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Friday: Ivanka’s Tweet Invokes Thomas Jefferson To …

 Posted by at 4:49 am  Politics
Nov 012019
 

To defend her dad! OK – quit laughing and take a nice, slow, deep breath to read her Tweet:

(Just to correct her thoughts about things never changing – some things do, indeed, change … at least with a little surgical intervention.  Amirite, Ivanka?)

If you noticed, I did not include “Fun” in today’s title. That’s because a good many of the Twitterverse responses were quite serious – and appropriately so.  Consequently, I’m going to honor those rejoinders – but hopefully add some lighter ones, too.

Let’s begin with the actual historical background that prompted Jefferson’s letter in the first place – because it reminds us of a certain someone:

 

Continuing with the more serious ones …

 

 

My favorite serious one dealing with his endless “Fake News” and vile attacks on the press:

And Jefferson’s thoughts  on nepotism was a favorite topic, but the first one is quite detailed:

They got pithier:

But they also got harsher.  I think her inappropriate grifting at the G20 Summit sets her up for mocking.

 

 

 

 

 

But some leavened the harshness with a little lite humor, beginning with Kellyanne Conway’s husband:

 

 

 

And when Ivanka’s ridiculous use of Jefferson to try to defend Donnie appeared, it naturally started trending in the Twitterverse.  On Halloween, this caused some folks to become worried about Thomas Jefferson’s … current status:

 

 

This made me immediately think of the time Trump raised Frederick Douglass from the dead during his Black History Month speech by talking about him as though he were still alive. I don’t have a Twitter account, but I’d go with his exact words, just substitute Jefferson:

“Thomas Jefferson is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more. I’m hearing a lot of great things.”

I got a kick out of this cheeky one that, like Trump, is able to invent facts at whim:

 

But rather than close with another Jefferson quote, particularly in light of the House vote for a formal Impeachment Inquiry yesterday, maybe a more timely one by George Mason will do even better:

 

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Friday Fun: Captain Kangaroo & His Court

 Posted by at 2:00 pm  Politics
Oct 252019
 

Today’s article is for Congress Critters who think Captain Kangaroo presided over Kangaroo Courts

(SPOILER ALERT: He didn’t.)

Just two short weeks ago we witnessed a display of breathtaking stupidity by republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (objecting to Chairman’s Schiff impeachment inquiry) to such a degree that it now makes us wonder if Louie Gohmert is truly the dumbest person to serve in Congress.

(Note to Louie: Matt Gaetz is doing a great “Here – old my beer” rendition.)

Now most of us, if we’ve even heard about Gaetz at all, it would be because of his history of generating mugshots for DUI and speeding ticket arrests.

But two weeks ago he joined forces with Rep. “Gym” Jordan to reveal that he believes the term “Kangaroo Court” originated from the beloved children’s TV show, Captain Kangaroo.

Many of us Baby Boomers and some early Gen Xers can fondly recall Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Green Jeans from our childhood days.  Bob Keeshan, who created his TV show (which aired from 1955 to 1984), was a kind and gentle soul.  And although he was a Marine during World War II, he was neither a Captain nor a Kangaroo nor even an Australian.  He originally hails from Queens, NY – Trump’s home borough growing up.

Captain Kangaroo gave himself that moniker because of his jacket’s huge pockets that held wonderful surprises – like a kangaroo’s pouch.

Whereas “Kangaroo Court” is a phrase referring to a biased tribunal that ignores due process; or an unauthorized trial by folks who have decided to take the law into their own hands; or a hasty judicial action that proceeds rapidly in leaps and bounds (like a kangaroo) to a foregone conclusion.

But it’s not surprising that Gaetz would believe that Captain Kangaroo presides over his eponymous court.  After all, Gaetz is everything Trump would want in a lap dog: loud, loyal, looney and happy to debase himself espousing talking points that a fifth grader would realize are too outlandish to believe.  Fortunately for Trump, Gaetz is that profoundly dumb.

Some folks believe that the phrase “Kangaroo Court” can be traced back to the 1849 California Gold Rush.  There was a large influx of Australians hoping to make their fortunes there since it was easier to get to California by sea than to travel across our broad country from the east coast.  Illegal prospecting was not looked on kindly and those “claim jumpers” were sternly dealt with by “kangaroo courts”. (Get it?)

Likewise, the innertubes decided to sternly deal with Gaetz’s stupidity.  Some folks were merciless in mocking Gaetz’s stupidity:

But Matt Blaze was kind enough to help Gaetz out filling him in on Captain Kangaroo’s TV show:

(It was noted by some wag that Corporal Punishment was a frequent guest on the Captain’s show.)

Someone provided a photo of Captain Kangaroo brazenly stuffing the Ballot Box right in front of Walter Cronkite.

Another pundit wondered how familiar Gaetz was with other children’s TV shows from that era.  (I know, I know – your reaction to that first photo is right below “Sweet …)

It’s interesting that before inventing Captain Kangaroo, Bob Keeshan played Clarabell the Clown on The Howdy Doody Show – which is the perfect segue for Bette Midler’s zinger:

Given Gaetz’s level of intellectual acumen, it’s fair to conclude that he undoubtedly thinks chocolate milk comes from brown cows. (Nothing gets by that man.)

Why, if you could combine Gaetz’s intelligence along with Gohmert, King, Nunes and Jordan you might get an IQ of 75.  But only if you spot them 50 points.  It’s amazing he remembers to breath on a daily basis.

And so we bid a fond adieu to “Gym” and Matt doing their best Captain and Mr. Green Jeans imitation – and thanking them for providing yet another episode of republican entertainment.  (At least they’re good for something.)

 

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Friday Fun: Thank Heaven for Strong Women!

 Posted by at 3:15 pm  Politics
Oct 182019
 

From their overwhelming turnout in the 2018 midterm election that flipped the House to Democrats, to yesterday when Speaker Pelosi stood up to the Bully-in-Chief, it looks like if America is going to be saved it’ll be because of women!

Let’s savor yesterday’s delicious moment when Speaker Pelosi – the only woman at the table – stood up to confront Trump before walking out.  Captured in the portrait photo filter below, that moment became an instant icon. School children decades from now will be able to easily identify the protagonist and antagonist – and cheer Pelosi’s heroic bravery.

While Trump thought he’d score a victory in posting the photo and degradingly calling her “Nervous Nancy”, Pelosi easily trumped him by turning the tables and making it her Twitter page cover photo.

No doubt we all saw that moment more like this:

Combine that with what she said to his face, and we have a fantastic rallying cry for the 2020 elections.

It was clearly a moment that everyone in the room realized was a game changer. You can see it in the body language of the three generals and advisors to Trump’s right. If they could make themselves any smaller, they would have.

And we know what they were thinking …

Naturally the Twitterverse stepped in to add insult to Trump’s fragile ego.

And my favorite:

 

On a serious note, Lawrence O’Donnell has a spot-on analysis of the events of yesterday:

I think a fair summary of where we are at, at this moment in time can be summed up in a paraphrase of Trump’s own words …

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Two of the “Three R’s” for Autumn’s Foliage …

 Posted by at 1:58 pm  Politics
Oct 132019
 

The “Three R’s” are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle – only missing Reduce.  But since I’ve been tied up this weekend enjoying time with my family (it’s pretty much down to Weddings and Funerals to get everyone together), I’m going to reuse/recycle last year’s Autumnal Splendor post.

Road in Vilnius Lithuania

Let’s start with the science story behind fall’s phantasmagorical foliage fling. (You guys will have the science of this down pat … if you don’t already!)

Once a new leaf is finally fully formed sometime in June, the next thing a tree spends its energy on is preparing the following year’s leaf buds. The job of the leaves currently in place is to create and store food as carbohydrates/sugars necessary for that new leaf bud. And unlike us, trees are unique in that they’re able to manufacture their own food/energy, courtesy of photosynthesis.

Chlorophyll is the green pigmented chemical in leaves that uses the energy provided by the sun during the process of photosynthesis to convert water taken up by the roots and carbon dioxide taken from the air into sugars and starches – nutrients that the tree needs for growth – while giving off oxygen as a by-product.

But the chlorophyll that gives trees their green of summer is not the only color pigment always present in leaves. Working just as hard in the leaves are the carotenoids (carotene and xanthophyll). These pigments are important in capturing light energy needed in the process of photosynthesis. It’s just that the carotenoids are masked by the overpowering green of the chlorophyll during the summer months.

But with the coming of autumn, as daylight hours shorten and temperatures drop, cells near the juncture of the leaf and its stem start to divide very rapidly. This creates what is called an abscission layer. This corky abscission layer of cells is the site where the leaf will eventually break from the tree and flutter to the ground. That corky layer then serves to protect the branch through winter after the leaf leaves.

The rapid growth of that corky layer begins to physically block transport of nutrients needed by the leaf to manufacture the carbohydrates. Consequently the photosynthesis that’s been creating chlorophyll (which is not a very stable chemical and has been rapidly breaking down and then replaced throughout the summer) ceases.

Once the chlorophyll is gone, the carotene and xanthophyll chemical pigments that have been present all summer long now take center stage.

These carotenoids (carotene and xanthophyll) give their characteristic orange and yellow colors to not just leaves, but also to carrots, corn, canaries, and daffodils – as well as egg yolks, rutabagas, buttercups, and bananas. And they account as the predominant color in about 15-30% of our tree species – typically they’re found in the hardwood species of hickories, ash, maple, yellow poplar, aspen, birch, black cherry, sycamore, cottonwood, sassafras, and alder.

Look close – there are two girls standing in the Halland Forest, Sweden at the demarcation between the forest and the pines.

The third class of color chemicals that leaves have (after chlorophyll and the carotenoids) are the reds and purples of anthocyanin. But unlike the other two classes, anthocyanin has not been present in the leaves the whole summer. The anthocyanins are created brand new – just for autumn’s fall foliage!

Why the tree would expend energy, when it’s shutting down for the winter, for the creation of a new product is not understood. But we do know the brighter the sunlight during this period, the greater the production of anthocyanins – and the more brilliant the resulting reds and purples. This direct proportion of redness to sunlight exposure explains why the periphery of hardwood trees are bright red, while the foliage lower down and inside are the more typical oranges and yellows.

Anthocyanins also account for the coloring of cranberries, red apples, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, and plums. They are present in only about 10% of hardwood species – mainly maples, sourwood, sweetgums, dogwoods, tupelos, cherry trees and persimmons.

But in a few lucky areas — most famously New England — up to 70% of tree species are the type that produce the anthocyanin pigment. That high concentration of a single color (the reds of anthocyanin) accounts for the intense but relatively brief autumnal color display in New England. Whereas in most other areas that have a higher mix of tree varieties the colors may not be as intense, but the season lasts longer.

Of course, the reds of fall are not only in New England – but all over the world

You can see where your particularly area is in relation to reaching Peak Color with this interactive map:

Interactive Fall Foliage Prediction Map – 2019

Time to enjoy some of my new favorite photos of the fantasia of fall …

Allée of Birch Trees 

Farm in Romania

Autumn Road in New England

Park in Paris

And of course to many of us, fall means FOOTBALL!  (Even though my Chiefs lost … AGAIN!)  But few places enjoy such a spectacular autumnal setting as Boulder, Colorado …

I’ll see you again next year about this time. 

And hopefully with some NEW material!  (Especially since I have dozens and dozens of gorgeous Autumn photos.  Time was tight today – but time with family was splendid!)

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Friday Fun: Let’s Get Lyrical!

 Posted by at 3:32 am  Politics
Oct 042019
 

I have a backlog of topics I feel are worthy of sharing. But the Orange Pustule currently occupying staining our Oval Office, through his actions and Tweets, inspires so many creative people that I have to keep updating literally down to the last hour.

Like today –  just this morning I came across a song set to “O Danny Boy” on Daily Kos that inspired my change in mid-stream.  I’ve collected a few poems, Limericks and songs along the way, so I thought I’d put them all together for today’s “Let’s Get Lyrical!”

[NOTE: If not directly shown as a Tweet, the attributions are the Links in the intro.  And feel free to share some of yours in the Comments.  And yes, I’m posting this very early.  My neuropathy pain woke me at 2:15 AM, and it’s bad enough to prevent me from going back to sleep.  So like the saying goes, I made lemonade.]

We’ll start out with a poem in a Jim Carrey Tweet:

 

And a delightful Limerick addressing those Talibangelical christianists who maintain that Trump is the “Chosen One”

They say Trump was hand-picked by God

If so I must question and prod

And what about Jack

LBJ and Barack

Did Bill C get the Almighty’s nod?

 

And some background dealing with our current *Resident’s lack of character and the Trumpkin cultists who support him.

Of course he cheats on taxes

(and golf and marriage too) —

he promised he would show them to us;

What’s a con to do?!

 

Breaking trust comes easily

for Don “John Baron” Trump

— to those who still believe him, yo:

Why are you such a chump?!

 

Moving on to our current efforts to rid our country of this cancer:

This bag of wind, this sack of bile,

This fetid mound, a sick orange pile

Of lying, cheating excrement,

This enemy of government.

 

This walking crisis of the soul,

This incoherent tweeting troll,

This moral, ethical disease,

This swamp of decomposing sleaze.

 

This NOTHINGBURGER with big hair,

This witless peddler of despair,

This dictatorial buffoon

Must be removed … and VERY soon!

 

And to explain to our fellow citizens why we need to take action

 

And closing with the song I came across this morning (in which I exercised my own poetic license with one word).

“O Donny Boy”

O Donny boy, the press, the press are calling

From state to state, across the country wide:

The jig is up, and all your crimes are showing.

You must resign, or in prison you’ll abide.

 

Our nation hates your lying and your treasons,

And children dying alone in filthy cells,

And people shot by Nazis who adore you

O Donny boy, you need to rot in jail.

 

And when you go, take all your cronies with you!

Take Pence and Mitch, and all your party, too.

Take Rush and Sean, and all the Fox “News” liars,

And drag your sons and daughter down with you.

 

And I shall laugh, when Democrats elected

Make Wall Street pay, and solar power the call,

When hate and fear and bigotry’s rejected,

When medicine and schooling’s free to all.

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Sunday Smile: Potpourri

 Posted by at 2:42 pm  Politics
Sep 222019
 

People have been amazed by the splicing skill in this mash-up Tweet apparently pitting Samuel L. Jackson from “Pulp Fiction” with Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing.  It’s gotten 80,000 Likes!

There’s no CC so I have no idea what it deals with.  I’d appreciate it if someone would provide just a thumbnail sketch of what it’s about.

Came across an interesting “Dear Abby” letter in today’s paper.  I can see why he’d be worried about sullying his reputation!

[ETA: Above inspired by similar one I saw at Democratic Underground]

And who knew Melania could be funny?  (Yeah, I’m reprising it – because it still makes me chuckle.)

Sitting at the breakfast table in the upstairs living quarters of the White House, Melania tells Donald that she had a dream about him last night.  And in her dream, Trump had finally gotten his huge military parade down Pennsylvania Avenue for which he has so long yearned.

She shares that it was spectacular: Military bands headed the procession that was celebrated by hundreds of thousands of cheering, flag-waving Americans lining both sides of the avenue and stretching as far as the eye could see. A crowd that was easily twice as large as Pres. Obama’s Inauguration.

“I bet I had a huge smile!” Trump exclaimed.

“I couldn’t tell,” Melania replied. “It was a closed casket.”

 

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