August 31, 2019

Not only amazing but touching.

At least it was for me. It's about sharing a life ...with a respected and very loved dog.

Tonight I just read about Rudd Weatherwax, the dog trainer and owner of Pal, the Collie who portrayed Lassie on the screen. This is from Wiki:

By 1957, Pal
was growing blind, deaf, and stiff, and rarely visited the Lassie set. The star of the show Jon Provost later recalled, "As young as I was, I recognized how much that dog meant to Rudd. Rudd loved that old dog as much as anyone could love an animal or person."[17]**

Pal died of natural causes in June 1958 at age 18 (about 85 in "dog years" ) and for months Weatherwax slipped in and out of deep depression. Robert Weatherwax, Rudd's son, later recalled, "It hit him very hard when Pal died. He buried him in a special place on the ranch and would often visit the grave. Dad would never again watch an MGM Lassie movie. He just couldn't bear to see Pal. He didn't want to have to be reminded of just how much he loved that dog."[19]

**That's how I imagine the bonding between these two must feel. Some of us know how that feels.

August 28, 2019

K & R

Surmised before, evidence now.


And Rachel said she'd never thought of this before? Rachel, Rachel.

August 28, 2019

Trump donor, Blackstone CEO Is Driving Force Behind Amazon Deforestation

TWO BRAZILIAN FIRMS owned by a top donor to Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell are significantly responsible for the ongoing destruction of the Amazon rainforest, carnage that has developed into raging fires that have captivated global attention.

The companies have wrested control of land, deforested it, and helped build a controversial highway to their new terminal in the one-time jungle, all to facilitate the cultivation and export of grain and soybeans. The shipping terminal at Miritituba, deep in the Amazon in the Brazilian state of Pará, allows growers to load soybeans on barges, which will then sail to a larger port before the cargo is shipped around the world.

The Amazon terminal is run by Hidrovias do Brasil, a company that is owned in large part by Blackstone, a major U.S. investment firm. Another Blackstone company, Pátria Investimentos, owns more than 50 percent of Hidrovias, while Blackstone itself directly owns an additional roughly 10 percent stake. Blackstone co-founder and CEO Stephen Schwarzman is a close ally of Trump and has donated millions of dollars to McConnell in recent years.
...

The Amazon, where a record number of fires have been raging, is the world’s largest rainforest. It absorbs a significant amount of carbon dioxide, a major contributor to the climate crisis. The Amazon is so dense in vegetation that it produces something like a fifth of the world’s oxygen supply. The moisture that evaporates from the Amazon is important form farmlands not just in South America, but also in the U.S. Midwest, where it falls to the earth as rain. Protection of the Amazon, 60% of which is in Brazil, is crucial to the continued existence of civilization as we know it.

https://theintercept.com/2019/08/27/amazon-rainforest-fire-blackstone/



(Cross-posted in E & E Forum)

August 27, 2019

Being a Rethugian equals a religion for many.

Not for the rich who are there just for their tax breaks but for the brainwashed poor and those who disdain reading verified facts. For instance, the other day my poor brother was defending Jeff Bezos. Had to tell him, since Faux didn't, that Besos is a Democrat (pseudo) who loves his tax cuts.

August 27, 2019

Excellent! K&R

I've have a rethugian brother who's not a Humpster, thank the universe. But this is how I sincerely feel about them, which most definitely applies to my bro.

August 24, 2019

Great article, worth the click.

K&R

Tonight Bill Maher repeated a great but not new idea that someone touted decades ago: Philanthropic Billionaires (Democratic) should band together and buy large portions of the Amazon rainforest to preserve them for the good of the whole planet. Such a large area however would need to be guarded by a small army and many drones in order to keep it from being encroached upon and burned.

This could and should be done. Time is running out.

August 22, 2019

I wonder if "AnusMouth" would like to buy the Arctic?

Someone should tell him it's for sale.

August 20, 2019

Tiananmen Square viewing

In '89 my husband & I sat in our flat in Cambridge with our dear Chinese friend watching Tiananmen Square play out until CNN's live broadcasting was stopped by the Chinese authorities. Our friend had been celebrating what he thought was the coming revolution in China. We disagreed and shared our fears with him. With the eventual leaked facts, our worries were proven warranted and our Chinese friend became very saddened. Another but younger Chinese colleague and friend of his at Cambridge U. defected and fled to Canada rather than return home to Shanghai. On his last night in Cambridge, we shared a beer with this young friend.

I'm at a loss to explain how British rule equates to China's. And why we should turn a blind eye to those seeking more freedoms.

Goodbye. 🐦

August 20, 2019

I cannot believe you're equating British "autocratic" rule

With what China is offering! Wow.

You're saying that 1.7 million people protesting in the streets in Hong Kong have their heads up their asses? That they are "racists"? That Mainland has better human rights than the horrible British Hong Kong rule? K J Noh's analysis cherry-picked their facts. Yes, the US is terribly flawed and all that the podcast said it is, thanks to the fuckin' rethugians, but to say China is a better model for human rights and self-determination? Wow, again!



(Btw, I've been to the mainland twice, have friends there who've candidly discussed their country when living/studying abroad. And i read slanted Chinese news.
Another btw, as long as the corporate political party has so much power in the US, we're also not a democracy and are only pretending to be.)

August 17, 2019

Spare any more lives ending horribly, prematurely.

Stop having children. (Folks have them for their own selfish needs anyway.)




And, of course, I agree with all the above.