Yesterday, I wore for the first time my third experiment in knitting pants. Myfirst try was a disastr – but not such a disaster that I can’t rip out one leg, knit it back to match the other. and wear it. On my second try I adjusted the pattern to correct everything that went wrong on the first try, and it was a pretty good fit, just a bit loose and long. For the third try, I decided not to change anything about the stitch or row counts, but instead to use smaller needles. and it’s anout as close to perfect as an imperfect human can do. I could wear them to go see Virgil. And comfortable – as comfortable as the yarn, which for this pair is all cotton, except the cuffs, which are bamboo. In including contrast cuffs, I was thinking of sweat pants, but with more fitted legs.
Robert Reich has some suggestions for non-constitutional words to describe unconstitutional things about our current elected officials. I’m ahead of him on “regime” – I’ve not used any other word for it since day one – but all of his suggestions are appropriate
From ProPublica. Yes. this happens all the time. But if we don’t get reminded of it from time to time, we may forget.
From Common Dreams. One of Axios’s reporters is named “Barak Ravid.” Malcolm Nance calls him “The Mouth of Trump**.” I get “Alerts” from Axios, and yes, his often begin with “Trump** says” or the like. But it made me think – y’all know I often refer to our regime leader as “the Saffron Sauron,” and there is a character in The Lord of the Rings” who introduces himself as “The Mouth of Sauron.” They’re not at all the same – Ravid does not present what our regime leader says as truth – he just quotes him and identifies it as a quote, so readers can disbelieve it. But it appears to be a coincidence.
Yesterday, I saw Virgil, we played cribbage, he loved my latest sweater. I now do not have to worry about getting home by sunset – but I do need to watch the time of sunrise. I drive south to see him, and, although the sun rises in the east, at this time of the year where I live, the sun is always toward the south (I’m guessing that where Lona lives, it always tends toward the north.) This makes it shine right into my eyes if it is too low. I was lucky yesterday in that it was just enough overcast to spare me until it got high enough to be above my windows. And, again, at this time of year, that will only get better up to the summer solstice. I had not heard from Nameless on my day off question, and I hasn’t heard from him here or in email since the 15, do I sent an email, and I’ happy to say he is fine – just computer issues. Well, we all know how that is! He mentioned he had commented Saturday, but I couldn’t see it, and it was not in moderation – I checked. Anyway, I am taking tomorrow off, so don’t panic if there is no Open Thread. I’ll be back on Wednesday.
This column is mostly about the SCROTUS calendar – which is normal during their argument-hearing season. Right at the top is the issue of accepting or not accepting ballots postmarked before (or possibly on) Election Day if they are received late. When Colorado went to all mail voting, it decided we would not accept them late (at least not from people inside the state – I don’t know about overseas and/or military since I was well out of the military when we went to all mail.) But for that reason, they send out the ballots very early so we have plenty of time to research. And also plenty of drop boxes in case we are procrastinators. And they print the must-be-received warning on virtually all election materials. As far as I know, it hasn’t been an issue here.
I moved (from California) to Colorado in 1976, to Alamosa, and then in 1991 to Colorado Springs, And the Air Force Academy was already doing this unconstitutional crap. But – in 1977 James Dobson founded Focus on the Family in Southern California. In 1991, FOTF moved to Colorado Springs. They were in a building downtown until they built their campus around 1998. If they were the only such organization I wouldn’t bother to bring it up. But in the 90’s (I think actually starting in the 80’s) fundamentalist “Christian” organizations were coming to Colorado Springs like flies to – well, you know. And that presence had an effect on the Air Force Academy. An Unconstitutional effect. Obviously I don’t know what the Academy was like before 1991. But as far as I can remember, it has been subject to Christian Nationalist pressure. I don’t think West Point and Annapolis have been affected – certainly not to the extent the Air Force Academy has – and I know darned well Quantico wasn’t when I was in OCS/OBT. I didn’t meet a whole bunch of Air Force officers when I was in, but the ones I met were not Christian Nationalists. I don’t doubt there were Christian Nationalists in the service when I was, but I was fortunate not to meet any – and not just including the chaplains – but especially not the chaplains. None of that is to say that the Air Force Academy doesn’t need a massive turning over of tables with whips, because it does. It has for a long time. Nor do I think it isn’t a danger, because it is. But I do think it’s still an anomaly – for now.
I’ve spent so much time following the Iran war, I didn’t even know there was a blockade of Cuba. Color me embarrassed. You can’t make this stuff up.
Robert Reich did not make this – but he endorsed it by putting it on his personal YouTube channel
