Early Spring
Rainer Maria Rilke
Harshness vanished. A sudden softness
has replaced the meadows’ wintry grey.
Little rivulets of water changed
their singing accents. Tendernesses,
hesitantly, reach toward the earth
from space, and country lanes are showing
these unexpected subtle risings
that find expression in the empty trees.
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Stella's Place 
New Orleans is smack in the middle of a spate of shootings – 10 including Mardi Gras Day – and the local news is doing its best to be topical by tying them to the Florida shootings. Problem is there no where near the same, our local shootings are feral, young black male thugs out looking for a shooting.
Interesting how local news strains to not identify the shooters, they used to give the police BOLO but, for whatever strange reason, stopped doing so (????). Can’t avoid it when they show surveillance tapes though – so far no one I recognize from the Penobscot Hi yearbook but I’ll keep looking.
So let’s keep up on that Gunnnnnn Violennnnnnnnce drumbeat, get Kimmel to shed some tears on que, because once those law abiding tax payers are forced to go unarmed the thugs y matons will have no reason to fear honky/gringo perfidy and can turn in they gats y pistolas.
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BTW, all three late night hosts are ragging on guns and gun owners after a white kid shoots up a suburban school. When’s the last time you heard them rag on black or Latino street gangs shooting up their towns or, especially in LA where all of those late night shows are recorded, the cartels? Aside from not wanting to irritate the folks that provide therm with their party supplies they know the thugs/cartels would express their dissatisfaction in short order – Kimmel would have something to really cry about.
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They all have 400 lb gun carrying bodyguards and live away from us heathens that they dictate to from on high. I dont have any desire to ever do anything near L.A. again.
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You forget – they are also all above the same laws they expect us mouth breathers to obey.
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Also, they all delight in ragging on the LA PD and SO and how they violate innocent thugs/rapists/murderers/criminals’ rights. The LA LEA should do what NOPD did years ago to prove a point – have a department-wide blue-flu week. It actually cancelled the Mardi Gras season in 1979 – imagine what would happen in wonderfully diverse LA.
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I was told the pay is really awful there and the corruption is severe. If pay and service in general was better, more cops too, would that help?
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Corruption in the P, in my experience, is a reflection of the community the recruits are drawn from and a direct function of how corrupt the government at local to state level is. NOPD and the Orleans Parish SO is always having corruption issues. The frequently offered pablum is that it’s better now than it was but not as good as it will be. OK, wake me when you have cops that can all be differentiated from the crooks.
Problem frequently is that the chiefs-of-police are appointees and are beholden to those who appointed them more so than they are the public. That’s how we got a woman on NOPD that the department shrinks culled immediately – she was later put on after political pressure was put on the department. She’s now on death row for murdering her partner and a husband/wife during a botched robbery.
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gangs of minority males shooting each other are merely the recycling quality control employees of Planned Parenthood that failed in the original mission.
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I’ll back out slowly here before I post something I’ll most likely regret later.
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carpe diem…..e pluribus confucious…
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It’s hard for a news station to say, “Be on the lookout for someone we’re not allowed to describe” even though even THAT is a description nowadays to anyone with a brain.
The Soviet proles figured that out decades ago: they knew the truth by what Pravda and Isvestia always left out of their coverage. It became as formulaic as it is today with our Media, the cowardly omissions of relevant fact.
This is why the last ten articles about a riot or fight in a Chuck E Cheese have, as the first ten or twenty comments, “Yep. Didn’t even need to check.” We all know. And it’s not because we’re racist. It’s because we’re programmed to know what they intentionally leave out of the article for cowardly reasons, because they’ve been following the anti-script for so long that we know what’s missing.
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Generally we know from the area of the reported shooting who the suspect is, kit’s just an irritation to listen to a 5 minute rap on the shooting and hear the suspect described as: “5’10”, 25 to 35, 175 pounds with short, dark hair. Duh.
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Good Morning, Lucille. Glad there isn’t any snow on those flowers!
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Good morning, Lburg! We’ve got enough to go around. And here I thought we were going to have a mild winter.
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Have a blessed day, Lucille!
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Thanks, sand! I’ve got a busy day ahead of me, but this guy has got me beat in the “wondering what’s going on” faction of life…
“Skier Vanishes From New York Mountain, Mysteriously Ends Up in California With No Idea How He Got There”
By Associated Press – weather.com
https://weather.com/news/news/2018-02-16-new-york-skier-mysteriously-found-in-california
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Wow! That’s strange!
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I got a few bacon recipes in an email today. I thought of sharing a couple with my favorite baco philes first!
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/cornflake-coated-crispy-bacon
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/bacon-cinnamon-buns
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/bacon-roll-ups
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/bacon-cheeseburger-slider-bake
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/pull-apart-bacon-bread
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and some Monday music for the young crowd of dedicated office working singles….
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Used to have one of them around…not that I’d ever go to one…ohnonono.
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Best 3 minutes I’ve seen in a long time:
https://www.citizenfreepress.com/column-1/liz-wheeler-hilariously-describes-the-new-democratic-party/
Morning all!
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Very accurate, too.
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Thanks, Tundra. That’s powerful.
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An update on the teenager who started the 48,000 acre forest fire in the Columbia Gorge last fall, deliberately playing with fireworks and spraying/throwing fireworks into dry brush. He was close enough to the trails and trail head that someone else actually video-taped his actions. He certainly wasn’t concerned about hiding what he was doing.
He had his first court appearance last Friday.
He confessed to what he had done and entered a guilty plea.
His sentence, already handed down, is six years probation and 2000 hours of community service.
Another hearing will be held in June to set conditions regarding restitution.
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That’s a slap on the wrist, in my opinion. 😦
Morning Sharon.
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Good morning, Sharon! I wonder if this kid had any history of bad behavior. I imagine the sentencing would be influenced by that, but you never know!
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I think the deed should be punished. Not the person’s prior behavior.
Same reason I detest the business of hate crimes. If someone murders someone, their thoughts while they were murdering should be irrelevant: the act is what should be punished, not what they were thinking while they were doing it.
Although, if “what they were thinking while they were doing it” were a factor, this kid would be facing serious time because he was laughing while he was doing it. Thought he was pretty cute, he did.
But that’s just me. I’ve either lived too long or am in the wrong century.
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What I was thinking was that if he had a clean record, the court would probably be more lenient in sentencing. Also, kids are stupid and their brains aren’t fully formed until they are in their twenties. That’s no excuse for a crime, but I think that it should be part of the thinking when sentencing.
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Yes, I suspect that is what the court was thinking.
There used to be a saying, no longer useful, about the punishment fitting the crime.
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48,000 acres burned and how much was spent on fighting it and how much to reclaim that acreage? Yeah, probation. Restitution? No allowance for the next 60 years?
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I thinking along the lines of 100% wage garnishment for his lifetime.
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I think that’s too severe for a Left Coast punishment. Maybe he should be escorted around the burned area while he apologizes to the burned trees?
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Mandatory job with the local FD, and EMS, 20 years.
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I seriously think the judge should have put him up there with the restoration crews, clearing and replanting in his spare time for the next 6 years.
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Two hours before school in the AM and 4 hours after school until he graduates and then full 10 hour days.
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Don’t forget holidays and summer vacations.
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Yes, 10 hour days then, too.
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Mornin’ stella! (Smiter of those that ought to be smote) 😎 🍸 (Long Island Iced Tea)
(Jack Daniels – Single Barrel )
(Tom Collins)
(Black & Tan)
(Boilermaker)
(Wild Turkey Rare Breed)
(Irish Car Bomb)
(Godfather)
(Mortlach)
(Roy Rogers)
(Classic Daiquiri)
(Gin & Tonic)
(Blackberry wine)
(Backdraft)
(Flaming Dr. Pepper)
(Stinger)
(Rusty Nail)
(Jack Daniels)
(Whiskey Smash)
(B52)
(Rum & Coke)
(Night Train Express)
(Albanian Raki Moskat)
(Hot Buttered Rum)
(Mudslide)
(RumChata)
(Stolichnaya elit, no ice)
(Smoking Bishop)
(Red Russian)
(Yuengling)
(Baileys Irish Cream on the rocks)
(Brompton’s Cocktail – No cherry, no umbrella, no plastic monkey)
(Benjamin Franklin’s clarified milk punch)
Mornin’ WeeWeed! (Master Mixologist Extrodinare) 😎 🍸 (Old Fashioned)
Mornin’ Menagerie! 😎
Mornin’ Ad rem! (Queen Felis catus) 🐱 🍸 (Flaming Lamborghini)
Mornin’ Sharon! 😎 🍸 🍸 (earthquake)
Mornin’ ytz4mee! 😎 🍸 (cosmopolitan)
Mornin’ waltzingmtilda! 🙂 🍸 (white wine and perrier)
Mornin’ partyzantski! 🙂
Mornin’ texan59! 🙂
Mornin’ ZurichMike! 🙂 🍸 (fuzzy navel)
Mornin’ Col.(R) Ken! (hand salute) 🙂
Mornin’ czarina33! (aka czarina) 🙂 🍸 (Lynchburg Lemonade)
Mornin’ czarowniczy! 🙂
Mornin’ letjusticeprevail2014! 🙂
Mornin’ Patriot1783-ctdar! (aka “ctdar”) 🙂 🍸 (grasshopper)
Mornin’ tessa50! 🙂 🍸 (flaming volcano)
Mornin’ waltzingmtilda! 🙂 🍸 (sidecar)
Mornin’ varsityward! 🙂
Mornin’ MaryfromMarin! 😀
Mornin’ Wooly Covfefe! (aka “Wooly Phlox” aka “taqiyyologist”) 🙂
Mornin’ Howie! (aka “doodahdaze”) 🙂
Mornin’ TwoLaine! 🙂
Mornin’ Sha! 🙂 🍸 (Lemon Drop)
Mornin’ BigMamaTEA! 🙂 🍸 (Harvey Wallbanger)
Mornin’ cetera5! (aka “Cetera”) 🙂
Mornin’ The Tundra PA! 🙂 🍸 (Gentleman Jack Whiskey Sling)
Mornin’ lovely! 🙂
Mornin’ michellc! 🙂 🍸 (Salty dog)
Mornin’ auscitizenmom! 🙂 🍸 (Kiss on the Lips)
Mornin’ Margaret-Ann! 🙂 🍸 (White Russian)
Mornin’ Auntie Lib! 🙂 🍸 (Tom and Jerry)
Mornin’ holly100! 🙂 🍸 (Jack & Coke)
Mornin’ Pam! 🙂 (Not even water)
Mornin’ Ms.Tee! 🙂 🍸 (Mojito)
Mornin’ koolkosherkitchen! 🙂 🍸 🍸 (Cuba Libre)
Mornin’ ImpeachEmAll 🙂
Mornin’ Monroe! 🙂
Mornin’ Les! 🙂
Mornin’ shiloh1973! 🙂
Mornin’ TexasRanger! 🙂
Mornin’ Ziiggii! 🙂
Mornin’ oldiadguy! 🙂
Mornin’ smiley! (“stuck in spambucket”) 🙂 🍸 (Spanish coffee)
Mornin’ derk! (“Stellars”) 🙂 🍸 (Kamikaze)
Mornin’ Jacqueline Taylor Robson 🙂 🍸 (Shirley Temple)
Mornin’ facebkwallflower! 🙂
Mornin’ Ms. Cindy! (aka “Ms Cynlynn” aka “ms cynlynn”) 🙂 🍸 (1970 ducru beaucaillou)
Mornin’ sandandsea2015! 🙂 🍸 (1961 Château Montrose)
Mornin’ amwick! 🙂 🍸 (Blue motorcycle)
Mornin’ hocuspocus13! 🙂 🍸 (1970 Chateau Latour)
Mornin’ Sloth1963! 🙂 🍸 (1971 Moulin Touchais)
Mornin’ MTeresa! (Ex-lurker) 🙂
Mornin’ rheavolans! (aka “Rhea Salacia Volans”) 🙂
Mornin’ joshua! 🙂
Mornin’ John Denney! 🙂
Mornin’ litenmaus! 🙂
Mornin’ kinthenorthwest! 🙂 🍸 (A Lonely Island Lost in the Middle of a Foggy Sea)
Mornin’ TwoLaine! 🙂
Mornin’ patternpuzzler! 🙂 🍸 (Old Lady)
Mornin’ Senatssekretär FREISTAAT DANZIG! 🙂
Mornin’ G-d&Country! 🙂 🍸 (Blind Russian)
Mornin’ Gary! 🙂
Mornin’ valeriecurren! 🙂 🍸 (Flaming Sambuca)
Mornin’ Lucille! 🙂 🍸 (Peach Schnapps)
Mornin’ Lburg! 🙂 🍸 (Lburg lemonade)
Mornin’ davidhuntpe! 🙂
Mornin’ skipper1961! 🙂
Mornin’ mightyconservative! 🙂
Mornin’ whiners and complainers! 😛 (No drink for you!)
Mornin’ to people posting that I missed. 😳
Mornin’ to all you lurkers! 😕
Also just in case someday; mornin’ to Elvis Chupacabra, F.D.R. in Hell and sundance!
Breakfast!
NEW and IMPROVED breakfast with extra bacon for ZurichMike!
Doughnuts and coffee!
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Morning Nyet! Those cappuccinos look delicious! Thank you.
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Good Morning, Nyet and thank you! Good Monday Morning Stellars – hope you all have a day filled with winning.
“We drove to a place in Sandy Bay, right near the beach. They had so many things on the menu, but mostly they had lots of different types of pancakes. Pancakes with blueberries, pancakes with bacon and eggs, pancakes with baked banana and maple syrup.
My brother’s serving had so much whipped cream on top that he had to dig a tunnel through the cream to get to the pancakes. He was full after about ten mouthfuls, and he seemed genuinely sad to leave so much behind. He’d tried his best but the pancakes had won.” ~ Favel Parrett, When the Night Comes
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Whoa, crispy edged pancakes. Mornin’ Nyet, everyone. 🙂
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Morning, Nyet! Rustling up a great breakfast again! It’s pancake/scrambled egg sandwich time on the old rancho…
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Mornin’ y’all! 😀
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Morning WeeWeed!
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Mornin’ S&S!
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Hi There S&S! Hope your Monday is grand!
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Thanks, Lburg. It was good. Sorry I missed your message. I hope you had a great Monday, too!
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Mornin’ WeeWeed!
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Mornin’ Stella!
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Morning, WeeWeed!
I’d wager it’s a good thing when a person doesn’t know who Melissa McCarthy is.
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Mornin’ Lucy!
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As with every Spicier thread, that one is comedy gold.
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Good Mornin’ Wee!
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Afternoon Lburg!
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Good morning everybody! We’re having a February thaw, which is quite exciting after all of the snow. Now most of it is melted, and it will be 52 degrees this afternoon, and 63 tomorrow! Of course, we’ll get rain along with the warmer temps. Oh well. Can’t have everything, I guess, at least not yet. So, I’ll have doggy mud tracks in the kitchen, and a chance to pick up dog poo before it snows again.
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Good morning stella. It’s been raining most of the last ten days or so here, and it’s mostly going to rain the next ten days. Temps are going to be in the seventies so I don’t care. Yesterday it was very sunny and warm, a classic spring day.
Finally my jonquils are coming up! My husband says it’s going to get cold again, but I refuse to believe it. Maybe back in the forties, but I say spring is sprung.
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I hope you are right about Spring! On the downside, we have flood warnings – 2 or more inches expected in the next couple of days.
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I was curious about the photo at the top, which seems to show iris with snow drops. I thought iris bloomed later than the snow drops, so I did a little bit of investigation. It seems that there is a variety of iris, iris reticulata, that blooms in the very early spring, and it apparently originated in Russia. It is smaller than the bearded iris (only about 6″ tall!) and comes in yellow or blue/purple with an orange blaze.
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Those flowers are so pretty. Our bloom cycle is all messed up because of the weather. My tomato plant is still producing too. To be in the snow for so m any weeks and finally get those blooms would be a very happy day.
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The Russian Iris clearly has infiltrated the USA to influence our gardening policies and to create confusion among landscapers throughout the nation……Vlad the Flower Guy….
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It also grows in Iran and Turkey.
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Lucky you. 🙄 /s
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Morning! 50’s out here for the next 2 weeks, dipping to below freezing a few nights. Pretty cold to what we’ve been having. Rain forecast for next week as well. So, enjoy the warm up, but some cold may be heading your all’s way.
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What a beautiful color that is, Lucille! Almost would make more rain welcome – at night, of course!
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Same here in socal. Supposed to be raining all day, not yet though. But down to the 20s at night. Brrr!
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No doubt about that! It’s only mid February, and we won’t see real Spring until April. Historically, our last snow is the first week in April.
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I will never forget the delight I felt when we lived in upstate NY and went to FL to visit for a couple of weeks near the end of March, and came back in April to the flowers and grass popping up through the snow. I had never seen such a thing. I understood what Spring really meant. Having grown up in FL, Spring lasted from a day or two, to two weeks, launching into summer at that point.
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It is a delightful site, for sure! I love to walk around and see what is coming up next.
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We’ve hit a delightfully comfortable 80 for the last few days and many trees are up, blooming and spraying pollen all over the place – scraping it off the windshield like frost.
Rain scheduled for part of the week but plum and cherry trees are in full bloom and rain will push the apples and peach families to bloom too.
No problem with dog poo – we have small creatures out here who seem to have worked it into their daily regimens and I’ll leave that mystery to itself.
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I wish our squirrels would keep up …
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Wish mine would leave my fruit alone
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Well, yeah. They eat tomatoes too. If they would only restrict their eating to things I want gone …
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Tomatoes, corn, squash, peppers…’bout time to get that old 40s cookbook down off the shelf.
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Squirrel stew?
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Stew, fricassee stir fried, smothered…50 shades of grey squirrel.
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soul food….just add a mess of collards…..
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Collards, when cooked correctly, are the heart of a good meal. Collards, good muddy tasting fried catfish and sweet corn bread.
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The squirrels eat my flowers as soon as they start to open. They really love the Hibiscus flowers. So, I have tons of buds and end up with 2 or 3 flowers………..that last until the squirrels notice they have missed them. 😦
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They dig up bulbs too. Answer is to plant things that are poison to squirrels – like daffodils. Tulip bulbs are edible, for example.
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My experience with bulbs is they rot. 🙄
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Probably because you don’t freeze in the winter.
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Yep. I was told we have to put them in the fridge. Nope. Ain’t happening.
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Our answer’s two outside cats. That keeps ’em off the porch stuff.
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Morning Stella and all,
Oldest daughter came up for the weekend. Took her to dinner and then to the Newsboys concert at the Civic here in town.
Blast from the past! 20 years or so ago, we attended regularly the Spirit West Coast event at Laguna Seca, and the Newsboys were always my favorite band. Sounded just as good if not better than the old days, and seem to have aged really well.
Apparently the band members have changed much over the years, but still good. Worth seeing any of you, they are just starting the tour and heading east shortly.
Have a great day y’all
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N’Orleans Bureau?
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Nope, too proactive.
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Oh yeah …
Skier Lindsey Vonn is the 44th to feel the Trump Effect
https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2018/02/skier-lindsey-vonn-is-44th-to-feel.html#more
I didn’t root against her. I just knew that she would lose because feuding with Donald Trump is a risk never to be taken.
While she has a right to her opinion, she also has a right to remain silent.
She should have chosen the latter. Why pick a fight with the most powerful man on the planet?
But hey, the left is so cool, man. Sports adulation is nice, as is the millions from modeling and endorsements. But getting praise from the rest of the liberal celebrities is a status mere mortals can only dream about.
And so she went on CNN and ran her mouth.
And now she is added to the list of celebrities who picked a fight with Donald Trump and wound up worse for the experience. She goes in as No. 42 on the list of 44.
Bobby Mueller, please take note.
The Trump Effect List: …
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From the link stella provided above…
4. LaVar Ball.
November 2017: “LaVar Ball Is Feuding with Donald Trump Over His Son’s Release From China.”
December 2017: “LaVar Ball sends his sons to play in LITHUANIA after pulling them both out of school in the United States after UCLA-Trump row.”
Only one response: BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! So much for stealing in China being no big deal!
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So an Indiana family is mourning the loss of their three year old due to the flu. The family declined to have her vaccinated; according to the grandmother “They told the family that once the flu starts going around, the vaccine won’t help,” in direct contradiction to everything I’ve heard about the flu and vaccine, ever.
Now the family is looking to blame the hospital for not keeping their daughter long enough and claiming she was treated differently because she was on government insurance.
The first story, where the family acknowledged the child was not vaccinated: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/family-haunted-decision-vaccinate-year-claimed-flu/story?id=53037673
Second story, where they are talking about hiring an attorney to look into the matter: https://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/delaware-county/muncie/family-of-muncie-3-year-old-who-died-after-flu-diagnosis-wonders-if-her-insurance-hindered-her-care
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I’m sorry they lost their child, but not vaccinating and blaming someone else is just not right.
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I agree 100%. Certainly, it’s a free country, and whether or not a person chooses to vaccinate their child is up to them. But that’s a risk they have to assume. I am not okay with this thing about not getting the vaccine and then blaming the hospital for allegedly not doing enough.
I want to know who told granny that the flu shot was not effective after the flu started going around. All I have heard since flu season began was that it’s never too late to get the shot and that if you haven’t gotten it yet, you should go get it.
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Louisiana health units have been giving it out for free for the last few weeks, due to the expected increase in out of state visitors & crowding during Mardi Gras. Said flu season lasts until May.
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“I want to know who told granny that the flu shot was not effective after the flu started going around.”
That was my question also, and I still don’t know. I didn’t watch the video. Maybe the answer was in that, I just read story.
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It has been said on the news that the vaccine is only 30% effective.
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That is because like every year, they have to guess which strain to make the vaccine for. But this grandmother seemed to believe that once the flu season started, vaccines wouldn’t work.
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She should have listened closer, because they are also saying that there is still time.
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I have heard that also. I was talking to a Health Department employee in the area before the season began, though, and they said it was still a good idea to get the shot even if the predictions were wrong because the shot can still help shorten the duration and severity of symptoms.
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I’ll admit though, I wasn’t aware young children could get that vaccine. I imagine young people, parents, do know.
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I see in one of the articles that the family asks “Why didn’t they test her for the flu?”
I saw a bit on some program this weekend where the CDC has acknowledged (they were interviewing someone connected with some hospital) that the flu screening test used by ERs and docs has a pattern of a significant number of false positives, and a significant number of false negatives.
People who think health insurance equals health care need to think again. And people who think that health care guarantees a good outcome to every presentation of medical issues need to think again as well.
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I’m disappointed I can only like your comment once.
Honestly, I think the issue of ‘state health care/ the hospital didn’t do enough’ is not the real issue here. My suspicion is that parents need the hospital to be guilty of not doing enough (even though, by all accounts, the child was on the mend when she was sent home) because if it’s the hospital’s fault, then they won’t have to wonder if their child would still be alive if she’d gotten the vaccine.
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I have stories that would curl your toes. Experienced by myself. It is imperative, if you are hospitalized, if at all possible, have someone with you at all times who can keep on top of things. When you are very ill and on so many drugs to fight this that and the other, you just can’t think straight. You need someone who can. My last hospitalization recently, was for the flu. Things went downhill fast from there. Many things went wrong as the fight went on. Either my son or my husband stayed with me and truly it is a good thing. It’s like no one there seems to know what they are doing and each shift does it different. An example of that? Two days after a seven day stay, I had to return to emergency room. Turns out that pain I kept telling them about that they blew off and just kept feeding me pain killers for? Two hematomas in my lower abdomen from nonstop coughing of 2 weeks. You can die from that as they were bleeding. So, more docs and more trouble when all could have been solved initially. They had done a ctscan and said nothing wrong. Another ctscan done during er visit showed the problem. Never trust anyone at hospital, keep talking and telling them.
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I agree with you, and I would certainly want to stick close to my loved one if they were in a hospital. But I’m not sure how much help the parents were. According to ABC, they didn’t even take the child to a medical clinic until the kid’s fever was 106 degrees. After the child went to clinic, then she was sent to the hospital.
I’m not a parent, but can’t parents in general tell that their child is sick before the fever reaches 106 degrees?
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Absolutely. Although, I will say a friend of mine’s teenage daughter was sick and she had just taken her temp and it was 103* and she walked away, and being very OCD turned around immed. and took it again. It was 106*. She started screaming and called an ambulance. Her daughter had toxic shock syndrome and she saved her life. Sometimes the temp spikes very quickly.
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Not always. My oldest son, Danny, was the type that would go from just fine one minute, to 104, 105 next minute.
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These are the things that would worry me if I ever became a parent. How do you tell, then? I mean, as a parent, can you tell when something is wrong, and your child is sick, even if they don’t have a fever?
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I think a lot of it is intuition. And, just paying attention to the child. My son always ran hot. I would need a coat in the winter and learned to touch his arm before I made him put one on. He was always warm. He is still that way at nearly 30.
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Usually, yes. For whatever reason with him, not always until high fever. But, children can have a higher temp than us and not be harmed, although I always took him to doctor when it was high. My youngest was the opposite. He would be telling me he didn’t feel well long before symptoms. I’d ask about his tummy, his head, his throat, and nope they felt fine to him, but he would say he is sick. So, I just had to wait and see what turned up. You will know your child better than anyone and so yeah, you’ll know. Danny was a rare type, I think.
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My son got sick a few times when he was very little. It was obvious he was sick, but the doctor wanted to know if he was eating. He NEVER quit eating, not even if he was throwing up. The doc always thought that was funny.
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lol, me too!
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My father went in for an operation to fix a hole in his stomach. When he was finally taken back to his room I was there with him when the operating doctor came in. He pointed out to the nurse that he would start eating at a certain time, but no solid foods for 3 days or so. His regular doctor came in and immed. told the new nurse that was there to order solid foods for him. I jumped up and pointed out what the other doctor had written on his chart. The nurse told me after he left that it was okay because she would only go by the chart. I never, ever left him alone.
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I was there with my mother in her last hospitalization. She said to me, “they treat me better when you are here”.
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I’m sure that was true.
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She spoke truth.
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I tell my “OCD” families to bring a notebook to write down whatever they are told, and whatever they observe the patient doing or saying, especially if they are taking shifts with the sick family member. Really helps with continuity and even more when the patient is moved from one place to another or has a variety of doctors.
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Over 20 years ago my neice got leukemia and spent a year at St. Jude. She was 8 years old. When she came home her mother had been given extensive training on how to care for whatever that thing in her chest was called. Is it a port?
It was time consuming and difficult, or at least her scared mother perceived it to be. She went to great lengths to be sure that her daughter was not infected.
On one trip back for a check up they were in a waiting room with the mother of a child who was infected, and he died. My SIL said that, in a very unusual display, a couple of the doctor’s were enraged and emotional. They had saved the child’s life and his parent’s neglect had killed him.
In the waiting room, the trashy, unkempt woman had told my SIL it wasn’t fair that her child was doing so well. My SIL said there were a number of problems with many families who came to St. Jude and simply lacked the ability, the knowledge, and the sanitary practices in their lives to go home and be responsible for their children.
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I’m at a loss for words. That is just awful.
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OMG I can’t believe anyone would say that to your SIL. Good thing I wasn’t there. I would have lost it. 👿
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Yes – it’s called a port.
Tell ya what, Menagerie, I saw people undergoing treatment at the same time that I was in that I suspsect didn’t survive the summer.
It was obvious from the open conversations they were having with the technicians and RNs and the the oncologists who occasionally were in the treatment room where 8-10 of us would be hooked up to IVs at any given time – it was obvious they were not going to do what they were told. They resented the restrictions and requirements and were not about to make required changes – re self care, etc.
Self care is an exhausting and horribly hard thing to do, especially when a person’s completely alone with it. But I saw those who had family involved and it was obvious the patient had no intention of cooperating with anything. I suspect they didn’t make it through the summer because I stopped seeing them in treatmentss. We all tended to have cdertain patterns of appointments so would see each other regular. It’s called having chemo buddies.
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….at the very end of my 6-month hard chemo regimen, a couple of the nurses/techs started fussing over me, saying how amazingly well I had done, etc. blah., etc. blah…because hardly anybody can tolerate what I had to do, managed as well as I did, blah blah blah. Nice to know. And not worth a plugged nickel.
The assumptions that are made on the part of care delivery teams are absolutely insane. And that’s the other side of the issue that you describe – on one side the families, etc. who can’t figure out what to do or choose to ASK….and then there’s the side of the insane expectations for self care, forced by insurance companies, etc. and they assume that somehow you will just know and manage.
It’s neither easy or sun and there are NO guaranteed outcomes. In any of it. Ever.
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Being really sick is very complicated; having to care for another person who is really sick while trying to continue your own life (sometimes with other kids/family members who depend on you) is difficult. Too many people have little idea about their own health, much less long-term disorders & illness. We, as professionals in our designated fields, can recommend/prescribe things patients can do, but they are complicated, time consuming, and sometimes unpleasant. Adult patients get tired of being sick, being told what they cannot have or do, losing their independence. Some do everything they are supposed to, some give up. Some buck back & refuse to cooperate: as soon as they are home they go back to smoking/eating the foods that are not recommended/behaving in the ways they prefer/etc. Caregivers must decide what battles to fight & when to stop fighting. Health professionals have been changing focus for about 20 years to give patients a range of choices then honor the preferences. Possibility of good outcomes increases when patients are included in the choices & people are happier with their care. I see a variety of responses every shift I work. I tell my patients what I recommend, then say they are grown-ups and can choose what they want to do, but this is what will probably happen. I lived it these 10 months since my leg was broken & the cartilage hasn’t returned to normal.
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Honest question: Is anti-vaxx and pro-vaxx a right-left issue? Which side is which? I honestly don’t know, and it’s probably because I don’t have kids.
I don’t know where I stand on any of it, other than I don’t like government force, so I would naturally assume that anti-vaxx is Right-wing, and that I should probably embrace that side of the issue.
I don’t opt for flu shots myself. Then again, I’ve handled people’s pre-chewed food for almost two decades as a profession. There aren’t many viruses or bugs that want anything to do with my body.
Again, which side is which, on the vaccination issue, and is it left and right? I just don’t know, except that the issue is contentious.
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I don’t get sick. Ever. Cold? Flu? None of it.
Been handling people’s chewed-up food for three decades.
And drinking alcohol for one decade.
I got a really nasty flu, four years ago, when I quit drinking for 12 days.
But mostly I can lick your money, and not worry about anything but the taste.
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It’s common sense on vaccines, the ones for kids. Read the completely overwhelming facts in favor of vaccines, which Stella has done excellent research and put together a comprehensive post on. Then, engage your brain and get your kids vaccinated on time.
Maybe someone has statistics on who gets vaccinated and who doesn’t. As far as I’m concerned, it is a matter of being able to reason. The End.
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I’m very much pro vax. I don’t think it’s a right or left issue. I’ve written several blog posts about vaccination. Read them for my point of view. The flu vaccine is one that you can decide for yourself, as it is different every year, and differs in effectiveness. Other vaccines, such as those for polio, measles, whooping cough, are either permanent or very long lasting, and extremely effective. The problem today is that only the elderly (like me and some of our other visitors) remember what it was like to have neighbors or relatives with polio, or side effects from measles. Those of you who grew up without seeing those things can’t imagine how terrible they were.
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I get the squeamies when I go to my major hospital megacomplex and there are employees wearing surgical masks, nurses too, and that means they’ve refused to take a flu shot. The idea that staff in a hospital can refuse to take a flu shot and still work on patients just seems….wrong. Here’s someone wearing a surgical mask, taking my vitals and asking ME if I’ve had a flu shot. What’s wrong with this picture?
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Traumatized lookin’, ain’t they???
https://twitter.com/alexrileyiscool/status/965611621195247616
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Are these kids pushing the antigun rallies? It occurred to me today that gop who join in with the liberals in anything beyond limited strengthening of background checks are deep state trying for disarming if they can to prep for a strike back(yes its a bit of tin foil time).
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That boy is the son of a retired FBI agent. I read something about one of the girls, too, but can’t remember at this time. Read it somewhere on the Pres. thread. I also saw it on FOX.
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Yup.
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Wellllll, some people grieve in different ways, maybe once the grief counselors hone their lines the narrative will change.
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Today in history, ten weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the removal of any or all people from military areas “as deemed necessary or desirable.” The military in turn defined the entire West Coast, home to the majority of Americans of Japanese ancestry or citizenship, as a military area. By June, more than 110,000 Japanese Americans were relocated to remote internment camps built by the U.S. military in scattered locations around the country. For the next two and a half years, many of these Japanese Americans endured extremely difficult living conditions and poor treatment by their military guards.
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And Germans too Stella. There was a camp that housed a large number of Germans locally. I went to a vintage store and bought the kiddo an old bookshelf. Went to paint it, flipped it over and discovered it is from a camp library. Did not paint it out. Its a piece of history and I will give it to local museum eventually.
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I think that was later, though, but I could be incorrect.
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I checked dates. It was started after pearl harbor, and housed Italians as well. Camp Haan.
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Thanks!
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Yes, and researching that little bit of history is a complete pain, because everyone would rather talk about the Japanese. Don’t forget that what happened to German-Americans happened to Italian-Americans, too.
I visited an online post where someone had asked about how Germans in America were treated in WWII. I needed the info for my writing project. The next post after that was a complete hijacking, telling the first poster that it didn’t matter how the Germans in America were treated, what matters is what America did to the Japanese.
I was not pleased.
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I made chili this afternoon, and it suits me perfectly! Especially in the damp cool weather.
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I made a plain focaccia yesterday, and it is so good with the chili, split and buttered. Strange Mexican/American/Italian meal, but satisfying.
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Satisfying!
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I like chili 5 way, which I believe is a Cincinnati favorite. As a matter of fact, I like it better than regular spaghetti.
I always serve my chili with Fritos, cheese, and sour cream in the bowl.
Along the lines of really weird way to eat chili, my husband used to get me to fry an egg to put in his chili.
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All of those are good. Also, chopped onions.
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I made simple food, my kids always called it, “poor food,” but it’s simple and filling. Ground beef and potato casserole(which is nothing more than sliced potatoes, browned ground beef cooked with onions and brown gravy baked in casserole dish for 30 minutes), green beans and a salad.
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I like that kind of food. I made a casserole last week with leftover ham, cabbage, onions, garlic, and potatoes. Added a little red wine and some broth. Very tasty.
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I rarely on a regular week night do anything but simple country food or poor food as my kids always called it. lol
I’ve always loved casseroles, especially when my kids were all home. They’re quick, easy, inexpensive and go a long ways.
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When I was working and had a young child, it was great to have a meal you could just put in the oven and forget it for an hour.
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I always kept a few casseroles in the freezer for those times when you were busy and didn’t have time or energy to cook.
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uhhhhhhhhh….garlic bread or corn bread?
I’m drooling in absentia.
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I’m reading the first of the “Call the Midwife” books. Very interesting so far.
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Evening, Stellars.
Robert DiNiro is Kermit the Frog. That’s all he is. There’s a hand in there, moving his mouth.
While attending a conference on world governance in, of all places, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, actor Robert De Niro chose to call attention to the plight of dropouts in the United States.
Sure, that’s not what he said, but De Niro’s comments made it obvious that not only did he lack a high school diploma, but that he’d never done anything to remedy the deficiency in his education and was ignorant of science, politics, and history.
In a stunning display of what could happen to any youth who gathers great fortune by mouthing other people’s lines and showing his good looks but not actually at any time, learning anything of consequence, De Niro chose to announce that he came from a backward country.
He did this while speaking in a country where talking to international rights groups can get you arbitrarily imprisoned, where prisoners can be tortured, and where…
Read the whole thing. Love DiNiro’s acting. He’s a really good trained muppet. Astonishingly good at what he was trained to do, actually. But there’s a hand, all up in there.
https://pjmedia.com/trending/robert-de-niro-shows-example-shortcomings-dropping-high-school/
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Oh, my goodness. I am just now watching Sat. night’s Judge Jeanine. BOY, is she wound up! I think she may have scared the new guy that is commenting from the WH, named Hogan Gidley. I thought she was going to go across the table and grab him by the collar and shake him. I think he might have thought that, too.
https://video.foxnews.com/v/embed.js?id=5735844906001&w=466&h=263Watch the latest video at foxnews.com
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Okay, that didn’t work at all. To see the clip, you have to go to http://www.foxnews.com/shows/justice-jeanine.html and choose the Hogan Gidley clip.
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I’d like to hear more from this guy. He doesn’t seem jaded enough to either act superior or do the unnecessary sharp comebacks; I think he handled himself well, given Judge Jeanine’s doggedness (one of the reasons we love her) and pressing for better answers. I, too, wish he had better answers – I want to know WTH happened and would like them to come back and actually tell us, and tell us that a head got rolled. Good clip, mom.
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lilbirdee12’s prayer:
Our Heavenly Father, Your children come to you tonight to ask for healing and peace throughout our country so that we may return to being One Nation Under God. Guide us to be leaders in Your Kingdom, spreading Your Love and Salvation to all. Forgive us our sins and deliver us from evil.
Lord, we ask for a blanket of protection over all our troops and law enforcement who serve to defend and protect us. Bless our representatives with the strength and wisdom they need to achieve the path You have chosen for us.
Please place Your Guardian Angels of Protection around Donald Trump and Mike Pence and their families as they seek to lead America back to You.
Grant us patience, Lord, as the evil ones try to anger us and cause us to fall.
Spread blessings over Israel and Netanyahu.
We humbly ask that You please comfort those who are grieving and in pain.
Thank you Father, for Your Love and the gift of Life.
In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
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Amen
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Amen.
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Amen.
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One more.
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Teachers and staff at the High School where I sub are having a Soul Food Festival for faculty and staff on Thursday….to observe African American Month of something in February…..since they mostly do not know about Southern Food anyway…..I just cooked up 6 pounds of black eyed peas and making three 10 inch iron skillets of serious cornbread….might toss in some candied yams…decided not to do greens as that would freak some out….taking some hot salsa for the peas for the Hispanic crowds…..my heavens but 6 pounds of dried blackeyes cooks up HUGE after they hydrate…..kitchen smells like onions and ham now…..oh well…….off to bed now….
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(…….softly hums “Dixie” to self headed to bedroom, laughingly considers a Confederate Battle Flag drapery for the food…….lol)
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Wish I was there, Joshua.
I’d be on them dishes and pans, too.
My lunch lady, best friend’s mom in High School, always said to us white boys, “You want greens with that, honey chile’?” I only said “No, ma’am.” once. You’re getting greens. And you had better eat them.
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