Stonepounder
Stonepounder's JournalHad the strangest thing happen to me this morning.
I wrote earlier about how we had to send our sweet Dulcinea to the bridge earlier this week and how devastating it was for us. This morning when I got up I had the strangest feeling that somehow there was an emptiness in the house that my subconscious immediately informed me was a change in the psychic energy and that Dulcinea's spirit had left.
Now, please understand, that I am not a mystic, I am not a spiritualist, I do not believe that we can communicate with the spirits of those who have died, and I have never had something like this happen to me before. It was just a very strange feeling and an extremely strange conclusion.
Somebody please tell me I am not losing my mind.
Am I being too hopeful?
Am I hearing a faint creak of a tipping point? I'm hearing an awful lot of anger from not only MSNBC and CNN commentators, but also from amazingly articulate students from Parkland, their friends, neighbors, and across the country. Have we, as a nation, finally discovered that buried deep down we do have a sense of shame?
When a writer for a late night comedy show takes the time to link up 'thoughts and prayers' tweets with the amount various politicians have received from the NRA, when students look directly into the camera and ask 'why haven't you done more to protect us?' Have we finally reached, if not a full-fledged turning point, at least slowing of our mad dash to see how many people we can kill with guns before we say 'enough?
Maybe I am just being too Pollyanna, be it feels like there is a shift, no matter how small, a shift in the winds of change. One can but hope.
We lost a best friend today.
Fifteen years ago we got our first Cavalier, Sancho. There were a pair
of Jack Russell terriers next door and Sancho (who was named after
Sancho Panza from 'Man of LaMancha' Don Quixote's faithful friend) and
the terriers would run the fence-line every day, back and forth and back
and forth. When Sancho was four I got transferred to Kansas City. We
got a nice house, but there were no dogs next door. So, we went looking
for a companion for Sancho.
We found a tri puppy and went to see her. If we had known then what we
know now we would have recognized a not very good backyard breeder and passed.
But fate works in mysterious ways, and she came home with us. A tiny little thing
that we named Dulcinea, who immediately became Mrs. Stonepounder's dog.
If she wasn't sleeping or outside with Sancho, you would find Dulcinea curled up
next to Mrs. Stonepounder. (Dulcinea was the love interest in 'Man of LaMancha').
All dogs are welcome in our bed, and Dulci would always curl up next to Liz at
night. When Sancho died suddenly at age 8, Dulci went into a depression
that lasted almost a year. And she became even more attached to the Mrs.
When I retired we moved back to Northern Kentucky, volunteered with
Cavalier Rescue USA, eventually growing our pack to five. Lately we noticed
that Dulci seemed do have a problem in the back of her mouth in that she
kept developing a crusty mass of hair at the back of her jaw, that hung
down like a goatee. We pointed it out to the vet a couple of times
when we were there for other things, but they didn't seem to think it
was anything to worry about. Then, a little over three months ago, our
vet looked at it again and thought it might be as a result of a bad
tooth. So, we set her up for a full dental. We took her in early on
the morning of November 11 and dropped her off. We literally had just
walked back into the house when the phone rang. It was the vet. He had
discovered a large tumor in the back of her throat which he suspected
was cancerous. The lab ended up confirming his diagnosis and found that
it was an extremely aggressive form of cancer as well. The vet told us
he took out as much as he could, but that he knew he didn't get all of
it and it would grow back.
The last couple of months have been torturous for us as we have watch
our sweet Dulcinea go downhill. We kept altering her diet as it became
more and more difficult for her to eat. Then as the tumor kept growing
she began having trouble breathing. She became withdrawn, sleeping
behind an end table rather in bed with us. Yesterday she stopped eating
entirely. Today we made that devastating decision that she was telling
us that it was time. So we made the gut-wrenching final, one-way trip
to the vet.
Run free Dulcinea. Go find Sancho, have a good romp, and wait for us.
We will be along in the fullness of time.
Sen. Gillibrand responds to Trump's "due process" request. Offers Cong. hearings for his 19 accusers
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/2/12/1740712/-Sen-Gillibrand-responds-to-Trump-s-due-process-request-Offers-cong-hearings-for-his-19-accusers?detail=emaildkreA few days ago, Donald Trump questioned the #MeToo moment, lamenting the lack of “due process” when allegations are made.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused - life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has been working on improving the process to adjudicate sexual assault within the military for years. For example, in 2013, she did this:
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) stood on the Senate floor for hours Wednesday dominating a debate over how the Pentagon should manage sexual assault and rape in the ranks. — www.washingtonpost.com/...
So it’s appropriate that she would respond to a request by the commander-in-chief of the US military to properly adjudicate allegations of sexual assault.
Kirsten Gillibrand
✔
@SenGillibrand
The President has shown through words and actions that he doesn’t value women. It’s not surprising that he doesn’t believe survivors or understand the national conversation that is happening.
Kirsten Gillibrand
✔
@SenGillibrand
The lives of survivors of sexual assault and domestic abuse are being shattered every day. If he wants due process for the over dozen sexual assault allegations against him, let’s have Congressional hearings tomorrow. I would support that and my colleagues should too.
This from a post on KOS. The formatting doesn't come over very well when trying to include tweets. If you are interested, follow the link and you can see the article properly formatted as well as the White House's extremely snarky response by everybody's favorite harridan, Kellyann.
Want paid paternity.maternity leave? Defer your retirement.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/04/rubio-ivanka-trump-family-leave-385050Ivanka, Rubio find a new project: Paid family leave
Marco Rubio is starting to strategize with Ivanka Trump to win over skeptical Republicans on a traditionally Democratic issue: paid family leave.
Rubio has barely started drafting a paid leave bill, much less a broader legislative strategy. But he envisions an idea that has recently gained traction in conservative circles: allowing people to draw Social Security benefits when they want to take time off for a new baby or other family-related matters, and then delay their checks when they hit retirement age.
Rubio has barely started drafting a paid leave bill, much less a broader legislative strategy. But he envisions an idea that has recently gained traction in conservative circles: allowing people to draw Social Security benefits when they want to take time off for a new baby or other family-related matters, and then delay their checks when they hit retirement age.
What a wonderful idea. And if you need to take longer, say 6 months instead of 6 weeks, like most other civilized countries, well then you will need to defer your SS even longer. And, heaven forbid, you have more than one child and want/need to take time off for each? God! These people are just plain evil.
Stand By Your Man (Randy Rainbow)
Trump Gives Wife Beater Praise He Usually Reserves for Child Molesters and Nazis (Borowitz)
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-gives-wife-beater-praise-he-usually-reserves-for-child-molesters-and-nazisTrump Gives Wife Beater Praise He Usually Reserves for Child Molesters and Nazis
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In comments to reporters at the White House on Friday, Donald J. Trump stirred controversy by lavishing an alleged wife beater with praise that he historically has reserved for child molesters and Nazis.
Reporters who heard the President’s comments were taken aback since, in the past, the President had given no indication that he held wife beaters in the same high esteem in which he holds supporters of child abuse and white supremacy.
“We knew that President Trump considered child molesters and Nazis very fine people, but this was the first time he had put wife beaters up there, too,” Tracy Klugian, a member of the White House press corps, said. “We wanted clarification as to whether he considered wife beaters as fine as those other two groups, or finer.”
John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, accused reporters of attempting to drive a wedge between three of the President’s most cherished constituencies. “Donald Trump has made it very clear that he can be the champion of wife beaters, child molesters, and Nazis at the same time,” Kelly said. “He doesn’t play favorites.”
Um, Did He Lie? A Parody Commentary on the SOTU - The Parody Project
Trump Considering Firing Dow Jones Industrial Average (Borowitz)
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-considering-firing-dow-jones-industrial-averageWASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—After watching it suffer its worst losses since he became President, Donald Trump is “seriously considering” firing the Dow Jones industrial Average, aides have confirmed.
According to the aides, Trump is “furious” at the D.J.I.A. for going down so precipitously and believes that it has treated him “very unfairly.”
“Increasingly, the President has become convinced that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is not on his team,” one aide said. “Seeing the negative Dow numbers in the corner of the TV screen has been wrecking eleven hours of every day for him.”
Reportedly, Trump is mulling replacing the Dow with a new system, in which Sarah Huckabee Sanders would appear every day at 4 p.m. to announce how high stocks had skyrocketed.
En route to an appearance in Ohio, Trump stopped short of saying that he would ask for the stock market index’s resignation, but his contempt for the Dow was palpable. “The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a disgrace, and it should be very, very ashamed of itself,” he said.
How to pass your citizenship test. (Humor)
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