Monday--

Goodness--November is half over already!!

Tom Engelhardt asks a good question: Has the American "experiment" run its course?" And I think we have gone into the gates of hell and just haven't yet noticed the change in the scenery.

A good piece at the Times of Israel. I have heard and read repeated claims that # (my shorthand for "he whom I will not name") "tells it like it is." To that I have asked "what is he saying to whom and when? An what does he say when he isn't talking to that person or group but to another with a different agenda? And what is the "is" you think he is telling?" I never did get any good, clear answers. Unfortunately, # has uncorked the genie of bigotry which will not be bottled up again very soon. Of, course the cork was always a bit loose on that bottle.

My sentiments exactly. It really pisses me off to hear Repthuglicans who obstructed everything Obama tried to do from the beginning now demanding we give # a "chance" to succeed. Hypocrites!!

Damn!! I go on Facebook mainly to play a couple of games. Today one of those games totally eliminated my presence and started me back at level 1. LEVEL 1!!! I had been at 86. I am almost at the point to cancelling my account.

Tuesday--

I have spent much of the last couple of days cleaning out more of the gardens. The cold temps over the last few nights (above freezing but still below 40F) left the remaining plants looking bedraggled. I have some more to take out on the east side today and then I want to lay down newspaper on top to make sure the soil stays in the pots during heavy rains. As I progress with the clean up I think about what I want to do next year and what I will put where. The catalogs are trickling in. We stepped outside late last night to check out that "super moon." It was pretty!

Found this at Americablog and it certainly expresses some of my sentiments since November 8.

Wednesday--

I have pretty much tuned out most of the post-election analyses and speculations about what # will do. We won't know that until whatever happens happens. I am also ignoring Facebook most of the time. I still play the jigsaw and check up on friends (real friends I have known for thirty years) but otherwise I am stay off it. I got a bit of crocheting one on a long languishing project--not the troublesome doily but I will get back to that next. I have most of the materials for the winter wreath but need to get a grapevine form because I HATE the wire frame of the old wreath. Sometimes I need to replace just a few of the flowers or foliage but other times I need to replace almost all of it. This is one of the latter times. I got the last of the tender plants pulled, swept the patio and drained the hose which has been stashed in the shed for the winter. I do get a lot more done since all that time I used to spend on Facebook has been liberated for other things.

A nice giggle from the Archdruidess. Just reflecting our reality.

Although I have tuned out of most post-election discussions, there are good writers I still follow those like Nike Turse at Tomdispatch (and of course Englehardt who wrote the intro).

Thursday--

An interesting piece from the Washington Post on a study of another climate change casualty: kelp forests. What is interesting you ask? Well, first, the warming didn't have to be particularly large to drive the change. And, second, the destruction of the kelp wasn't even the direct result of temperature changes in the area but on the migration of herbivorous tropical fish into an area where they normally weren't found.

Well, the people at Dragon City fixed the problem and I am back playing at my level 87 stage. But I am still going to cut back on the gaming--just not go on other games as much.

Friday--

Goodness--another week gone.

Echidne has posted about the recent stories about fake news stories that were especially evident on Facebook during the latter days of the election. I have a number of thoughts on and related to the subject. I have been very cautious about trusting what I find on the web for a long time now. Certain cites I subject to extreme scrutiny before I take anything written there as at all possible. All of them have a particular axe to grind and cut the story to fit their agenda. Even what used to be trusted sites cannot be taken at face value any more because they aren't vetting their sources much--if at all. Several stories from Russia Today which were later proven false found their way onto both news sites and social media. Once upon a time historians considered anything written in the New York Times (and a few other "newspapers of record") to be thoroughly trustworthy and could be cited without further fact checking. I wonder if they have changed that. In a highly polarized political climate where each side believes no good about people or views on the other side and no bad about their own false stories supporting the one and vilifying the other spread rapidly and widely with no regard for the truth.

John Michael Greer has written thoughtfully about the attitudes of working class white and black voters in his small town. The post I have linked is one of several this season. The funny thing is that I voted for many of the same reasons but for Clinton. I didn't see a thin-skinned egoist who has a habit of seeking some kind of vengeance on anyone who disagrees with him or he feels insulted by would be an improvement over Clinton in the foreign policy arena. And the people he is considering for various State Department posts bolsters that view. I doubted that # would be better for the economy (at least at my level of the economy) than Clinton and feared he might be much worse. That view is also being bolstered by recent developments on Medicare and Social Security. And I saw a world of difference between a self-confessed pussy grabber and a woman who is married to an adulterer. In four years when we are in the middle of a new presidential election we will all be thinking of Sarah Palin's 2012 question to voters "how's that hopey, changey thing doing for ya?" I doubt seriously that the voters who went for # will get the change they are hoping for.

As for the promise on jobs, I think this might be what we will get instead.