Saturday, April 29, 2017

We bought new pillows yesterday at Costco. They're the heavily and falsely advertised* pillows that claim to give you the best night's sleep you've ever had. Even though it was my idea to buy them, I told Karen that I expected to hate them. They COMPLETELY exceeded my expectations. I not only hate the lumpy unsupportive pillows, I hate myself for buying them in the first place. I just finished (because I wasn't sleeping, what with lumps of pillow jabbing my neck) A Gentleman in Moscow, it was funny as horrible things happened mostly somewhere else and sad things happened everywhere. So, even though written by an American, to me, (full disclosure: I'm also an American) it seemed quintessentially* Russian. Now I'm reading When Breath Becomes Air. So far, it's not funny at all. But, it does score high on the sadness scale. Here's an example, it was published posthumously.
 * https://www.truthinadvertising.org/…/MyPillowWarningLetter.… **5 times regular essential #bl

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

This video from three years ago inspired so many people to comment that it crashed the FCC's website and caused it to reverse course and save Net Neutrality. Maybe because he lost the popular vote, Trump doesn't feel like he needs to respect the expressed will of the people. For whatever reason, like a monster starring in Plan 9 From Outer Space, the plan to kill Net Neutrality has shambled forth again from the Trump "administration." Watch the video then contact the FCC and your representatives, please. I will too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpbOEoRrHyU

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Okay, so obviously I reacted badly to the election and now I can't talk to Trump supporters since I unfriended them, but if you still have friends here that supported him, maybe you can share this with them. http://ift.tt/2oxsTsE

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Apparently, the plan may not be implemented , because it would be illegal, but if it is, here’s what you need to know.

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Mr. Laffer’s plan has destroyed the Kansas economy, and didn’t work for Reagan or Bush but maybe it will work better this time. “It eluded us then, but that's no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning—“ but more likely we’re screwed. https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/04/25/us/politics/white-house-economic-policy-arthur-laffer.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0&referer=http://m.facebook.com
Once again, there's possibly some valid economic argument explaining this, but Occam's Razor suggests that GOP senators are monsters. And the fact that I unfriended so many people in a spasm of rage back on November 9th means that only people that probably already know about the GOP and Occam are reading this post. So, to sum up, GRRR. Also, blogger.com is making it virtually impossible to add links. C'mon Google, support this platform or drop it like you did all the other ones I was using like Google Reader and Igoogle. So, I'll just paste it here and you can see for yourself if it works: http://www.salon.com/2017/04/26/congress-forced-its-members-to-use-obamacare-republicans-arent-doing-the-same-for-trumpcare/

Monday, April 24, 2017

I just posted on Senator Murkowski's Facebook page and sent a message to Senator Sullivan. Maybe you should too, or call or fax, or send a message carved on a grain of rice, something to let them know your opinion. The leader of the GOP is threatening to hold access to health care hostage for the most vulnerable Americans in order to fund an absurd wall. It's positions like this that caused me to leave the Republican Party. Please, Senator, let us know that you will not be a part of funding the wall at the expense of Americans. Especially since candidate Trump promised us that Mexico would pay for the ill-advised wall. Oh, as long as I'm pretending I have your attention, please make part of any tax reform that you vote for compel Trump to release his tax returns so that we can see how he'll be affected by the plan he's championing.

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Patricia, you asked the other day how we were doing. Answering that question requires a degree of introspection that I'm uncomfortable sharing, but I can tell you a little of WHAT we're doing. We are training in a desultory manner while we await the results next week of the lottery to participate in RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa). If we are picked, we will have to accelerate our training regimen to compensate for the lifetime of not training at all. Besides not currently being in shape to even ride across Iowa on an airliner, we are concerned with the fact that the ride takes place outside in Iowa. In Anchorage, the last time it was as hot as the AVERAGE July temperature in Iowa, Alaska was still part of Pangaea floating around the equator. That's just the average Iowa weather, but like a sociopath that can seem normal for short stretches, the weather in Iowa is always capable of killing you without warning or remorse. But it's stopping in Karen's and your childhood home, so how could we pretend to be cyclists and not participate? So, if we're picked, will you come down to the farm to see us? Is corn ripe by the end of July? Because last time we were there, Chris showed us a life-hack to prepare fresh-picked corn that made us feel like we'd been eating sand up to that point. Anyway, we'll find out next week, so updates as available.

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I listened to President Obama for a few minutes this morning. It's hard to believe that we replaced a man with a petulant child.

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Saturday, April 22, 2017

Ha, ha, I was posting about politics today when this video came on. Ouch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDydKwmrHFo
According to KTUU, there were about 1500 of us on the parkstrip this morning to ask our government not to substitute ideology for science. I wore my two signs, but it wasn't until I stood next to Clyde Vicary that synergy occurred and people came up to take our picture to show that patriotism and the flag don't only (or even) belong to the Tea Party. Possibly there were only 1494 people there to ask that of our government since there were about 6 there to aver that their faith in their understanding of the Bible was more plausible than results obtained by observation and experiment.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

The short version is that the REINS Act is truly awful. The article explains why. I wrote my Senators to ask them to vote against it (it’s already passed the House). Senator Sullivan wrote back right away to say, “I am proud to be an original cosponsor of the REINS Act…” What did you say, Nita, about your Senator only writing to brag about doing things that you've begged him not to? It might be better now in Oregon. http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/suspending-the-rules-how-congress-plans-to-undermine-public-safety

Saturday, April 15, 2017

We got to the sign-waving about 20 minutes late. But it was still going strong, as strong as 15 people without a leader can go, anyway. Leah took charge of the little rag-tag group and moved us from the middle of Town Square where we were invisible, to 6th Avenue where we were ignored. Still, we had a good time and we felt better about ourselves; we were MAKING A DIFFERENCE. A man said that someone should have alerted the press. He also said that my signs from Kinko's looked too professional and might give people the wrong idea that we were professional agitators (as if!). He meant it as a criticism, but I took it as a compliment. Since my handwriting was the despair of Mrs. Guinn, my first-grade teacher, and really achieved peak legibility in maybe the fifth grade, I told him that if I hand wrote my signs they wouldn't give anybody any idea at all except maybe that I had had a seizure while making it.
When we got home, I put a sign in the yard to commemorate the difference we had made.

I "shared" the post about today's tax march. Facebook offered the option of sending it as a message, so I sent it as a blast to a lot of people in Anchorage that I thought would be interested. Rather than hurt my feelings by telling me that I wasn't authorized to send the attachment from the original post, Facebook sent it, then wouldn't let the recipients open it. So, instead of being embarrassed by myself about not being authorized I can be embarrassed with 20 other people at once. This is how Facebook builds community.

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Tuesday, April 11, 2017

For Some Reason IFTTT, Doesn't Include Pictures

My forever home arrived in the mail the other day.

Is this true? We don't have a march planned in Anchorage to demand Trump to release his tax returns? Who's in charge of this kind of thing?

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Is this true? We don't have a march planned in Anchorage to demand Trump to release his tax returns? Who's in charge of this kind of thing?

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Is this true? We don't have a march planned in Anchorage to demand Trump to release his tax returns? Who's in charge of this kind of thing?

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Is this true? We don't have a march planned in Anchorage to demand Trump to release his tax returns? Who's in charge of this kind of thing?

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Is this true? We don't have a march planned in Anchorage to demand Trump to release his tax returns? Who's in charge of this kind of thing?

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Is this true? We don't have a march planned in Anchorage to demand Trump to release his tax returns? Who's in charge of this kind of thing?

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I just heard that Sean Spicer said Assad is worse than Hitler, because as bad as Hitler was, he never used poison gas on his own people.
Is he saying that the Jews weren't Germans, or that they weren't people? Either way, he's wrong and he should be ashamed, if anyone in the Trump administration could even feel shame.

Thursday, April 06, 2017

Well, we've attacked an ally of Iran and Russia in a country that has soldiers from both countries in it. We're now fighting on the same side as the strongest faction against Assad which is ISIS. How could this not end well?

Thinking about the last couple of months, it seems like America has been pretty good to trump so why does he hate us so much?

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Gayle Young jetted in and out of Anchorage for a day and we were lucky enough to spend it with her. Insightful as always, she gave me a title for my autobiography, "Complaining About Nothing."

Tuesday, April 04, 2017

It must be letter-writing day in Congress. I got this from Don Young. It's embarrassing how often I've agreed with him lately. I did not support this legislation because I believe that we will still not achieve total border security by erecting a fence or wall. The estimated cost of the fence is $12-$15 billion with some reports putting it closer to $20 billion. This is money that could be better spent on technology such as systematic surveillance and physical infrastructure enhancements to prevent unlawful entry of illegal aliens for a fraction of what the fence will cost. Building a fence of this magnitude takes away funds that can also be used to improve schools, seniors and veterans' healthcare, and aid to the less fortunate to name a few.

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I just sent another ineffectual email to Senator Murkowski: If a president in the last year of his term can't have a vote on his nominee, then I don't think a president under investigation for high crimes and misdemeanors should be allowed a nominee either. Please do not vote to confirm corporatist Gorsuch and please vote against the nuclear option. Thank you, David

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I suppose I have to give credit to Sen. Sullivan for this response to my email, "In Alaska, public radio is essential, especially in rural areas. Many times, it is the only way to inform residents of impending natural disasters, and their only source of information. I will work with President Trump’s administration to stress the importance of public broadcasting in Alaska and nationwide." I'd be happier with him if He hadn't finally responded with an email yesterday explaining why Elizabeth Warren had to be silenced back I February. Way to stir things up, Senator.

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Just another IFTTT test.

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