January 23-27 --

Monday--

I wonder how long before the Repthuglicans move us back to the very early 20th century--if not the 19th. Perhaps we will go back to an age before Upton Sinclair (to paraphrase his comments on the reaction) hit the public in its stomach while aiming at its heart with The Jungle. I read somewhere a long while ago (and don't know if it is true or not) that Teddy Roosevelt couldn't finish his breakfast sausage after reading the book. We read labels here because we don't want salt and sugar laden pseudo-foods, or high fructose corn syrup, or unpronounceable preservatives designed to keep the product looking fresh forever (or till some poor schmuck buys the damned thing), or genetically modified ingredients. Evidently the corporatocracy's right to sell us crap Trump(s) our right to know what the hell they are selling us. Anyone else out there like drinking (relatively) clean water? Or breathing (relatively) clean air? For another take on the situation check out this Grist article. And we can't depend on the states to do the job the Federal government is abdicating as this article covering our Bully-in Chief's EPA nominee's testimony. He intends to review California's clean car regulations. Those boys love "state's rights"--until they don't. (And to be fair the Damnocrats are much the same.)

Tom Englehardt has a blistering review of the "Intelligence" Community's latest quadrennial report on future threats and trends. Frankly, we should demand our money back.

So one of the (s)news outlets is getting wise to our new administrations shenanigans. My question: what the hell took you so long? They have played you like a cheap piano (or a harp from hell to quote the Penguin--Batman reference for those who might not remember).

I am not sorry to see this. But it was dead in the water anyway. Vietnam and Malaysia refused to ratify it, and the Philippines and Japan were having second thoughts. The deal was too big, too complex and too driven by business interests at the expense of national populations and national sovereignty.

Tuesday--

It is time for something cute!! So cat-tastic!!

Wednesday--

Errands today so I don't know how much I will feel like commenting on. I baked bread yesterday and you can see the result above. But I ended up with two beautiful loaves of lavender walnut bread. I used a new recipe and it is a keeper. That is a tasty bread.

Oh, Ripley, where the hell are you??

I don't know where the Archdruidess gets these but here is another bull's eye? I hope someone somewhere knows some centaurs to do the job.

Ah, down the not so good memory lane with the Archdruidess.

This is the second literary reference connecting the incoming administration and dystopian fiction. The first referred to Melania Trump as Ofdonald. Those who have read The Handmaid's Tale will get the point.

John Feffer has a disturbing projection of where the Trump administration is going. Sadly it is an international expansion of what I have thought the domestic developments would be. Just after the election I said that Trump would fulfill some of the desires of his supporters who wanted to attack the gains women and minorities have made over the last 70 or so years, would follow a practice of Business Uber Alles, and would do nothing significant for those in the (once) working class and (no longer) middle classes. Trump's cabinet nominees reinforce my assessment.

Thursday--

I saw a couple of stories on this yesterday. Orwell's novel 1984 is on the best seller lists again reaching #1 on Amazon. Appropriate considering we are in the age of Trump's Alternative Facts.

Friday--

 A long and interesting piece from William Astore at Tomdispatch.

For such a (self proclaimed) smart guy, Trump can be damned dumb. Mom and I eviscerated his claim that he would force Mexico to pay for his wall by slapping a 20% import duty on its goods coming into the U.S.  Americablog does and even better job than we did.