go off during court.

Last week, during a long afternoon probate docket, the Judge's phone rang at least 4 times during hearings. He complained from the bench that he turned the sound all the way down.

After court, I had a talk with the officer. I said he should nab a 12 yr old kid. (raised eyebrows.) Take the kid to talk to the Judge. (mouth opened) Have the kid take the Judge's cell phone and show the damn Judge how to set the ring tone on mute. (laughter..."Great idea!") The people waiting to have their case heard would appreciate it. (No kidding!")

Well, this week, I suggested he have "that talk" with the Judge about posters on the entrance doors of the courthouse announcing holiday closures. See, the Thanksgiving poster features a little Pilgrim-dressed baby turkey under a banner saying "Happy Thanksgiving!" Well, somebody clue the judge in that only a crazy baby turkey would enjoy that day. Kids coming in the building might be traumatized. The officer wholeheartedly agreed.

As we move toward a country of more abridgment of our rights, this sense that the border wall is a back door introduction to freedom ending CBDS, would any of us try this to escape?

Welcome to Friday Night Photos everyone. Your once a week break from the daily madness of the crazy world we live in. Post any photos, memes, music, or whatever else you find of interest that helps you escape the madness.

It's been sunny and 70s all week so I took advantage of the nice weather and went to the zoo for a few hours on Mon. and Thur. morning. It's always hit or miss on how active the animals are. Both mornings were a hit this week.

Each morning when the zoo opens they have a flyby of Macaws. This Blue and Yellow Macaw was from yesterday's flyby.

It's been a little over two weeks since the election. Things are moving at a breakneck pace. We're in the midst of one of the most dangerous periods in this nation's history, both on the geopolitical and national political fronts.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that a sitting president would sabotage an incoming president-elect. A president that was too feeble to run for a second term because of his cognitive impairment, yet is competent enough to start world war III by allowing Ukraine to launch long range missiles into Russia. He's gambling with everyone's lives, for what? This has got to be one of the most despicable presidencies in a long line of despicable presidents.

We hear nary a word from congress about stopping him, or whomever is in charge. Then again if congress were to take action and impeach him that would mean that Kamala Harris would become the president. What's that old maxim, something about vice presidents being picked as an insurance policy to dissuade congress from impeaching sitting presidents?

Hmmmm.

Anyway, nice precedent you've established mr. president (I purposely use lower case). Is the new normal laying booby traps for the incoming president now? That ought to be quite fun in the future, if we have one.

I'm seeing a pattern. Trump's most controversial cabinet picks aren't going to be approved. If they aren't picked off by public opinion then they'll be picked off by the senate who won't approve them. I hate to tell the Trump fans but they've been played. All the chest thumping, back slapping, shading the opposition and rose colored futuristics has all been for naught. I'll be surprised if Tulsi Gabbard and RFK, Jr. get approved as well.

It will be the same old same old. Oh, Ukraine may disengage from Russia and come to an end, but then reengage through Iran. I doubt much of Trump's agenda will be realized, just like his first term. There's a good chance it may be even worse. There's so many things that can go sideways in the next four years. We're going to need some luck.

In retrospect I'm glad I didn't vote for either one of them.

Tim S remembered these sounds from his childhood in Japan:

Now that the weather has become drier in Japan, it's Edo tradition to volunteer to walk the streets calling "Hi no yojin" (火の用心 "Beware of Fires!") and clap sticks called Hyoshigi (拍子木). It is traditionally done to remind those who hear to double-check the stove, dust the… pic.twitter.com/7WtLeV34M4

For the past 4 years I have been trying to avoid all news. All of it. There are a couple of reasons why.
First, I lost hope. Electing Joe Biden after cheating Bernie out of the primaries was enough for me to feel like all hope is lost.

The Due Dissidence crowd was on Jimmy Dore's show discussing how Kamala Harris spent her $1 billion:

Duh!

Yesterday (Tuesday) there was an article in the news: 'Bill Clinton suggests US is more likely to elect female president if candidate is Republican'. Bill Clinton basically said that the first woman elected would probably be from the right wing. I wanna tell him all the upper ranks of his party are center or right-wing too. Hah.

The thing is, I've known this little truth for a long, long time. In English type countries, like America, Canada, Australia, UK (not New Zealand, go New Zealand!) the dislike isn't really over gender, it's over politics, and maybe over the way the person running for high office rose into their role in those politics. Electing a right-wing woman is easier than electing a supposed left-wing woman, especially if the right-wing woman has a political history of her own and is not riffing off that of her husband. An example: Thatcher (whom I despised), in the UK, had her own political history. She wasn't there because of who her husband was and the positions he'd 'served' in.

NOT her husband, but close enough, heh. (from the Washington Times)