The Week’s Best Cartoons 10/17

Posted on October 17, 2020 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Humour, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Re-blogs, Social commentary

As she does every week, our friend TokyoSand has searched high and low for the week’s best political cartoons. While these days, the cartoons may not make us laugh very much, I still find it amazing how the artists can sum up a major news story with a drawing and few or no words! Sigh. Would that I had that kind of talent …

So, without further ado or verbiage from moi, I ask you to hop over to TS’ site and check out her selection! Thank you, TS, for your diligence in always finding the cream of the crop!

Here are a couple of samples, but please be sure to head over to The Week’s Best Cartoons 10/17 for the full collection!

Saturday Surprise — 2020 Wildlife Photographer Awards!

Posted on October 17, 2020 by jilldennison under animals, Bits 'n Pieces, Environmental Issues, Saturday Surprise

I thought I might struggle to find a fun thing for Saturday Surprise this week, but then … I discovered that this week the 2020 Wildlife Photographer winners were announced on October 13^th, and I knew I couldn’t pass that one up! The photos are always so great. This is the 56^th year for the contest, and for the first time ever, the awards ceremony was conducted virtually due to the pandemic. As I told you in last year’s post about the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards, this is the largest wildlife photography competition in the world. It is an annual international wildlife photography competition owned by the Natural History Museum. The first competition was held in 1964, with three categories and around 600 entries. By 2008, the competition had grown to over 32,000 entries from 3100 photographers in 82 countries. This year, there were over 49,000 entries!

And as was the case last year, I cannot possibly show you all the gorgeous photos, but have picked the ones I thought were the best of the best. You can find more at the Natural History Museum website, as well as information about the photographers and other trivia.

Of course, we must begin with the grand title winner, Sergey Gorshkov, who won with this photo titled The Embrace. This picture shows the intimate moment an endangered Siberian tiger hugs an ancient Manchurian fir tree to mark it with her scent. It took Russian photographer Sergey Gorshkov over 11 months to capture using motion sensor cameras. Sergey scoured the forest for signs of Amur, or Siberian, tigers, searching for the best place to set up his camera trap. He knew his chance of photographing one was slim, but his mind was made up. “From then on, I could think of nothing else,” Sergey says. Finally, his dedication paid off: he captured a rare glimpse of this magnificent tiger in its wild habitat.

This year’s Young Photographer of the Year (ages 15-17) award went to Liina Heikkinen of Finland for this photo, titled The Fox That Got the Goose. It was on a summer holiday in Helsinki that Liina, then 13, heard about a large fox family living in the city suburbs on the Finnish island of Lehtisaari. The island has both wooded areas and fox-friendly citizens, and the foxes are relatively unafraid of humans. So Heikkinen and her father spent one long July day, without a hide, watching the two adults and their six large cubs, which were almost the size of their parents, though slimmer and lankier. In another month, the cubs would be able to fend for themselves, but in July they were only catching insects and earthworms and a few rodents, and the parents were still bringing larger prey to them. On this evening, the vixen arrived with a barnacle goose. Feathers flew as the cubs began fighting over it.

Frank Deschandol’s original aim was to photograph the vibrant cuckoo wasp. In a sandy bank on a brownfield site near his home in Normandy, France, he located tiny digger wasp burrows suitable for a cuckoo wasp to use. He then set up an infrared beam that, when broken by a wasp, would trigger the super-fast shutter system he had built. Despite the extremely narrow depth of field and tiny subjects, he captured not only the cuckoo wasp but also the sand wasp.Titled A Tale of Two Wasps, this remarkable simultaneous framing of a red-banded sand wasp (left) and a cuckoo wasp about to enter next-door nest holes is the result of painstaking preparation. The female cuckoo wasp—just 6 millimeters long—parasitizes the nests of certain solitary digger wasps, laying her eggs in her hosts’ burrows so that her larvae can feast on their eggs or larvae. The much larger red-banded sand wasp lays her eggs in her own burrow, which she provisions with caterpillars, one for each of her young to eat when they emerge.

This next one is titled The Pose … I would swear this guy used to be my boss! This is a photo by Mogens Trolle of a young male proboscis monkey seemingly deep in thought (or asleep).

The Village Cat by Masood Hussain

Masood spent the evening tracking a tiger in a nearby forest. Just as he was heading home at sunset, his driver spotted this big cat, lying on the wall of an abandoned village school.

Late Delivery by Catherine Dobbins d’Alessio

Surprise! by Makoto Ando

The Perfect Catch by Hannah VijayanA brown bear pulls a sockeye salmon from the shallows of a river in Alaska’s Katmai National Park. The greatest concentration of bears – and tourists – is around the waterfall at Brooks River, where viewing platforms enable visitors to watch bears catching salmon leaping up the falls.

Young Hannah chose to focus on a quieter scene and a different style of fishing.

Instead of snatching at leaping fish or jumping on them, the female put her head under the water to look for one. She catches a nutrient-rich sockeye still in its ocean form – before it has developed its reproductive red colour and pronounced jaws. The presence of the salmon in autumn ensures the bears’ survival through the winter. Alaskan brown bears are among the world’s largest bears. Males may eat 30 salmon a day and weigh more than 450 kilograms by the end of the summer. Females are smaller and typically weigh a third less.

Eye of the Drought by José FragozoBelieve it or not, there’s a hippopotamus in there! An eye blinks open in a mud pool as a hippopotamus emerges to take a breath – one every three to five minutes. The challenge for José, watching in his vehicle, was to catch the moment an eye opened.

For several years, José has been watching hippos in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, a remnant of the drought-stricken Mara River. Hippos spend the day submerged to keep their temperature constant and their sensitive skin out of the sun. They emerge at night to graze on the floodplains.

Life in the Balance by Jaime CulebrasA Manduriacu glass frog snacks on a spider in the foothills of the Andes, in northwestern Ecuador. As big consumers of invertebrates, glass frogs play a key part in maintaining balanced ecosystems. That night, Jaime Culebras’s determination to share his passion for them had driven him to walk for four hours, in heavy rain, through the forest to reach the frogs’ streams in the Manduriacu Reserve. But the frogs were elusive and the downpour was growing heavier and heavier. As he turned back, he was thrilled to spot one small frog clinging to a branch, its eyes shimmering like mosaics.

I hope you enjoyed the beautiful photos and critters! Now, go have a wonderful weekend, but please, my friends, observe every possible safety measure if you’re out in public.

America’s Wakeup Call-It’s we the People, not we the Donors

Posted on October 16, 2020 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Jeff & Jill's Project, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Re-blogs

This week for our project, America’s Wake-Up Call, Jeff put his very heart and soul into his post. He shows us more than enough reasons why it is so very crucial to vote, and to vote for Joe Biden! So much is at stake … perhaps even more than we realize. Good work, Jeff! Thank you!

On The Fence Voters

There’s so much at stake in this election. To say it’s the most important in our lifetime is not an understatement. There’s simply no adjective worthy enough to categorize what we’re facing on November 3, 2020. Life and death? Sure, that works. Look no further than Michelle Obama’s rallying cry from her speech at the Democratic Convention a few months ago: “Vote like your life depends on it.”

And it appears that voters in the United States of American are adhering to the former First Lady’s plea – in record numbers. We’re seeing people making their voices heard, loud and clear. That many are facing wait times in upwards of 10 hours, as was the case in Georgia a few days ago, underscores why we cannot take anything for granted anymore.

These voters are waiting in line because the people conducting the elections didn’t think you’d care enough to show…

View original post 1,170 more words

Crazy Uncle vs Intelligent Hombre …

Posted on October 16, 2020 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry

Due to circumstances beyond my control (stubborn headphones), I missed the first 20 minutes or so of Joe Biden’s town hall last night, and due to other circumstances beyond my control (family obligations), I was only able to watch about 20 minutes before having to stop. I never had any intention of watching Trump’s town hall and wouldn’t have even if he hadn’t scheduled his to compete with Biden’s, but I had hoped to watch all of Biden’s. I have, however, read most of the transcript of Joe’s town hall, and some key takeaways from Trump’s.

I must say that it was great, the few minutes I was able to watch Biden’s event, to be able to hear Biden answer the questions asked of him without interruption. It was great not to have to look away from Trump’s freakish facial contortions while he muttered and blathered. We actually got to hear what Joe thought, what he plans to do once he is in the Oval Office. Much more informative and less stressful than the debate a few weeks ago.

Most of Biden’s responses to questions were what we’ve come to expect from Biden: calm, thoughtful responses, intelligence, no raised voice, and even speaking in complete sentences. He covered what he would do differently regarding the coronavirus pandemic, and spoke about a vaccine, saying …

“If the body of scientists say that this is what is ready to be done and it’s been tested, they’ve gone through the three phases, yes, I would take it, and I’d encourage people to take it.”

He mentioned that while he would like to be able to make the vaccine mandatory, he realizes this cannot be done …

“You couldn’t, that’s the problem. You can’t say, ‘Everyone has to do this.’”

Perhaps one of the most glaring differences between Joe Biden and Donald Trump is the ability to admit to a mistake. Last night, when Joe Biden was questioned about the 1994 crime bill that he sponsored while in the senate, he defended and explained parts of the bill, but was also able to admit that in hindsight, some parts were a mistake. Trump, on the other hand, has never admitted to a mistake and still gives himself kudos for his horrible handling of the pandemic that has now cost the U.S. 223,000 human lives.

From what I’ve read, the two town hall events were as different as night and day. Joe’s could be said to be almost boring in contrast, but that’s fine with me! I’ll take boring over bombastic any day of the week! I agreed with most of what Biden said, the only thing I would argue is that I think fracking should be banned, Biden doesn’t. But hell … if that’s the only thing we disagree on, that’s nearly a miracle in itself!

I was also impressed with Biden’s response to the final question by moderator George Stephanopoulos, “Mr. Vice President, if you lose, what will that say to you about where America is today?”

“Well, it could say that I’m a lousy candidate, and I didn’t do a good job. But I think — I hope … that it doesn’t say that we are as racially, ethnically, and religiously at odds with one another as it appears the President wants us to be. Usually, you know, the President, in my view, with all due respect, it’s been divide and conquer, the way he does better if he splits us and where there’s division.

And I think people need hope. I think — look, George, I’ve never been more optimistic of the prospects for this country than I am today. And I really mean that. I think the people are ready. They understand what’s at stake. And it’s not about Democrat or Republican.

If I get elected, you know, I’m going to be — I’m running as a proud Democrat, but I’m going to be an American president. I’m going to take care of those that voted against me as well as those who voted for me, for real. That’s what presidents do. We’ve got to heal this nation, because we have the greatest opportunity of any country in the world to own the 21st century. And we can’t do it divided.”

And that in and of itself, my friends, makes me want Joe Biden as my president more than ever before.

Now Trump, on the other hand …

… was apparently his usual obnoxious self, perhaps even more so, but he met his match with moderator Savannah Guthrie! Given that I do not watch television, I had never seen Ms. Guthrie in her spot as co-anchor of the NBC News morning show, but … this lady is gooooood! She held Trump’s feet to the fire, and apparently, he squirmed!

From The Washington Post’s article, “5 takeaways from the dueling Trump and Biden town halls” …

When Trump claimed that a study showed 85 percent of people who wear masks still get the coronavirus, Guthrie noted he falsely characterized the study.

When Trump defended his pandemic response by citing another study that showed 2 million people could have died of the coronavirus, Guthrie rightly noted that model predicted that only if the government did precisely zero mitigation.

When Trump declined to denounce QAnon because he said he didn’t know what it was about, Guthrie provided details about what it was about and invited him to do it, noting Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) has flatly denounced it as a baseless conspiracy theory. Trump instead offered that he liked that QAnon was against pedophilia.

When Guthrie pressed Trump on his retweets this week of a bizarre conspiracy theory about Osama bin Laden’s death, Trump explained by saying he was just passing along information. (“That was a retweet, I’ll put it out there. People can decide for themselves.”) Guthrie then provided the retort those tweets have long demanded: that he’s the president, not someone’s “crazy uncle” spouting off on Twitter, and that the information he promotes matters.

I particularly love that last part … “he is the president, not someone’s ‘crazy uncle’ spouting off …” LOVE IT!!! Part of me almost wants to watch the clip, just to see the look on his face when she said that! Maybe I will. Crazy Uncle Donnie! Has a certain ring to it, don’t you think?

I have a policy that I do not donate money to political candidates, even ones I support. Why? Because there are people going without food, homeless people living on the streets, sick people who cannot afford medical treatment … when you compare the pleas of a politician who has never gone hungry a single day in his/her life against those needs … well, if I have an extra $25 or $100, I donate it to the local food bank or homeless shelter. Tonight, I broke that policy … so impressed with Joe Biden was I, that I donated $25 to his campaign. Not much, but given that 75% of my monthly income goes to pay for my insulin and other medications, it was the best I could do. It was my way of saying, “I believe in Joe Biden.”

We’re in the final days, my friends. Some 15 million votes have already been cast by mail-in ballots and early in-person voting. There is a new enthusiasm that we didn’t see even in 2016 … and it isn’t enthusiasm for another four years of the hell we’ve lived through for the last four! It is hope … the hope for a president who represents ALL of the people, not only the wealthy, not only those who support him, but each and every one of us. Hope for a brighter future, hope that we can re-establish our relationship with our allies, hope that we can begin to address the racial issues that are tearing this country apart. Hope … it’s a beautiful word, and tonight, Joe Biden showered me with hope.

S-s-snarky S-s-snippets

Posted on October 15, 2020 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Rants

I am in rather a dark mood tonight … I even yelled at an animated character, a cute li’l octopus, on television and called her a … well, you get the picture. Two things in particular stirred my angst tonight, and both, I think, are well deserving of venting a bit of snarky steam.

Pathetic

“Suburban women: Will you please like me? Please. Please. I saved your damn neighborhood, okay? The other thing: I don’t have that much time to be that nice. You know, I can do it, but I gotta go quickly. They want me to be politically correct. I got rid of a regulation that was a disaster and it was really unfair, and you’ve been reading about it for a long time and it’s gotten a lot worse under Obama and Biden. We’re going to see that the women really like Trump a lot. Remember four years ago, they said women will never vote, then I got 52 percent. … You damn well better vote for me Pennsylvania, you better vote.”

These are the words of the incumbent in the Oval Office, spoken during a rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on Tuesday night. First he begs and cajoles, then he threatens. And this is the person who has ‘led’ this nation into chaos for the past nearly four years and hopes to be given another four years to complete the destruction.

Joe Biden, by the way, is leading in the polls in Pennsylvania by an average of 6 points.

Pointless

I have not paid particular attention to, nor written about, the hearings taking place in the Senate to determine whether or not to confirm Trump’s nominee to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s not that I’m not interested – I am. It’s not that I don’t think it’s important – I do. It’s just that from what I have read it is just another … yawn … Republican dog-and-pony show with the outcome predetermined. I truly have better things to do with my time than watch the Republicans preen and Ms. Barrett deflect.

To date, apparently Ms. Amy Coney Barrett has refused to answer all relevant questions, so … what is there to write about? Ms. Barrett is 48 years old, so We the People are likely to be saddled with her religious views becoming the law of the land for the next three decades or so.

The burning questions that she has refused to answer are on the topics of the Affordable Healthcare Act (whether the majority of us will be able to afford medical care when and if we need it), Roe v Wade (whether women will retain control of their own bodies, or be subject to a misogynistic rule), and Obergefell v Hodges (whether a significant portion of the population will be allowed to marry the person they love, or whether that, too, will be dictated by a bigoted Supreme Court). Ms. Barrett has refused to answer how she would rule on any of these topics. In my book, that removes her from consideration, for we have a right to know who will be deciding how we must live. And would somebody please tell me WHY Ms. Barrett’s children are front and center in the hearings??? They have no role in this, they have no place here! Best I can figure, it’s another ‘photo op’ moment like Trump having citizens forcibly removed from the streets of Washington so he could hold a bloody book in front of a damn church! Send the children home to do their online learning, Amy! Better yet … go home with them, since you have proven yourself useless.In the Republican’s book however, it is a little different.

Here are some of the questions Ted Cruz, a republican senator from Texas asked of Ms. Barrett:

Do you speak any foreign languages? (French)
Do you play any musical instruments? (Piano)
What was it like staying at home during the pandemic with seven children? (Challenging)
Why did she and her husband adopt two children from Haiti? (A long story)

Ooooohhh … what relevant questions for a potential Supreme Court Justice who will be expected to make decisions that may mean life or death for us all! Way to go, Teddy!

Now, one thing I didn’t mention above was Ms. Barrett’s take on climate change, arguably the single most important issue of the day.

“I’m certainly not a scientist. I have read things about climate change. I would not say I have firm views on it.”

Say WHAT? You have “read things”??? What things? Details, woman! How … HOW can anybody in this, the year 2020 with wildfires consuming much of the West Coast, with devastating hurricanes costing lives and untold property damages, and with the average temperature this past summer 92° in an area that usually has a summertime average of 85° … how can any sane person look at the statistics, step outside and attempt to breathe the air, and still have “no firm views”??? This woman is either very, very stupid, else she is already in the pockets of the corporate donors such as Koch Brothers and the fossil fuel industry!

I’m not a scientist, either, but I still possess some parts that Ms. Barrett may be missing: a brain, eyes, ears, and lungs … all of which tell me that humans, in their greedy quest for more useless money, have begun and continue the destruction of the environment here on planet Earth.

So, in conclusion, Ms. Barrett refuses to voice an opinion on women’s rights, LGBT rights, the right to medical care, and worst yet, she is stupid about the environment. GET. HER. OUT.

But no, the boot-lickers in the Senate have a majority, albeit a narrow one, and there doesn’t seem to be a single one with the cojones to “just say ‘no’” to Donald Trump. On top of that, the unconscionably powerful Koch Brothers have thrown their support behind her nomination. And thus began the beginning of the end of civilization in what was once known as the United States.

And I shall end on that note, for my temper is about to take me where I ought not to go. Let me just say, though, that if Donald Trump is elected for and seated for another term, I shall renounce my citizenship from the U.S., if not from the entire world. I can see nothing good in the future of this nation if the people continue to elect and applaud bloody fools and to put corporate profits ahead of people.

Trying To Take Away Our Voice

Posted on October 13, 2020 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

Voting has already begun in many states, and mail-in ballots have been sent out in most states that allow mail-in voting. The Republican Party has made no bones about the fact that they intend to make voting as hard as possible for most of us who prefer not to clog the polls, putting ourselves and our families at risk for a deadly virus, on November 3rd. Well, it looks like they have started their campaign to keep us from voting …

Voting in Georgia …

Early voting began yesterday in Georgia, and long lines – as much as a ten-hour wait – were reported in some areas.Now, let me ask you … do you notice anything about the people in this line? Look closer … do you see any white faces there? I saw one, possibly two, but the majority appear to be Black voters. This was in Cobb County, a county that has voted Democratic for the last several elections, and the same scenario took place in DeKalb County, a majority Democratic county. In addition, two counties briefly had problems with the electronic pollbooks used to check in voters. The issue halted voting for a while at State Farm Arena, in Atlanta. Voters who cast their ballots at the basketball stadium, which was being used as an early voting site, faced long waits as the glitch was resolved. My suspicious mind wonders if the ‘glitch’ was, perhaps, manufactured?

Think about this one … you have a job, you either work afternoons, or arranged to go in to work later so that you could go vote. Ten hours later, you are finally able to cast your vote, your shift has ended without you, your boss will be fuming tomorrow, your kids haven’t had their supper. How many people left the line and did not vote because they couldn’t afford to miss work, or they had to pick up their children after school? And yes, the majority of them are Black or Hispanic.

Luckily, most of these people were pretty darned determined! Steve Davidson, who is Black, said the late US congressman John Lewis and others had fought too long and hard to secure his place at the polls for him to get tired and leave. “They’ve been fighting for decades. If I’ve got to wait six or seven hours, that’s my duty to do that. I’ll do it happily,” Davidson said.

Adrienne Crowley, who waited more than an hour to vote, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution there wasn’t anything that would make her get out of the line to vote. “I would have voted all day if I had to.”

Nationally, more than 9.4 million people have already voted, an unprecedented number, according to data collected by Michael McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida. Georgia has long been seen as a Republican bastion, but many believe recent demographic changes have made it a more competitive state. A recent poll shows Donald Trump and Joe Biden in a statistical tie in the state. I believe that the high turnout and shift toward the Democratic candidates are the result of having the worst possible person in charge for the last four years, of having an incumbent who has point-blank stated that he does not care one whit for our lives … “It is what it is,” he said. People listen, people understand, people are voting … in record numbers.

Meanwhile, down in Texas …

I told you yesterday evening about the fake ballot drop-off boxes the Republican Party had installed in areas of Southern California. Well, down in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott issued a proclamation last week limiting each county to only one ballot drop-off site, regardless of size or population. As I told you yesterday, the State of Ohio, among others, already had such a rule, but in Texas they already have multiple ballot drop-off boxes in most counties, and Governor Abbott’s order would require removing them. The move would disproportionately affect larger, more diverse counties and hit communities of color, making it more difficult for them to vote. Gee, what a surprise, eh? The GOP is doing every damn thing they can to keep the poor and minorities from voting, for they know that in a fair and honest election, they are likely to become a shell of what they once were, and in fact may well be doomed to extinction if they don’t make some significant changes.

Luckily, on Friday evening, US federal judge Robert Pitman blocked Texas governor Greg Abbott’s order to shut down mail-in ballot drop-off sites across the state as the election is currently under way.

Harris County, one of the largest in Texas with more than 4.7 million residents, breathed a collective sigh of relief. In a statement, the Harris county clerk, Chris Hollins, said:

“Tonight’s injunction reinstating Harris county voters’ ability to hand-deliver their ballots at 12 county offices is a victory for voting rights. The governor’s suppressive tactics should not be tolerated, and tonight’s ruling shows that the law is on the side of Texas voters.”

Snarky (Maybe) Snippets

Posted on October 12, 2020 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Election 2020, Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

In my last ‘Snarky Snippets’ post, I was told that I wasn’t snarky enough, so I figured I owed it to you, my friends, to work on honing that snarky edge and trying again! Let me know if you think I’m still falling short of my usual snarkiness and I’ll hone some more!

I want to be paid rent!

Donald Trump claims to be all about ‘law and order’, though as I have mentioned before, he defines ‘law and order’ much differently than I do, than most of us do. His idea of law and order is to allow violent white supremacist groups to do as they please, while sending in militia to harass and arrest peaceful Black Lives Matter protestors. For Trump, law and order has much to do with the colour of one’s skin. But to my point …

He has broken the laws of the land more times than anyone else I know, including last Saturday when he held a campaign rally on our property … public property … the White House lawn! Has anyone mentioned that little 1939 law called the Hatch Act to him? I didn’t give my permission to do that, did you? But then, his lapdog, Attorney General William Barr said long ago that Trump is ‘above the law’ as long as he remains in office. Hmmmm … could that possibly be why he’s been caught lying, cheating and stealing to keep his title? I wonder if Barr would have said that President Obama was above the law while he was in office. Anybody care to make any bets? Well, he’ll be gone soon, and once he is, I want him to repay We the Taxpayers for his wanton use of our property, among other things.

An unusual endorsement …

I cannot think of a single other president who has been endorsed by the likes of former KKK grand poobah David Duke, and Richard Spencer, head of his own group of white supremacists, or white ‘nationalists’ as they call themselves. But now Trump has received a thumbs-up endorsement from none other than the Taliban! Yes, that’s right … the same Taliban that provided a safe haven to members of al Qaeda, the same Taliban that have bombed U.S. air bases in Afghanistan and opened fire on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, to name just a few of their atrocities.

So, why is the Taliban endorsing Trump? A senior Taliban leader tells us …

“We hope he will win the election and wind up the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.”

The Taliban is still closely tied to al Qaeda and the daesh, aka Isis, aka the Islamic State, and it has been ours and our allies’ presence in the region that has helped our Kurdish allies maintain the peace. And by the way, no … contrary to what Mike Pence and Donald Trump claim, the Islamic State has not been defeated. It was crippled but was never defeated and today is on its way, with our help, to making a comeback. Trump, by his intended move to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, is helping them.

WTF is wrong with people???

Gisele Barreto Fetterman is the wife of Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. On Sunday, she decided to make a quick run to the local grocery store for some fruit that was on sale. As she was waiting in line to pay, another woman recognized her and went into a rant, hurling racial slurs (Ms. Fetterman was born in Brazil).

“There’s that [n-word] that Fetterman married. You don’t belong here. No one wants you here. You don’t belong here.”

The woman even followed Ms. Fetterman out to her car, continuing to rant. Is this what the people of this nation are becoming? Is this what the political divide has turned us into? Yes, I realize this was an isolated incident and that most of us would not dream of such behaviour, but the fact that this is even happening at all disturbs me greatly. The fact that in this, the 21^st century, we are still very much a racist nation is reprehensible.

Ms. Fetterman posted to Twitter a short (2 second) clip of the woman harassing her outside her car window …

What a gracious lady, after what she endured, to ask people to teach her love instead of hate. She was far kinder than I would have been, for there is not a doubt in my mind but that I would have hit the woman with a can of peas if she had spoken to me as she did Ms. Fetterman.

People, we have to do better than this, else we will turn this into a third-rate nation that nobody wants to visit, let alone live in. Just because the ‘man’ sitting in the Oval Office has promoted racism and bigotry in every possible form does not mean that we have to stoop to his level.

Fake ballot boxes!

In our state, as in many others that have republican governors, the state is allowing only one ballot drop-off box per county! Now, for us, that means about a one-hour round trip to the county seat, Hamilton, but for some it is an even longer journey and I have railed against this, especially now when we cannot trust the U.S. Postal Service to ensure our ballots will be delivered on time. However, after what I read this morning, perhaps it’s a good thing that there is only one drop-off box per county, located at the Board of Elections offices.

In California, republican operatives have placed FAKE ballot boxes in a wide variety of locations in Southern California, including in front of churches, gun shops and gyms. According to The Washington Post …

The California GOP has pushed voters to pop their mail-in ballots inside. Social media posts have advertised their locations, and one regional field director posted a photo to Twitter on Friday showing him holding a ballot in front of one of the boxes.

But those containers, which were first reported by the Orange County Register and KCAL, are not county-authorized ballot drop-off sites. In fact, the unofficial boxes are against the law, state officials said Sunday.

Official ballot return locations are listed on the secretary of state’s website. But Republican leaders are encouraging voters to bring their completed ballots to unlisted sites equipped with the unofficial green boxes, at locations including smog checks and gas stations.

I can’t help wondering how many of the ballots dropped in the GOP drop boxes will actually reach the Board of Elections to be counted? This is an all-new low for the GOP and shows how truly desperate they are! Frankly, I hope every last one of them go down in flames!

Jolly Monday — ALREADY???

Posted on October 12, 2020 by jilldennison under animals, Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, Humour, Politic-Free Mondays

Wh-wha-what??? It’s M-m-Monday already? Says who? ‘Cording to my calendar it’s … um … oh. Well, from the smells coming from the kitchen it smells like Joyful has been up and at it already, so … how ‘bout you guys go see what’s for breakfast while I go get my teeth brushed, and then we’ll see what fun things we can find to start our week out, ‘k?

A Canadian business, Gaze Seed Company of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador submitted an ad to Facebook for publication. But Facebook found the ad too “overtly sexual” to be posted on the social media platform.

WHAT … did they think the onions were mating in the basket??? According to Jackson McLean, manager at Gaze Seed Company …

“We got notified the other day that it’s an ‘overtly sexual image’ that they had to ban from the site. I guess something about the two round shapes there could be misconstrued as boobs or something, nude in some way.

I just thought it was funny. You’d have to have a pretty active imagination to look at that and get something sexual out of it … ‘Overtly sexual,’ as in there’s no way of mistaking it as not sexual.”

Amazing … simply amazing, given some of the offensive crud I’ve seen on Facebook! A spokesperson for Facebook said …

“We use automated technology to keep nudity off our apps, but sometimes it doesn’t know a walla walla onion from a, well, you know. We restored the ad and are sorry for the business’ trouble.”

Police in Alberta, Canada, were called to the scene of a gas station after receiving a call about a python that had somehow gotten loose inside the store.

Picturing the worst, for pythons can be rather large & lethal, they cautiously entered the station. The clerk told them it had slithered under a display of potato chips. They began trying to coax the python out … then suddenly, he slithered back out and …

Yep, folks, a plain ol’ harmless garter snake, about 1/50^th the size of what a python would have been. They could have picked it up, given it a bit of loving and sent it on its way … no need for the police! 🙄

It seems that while Joyful was preparing this feast for us, Jolly was over at Phil’s Phun picking out some cartoons and memes for us …

And what would Jolly Monday be without a cute animal video??? I think you’ll laugh over this one with a meerkat … who knew they were such energetic critters?

And especially for our friend Hugh, a double dose of Monday joy …

Well, folks, it’s that time again … time to go about our duties and try to accomplish something. I’m always sad to see you go, but I know you’ll be back soon and we’ll have more fun! Be sure to share those beautiful smiles I see you wearing … lot’s of people seem to have lost theirs. Love ‘n hugs from Filosofa, Jolly & Joyful!

Snarky Rides Again

Posted on October 11, 2020 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

I suspect the snark will keep on rolling for the next few weeks, don’t you? I wonder who’s to blame for that? Maybe a whole bunch of people!

Ol’ Lindsey strikes out …

Good ol’ Lindsey Graham just doesn’t know when to sit down and shut up, does he? For those who may not be aware, Graham is running for re-election to the United States Senate this November. There was a debate scheduled for last Friday between him and his democratic opponent, Jaime Harrison. Lindsey was exposed to the coronavirus on October 1^st, when he attended a hearing with Senator Mike Lee of Utah, who has since tested positive. Jamie Harrison, a diabetic, requested that Graham be tested for the coronavirus prior to their debate, and Lindsey refused!

Now why would any sensible person refuse to be tested before such an event where other people could be exposed? Some speculate that he has tested positive already. At any rate, on Thursday evening, Mr. Harrison issued the following statement:

“If Sen. Graham will not take a coronavirus test, I cannot responsibly debate in person tomorrow night and allow politics to put my family, my campaign staff, Sen. Graham’s staff, and members of the media at unnecessary risk.”

Instead, each of the two men took part in an online forum that replaced the debate. During the forum, Lindsey was asked how to address civil unrest in his home state of South Carolina. His response …

“If you’re a young African American, an immigrant, you can go anywhere in this state, you just need to be conservative, not liberal.”

GASP!!!!!! That statement alone should cost him his re-election! Lindsey won by a whopping 17 points back in 2014, but this year he is in a dead heat with Jaime Harrison. My bet is that this unconscionably racist statement will doom his campaign and we will finally be able to bid adieu to Mr. Graham.

Transparency???

Sean Hannity is another person without a conscience. Well, he works for Fox ‘News’ and is a close confidant of Trump’s, so it goes without saying that he has no conscience. But yesterday I read this statement by Hannity that caused my jaw to drop …

“First, we do start with a simple fact. The level of transparency in the Trump administration is unmatched. This president communicates with you, we, the American people often, he does it without a filter, he answers a million questions across multiple platforms, he does it each and every day.”

Say WHAT???

Now, Merriam-Webster defines transparent as:

a: free from pretense or deceit : FRANK

b: easily detected or seen through : OBVIOUS

c: readily understood

d: characterized by visibility or accessibility of information especially concerning business practices

Not a single one of these can be said to be true of Donald Trump, any of his cabinet members, his press secretary or other spokespeople! Think about it a minute …

Free of pretense or deceit? How many proven lies has he told now? Last I checked it was something over 20,000 in just three-and-a-half years. He didn’t even tell the truth about when he first tested positive for the coronavirus! And as recently as yesterday, his “White House doctor” lied and said he was no longer a contagion risk, when scientists tell us otherwise.

And … he answers “a million questions” a day? First, that isn’t humanly possible, especially for a person who spends half his day watching television and playing on Twitter. But more to the point, during press briefings, he only chooses to answer the questions he likes … otherwise, he insults the reporter and moves on, or simply leaves the room. And even when he does answer a question, he answers it with a lie, so … what’s the point?

And the last one, (d) … accessibility of information? What about those tax returns and financial records? What about his continuing refusal to make public the results of his medical condition and when he last tested negative for the virus? What about ordering people not to testify before Congress? I could go on and on … I could make a whole post about Trump’s blatant lack of transparency, but why bother? You guys know the truth … Donald Trump has lied and lied to us since before he even took office, and there is not a damn thing transparent in his administration. Sean Hannity is every bit as much a liar and conman as Donald Trump is … just another clown in the GOP Circus.

Buses, planes & trains – stay off them!

Last month the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) drafted an order requiring all passengers and employees to wear masks on all forms of public and commercial transportation in the United States. It makes perfect sense if you think about it … in each of these venues, passengers are in very close proximity, sometimes nearly touching shoulder-to-shoulder, and given the airborne nature of the coronavirus, of course masks should be worn, as well as gloves if you ask me.However, Mike Pence, as the “head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force”, nixed the order from the start. He refused to even discuss the matter, with no explanation.

So, since he doesn’t wish to discuss the matter, we are left to draw our own conclusions that Pence, like his boss, does not believe in the wearing of masks or simply does not care if we live or die.

CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield, who oversaw the drafting of the order, said …

“I think masks are the most powerful weapon we have to confront Covid and we all need to embrace masks and set the example for each other.”

Representative Peter A. DeFazio, Democrat of Oregon and chairman of the House committee on transportation and infrastructure was highly critical of Pence’s refusal …

“It’s especially outrageous because the science is so clear: masks save lives. The millions of Americans who work in and use our transportation systems every day — from bus drivers, train conductors and flight attendants, to the frontline workers who rely on public transit — deserve to know their president is relying on experts’ best advice and doing everything possible to keep them safe.”

Y’know … this whole thing has gotten out of hand. People who insist on going about their business in public and refuse to wear a mask are a danger to us all, and they frankly don’t care who they put at risk – even their own families. I’m currently reading a book that takes place during World War II, and at the mention of blackout rules and rationing, I had the thought … I suppose half the people in the U.S. would refuse those, too, and put the entire nation at risk. There is such a thing as taking personal freedom too far, and insisting on riding a crowded bus sans mask is a step too far. Thanks, Pence, for showing us how little our lives are worth to you and your boss.

Saturday Surprise — Critter Love

Posted on October 10, 2020 by jilldennison under animals, Bits 'n Pieces, Humour, Saturday Surprise

Given the events of the past week, I thought there couldn’t possibly be a Saturday Surprise post in me this week, and was preparing a post about … well, you’ll find out this afternoon. But then, I came across a post on Bored Panda and … by about the 7^th picture, I found a funny thing happening to my face. The corners of my mouth were turning up and I was saying, “Awwwwww …” repeatedly! So, long story short, I decided that I could step away from the drama & trauma of the world for just a bit and share some “awwwww … “ moments with you guys.

It seems these days that some people cannot accept any who look different from themselves, say have a different skin tone or accent. But these critters prove that looks, fur colour, size, gender, and even species are irrelevant in the grand scheme.

According to Arizona Humane Society’s Pet Behavior and Pet Training Manager Jenny Dagnino, social relationships and friendships between animals of different species are common.

Take a look at some of these guys … I guarantee they’ll bring a smile to your face …

This pelican befriended the dog who kept hanging out and seemed lonely. The man who took this picture adopted the dog, but brings him back every day to visit his pelican friend.