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Glen Hirose

Helen Lambie (Goldstein)

Thanks Robert and Jack, for your insight into the ghost in the software--it's all Greek to me.

Nora Skinker (Morton)

Never ceases to amaze how small minds can dwell on such garbage. Tonight our Prez is on a hugely important trip abroad, meeting with dignitaries representing countries who would like to partner with us in eradicating Islamic terrorism, among other important matters. Looking at the world today, it's hard to imagine a greater volatility since WW2, facing this administration. The hotbeds of North Korea, China, Russia, Iran, Syria loom heavily. The opportunity this trip provides in trying to bring together important world-stage players & their ideas is an enormous story. But, what are the stories glaring from the front pages of our esteemed NYT & WaPo? Gossip! Innuendo! Trash! Who the F cares about whether Trump called Comey a nutcase? Or that Trump said he's been treated badly? Or that "someone in the Oval Office is a 'Person of Interest'? The best guess being floated is Jared Kushner!  (That's dangerously close to wrecking people's lives, isn't it?) If the world is laughing at us, it is because we are wrapped up in all the wrong crap while the rest of the world has really big stuff to lose sleep over. With Mueller onboard to man the investigative measures needed, why can't we just let HIM do that and, in the meantime, talk about matters of importance? Why? Because we are a tabloid culture - parasites feeding off a MSM that craves the highest ratings with the lowest caliber of information. Well, I never liked The Jerry Springer Show, so I refuse to be a participant. What I will do is offer updates on our leader's trip abroad (since nobody else will) & pray he is successful in being a good & strong ambassador, representing our country. He may not be THE most maligned politician that ever lived but I defy you to name another American President in our lifetime who has been more so. Do you really believe he deserves this? Or, better yet, do you really think WE deserve it? 

Jack Mallory

To check the reality behind Nora's concerns, I looked at the "Top Stories" page of the on-line NYT--this is as close as a digital reader can come to what Nora calls the "front pages." At about 8:30 this evening (I assume this changes throughout the day) I found 35 headlined articles. Although Airforce 1 is still in the air, there are 4 stories about his trip--hard to devote a lot of coverage before he's even on the ground, although I have seen earlier stories over the last several days. There are 7 stories about the many issues involved in Russian election tampering, investigations into the same, firings, Trump's conversations with the Russians, etc. And there are 24 stories about completely different topics, ranging from the ransomware attacks to Julian Assange to the Preakness, etc.  If the WaPo differs considerably, someone do some counting and let me know.

Seems like you're exaggerating things a bit, Nora. And some of us small minds don't think the coverage of Russian inteference in our elections is garbage, or that it's all "gossip, innuendo, and trash." Do you and Donald have the same script writer? Ah, well, perhaps we're just tabloid culture parasites. 

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Much more pleasant and elegant images at The Grand Old Osprey this afternoon:

Check out the talons: ospreys only eat fish, and these are how fish get from the water into the osprey.

Robert Hall

Nora Skinker (Morton)

Perhaps, but check out what tomorrow's papers are full of & take a look at TV's main news outlets. Don't miss my point. Am I exaggerating THAT much? You decide. 

So, what American politicians had worse coverage? And doesn't anybody want ANYTHING besides complete stagnation over the next 3 years? 

Helen Lambie (Goldstein)

"If the world is laughing at us, it is because we are wrapped up in all the wrong crap while the rest of the world has really big stuff to lose sleep over." No, Nori--the world isn't laughing at us because we are wrapped up in all the wrong crap, they are laughing at us because we elected a reality-show huckster and buffoon for a president. 
"NATO is scrambling to tailor its upcoming meeting to avoid taxing President Donald Trump’s notoriously short attention span. The alliance is telling heads of state to limit talks to two to four minutes at a time during the discussion, several sources inside NATO and former senior U.S. officials tell Foreign Policy. And the alliance scrapped plans to publish the traditional full post-meeting statement meant to crystallize NATO’s latest strategic stance.
On May 25, NATO will host the heads of state of all 28 member countries in what will be Trump’s first face-to-face summit with an alliance he bashed repeatedly while running for president. NATO traditionally organizes a meeting within the first few months of a new U.S. president’s term, but Trump has the alliance more on edge than any previous newcomer, forcing organizers to look for ways to make the staid affair more engaging.
“It’s kind of ridiculous how they are preparing to deal with Trump,” said one source briefed extensively on the meeting’s preparations. “It’s like they’re preparing to deal with a child — someone with a short attention span and mood who has no knowledge of NATO, no interest in in-depth policy issues, nothing,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “They’re freaking out.”
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/15/nato-frantically-tries-to-trump-proof-presidents-first-visit-alliance-europe-brussels/?utm_content=buffer33134&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
I'm sure the NYT and Washington Post will cover Trump's first trip abroad in great detail. I just hope he gives them some substance to report on and not just angry tweets and complaints of imagined slights. He is an embarrassment to the US. I don't understand how you can't see that.

Jerry Morgan

I am sorry but I will take three years of stagnation over Trump's and republican's agenda.  As for politicians that have gotten worse.  Let's try Lincoln, Kennedy, Clinton both of them and Obama.  That's just off the top of my head.  Please.  Trump has brought his treatment on himself the rest of these names did not deserve their treatments.  Trump acts like a child and when he gets treated as one whines his little handed fake tan ass off.  I have no respect for a person that shows little or no respect to others.  LOCK HIM UP...LOCK HIM UP...SOONER RATHER THEN LATER.,..

Jack Mallory

Js think similarly with their small minds. Infected by the same parasites, no doubt. As Jerry pointed out, Obama received tons of lying right wing, often racist, criticism around founding ISIS, nationality, religion, Michelle, etc. and guess who led some of it--for years? Yup!

This morning's NYT coverage: 35 Top News articles--3 Trump trip related, 3 investigation related, 29 completely other. So relax, Nora. I'm going to let you do the count from now on, prove you're not exaggerating. Try a word count, maybe that will make your point. 

Here's an interesting NYT article on the WaPo's digital business model, and its success both financially and journalistically. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/business/washington-post-digital-news.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share

Why do I think So-called has never spent a lot of time hiking or kayaking--or even looking up? 

Mom and dad just barely made it into the same photo. Interested in ospreys? Here's a web cam. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mY4FjTPkjCn?utm_campaign=www.marshypoint.org&utm_source=ustre.am%2F1vD0a&utm_medium=social&utm_content=20170520030424

Glen Hirose

Should have posted this with the previous photo, but Lily was having a meltdown.

   
  Yonah Schimmel's on the Lower East Side; the sign has been misspelled since the day it was painted—in 1910.

www.thekitchn.com/whats-a-knish-food-history-205340

Nori,

I believe that the news media’s primary job is to “Sell the Story”; it’s a for-profit-business after all. There have been heroic journalists like Edward R. Murrow, Ron Nessen, and too many others to mention here, but there was also a W.R. Hearst, Jack Anderson, and countless other sensationalists that used their celebrity status to gain wealth and power at the expense of the truth. A tragic example of irresponsible reporting was the "The McCarthy Hearings" The lives of hundreds of innocent people were destroyed. If not for the new TV talk show, “See It Now” and Edward R. Murrow; who knows what “McCarthyism” would have become...

Jack Mallory

Glen--I'm too young to remember them, but I've read about them and taught them a little in history classes. The "McCarthy Hearings" were the weeks long Senate confrontation between McCarthy and the U.S. Army, responding to his reckless and usually evidence-free accusations of Communist influence. The famous culminating moment was when Army Council, Joseph Welch, referring to McCarthy's attacks on a young lawyer on Welch's staff, said, "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator; you've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"

By the end of the hearings, televised by a couple of networks, McCarthy approval ratings had plummeted. Eventually, the Senate voted to censure him, putting an end to his rampage. 

If anything, the media played a major part in McCarthy's downfall--especially Edward R. Murrow, as you say, and Herblock (Herbert Block), the political cartoonist for the WaPo who I remember well from the Nixon era. I'd pay money to have Herblock alive today, covering Trump!*

Thanks for jostling my memory (and encouraging me to look up the details on Wikipedia!). Reading about it is a lot like reading current events. The Wikipedia article on Tail-gunner Joe notes that "McCarthyism" is a term  "used in reference to what are considered demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents." Sound familiar?

*Herblock cartoon aimed at anti-communist hysteria, but it would certainly fit today's anti-Muslim xenophobia:

Glen Hirose

McCarthy died in Bethesda Naval Hospital on May 2, 1957, at the age of just 48. He was an alcoholic...

Jerry Morgan

Must have been watching fake news today when the talking heads of CNN spent a large portion of a show on Bill Cosby.  Poor Bill.  Wonder who is persecuted more Whiney Trump or Whimpering Bill?  So whatever happened to Whiney rape charges.  Imagine a suspected sexual predator in the WH again.  Congress brought the articles of impeachment against Clinton for lying to the Congress where are these people today?  Clinton was only accused of lying to Congress about his sexual activities while Trump has lied about everything.  I ask again how do you KNOW when Trump is lying and the answer is when he moves his lips. 

So Nora I had an MRI  last week and my Oncologist informed me that my brain was of normal size.  This was verified by my Primary Care Doctor.  When was the last time you had your brain measured?  It seems that you have reduced your arguments to childish comments about small minded people and accusing people of having no concern for the atrocities that are going on around the world.  At the risk of being callous,  I wonder how the deaths of the Syrian  children compare to the millions that are starving to death around the world.  Since it appears that the more well to do countries of the the world are incapable of multi-tasking we should just bomb the crap out of all the people and let God sort them out.  At home we could do away with all social programs.  Since we can't bomb the crap out of everybody and provide for the health and welfare of our people just stop all non-military programs and only the strong will survive.

Finally, anyone who has Social Security or Medicare or VA benefits should be very aware that you are only one major illness away from losing everything.  Do we all not remember that for those of our parents that did not or could not afford private insurance had to be financially destitute to qualify for Medicaid.  When it came time to put my grandmother in a nursing home we had to liquidate all her assets including her home to qualify for the government to pay for a minimum of long term care.  When that ran out she would be put on the street at 80 years old.  Even if she had gotten healthy enough to go back home, she wouldn't have a place to go home.  That is what Ryan, Trump and the white  boys club wants.  Maybe we should be questioning the size of their brains.

Jack Mallory

Jerry--I love starting the morning with a cup of coffee and a chuckle. Thanks! I'm glad I don't have medical confirmation that my brain is shrinking, which yesterday's search for car keys might suggest. Don't leave your keys on the hood of the car while putting kayak on rack. It will take you a LONG time to find them again. 

Nora--what happened to the "updates on our leader's trip abroad" you were going to give us? I'm forced to rely on that tabloid, the NYT, which this morning gives us 4 trip articles, only 2 investigation-related pieces, along with 28 articles about completely different topics. "Exaggerating THAT much." Yes, you are. 

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Red-Tailed Hawk AND an osprey, circling over my kayak yesterday. Made me feel like a fish. 

Glen Hirose

Jack,

Hmm; maybe they were sizing you up.

Nora Skinker (Morton)

A week in Aruba, enjoying the tropic air, sea & tasty rum concoctions.  After an afternoon of diving (great shipwrecks here!) enjoyed catching up on everybody's posts but am too whipped to take aim at debating points, guys. Thrilled to see that the Saudis seem to honor our President more than you do & maybe now, something good will come of the trip -- like progress in creating alliances to rid the world of that imaginary enemy, ISIS, once & for all. It's at least a good start...

Glen Hirose

  Did you get to Iguana Joe's?

Jack Mallory

No, Glen, this is what it looks like to be sized up:

Is this the nightmare that seems to have driven Flynn into the arms of the 5th Amendment? “If you’re innocent why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” Guess who?

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Because life is always a little weirder than you thought:

Dorothy says, "Every once in a while, a witch hunt isn't a bad thing!"

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And because life should be fun, a cabal of BCC alum and others have created the TRUXIT (virtual) betting pool. This is an  opportunity to use your knowledge of political history and current events, plus your prescience, to forecast the fate of the Trump Presidency. Visit this link to check it out, participate if you wish. Not restricted to Trump critics--every conceivable Constitutional outcome has been included. 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TRUXIT5L9X2K

Jack Mallory

Bet SHE didn't get a medal from the Saudi King!

Glen Hirose

Jack,

As threatening as buzzards/vultures look it is not in their modus operandi to attack living things. Therefore if it doesn’t stink of death, and it is moving freely they will wait. We should shower regularly, and move about with purpose to avoid being set upon…

And maybe King Abdulaziz was just nervous about driving on the wrong side of the road.

By the way I offer this possible solution to all our political concerns.  A currant popular theory of many theoretical physicist predicts the existence of countless parallel universes; “The Multiverse”.  It is conceivable that one or many virtually identical universes exist with identical BCC class of 64’grads that are perfectly happy with their political environment.

So the fault may not be in us, but in our stars; that is the predicament.  Impeachment is not the solution; we need to find that “Worm Hole”.

Joan Ruggles (Young)

I for one found it almost hilarious how the Saudi’s fawned and glorified DT on his visit. They knew exactly how to play him and it worked. They got the $100 billion arms deal they wanted complete with radar systems to help them intensify their assault on Yemen and the near starving people of that country. AND they got a bonus! They chose to look the other way regarding the hateful rhetoric DT has directed toward Islam and in return they got a promise that we will look the other way regarding their mistreatment of women and repression of dissent. Commerce Secretary Ross was positively delighted at the lack of protests on their visit. Clueless. We’ll also pretend that the 9/11 bombers didn’t come from Saudi Arabia and that they are not one of the biggest funders of Islamic terrorism through Wahhabi clerics. But they say they’re going to change all that. We’ll see. We seem to now be in alignment with the Sunnis (Saudi Arabia) and anti the Shia (Iran). Who besides the White House made THAT decision??

The very man who said “Islam hates us” is now saying all of us must live in harmony with Muslims. I have no idea if he’s changed his mind, but he never says the same things two days in a row, so who knows. I’ll bet his followers are unhappy to hear the new rhetoric though. It’s also likely that the hard right Israelis also will continue to be disappointed as they hear him stray farther and farther from his campaign promises and say whatever suits him that day.

Just for interest, here are a few quotes I’ve seen recently regarding our president: 

“He treats spies as just another bauble he can flaunt in front of others to make him look smart.” Malcom Nance the Guardian

From David Brooks  “He is thus the all-time record-holder of the Dunning-Kruger effect, the phenomenon in which the incompetent person is too incompetent to understand his own incompetence.” “The Russian leak story reveals one other thing, the dangerousness of a hollow man.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/opinion/trump-classified-data.html?_r=0

According to Julie Davis, a reporter for the New York Times, National Security Council officials have strategically included Trump's name in "as many paragraphs as we can because he keeps reading if he's mentioned," according to one source, who relayed conversations he had with NSC officials. 

And from Nora - " My buddy, the liberal Rockville Judge, told me 'a prosecutor prosecutes but cannot do so until evidence shows a law has been broken.”   So I guess evidence shows as confirmed by Lindsay Graham ““I think it’s now being considered a criminal investigation.” 

As some French friends said to me yesterday, now the whole world has to be concerned about what frightening thing DT will do next. They did acknowledge that they owed a big thank you to DT because it was the horror they experienced in watching him in action, that caused them to pull back from the brink and defeat Le Pen. 

Shirley Hughes (Reese)

Jack, your photo reminded me of an old video I saved, showing an own flying to and landing on a securit camera.  The last few seconds are amazing!

ttp://www.dogwork.com/owfo8/

Jack Mallory

Glen--As unlikely as impeachment might seem, it is more likely than my understanding theoretical physics. Actually, every time I read or listen to the news, impeachment seems FAR more likely! Obstruction of justice is just so tacky.

Also: a link to an interview with the author of Behave: the Biology of Humans at our Best and Worst. Looks like it addresses a lot of the things you're interested in. I just downloaded it onto the Kindle.

https://www.amazon.com/Behave-Biology-Humans-Best-Worst/dp/1594205078

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Joan, anybody else: link to photos of my London trip, if interested: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0Q5nhQSTmAESP

Your French friends confirm what I said awhile back--we're a good bad example!

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​Shirley--that perspective on the owl must be the last thing a lot of small mammals ever see! 

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Did a New England Triathlon today: a little kayaking, a hike, and some wandering in an historic cemetery. Ospreys far and near, and the tombstone of a Civil War veteran, since it's almost Memorial Day.

Stephen Hatchett

Jack, thanks for the heads up about Robert Sapolsky's book, "Behave ..."    Sapolsky is just a great researcher, thinker, and teacher/communicator.  He's the prof in some of the Great Courses which I have invested in. 

Glen et al, re wormholes into parallel universes in the multiverse.   All I'm reasonably sure of is that I'm stuck in my particular universe until I'm dead.  Maybe there are a bazillion much better, much worse, and just plain unimaginably different universes.  This one has DT, but maybe, just maybe, there's a wormhole just for him.  At least that's a flight of fancy that makes me smile. 

Glen Hirose

Stephen,

Your comment brings up another thought;  what if my other entangled self in a parallel universe is quite alright with his situation, but I by my discontentment cause him (at exactly the same moment) to be inexplicably distraught?  Maybe this would account for unprovoked fits of anxiety and depression.  Hmm, I feel an obligation on his behalf to remain optimistic.

An example of some exquisitely entangled particles: