FALL and FALLS AND THE FALLING

under autumn skies

   A first trip to a pumpkin patch

    ...so many choices...

    ...and look where it ends up

the trump dump stumps even chumps

   

   NO COUTH

   The most important thing about the president's conversation with a widow is that she felt "hurt" and worse after the call.

    That is no surprise given the man's lack of couth and compassion, but it is not acceptable in a chief executive and commander in chief.

    All US citizens, especially those who voted for the jerk owe 

the family an apology.

   NO PLAN

   The inept senate and congressional republicans got a kick in the teeth from their president. His tax plan shuts down their  silly and likely to fail plan. Another case of the dumber leading the dumb.

   NO LOYALTY

   The junk yard rat man, formerly the reich minister, aka steve bannon certainly knows how to wins friends eh? Did you see where he wants to purge the republican party and has targeted most members of his nominal party in the senate? Sorry folks, this kind of arrogance and venom looks and smells like reconstituted nazi politics from the early 30's in Germany. Bannon is a dangerous kook. 

#metoo

    It has been an amazing and cathartic process to watch the bodies continue to fall. More sexual predators are being brought low by the current wave of revelation and justice.

      We should remember donald trump has also been accused of sexual assault. What are the odds of seeing the work of justice in this case?

     

all treat, no tricks

time flies so an annual splurge is a joy

harvest season is a time of gratitude 

    Cheers!  See you down the trail.

CHANGES and GUESSES

tomorrow is here

    So, how would you like this? A Stockholm work space, Epicenter, is offering to implant workers with free RFID microchips. 

     The Hustle reports the chips are the size of a grain of rice to be implanted between the thumb and index finger. Why? To allow access to doors and photocopiers with the wave of a hand. Epicenter figures keys and wallets could quickly become a thing of the past as a wave of the hand could pay for cafeteria items, open doors and etc. 150 out of their 2000 workers have said yes.

    Downsides? The Hustle says in theory the chips "can collect data on your health, your whereabouts, how often you are working, when you take toilet breaks and things like that." 

finally!

     Something to cheer about, progress being made.

      US Soccer has agreed to give the US Women's National team better pay and benefits. The US Women's team filed suit last year because of the huge disparity between them and the US Men's team. 
       Adding power to their request is the undeniable truth, the Women's team are the defending international champions. What they wanted was something closer to parity in pay, benefits and travel arrangements. It seems only fair, but then you know how that goes on the rights front. 

      There's still a distance to go but base pay is being increased by 30% and the bonus clauses are improved though there's still a distance to go before there is pay equity with the men. What if US Soccer simply reversed the pay scale until the men do what the women have achieved, World Champion Status?

  for whatever reason

     Steve Bannon's dismissal from the National Security Principal's group is progress, regardless of reason.

       Experienced observers say this is a sign of his diminishing influence and if so that too bodes well. Trump's paucity of experience and knowledge and Bannon's simplistic right wing, bar room ideology were a dangerous combination.
       It's become obvious to all but "true believers" the President is in way over his orange head and that he had been manipulated by the reich minister.  
       We can only imagine what three star Army general H.R. McMaster thought and said when he faced Bannon as a national security principal. He's out like the trash.

commander?

        The Syrian gassing of civilians is another act of evil in what has been a hellish barbarism. The world community must hold Assad accountable. However.....

        Did you find it unnerving to see our ill-equipped and unqualified minority President speaking about his order to bomb Syrian sites? My concern has nothing to do with the separate discussion about policy, proper military response or operations. Seeing that man in the role is just wrong. It doesn't look or feel right. How can we have confidence in such a lout and fool? I wouldn't be surprised if 2 years ago the con man couldn't even find Syria on a map.  

        In the meantime military posters and veterans are merciless in their treatment of Jared Kushner's trip to Iraq. It's not his fault his father in law asked him to go but the designer sun glasses with vest over a sport coat look made him a perfect target. As a retired navy man wrote, "When you elect a clown, expect a circus!"

so what was it?

      Thanks to those of you who answered the quiz either here or in an e-mail. Some of you are very good!
      Here's another image, that once you have seen the answer, will become more clear.

     The frame below is the object. The image is of yours truly taking a photo. It is a mirror fountain, water running over the surface of the glass.

     Bruce The Catalyst was the first to answer and he was right, but others were close.  Now that you see the riddle revealed you will probably more "clearly" see this posters shape holding a camera.

     See you down the trail.

        

WHAT IS COMING?

     It's a seasons of life thing. I've been toying with a letter to my 13 month grand daughter, to be read 25 years from now.
     Maybe I'm wrong but as I look around to develop a scope of the epistle, I keep bumping up against what seems to be a rock hard brand of short sightedness. It is dangerously so, it appears to me. There is a common denominator as well, money.
      As a nation, actually as nations of the world, we make choices. 

• Business profits or clean air and water. (Lower costs with fewer regulations vs a future of poison)
• Funding for education or prisons. (Only so many tax dollars available-where do they go? What has the greatest value?)
• Profit or public safety? (Think airbags or ignition problems and the calculus of cost of recall vs cost of litigation and pay out if a problem occurs.) Too many corporations choose protecting the "bottom line" over doing the right thing and undertaking recalls and product replacement. The culture seems to approve.
• Repairing infrastructure or kicking the problem down the road?
• The six WalmWart heirs control as much money as the bottom 42% of the American public, somewhere around $89 billion. Some 45-50 million Americans live poverty. Why is the divide so high? Why is the middle class disappearing? How has this new "Gilded Age" happened?

      And on and on it goes as I look for signals in how we live and decide now and how those choices will affect the world our grand children will inhabit. A lot more rumination is ahead. Complexities...

      shadow lace

flowers for Ruth

    Near tragedy struck our coastal mountain village last weekend.

      An allegedly intoxicated driver struck a parked car with such force it shoved it across a parking lot into a crowded coffee shop and village gathering place. Walls tumbled down, furniture was tossed and broken and 5 people were injured. One of them was our friend Ruth Armstrong.  

      Ruth was one of the first people to greet us when we moved to Cambria more than 10 years ago. She made sure we met new people and made friends. She is an artist and one of the village's most indelible people. Her leg and ankle were broken in several places. Ruth walks from one end of East Village to the other end of West Village, perpetually it seems. We are all hoping for a quick rehab because main street seems unadorned without seeing Ruth in her unique gait observing and monitoring Cambria village life.

    

self inflicted wounds

   The Trump gang just can't get it right. They hire a good speech writer who crafts a good address which the bossman reads as though he believes what he is saying, but then....

• We learn the Attorney general either lied or withheld information about his own Russian ties and a new storm begins...
• Kellyanne's bunkhouse posture seemingly ignoring the history and prestige of educators in the oval office sets off another storm...
• It is revealed the highest sources at the White House lied to a group of network news anchors doing a deliberate sleight of hand deception so as to trick positive press coverage. Reich minister Bannon may have won the day but further eroded an already tenuous assignment of truth or trust to this White House. 

       Amateur hour continues.

        See you down the trail.

EXTRAORDINARY

    Perplexing matters are just ahead but first we marvel. 

    You are looking at snow, an extraordinarily uncommon sight here on California's central coast.

    In northern San Luis Obispo County the Santa Lucia mountains run from about 1,700 to 3,700 feet though they get taller as they climb toward Big Sur. We are a Mediterranean climate and snow is rare.

     By standards practically anywhere else this is not a lot of snow and they pale as snow capped peaks, but they were a shock to the system as I gazed out of the window while sipping coffee. 

     The jolt was more incongruous since these are the scenes we've been viewing since the rain has abated.

     Bee boxes so they and the birds can do their spring magic.

      Grazing slopes with an abundance of grazing material.

    The snow was gone by late morning and a warming trend is expected.

OOPS

      Who to feel the most sorry for-The Moonlight crew, La La Land's happy and celebrating crowd or Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway?

       Oscar history there. You can imagine the conversation over the production crews ear phones, or in the network offices, or the ATAS office. What a header and plummet of emotion on one hand and bizarre ascension to the top on the other. Maybe the Russians hacked something!

Stooge Patrol

      Donald Trump and his minions should know their obituaries will be written by journalists. 

      The game the White House is playing with restricting access is foolish. But it is also the sort of thing dictators, strong men thugs and Russians do. Combined with his childish "fake news" retorts and his labeling the free press an "enemy of the people" it is also a jab in the eye of a free and open democratic republic. As we have noted "enemy of the people" is an old Russian communist tool designed to silence free thought. 

      Over the weekend I was published on the New York Times on line site raising the concern that Trump treats his followers as a movement and they respond as such, getting further out of the mainstream of American political behavior and history. They disregard the truth, are willingly mesmerized by a con man and ignore the unprecedented amateurism, missteps and blunders. One could question if they and Trump are not the true "enemies of the people."

    This photo of Stephen Miller has been discussed and dissected for several days now. The photo is real, but there is disagreement about whether he is throwing the white power salute sign or is simply fiddling with his coat while doing a television interview. 

      People who know him say he's off the deep end and has been for years. They sight his odd political thoughts while in college and his behavior since. His recent statements have convinced many he's a fascist and white nationalist. He's part of the Bannon gang. What do you think?

     See you down the trail.

Gaga and Melissa Rule

     Americans have experience with this idea. A quick look follows-but first tribute to two Americans who rocked the super weekend.

THE MOST VALUABLE

      Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer is destined for the SNL Hall of Fame. The unannounced star and her skit were a devastatingly hilarious take down of the White House press secretary. The video is already a classic.

       The Super Bowl champion is Lady Gaga. Her beautiful patriotic opening atop the stadium was ample politics before she dropped and tumbled into a stunning explosion of song and dance. As good as was the game it was secondary to a production and performance by the extraordinarily talented and perceptive young artist. "We Were Born This Way" is an anthem and at this time in our history carries even more power.  

America first?

       There's a good chance Trump had no idea the America First movement and slogan is an American artifact. 

       It was one of the oddest amalgamations of Americans and one of the shortest movements in our history.

       Founded at Yale in 1940 it was a movement to pressure the United States from entering the second World War. It lasted barley more than a year but was the largest anti war organization in history. It boasted diverse members, Republican and Democrat Senators, wealthy business leaders, writers, poets, political activists and had nearly 1 million paying members in 450 Chapters. 

       Associated with America First were future presidents Gerald Ford, John Kennedy, a future Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, future Peace Corp director Sargent Shriver, Walt Disney, Gore Vidal, novelist Sinclair Lewis, poet EE Cummings, Frank Lloyd Wright, actress Lillian Gish, political activists as diverse as Charles Lindbergh and Socialist Norman Thomas, members of the House and Senate from both parties.

        The group disbanded three days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. If the current occupant of the oval office read, or studied history he probably would have struck another slogan to hang his shortsightedness on.

THE TRUMPET

news for a post-truth world

      Rest easy Americans, the Donald's got this covered. He and the master counselor Bannon remain one step ahead by use of their blitzkrieg of disruption.

      As heads spin at the production line executive orders the strategy of diversion is working well. As the crooked media react and try to keep up with the Tweets everybody is forgetting about all the other fake news

• the still pending charges and accusation of sexual assaults. There will be no Clinton moment in this White House. 
• the non release of his tax returns and his claim "I will release them after the audit."
• the first failed military operation and US fatality
• the excoriation on Goldman Sachs instead of his appointment of five Golman Sachs to his team
• People have already forgotten he has no previous foreign policy experience, no government experience. Not a problem. Look how he's handled Mexico and Australia. Plus he's got good advisers, like Kellyann Conway who is fortunately recovering from her near death experience in the Bowling Green Massacre.  
• Ethics advisers to George W. Bush and Barack Obama claim trump has not gone "nearly far enough" to absolve himself from potential conflict of interests
• The Donald will still benefit financially from his business interests while president-but why shouldn't he. He's above the law.
• There are stricter ethics rules in place for his cabinet members than for him-but why shouldn't there be?
• The President is the sole beneficiary of his Trust and he can revoke the trust any time. Now that will help make America great again huh? 

         At $400,000 a day it will cost American tax payers $548,000,000 to keep Melania Trump in New York City for four years.

           Or one wonders why shouldn't the first lady be on hand at the White House? One wonders if the old man is as wealthy as he claims to be, why not pay for it himself? 

            Or why not sell or license images from her modeling career to pay for it?

             Wonder what Nancy Reagan, Lady Bird Johnson, Barbara Bush, Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower, Rosalyn Carter, and a few other former First Ladies would think? Until now would you ever have wondered how those former firsts would rock a bikini?

            Yep,  Make America Great Again!

         See you down the trail.