with this tweet from ABC News quoting Martha Raddadtz

Check out @ABCPolitics’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/1078015375244181504?s=09

Maybe Martha's memory is faulty, because a quick Google search shows that the following First Ladies have gone to combat zones, some more dangerous than the one Melanoma went to today:
Eleanor Roosevelt (who made multiple visits)
Pat Nixon
Barbara Bush
Hillary fucking Clinton
Laura Bush
Michelle Obama went to visit troops in Qatar

We need to bombard ABC with tweets and emails until they correct the record.

One more I wasn't sure about until I checked: Mary Todd Lincoln

The major snowfall last week may have been just the opening salvo in another frigid winter in the US Northeast. Here in CT, the high on Thanksgiving is forecast to be in the low 20's, over 35 degrees F colder than the historic average for this date. On the other hand, the West, and in particular the Northwest corner of the country will be warmer than average to much warmer.


Winter Temperature Outlook: Why This November Cold Snap Increases Odds of a Cold Winter in the East


Prolonged November cold and early snowfall are helping to raise the odds of a persistently cold winter in the East, according to the latest outlook from The Weather Company, an IBM Business.

The United States has had its most expansive November snow cover in almost three years due to a plunge of the jet stream centered over the central U.S.

This persistent upper-level trough has led to above-average snowfall not only where snow is expected along the northern tier of the country, but also throughout much of the Plains.

The colder air and increased snow cover may set the stage for frigid weather to take over a good section of the country this winter.

The overall trend calls for a colder-than-average winter in the eastern half of the country while the West remains warm, according to The Weather Company's latest winter outlook.


https://weather.com/forecast/national/news/2018-11-14-late-november-winter-temperature-outlook-the-weather-company?cm_ven=wu_videos?cm_ven=hp-slot-4

I'm surprised she didn't ask to see Obama's birthplace!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/05/melania-trump-in-pith-helmet-on-kenya-safari-likened-to-colonialist

Melania Trump has prompted consternation, some anger and much derision by choosing a pith helmet – a symbol of colonial rule across Africa – as headwear for a brief safari in Kenya.

On the penultimate day of her tour of the continent – her first solo trip overseas – the first lady visited an orphanage in Nairobi before heading to a national park near the city.

Dressed in riding pants, boots and a spotless white pith helmet, the former model climbed into an open-air vehicle for the safari, taking photos on her iPhone of zebras, giraffes, impalas, rhinos and hippos.

She also stopped at a site where 105 tons of ivory was burned as part of an effort to discourage the trade.

But it was the headgear that attracted most attention. Pith helmets – so-called because they are made of the material sholapith – were worn by European explorers and imperial administrators in Africa, parts of Asia and the Middle East in the 19th century before being adopted by military officers, rapidly becoming a symbol of status – and oppression.

Tales from Trump's Presidential Transition:

The first time Trump paid attention to any of this was when he read about it in the newspaper. The story revealed that Trump’s very own transition team had raised several million dollars to pay the staff. The moment he saw it, Trump called Steve Bannon, the chief executive of his campaign, from his office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, and told him to come immediately to his residence, many floors above. Bannon stepped off the elevator to find Christie seated on a sofa, being hollered at. Trump was apoplectic, yelling: You’re stealing my money! You’re stealing my fucking money! What the fuck is this?

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/sep/27/this-guy-doesnt-know-anything-the-inside-story-of-trumps-shambolic-transition-team

I find that fascinating! We have a President and Mrs Fart and they run a chain of Fart Hotels. He sells Fart Water and Fart Steaks and you used to be able to get a bogus degree from Fart University.

Don't get me started on the Fart Shuttle!

According to WaPo article embedded in the Tweet below, during French President Macron's April visit, Trump offered France a better trade deal with the US than the EU gets if Macron would bring France out of the EU. Basically, that would be the stuff of Putin's wet dreams. Tell me again how Trump isn't a Russian puppet.

Check out @ObsoleteDogma’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/ObsoleteDogma/status/1012509288475000832?s=09

Homeowners will have the option to buy systems outright or, as I suspect most will do, contract with a solar provider like Solar City or Sunrun (disclaimer: I have a Sunrun system on my house in CT) to install and maintain the system for a fixed monthly fee that escalates at a couple of percent per year for 20 years. I actually think solar leases will start running to 25 or 30 years as the PV panels are not degrading as rapidly with age as expected.

http://www.energy.ca.gov/releases/2018_releases/2018-05-09_building_standards_adopted_nr.html

Energy Commission Adopts Standards Requiring Solar Systems for New Homes, First in Nation

SACRAMENTO - Moving to cut energy use in new homes by more than 50 percent, the California Energy Commission today adopted building standards that require solar photovoltaic systems starting in 2020. The building energy efficiency standards, which are the first in the nation to require solar, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equivalent to taking 115,000 fossil fuel cars off the road.

The cost-effective 2019 Building Energy Efficiency Standards, which take effect on Jan. 1, 2020, focus on four key areas: smart residential photovoltaic systems, updated thermal envelope standards (preventing heat transfer from the interior to exterior and vice versa), residential and nonresidential ventilation requirements, and nonresidential lighting requirements. The ventilation measures improve indoor air quality, protecting homeowners from air pollution originating from outdoor and indoor sources. For the first time, the standards also establish requirements for newly constructed healthcare facilities.

I'm thinking of starting a GoFundMe campaign. I'm going to call it "Kevlar for Kids;" I think if kids across the country start showing up to school in body armour that some Republicans might finally get a clue that they need to do more than offer thoughts and prayers.

Specifically, the passage quoted below. Trump isn't Hitler, he's Franz von Papen, the man who enabled Hitler's rise to power. Note the policies he pursued.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_von_Papen

"Papen was authoritarian by inclination. Richard J. Evans described his philosophy as "utopian conservatism" due to his long-term goal of restoring a modern version of the Ancien Régime. He imposed increasingly stringent censorship on the press and repealed his predecessor's ban on the Sturmabteilung (SA) as a way to appease the Nazis, whom he hoped to lure into supporting his government.[99] Papen's economic policies, which were all passed by Article 48, were to sharply cut the payments offered by the unemployment insurance fund, subject all jobless Germans seeking unemployment insurance to a very strict means test, had wages drastically lowered (including those reached by collective bargaining) while bringing in very generous tax cuts to corporations and the rich.[100] Papen argued that lowering taxes on the well off and corporations would encourage them to spend and create jobs; that lowering wages would encourage businesses to hire and reducing unemployment insurance would force the jobless (whom Papen often implied were just lazy people who didn't want to work) to find work; and thus alleviate the effects of the Great Depression.[101] As 1932 was the worst year of the Great Depression with joblessness at an all-time high, Papen's economic policies of favoring the rich while punishing the poor enraged ordinary Germans, making him into Germany's most hated man.[101] Papen reveled in his unpopularity and took a great deal of pleasure in taunting and baiting his critics as he enjoyed provoking people.[102] Papen's thesis that lowering wages would make employers more likely to hire and less likely to fire employees was not a popular one as he was widely viewed as engaging in "one-sided catering" to big business.[103]"

Which makes Pence .......