It was like watching a person debate a monkey, and the monkey decided to stop trying to act like a human and, instead, just throw his feces around.
No points for who was whom.
(From On Tyranny) 2. Defend institutions. It is institutions that help us to preserve decency. They need our help as well. Do not speak of "our institutions" unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after the other unless each is defended from the beginning. So choose an institution you care about -- a court, a newspaper, a law, a labor union -- and take its side.
It was like watching a person debate a monkey, and the monkey decided to stop trying to act like a human and, instead, just throw his feces around.
No points for who was whom.
US family’s average income in 2018 $62,000 (rounding up).. average tax bill $11,175.00
Trump’s business write off for 1 year - $70,000. ... Trump’s tax bill $0 to $750
This changes no mixes, but it is funny.
Even if you love his hair (like he does), is it worth $70,000 per year!
I want to do something normal today. Go to the movies. Go to the theater. See friends - with a "s"! Have lunch at a restaurant!
I want to go to a beach and not pay $20 to sit and hear the waves.
I want to sit hear the waves.
I do not want to wear a mask.
I do not want to hear from Trump.
I do not want to get ready fro work next week, by checking my masks.
I do not want to be angry any more.
I do not want to sit inside all day. I do not want to walk around my dead city with a few other sad pathetic people wearing my mask.
I'm 61 years old sitting in my lovely New York City apartment with my husband and my dog and I have nightmares about ... well everything.
I want to wake up.
The majority...
America doesn't give a shit about your "majority".
The "majority" of Americans voted for Hillary Clinton over Trump (by 2,8600,000 votes).
The "majority" of Americans live in states that have a minority of Senators (15,000,000 more people live in blue states than red states, but the red states have more Senators).
The "majority" of Americans believe that "sleeping at night, in your own bed, waiting for your next shift as a medical worker" shouldn't be a reason to be shot to death - but the police in Louisville disagree (along with the courts).
The "majority" of Americans don't think a President should work with a foreign government to smear an opponent.
The "majority" of Americans do not think a President that brags about grabbing women by the pussy should be President.
Welcome to the court Amy Barrett.
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Image 4: Uncle Bo (Elmo Green) |
“Well, when I was drafted, I had a week to get to San Francisco, so Afton and I decided to drive up the coast. She wanted to see Big Sur. We took our car; it was a red Ford. Or was it blue? Anyway, we drove up and I think we stopped the first night in Ventura. Afton, honey, was it Ventura we stopped at?”Aunt Afton from the other room, “When?”“When we drove up the coast.”“Which time?”“When I was going in the Army. No wait, it was a definitely the old blue ford. And we stopped in Ventura. Or was it Santa Barbara?”
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Image 5: Aunt Afton (Afton Morgan Green) |
If you have ever driven through West Los Angeles you have probably seen the National Cemetery there. It is a very large cemetery where military from the Mexican American War through to Afghanistan have been buried.
There are a lot of graves. It is a sad but moving tribute.
If you could walk and read the names of every dead soldier, it would take you days.
And, if you read the name of every single soldier, it would not equal one half of the people that have been killed by Covid-19.
Not
one
half.
Trump's response to the Covid outbreak was callous when he said "It is what it is." In a rally 2 days ago, Trump said, "Almost no one dies of Covid."
Almost no one. More than twice as many as the 90,000 US soldiers buried in the Los Angeles Cemetery. Almost. No. One!
People that do not listen to Trump ignore him at their own peril.
Trump says what he means and no amount of "he can't do that" will stop him. Remember he said he wanted an Attorney General that functioned as his personal lawyer ("Where is MY Roy Cohen?"). Remember he said he wanted Russia to hack Hillary's emails ("Russia, if your listening find the 33,000 emails. Please!"). He wanted to shut down Muslim immigration - and he did. He wanted to separate children from their parents ("Maybe then, they won't send their kids here!").
He is outrageous. He is not a good person. But he DOES telegraph exactly what he will do.
He isn't lying. He (and the Republican National Party) are putting in place thousands of "poll watchers". These were considered illegal intimidation before a Republican court said "Sure, why not? How can a bunch of white AK47 toting militia heads intimidate anyone?". He has challenged laws counting votes that are not "post-marked" by election day, and has a Post Master General who says he won't post-mark ballots that don't have first class postage, even though bulk postage is printed on the ballot.
Just yesterday he said that the election will go to the Supreme Court, which is why he wants his 3rd judge on the court. Nine judges are better than a 4-4 tie.
LISTEN TO HIM
This is the second of my Untermeyer Gardens post. I showed you pictures of the Persian walled gardens last time. These are from the Temple of Love Gardens.
They built a stepping stone stream and covered the path with riparian plants that were lovely. At the end of the stream they build a waterfall, pond and rock outcropping with a small Temple of Love at the top. It was really cool.
I am sure many of my non-American friends wonder what is up with the Breanna Taylor riots. New riots over something that happened in March. Let me explain.
In March, in Louisville Kentucky, the police screwed up big time.
They went to a house, followed a "no knock" warrant, which is where they don't announce themselves so that bed guys don't flush drugs down the toilet. Gun fire erupted and a woman, Breanna Taylor, was shot to death in the scuffle.
Two months later some truths came out that the police had not told anyone. This information came out after body camera film had to be released and Louisville papers investigated.
1. The person called out in the warrant was not the person at the house. IN FACT, that particular suspect had already been arrested somewhere else.
2. Since the police didn't knock, Breanna's boyfriend, again NOT THE SUSPECT, fired warning shots when black glad men burst into his apartment. His weapon was legal and permitted. His shots did not touch anyone.
3. Breanna was asleep in bed. She was studying to be an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) and was a good citizen, albeit Black. She had been shot to death, not while resisting (which was the first claim of the Police) but while sleeping.
4. The Police arrested the man, and charged him with shooting at the police and endangerment (again, he fired his legal pistol in warning at unannounced non-uniformed intruders).
6. Before dropping charges against the man in the house, they offered him a deal of immunity IF he lied and said Breanna did have drugs and was awake.
7. The 3 police officers, the ones who had their bullets found inside Breanna's dead body, were released from the police force, but no charges were made against them.
8. After an outcry, the Attorney General of Kentucky (the head of the state's Department of Justice) turned the information and evidence over to a Grand Jury.
9. Two days ago, the Grand jury charges almost ready, the policeman that killed her sent a letter to other Louisville police officers saying that this entire thing was a witch hunt and he did nothing wrong. Apparently breaking in a the wrong house to serve a no knock warrant and kill an innocent person is "nothing wrong" in Louisville.
10. Then yesterday, six months after Breanna Taylor was shot to death and 4 months after the police did not charge the officers with a crime, the Grand Jury prosecutions were unsealed. The Grand Jury found the officer who killed Breanna Taylor had indeed committed a crime. He was charged with dangerous use of a firearm. NOT in killing Breanna Taylor, that was fine and dandy. His charges were based on the 3 bullets that went into the walls and therefore threatened injury to the neighbors. The white neighbors.
Yeah, so the city erupted into entirely foreseen riots. And, only in Trump's america, there is video of the Louisville (white officers) directing white civilians with majorly dangerous Automatic Rifles to various parts of the city to help keep the Black citizens at bay.
And how was your day?
Ruth Bader Ginsberg is dead. Her seat on the Supreme Court will be filled by a conservative.
This definitely means the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is dead, and 20 million people will loss health insurance. It probably means women’s right to reproductive care, abortions and birth control, will be drastically limited or overturned at the Federal level. This means it will be legal to discriminate against LGBT individuals.
It probably means environmental laws are history and that the EPA cannot limit carbon emissions.
I WANT to be appalled or shocked. But what the hell did you except when over 100,000,000 (100 million) voters didn’t bother to vote. I voted to make sure health care was affordable. I voted to ensure women had the right to get an abortion, if that was necessary. It is NOT a surprise, Wisconsin. Trump made an explicit promise about this, Pennsylvania. The Candidate even released a list of Supreme Court nominees, Michigan.
For people who’s ONE issue was abortion, it is the promised land. If it comes with 20 Million people with no health care, it was okay. If it means throwing out dreamers, it was okay. If it means overturning an election, it was okay. THEY HAVE BEEN 100% HONEST.
This will be the 3rd justice nominated by a President that got 3 million fewer votes, and ramed through the confirmation by a Senate where the majority of the votes, come from states with a minority of the population.
This is what you voted for. And for a few of you that thought Trump and “that bitch” were equally bad, but gave Donnie a shot, this is the result. Two hundred thousand dead (83 Pearl Harbors, 65 9/11s) and a Supreme Court nominated and confirmed by a minority of the population.
Don’t be mad now. They told you EXACTLY what they would do.
Yonkers. If you watched Hello Dolly, that is the cute city where Walter Matthau was from. If you watch Billions, that is the shithole where Bobby Axlerod escaped from. So, a divergence of opinions.
But they do have some gorgeous gardens there at the Untermeyer estate. It is a free set of gardens that is quite lovely. Eddie and I went this past week-end. Lovely.
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This is the entrance to the Persian Gardens. A wall garden based on an idealized version of the Garden of Eden. |
Ed's parents, Jo and Don Amiot were on MSNBC voting early today in Minnesota. I am sharing.
Well, if you, like me, can never find enough things to worry about, have I got help for you! There is an interactive map in the NY Times that tells you what your county has to worry about from climate change. LINK. Long story short, we are all moving to my mom's area in Missoula Montana.
Dane County, Wisconsin ... yikes!
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LINK |
We have begun to hear the word "Sedition" thrown around by this administration. Here are two examples for the past couple of days.
These talking points have come from people in TrumpLand* close to the president. So what is "SEDITION"? Well it is conduct or speech identified calling to overthrowing a monarch or the authority of the state. It is a common way of muzzling all protests against the government.
It is used (right now) to squelch dissent in Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Kazakstan, Thailand among others.
In the United States it carries a possible sentence of 20 years in jail. But in the United States, we have the right of assembly and protest. And so "sedition" is rarely used except in spy cases, particularly around the beginning of the Republic and during the Civil War.
The fact that Trump appointees are calling protesters, as well as the Mayor of Seattle, guilty of sedition is a massive step up in their blame game. Caputo actually suggested arming TrumpLand for a civil war is Biden wins the election or if he"fails to acknowledge a loss".
Usually calls like this are fringe nut-jobs. The local KKK, Jon Birch society and far left looneys. But TrumpLand is now calling for this right at the top.
This election cannot come fast enough for me.
*To get to TrumpLand, go down Main Street, through the gates to Fantasyland, right past the Mad Hatter and cross TuneTown, because those people have a tether to reality. Follow the red pill character under the troll bridge and tada - get on a boat.
I went across the country with Zela in 1984. And I gave her a book with pictures and reminders. Ed has always told me to write down the stories. Well, Covid-lockdown has been a bitch, but I did get this done. So, every week-end I will post one day of the trip. It will take 36 weeks.
But it is a long read and no one wants it all at once. If you lose the story ever, you can search in the search bar for ZelaTrip. Or ZelaTripDayX. Many of these stories you will have heard in part at some point, but it is my chance to get it all down. It starts this week-end.
As a preview, this is the journey we took and my leader page to Zela's book.
You can also see why I had to fix all the pictures. Almost all look better than this.
Hiraeth describes me right now. It is Welsh and means ~ Yearning for a home you cannot return to, that no longer exists or maybe never was.
Growing up, when I needed touchstones, these were my three touchstones that always said to me home.
These things still call to me (well, except Disney, I've kind of traded that in for UCLA), and they still mean "home" to me. But I can't go back, easily, to Los Angeles. Los Angeles has changed. I've changed.
But I will always hold these things in particular, and Los Angeles in general, as home. I still yell at the TV and make Ed back up shows so I can show him where it is in LA and when we visited. I still root for UCLA (when sports are playing). But home.. maybe not.
Now home is where my husband is, where my dog is and where my friends are. That causes a little cognitive dissonance everyone now and then, since many of my friends are in Los Angeles or England or Florida (okay only 1 in Florida) - but I guess that is the price you pay to grow up.
I pay the price gladly, but it has introduced a bit of hiraeth.
The Communications Officer for the Department of Health and Human Services has, just this week-end:
This is what Trump's followers have come to, I shit you not (sorry, bad pun). A youtube supporter of President Trump gave a live stream of himself taking a shit on the driveway of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
What better way is there to make a coherent argument that your Candidate is better than a Democratic Candidate who is not the person on whom's driveway you shat. Donald Trump is running against Joe Biden. And therefore I, John Q. Public, will convince the undecided voter that President Trump is better. How should I do it?
I know! I will travel to San Francisco and live stream taking a public shit on Nancy Pelosi's driveway.
Dude, time to get a boat and a flag!
The US Open went off these past 2 weeks with almost zero problems. Considering the state of the New York, US and the World with Coronavirus, that is a hell of an accomplishment.
The tournement created a "safety bubble" where the players and support staff had to stay. They did daily testing as necessary, which means thousands of test a day (Ed had to have at least 3 for his very few (3) visits). There were 2 layers.
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Dominic Theim |
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Men's Champion |
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Naomi Osaka, Women's champion |
Because this year the Open happened at the same time as baseball (which didn't to nearly as well keeping players safe), the NBA play-offs (which were in a different bubble in Orlando) and the NHL (in September!), the ratings were not as good as usual. But the play was great, many people were still employed and no one went home sick.
And, if you happened to watch the finals, it was the first time a man not named, Roger, Rafa or Novak won a Grand Slam in long time. Dominic Theim won in a 5 setter that went to tiebreak.
Great Job Eddie!
The Master Builder is a Ibsen treasure. A famous play of the stage. It's also long and a little too heavy. My 2nd paragraph in 2010 kind of summed it all up.
On one level, The Master Builder is a complex story of a man at the height of his power, but afraid of losing it all. The arrival of a young woman, full of sexy worship brings the insecurities and fears of Halvard Solness to the fore, but her arrival also triggers a reckless youthful streak of bravado in the Master Builder. There is much discussion of trolls, mind control and the meaning of responsibility. One cannot help but think that if this 50 year old guy just got a hooker and a Miata – he would get through his mid-life crises a lot easier.
(Again - going through and storing out old reviews).
In 2010 I reviewed an unknown off-broadway. Adam Driver, in Little Doc.
What did I say : ...But it is Adam Driver as Ric that shines the brightest in this cast, particularly in the last section of the show. He plans to get out of his dead end life, at the expense of his friends and family. When his plan is discovered, his failure as a friend and son is overshadowed by his own fear and the desire to escape the consequences of his actions
Pictures of him.
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IN The show |
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Headshot from program |
About 8 years ago, I saw an amazing play. Now, as I said, I am busy work, working on my plays and saving them before I lose them. This includes some searching.
I gotta say, no matter how you phrase it, Including ["Cock", play, Duke Theater], the actual play never shows up first. And the results are a mixed bag.
My original review - where I saw Cory Michael Smith the first time and loved him is here. FYI - he is the Riddler in the CW Series "Gotham and has a bizarre new fan-boy following. The play was written by Mike Bartlett, who is SUPER TALENTED. He wrote Cock, Bull, and King Charles III
Here is CMS as Riddler
It is 9/11. In American this usually means remembering our common fight against terrorism, signified by the Sept 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
It is usually a day to reaffirm that ALL American lies are important.
Today it is a day to remember that our President lied about the Covid 19 problems and deaths. That our deaths from Covid are over 63 TIMES more numerous than the Sept 11th attacks. And that 40% of the country doesn't give a shit.
Ah, Wisconsin. Once home of proud progressives starting with Fighting Bob La Follette. More recently their tastes have run to Scott Walker and his merry band of Republican Supreme Court Judges.
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During the Primary, Supreme Court cut absentee voting, closed voting locations and gave thousands Covid 19 to try and stop the vote. |
Yesterday, Wisconsin kicked off the "let's fuck this up for Trump" follies - circa 2020. You see Wisconsin must mail out their absentee ballots, by Wisconsin law, no later than Sept 17th. That is 6 days from now.
Clearly, the ballots have been printed, given to the right county officials and mailing has started. Now, the Supreme Court (of Wisconsin) - the same ones that fucked up their primary with different rulings the 2 days before the elections - has halted everything.
Here, the term, "everything" is meant to fuck up the election.
Th Supreme Court (by Republicans 4, Democrats 3) halted the process. They want to wait until they themselves determine if the Green Party President must be on the ballot. If they decide no, THEN the ballots can be mailed - unless it is after 6 days from now. Then they are too late.
If they decide to ADD the Green Candidate to the ballot, THEN new ballots must be printed, and the old ballots must be pulled. Let's just suppose, for shits and giggles, that happens. Because the deadline is coming up about 186,000 ballots have already been printed with tens of thousands mailed out.
So, if new ballots are printed up, then each absentee ballot must be checked if it is the original ballot or a new ballot. Let us examine the Chaos this would introduce after the election.
Here is your flow chart.
1 Is it an original ballot? Or does it have the Green Party on it?
- 1.a If original - toss out that vote. (depending on a future lawsuit that would surely happen)
- 1.b If original - set aside (if Supreme Court decides to allow it to be "provisionally counted")
2. If it has the Green Party on it. Was it mailed in time?
- 2.a If no postmark or late postmark, throw the ballot out.
- 2.b If on time set aside.
3. If ballot IS postmarked on time then
- 3.a Hand compare to see if the new ballot (2.a) has been cast by the same person as old ballot (1.b)
4 If the new ballot has the same voter number as old ballot
- 4.a If same user votes twice, scream FRAUD (like you would BINGO) and escalate to Trump's ad team.
- 4.b If same user's signature differ IN ANY WAY between either the 2 ballots or the sign up signature - call FRAUD and throw out the ballot. (This is called the Georgia rule. This is how they threw out over 100,000 ballots in 2016 - because signature did not match EXACT signature in voter roles. Oddly, overwhelmingly in major Black districts. Black married women with new surnames were also tossed. Married white women voters with new surnames were NOT thrown out.)
5 If this is a new ballot, and is the only absentee ballot submitted by user, and the signature matches EXACTLY how they signed years ago - then manually count that vote.
And remember, all counting must be finished AND confirmed within 41 days. So you got your
And Wisconsin 11 Electoral Votes Go To... (we will get back to you)