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Post by gailkate on Mar 26, 2019 19:53:56 GMT -5
Yessssss! I'd make this smaller if I could.
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2020
Mar 26, 2019 20:54:08 GMT -5
Post by BoatBabe on Mar 26, 2019 20:54:08 GMT -5
The truth may come out too late for the country to recover. Hmmmmm, I really believe that this country is going to recover from Agent Orange. The release of vitriol is shocking, indeed, not only here but around the world. I still believe we, and they, are going to recover. Call me Pollyanna, if you will. I really have to believe that common sense, decency, civility, and truth will prevail.
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Post by doctork on Mar 26, 2019 22:44:02 GMT -5
Most of the time I too think we will eventually recover. Still, sometimes things seem very dark.
However, I've been busy and ignored the news for the past 6 days and things have seemed OK.
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Post by Jane on Mar 27, 2019 9:26:30 GMT -5
I'm with you. Dear Betsy pulling money from Special Olympics and services for children with autism. Jon Voight named to the Kennedy Center's honors committee. Industrial waste freely pouring into waterways. The evil continues unabated. I don't understand why so many in the Republican Party seem to take such delight in punishing the vulnerable.
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Post by doctork on Mar 27, 2019 14:29:12 GMT -5
There are some in-the-know who are evil but most Republican (and Democratic) politicians care mainly about getting re-elected so they are reluctant to stand up against TPTB, just "go with the flow." Especially R Senators up for re-election in 2020.
Many voters buy the rationalizations offered, some because they truly believe, others because they are ignorant, and because some excessively liberal demands are unrealistic, e.g., at present we cannot afford free college and universal free health care for everyone, and certainly not on a short time-table such as an election cycle.
Jon Voigt is a fine actor, a very nice person when I actually met him, and articulate and surprisingly well-informed about the rights of indigenous peoples in South America (at least back in 1994). IMHO he's now gone off the deep end in his political views, and I doubt his fine acting skills alone put him on the Kennedy Center committee, but I must give him credit where I think it's due.
I have no rational explanation about why funding for Special Olympics was cut, but being a graduate of one of the finest high schools in the US, which is also a charter school, I cannot disagree that there are some positive aspects of charter schools.
But overall, why so many accede to having our country run by nincompoops, well I just don't understand, even when I try hard to understand their viewpoints. I just refuse to believe that all 63 million (or however many there are) of our fellow citizens are evil; that just feels wrong to me, just as they are when they believe we are all monolithic libtards. Many are temporarily misguided, I hope.
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Post by gailkate on Mar 27, 2019 15:14:08 GMT -5
Even Angelina Jolie can't tolerate Jon Voight. Some people can appear to have compassionate feelings when they are fudamentally paternalistic and superior.
I want to take the Pollyanna approach. Just can't get there. The complete transformation of Lindsey Graham is emblematic of the GOP implosion. They will have to repent and do penance.
But what good news that the Dems have been waiting for Trump's vindictive attack on the ACA with their own proposal improving it! Insurance came up on a FB conversation this am when a friend reported that she'd been given the option of a 2D or 3D mammogram. The 3D is 40% more effective in detecting tumors but it costs $180 because insurance won't cover it. Something so cheap isn't available to all? Then another woman piped up and said her insurance doesn't cover mammograms at all. I didn't realize junk insurance had been allowed to creep back like that. I was covered 31 years ago when they found my cancer. I'd have been dead long since without a mammogram. Now I guess that's optional coverage.
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Post by BoatBabe on Mar 28, 2019 8:57:45 GMT -5
Yessssss! I'd make this smaller if I could. By the way, gk, I have never seen a dappled robin, and I love this pic! Thanks for posting it. If I had seen it, I would have been tempted to think it was a one-off.
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2020
Mar 29, 2019 23:23:39 GMT -5
Post by doctork on Mar 29, 2019 23:23:39 GMT -5
I saw on the PBS News Hour that the funding for Special Olympics has been reinstated, so Betsy DeVos was stymied in her evil effort. Reportedly, Trump said "I like Special Olympics."
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Post by Jane on Mar 30, 2019 8:48:11 GMT -5
I have a suspicion that special olympics was never going to be cut, but this makes him look like a hero. Same with funding for the great lakes ("they are deep. Very deep.") that he promised not to cut when he (the horror!) was in Grand Rapids on Thursday. Now we'll see if those were lies TOO.
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Post by doctork on Mar 30, 2019 20:57:43 GMT -5
You can be sure that if he tries but fails to do whatever he has planned for the Great Lakes, he will say "Who knew those lakes were so deep!"
Like "Who knew that health care could be so complicated?" Everyone except you, O Donald who-knows-everything-much-more-than-any-expert.
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Post by doctork on May 19, 2020 1:48:19 GMT -5
Today is the 40th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens. I remember it well, as I was a resident in family medicine and happened to be on vacation, driving from Denver to visit a friend in San Francisco in my new Mazda RX7. (Manual transmission - the driving was easy and fun but parking in San Francisco, not so much.)
Heading west on I-80 that morning the skies were kind of dark, but it was strange because it didn't look like storm clouds. It was just...dark. I turned on the radio and learned what was happening, and when I got to SFO, saw the news stories on TV.
We'd lived in Hawaii so I was familiar with volcanoes, but at that point I'd never set foot in Washington the State. Who knew they have volcanoes here? Now we all know.
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Post by doctork on May 20, 2020 18:49:31 GMT -5
Have you seen this story about the pregnant RN in NYC caring for Covid-19 patients when she herself contracted the disease and was admitted? Seriously ill, she was in the ICU when she suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest, was coded and successfully resuscitated after a period of anoxia. Her baby girl Esther was delivered by C/S at 30 weeks (10 weeks early) and is doing well in the NICU. Sylvia, her mother, is requiring complex and lengthy specialized rehab care, which is not covered by her health insurance; it's limited to a very typical "maximum 30 days acute rehab." Sylvia's friend set up a GoFundMe account, Sylvia's sister Shirley was interviewed on AC360 by Anderson Cooper on Mother's Day, and donations have flowed in to help Sylvia. She is now in a top-notch rehab facility and making slow but steady progress, thanks to the many donations made to her fund. She will need months to years of rehab, both in-patient and out-patient, and then there are all the home modifications, need for a specialized vehicle, help with care for Esther and her big brother Jeremiah, assistance in the home when she is able to return... The fund is now at over $850,000 raised, with a goal of $1.2 million. Although there are a handful of large donations ($500 - $1,000) most of the 16,200+ donations are between $5 and $50. "Take care of those who take care of us." www.gofundme.com/f/help-a-front-line-nurse-and-baby-get-proper-care?viewupdates=1&rcid=r01-159001086195-293b870735d5486d&utm_medium=email&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_email%2B1137-update-supporters-v5b
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Post by joew on Oct 6, 2020 20:46:35 GMT -5
Here's an article I think is worth sharing, especially with the younger generation. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/a-citizens-guide-to-defending-the-election/616574/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20201006&silverid-ref=NjYwNzA5NTM1ODMzS0I recommend checking out the links to the "entirely plausible scenario, one in which Trump challenges the validity of mail-in ballots, more numerous this year, and persuades state legislatures to overrule them, imposing an undemocratic result. He reported that Republican Party officials are preparing for this outcome." (second paragraph) and the "fact sheet with instructions on who to call and what to do" if you see or experience voter intimidation. (under Help Out on Voting Day — In Person) The point is, if someone wants to "get rid of the ballots," or otherwise suppress the vote, it will be late in the day to stop him once he starts unless there are already plans in place. Where I live, I don't think there will be any monkey business, but it could be very different in battleground states. So this could be useful for younger adults of your acquaintance.
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2020
Oct 7, 2020 8:42:40 GMT -5
Post by BoatBabe on Oct 7, 2020 8:42:40 GMT -5
Good article, Joe. Thanks for posting that.
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Post by doctork on Nov 7, 2020 14:32:37 GMT -5
Big sigh of relief this morning. I picked up my Kindle as soon as I woke up to check out the WaPo election results page. Right in front of my eyes the state of Pennsylvania changed from blue stripes to solid blue with a check mark. Above that, the electoral vote total changed from 253 to 273 for Biden. Was I hallucinating? Nope it was for real.
My Black granddaughters may safely wear hoodies, and I hope they are less likely to get shot in their own by police with no-knock warrants.
My family and I will not be threatened by armed white supremacists shouting "Jews will not replace us!"
There will still be a lot of prejudice against LGBT, but those bigots will wield less power.
Just like Van Johnson on CNN, I started to cry. When people like Trump and his supporters repeatedly threaten the lives of you family there is a constant tension such that you don't even realize it's there - until it lessens.
It's a very good day in the neighborhood.
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Post by Jane on Nov 9, 2020 19:22:19 GMT -5
Indeed. Good news on the corona front with Uncle Joe named a stellar group of scientists to pull us through. AND a vaccine that looks promising!
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2020
Nov 9, 2020 19:54:13 GMT -5
Post by BoatBabe on Nov 9, 2020 19:54:13 GMT -5
We had a Happy Dance Party on LiLi's boat, and a pizza party which had already been planned for after their most recent 14-day quarantine, from which they all emerged unscathed. Count your blessings, but still do the hard work to make sure you are covering your bases. Uncle Joe reminded me of that good lesson.
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