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Jack Mallory

Barr and McConnell seem to be giving coming down from the KoolAid and whatever they've been smoking. 

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/12/01/us/joe-biden-trump/barr-says-justice-dept-hasnt-uncovered-fraud-that-could-have-tipped-the-election-and-mcconnell-refers-to-new-administration?referringSource=articleShare
 

Jack Mallory

Deb and I are celebrating the fact that it looks like the US will still be a democracy in 2022 and Trump won't be around to push his plans for uranium mining near the Grand Canyon.

We have signed up for 6 days of rafting down the Colorado, like we did three years ago. Betting on good health and good luck between now and then; something to look forward to after this bizarre year, something to encourage us to keep active and fit. I was the oldest guy on the last trip, expect I will be this time.

https://www.westernriver.com/grand-canyon-vacation

Anybody else interested?

*******

It ain't the Colorado, but it's only a 5 minute walk away!

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Good for you Jack. I hope you and Deb have the time of your lives on the rafting trip. I should be nearby with my easel and paints capturing those beautiful scenes you are posting. Love, Joanie

Jack Mallory

It would be hard to stabilize an easel on the raft--and keep it dry--Joanie, but you could get some images in your mind that you could later put on canvas! Or you're welcome to my photos😊. 

​*******

A still disappointingly few Republicans continue to condemn Trump's dangerous attempts to subvert the election and our democracy, and endanger decent people. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/us/politics/georgia-election-trump.html?referringSource=articleShare

So many Trump supporters so mute, now, when in the past they've been so eager to defend his attacks on institutions and individuals. All of those "who have not said a damned word are complicit . . ."

Jay Shackford

Jack -- We did the six day, five night motorized rafting trip down the Grand Canyon in mid-May in 2006. It was a great trip.  Our outfitter was Arizona River Runners, based, I belive, out of Flagstaff, AZ.   Super operation with great guides.  We had two rafts, four guides and about 24 guests.  Slept on the beach of the Colorado River on a mat -- no tented needed.  Mid May is a good time to go --  after the runoff from the winter snows that muddies the water and before the really hot weather during the summner.  In June, July and August temps can reach 110 on the river. We experienced temps in the mid-80s to the low- 90sl Everything -- from the excitement on running the rapids, to the amazing views of the canyon, to the lunch time hikes and body rafting down the Little Colorado River, to the the smell of coffee and breakfast brewing every morning -- exceeded our expectations.  One of the great trips of our lifetimes.  Enjoy.  
 

Jack Mallory

We did the same trip in 2018, Jay, with Western Rivers. I'm sure all the outfits that do the Grand Canyon provide very similar experiences--as you say, it's the trip of a lifetime. So great, obviously, that although expensive, we were pretty sure we'd do it again. Now, after this last year and desparate for future travel to focus on, we decided to go for it. And the fact that we won't be any younger in 2022! As you know, it doesn't require a high level of athleticism, but those hikes up the side canyons might be tough at 80. All of this year's reservations got rolled into next year, so most of what was available was the year after.

Love going over my photos from the trip!

That would be the very top of Deb's head as she hit the water.

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Jack Mallory

Thanks, Joanie. In the Grand Canyon you could take photographs like playing pin-the-tail on the donkey: blind-folded, spun around three times, shoot at random. Can't miss down there! 


 

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​Great idea here! Make The Deep State our term. Take it away from the paranoid conspiracists, make it mean what WE want it to: the often anonymous, invisible, unappreciated men and women who serve the nation, who work to make it work. Those whose allegiance and efforts are for the Constitution, not for some power-hungry, egomaniacal politician. The Republican, Democratic, and independent civil servants who place duty before party: Vindmans and Krebs and Raffensburgers and Sterlings, Yovanovichs and Faucis. Congressionals, judges, CDC workers and election officials whose loyalty is to the nation and not to the mad would-be-king railing in his palace about disloyalty and plots and his own imaginary Deep State!

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/02/opinion/trump-fauci-deep-state.html?referringSource=articleShare

Glen Hirose

                          .                                                             

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Jack Mallory

Trump's people: he really can pick 'em.

• The message was an ad from a right-wing activist group asking Trump to "declare limited Martial Law to temporarily suspend the Constitution ... in order to have the military implement a national re-vote that reflects the true will of the people."
• Flynn shared the press release about the ad on Twitter, tagged several Trump-supporting lawyers and media personalities, and wrote, "Freedom never kneels except for God."
• The president does not have the power to unilaterally cancel, delay, postpone, or change the date of an election even if he declares martial law, and declaring martial law does not suspend the Constitution.
• The military also has no role in administering elections, and even if it did, it could not "implement a national re-vote" because the right to vote is not specified in the Constitution or in a federal statute.

https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-flynn-shares-message-trump-martial-law-2020-12https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-flynn-shares-message-trump-martial-law-2020-12

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Jack Mallory

Sanity, on the horizon. Been a LONG time coming. 

"Biden also said he would ask Americans to wear masks for 100 days after his inauguration in a nationwide effort to curb the spread of the disease. Biden has floated mask mandates in the past, but the 100-day time element adds a new detail to the next administration's Covid policy . . ."

"Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have made it a point to publicly wear masks and socially distance their campaign events — a stark contrast from President Donald Trump. 'The president and vice president, we set the pattern by wearing masks,' Biden said Thursday.

"A 100-day timeframe would be enough for about 100 million people — roughly those who have the greatest vulnerabilities to the virus — to receive a vaccine, according to estimates from Moncef Slaoui, scientific head of Operation Warp Speed."

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/03/biden-fauci-covid-team-442739
 

Joanie Bender (Grosfeld)

Jay Shackford

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

-Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda for the Nazi 3^rd Reich

 

Jack Mallory

Goebbels doesn't talk about the importance of finding the lies that some people WANT to hear, which is one thing that Trump is good at. Or the mega-deception of polluting the epistemic environment with so much falsehood that people lose any belief in truth at all. They then fall into, or eagerly embrace, a cynicism that makes them proud of their disbelief rather than doing the hard work necessary to look for evidence and at least approximate truth.

Trump may be good at the former but he is masterful at the latter. Having government lie is dangerous. But having government work to convince people that reality is meaningless is fatal to democracy. If you don't know what's real, how do you know what policies will make life better, or worse? How do you know who to vote for? What's the point in paying attention to policy, or voting, if it's impossible to determine what's real and what's not? Oh well, let der Feuhrer, or der Donald, decide.

Jack Mallory

Do your moral/ethical muscles need a workout? Read this, think about the issues involved. How would YOU prioritize access to the vaccine? Those most at risk of infection? Those most at risk of death? An EMT vs. an asthmatic 70 year old? A healthy, retired white 80 year old or a black 45 year old school teacher with diabetes? A supermarket worker or a prison guard? A medical school student or a prisoner?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/05/health/covid-vaccine-first.html?referringSource=articleShare

Glen Hirose

Jack,

After serious consideration I would say everyone involved in heathcare that put themselves and their loved ones in harms way need the vaccine first. If the healthcare system collapses the whole country/world is in serious trouble, and that could be very soon...

I hate "what if thought exercises" 

You're in a boat that capsizes with your home improvement contractor, and your lawyer and neither can swim. You can only save one; who do you save?

Jack Mallory

Just glad I'm not the decider, Glen. But I'd love to be teaching an ethics class and be able to use those issues as topics of discussion! Why should we value one life over another, when such decisions must be made? 

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A snowy day on the river for this merganser. And at the nest, where I'm told there's an eagle in residence although not home in this picture.

Stephen Hatchett

Vaccine priority:  Well....why not  college students, covidiot politicians and guests (see Pompeo), and other superspreaders first.  That way we achieve herd immunity as fast as possible.  

Glen Hirose

Joan Ruggles (Young)

Stephen to add to your excellent suggestions, might I refine the list to frat boys and girls and Trump rally attendees. Herd mentality in no time!

Jack Mallory

Herein hangs a Christmas card tale. My sons, maybe 18 years ago. In between, a Montagnard gentleman who had once been a Viet Cong colonel, part of a delegation of North Vietnamese Army and National Liberation Front veterans visiting Santa Cruz. I was part of the committee welcoming our former enemies, and took the boys with me when the whole group went out to the redwoods. The colonel was charmed by the boys, posed for what became that year's Christmas card photo. I’ve been trying to locate a copy for years, an old friend just found one.

The leader of the delegation turned out to have been the commanding officer of the NVA regiment that my unit, the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, was often in combat with. When we discovered this, he turned to his compatriots, pointed at me and said, “Back then . . .” and made punching gestures. Then he said, “Now . . .” came over and put his arm around me, “Friends.” Still chokes me up remembering it.

Nora Skinker (Morton)

Gotta love those summer crew cuts. 

Here's a little morning "crunch" to bring every classmate (blessed with ye olde sense of humor), a smile:

Jack Mallory

https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america?view=total-deaths&tab=trend

As Covid deaths look like they may eventually equal all the combat deaths in every American war, some people would like to see the "wartime President," as Trump calls himself, President "It is disappearing," serve another four years. 

Some people can be convinced of almost anything, I suppose . . . 

. . . If they live long enough. 

 

Over 7 million popular votes and a "massive landslide victory in the electoral college" are sending Trump whining into retirement and into the pages of history--which will not treat him well.