What the hell, more cake.

Guys. What a long, exhausting week, and it’s not even over yet. It does appear to be on the downslope, though, so – a few minutes have I to catch up.

I feel maybe a little guilty playing the Tired card; Alan was out of town for two days, fishing, and I had the joint to myself, so it’s not like I didn’t have the time. But I spent it mopping the kitchen floor and gadding about with friends. The summer is slipping away, and there will be precious little gadding about possible once it gets cold. So I hopped off to Howell to meet my old Lansing boss kinda-halfway and sit at a sidewalk table for a steakhouse dinner.

Unfortunately, it was Drive Your Loud Vehicle Through Town night in Howell, a conservative town with a reputation as a Klan outpost. That made conversation trying at times, but it was nice to see my buddy. I made the mistake of ordering dessert.

“Our carrot cake is famous,” the waitress said. OK, that’s the play, then. Holy shit. It reminded me of Jim Harrison’s line, that only in the Midwest is overeating seen as somehow heroic. The piece was enormous, topped with about a pound of cream cheese frosting. If I’d been with Alan we’d have split it, but you can’t split food with someone not in your germ pod. I took half home, and the half I ate sat in my gut like a nuclear warhead all the way home. I still feel its poison in my body, 48 hours later.

The thing about a binge like that is – because the rest of the meal was similarly over-the-top, too – it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, like an alcoholic falling off the wagon. In a normal year, I’d be selectively shopping the Nordstrom anniversary sale, assessing my fall wardrobe, rotating some pieces out, freshening up for the cool weather ahead. Now all I can think about is: More time spent in yoga pants and slippers? Why not have more cake?

Also: A friend of mine tested positive last week, a rather baffling result for someone who’s been very careful. She’s asymptomatic and I think false positive is a very real possibility, but she’s one person I’ve been outdoor-socializing with, too, so I went off to get my own nose-poke this afternoon. It was as uncomfortable as the last one, but driving home down 8 Mile Road was cheering, in that perverse-Detroit kinda way.

Traffic was fairly heavy, and you know who was doing a land-office business? The weed shops. With the pandemic precautions, they’re running almost exactly like street dealing in days of yore: Pull up, make your selection depending on what’s in stock. A runner retrieves it and you’re cashed out upon delivery by a masked employee. You don’t have to get out of your car, and it all seems to go very smoothly.

Other news today: Steve Bannon, charged with being a grifty grifter. Here’s a lightly edited version of what I said on Facebook, for those who don’t follow me there:

Steve Bannon is rich. Right? He has all this dough from working at Goldman Sachs, investing in “Seinfeld,” blah blah blah. And as an ex-Trumper, he could spend the rest of his dissolute life consulting and speaking and cashing checks.

When I went to the We Build the Wall Town Hall in Detroit last year, I was struck by two things: 1) how D-list the speakers were — hey, Tom Tancredo and Joy Villa! and 2) how truly pathetic-looking the crowd was. These weren’t young, vigorous MAGA types, but older people in Costco sneakers and bingo-outing sweat suits. What was Bannon, accustomed to consulting with European despot wannabes and yelling at Ivanka in staff meetings, doing scraping the bottom of this barrel?

Supposedly he cleared $1 million from this particular grift, which seems an absurdly low payment for the chore of dragging his ass around the country and having to look at Sheriff Clarke in a million green rooms. These people truly are despicable.

Check out the website for this shit. And let me assure you, the people whose donations added up to that $25 million, assuming the number is that high, didn’t do it by writing big checks. In Detroit, these were people living on Social Security. The most prosperous-looking people there were probably the Bikers for Trump. Who can steal from the pathetic like this? The worst people in the world.

Also, you know who the biggest clown was in that particular car? Not Bannon. Clarke. Pro wrestling missed something when they didn’t draft that asshole.

A rare witty comment on the Deadline Detroit Facebook post of the story today: “We have entered the Layla portion of this ‘Goodfellas’ remake.”

So now I’m pretty much all caught up, right? Weekend lies ahead. Hope my Covid test is negative. And I think it’s going to be salads and club soda for a few days. Let’s be optimistic.

Posted at 5:03 pm in Current events, Detroit life, Same ol' same ol' |
 

71 responses to “What the hell, more cake.”

  1. Jim said on August 20, 2020 at 5:12 pm

    “Also, you know who the biggest clown was in that particular car? Not Bannon. Clarke. Pro wrestling missed something when they didn’t draft that asshole.”

    I never want to doubt Nancy, but there is stiff competition in Kris Kobach and Curt Schilling.

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  2. Deborah said on August 20, 2020 at 5:14 pm

    Well the king of the grifters has figured out precisely who his rubes are and he is milking them evil geniusly and they don’t have a clue. As Sarah Kendzior has been saying for years, this is a transnational crime syndicate masquerading as a government. They have no morals, no shame and they are taking advantage of people like Joe who can’t figure out what they’re up against. It’s really pathetic.

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  3. Jakash said on August 20, 2020 at 5:33 pm

    “Yes, the US Postal Service just arrested Steve Bannon. I congratulate this season’s writers room for a twist so damn imaginative.”

    https://twitter.com/DavidCornDC/status/1296453249139118081

    I’m following the convention half-assedly, mostly via Twitter and YouTube, so I’m glad Neil Steinberg highlighted this line in the recap of Monday night from his column yesterday:

    “The best line belonged to Kristin Urquiza, whose father, a Trump supporter, died of COVID-19 after following GOP advice and hitting the town. ‘My dad was a healthy 65-year-old,’ Urquiza said. ‘His only preexisting condition was trusting Donald Trump. And for that, he paid with his life.'”

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  4. Scout said on August 20, 2020 at 5:43 pm

    So, you’ve got the MAGAt crowd eagerly throwing their money at a swampy group of grifters, and on the other hand, you have the swampmonsters lining their pockets with it and then getting caught and being arrested by the USPS. Kind of a karmic trifecta.

    The Dem convention is so well produced and so uplifting. I’m sorry it ends tonight. It has been refreshing to hear from intelligent, caring adults after the past three years of ugly tantrums and name calling from the world’s largest toddler.

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  5. Jakash said on August 20, 2020 at 5:56 pm

    Well, since Elmore Leonard is featured on the nn.c Wayback Machine today:

    “Gotta say, getting pinched by the postal cops when you’re hiding out on the yacht of your exiled sleazebag Chinese pro-Trump billionaire pal … that’s getting arrested in style.

    how did no one tell me about this Elmore Leonard novel until now?”

    https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1296536868268498949

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  6. susan said on August 20, 2020 at 5:57 pm

    Saw this, and it works: “Adding “MOMMY!” in front of every one of his [Trump] whiny bitch tweets makes them so much better.”

    Most amusing!

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  7. Peter said on August 20, 2020 at 6:37 pm

    I don’t know if the attorneys at the DOJ are eligible for overtime pay, but they have to be thinking: lay low, put up with this crap for a few more months and then it’s all the OT I can handle.

    CNN reported today that Trump doesn’t want the Republican convention to be anything like the Democratic one. Oh, I think he doesn’t have to be worried about that one – with great speakers like that snot nosed kid from Kentucky who harrassed the Native American at the Lincoln Memorial, and the gun totin’ freedom lovin’ lawsuit filin’ St. Louis couple, no one will confuse those two conventions. Maybe the triple amputee grifter can talk about how the USPS loves immigrants and are traitors. Hey, Falwell is available for a benediction or two. Who needs Billy Eilish when you have Ted Nugent?

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  8. Peter said on August 20, 2020 at 6:41 pm

    I lost count of how many times my mom said this to me when I was a kid (with good reason…) “Lugen haben kurze Beine” an old German saying “Lies have short legs”. No matter how smart you are or how fast you run, the truth will one day catch up.

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  9. Sherri said on August 20, 2020 at 6:49 pm

    Rick Perlstein, who’s been writing about the conservative movement for years now, wrote about the conservative penchant for the grift back in 2012: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-long-con

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  10. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 20, 2020 at 7:22 pm

    Other than Pence and Andrew Jackson, they’ve all left him . . . or been taken away, or both.

    https://wjla.com/resources/media/8490ab43-df1d-49a9-b548-3cd33d744ba7-large16x9_AP_170286259323231.jpg

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  11. Sherri said on August 20, 2020 at 8:11 pm

    Boy, how important was this!

    https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/1296450092203900930

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  12. Suzanne said on August 20, 2020 at 9:25 pm

    Peter @7, will Falwell speak with his pants open, while drinking black water? I’ll tune in to see that!

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  13. 4dbirds said on August 20, 2020 at 9:47 pm

    Your mention of the KKK resonated with me as I watched Lovecraft County this week. How black people have not entered our homes and slit our throats by now baffles me. We whites are horrible people.

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  14. beb said on August 20, 2020 at 10:01 pm

    Maybe Nancy’s tired after looking into all the places one could immigrate to if Trump gets re-elected.
    https://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/26006/can_t_stomach_the_idea_of_another_trump_term_maybe_you_d_be_happier_fleeing_u_s

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  15. LAMary said on August 20, 2020 at 10:19 pm

    I know.It’s just me. I thought you meant you had a joint to yourself. That would explain the cake eating.

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  16. LAMary said on August 20, 2020 at 11:04 pm

    More Steve Bannon news: https://a.msn.com/r/2/BB18cVN8?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare

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  17. Suzanne said on August 20, 2020 at 11:34 pm

    Biden brought his A-game tonight and nailed it.

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  18. Scout said on August 20, 2020 at 11:36 pm

    Biden was righteous tonight. He is the right man for this moment, and with Kamala as his partner, we can win and we can start the hard work of righting the wrongs of the past 4 years.

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  19. AnnieH said on August 20, 2020 at 11:37 pm

    Great piece on Steve Bannon and the Grifters (not a bad band name)in the New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-narcissism-and-ego-that-led-to-steve-bannons-arrest

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  20. Deborah said on August 21, 2020 at 7:01 am

    Biden was excellent last night. Made me cry, won’t it be great to have decent People leading our country again.

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  21. alex said on August 21, 2020 at 7:56 am

    Had to miss the last night of the convention… neighbors came over for an impromptu dinner and booze-cruise boat ride and we stayed up way too late. Funny, there was a lot more social isolation in this neighborhood pre-COVID, so perhaps it has some hidden blessings. One of the neighbors is a chef by profession and he throws together fabulous dishes in a flash. The rest of us are foodies so we can always round out a meal with great contributions. Plus I won a schmancy box of DeBrand’s chocolates in a Zoom trivia contest the other night so… dessert!

    It was, alas, a school night for me. I’m half tempted to call in this morning and make this a three-day weekend except I have too much shit to get done. At the same time, these are the waning days of summer, the weather is perfect and I haven’t had a damn vacation at all this summer.

    Okay, I’ve talked myself into it.

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  22. alex said on August 21, 2020 at 9:31 am

    Yay! Off to the gravel pit to buy a load of stone and build a new pad for our new composting barrel. And if we get really ambitious we might by some rolls of Isinglass and make new storm window panels for our screened porch.

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  23. Heather said on August 21, 2020 at 10:07 am

    Yes, Alex! Glad you took that mental health day. Life and Midwestern summers are too short.

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  24. Julie Robinson said on August 21, 2020 at 10:13 am

    You know who made me cry? The little boy who is a stutterer and spoke about meeting with Biden and receiving encouragement from him. When he started speaking I didn’t get it, then he started stuttering and I burst out sobbing. What courage to do this on national TV. I am so proud of him.

    If I can be snarky for just a moment, at times I wasn’t sure if we were nominating Joe or Beau.

    By the time Biden came on I was in bed and dozed my way through his speech. This is always a problem with live events for those of us on Eastern time.

    Carrot cake, yum.

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  25. basset said on August 21, 2020 at 10:35 am

    The stuttering boy was indeed powerful… I didn’t make it through Biden’s speech either. Have to say, though, that I am still worried about the outcome in November; Hillary led in the polls last time, I know it’s a different situation now but that’s no guarantee of real change.

    Back to in-person work this afternoon. At irregular intervals I go to one of the local medical schools and pretend to be sick so the students get some practice diagnosing; today I have gall bladder trouble, we’ll see how that goes. Did a few on Zoom over the summer, today we will all be heavily PPE’d and disinfected.

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  26. alex said on August 21, 2020 at 11:07 am

    What the hell, more cake. That’s the perfect motto for today, as I’m snarfing down on scrumptious scampi leftovers with garden fresh tomatoes and basil in angel hair with some peas and shrooms and a lemony tang on this splendid sunny late-summer morning.

    We got our load of gravel already. Time to start some shoveling. Perfect day for working outside. Wish I could post pix here because it’s so gorgeous out there.

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  27. Scout said on August 21, 2020 at 1:52 pm

    I’m still basking in the afterglow of the DNC. I’ve never before watched the convention from start to end because so much of it was boring and the messaging was often lost in the distraction of the party hats and signs atmosphere. This felt different because it was different. It was a tightly produced documentary that expertly focused on what is at stake, and featured real remedies to help the country to recover and heal. I was concerned that Joe’s speech would be anticlimactic after Michelle, Barack and Kamala (among so many others, but they were the best) but he was everything he needed to be; strong, inspiring and likable.

    Josh at TPM thought so too. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-few-thoughts-on-a-novel-convention

    I really liked this take as well: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/8/21/21394980/joe-biden-dnc-2020-summary-kindness?fbclid=IwAR0jFBV3PnITWVwj82UMvVQu9aQfVgNN4Ti_svQjmXdNBy-va5yK6fqbO5o

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  28. James Moehrke said on August 21, 2020 at 2:06 pm

    Well, interesting week out here in Northern California. The week started with a rare lightning storm that resulted in nearly 11,000 lightning strikes that then resulted in around 350 wildfires. Tuesday here the air was a bit pungent and the police and fire departments fielded phone calls about smoke. Not to worry, it was miles away.
    Wednesday we were rousted out of our bed and our home at 2:30 am as a police officer banged on the door with the announcement, “Got to go, the fire is down the block!” That does tend to result in some panic. So we grabbed some clothes, some important papers, scooped the two cats into their carriers, and fled to a friends house across town.
    At sunrise the visibility was down to maybe half a mile and it was raining ash as far away as 30 miles. We sat glued to Twitter and Facebook for updates as we are between TV markets and the local newspaper has been decimated by its distant hedge-fund owner.
    Finally, after an uncomfortable night couch-surfing we were allowed to return home.
    But the fire is still active, nearly 500 structures have burned and fire fighting resources have been stretched thin. And our fool in the White House says the fires are because we don’t sweep our forests. This isn’t forest land burning, it’s scrub oak hillsides and grassland, open spaces, etc. What a maroon.

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  29. LAMary said on August 21, 2020 at 2:18 pm

    HCA yet again in the news. Rick Scott, senator from Florida, used to be the CEO at HCA. Under his watch they racked up the largest Medicare fraud fine ever.

    https://a.msn.com/r/2/BB18ewhK?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare

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  30. LAMary said on August 21, 2020 at 2:25 pm

    Another reason to dislike Matt Gaetz.

    https://a.msn.com/r/2/BB18eIYx?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare

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  31. David C said on August 21, 2020 at 3:09 pm

    This morning, I heard some pundit say “Where was the policy”. Ain’t that funny? It’s usually “It’s all policy and no heart”. At this convention they spoke like real people not policy wonks and they still complain. If you’re a Dem, you can’t win with them.

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  32. Sherri said on August 21, 2020 at 3:42 pm

    James@28, hope you stay safe.

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  33. James Moehrke said on August 21, 2020 at 3:50 pm

    Sherri@32, Thanks! Just now the sheriff is escorting people out to their homes in one of the rural areas hardest hit. I spoke with one couple who home was safe, but seven of their neighbor’s homes were lost. PG&E told them it would be 30 days before power was restored due to poles being burned. No power, no water, so they were going back to secure their home and valuables as best they could.

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  34. Jakash said on August 21, 2020 at 4:49 pm

    I’m not really a fan of S. E. Cupp’s, but I like this. Perhaps this concept has been making the rounds and I haven’t noticed: “Make America good again.”

    “Tonight @JoeBiden made the choice for America very simple. Continue on this path of anger, division, corruption and darkness — or choose to be better, find the light, restore our common decency, and make America good again.”

    https://twitter.com/secupp/status/1296651606348398595

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  35. Deborah said on August 21, 2020 at 5:51 pm

    Every time I talk to someone today about the 13 year old who stutters, I start crying. That kid was so brave. Today there’s a video circulating online of Biden meeting the young man at a political event and getting his phone number. I know Biden wasn’t my first choice, but as I’ve said here before, I think he’s absolutely the right person for the job now.

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  36. Dorothy said on August 21, 2020 at 6:23 pm

    Basset I’m thinking like you are. I’ll be nervous for 75 days or so and hopefully come November 4th I can relax again. For several months I’ve been thinking “Oh my God, if Biden gets the virus what the hell would happen?!” As long as he gets sworn into office in January, I guess we all have to worry about that.

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  37. susan said on August 21, 2020 at 6:41 pm

    I think the time to worry is the period between Nov. 4 and Jan. 20. FatNixon can do enormous damage in those two-and-a-half months. As if he hasn’t done enough evil already, I know, but his destruction and chaos and enabler well is deep deep deep.

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  38. LAMary said on August 21, 2020 at 7:22 pm

    I’m with Susan on this. The time between trump losing and the inauguration could be really terrible. Lots of pardons of his scuzzy crew, lots of attempts to kill more programs, treaties, everything. He might redecorate and make the entire interior of the white house gold like his ugly apartment in trump tower. Who knows.

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  39. Jakash said on August 21, 2020 at 7:44 pm

    I hear ya, but, from this vantage point, what he’d do if he loses is not even on my radar. Making it through the minefield to the point at which he’s actually, demonstrably lost the election is more than enough for me to worry about.

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  40. Deborah said on August 21, 2020 at 8:54 pm

    I don’t understand this Trump tax return case. Didn’t the Supremes already hear it and send it back to a lower court? All the lower courts seem to have blocked Trump’s appeal and now it seems to be going back to SCOTUS? Can they do that? I realize it’s all a ploy to delay until after the election, but I don’t get how they can get away with it.

    I watched a chunk of the senate hearing this morning with DeJoy and I have to say the questioning was maddening especially for the Dems, except for a woman senator from Nevada, (forgot her name). They need to ask one question at a time and not give it up until they get an answer. They kept asking compound questions that gave DeJoy all kinds of wiggle room. I hope they do better on Monday when the house has their chance. Porter is good, AOC is good and Schiff of course, so maybe there can be some results.

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  41. beb said on August 21, 2020 at 9:16 pm

    The Trump tax thing is a giant fiasco. The SCOTUS ruled that Trump dod not have absolutely immunity and sent the case back to district court to reconsider. They said Trump had to deliver. Now Trump is appealing that ruling. At some point the courts need to say flat out that Trump can’t appeal anymore; that the exhaustive effort to conceal these documents is clear evidence that these papers need to be investigated. Nobody works this hard to conceal papers unless the papers are really bad news.

    A question maybe Nancy can answer. Friday evening around 7-8 PM the family drove along the lake on Jefferson and were amazed to see so many sailboats on the water. It looked like there were 4-5 schools of boats. Was this just some sailing classes or was their some special event for sailboats?

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  42. Deborah said on August 21, 2020 at 9:53 pm

    I’m going to my first protest since the virus, tomorrow morning at 11 at the main Post Office in Santa Fe. I’m going to make some signs in the morning before I go, still thinking about what they should say. DeJoy was such a liar today at the senate hearing I watched, he needs to be kicked out. We can’t let them get away with this.

    I will wear a mask of course and practice social distancing, plus NM is doing really well on keeping the virus under control, at least on this side of the state.

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  43. Deborah said on August 21, 2020 at 10:38 pm

    Wish I had some cake right now.

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  44. Deborah said on August 22, 2020 at 10:18 am

    I woke up early this morning to what I thought was the smell of someone barbecuing and then I figured out it was from the fire that’s fairly close in to Santa Fe. It wasn’t a huge fire as of yesterday, it’s been making some nice sunrises but of course is terribly destructive to some beautiful landscapes in the foothills of the mountains. I don’t think they’ve had to evacuate anyone yet, but I’m not sure.

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  45. LAMary said on August 22, 2020 at 11:57 am

    Lots of fires here in CA. The big ones are north of LA, in central California and the Bay Area. We have/had a few here. The sky has been milky white or grey for a week with all the smoke and ash in the air. A heads up Deborah, those fires change direction and spread fast. You might want to have a go bag if you have to leave. The fires in the Bay Area caused 60,000 people to evacuate with very short notice. Lightning caused the big fires and I know summer lightning in the Rockies and Sangre de Christos is not unknown.

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  46. Deborah said on August 22, 2020 at 3:12 pm

    The fire is maybe 30 miles away, I think. It was 500 acres yesterday, 1,000 this morning and now it’s 1,500. So very small compared to CA, but it’s very hot and dry here and it can expand fast. I’m driving to Abiquiu tomorrow to water the plants tomorrow morning, the fire is probably about 50 miles from our cabin.

    I went to the protest at the PO this morning, about 100 people there which is a good turnout for Santa Fe. Everyone wearing masks and fairly good at staying 6 feet apart. I left after about a half hour.

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  47. Deborah said on August 22, 2020 at 3:17 pm

    The fire here started from lightning as well.

    My husband is on another roadtrip to his uncle’s place and he’ll spend a few days at our Chicago place. I opted out because our trip in July stressed me out.

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  48. Deborah said on August 22, 2020 at 3:26 pm

    Ok I looked it up and the fire is about 5 miles north/northwest of the Santa Fe ski basin, so it’s more like 20 miles from us maybe even less. Because of the smoke you can barely see the mountains.

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  49. Sherri said on August 22, 2020 at 4:46 pm

    Even going to virtual classes doesn’t necessarily stop an outbreak in a college town, if the college students come anyway.

    https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/parties-around-wsus-greek-row-linked-to-substantial-increase-in-covid-19-cases/

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  50. LAMary said on August 22, 2020 at 5:00 pm

    The air here is really bad. I spend most of my day on the phone when I’m working and I had to stop to cough quite often. The people I was talking too were in the Bay Area so they were in the same situation. Bad air and ash travel very far. There was a big Malibu fire about 25 years ago. It was probably 50 miles from my home, but I was cleaning ash off my windowsills every day.

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  51. Deborah said on August 22, 2020 at 5:47 pm

    LB and I are definitely experiencing headaches and scratchy throats from the smoke. We have experienced it here in years past but this is one of the worst. It’s 91 degrees, 15% humidity, overcast partly from smoke and partly clouds. A good rain would be cleansing. Dream on.
    LB was out in the boonies pet/house sitting the last 5 days and she said it’s worse here now than there. We have ceiling fans in the condo but no air conditioning, it is rare to feel the need for it.

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  52. David C said on August 22, 2020 at 6:01 pm

    I worry about the same thing happening here, Sherri. UW Oshkosh seems determined to have in person classes this fall. They say the students will only be in person every other day but how does that work. They don’t all have the same classes so they’ll be on campus all day and telling a college kid not to part is not likely to work. Our county is near the top for increasing cases. It’s such a mess.

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  53. Sherri said on August 22, 2020 at 7:36 pm

    My husband was talking with a coworker who lives in the Bay Area. Rolling blackouts, unhealthy air, global pandemic, and hopefully won’t have to evacuate.

    So many problems that desperately need a federal solution, and a federal government that’s telling us, you’re on your own. As a friend of mine said to me recently, what’s the point of being part of the United States? If things don’t change after the election, I think more people will be asking that.

    Cascadians, unite!

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  54. Sherri said on August 22, 2020 at 7:55 pm

    Some possibilities for what could happen after Election Day, which won’t decide much.

    https://paxsims.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/preventing-a-disrupted-presidential-election-and-transition-8-3-20.pdf

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  55. Deborah said on August 22, 2020 at 9:22 pm

    I watched the Errol Morris film, “American Dharma” tonight. I found it scary and enlightening about what a scammer Steve Bannon is. The film got a lot of criticism by people who thought Morris was giving Bannon a platform, but I found it just the opposite especially in the light of the recent Bannon scandal. The guy is duping the rubes just like Trump is, and the poor rubes don’t get it at all. They fall for it hook, line and sinker. Sad.

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  56. Mark P said on August 22, 2020 at 10:49 pm

    Sherri — I am not sanguine about the future of the US, even if Biden wins. The Republican Party is still going to be the Republican Party. Qanon will still be stirring wingnuttery. Unfortunately, that kind of stuff won’t die off with all the old, white men either. Sometimes I think secession would not be a bad solution, except that I live in a red state.

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  57. LAMary said on August 22, 2020 at 11:13 pm

    In slightly better economic times Californians were talking about secession. We’d take a lot of the tech industry, Space x, entertainment, and a lot of NASA, the navy and marines, and the busiest port in the US with us. Also a GNP that’s fifth in the world. What do you say, Sherri? Washington, Oregon and California? We’d be missed.

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  58. David C said on August 23, 2020 at 9:45 am

    JFC. Our boy Mitch wants movie theaters to re-open. If I remember right, he had a movie based on one of his books shut down due to Covid. If that’s right, maybe he should have disclosed that. Even if he didn’t, it’s still a fucking stupid idea.

    https://www.freep.com/story/sports/columnists/mitch-albom/2020/08/23/mitch-albom-michigan-governor-gretchen-whitmer-movie-theaters/3419851001/

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  59. LAMary said on August 23, 2020 at 11:05 am

    Just for a moment I thought you were talking about Mitch McConnell having a a film based on a book he wrote. Imagine that movie.

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  60. alex said on August 23, 2020 at 11:11 am

    I’m optimistic that Trump and his enablers will be prosecuted and that it will send a message to politicians not to ever try this shit again.

    To snap out of the doldrums, today we’re building a new deck. We have everything we need already except a bag of concrete and some paint applicators. We get to use up a bunch of scrap lumber. We get to fill in a problem area that needed something, and what could be better than some usable space?

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  61. Deborah said on August 23, 2020 at 2:36 pm

    LB and I went to Abiquiu this morning, it was pretty thick as we were on the highway by the smoking plume of the Fire. It has doubled in size again. It was smoky all the way to Abiquiu and we couldn’t even see mountains from our cabin. I read that the smoke from fires in CO and AZ is exacerbating our bad air quality, there are lots of warnings for people with respiratory problems.

    Alex, I wish we were as handy as you guys

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  62. Deborah said on August 23, 2020 at 4:11 pm

    I was wrong about the cause of the fire near here, I said it was lightening, they don’t know the cause.

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  63. alex said on August 23, 2020 at 10:48 pm

    Mission accomplished and it turned out surprisingly well.

    Then a booze cruise with the neighbors.

    Then the weirdest landlord/tenant call ever. Child comes over and says his mom needs help with a “situation.” We walk over and there’s a turd in the toilet the size of a loaf of bread that won’t flush, plunge or break up. I let my husband deal with it.

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  64. LAMary said on August 23, 2020 at 11:16 pm

    Awww, Kellyanne Conway is leaving at the end of the month to spend more time with her family.

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  65. Sherri said on August 24, 2020 at 1:23 am

    Rat leaves sinking ship.

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  66. Deborah said on August 24, 2020 at 3:32 am

    The Conways are having a family problem that has been publicized on Social media, their teenage daughter Claudia, George and Kellyanne have a weird relationship.

    I won’t be watching the RNC but I’m sure I’ll hear about it. The Republican Party has certainly turned into a strange animal.

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  67. Suzanne said on August 24, 2020 at 6:31 am

    I’d been seeing the Conway daughter tweeting about how horrible she thinks her mother is. I just sort of figured she was a grifter like her mother, ginning up publicity. Maybe it is more than that. Who knows?

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  68. Dorothy said on August 24, 2020 at 6:42 am

    Claudia Conway, 15, wants to be emancipated from her parents. She has a twin brother and two younger sisters. If her parents resembled any kind of responsible, clear thinking adults they would have realized ages ago that their behavior was going to come back to bite them in the ass big time, sooner rather than later. I feel sad for their kids. Claudia is probably the tip of the iceberg. As my husband said this morning, Kellyanne grifted as much and as long as she possibly could from 45 and now that she recognizes his ship is sinking, she’s getting out of Dodge. I predict the next generation of “Mommy Dearest” will be coming out in the near future.

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  69. Suzanne said on August 24, 2020 at 8:11 am

    Seems George Conway is stepping away from Project Lincoln as well.
    Maybe they figured they’ve made enough money off their grift. Or maybe they really do want to work on their very obvious family issues

    https://www.boston25news.com/news/trending/kellyanne-conway-leave-white-house-post-husband-george-conway-stepping-back-lincoln-project/I6HXKKIW7NCW7MDQ3ZRHN3IGWU/

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  70. Julie Robinson said on August 24, 2020 at 9:31 am

    It sounds like the Conway family is in crisis and my heart goes out to the kids. I had to negotiate my childhood with a dad who was on the radio every day, on the only station in our small town, and it wasn’t easy. There was zero privacy. I got to escape when I went away to college, but how do you escape parents who are on TV/twitter/newspapers constantly? I hope they’ll find a good family therapist and get to work. Mom & Dad may want to reconsider their life choices.

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  71. ROGirl said on August 24, 2020 at 9:44 am

    Staying together for the sake of the kids isn’t a good option in my experience.

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