It's raining shoes

I've probably used the title of this post before, but the centipede which is the investigation of the tRump *presidency keeps dropping shoes at an increasingly frenetic rate.   The latest Gucci loafer to fall was one of Michael Cohen's.  The erstwhile consigliere of The Donald now admits he lied to Congress when he told the House and Senate Intelligence committees that the Trump Organization's pursuit of a Trump Tower Moscow ended in January 2016.  He now maintains he lied about the date in support of Cheeto Jesus' public comments regarding the project.  In reality, Cohen says now, he continued negotiating with Russian officials until June 2016 at about the time of the Republican Convention which nominated his boss.   The fact Putin knew the details and could leak them at any time would have compromised tRump as a candidate and thrown the GOP and the entire country into turmoil.  If Putin's goal was to sow chaos in America, an October surprise revealing the details of the lies told by the candidate would have done the trick.  An even better strategy is seemingly the one the Russians followed, namely helping elect a candidate who was severely compromised by the information they possessed about the Tower negotiations.  As Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out last night, tRump has spent his entire life chasing three things; Money, Fame and sex.  It seems the Russians were helping provide all three, with the chief among them the money which will eventually result in the American chaos Putin has schemed all along to achieve.  There are still a lot of shoes left to drop.

Who is playing who

This smacks of an "inside baseball" type post for political junkies like myself.  Of course the Paul Manafort case is getting big play by the MSM.  I don't know about Faux News and talk radio.  The gist of the stories is Manafort took a plea deal with the special counsel's office, but then lied to the investigators and in addition relayed what questions he was being asked to Cheeto Jesus' defense team.  In what now looks increasingly suspicious, The Donald completed and submitted the answers to the questions Mueller's team had for him.  Many pundits, attributing superhuman powers of deduction to Mueller's people have speculated they not only knew of Manfort's perfidy ahead of time, but allowed for it in their interactions with the *president's men.  In this iteration of events, Paulie M not only screwed himself, but allowed tRump to incriminate himself.   I'm not so sure the special counsel wasn't played a little bit in this case.  I think Mueller and most of his people are not prepared to deal with a totally amoral person in the president's office who is willing to lie and lie about anything and everything.

All the *president's men

The weather here remains awful.  We have a traveler's advisory with more snow on the way.  Ugh!  With that out of the way, let's get back to the story of the degradation of our democracy by the Liar-in-Chief.   In an interview with the Washington Post, Cheeto Jesus dismissed his government's report on climate change.  "I don't believe it", he said.  I suppose if Vladimir Putin told him the climate is going to hell, he would be a believer.

The Good, the Bad, and the Worst

The release of a government report on climate change and the harrowing effects we can expect in the future is part of the process of winnowing society into deniers and those of us who believe that we must do something or risk the very existence of modern civilization.  As Paul Krugman points out in the NYT today, denialism can no longer be the province of honest skeptics.  To argue against anthropomorphic climate change is a bad faith enterprise and Krugman rightly proclaims these bad faith individuals and organizations are operating from an immoral perspective.  Michele Goldberg goes further in her column.  Besides the immoral members of Cheeto Jesus' entourage, she calls out the amoral types who are drawn to this administration because of a lust for power.  Aside from a few national security types she believes are trying to prevent tRump from blowing the world up, the administration is made up of people who are either true believers (in what, I'm not sure) or sycophants like Lindsay Graham who want to be "relevant".  In either case, these people are greasing the skids leading to a poorer and more violent world for our descendants.  Shame on them!

Generation Now

Having read Bill Mckibbens latest doomsday warning in the New Yorker magazine, I am reluctantly hopeful that millenials and their children will pull us back from the apocalypse with scant help from the boomer generation and the vestiges of the "greatest" still alive at this point.   As the present administration (if you can dignify it with that appellation), continues to dismantle the EPA and any other department capable of making a difference in the fight against climate change, the consequences of inaction become more manifest each week.  The wildfires in California are just the latest in a long chain of events which would have sparked outrage 50 years ago along with demands for action.  In the age of tRump, mega storms, droughts and super fires arouse yawns among the somnolent media, which for the most part has come to be Cheeto Jesus' foil on a daily basis.  Mckibben says we can expect more of the same climate changes in the short term and on a longer time horizon we can anticipate the drowning of many coastal areas before the turn of the century.  Heat waves will make large portions of the tropics uninhabitable as the combination of rising temperature and humidity will not allow unprotected humans to survive outside for more than a few hours during the day.  Heat related deaths will soar in the southern and southwestern US.  At some point, our children's generation will come to into power and will have to deal with this dystopian future.  How they react will show whether humanity has a future on this planet or if we should shut off the lights and let the cockroaches take over.

Post Thanksgiving notes

As usual, our family thanksgiving consisted of 7 hours of heavy duty cooking, 30 minutes of frenzied eating, 2 hours of cleanup followed by 10 desserts and the requisite cleanup from that.  Finally, a few beautifully played Thanksgiving themed hymns featuring the talents of the Divine Mrs. M and an exhausted and thoroughly stuffed exit for most of the family.  I'm sure this scenario was played out in countless American homes yesterday.  For most of us, the cooking, cleanup, etc. take up most of the day with scant time to reflect on the "meaning" of the day.  In the era of tRUmp, what are we being thankful for?  We have a buffoon for a president, a sprawling military establishment keeping watch on an American Empire, a planet careening toward climate disaster and very little oversight on any of these issues.  Instead, we are thankful for family and all the ties that bind us together.  For the time being, that will have to do.

Misgivings instead of Thanksgivings

The Centers for Disease Control just issued a death sentence for the romaine lettuce industry in Canada, Mexico and the US.   By advising consumers to not eat romaine, processed, whole head, hearts or baby, virtually every farmer and processor of romaine in the three countries has just had their business model upended with financially disastrous consequences.  Yuma, Az. is the most likely suspect in this latest outbreak which has sickened consumers in the US, Ontario and Quebec.  Mexico has not reported any cases so far.  Romaine suffered a severe blow early this year when consumer sickness was traced back to lettuce grown in Yuma.  The source of contamination was an irrigation canal.  It's likely the same problem has occurred in the same area, but government investigators will probably take months to confirm that conclusion.  In the meantime, suspicious consumers will avoid all kinds of leafy greens, despite the fact more testing and vetting of said greens is going on in any farm involved in interstate trade than at any time in history.  I was going to write a post about my own interaction with a local restaurant I supply with kale and other greens on a sporadic basis.  I shared my concerns with some greens which looked less than perfect and my customer didn't hesitate;"Don't worry, we cook everything" he replied.  Anyone for a boiled romaine salad?

worked up about democracy

Last weekend I was made uncomfortable when Stacy Abrams, the democratic candidate for Georgia governor, gave a non concession speech in which she admitted her opponent, Brian Kemp will likely be declared the winner.  However, she went on to accuse him and other officials of suppressing the votes of large numbers of her fellow Georgians, primarily people of color.  The inference being the entire procedure was illegal and the election of Kemp was illegitimate.  Having lived through Bush vs. Gore, I expected Abrams to graciously concede the election in the interest of harmony.  On closer examination, I reluctantly agreed with Abrams.  Kemp and the republicans basically stole the election via voter suppression and they need to be called out and their methods exposed and condemned.  What we should have learned from Al Gore's well mannered concession is the GOP cares not a whit for democracy when the question of power and control is in the balance.  They will lie, cheat and steal to maintain their grip on power and use whatever means are available to do so.  I support Abrams' lawsuit which will expose the corruption in the Secretary of State's office.  Sunlight and public knowledge is the only antidote to this disease which is killing our democracy.

Too Winter, Too Soon

Well, it turned out even worse than I had thought.   A winter storm pelted the North Country last Friday, dumping nearly a foot of snow on Casa Monzeglio and surrounding areas.  The aftermath features mid winter snow piles which are unlikely to melt this week.  In fact, a bout of record cold is predicted in the days leading up to Thanksgiving.  Meanwhile out long political winter continues as the nation waits for Robert Mueller to issue a report on Russian interference in the 2016 elections and the tRump campaign's collusion with said ratf*cking.  The talking heads on the liberal networks attribute superhuman guile to the special prosecutor, claiming he is playing 11 dimensional chess compared to the checkers his opponents are using.  I wish I could believe that upbeat assessment.  As debased and obviously incompetent as Cheeto Jesus appears, he still has smart people working for him and I wouldn't count the administration out until the last indictment is presented.  A cornered animal is likely to react in ways unanticipated by even the most seasoned hunter.

It's too early for this

With a winter storm warning for the North Country on tap, I am going on record to say it is too early for winter to arrive.  Neither the Divine Mrs. M or I have snow tires on our respective vehicles and instead of a snow blower, my tractor is still sporting a rototiller attachment.  Meanwhile we could have up to 7 inches of snow on the ground by tomorrow afternoon.  Despite my knowledge that this area is liable to reap very few benefits from global warming, I was hoping for a shorter winter.  Alas, it is not to be.

The sulking of the presidency

It seems since the start of the blue wave last week, the *president has hunkered down and managed to snub veterans as well as world leaders while abusing aides and staff at the White |House.   It is finally sinking in that the voters have administered a thrashing to his agenda, if you mean by that the chaos he has heretofore gleefully spread around the country.  He probably knew in his heart of hearts (if he has one) that the new Democratic House will subpoena his tax records.  This alone will put the fear of Flying Spaghetti Monster into him.  For all his braggadocio about his vast wealth, I'm pretty sure we will see the returns of a large scale grafter whose claim to fame may very well be his ability to launder money for Russian oligarchs.  As well, the colonoscopic investigations of many of his cabinet appointees will probably lead to a rash of resignations, further depleting an already anorexic staffing situation.   Finally, despite his installation of a partisan hack as attorney general, the day of reckoning with Robert Mueller and his investigators is coming and there is little he can do to stop it.  The question now becomes will he continue to sulk in his lair until his crimes are fully exposed or will he lash out at his perceived tormentors with the full powers of the presidency, up to and including his ability to embroil the nation in a war of opportunity.   Let's hope the sulking continues and Fox and Friends offers less sanguinary alternatives to him.

Weather changes

As with most changes, the climate altering effects of mankind's unsupervised dumping of millions of  tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each are a mixed bag.   A new 12 month fire season has devastated some areas of California.  Everyday high tides inundate parts of Miami Beach.  Torrential rains have wreaked havoc on farms in the Southeast and Central US.  Here in the North Country climate change means going from a fairly nice fall season to a midwinter temperature regime in what seems like a heartbeat!   It was actually snowing this morning.  According to some experts, we may see more of the same during the next few decades.  Some areas of the planet may actually have colder winters than previous records due to changing ocean currents and the obliteration of the polar ice covering the Arctic Ocean and Greenland.  Climate skeptics, a diminishing band of shills paid for by the petroleum industry, will point to areas such as this one to bolster their "theory" that climate change is not happening.  Unfortunately for our area, it looks like we will get all the negative aspects of the coming changes and few of the positive, such as a much longer growing season.  Alas, no tomato harvest in December in the near future for dedicated gardeners like me.

The wars that have not ended

Armistice Day was supposed to commemorate the "war to end all wars".  The horrors of WW1 are well documented.  Millions of men died as the modern machinery of war led to mass slaughter of combatants by machine guns, poison gas and gigantic artillery shells which churned up the opposing lines during the many battles.  Politicians vowed this obscene killing would never happen again.  20 years later the nations of the world were at it again on an even more gigantic scale.  Very few politicos were ready to declare the end of WW2 the end of all wars.  Since 1945, millions more have perished in so called "brushfire wars" fought by proxies of the post WW2 superpowers, the US and the USSR.  Following the fall of the Soviet Union, the focus has shifted to terrorism as disenfranchised groups pursue their grievances through undeclared war on whichever regime they blame for their troubles.  Throughout this transition from organized mass slaughter to indiscriminate terror, the victims have changed from well trained warriors to hapless civilians, including many women and children.   I guess humanity learned something from the first world war.

Waving

The parameters of the democratic victory on Election day continue to grow.  With votes still being counted, many contests that had been called for republicans are now tilting the other way as absentee, provisional and overseas ballots are tallied.  In the absence of close races in many republican leaning districts the counting of these votes have not mattered until this year.  It looks like dems will gain 35-37 seats in the House and if all the contested Senate races break for the democrats the GOP will have netted one seat in a wildly favorable year for them.   Many pundits, especially conservative leaning (that is the majority) ones were quick to denigrate the gains made by dems on the national level.  They conveniently discounted the 335 and counting state legislative seat which flipped to the donkey party.  You can tell tRump is scared by the moves he is making to try and shut down the Mueller investigation.   Things can still change, but it looks like America has decided we don't want a wanna be authoritarian to have an unfettered chance to turn our country into a dictatorship.

Consequences and Truth

The news gatherers on my local NPR station were musing this morning on the results of the elections and their significance to the North Country.  As with many rural areas in NY,  we have more in common politically with districts in Southern Alabama than with most of the rest of this state.  Ironically, we did have a couple of democratic assemblypersons from this area who were able to secure a significant number of taxpayer dollars upon which many local governments depend.  As with other rural areas around the country, despite the rugged individualism people like to project, we are dependent on the decadent economy of NYC and its suburbs to generate enough revenue so some of it can be diverted to this and other pockets of poverty to help keep the lights on.  So, one of these revenue diverting democrats was defeated by a republican and presumably that area will get less government largesse.   Meanwhile, Billy Jones, a democrat representing my district in Albany will get help from his downstate peers to keep propping up Franklin and Clinton Counties.  We also sent Betty Little, a republican back to a state senate where she will now be in the minority.  I have a feeling we won't be getting campaign flyers from her office touting her ability to bring home the pork this time around.  Finally, although she won comfortably, Elise Stefanik, our congressional representative will find the playing field in Washington quite a bit less to her liking.  She will now be a minority member on the Armed Forces committee and will probably not be bragging about her ability to keep Fort Drum and the 10th Mountain division in beer and skittles.  Elections do have consequences!

Smells like democrat spirit

As predicted by this blog yesterday, the dems have reason for optimism this morning, but also to think long and hard about the implications of their election day split decision.  The politics of fear clashed with those of hope and they fought to a draw.  The democrats now control the House with its powers of investigation and the purse.  The GOP controls the Senate with its power to confirm presidential appointees.  Overseeing this split congress is an executive branch which is about to learn what happens when the opposition has subpoena power.  The daily tweetstorms from the White House will be approaching Category 5 as advisors confront the *president with the bad news.  Meanwhile, progressives will have to deal with defeats of champions in Florida, Georgia and Texas.  The big takeaway is Andrew Gillum, Stacy Abrams and Beto O'Rourke proved that the left wing of the democratic party is alive, well and can be competitive anywhere in the country.  These three represent the new face of the party, along with the more than 90 women elected in the House.  The party is changing and is far more representative of the nation's population than the republicans who basically represent cranky old white men and women who want to go back to a never never land of white supremacy.  All in all, I am cautiously optimistic for the first time since Election Day in 2016.

Hopeful, but not giddy

Having read my usual morning quota of punditry, I tend to agree with one who is almost as old as me and watched the republicans win 5 out of 6 presidential elections dating back to Tricky Dick's re-election in 1972.  I was old enough to have cast a vote for the doomed George McGovern.  As Adrastos said, experiencing that much losing tends to give you a pretty thick skin along with a healthy appreciation of the foibles of your fellow man.  In today's elections, I think we are depending on women to keep our democracy safe for future generations.  Hundreds of women are running for congress and thousands more for state and local positions.  They will guide us through the next couple of years and hopefully show us the way to a Trumpless future. 

Calling all democrats

I mean democrats in the literal sense.  The democracy which many of us hold dear without thinking too much about it is in danger and both Democrats and Republicans need to keep that in mind on Election Day.  Without a check on the executive branch, the environment, foreign relations domestic policy in general and the hacking of the Department of Justice in particular are a grave threat to America.  As the breaches of democracy become more flagrant and egregious there is the danger of continued complacency.   All registered voters need to make their voices heard because the alternative is government not by the people, but against the people.  VOTE.....

This and that

Sorry for the lack of posts this week.   It has been a hectic several days as this boomer household tries to deal with child and eldercare issues.  We are truly in a situation where the Divine Mrs. M is trying to balance care for her 98 year old mother with day care for 2 grandchildren.  I have provided occasional respite and moral support, but the chief responsibilities have fallen on the most caring and loving individual I have ever known. 
Meanwhile, we are a week out from an historic election.  As a nation we will make a choice to either hold the Liar in Chief accountable or not.   It is not as simple as the previous sentence makes it seem.  We cannot directly vote for tRump, and each individual congressional race is not necessarily seen as a referendum.  However, the GOP in general is a tRump enabler and it desperately needs a firm electoral defeat to remind it of the responsibility the legislative branch has to be a check on the executive.  Everyone needs to get out and vote with that in mind.
The garden continues to produce beautiful fall vegetables.  I harvested several heads of cauliflower and an abundance of broccoli yesterday.  Beets and carrots are also in good form.  I planted next year's garlic crop just before the rain started yesterday and while the beds were a little soggy, the extra application of compost kept them from being downright muddy.  We will see how this all turns out next July, but of course I have high hopes.