Alan just slept through the 6 a.m. call to prayer from this beacon, as seen out our hotel room terrace. I did not. So a quick update here.
That is the Hassan II mosque, one of the largest in the world. We’ll go for an official tour in a couple hours. It’s in Casablanca, our first stop, although we’re not staying long — it’s on to Fez later today.
I regret that my photography skills did not capture the laser that beams from the top of the minaret, pointing to Mecca. A very modern detail, that — the building was only completed in 1993, and one reason non-Muslims like us can tour it is, it’s considered as much a national monument as a place of worship. Honestly, it’s the size of 1.5-to-2 times (insert name of the largest indoor arena in your city — Staples Center, Little Caesars Arena, etc.) It can hold thousands. Really looking forward to this, and will wear long sleeves for the occasion.
Last night, after a three-hour jet-lag correction nap, we ventured out for dinner, choosing to walk rather than take a taxi. We are definitely not in Kansas anymore — so much boiling life everywhere, scooters, cars, families out for a stroll. So many children, too, a shock after years living in graying Michigan. They’re all wearing Spider Man T-shirts, etc. a reminder that American culture may be corrupt and the Great Satan and so forth, but we can sure make a comic-book movie.
More later. I’ll be posting pix on Instagram, cross-posting to Twitter, so if you really want to keep up, you can follow me there — nderringer on the ‘gram, nnall on Twitter.
And yes, I saw the story about the video shown at the Trump event. I hope there’s an America to return to in a couple weeks.
Dexter Friend said on October 14, 2019 at 4:17 am
“Round up the usual suspects.” Casablanca…have fun. All I know about it comes from stale movie quotes. Stay away from little shits that look like Peter Lorre and secure your passports and “travel letters”.
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Suzanne said on October 14, 2019 at 8:22 am
Beautiful building.
As for the vile Trump video, this thread from Jared Sexton Yates, a good Hoosier who has written quite a bit on the culture that loves Trump. Because he is so well acquainted with it.
https://twitter.com/jysexton/status/1183716741244948480?s=21
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Deborah said on October 14, 2019 at 11:17 am
Stochastic terrorism or in other words trawling for assassins.
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Jeff Borden said on October 14, 2019 at 11:25 am
I wonder if America wasn’t lost on a November night in 2016. Events have been weird and ugly and chaotic in the past, but never this weird, this ugly and this chaotic.
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Suzanne said on October 14, 2019 at 12:29 pm
I am convinced now, and was pretty much convinced in Nov of 2016, that this was the end. We are now in that period between the death and the burial. But it’s over.
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Suzanne said on October 14, 2019 at 1:15 pm
Need more proof that it’s over? Go to the Dept of State home page today.
https://www.state.gov/
What you will see first thing is a link to Mike Pompeo’s speech “Being a Christian Leader” given to the American Assoc of Christian Counselors.
Yes. On the State Department main page. Where you would go to get a passport. Or apply for citizenship.
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Jeff Borden said on October 14, 2019 at 2:41 pm
Suzanne,
Funny how old Nikita Khrushchev was correct. He predicted America would fall from within. Russia has won without firing a shot. And the party that painted itself as the bulwark against Communism throughout the Cold War has allowed it to happen by not challenging the foreign asset in the Oval Office.
Mike Pompeo is another of the Christian Dominionists in this administration. (So is MyPants.) He’ll likely go down as the worst Secretary of State in history. Most of the corrupt cretins in this *administration will, too.
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Deborah said on October 14, 2019 at 2:46 pm
Hoo boy Suzanne, that’s sickening. I finished reading The Testaments, Margaret Attwood’s sequel to Handmaid’s Tale, seems like things here are getting more like Gilead every day.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 14, 2019 at 9:45 pm
“Carrying charges, my boy, carrying charges.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-8yM_rs2Ps
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4dbirds said on October 15, 2019 at 9:36 am
Trump mass murdering people in memes but JTIP is flying over some Mid-Western area thinking everything is fine.
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Sherri said on October 15, 2019 at 11:36 am
Hey, Jeff(tmmo), a new podcast dropped today that I think you’ll be interested in: Dolly Payton’s America, hosted by Nashville native Jad Abumrad of Radiolab fame.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 15, 2019 at 12:13 pm
I’d listen to Jad on any subject, but surely this one! If I could figure out how to listen to podcasts…
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Alan Stamm said on October 16, 2019 at 6:18 pm
If she were stateside rather than bargaining for scarves ‘n purses, our hero surely would lavish fresh praise on Hank Stuever for Wednesday’s delightful trashing of an Amazon Prime TV series based on the NYT’s Modern Love column.
“The only thing worse would be if the Times turned their smug wedding announcements into little mini-documentaries about elite mergers — and I probably shouldn’t even type that, lest they get any more bright ideas.”
Treat yourself: https://wapo.st/2BiaVhO
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