They Live Among Us

The Election Season is over. We the People have spoken. Sorry the ravings took over for as long as they did (not really…lost another subscriber…c’est la vie). I left the country for a few weeks and now am ready to address other things…like two more ballparks, captivating places and the graves of people who actually did make America great.

Let’s start with the upbeat thought that there are large creatures among us that have escaped our notice.

Jacqui’s Cabin (11 December 2022)

I first noticed the phenomenon after emerging from a cabin in the glorious Methow Valley in the North Cascade Mountains in Washington State. I thought I was documenting how the accumulated snow on the cabin roof can slide over the edge before falling to the ground. Upon closer inspection, the head of an ice creature is clearly evident. It appears to be peering into that window, and I hope the occupant doesn’t mind.

Snooping Ice Creature (11 December 2022)

I’ve talked about cropping images before. In a ‘Tip of the Day’ post in 2014, I advocated cropping as a way to emphasize the best elements of an image. That said, I believe this tactic has revealed more. Back in the 50’s tabloid rags like the National Inquirer would publish photos. Some dude in Kansas took a picture of his girlfriend but in the corner of the sky is…A FLYING SAUCER! Another might be a camping family portrait, but it looks like BIGFOOT is there in the background. Kudos to the crack investigative forensic reporting team at Images and More for reviving this tradition. We present here evidence of heretofore unknown life forms…hiding in plain sight.

Two months before Katrina changed everything, I was in New Orleans. Audubon Park has a fine collection of mature live oak trees, and this one was our favorite. Its wide girth and ample root mass made for a fine portrait stage for visitors. It is also a good place to sit and study, as this young woman demonstrates. I took several shots from a distance because the tree’s canopy is very wide.

Our Favorite Live Oak From Another Angle (23 June 2005)

A straight-on view of the tree with the seated student facing the camera. The tree extends beyond the camera’s view…and nothing suspicious is evident.

Our Favorite Live Oak, Audubon Park, New Orleans (23 June 2005)

This is one of the shots. Again, I thought this view showed how the tree’s branches reached the ground and created more stability before growing upward…as well as the size of it all given how small the woman looks. I zoomed in to see what I could about what she was doing…and there it was.

‘May I Help You?’ Audubon Park, New Orleans (23 June 2005)

I’ll confess. When I recently talked to a friend about this image, I said the beast looked like a dragon…all brown and scaley. You know where its eyes and mouth are. On second thought, it looks more like a boxer dog with a headband. But it is definitely fixated on the young woman.

You saw that the frontal view showed nothing near the woman. This guy decided to appear when I moved to the side. We’re onto something here. The good news is that they seem harmless. Despite their considerable size, they seem content to quietly observe…so far. Be assured that Images and More will be diligent in its coverage of this breaking story…and I suspect it will be a welcome break from our regular news/opinion feed.

2024 Election Thoughts – Postscript

“Man’s most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe.”
Euripides

Well, I sure didn’t think THAT was going to happen. All that exposure and enthusiasm and endorsements and positivity, especially when contrasted with the incoherence and complaining and vulgarity and over-the-top outrageous lies. However, I have to respect the system. The people have spoken…emphatically.
   

The White House (4 April 2005)

Of course, the media is now crammed with opinions about why the Dems failed so miserably. She wasn’t specific/no details. We didn’t know her. The campaign was too short. Joe should have dropped out sooner. We needed a primary. Wrong direction. Failed administration. Poor economy. Low approval ratings. The dude-bro emphasis captured the less educated and cancelled the expected surge of women.

In the midst of all that postulating, I have not seen any postmortem that notes something I have complained about for years – Democrats are too damn timid. They never seriously challenge the Fox/GOP nonsense. They have allowed their party to be demonized. Democrat timidity has allowed the GOP to normalize years of voter suppression and election denial. Until they understand that so many of Trump’s votes were anti-Democrat votes, they’ll never recover. Trump’s supporters KNOW he’s not a nice man but believe Democrats and (especially) liberals are worse.

I hope the Dems figure it out and learn enough to pick more acceptable candidates, better strategies and stronger arguments. They need to come to grips with the widespread sentiments that drove the people to vote as they did and made 14 million people stay home compared to the 2020 turnout. Trump garnered about the same number of votes he got in 2020, but Kamala’s total was eleven million fewer than Uncle Joe’s.
   

Post-Insurrection Shutdown (7 April 2021)

And another thing… We ARE a stupid species…and BOTH political parties believe that. The GOP depends on us to be stupid so we will swallow their lies and misinformation. Democrats think we’re too stupid to hear straight talk about what’s really happening.

I don’t want to hear another talking head mention the price of eggs. We had to euthanize millions of diseased chickens. There were fewer eggs. They cost more just like everything else that is scarce and still in demand. The egg producers, transporters and sellers had to make their profits. If people stopped buying eggs, the price would have dropped immediately.

Take the promised mass deportation. Are you MAGA faithful ready to fill all those jobs working the farm fields and slaughterhouses? We’ll see how some red/rural towns fare after the feds cart off a big chunk of their local economy.

Speaking of cleaning up the illegals, don’t be surprised if we hear stories of red state cops doing their part by stopping members of the public who don’t look American enough. Maybe it will soon be advisable to routinely carry proof of citizenship…and we’ll be another step closer to living the Nazi life. “Show me your papers!”  
   

Korean War Memorial, Washington, D.C. (8 August 2005)

I’ve been wrong too many times before so take this for what it’s worth. Given what the President-Elect has said over the years AND his performance the first time around AND what so many close to him have revealed, the nation is about to experience challenges it does not expect. We will be tested.

HOWEVER…

If our species does what it so often does, the new order will overplay its hand and attempt even more radical policies. Then the electorate will make corrections at the next mid-term elections…if we still have elections by then.
  

Earth Day, Washington, D.C. (22 April 2017)

I’m really glad the election is over, and I can get back to pictures, places and stories. Given the depth and breadth of Trump’s victory, the GOP will consider it a total mandate to do everything Orange Jesus wants. Don’t be surprised if things don’t turn out all that ‘Great Again.’

2024 Election Thoughts # Last

‘Prickly City’ by Scott Stantis

This will be my fifteenth presidential election. You do the math. I’m old and my civic sensibilities were formed in a different time. There have been many times when I felt I had to choose the lesser of two evils. That is certainly not the case now.

‘Pearls Before Swine’ by Stephan Pastis

Q – How can you tell when Trump is lying?
A – His lips are moving

Based on What? – I guess Democrats will continue to be too nice and live in denial about how Republicans no longer play by the rules but it’s way past time to call ‘bullshit’ on Trump.

Abortion after birth – Where? When? Who?

Crime is up – In Arizona recently, he said, and I quote, “Young American girls” are “being raped and sodomized and murdered by savage criminal aliens.”

The FBI collects stats from local government...and has done so for decades. What are your sources?
I’m sure the friendly folks at Fox News would be all over stories like this and the Aurora, Colorado gang takeover and the Springfield, Ohio pet-snatching…yet we see no reporting.

“They’re emptying their prisons and mental institutions and sending them here.” – Who’s ‘they’? Name ONE country. Identify ONE facility that’s been emptied.

By Joe Heller

For the Guy Who Likes Ratings - I know this is a time when facts are optional and expertise is irrelevant, but let’s look anyway at how career historians and political scientists view the performance of all forty-six presidents. There we’ll find Mr. “I had the best/greatest/most fantastic administration in history” ranks pretty high...if you turn the list upside down.

U.S. News & World Report places Trump as the third worst, as does the CBS News survey of historians, as does the Sienna College Research Institute. The C-SPAN 2021 survey improves his standing to fourth worst of all.

Nah. What do they know?

 

By Ann Telnaes (Washington Post)

We should never forget that Donald Trump cemented his place in the bottom three presidents of all time with his miserable, negligent management of the federal Covid response. I’m OK if the Harris campaign reminds us of the leadership failures that resulted in the deaths of over a million citizens? I suggest watching this will help.

‘In America, Remember’ Covid Memorial on the National Mall (3 October 2021)

Better Late Than Never? - While it is gratifying that so many significant Republicans have come forward to reveal the dark side of the former president, it is exasperating that NONE of them raised these objections in real time when it could have mattered. That fine-sounding phrase, ‘country over party,’ has become archaic hollow fluffery.

‘Non Sequitur’ by Wiley Miller

What Will It Take? – For the life of me, I can’t understand why the polling is still so close given one candidate is a totally degenerate, off-the-wall, lying sack-o-shit who has said and done things too numerous to count, any one of which would have disqualified ANY major party candidate we have seen in the last hundred years.

I can’t help but believe there are still too many of our fine citizens in this Exceptional U. S. of A. who, despite every indication, simply can’t get past the fact that Harris is not White and not male. That and because we all know Democrats and libs are Satan-worshiping, Marxist, fascist, communist, pedophile cannibals. I saw it on the internet.

‘Prickly City’ by Scott Stantis

You just gotta!!!

See you on the other side when I can happily return to travels and graves.

2024 Election Thoughts - # 6

'Prickly City’ by Scott Stantis

Hypocrisy uber Alles – the way the GOP can ignore an issue that at one time would make their heads explode goes beyond belief. How can so many Americans venerate a man who blatantly does things that these same people swore was disqualifying a few short years ago? We’re talking about a man who lies with every breath he takes...calls people who join the military and die in the line of duty “suckers and losers.”...thinks it’s a good idea to suspend the Constitution so he can get away with more...venerates Hitler…thinks the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs should be executed...says derogatory things about anyone who is not a white male...who buries a former wife on his golf course to secure tax advantages. (Who does that?)

We’re Doomed - I ditched Facebook years ago and do not do any other social media platforms. I know it’s great to be able to connect with relatives and friends, but the downside is that too many people are drawn to the garbage and lose connection to what’s important...like facts, real news and truth.

‘Non Sequitur’ by Wiley Miller

Back in the 70’s when I lived in New Orleans, I remember driving through a suburban intersection where a guy, dressed in the white sheets of the KKK, was handing out a page of propaganda to passing cars. This dedicated cracker had to type it up, run it through a mimeo machine and shlep his stack of racist BS into the hot sun and exhaust. How many did he hand out? How many were thrown away soon after? How many actually changed anyone’s thinking? The number is certainly miniscule compared to the reach of today’s social media. With the click of a mouse, lies and hate can circle the planet and reach millions...and our species seems so drawn to it. If you believe God gave you that big brain to make you superior to everything else in existence, you should give it back. Being ‘in His image’ is not enough. You need to act better.

Voter Suppression – A Republican Value – Ironic how the ‘Party of Freedom’ is so hellbent on keeping certain citizens from exercising our most important right. It started in earnest when we elected that Black guy.

‘Candorville’ by Darrin Bell

Kamala at the Debate – “So, Donald, does it ever occur to you that your description of EVERY Black woman who ever disagreed with you or challenged you as ‘not very smart’ or ‘low IQ’ or ‘mentally-disabled’ is as consistent and predictable as anything?

I am vice president, and you are a vulgar fraud and convicted felon.”

Repeal the Trump Tax Cuts - The rich will still be rich. They should appreciate the contribution from the rest of the masses in this fine system we have. They should be happy to contribute to the welfare (and defense) of all of us so everything remains stable, and they can keep getting richer. But no. Government is the problem, and taxes are bad, and I want more for myself. The home needs a helipad and the villa in France needs redecorating. More for me.

Election Denial – Another Republican Value – The 2020 election was so easy to verify because 93% of the votes had some kind of paper record. The recounts and audits confirmed the results and helped shoot down the sixty court challenges from the Trump election deniers...who had the stones to say they were the ones who were ‘stopping the steal.’ They didn’t call them ‘fake electors’ for nothing. These clowns should have been prosecuted and dis-barred in 2021.

Women Will Die - I want the pro-fetus party to justify this. What they stand for means that the wonderful woman you have loved since high school...the mother of your other children...your life partner…should die because that undifferentiated, damaged embryo that is killing her is more important. I’m sure the husband/father and the rest of the kids will understand.

And Another Thing - As sure as God made little green apples, the following scenario will play out in some Confederate backwater.

Jim Bob is a pillar in the community. His family owns the big mill and lives on the land that once was his great-granddaddy’s plantation. Now, he’s a state senator or county commissioner and proudly voted for extreme ‘pro-life’ women’s health care restrictions. However, his baby girl, Lurleen, had too much spiked punch at the prom and finds herself preggers. Now, is Jim Bob going to cite his bona fides and make sure his pride-and-joy brings in a new family member or is he going to excuse her from class and hustle her little butt North for a quiet procedure?

Bet on the latter.

Please vote to keep insanity out of the White House.

2024 Election Thoughts - # 5

‘Pearls Before Swine’ by Stephan Pastis

“There’s a sucker born every minute” - If I hear one more person-on-the-street respondent say they’re voting for Trump “because he’s a businessman and that’s what we need in Washington,” I’m gonna hurl. I want a follow-up question…one that I wish Democrat candidates would throw out there.

It’s not like this businessman hasn’t been there before…. Can you name ONE thing he did in his four years in office that affected you in a positive way because it was a better business (vs. political) decision? I can’t.

I’d suggest he’s actually a lousy businessman. He’s declared bankruptcy six times. He stiffs his contractors and has been convicted of fraud. How did that Trump University education work for you? Tell me how well the casinos and Trump Foundation did. The biggest business deals he made in office were all about serving his own selfish interests…like cutting taxes for his bracket, overcharging the Secret Service for space in his hotel, and whatever he could steal when he left the White House.

What say we prefer a career public servant? That’s what we used to call dedicated citizens who are smart enough to have earned much more in the private sector but chose to devote their lives to making this greatest of nations succeed.

“Nobody knows more than me” – (Check out this video) Polling continues to confirm the public believes Trump and the GOP are better for the economy and to my dismay, the Democrat ticket refuses to go on the offense in that area. Harris is so busy trying to separate herself from Biden, she won’t point out that our economy is now the envy of the world. All the indicators we look at are better. The market is through the roof. Trump and the GOP would kill to have this record to run on. And another thing…Trump is as dumb as a bag of hammers, even when it comes to business. Consider his awful performance at the recent Bloomberg Economics gathering in Chicago. He thought he could skate with his peeps but could not answer basic economic questions. Instead, he criticized the questioners…a standard ploy when he has no good answer.

Are You with Me or What? - Recently, Trump appeared on ‘Fox and Friends’ and said his next stop would be “Rupert’s office” to complain that the Republican Party’s semi-official mouthpiece was broadcasting too many ‘negative’ ads. I assume he means Harris-Walz ads. Of course, we heard nothing more of that because the meeting, if it took place at all, probably had Murdoch say something like,

“Don, Don, Don. Their campaign paid for the airtime. Top dollar, too. Fox News is a for-profit business, you dolt. That’s why I am eight times richer than you. Why don’t you direct some of that bible-sneaker cash this way and pony up some ad buys? Now, get out of my office.
G’die, Mite.”

Something like that.

And while we’re at it, Trump wants to cancel the broadcast licenses of networks he doesn’t like. You think Fox might ponder that issue and take a position that is more aligned with those other ‘lamestream’ networks? Speak up now.

The Wheels of Justice Turn Slowly - What ever happened to the 6th Amendment right to a speedy trial? I thought the secret documents case was a slam dunk. Merrick Garland should have indicted Trump the day after the perp admitted he had them and refused to turn them over.

The docs were not his to take. He denied he had them, refused to return them, then tried to make it a negotiation...after he claimed he could declassify them with his mind. What numbskull even thinks that is a thing? If you or I did that, our asses would be in Leavenworth long before now.

By Mike Luckovich (Atlanta Journal Constitution (12 May 2024)

Instead, we have Judge Cannon, who’s in the bag for the defendant. Their plan was to delay, deflect, object, postpone and appeal. She did them one better by dismissing the case altogether. Bada-Bing. Sure enough, not one of the criminal cases against Trump will be tried before Election Day.

This is why the nation’s electorate must rise up and TROUNCE him at the polls. There must be an unmistakable, undeniable, crystal clear repudiation of Trump and the Republican down-ballot candidates who support him and what he stands for.

Please vote.

Capitol Steps – Part 2

New Hampshire Capitol, Concord (7 October 2009)

There are other stairways in our capitol buildings. Away from the grand staircases, one can find eye-catching features in state house stairways. I am drawn to the shapes and repeating design elements in a flight of stairs. The following shots show a variety of balusters and hand rails...and include more stair-related quotes.

Texas Capitol, Austin (19 June 2008)

The elevator to success is out of order.

You’ll have to use the stairs...one step at a time.

Joe Girard (1928-2019)

Maryland Capitol, Annapolis (1 September 2009)

Never look backwards or you’ll fall down the stairs.

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

If a stairway is against a wall, additional aesthetic features can be added.

Old Florida Capitol, Tallahassee (1 March 2010)

Step by step and the thing is done.

Charles Atlas (1892-1972)

Old North Carolina Capitol, Raleigh (28 June 2008)

The staircase to success is always under construction.

Lily Tomlin (b. 1939)

Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul (24 September 2009)

Success is not a doorway. It’s a staircase.

Dottie Walters (1925-2007)

Alabama Capitol, Montomery (18 October 2008)

You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

Iowa Capitol, Des Moines (26 June 2017)

There is no 'slippery slope' toward loss of liberties,

only a long staircase where each step downward must

first be tolerated by the American people and their leaders.

Alan K. Simpson (b. 1931)

 

2024 Election Thoughts - # 4

Home stretch and the race intensifies. You can’t go through a news day without a talking head reminding us how many days are left.

One thing that concerns me as the candidates continue to concentrate on the damn swing states is their lack of attention to the Congressional races...and anything else that is happening outside the damn swing states. 

By Dana Summers, Orlando Sentinel (1988)

Speaking of Congress, it’s way past time for the head of the ticket to remind us of the miserable job Trump’s party has done on the legislative side of governing. Calling the 118th Congress a ‘do-nothing’ outfit insults all the past ‘do-nothing’ outfits. In the 1948 election, Harry Truman ripped the 80th Congress as ‘Do-Nothing’ when they passed 906 bills. The current House passed a historic low number of bills - 27. Instead of addressing the nation’s problems, today’s Republicans prefer to [1] challenge their own Speaker, [2] thwart any Democrat proposals and [3] investigate the ‘Biden Crime Family.’ I hope their constituents are happy.

I want to see the Harris-Walz ticket encourage the public to do their job and throw out these useless, power-obsessed parasites. Flip the House. Create a stable majority in the Senate while we’re at it and show the nation what a united government can do for the people.

Sadly, I can’t help but expect what happens after that. After averting the end of democracy, the Dems will do what our species always does with power. They will overplay their hand and include too many loopy lefty initiatives that turn off more of the electorate. Then, if the GOP is smart (no guarantee there), they will offer up less crazy candidates and win again.

But, until then, I’ll just throw in a few images (that is our first name after all) to remind you just how obscene the Party of Lincoln has become. Below are family Christmas pictures from Republican members of Congress…staunch Christians all…so they say. This is how they celebrate the ‘Prince of Peace.’

Please vote.

Rep Lauren Boebert (Republican-CO)

Rep. Andy Ogles (Republican-TN)

 

Rep. Thomas Massie (Republican-KY)