December 16, 2019

Chai, our new puppy

https://twitter.com/barbtries/status/1205636380644302848

December 15, 2019

Wrote to my senators today.

I live in NC, so you know I have two bought and paid for shills for trump. I have called as well, and hopefully we will all be calling and writing on the regular. you never know, right? maybe some distant bell will ring for one or two of these republicans and justice will happen. Regardless I have personally vowed to resist to the end if necessary.

My letter to Richard Burr:

Browsing through the list above, I realized I could tick any one of the boxes and it would apply toward the impeachment of the president. Primarily I would like to urge you to hold out for your country instead of going along with Mitch McConnell's PUBLICLY ANNOUNCED decision to defy and ignore the oath he will take prior to trying the case for impeachment.

How can you do that? Since this administration took office I have been baffled and heartbroken by Republicans' repudiation of their oaths of office, and now it appears that your Majority Leader fully intends to violate the oath of Impeachment as well. Are you prepared to do the same? How do you rationalize that? How do you go on pretending that preservation of the rule of law means anything at all to you when you enable and promote a would be dictator?

Trump's crimes are many and varied, including Crimes Against Humanity including innocent children. It is an abomination that he remains president. He is clearly unfit, suffering from a wide variety of ailments including malignant personality disorders and dementia. Yet because the Republicans, for reasons I can only guess at (equally compromised by Russia, tax cuts, hatred toward poor people, people of color, and women perhaps), support him blindly as a king or a dictator instead of a properly checked President of a democratic republic, he is allowed to go on.

When does a Republican Senator stand up and acknowledge this perversity? When do you, Senator Burr, decide you have seen and heard enough? I hope you watched the recent impeachment hearings, and cringed at the behavior of the Republicans in the House, the pure contempt they brought to the hearings, the other side, and the constitution.

I prevail upon you at this pivotal, historic moment to do the right thing. Do the right thing. Save your legacy, demonstrate that you have integrity, accord the proceedings the proper solemnity, fulfill the oaths you took and will take to the rule of law. We are supposed to be a nation of laws, not men. Surely you knew that at some time in your life. We are supposed to be a nation of, for, and by the people. I think you are familiar with that concept.

History will be the judge of you and your fellow Republicans in the Senate, indeed of each and every one of us. The facts surrounding the Articles of Impeachment are not and have never been in dispute. That Trump and his cult look at the facts and find party balloons instead does not change what the facts are.

Please Senator Burr do the right thing.
Regards

I wrote essentially the same letter to Tillis, adding that if he doesn't do the right thing he should expect defeat in 2020.

December 10, 2019

Chase

This is a post i made on facebook. I've cried so much i have a headache but still wanted to share with DU, my little home on the web.

I had the urge for a chihuahua and found some in the Recycler. So we drove over to Paramount or somewhere off the beaten path to look at the puppies. They had a boy and a girl, and I wanted a girl. But the boy was smaller and as I approached him, he rolled over on his back and it was all over.

I was in love. He weighed all of 2 1/2 pounds. So I chose the boy and decided to let my son name him. But then I nixed the first name he came up with, so he said, "how about Chase?" and I liked that. This was in June 2004.

Chase was a joy of a dog with the disposition of a saint. He loved cats, dogs, and people without reservation. If you could bottle this dog's disposition you could be a multi billionaire, he was that wonderful. He was the reward for a long days' work, standing at the door with every part of his body wagging. He sprinted to the food bowl. Sometimes if it took too long to get his food he would squawk. He slept with me every night and was by my side through most of the days.

I wanted to breed Chase, so he could pass on that lovely disposition, but it was not to be, as one of his testicles never dropped. The condition if not treated carries a huge risk of cancer, so Chase was fixed without ever being with a woman. I don't know that he missed it though, he was such a happy dog. Until recently.

We said good-bye to Chasie today. I lost my best friend. He lost all his joy, his appetite. He couldn't walk straight. But mostly as we sat together through the day all day felt him saying to me, "I'm tired."

He got very tired and lost his joy. We took him to the vet 2 days ago and the doctor looked at his labs and noted borderline anemia, abnormal kidney and liver function, neurological deficits. She said "Old age is not a disease."
But it took him out regardless.

I had to wrestle so hard with the decision to let him go, because he probably would not have died today, tomorrow, maybe not for weeks. But all the life had gone out of his life.
Chase: 30Mar2004 - 09Dec2019. His little box of ashes will have those dates and the inscription, "The best dog there ever was"

Pictures at link. I can't figure a way to get the image on this post.
https://www.facebook.com/barbara.bales.54/posts/10162736578250716?notif_id=1575937805051350&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic

November 20, 2019

i put up a quick poll on Twitter

https://twitter.com/barbtries/status/1197176041237815296


I think some of the Republicans in congress are in it hook, line, and sinker, while others (Mitch McConnell) are simply feckless, greedy fucks who don't believe in democracy.

November 20, 2019

just saw a clip of Nunes catapulting the Ukraine interfered in 2016 bullshit.

and i realized, if that was true, they failed.

they also keep harping on the fact that the investigations demanded by trump never happened and that Ukraine did get the aid (in the nick of time). this supposedly clears trump of any impeachable crime.

so by their logic, there's nothing to investigate as far as Ukraine and 2016. which of course is just an outlandish conspiracy theory hatched by Paul Manafort and pushed by Giuliani as some sort of plausible deniability story to cover their crimes.

November 18, 2019

there's one thing i really like about scarborough

the way he trolls trump. straight to his face. he knows trump's watching.

November 13, 2019

PSA if you don't have cable but do have youtube

there is a selection of live streams of the hearing on youtube.
this is especially delightful for me, because i can stream youtube on my roku TV. consequently, i am now downstairs, watching the hearing on TV.

too many republicans talking right now, but still

November 11, 2019

New podcast from Al Franken

regarding The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact

Al has a podcast and it's pretty good!

October 9, 2019

great tweet to Republicans (not just in Congress, all of them)

https://twitter.com/Strandjunker/status/1181960567541686273


At this point in time, if you’re a Republican you’re supporting child concentration camps, pedophilia, sexual assault, rape, nepotism, racism, fascism, white supremacy, murder cover-ups, treason, and Turkey’s slaughter of Syrian Kurds.

In broad daylight. #KurdsBetrayedByTrump

October 7, 2019

Richard Engel discusses trump's move in Syria

and what it means to the Kurds.