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Glen Hirose

Jack,

Did Tasca receive a special treat; after all it was a joint effort, yes? Nice work; next assignment will be a NatGeo shot on the Tapajós

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Joan Ruggles (Young)

Jack, terrific story about the "Babylift" guy and his baby!  Truly touching.

Congrats for all your awards!

Jack Mallory

Thank you all for your kind remarks. The PIO just sent me a shot of the gal who put the whole thing together, Deb, and I.

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Jay Shackford

Good work, Jack.  My Fios connection was cut off for about 24 hours.  Felt like I was cut off from the world. Crazy....

Robert Hall

Nora Skinker (Morton)

Wolfgang (or anyone): What the heck is a "lying dog-faced pony soldier"? 

Jack Mallory

Don't know about the rest, but we all know what lying is, don't we? 

Here are several Biblical verses on false witness. Revelations is REALLY tough on liars--lumps 'em with unbelievers and murderers and sorcerers and whoremongers! 

https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Bible-Verses-About-Bearing-False-Witness/

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Trumps budget proposals are out and true to form, they are awful for young children on food assistance programs like SNAP and they cut a lot out of medicare and medicaid as well as huge cuts to environmental programs....already that has happened...well here is the article about this budget. Love, Joanie

https://www.stripes.com/trump-proposes-4-8-trillion-election-year-budget-with-big-domestic-cuts-1.618210

Nora Skinker (Morton)

Wow, that's a lot to lay on a poor N.H. voter, out to see her idol, the ex-VP, Jack. 
Yes, it's always painful to cut a budget, Joanie. Thus, the ever-concerning over-spending for the last twenty years. 
Enjoy the day! 


 

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Nori, budget decisions are priorities and cutting programs for poor children like SNAP who rely on these is really bad and sad....and cutting money from an already dismantled EPA on environmental regulations that keep our air and water clean is a bad, and cutting money from the poorest people on medicaid but padding the rich with big tax cuts is a choice and the wrong choice. Love, Joanie

Glen Hirose

Of course as an opposing goalie I wouldn’t want my career defined in history as the guy that gave up the 700th goal, but it has to be somebody so Tristan Jarry would be OK.

Jack Mallory

I suppose I can understand your concern over Biden's use of a garbled John Wayne movie quote (if that's what it was) to respond to a question, Nora. I don't know if I'd be more offended or puzzled if he directed it at me. 

Is there a Rhetorical Offense Meter on-line, or wherever, that I can use to determine whether to take offense at particular comments? Where does "lying dog-faced pony soldier" rate compared to "sleazebag," or "traitor," or "human scum?"  Why comment on it when you don't comment on Trump's rhetoric? Is there come kind of Right-Wing Discount that can be applied to Trumpian abusive language that makes it more acceptable than Biden's?

I've been trying to decide whether I'd find being called a traitor or human scum by Trump offensive. Somehow being attacked by an impeached lying bigot seems like something I could be proud of. Like having an FBI file.

******

FB memories reminded me today of this, from several years ago. I may have posted it to the Forum then, but everybody's probably forgotten just like I have.

I collect immigration stories; just casually, for fun, because they're fascinating. From my old student Victor (one of the Siete Machos, for those of you who remember them) who (claims) to have come into the states rolled up in a rug to the guy I met the other day at the VA. 

I was in Urgent Care. Guy in front of me was signing in. "Name?" "Espinosa." "Espi--what?" says the clerk? "E-S-P-I-N-O-S-A."
Typical New Hampshire scene; nobody know how to spell Espinosa. I just assumed he was a Mejicano, but didn't get a chance to ask.

A couple of days later, when I was working the front desk, I saw him again. "Hey, Espinosa--de donde estas?"

Well, I was wrong. Not a Mejicano. His great (great-great?) grandfather had been a prisoner of war, a Spaniard captured during the Spanish American War (1897--I know you know that). Portsmouth, NH was where they kept a bunch of these Spanish POWs. 

After the war, he went back to Spain, but told all the people in his village about the US. "All the babies are fat," must have been the family story about what bisabuelo told the villagers, because that's what Espinosa told me. At any rate, a bunch of the villagers emigrated to Portsmouth, NH, drawn by his stories. 

And that's how the Espinosa family immigrated to the US, and ended up in NH! Cool, or what?

PS--he told me quite proudly that the little Spanish he speaks is Castilian accented, unlike the Latin American Spanish of most Latino immigrants!

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Nora Skinker (Morton)

Yeah, but I know what a 'sleaze bag'  is. And I know what a liar, a nazi, a faschist, a pony, a misogynist, & a soldier is. I've never heard of 'whatever that was' Biden called that person. So, you guys don't know either? Crazy. 
Joanie, I'm thinkin' no matter what Trump proposed, the Dems would slam his ideas. Ya think? But, never fear, the House has to pass his budgetary proposals & you'll be happy to know, they won't. Nor will they (this is just a guess) do ANYTHING that resembles bipartisanship for quite awhile. So, Pelosi & Schumer will "fight every penny". Here's a thought: maybe if Pelosi had worked this hard to help people, Trump might not have been elected in the first place.

Jack Mallory

Nora, fer godsake use what the 21st Century offers--GOOGLE the damn phrase! Type/paste into your search bar "lying dog faced pony soldier" and see what you can find out! It's literally right at your finger tips. Doing your own homework has never been easier. 

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Just heard that William Barr is intervening in the cases like the Stone case and Flynn case to affect sentencing after Trump yelled and screamed about the unfair treatment of Stone who prosecutors recommended a 7 - 9 year sentence. . Four prosecutors who were recommending stiffer sentencing for Stone and jail time for Flynn resigned in protest. This again is Trump's personal attorney Barr taking over to help Trump's criminal cronies get lighter sentences. .. One commentator feels that Trump is trying to erase any crimes that were pursued by Mueller to wipe them away. Trump feels liberated by the acquittal to do whatever he wants with Barr his top agent. Love, Joanie

Jack Mallory

"Vengeance is mine, I will repay" sayeth IMPOTUS, "especially if you testify honestly under oath." "But threatening a witness, threatening to kill his dog? That's cool, no sweat. And war crimes? Get over it."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-hints-that-vindman-may-face-disciplinary-action-from-pentagon

Nora Skinker (Morton)

Sounds like vengeance is YOURS, sir!
To hell with politics! JUSTICE FOR DANIEL who got robbed last night!!! 

Glen Hirose

This chicken pot pie will warm you up...

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Glen thanks for your food posts. They are a nice break from the ones where we are duking it out re: events going on now here at Home....Love, Joanie

Joan Ruggles (Young)

Jack is now quoting the bible. I think he may have taken a bizarre turn. Maybe someone can look in on him? Does he have a gun?

Your story about Mr Espinosa made me smile because it reminds me of how different NH is from CA. Of course you wouldn't need to spell out Espinosa here, but in CA I've been spelling out J-O-A-N  Y-O-U-N-G for 30 years and they stiill call me Joanne. 

I'd love to hear Nori tell us what Nancy Pelosi should have done to "help people" that would have prevented DT's election? First of all she wasn't Speaker of the House when he was running. Maybe you should be railing against Paul Ryan. Oh wait, he was busy getting the big tax cut for the richest Americans passed. Secondly are you not aware of the 300+ bills sitting on McConnells desk that he won't bring to the senate? Some of those are even bi-partisan.

H.R. 986 — Protecting Americans with Preexisting Conditions Act of 2019

H.R. 987 — Strengthening Health Care and Lowering Prescription Drug Costs Act
H.R. 8 — Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019

H.R. 7 — Paycheck Fairness Act

H.R. 9 — Climate Action Now Act

H.R. 1331 — Local Water Protection Act

S. 47 — National Resources Management Act

H.R. 2578 — National Flood Insurance Program Extension Act of 2019

H.R. 1585 — Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019

H.R. 1644 — Save the Internet Act of 2019

H.R. 2480 — Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act

I won't bore you with the rest. But I don't think you could say Nancy Pelosi has been sitting on her hands or not trying to "help people." https://www.vox.com/2019/11/29/20977735/how-many-bills-passed-house-democrats-trump

I sympathize with Jack actually having to make a choice during his primary yesterday! I just got my absentee ballot and still don't have a clue who to vote for. As a person NEVER accused of being a Pollyanna, I see this as a positive dilemma. That fact is there are so many candidates, any of whom I'd be happy to support, that I won't be heartbroken no matter who gets nominated. An embarrassment of riches? 

Something that the press does which is driving me crazy. They are so eager to pick winners and losers and declare Sanders/Buttgeig the victors of the first two contests. And yet 98% of the country hasn't had a chnace to vote yet. They and the folks in Iowa and NH (sorry Jack) have an outsized influence on the perceived frontrunner and the press makes it worse!

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Joan, thank you so much for your post. You so aptly point out all the things that were done in the House to help people and these bills just sit on Mitch's desk. Its crazy to blame Pelosi when she has helped get these bills passed and ready for the next step where instead they never even get a hearing. Meanwhile Trump continues to show his hand, trying to cut programs for the neediest like children's SNAP program and medicaid and medicare. He feels emboldened now that he got acquitted to do whatever he wants and so Barr and Trump are tangling with the Stone and Flynn cases to lessen their sentences...I also agree with you Joan about the way the press decides whos in and whos out based on two states. I, for one, like Biden. I like how authentic he is and I feel the heart that he has. I think he is so decent and experienced and I hope he will win South Carolina and get another look. Love, Joanie

Jack Mallory

Two guns, actually, Joan. Don't worry, they're tucked away in my gun safe, awaiting the day that the DNC summons all us crazed socialist traitors to the back channel overthrow of the government and creation of a workers soviet. Led by the Vindmans, of course. 

I'm not one of those Granite staters who think there's anything special about our little white-bread primary. There's a long political season ahead, what happened here yesterday ultimately has little impact. I'm happy enough with the results.

I like Biblical references because I fantasize they could remind believers of the precepts they profess. Trump, a self-described Christian, might benefit from a nudge in the direction of leaving vengeance in the hands of the divine. And he and his sycophants might keep in mind the cautions against bearing false witness.

Yeah, and pigs might fly.

********

Continuing to use the Very Stable Gerius book to remind me of the details of Trump's not so stable first three years. Can't believe this had fallen into a memory crack: 

"In May, more than a thousand former federal prosecutors who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations signed an open letter stating that Trump’s conduct as documented in Mueller’s report “would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice.”

It ain't over til it's over. Or the fat lady sings. 

Wolfgang Voegeli

Bob asked me to give you my version of the latest political developments in Germany. As you might have read, in the past elections in the Eastern German states the Alternative for Germany (AfD), an ultra right-wing party with fascists as leaders in Brandenburg and Thuringia, scored over 20 percent in those states which led to an impasse in the parliament of Thuringia where the party "Die Linke", a socialist party to the left of the Social Democrats, had been heading a coalition government so far and again had become the strongest party. But the coalition of The Left, Social Democrats and Greens lost its majority. Hence, the prime minister could not be elected with an absolute majority necessary in the first two election rounds. In a third round, a relatve majority would have sufficed which the coalition would have had,  if the no-cooperation policies of the conservative parties towards the AfD would have held. They would have just had to abstain and a minority governmant of The Left, Social Democrats and Greens would have come to office. The conservatives did not have a majority without relying on the AfD.
It turned out, though, that the Free Democrats, a 5% party, entered an own candidate in the third election round. The AfD-MPs then did not vote for their own candidate but for this candidate of the Free Democrats who thereby got a majority. Whether there was collusion or whether the conservatives were just plain stupid, no one knows. Now we had a prime minister having been elected with the help of the proto-fascist AfD. All hell broke loose. Initially some conservatives voiced appreciation of this accidentally chosen Free Democrat prime minister. But public reaction soon forced them to alter their thinking. The pols show a sharp decline in the forecasts for Christian Democrats and Free Democrats in Thuringia. Hence, pressure was put on the prime minister and he resigned, thank God. The overwhelming majority of Germans has learned the lessons of history and will not tollerate any cooperation with the AfD. The heads of the conservative parties tried to calm the chaos. But the head of the Christian Democrats, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, had handled the situation badly.  Instead of living up to the expectation of the conservative electorate that the Christian Democrats are the guarantors of stability, she came up with suggestions that further complicated the issues. Pressure rose. She resigned. The political crisis in Thuringia remains unresolved and the race for who becomes head of the Christian Democrats and possibly Chancellor in the post-Merkel era has now begun. There is a rift running through the Christian Democrats. Especially in the east conservative majorities without the support of the AfD have become impossible. There is a sizeable group in the Christian Democrats who want to cooperate with the AfD. But that would be the downfall of the Christian Democrats in the west. At the same time the polls show that the Greens could become the second strongest party in the Bundestag in the next elections. Amongst the younger voters (<30) they would get two thirds of the votes. And value conservatives and religiously oriented people have realized that the preservation of the creation is in good hands with the Greens. Where this shift in allegiances will head to is not clear at the moment. But the next elections 2021 will be highly interesting. Any cooperation between Christian Democrats and AfD could produce a rise in votes for the Greens in the west and hence a Green Chancellor.
This has become a rather lengthy explanation. But I tried to reduce complexity as much as possible.