So I’ll be hanging out with the family today and tomorrow. If I see anything interesting I’ll put it up for discussion. In the meantime enjoy Easter or Druid Human Sacrifice Day if you’re a “Henger.”
Category: OCF
23MAR2018 – OCF Update
Well, I’m back in the saddle at work again and catching up here on the site. I’m halfway through Robert Silverberg’s Lord Valentine’s Castle (hat tip to Tom) and should have the review soon. And based on the story so far, I think I’ll read the other two books at some point. I have some movie and tv reviews coming up very soon. I’ve got over a thousand photos from the Southwest to edit and rate so I should have a few photo posts coming up soon. The political situation is like some kind of crazy kaleidoscopic nightmare. It sounds like Ray Bradbury’s formula for his stories, “The trip—exactly one-half exhilaration, exactly one-half terror.” And now we know just how many women are willing to admit to having sex with Donald Trump. I guess he was right about them letting him grab them. But they do seem to have been paid for the experience. Trump truly believes in capitalism. Well at least he wasn’t attacking them like Slick Willie. Either way things seem to be going well. The Republicans are afraid of losing the House, blah, blah, blah. Well they are pretty lame so anything is possible. But they really should embrace populism and try to show some backbone. It is the smart move. I still have to read some of the political columns I missed but whether there is something important to share remains to be seen. From my point of view Trump needs to clean the stables and drain the swamp. Then he can move onto policy. And he needs to punish the sanctuary cities and send the illegals home. And finally, Justice Kennedy, go away, now!
The Raven is a Wicked Bird
“Well the raven is a wicked bird
His wings are black as sin
And he floats outside my prison window
Mocking those within
And he sings to me real low
It’s hell to where you go
For you did murder Kate McCannon”
(Kate McCannon, Colter Wall, 2017)
When we got to the Visitor’s Center at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon this fellow was giving me the evil eye from a low hanging perch on a nearby tree. He was croaking some kind of a challenge at me. He probably wanted me to acknowledge his suzerainty over the whole South Rim of the Grand Canyon. These ravens are enormous and don’t caw like crows. They croak and bellow. And anything you leave loose in your campsite is fair game. They’ll steal anything smaller than a duffel bag that’s interesting looking, especially anything shiny or edible. And just about anything is one or the other from their point of view. One sat in a tree above our campsite and serenaded us with abuse at sunset and again at sunrise. All in all, a very impressive creature. Almost thirty years ago I read a book called “Ravens in Winter” by a guy named Bernd Heinrich. He was studying ravens in Maine. He described how intelligent and social the birds were. I’ve always wanted to see them up close. Now I’m jealous of those living in the west where they are very common.
Huzzah! I’m Almost Back Home.
So tomorrow is the flight home and tonight I have wifi access. It was a remarkable trek (for someone as feeble and lazy as myself) and went from Las Vegas to Zion National Park, to Vermilion Cliff National Monument including a side trip into the White Pocket area and then over to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and finally back to Las Vegas where I took a few shots of Lake Mead and environs. I almost exclusively used a Voigtlander 10mm f\5.6 lens with the rest being a Sony 55mm f\1.8 for the tighter shots. Heaven only knows what that’s going to produce but I’m excited to see. Sorry for this short note but I need to catch up first with what is going on in the big bad world.
photog
Interregnum
As threatened, I will be away until next Thursday (22MAR) and will have limited (if any) opportunity to post. But don’t despair. I will be gathering excellent photographic material and revitalizing my flagging wit. I hope that in my absence there will be no Trump related nuclear exchanges or Mueller presidential indictments or any other earthshaking events. Feel free to leave comments on this post to provide me with any topics or things that you think warrant attention. Or just to say hello.
I shall return!
photog
15MAR2018 – Quote of the Day
We are on the precipice of my semi-absence from OCF. I will post when possible. But do not despair I’ll be back in a week.
“Black holes are where God divided by zero.”- Steven Wright
11MAR2018 – Current State of Affairs
Here we are, believe it or not, fast approaching the first quarter mile turn on the metaphorical 2018 One Mile Trump Derby Race and Fashion Show. Currently, the favorite, God-Emperor (1) is ahead of SJW’s Last Hope (13) and JEB’s Your Daddy (17) by at least 8 lengths and his jockey has now reversed his seat and is making funny faces at the rest of the field as they rapidly shrink into the middle-distance. Abandoning the horse racing metaphor (‘cause I can’t think of anything more), we have CNN and MSNBC praising President Trump’s initiative with North Korea, the President of the Steelworkers’ Union telling Chuck Todd that Trump will get electoral support from the rank and file over his trade stance and NeverTrumper Senator Dean Heller is slobbering over President Trump in the forlorn hope that this will help him win his primary. Oh baby, the times they are a changin.
And the only real threat on the horizon, Mueller and his Russian witch-hunt, seems to be turning into a case of the besieger becoming the besieged. I get the impression that the Trump Administration is building a case against Mueller to be used to put some teeth into a tit for tat agreement to end his investigation.
And let’s look at the political environment. The Media is hanging around porn shoots trying to scare up interest in impeachment. Congressional Democrats keep insisting that 2018 is their year to win back the House and Senate. Congressional Republicans are trying to memorize the phrase tax cuts and jobs. The NeverTrumpers are becoming increasingly lonely and confused. The Dissident and Alt-Right are becoming so confident that they are almost giddy. Some of them are toning down parts of their message to broaden their appeal. Others are actually hardening their responses to leftists in the Social Media and the broader culture. In general, there is a sense that the tide is turning against the left. Whether this change is momentary or something that is gaining momentum is still unclear. But there is definitely a change going on. Good.
The Left of course is counter-attacking furiously wherever it can. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have basically expelled the Right from their sites. California has declared war on ICE and the Federal Government. And the activists federal judges are doing everything up to and including criminal malfeasance to block the Trump Administration wherever they can. But I think they know they are getting their butts kicked. Basically, these are delaying actions, scorching the earth behind their retreat. Good.
So, what about me? How do I feel about all this? I am generally optimistic. I think President Trump has shown that he can handle random catastrophes like the school shooting and deflect a lot of the media noise away from himself and his agenda. And with the extremely strong economic news and the positive foreign policy news he’s positioned to help the hapless Republicans weather the 2018 midterms.
As a sanity check I understand that bad things are going to happen intermittently throughout the Trump Administration. And some of them may be so dire that they destroy the progress currently being made. But that’s the nature of life. What Trump has done is demonstrate that we need a leader as President not a bureaucrat. We must demand that whoever is the next President gets results. He must work for us and not the global cartel. I just hope Mike Pence is taking good notes and Donald Trump will give us his honest opinion of who his successor should be.
So, there we are. Things are good and look to get even better. Maybe Justice Kennedy will do the right thing. He can vote constitutionally for freedom of religion on the Wedding Baker case and then retire to his beach house on Fire Island and allow a deciding vote Right Wing Justice to ascend to the bench. We can hope to see the Justice Department prosecuting California for obstructing the immigration laws. And we can hope to see Mueller ride off into the sunset with his tail between his legs. Stay tuned. Better days seem to be upon us.
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Spring. Rejuvenation. Rebirth. Everything’s Blooming. All That Crap.
I quote this deathless sentiment that George Constanza spoke when thinking of a way to postpone his upcoming nuptials. As evidenced in my recent post of the mallard photo, life is returning to Southern New England. This exhibits itself in a random walk up and down the thermometer and barometer. We’ll have 70 degrees F followed by a foot of snow and back again in dizzying alternation. It’s very much as if a spiteful nature deity is heaping abuse on the home of the staunchest believers in global warming. Of course, we innocent bystanders also suffer but shoveling wet heavy snow is good for the soul. Anyway, without a doubt, spring is in the air. Plants and animals are stirring and even I, your ancient but faithful chronicler of all things interesting to the deplorable, is feeling 17% spryer.
So, in the interest of full disclosure I’ll be taking a little trip between the Sixteenth and Twenty First of March. During this interval, I will be both frequently outside of wi-fi range and too occupied with death-defying heroics to post. I will do my best to provide some content but I fear it will be sub-par in both quantity and quality. I apologize in advance and beg your patience. I am hopeful that the trip will provide a goodly stock of interesting photos and narrative. Until then I will endeavor to provide the usual mixture of irascible political opinion, sophomoric parody, self-important book, music and film reviews and general harping on the foibles of human behavior.
And right on queue a foot of snow was dumped on us last night. Apparently snow holds no terrors for the mallards but the weather gods are certainly making it difficult for me to get to work. Guess I’ll just work from home today.
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