Well…even with the despair that most of the country feels as trump and his criminal cronies get away with committing crimes every day, there are small bits of news that offer some hope that our institutions are going to strike back with the rule of law….and that happened Monday when a federal court judge ruled that yes, Don McGahn has to testify in the impeachment investigation (or this one is from the Mueller investigation) and the judge went on to say that no one is above the law or a king who can just do whatever the hell he wants…and the opinion went on for 120 pages where the judge tried to teach trump and his cronies what the constitution says about the separation of powers and that the legislative branch is well within it’s rights described in the constitution to conduct oversight of the executive branch. But, that little hope is tempered by the fact that trump and his enablers have put so many shitty judges on the bench that most of them don’t even know what the constitution says and those folks are the ones who will be deciding the case when the inevitable appeal hits the courts…and, of course, with Kavanaugh on the supreme court, trump really could shoot someone on 5th avenue and he and the rest of the conservatives would say that it’s just perfectly fine and a president can do anything without consequence. So, where does that leave us? We need to vote, vote, vote to throw these criminals out in 2020 and then our task will be to restore the rule of law and codify that yes, a sitting president can be indicted if there is evidence of a crime…just like anyone else….
All posts by James DeVol
November 27th
Well…running a little late this morning for no reason other than I wanted to get the turkey into the brine for tomorrow and didn’t want to wait to do it….tried adding some veggie broth to this one just for something new and put some bay leaves, brown sugar, rosemary, thyme, and sage in to give it some really good flavor…so we’ll see tomorrow…I was a little concerned that a 14 pound bird wouldn’t fit in my roaster but it was just fine…and one of the biggest turkeys I’ve ever cooked….and the fridge downstairs is huge so it fit easily…looking forward to having a big dinner tomorrow and I need to use up all of the leftovers I have in the upstairs fridge so I’ll have a place to put them….slept okay last night but tossed and turned more than normal so I am a little worn out this morning but really don’t have much to do but make a run out to the south end to get some venison…I did get my refund from my apt deposit yesterday so I have 207 bucks to spend and spent some of it on some basement equipment yesterday for 79 bucks…and I think I may buy a sound bar for the tv for 65 bucks and then use the rest to have some cash on hand….found money is always fun…it’s 52 degrees outside right now and I may try to get out on the bike in shorts if it’s not too windy and it quits raining…that would be cool…more later….
A win for democracy here in Michigan….
Well….as the repubs continue to cheat to win elections and to rig the votes through gerrymandering, the judicial system has come through to protect the citizen initiative for fairly drawn districts. Just yesterday, a federal judge dismissed the repubs lawsuit that tried to get the non-partisan redistricting commission law thrown out even though 61% of the people here in Michigan voted for it…showing that the repubs don’t give a damn about the people of Michigan’s wishes but just hanging on to power any way they can….and the only way they can is to cheat since fairly drawn districts would put them out of power possibly permanently…or until they become a party that actually cares what the people want…and that is not more tax cuts for the rich that decimate the services that all of us depend on. So, of course you know how this is going to play out…the repubs will appeal and try to run out the clock so the commission can’t do it’s job for 2020 and the cheating districts that the repubs rigged will have to be used…isn’t anyone else tired of the repubs undermining our democracy for their own venal needs? I know I am and want every damn one of them gone….
November 26th
Well….as you can see, the site was down this morning so I am late getting here today…but, with it down, I did get out and run all of my errands so all I have to do the rest of the week is veg here and work…after I get out to the south end and get some venison tomorrow…yay! B has steaks and burger for me and I can’t wait to make some tacos after I get tired of eating turkey…but that won’t be until Sunday and they will be a nice change after I get there…slept okay last night and didn’t get up til 6 so that is okay after the 3am wake ups that have been happening for so long….and I feel okay today with being out running around and now getting ready to get on the bike after I do this…I do have two political ones to do this afternoon about the courts both nationally and in Michigan showing they are the last bulwark against the repub lawlessness across this country….but, right now, I need to get the laundry out of the dryer and get it put away before I ride….more later….
There are tapes…
Well…not sure if you read about this little bombshell that dropped over the weekend but one of the Ukrainians indicted for funneling Russian money to repub campaigns in 2016, and who was neck deep in the Ukraine/Biden conspiracy has given tapes of trump, giuliani and others to the House committee that is still investigating the crimes that trump and his cronies committed. Now, let that one sink in a minute…Lev Parnas has tapes, photos, and video of the conspiracy in real time that he has already turned over to investigators…now, I wonder how the repubs are going to spin this one? “Who are going to believe, me or your own eyes?” is going to be the latest talking point that is going to come out of the conspirators and fox news…and it won’t make a damn bit of difference to them that these tapes will make abundantly clear that trump was at the head of these crimes and induced others to committ felonies on his behalf…now, we all know that there is nothing trump can do to lose the synchophants who are protecting him…but they all better lawyer up for when trump is gone because they are all going to need them….
November 25th
Well….that’s a new record…didn’t get out of bed until 7:10…after getting up for the first time at 3:14 that is…but, I feel pretty good so I’ll take it….and I even slept okay so we’ll see how the day pans out…didn’t get a lot done yesterday but the bike ride and ordering the new front sprocket for the bike….I am a little disappointed that both the front and rear sprocket sets wore out at 8,000 miles when the first set on the last bike lasted over 10,000 miles but the chromed rear set I have on it now doesn’t show a lot of wear even at…hmmmm…not sure how many miles but I know I had them on the last bike for at least two years and maybe 3….the new front only cost 20 bucks and should be here next week so that will put the bike back to not skipping again….now, I just need to figure out why the shifter sticks and I’ll be happy…or, as happy as I can be…I am looking forward to cooking a big t-day meal and eating a bunch of turkey then making turkey soup again, but that will be next week….think I’m going to use my standard brine and add a little sage this year when I butter the skin before cooking….not much to do today…it’s pool day! It will be nice to get out of here for a while but I need to wash the car this morning since the glass is pretty dirty….and it is going to be warm enough to do it in the driveway this morning before the bike ride…and I got my November top down run in yesterday and that was good with the cold that is coming….more later….
Poor Devin stepped in it…
Well…as Devin Nunes did everything in his power to try to derail the impeachment hearings, reporting that came out Friday gave us part of the why…other than being a trump loving asshole, that is. In December of last year, ole Devie and three of his henchmen took a trip to Vienna to meet with, guess who? The disgraced former Ukrainian prosecutor, Shokin, who was thrown out of office for corruption…and guess what he was meeting Shokin for? Yep, to try to do trump’s bidding by looking for “dirt” on the Bidens, the server, and whether or not the moon is made of green cheese. This idiot spent 63K of taxpayers dollars to do it, and with that, he committed the same crime that the idiot trump did since ole Devie was part of the conspiracy that every other damn person in the trump crime family is guilty of….and reveals that his is dumber than a box of rocks and is just another repub who Putin is using to attack the US….like every damn on of them. Luckily, the dems are in control of congress for this ethics investigation and little Devie is not going to escape with a slap on the wrist this time…how about no more committee assignments where he protects trump? Oh, and the latest is that he is going to sue CNN for reporting on his crimes…just like is suing a cow for tweeting bad things about him…it ain’t going to end well, Devie….oh, one last thing…one of the Ukrainian “fixers” who were working for trump in his scandal has said that yep, Devie was there and he did talk to Shokin…twice…sue that Devie…
November 24th
Well…it’s a little ominous when you wake up with the Eagles “Wasted time” running through your head…I know it’s about a breakup as a person gets older but it’s also gives me the feeling of just marking time in my life that I thought would go away when I moved in here…but, it hasn’t and there is a good reason for it…I am just marking time here as I work on this house that isn’t mine, and that I will be moving out of in the next year or so…and starting over, again, and I’m not sure if I have it in me to do it….hmmmm…it was an okay day yesterday and got a bike ride in but there are major repairs that need to be done in the near future…the entire drive train will need to be replaced since it started skipping under load last week and that means the big front sprocket, the chain, and the rear sprockets will all need to be replaced over the winter and that will run about 75 bucks…I am going to start saving for a new bike for next year since I want one that has a rocker arm rear suspension…and that will be over 500 bucks but it is about the only thing that gives me joy these days so I think it’s worth it….it was cool this morning that I could take the car out to get the paper without having to scrape the ice off the glass with it being parked in the garage…just a little thing that made me smile this morning…it appears it’s going to be a rough one today and I’ll take any little good thing I can get….more later….
They’re either dupes or traitors…
Well….you know this country is in trouble when one of the major political parties…and you know it’s not the dems…is working to further a Putin led disinformation campaign that Ukraine was responsible for the 2016 election interference when every damn intelligence service in the world knows it was Russia…and senators were briefed on the facts that it was Russia just recently but that doesn’t matter to the repubs..Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley, two repub senators who were briefed just this week asked for documents that the government might have on Ukrainian interference when, again, it is a Russian intelligence service driven hoax designed to sow confusion and exonerate Russia…and the repubs are either dupes or traitors for going along with it. It just doesn’t matter to the repubs anymore that they are working with the Russians to try to win elections…even with the evidence that hundreds of repubs used the stolen dem e-mails and other information int heir campaigns….something that should be a crime (one of the laws passed by dems that Moscow Mitch won’t allow to come up for a vote in the senate) and that the repubs won’t promise to do again. So, there you have it…the repubs are so corrupt that they prefer protecting Putin than our country…and we are all going to pay for it….until we vote every damn one of them out of office…
November 23rd
Well….the coughing continues this morning and now I know I have a bug of some sort…haven’t had a cold in a long time but this sure feels like one…and when I think of how I’ve been feeling worn out lately and unmotivated, it fits that part of it is this infection…but, I do feel better than I did yesterday…I think…and my stomach is not as queasy as it was so I guess I’ll take it…as you can see I didn’t get to a political one yesterday but I will promise to do one today with the revelation that the whole Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election bullshit is a Russian operation…will expand on that later today…didn’t get much done yesterday but the bike ride and with soccer coming back after a break, it looks like I won’t get much done today…well…I may sand the filler in the vestibule and tape off the front door to get it ready to paint but probably not much more than that…I did sleep some last night and had some dreams that were a little weird but that was cool just to have some….and I didn’t get up til almost 6 so that may be why I don’t feel too bad even with the bug…who knows? More later….