Ah, Mothers Day. The day when I eat waffles made my someone else, which, I should add, I thoroughly enjoyed. And based on the several wire photos I saw from places that “opened up,” as we’re saying, today? I will be enjoying home cooking for quite some time. Yes, by all means, let’s all crowd into a tiny restaurant because free at last free at last, etc.
Y’all go first, Alabama. I’ll wait.
On the other hand, when I was thinking about this the other day, it occurred to me that maybe the first thing I would do if it were safe is, find a good Mexican restaurant with a liquor license, and split a platter of tacos with friends. With two margaritas, and maybe three if I’m not driving.
Someday.
Another weekend of misery, cold and sunny one day, less-cold and rainy the next. Went to the Saturday market for the first time in a while. Scored some ramps and green garlic and jumbo eggs, the usual spring haul, and I hope we’ll have a chance to enjoy them in the coming days. Most people were masked and it was fine, but a visit to the market without a stop for breakfast just isn’t the same. Just to sit over a plate of eggs, scrolling Twitter and knowing someone will be around to warm up my coffee presently was a pleasure I didn’t appreciate enough when I had it. Although, who am I kidding. I appreciated it every single week. Market Saturdays were the highlight of my week, finding my secret parking spots, picking out the beautiful food, enjoying a solitary breakfast. So I miss it all the more.
I’m afraid I don’t have any bloggage to recommend, having plowed through the profile of NYT magazine Val Kilmer and thinking, huh. So let’s just wait for the week to unfold and to be appalled by it, OK?
basset said on May 10, 2020 at 10:30 pm
I didn’t know ramps got that far north.
“Forrest Gump” is on in the next room while I’m working on a writing project, the little bits I hear when I take a break remind me why I never watched it first time around.
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alex said on May 10, 2020 at 11:30 pm
Just saw Forrest for the first time myself. It reminded me why I stopped watching Hollywood product in the 1990s. I hope I live long enough to see the Trump era commemorated with as much triteness and one-dimensionality as all of the history in this flick.
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Mark P said on May 10, 2020 at 11:57 pm
We’re missing our regular Wednesday huevos rancheros, plus the visits with relatives we had reconnected with. It seems like it’s never going to happen again. It’s not a matter of our not being willing to go, the restaurant has not reopened, despite our “governor” saying it’s OK. In fact, none of the restaurants we see on our infrequent rounds has reopened. All the national franchises are still doing takeout only.
Forrest Gump was just one of the movies of the early 1990’s that seemed to be saying that the best men were those that were mentally handicapped or brain damaged. Regarding Henry was another. Harrison Ford’s character was mellowed out by a bullet to the brain. If you know anyone with a brain injury you know that’s not what happens.
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beb said on May 11, 2020 at 12:11 am
My wife commented the other day that she missed beinig able to go to dine-in restaurants. I think she likes the idea of someone else making supper once in a while but it’s also enjoying enchiladas by someone who knows how to make them, a good egg drop soup or eggplant lasagna. We can’t even get a good coney dog because National Coney Island decided to close everything including the drive-thru.
I bought some new underwear to replace the holey ones I’ve been putting up with. Was surprised to find that these came in resealable plastic bags. Why in the world would anyone want to get their new underwear in a resealable bag. It’s not like people keep them in those bags, right? Maybe travelers do like being able to seal their underwear up during travel?
Dahlia Lithwick had a good column about the quarantine protesters. There are two types of freedom, she wrote. The “freedom to” and the “freedom from” The freedom to people believe they have the right to do whatever they please with no regard to anyone else. The freedom from people thing they have the right to be free from polluters, bullies, disease spreaders, etc. They are the people who believe that freedom is a community thing.
My own thought is that one of the fatal flaws of America are the people who colonized it. So many of them were malcontents and grifters so that our nation as a whole is filled with crooks and liars.
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Bitter Scribe said on May 11, 2020 at 9:56 am
My own thought is that one of the fatal flaws of America are the people who colonized it. So many of them were malcontents and grifters so that our nation as a whole is filled with crooks and liars.
“We’re Americans, with a capital A! And do you know what that means? Do you? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world.”
–Bill Murray, “Stripes”
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Jeff Borden said on May 11, 2020 at 10:07 am
My first post-pandemic lunch spot will be the Mexican restaurant two blocks from our house for a burrito al pastor. We’d be ordering out from there, but the owners have shut the whole place down. Many of the other eateries in our ‘hood are doing takeout and curbside, but not Garcia’s, darn it.
I’m smitten with Beb’s assessment of why we are who we are and I think she has a point. In elementary and high school, I was taught the people coming to the New World were fleeing religious persecution. Reading more deeply researched and insightful histories of those times reveals a far uglier picture. For example, I had no idea the Puritans –the fucking Puritans– owned slaves. And man, were they superstitious and mean. They saw witches and devils and demons behind every tree. They persecuted other believers, notably Quakers, in the same way they’d been persecuted in the Old Country.
I used to debate with a couple of good friends from Canada why our countries were so different with regards to the issue of gun violence despite all the other similarities. They believed the U.S. was more violent because it seized its independence through war and, hence, the view of armed conflict was seen as a successful strategy. Canada was granted its independence much later. It makes as much sense as any other theory.
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Mark P said on May 11, 2020 at 10:53 am
Jeff, the Canadians also didn’t slaughter their native tribes, steal their land, and break every treaty they made with them.
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Suzanne said on May 11, 2020 at 11:23 am
I am with you, Jeff Borden. I read a book a few years ago, title I cannot recall, that chronicled the history of white people in America. I had no clue how many were sent here by other countries because they were malcontents, fools, criminals, etc. Also, yes, the religious persecution thing was often because these groups were bat guano crazy. In history lessons in my youth, the Puritans were always sold as these decent people with a strict moral code. No, they were pretty much lunatics who nobody wanted around and got sent to the New World where they couldn’t inflict as much damage.
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Sherri said on May 11, 2020 at 12:05 pm
Trump finally seems to realize there’s a crisis. The problem is, he thinks the crisis is that he won’t get re-elected, and he’s absolutely willing to destroy the country to get re-elected. He doesn’t care how many people die, how many people are unemployed, homeless, hungry, or sick, as long as they’re the right people.
And the Republicans and the white evangelicals will go along with that with no problem.
Secession looks better every day.
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LAMary said on May 11, 2020 at 12:07 pm
My ex is very proud of having two Mayflower ancestors. What you are saying here about the Puritans reassures me that it is not just my imagination that he is an asshole. It’s genetic. Certainly his relatives from that side of the family impressed me as jerks.
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Dexter Friend said on May 11, 2020 at 12:50 pm
My solitary pleasure was driving to Cleveland, Detroit, Cincinnati, or Chicago to see a baseball game, or to Ann Arbor for a football game. Over time, I also found secret free parking spots and for each trip I had a favorite breakfast place. Going to Cleveland, I’d stop at a Bowling Green restaurant on the main drag, because they had great Texas toast made into French toast. Then in Cleveland I found a little falafel stand, lots of sprouts and hummus. Heading to Chicago, it was the old Montana Charlie’s truck stop for eggs and toast and bacon. In Detroit I’d just have a piece of fruit and coffee at home and have lunch at a place called The Left Field Cafe . They had a great beef barley soup. It was really fantastic. In Cincinnati it was usually a mundane Bob Evans, then post-game some of that Skyline thin chili over spaghetti with beans and cheese. Free parking within walking distance of the stadium was really hard to find. Cincinnati is like this: if you know the city well, you’re OK. If you are a rube, and try to park for free…you may find yourself in big trouble. I didn’t know Cincinnati well at all, so I took to paying to park, usually $15. In Cleveland it was easy to find free parking right on the street, a mile away from the stadium, then bike to the game. In Chicago, I’d park at a restaurant parking lot…I did this for 30 years, and after the game, go inside for a steak. In Detroit, it was easy to find free parking , then bike a mile to the ballparks, either one, old or “new”. I have not had one of my cars broken into and ransacked since Fort Wayne in 1971.
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Deborah said on May 11, 2020 at 1:03 pm
Off topic: I’m obsessed with this YouTube channel of a lovely young Chinese woman who makes beautiful videos of her life in the countryside, grows, harvests and makes amazing food, builds her own furniture etc all with traditional Chinese methods using interesting implements and equipment. She lives with her grandmother and has a young child. The videos are suprisingly calming to watch and inspiring in these stressful times https://m.youtube.com/c/cnliziqi
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Suzanne said on May 11, 2020 at 1:40 pm
I remembered the book I was talking about above.
White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg
https://www.amazon.com/White-Trash-400-Year-History-America/dp/0143129678
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Jakash said on May 11, 2020 at 6:25 pm
Basset,
Here’s a nice little story that you and other Beatles fans might like, if you haven’t seen it: “The Charming Story of George Harrison’s Vacation in Small-Town America” — “The Beatles guitarist visited his sister in southern Illinois just months before he’d become world famous”
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/charming-story-george-harrison-vacationed-small-town-america-180974593/
Meanwhile, who doesn’t like Columbo? A “March 1 v. May 1” photo joke:
https://twitter.com/seekandspeak/status/1256376407942406144
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Deggjr said on May 11, 2020 at 7:39 pm
On maybe the lighter side of the Puritan discussion there is a joke. Q. Why did Australia get the convicts and America get the Puritans? A. Australia got first choice.
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Sherri said on May 11, 2020 at 9:26 pm
Just imagine the nonstop Congressional hearings that would be happening if Hillary were President and 2000 people had died from COVID19.
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basset said on May 11, 2020 at 11:29 pm
Jakash, I’ve been to that house in Benton… it’s just kinda there, nothing left that was there in the Sixties aside from the house itself. No reason to preserve it at the time. Last I heard, George’s sister was living in Branson and managing a Beatles tribute band.
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4dbirds said on May 12, 2020 at 8:25 am
Going back to a comment on the prior post, I think Melania lives most of the week with Barron and her parents in either suburban Maryland or Virginia, where ever his school is located. This has been an open secret around here for quite some time.
I too miss going out to eat. Real Tex-Mex is impossible to find in this area. While growing up, we lived for eight years in a small Texas town west of Fort Worth. There were no chains of any kind there and the Mexican cuisine was basically out of someone’s kitchen. Very small dining areas and along with chips and homemade salsa they served warmed flour tortillas with butter. No alcohol, I was too young for one and the other was it was a dry county. We have a huge Central American community here in the DC area but I don’t find the food quite as comforting. There is a wine bar here with several tasty dishes. I like going there and having a glass of wine and something new from their menu.
Well I did the unthinkable but I couldn’t stand it anymore. I cut my bangs. It was constantly in my face and I’m a bang girl. I sectioned my hair, rolled the bangs in a tight twist and cut it. So this is me. I made it my profile picture. https://www.facebook.com/barbara.bradley2
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Julie Robinson said on May 12, 2020 at 9:00 am
Looking good! I haven’t had the nerve yet but will have to come to Jesus soon about that and my roots.
At this time on this day in 1987 I was cradling our newborn son, the baby of the family. Baby is a big boy now, over 6′ tall with a booming voice to match. He hasn’t always had an easy path but he is a joy to be around at least 90% of the time now!
For the few of you out there who are musical theatre fans: the Hamilton movie will be released July 3 on Disney+. I write these words so calmly, as if I haven’t been dancing around the living room since I learned, getting out my soundtrack and my book and my Playbill. This is the original Broadway cast, filmed live in performance while they were still together. It was widely believed it would be 10 or more years before it was released. For the first and probably last time I say thank you to Covid 19.
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Suzanne said on May 12, 2020 at 9:34 am
We don’t have Disney Plus but I may have to figure out how to get it. I got to see Hamilton in Chicago and my biggest take was that with all the hype, I fully expected to be disappointed. I wasn’t. It was so much better than I expected and I hope to see it again someday, but I think it will be a long, long time.
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bb said on May 12, 2020 at 10:34 am
Funny you should say that, Suzanne. We got a chance to see the show a year ago Christmas (the details of which come out sounding like a giant humble-brag, so I’ll skip ’em) and, going in, I too feared being inadequately impressed. Walking out, the better half and I agreed: the hype was deserved. Uniquely original storyline, great music, and a genuinely moving 2nd act. If NN.c ever puts together a community theater version of it, I call dibs on playing King George.
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Julie Robinson said on May 12, 2020 at 10:42 am
Everyone wants to play George, bb; we’ll have to take turns. I’m waiting for the gender neutral version because Burr is a role I’d love to dig in to.
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LAMary said on May 12, 2020 at 11:02 am
Serenity now!
https://www.vulture.com/article/jerry-stiller-best-seinfeld-moments-frank-costanza.html
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beb said on May 12, 2020 at 12:08 pm
In Hamilton there’s a scene where King George points to someone in the audience while saying “You are my favorite subject.” My wife is convinced that he was pointing to our daughter.
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Jakash said on May 12, 2020 at 12:42 pm
As with many things, we procrastinated on seeing Hamilton. We often see plays on their last day, having thought “we’ll get to it eventually” and then having our hand forced. With Hamilton in Chicago, I think it was in the last week or 10 days. But I agree with everybody — it *was* “all that.”
I’m very impressed with Lin Manuel Miranda’s attitude about the whole phenomenon. Really seems like a great guy. We never bought the soundtrack, because you can listen to the whole thing for free on YouTube. You can watch a full “animatic” version, set to the original soundtrack. Obviously, this stuff could be disallowed, but I assume that Miranda, et. al. want lots of folks to be able to enjoy it, not just the ones that can afford it. I’m not surprised that the movie is coming out sooner than it might have.
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Icarus said on May 12, 2020 at 4:12 pm
in better times my job gave us a summer gift of some money (I don’t remember the exact amount). I was gonna spring for good seats at Hamilton. Instead my wife insisted we use the money to buy her new tires for our minivan.
Jakash from last thread….love Garcia’s. I haven’t been there in ages but Lincoln Square was where I spent a lot of time from 2005-2009.
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Jakash said on May 12, 2020 at 4:13 pm
I don’t imagine that there are a whole lot of folks that this list would appeal to. And I’m not one of them, alas. I’ve seen lots and lots of movies, yet don’t believe that I’ve seen any of these. Nor do I want to see many, based on the remarks. That being said, I think that the Proprietress might be intrigued by this movie marathon.
https://film.avclub.com/tracy-letts-and-carrie-coon-programmed-a-24-hour-movie-1842718348?
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Jakash said on May 12, 2020 at 4:33 pm
Thanks for the shout-out, Icarus, but that was Jeff Borden with the Garcia’s recommendation @ 6. We’ve been there a couple times, though, and it is a fine spot, indeed.
I don’t really see any margaritas on the horizon, as that’s the only way we drink tequila and we’re not gonna buy a bottle of it to make our own.
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basset said on May 12, 2020 at 5:03 pm
Never heard of Carrie Coon and Tracy Letts, or of any of those movies except “Dr. Phibes.” My time of staying up all night for anything are over, too. Old and no fun, that’s me.
Reading the last few days’ comments, though, I am definitely inspired to get a big Mexican dinner and some margaritas when the time is right.
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LAMary said on May 12, 2020 at 5:11 pm
It’s a Gift is worth watching.
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Deborah said on May 12, 2020 at 6:18 pm
I saw the Tracy Letts play “Superioir Donuts” at Steppenwolf a while back, it was excellent. The recommendation in that Jakash link to watch the movie “Contempt” is a good one, it’s one of my all time favorites that I’ve watched dozens of times, a young Jack Palance is in it, Bridgett Bardot, it’s fantastic. Not one recommended in that link but an older Jack Palance is in “Bagdad Cafe” another favorite.
LB and I watched “Becoming” about Michelle Obama, on Netflix last night, had to get out the Kleenex, it’s a bit of a tear jerker.
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Joe Kobiela said on May 12, 2020 at 10:31 pm
Superior donuts was also a sitcom a few years back, Judd Hirsch and Katey Sagal starred. It as excellent but I guess the masses didn’t agree and it only lasted Two seasons. Would have loved to have seen the play.
Pilot Joe
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Brandon said on May 13, 2020 at 1:06 am
@Jeff Borden, #6: See the story of Tituba.
And Betty Wood’s book, The Origins of American Slavery (1997).
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Jakash said on May 13, 2020 at 1:24 am
We saw “Superior Donuts” when it was at the Steppenwolf Theater and then, because of that, watched the TV show as well. It was a likeable show and we watched all the episodes. I wasn’t particularly surprised that it was canceled, though.
You know how I hate to disagree with you, Joe, but it *starred* Judd Hirsch and Jermaine Fowler, who were both very good in their roles. Katey Sagal was the best-known member of the supporting cast.
We’ve also seen 5 other plays by Tracy Letts, who is a member of the Steppenwolf ensemble, as is his wife Carrie Coon. We’ve seen them on stage there a number of times. In fact, we happened to see her in his play, “Bug”, the last night that the theater was open in March. He’s had several interesting small parts in good movies lately. He was just in “Little Women” and played Henry Ford II in “Ford v Ferrari”.
Anyway, that’s why I was interested to see their movie recommendations. In that article, I was encouraged to see Carrie Coon say: “Normally, I lack any kind of recall — which is what makes me the perfect wife, because we can watch movies over and over again for decades, and I won’t remember them.” She’s a brilliant actress who can remember all the lines for essentially a 2-person play. If she has trouble remembering movies, I don’t feel so bad about not remembering many of them very well, myself…
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Dexter Friend said on May 13, 2020 at 3:48 am
LA Mary’s post about her ex’s Mayflower connection is funny.
I read “Forrest Gump” in 1988 on a flight to Florida, then finished it on a sandy beach there, so the movie was a delight for me. It was a fun-filled farce, well, until Jenny’s end anyway. But boy, just like some of the nallers here, a lot of people have shat on this movie for 26 years now. I never understood it, it was funny as hell, it is a comedy, not a documentary, although some morons thought it was biographical, believe it or not.
Prime TV is wonderful, but in my case it is way too easy to buy a movie with a misplaced or accidental key-tap. A few hours ago I accidentally bought “Ford vs. Ferrari”. I am not really big on car racing movies, but this one is one hell of a production. It’s very good. Money well spent. Matt Damon, Christian Bale.
Lawn care, 2020. I am not a fanatical groundskeeper but I do keep a clean yard, and I cut grass. May is my favorite month but it also means more mowing. Last evening my front yard was pretty high. My yard is small enough that I cannot justify a rider, but the Toro driven PersonalPace model mower makes it much easier. I got it cut at any rate.
Damn, man…we are sick AF of Covid19 and now we are being told we are just going to have to live with it for a lo-o-o-o-nnnggg time. We can’t complain if we can avoid the damn bug, but the vigilance to avoid is tiresome and nerve-wracking.
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David C said on May 13, 2020 at 6:11 am
Other than the vector crackpots, we seem pretty united.
https://xkcd.com/2305/
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Suzanne said on May 13, 2020 at 8:11 am
We have been watching Mad Men during the pandemic as I had never seen it since we didn’t have cable or dish or anything when it was new. It’s much darker than I thought but very good.
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4dbirds said on May 13, 2020 at 9:37 am
I was pleasantly surprised to see Katey Sagal in what could be a juicy role in the second season of Dead To Me. Sorry no more spoilers.
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4dbirds said on May 13, 2020 at 9:52 am
I bought and watched the entire Master Courses lectures on The Black Plague. Although much is known about the three forms of what we now call the Black Plague, they are not so much certain that it was ‘only’ the Black Plague wreaking havoc during those times (since it came and went for decades). Why was Norway struck when their rats don’t carry the type of fleas known for transmission? Why were so many accounts viral in description? Some modern scholars think as many as three different highly contagious diseases were going around. I found the account of a feudal court somewhat funny if it weren’t so sad. When taxes were due, the tenants would gather in the Lord’s hall and when their name was called, they would deliver their share of the crop and vow to work a certain amount of days directly in the lord’s fields. It was the order of things and no one really or rarely objected. Then the plague came. Now names were announced and there were no answers. “Oh, he’s dead.” Someone would say, and the next rightful heir would be expected to step-up, pay the death tax, usually their finest animal and that person’s name would be entered in the book. The records from one such land-hold, found that many tenants were not answering and also not their next of kin. Sometimes they would have to go many cousins deep before they found someone to take the tenancy. One family was so decimated that they found another far cousin who received so many tenancies that he had to start declining them, because there was no way he could work his tenancies AND do all the labor for the lord. There was no precedent for this. There are so many courses to choose from and my next one will be on dog training.
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Snarkworth said on May 13, 2020 at 10:11 am
As a descendant of Puritans (and a nasty bunch they were), I have learned that they were quite different from the Pilgrims, who were Separatists. The Mayflower folks were much nicer.
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Deborah said on May 13, 2020 at 11:16 am
I traced my father’s ancestors back to 1590 on ancestry dot com. My multi great grandfather came to this country (before it was this country obviously) from England and settled in Virginia as a young man, got married etc. I had an aunt who claimed an ancestor came over on the Mayflower but I didn’t find that to be true. My father’s side of the family has/had lots of eccentrics.
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Snarkworth said on May 13, 2020 at 11:24 am
Deborah, the Mayflower would have sunk like a stone if it carried all the ancestors alleged to have crossed on it.
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LAMary said on May 13, 2020 at 11:47 am
One of the ancestors the ex’s mother claimed (she had a very old family bible as evidence) was Francis Cook who was also an ancestor of the Bush family, the Roosevelts, and Winston Churchill. Also was the ancestor of a grifter brother of hers who abandoned his wife and asked my ex to hide his money so he wife couldn’t get it.
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Julie Robinson said on May 13, 2020 at 12:06 pm
Several people in my husband’s family have traced their roots back to England and specifically the ancestor who came here before the Revolution. One has joined the DAR, leading me to think the DAR has changed a LOT. 12 generations ago Daniel Robinson gave the land and superintended the building of the Strafford, Vermont Town House. It’s an beautiful, iconic building and the most photographed location in Vermont. https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/VT-01-OG31
This sounds very grand and lah-di-dah, but you don’t have to read very far in the history to learn about the son who was run out of town for owing everyone money. That’s the branch our Robinson family is from, by the way.
The more I learn of history, the more I am convinced that people are people are people; all of us flawed. There’s no special glory in getting here earlier than others. It could be argued that it’s something to be ashamed of, given most early colonists treatment of indigenous Americans.
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Sherri said on May 13, 2020 at 12:42 pm
Guess who may have committed voter fraud?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/under-fire-president-trump-drops-his-mar-a-lago-dock-plan–for-now/2020/05/12/99060dd8-947c-11ea-9f5e-56d8239bf9ad_story.html
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David C said on May 13, 2020 at 1:15 pm
My sister joined the DAR. I think there’s a huge difference between chapters. She could have either joined the chapter in Grand Rapids or Holland. She talked to the Grand Rapids people and they were quite self-important and didn’t seem all that interested in Kim joining. The one in Holland was very welcoming to her and she’s having a lot of fun with them. In the Cook line, our however many greats grandfather served in the French and Indian Wars and nobody served again until my grandfather served in WWI. Nobody has served since. Kim was able to join because of relatives from our great grandmother’s family.
Our family came over seven years after the Mayflower on the ship Speedwell which originally set out with the Mayflower. It was taking on water so they had to turn back and everyone crowded on the Mayflower. That’s as close to the Pilgrims as we come.
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alex said on May 13, 2020 at 1:16 pm
Just came across this interview and it’s too funny not to share:
https://gregolear.substack.com/p/full-disclosure-an-interview-with
My mom did her DNA test and despite her Yankee ancestry had no English in her at all.
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Julie Robinson said on May 13, 2020 at 1:21 pm
Good point, David, since we’re talking Bloomington, Indiana here.
Sherri, I read that article yesterday and it seems to be have totally ignored. I think it’s big. BIGLY big.
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Colleen said on May 13, 2020 at 9:04 pm
I am enjoying “Mrs America ” on hulu. I was not aware that the Republican party was not originally anti abortion, it was only after Phyllis Schafly and her minions got hold of them that they became anti choice. Tracey Ullman does a fantastic job as Betty Friedan. We have come a long way, baby.
I did the DNA thing.. pretty much what I expected….50% eastern European, 50% Irish.
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beb said on May 13, 2020 at 11:23 pm
On Trump voting absentee there’s an additional question of who picked up the ballot in Florida and who returned the completed ballot. Evidence points to the head of the Florida GOP. That seems to be a voting violation as well. While Republicans are always crying about voter fraud most of the actual cases turn out to be committed by Republicans.
Paul Campos of “Lawyers, Guns and Money” has a fascinating look at how Trumps gets away with stuff that if Obama had tried it he would been
lynchedimpeached. It’s all about rich white privilege.https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2020/05/trumps-taxes-and-white-conservative-privilege
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alex said on May 14, 2020 at 7:11 am
Colleen, I remember Gerald Ford stating for the record that abortion is nobody’s business except for a woman and her doctor. It was Ronald Reagan who decided to invite the fringe loonies into the Republican fold and the party has never been the same. Reagan figured he could fleece them for their votes in exchange for a little lip service that would cost him nothing. He was contemptuous of them and kept them at arm’s length just like every other Republican president before him. Little did he foresee, much less care, that his empty promises would eventually come due.
When Reagan’s Veep, GHWB, first entered politics as a big-business Republican in Texas, he found having to placate the fringe right so unpalatable that he decided to pursue his advancement through the administrative route instead. It was pretty well understood at the time that these people should never be given a place at the table. Even Barry Goldwater understood this and had said as much.
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Suzanne said on May 14, 2020 at 8:06 am
Jerry Falwell had a great deal to do with abortion becoming THE issue for Republicans getting evangelicals to support them.
https://www.npr.org/2019/06/20/734303135/throughline-traces-evangelicals-history-on-the-abortion-issue
This podcast also delves in
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/straight-white-american-jesus/id1441649707?i=1000426234711
It’s worth listening to.
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Suzanne said on May 14, 2020 at 9:13 am
This is an interesting article but I think the headline is misleading as it makes it sound like Indiana is a state to emulate for reopening. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/13/opinion/indiana-reopening-coronavirus-testing.html?searchResultPosition=2
Half way through, you find this statement: “…much of the country still needs to be very careful. They need to continue to manage this pandemic well though social distancing, much more robust testing and significant contact tracing and isolation. Indiana is not out of the woods; it has barely entered, even while the state has begun easing restrictions.”
The study that was done by the Indiana University Fairbanks School of Public Health is something to emulate as it gives data for infection and morbidity rates but is it being used as a guide for reopening the state? Not really.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 14, 2020 at 11:04 am
David C., I do lots of talks for DAR chapters, and they are as different as chalk and cheese & as various as shells on the beach. Some are snooty, some are a blast, but the ones that are snooty are no fun at all at all.
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Sherri said on May 14, 2020 at 12:39 pm
The day the DAR starts recognizing descendants of slaves of people who fought in the Revolution is the day I’ll start paying any attention to them,
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Deborah said on May 14, 2020 at 2:46 pm
My aunt who thought we had an ancestor who came over on the mayflower was a member of the DAR, she often encouraged me to become a member, no thanks. She was also the only republican on my Dad’s side, for a long time.
Gov Grishom declared that some retail establishments can open in some parts of NM, everyone must wear masks and restaurants aren’t allowed to open yet, except for take-out. The retail establishments that can open, are only allowed 25% customer capacity.
We have a moth infestation going on in NM. They’re gross and they’re everywhere. Someone told LB they’re called Miller moths, they don’t eat clothing, which I was happy to hear. They’re supposed to be around for a couple of weeks. When I opened the garage door a bunch of them flew out and opening up the patio umbrellas is disgusting. We killed 4 of them inside this morning, they like to hang out in the bathroom. They’re apparently in Colorado too.
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Marge Taylor said on May 14, 2020 at 5:16 pm
I belong to the DAR. That is past bad history on discrimination of African Americans. We are a
origination that preserves history of the USA and
do not share politics. Blacks are
welcome and
great members.
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Dexter Friend said on May 14, 2020 at 5:23 pm
Some assume my last name is derived from the German “Freund”. It is not. Our lineage on this side of the Atlantic started with a British merchant ship under the command of Captain Friend crashing near Tom’s River, New Jersey. A homestead in Indiana was as far as it went until my brother moved to the Calumet. Mom’s family were in Switzerland and came “across” as indentured servants, and for a time lived in Alfred, New York. Railroad work enabled the family to be headquartered in northern Indiana. Back to Dad’s side, along the way our people lived in Pennsylvania. Dad told me, and I later traced this fact: my ancestors were involved in The Whiskey Rebellion, fighting federal taxing of whiskey, made because shipping of grain was hard to impossible, while shipping whiskey was much easier and profitable. George Washington himself rode to the battlefield on his horse. My ancestors fought Washington’s troops. We have always been real badasses. 🙂
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Sherri said on May 14, 2020 at 6:13 pm
Marge, I’m aware that blacks can become members, if they can prove direct lineage from someone who fought or contributed to the Revolution, and there have been some blacks who have been considered to have contributed enough to the Revolution that their descendants are qualified. I’m saying something different. I’m pointing out that at least some of those Revolutionary ancestors enslaved people at the time they were fighting the Revolution. I’m saying, the descendants of those enslaved people ought to be just as eligible as the descendants of their owners.
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Colleen said on May 14, 2020 at 7:49 pm
Thanks, Suzanne. Now I have a new podcast to binge!
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LAMary said on May 14, 2020 at 8:51 pm
To follow up on the last sentence of what our hostess wrote, I am appalled and have been appalled repeatedly all week. Also I despair. I hear from nurse friends who are resilient but frustrated and tired. A nurse practitioner friend in a very red part of the country tells me about the crazy things people say about this virus and I read the comments online scrolling along as I watch the governor or the mayor here do their daily updates. Not only are the things the commenters say crazy and disturbing, they’re stupid. They make no sense. And just to be picky, they fucking can’t spell. Yes, I’m judging them. They are uninformed or ill informed and they can’t spell or use a contraction or pronoun correctly. They are also scary. I’m appalled all over the place.
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Dave said on May 14, 2020 at 9:53 pm
Reading remarks always makes one crazy, exactly as you say, LAMary. Reading remarks on Facebook tells me more than I want to know about the opinions of some people I’ve known forever, not to add they cannot spell or punctuate. They’ve got cutting, pasting, and sharing down pat. I cannot say how many times I have read some outlandish opinion and discover it was originally in the BabylonBee, a satire site, but someone puts it out as fact. So much foolishness and people believe it. It’s very disheartening, people believe in that inept moron.
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