The grind goes on.

Ugh. A…not grueling day, but a frustrating one. Lots of dry holes, unreturned calls, all that stuff. And deadline is approaching like death, so double the frustration. The people you meet when you don’t have a cattle prod, know what I’m sayin’?

And yet, as you newspaper people know, sometimes everything can come together at the last minute. You just have to be patient. And then you have to panic. Because it’s important.

But at the end of the day, there is little that a grilled pork tenderloin, asparagus, roasted potatoes and a big glass of wine can’t fix. I was out last night for a bit — met a couple friends/colleagues for drinks overlooking the river, where we relaxed deeply, laughed loudly and downloaded an app to settle bets over the passing freighters. In the middle of this the Comey news landed. Truth be told, I didn’t pay attention to it until afterward, and it was like a really bad fart in the room, which perhaps explains my frustration last night. Is this ever going to end? Of course it will, but I fear not before I forget what it’s like to spend days, weeks not thinking about what’s happening in Washington, because I trust the nation is in, if not good then at least competent hands.

Times like these, we need our friends, we need our laughter overlooking the river. I hope you have something where you live — a river, a lake, an ocean, the healing water from which we all came. And friends, or family.

What do I have for you to read tonight?

There’s this, which has been around for a while, but worth your time — Laurie Penny on Princess I’s book:

Ivanka does not directly call herself a feminist; that plays badly among the base, for whom those of us who believe in justice and equality are baby-killing, castrating, terrorist-sympathising man-hating riders of the vaunted cock carousel. The word “feminism” does not appear in the book; the phrase “my father” appears thirty times, and “brand” or “branding” fifty-nine times. While we’re counting words, in a book about women balancing the demands of work and family, the word “nanny” appears only once. Ivanka has at least two of these, plus other household staff, which you’d think would make it a lot easier to attain this model of feminine self-production and reproduction. However, this book is part of a marketing strategy pitched to sell one of the world’s richest and most powerful women as everywoman—she has problems just like you do, after all. She worries about how to manage her time. “Get some servants” is not yet an acceptable motivational hashtag, but give it four years.

For your science nerds: How the Soviets turned a wary fox into a friendly dog in only 56 generations:

“How to Tame a Fox” sets out to answer a simple-seeming question: What makes a dog a dog? Put another way, how did an animal that started out as a bloodthirsty predator become one that now wants nothing more than a nice belly rub and the chance to gaze adoringly at a member of another species? In the late 1950s, a Russian scientist named Dmitri Belyaev decided to address this puzzle by taking the unheard-of tack of replicating the domestication process in real time. He and his colleagues took silver foxes, widely bred in vast Siberian farms for their luxurious pelts, and made them into friendly house pets. It was a deceptively simple process: Take the puppies from only the friendliest foxes, breed them and repeat.

When you’re feeling sad and stressed, you can hardly do better than five minutes with Tom & Lorenzo. Rosamund Pike should have checked with them before getting dressed.

Night, all.

Posted at 9:04 pm in Current events, Same ol' same ol' |
 

44 responses to “The grind goes on.”

  1. coozledad said on May 10, 2017 at 9:16 pm

    At least Lady Churchill could argue coherently that she had to deal with the exhausting demands of tertiary syphilis and the intricacies of being a relative outsider in the peripheral royal snipehouse.

    All Ivanka’s got is she’s a mob daughter in an oilman’s world. It fucking sucks to be déclassé in Oklagoddamnhoma.

    Bubby did this better:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uleDzItwkr8

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  2. basset said on May 10, 2017 at 9:21 pm

    Psycho kitty is back with his precious owner. More later, I’m tired and on my phone.

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  3. coozledad said on May 10, 2017 at 9:42 pm

    We had a cat named Whiskers we were bequeathed by a woman who donated five grand to our rescue group. He was one of the subclauses. He had never interacted meaningfully with anyone but an elderly lady who died in a houseful of cats.

    He lived behind the washer in my shop for about a year until we coaxed him into a crate, and he got to the point he would stay in the crate and watch me during the day. He was an elderly Main Coon, and by the time he wandered out of the crate and hoisted himself up in our laps, he was arthritic.

    Cats respond directly, if slowly, to human habituation. We’ve got cats here who love us, but wouldn’t be caught dead letting us touch them. They came from the dumpster at the Dairy Queen in Oxford, NC. One of them rode over from Oxford with me, and rode all the way in my lap. As soon as we got to our destination, she disembarked and never lets me get within three feet of her. She’ll pet herself on a tree or a dog, anything but a damn human.

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  4. coozledad said on May 10, 2017 at 9:53 pm

    Sorry, (Maine) Coon. He was large in temperament as well as physique. I can still see him tottering across the yard.

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  5. LAMary said on May 10, 2017 at 11:24 pm

    Consider yourself lucky. The place where you were surfing last summer has had two shark attacks in the last ten days. Drone cameras have spotted at least 24 great white shark in that area recently. Keep looking at that river for a while.

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  6. Jakash said on May 11, 2017 at 12:30 am

    “Tired and on my phone” makes me wonder whether Basset meant “precious” or maybe missed “previous” by one letter on a keyboard. Either one works, I suppose…

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  7. Dexter said on May 11, 2017 at 1:55 am

    I used to go on Craig Crawford’s Trail Mix (political blog) and give holy hell to Bush and maybe I burned out, because even though I watch the news about Comey, Trump, the Russian ambassador and goofy Spicer hiding in a hedge by the Rose Garden because Trump never sent any memos to him and Spicer was due to address the press… I just can’t search or even click links because I don’t want to know any more. It sickens me. Now here’s a good one: The cleaning ladies we had in for spring cleaning knocked over both the Keurig and the toaster, breaking both, as well as the kitchen radio, also destroyed. I have been using the new toaster for a week or so. I was making toast when the new radio boomed out the news about Trump sending thousands of troops back into fucking Afghanistan. I think the number I heard was 5,000 I didn’t even have to search for McCain’s reaction..he surely wants 200,000 sent in. When that news came over the radio , the new toaster shot both slices up in the air and onto the floor My toaster may be a hawk or a fellow traveller…I know not.

    Carla Lee aka Mrs. Dexter has 5 more days of in-patient rehab over in Defiance, getting her knee tuned up from implant surgery in Cleveland..

    Naller John C. Wallace is in hospital recovering from a staircase horrible tumble…broken pelvis and other bones…he caught his slippers on the top step and came down ass over applecart down the steps.

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  8. brian stouder said on May 11, 2017 at 8:20 am

    Good to hear from you, Dex; was just beginning to notice that you hadn’t been around.

    Here’s wishing all the best to Carla Lee & you, as MOAH (Mothers-day of All Holidays) approaches

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  9. Connie said on May 11, 2017 at 8:31 am

    I’m with Dexter. “I don’t want to know any more. It sickens me.”

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  10. basset said on May 11, 2017 at 8:37 am

    “Precious” was a typing slip, the previous and restored owner seems like a nice young lady but “precious,” no, that’s not her.

    We had a hell of a chase getting psycho cat into the crate and out the door. Our washer & dryer are in an alcove with just a few inches’ clearance on each side, and he was back in there – the plan was for me to scoot the washer back a little at a time until he ran out, with Mrs B and Jr waiting like hockey goalies and holding towels spread out to catch him.

    Didn’t work. He came flying out, fought his way past them, and ran into our bedroom hallway, where we had closed the doors to limit his travel. Quick turnaround there, and up into our bay window full of plants, knocked a bunch of em over and back behind the washer. So we thought we’d be clever and put the crate right where he’d come out, chase him into there and we’re done. Didn’t work. He went over it and into my work/clutter room and under a chair, trying to get behind a file cabinet.

    We moved up on him slowly. Didn’t work. He shot out of there and back into the plant window, then once more behind the washer. Nudged him out with a broom, Jr caught him on the fly and got some pretty significant scratches, cat went into the workroom and behind a rack of CDs. (Yes, I still use CDs.)

    Another round of jumping and clawing, another lap around the main room and back into the workroom to trash the same blinds he damaged a few nights ago – this time he went up between the blind and the window and was trying to get out, when I held the blind out horizontally he was clinging to it inverted, which gave me a chance to grab him in a towel while Jr picked his feet loose one at a time.

    So we stuff him into the crate and take him back to the previous owner in an apartment on the fringes of the hood. She comes outside and starts to open the crate but he won’t come out. She takes crate and all inside and is in there for awhile, then comes out all apologetic, says she had to drag him out and he is under the bed. We stand around with everyone saying sorry it didn’t work out, then we left and went straight to PetSmart to see what they had in the adoption cages. Still looking.

    About to head to work, planning commission meeting tonight and maybe it won’t go till nearly one in the morning this time.

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  11. Deborah said on May 11, 2017 at 8:50 am

    basset, your description of getting the cat in the crate was hilarious. Poor thing, hope he has as good a life as he can wherever he ends up.

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  12. coozledad said on May 11, 2017 at 8:59 am

    This is a Republican’s idea of a smart man.

    http://www.economist.com/Trumptranscript

    I hope they keep interviewing this sack of rot when he’s in jail, just to remind people what stupid trash Republicans are willing to blow.

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  13. coozledad said on May 11, 2017 at 10:00 am

    The stunning incompetence of drooling white fucks:
    https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/862602998891073536

    Why don’t you go ahead and hand the Russians the goddamn nuclear football while you’re at it, dipshits.

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  14. brian stouder said on May 11, 2017 at 10:01 am

    Cooz – that interview is, in a word, whack.

    It meanders from incoherent to irrational; sort of a stream-of-conscious word-salad.

    The ‘bright-side’ is that the Donald has no hidden agenda; while the unsettling part is the further confirmation that he truly has no idea what he’s doing, day-to-day and/or long-term.

    He’s a surfer – with no plan beyond catching whatever waves he can (and LA Mary’s sharks abound)

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  15. Julie Robinson said on May 11, 2017 at 10:13 am

    Healing water is in front of me as I type this in Orlando. Lake looks wonderful; pool a little green–the kids are still learning pool care. All three critters are enjoying being outside safely in the pool enclosure, and maybe I won’t think too much about Trumpkin for a few days.

    Our son turns 30, gasp, tomorrow and has some solos in a singing group he’s joined. I’m so glad for him, mostly because he needs to be making music for his mental health. Now go figure this, the whole concert is Disney music. 🙂

    Sending healing energies to John C. That sounds really painful.

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  16. LAMary said on May 11, 2017 at 10:19 am

    I’m watching Mike Huckabee’s daughter telling us the Comey firing is essentially no biggie. Why am I watching this? Ah, now Betsy De Vos is getting booed at a commencement. That’s better. The Today show is perfect background buzz for breakfast.

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  17. Kirk said on May 11, 2017 at 10:26 am

    I’m stil trying to figure out why Bethune-Cookman thought it would be a good idea to invite that moron to speak there.

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  18. Icarus said on May 11, 2017 at 10:33 am

    oh boy!

    https://www.yahoo.com/gma/president-trump-expected-launch-commission-election-integrity-101206732–abc-news-topstories.html

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  19. Deborah said on May 11, 2017 at 10:36 am

    Kirk, maybe it was one of those ole briar rabbit he lay low moments. They might have done it to bring it on?

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  20. Kirk said on May 11, 2017 at 10:38 am

    Seems kind of beneath the usual dignity of academic types, Deborah, but who knows? In any event, it was enjoyable.

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  21. Peter said on May 11, 2017 at 11:17 am

    First off, thoughts and prayers for John Wallace. I shudder to even think about what happened.

    I saw a comment that the eminently qualified secretary of Housing and Urban Development, one Dr. Ben Carson made yesterday, and it hit me: This administration is so FUBAR that Cray Cray Bennie C doesn’t make it into the top 50. In fact, how are things with Ricky at the Energy Department? If this was a normal administration, hell, if the was W’s turn at the wheel, people would be up in arms over these nut jobs, but they don’t even make it on the radar now.

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  22. Sherri said on May 11, 2017 at 11:33 am

    Well, Rick Perry responded with signs of at least basic competence and recognition of the role of his cabinet department with the collapse of the tunnel at Hanford: http://www.king5.com/news/local/hanford/hole-filled-at-hanford-tunnel-collapse/438802516

    Maybe when he found out that the DOE did stuff that was actually more important than selling oil, he decided to pay attention.

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  23. Snarkworth said on May 11, 2017 at 11:37 am

    basset, should you get a new cat and need to give it a pill, here are some useful instructions…

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC372253/

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  24. brian stouder said on May 11, 2017 at 11:44 am

    …and just to make the rubble bounce, I’m still put off that our current president is so entirely ignorant of United States history – and that surely a deal could have been arranged that avoided the Civil War (and surely, President Trump could have forged such a deal) – so here’s the House Divided speech that former (one-term) member of the House of Representaives and current Senate candidate Lincoln delivered, in 1858 (thus ending his prospects that the Illinois state house would send him to the Senate). Worth skimming (at least) just to remind ourselves how utterly clueless our current POTUS is:

    Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention.

    If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.

    We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation.

    Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only, not ceased, but has constantly augmented.

    In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed.

    “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

    I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.

    I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided.

    It will become all one thing or all the other.

    Either the opponents of slavery, will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South.

    Have we no tendency to the latter condition?

    Let any one who doubts, carefully contemplate that now almost complete legal combination — piece of machinery so to speak — compounded of the Nebraska doctrine, and the Dred Scott decision. Let him consider not only what work the machinery is adapted to do, and how well adapted; but also, let him study the history of its construction, and trace, if he can, or rather fail, if he can, to trace the evidence of design and concert of action, among its chief architects, from the beginning.

    But, so far, Congress only, had acted; and an indorsement by the people, real or apparent, was indispensable, to save the point already gained, and give chance for more.

    The new year of 1854 found slavery excluded from more than half the States by State Constitutions, and from most of the national territory by congressional prohibition.

    Four days later, commenced the struggle, which ended in repealing that congressional prohibition.

    This opened all the national territory to slavery, and was the first point gained.

    This necessity had not been overlooked; but had been provided for, as well as might be, in the notable argument of “squatter sovereignty,” otherwise called “sacred right of self government,” which latter phrase, though expressive of the only rightful basis of any government, was so perverted in this attempted use of it as to amount to just this: That if any one man, choose to enslave another, no third man shall be allowed to object.

    That argument was incorporated into the Nebraska bill itself, in the language which follows: “It being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or state, not to exclude it therefrom; but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States.”

    Then opened the roar of loose declamation in favor of “Squatter Sovereignty,” and “Sacred right of self-government.”

    “But,” said opposition members, “let us be more specific — let us amend the bill so as to expressly declare that the people of the territory may exclude slavery.” “Not we,” said the friends of the measure; and down they voted the amendment.

    While the Nebraska Bill was passing through congress, a law case involving the question of a negroe’s freedom, by reason of his owner having voluntarily taken him first into a free state and then a territory covered by the congressional prohibition, and held him as a slave, for a long time in each, was passing through the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Missouri; and both Nebraska bill and law suit were brought to a decision in the same month of May, 1854. The negroe’s name was “Dred Scott,” which name now designates the decision finally made in the case.

    Before the then next Presidential election, the law case came to, and was argued in, the Supreme Court of the United States; but the decision of it was deferred until after the election. Still, before the election, Senator Trumbull, on the floor of the Senate, requests the leading advocate of the Nebraska bill to state his opinion whether the people of a territory can constitutionally exclude slavery from their limits; and the latter answers: “That is a question for the Supreme Court.”

    The election came. Mr. Buchanan was elected, and the indorsement, such as it was, secured. That was the second point gained. The indorsement, however, fell short of a clear popular majority by nearly four hundred thousand votes, and so, perhaps, was not overwhelmingly reliable and satisfactory.

    The outgoing President, in his last annual message, as impressively as possible, echoed back upon the people the weight and authority of the indorsement.

    The Supreme Court met again; did not announce their decision, but ordered a re-argument.

    The Presidential inauguration came, and still no decision of the court; but the incoming President, in his inaugural address, fervently exhorted the people to abide by the forthcoming decision, whatever might be.

    Then, in a few days, came the decision.

    The reputed author of the Nebraska Bill finds an early occasion to make a speech at this capital indorsing the Dred Scott Decision, and vehemently denouncing all opposition to it.

    The new President, too, seizes the early occasion of the Silliman letter to indorse and strongly construe that decision, and to express his astonishment that any different view had ever been entertained.

    At length a squabble springs up between the President and the author of the Nebraska Bill, on the mere question of fact, whether the Lecompton constitution was or was not, in any just sense, made by the people of Kansas; and in that squabble the latter declares that all he wants is a fair vote for the people, and that he cares not whether slavery be voted down or voted up. I do not understand his declaration that he cares not whether slavery be voted down or voted up, to be intended by him other than as an apt definition of the policy he would impress upon the public mind — the principle for which he declares he has suffered much, and is ready to suffer to the end.

    And well may he cling to that principle. If he has any parental feeling, well may he cling to it. That principle, is the only shred left of his original Nebraska doctrine. Under the Dred Scott decision, “squatter sovereignty” squatted out of existence, tumbled down like temporary scaffolding — like the mould at the foundry served through one blast and fell back into loose sand — helped to carry an election, and then was kicked to the winds. His late joint struggle with the Republicans, against the Lecompton Constitution, involves nothing of the original Nebraska doctrine. That struggle was made on a point, the right of a people to make their own constitution, upon which he and the Republicans have never differed.

    The several points of the Dred Scott decision, in connection with Senator Douglas’ “care-not” policy, constitute the piece of machinery, in its present state of advancement. This was the third point gained.

    \ The working points of that machinery are:

    First, that no negro slave, imported as such from Africa, and no descendant of such slave can ever be a citizen of any State, in the sense of that term as used in the Constitution of the United States.

    This point is made in order to deprive the negro, in every possible event, of the benefit of this provision of the United States Constitution, which declares that–

    “The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States.”

    Secondly, that “subject to the Constitution of the United States,” neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature can exclude slavery from any United States Territory.

    This point is made in order that individual men may fill up the territories with slaves, without danger of losing them as property, and thus to enhance the chances of permanency to the institution through all the future.

    Thirdly, that whether the holding a negro in actual slavery in a free State, makes him free, as against the holder, the United States courts will not decide, but will leave to be decided by the courts of any slave State the negro may be forced into by the master.

    This point is made, not to be pressed immediately; but, if acquiesced in for a while, and apparently indorsed by the people at an election, then to sustain the logical conclusion that what Dred Scott’s master might lawfully do with Dred Scott, in the free State of Illinois, every other master may lawfully do with any other one, or one thousand slaves, in Illinois, or in any other free State.

    Auxiliary to all this, and working hand in hand with it, the Nebraska doctrine, or what is left of it, is to educate and mould public opinion, at least Northern public opinion, to not care whether slavery is voted down or voted up.

    This shows exactly where we now are; and partially, also, whither we are tending.

    It will throw additional light on the latter, to go back, and run the mind over the string of historical facts already stated. Several things will now appear less dark and mysterious than they did when they were transpiring. The people were to be left “perfectly free” “subject only to the Constitution.” What the Constitution had to do with it, outsiders could not then see. Plainly enough now, it was an exactly fitted niche, for the Dred Scott decision to afterward come in, and declare the perfect freedom of the people, to be just no freedom at all.

    Why was the amendment, expressly declaring the right of the people to exclude slavery, voted down? Plainly enough now, the adoption of it would have spoiled the niche for the Dred Scott decision.

    Why was the court decision held up? Why even a Senator’s individual opinion withheld, till after the presidential election? Plainly enough now, the speaking out then would have damaged the “perfectly free” argument upon which the election was to be carried.

    Why the outgoing President’s felicitation on the indorsement? Why the delay of a reargument? Why the incoming President’s advance exhortation in favor of the decision?

    These things look like the cautious patting and petting of a spirited horse, preparatory to mounting him, when it is dreaded that he may give the rider a fall.

    And why the hasty after indorsements of the decision by the President and others?

    We can not absolutely know that all these exact adaptations are the result of preconcert. But when we see a lot of framed timbers, different portions of which we know have been gotten out at different times and places and by different workmen — Stephen, Franklin, Roger, and James, for instance — and when we see these timbers joined together, and see they exactly make the frame of a house or a mill, all the tenons and mortices exactly fitting, and all the lengths and proportions of the different pieces exactly adapted to their respective places, and not a piece too many or too few — not omitting even scaffolding — or, if a single piece be lacking, we can see the place in the frame exactly fitted and prepared to yet bring such piece in — in such a case, we find it impossible not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James all understood one another from the beginning, and all worked upon a common plan or draft drawn up before the first lick was struck.

    It should not be overlooked that, by the Nebraska Bill, the people of a State, as well as Territory, were to be left “perfectly free” “subject only to the Constitution.”

    Why mention a State? They were legislating for territories, and not for or about States. Certainly the people of a State are and ought to be subject to the Constitution of the United States; but why is mention of this lugged into this merely territorial law? Why are the people of a territory and the people of a state therein lumped together, and their relation to the Constitution therein treated as being precisely the same?

    While the opinion of the Court, by Chief Justice Taney, in the Dred Scott case, and the separate opinions of all the concurring Judges, expressly declare that the Constitution of the United States neither permits Congress nor a Territorial legislature to exclude slavery from any United States territory, they all omit to declare whether or not the same Constitution permits a state, or the people of a State, to exclude it.

    Possibly, this is a mere omission; but who can be quite sure, if McLean or Curtis had sought to get into the opinion a declaration of unlimited power in the people of a state to exclude slavery from their limits, just as Chase and Macy sought to get such declaration, in behalf of the people of a territory, into the Nebraska bill — I ask, who can be quite sure that it would not have been voted down, in the one case, as it had been in the other.

    The nearest approach to the point of declaring the power of a State over slavery, is made by Judge Nelson. He approaches it more than once, using the precise idea, and almost the language too, of the Nebraska act. On one occasion his exact language is, “except in cases where the power is restrained by the Constitution of the United States, the law of the State is supreme over the subject of slavery within its jurisdiction.”

    In what cases the power of the states is so restrained by the U.S. Constitution, is left an open question, precisely as the same question, as to the restraint on the power of the territories was left open in the Nebraska act. Put that and that together, and we have another nice little niche, which we may, ere long, see filled with another Supreme Court decision, declaring that the Constitution of the United States does not permit a state to exclude slavery from its limits.

    And this may especially be expected if the doctrine of “care not whether slavery be voted down or voted up, shall gain upon the public mind sufficiently to give promise that such a decision an be maintained when made.

    Such a decision is all that slavery now lacks of being alike lawful in all the States.

    Welcome, or unwelcome, such decision is probably coming, and will soon be upon us, unless the power of the present political dynasty shall be met and overthrown.

    We shall lie down pleasantly dreaming that the people of Missouri are on the verge of making their State free; and we shall awake to the reality, instead, that the Supreme Court has made Illinois a slave State.

    To meet and overthrow the power of that dynasty, is the work now before all those who would prevent that consummation.

    This is what we have to do.

    But how can we best do it?

    There are those who denounce us openly to their own friends, and yet whisper us softly, that Senator Douglas is the aptest instrument there is, with which to effect that object. They wish us to infer all, from the facts, that he now has a little quarrel with the present head of the dynasty; and that he has regularly voted with us, on a single point, upon which, he and we, have never differed.

    They remind us that he is a great man, and that the largest of us are very small ones. Let this be granted. But “a living dog is better than a dead lion.” Judge Douglas, if not a dead lion for this work, is at least a caged and toothless one. How can he oppose the advances of slavery? He don’t care anything about it. His avowed mission is impressing the “public heart” to care nothing about it.

    A leading Douglas Democratic newspaper thinks Douglas’ superior talent will be needed to resist the revival of the African slave trade.

    Does Douglas believe an effort to revive that trade is approaching? He has not said so. Does he really think so? But if it is, how can he resist it? For years he has labored to prove it a sacred right of white men to take negro slaves into the new territories. Can he possibly show that it is less a sacred right to buy them where they can be bought cheapest? And, unquestionably they can be bought cheaper in Africa than in Virginia.

    He has done all in his power to reduce the whole question of slavery to one of a mere right of property; and as such, how can he oppose the foreign slave trade — how can he refuse that trade in that “property” shall be “perfectly free” — unless he does it as a protection to the home production? And as the home producers will probably not ask the protection, he will be wholly without a ground of opposition.

    Senator Douglas holds, we know, that a man may rightfully be wiser to-day than he was yesterday — that he may rightfully change when he finds himself wrong.

    But can we, for that reason, run ahead, and infer that he will make any particular change, of which he, himself, has given no intimation? Can we safely base our action upon any such vague inference?

    Now, as ever, I wish not to misrepresent Judge Douglas’ position, question his motives, or do ought that can be personally offensive to him.

    Whenever, if ever, he and we can come together on principle so that our great cause may have assistance from his great ability, I hope to have interposed no adventitious obstacle.

    But clearly, he is not now with us — he does not pretend to be — he does not promise to ever be.

    Our cause, then, must be intrusted to, and conducted by its own undoubted friends — those whose hands are free, whose hearts are in the work — who do care for the result.

    Two years ago the Republicans of the nation mustered over thirteen hundred thousand strong.

    We did this under the single impulse of resistance to a common danger, with every external circumstance against us.

    Of strange, discordant, and even, hostile elements, we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought the battle through, under the constant hot fire of a disciplined, proud, and pampered enemy.

    Did we brave all then to falter now? — now — when that same enemy is wavering, dissevered and belligerent?

    The result is not doubtful. We shall not fail — if we stand firm, we shall not fail.

    Wise councils may accelerate or mistakes delay it, but, sooner or later the victory is sure to come.

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  25. Kirk said on May 11, 2017 at 12:32 pm

    And how disgusting to see so many crackers sobbing and saluting as a statue of their St. Jeff Davis was finally toppled in New Orleans.

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  26. brian stouder said on May 11, 2017 at 1:11 pm

    And indeed – why on Earth do we have United States military installations named after people who committed treason and lead a horrible rebellion against the United States?

    Remembrance is one thing, and reverence is another.

    A bit more historical house-cleaning needs done

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  27. Lou Gravity said on May 11, 2017 at 1:33 pm

    A little off today’s topic(s) but I thought your readers might appreciate a clip of a high school student grilling Rep. MacArthur about the health care bill at a Town Hall last night.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8yNumzQFlc

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  28. coozledad said on May 11, 2017 at 2:29 pm

    Not only was this story a plain absurdity on day one; all the information which has emerged over the last two days has tended to confirm its falsity. Here’s the key point. Everyone who has repeated it knows it’s false. They have knowingly lied on the President’s behalf and about a matter of grave national importance. That includes the Vice President. So in the extreme scenario that the President leaves office and is succeeded by the Vice President, the sitting President will still be directly implicated in this lie and this cover-up.

    As will the greater share of the rest of the party. The Republican party needs to be atomized where it can’t be jailed.
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/theyre-trapped-in-his-lies

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  29. Sherri said on May 11, 2017 at 2:57 pm

    I had an interesting conversation with a friend last night. We were at the groundbreaking for the new downtown park in Redmond. Peter and I have worked on the mayor’s campaigns, on other initiatives in the city, he’s very active in the community, and we have a good time talking and arguing about politics. He identifies as a moderate Republican. I’ve been telling him for years that there is no such thing.

    He didn’t vote for trump; if he had, our relationship wouldn’t still be the same. But we were talking about stuff going on in DC and Olympia, and while he was horrified by trump, he was still dismissive of the Russia stuff. “Did they actually change any voting machines?” I told him that wasn’t my issue, it was that the Russians appear to have policy influence in the administration.

    Then we got to the heart of why he’s a Republican. He’s really a nice guy, and he does care about people. He was trying to convince me last night that I wasn’t really a bleeding heart liberal, that we were much closer ideologically. But…we started talking about the legislature, and what’s going on in the legislature, which is the inability to come up with a plan to fund basic education in the state. I started talking about the need to raise revenue in a less regressive way, and suddenly Mr. Fiscal Responsibility was uh-uh, no way, don’t raise my taxes. He’s well-off, a successful businessman, and agrees that we have a terribly regressive tax system. But don’t talk to him about a capital gains tax or an income tax on high earners. Why should he pay more taxes?

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  30. brian stouder said on May 11, 2017 at 3:28 pm

    Sherri – you must have very great patience!

    For one thing, if he’s a successful business person, then he depends on some combination of educated customers, educated potential employees, and educated suppliers…so a quality public education for everyone pays dividends to all of us, and especially people like him.

    People at the top of the heap, and people in the middle of the heap (like me) benefit every single day, directly and indirectly, whether we appreciate that or not.

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  31. Sherri said on May 11, 2017 at 3:54 pm

    Oh, Brian, his kids were educated in public schools, not that long ago. He’s only a little older than me. One of his solutions to education funding was to find more efficient solution. For example, there are many rural school districts in the state that serve fewer students than the high school our kids attended; he thinks we should just make them merge. Of course, as my other friend standing there, who’s on our school board reminded him, those districts want local control, too, and they have state legislators, too. I told him that government wasn’t about efficiency, it was about representation.

    Later, I thought of an analogy that maybe I’ll use next time. If a business decides that a market isn’t worth it, it just stops selling into that market. If that means that customers no longer have access to the product, well, that’s not the company’s problem. A well-functioning government should provide services to the entire community, not decide it’s too expensive to send the police to this part of the city or to school those kids and pull out.

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  32. coozledad said on May 11, 2017 at 4:14 pm

    FBI going after Manafort, GOP/Russia money laundering.
    https://twitter.com/jemillerwbal/status/862714093899325440

    One reason McConnell doesn’t want a special prosecutor. The Russians have him by his tiny balls.

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  33. Heather said on May 11, 2017 at 4:44 pm

    So, Sherri, schoolkids should commute 1-2 hours each way to go to school every day? Doesn’t sound efficient for them, or their families.

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  34. Dexter said on May 11, 2017 at 4:51 pm

    Jeff Davis can go bye-bye but they better never fuck with the statue of my fave literary fictional character, the one and only Ignatius J. Reilly of New Orleans, Louisiana.
    http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5020/5503753299_cb1e67f280.jpg

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  35. Sherri said on May 11, 2017 at 5:02 pm

    He really doesn’t want to pay more taxes, Heather. There must be Waste, Fraud, & Abuse that can be reduced instead.

    On a different note, here’s a seriously righteous rant by a constituent in Right in Rep MacArthur’s face: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/constituent-loses-temper-rep-tom-macarthur-health-care-47338603

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  36. Dexter said on May 11, 2017 at 5:04 pm

    Also…a typo…John G. Wallace, not “C.” He’s able to do a few more physical things now, according to Facebook trails.

    Caring for an ancient JRTerrier and a labbie dog and a cat, doing everything that it takes to keep this place halfway straightened up is exhausting me! I would have been a terrible, depressed housewife if that would have been my lot in life.
    Laundry, dishes, cooking, scrubbing and sweeping, yard work, shopping, maintaining an older car…sheesh! I was so glad to hear that as rehab nears an end, Carla Lee is able to wash dishes and do other household tasks. (Some places test the patients’ ability to wash clothes and load a dryer and fold clothes and run a sweeper before they are considered able to go home. Even with bum knees she did a lot…stuff I now greatly appreciate. I want her ass back home again, goddammitt.
    LAMary reported two shark attacks there off Camp Pendleton / Oceanside… I wish I could have seen just one Great White when we cruised for dolphins last summer. I would have freaked the fuck out!
    Boy, the FBI honchos are just giving Trump holy hell. Good for them.

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  37. Deborah said on May 11, 2017 at 5:05 pm

    Coozledad at #32, I have this vision of paper shredders whirring like crazy.

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  38. kayak woman said on May 11, 2017 at 6:04 pm

    Marine Traffic? (That freighter bet settling app)

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    • nancy said on May 11, 2017 at 7:09 pm

      Yep, pretty sure that was the one. Costs $5 or so, but very good — it even ID’d a small pleasure yacht that went by.

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  39. kayak woman said on May 11, 2017 at 7:45 pm

    I’ve had Marine Traffic for so many years I can’t remember what I paid for it. I forget about it until I arrive at our UP cabin on the upper St. Marys River and have a sudden need to identify the freighters that go by (long boring story behind that). Have used it in Detroit too. Cheers!

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  40. beb said on May 11, 2017 at 7:50 pm

    “Waste, Fraud and Abuse” is the go-to excuse for Republicans wanting to cut everyone else’s government funding. People have been trying to cut waste for so long they forget that waste has already been squeezed out.

    Basset, your tale of trying to catch your angry kitten sounds about par. Cats do not like being caught and are damned good in avoiding it.

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  41. Sherri said on May 11, 2017 at 8:02 pm

    Of course, beb. My friend is a moderate Republican because he doesn’t care who you sleep with or want to prevent you from getting an abortion, as long as he doesn’t have to pay for it, and doesn’t mind having immigrants live next door. But I thought it was funny that just because he and I have been friends a long time, he was convinced I couldn’t really be a bleeding heart liberal, despite everything he’s heard me say over the years. And to see his face totally change when I said “raise revenue” was really something.

    He’s not the first conservative man I’ve encountered who I joke and laugh and argue with who takes me seriously but not seriously. They can’t quite grasp that I really do mean what I say, I’m not just playing devils advocate with them.

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  42. Sherri said on May 11, 2017 at 8:18 pm

    Evidently Empty Suit Dave Reichert is a possibility to replace Comey. The Stranger has the goods: http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/05/11/25140411/congressman-dave-reichert-might-be-considered-for-fbi-director

    Reichert is not my rep, his district borders mine, but I’ve donated to his opponent regularly.

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  43. Sherri said on May 11, 2017 at 9:36 pm

    How do you run light rail over a floating bridge?

    http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/light-rail-track-floating-bridge-i-90-sound-transit/

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