Hamburg, NY, just outside of Buffalo. A class and their teacher returned from trip to northern Italy. Teacher informed public health officials who recommended 2 week quarantine.

But the kids had already been in school for a week by then.

Ember's kitty "house" is a cube with entrance holes on 3 sides. Two of the entrance holes have detachable tunnels tucked into them at right angles. She loves to take naps in the tunnels, or watch me from inside for the chance to ambush my legs.

The house and tunnels are located just inside the living room, near the entrance to the kitchen.

Ember was disturbed about my accidental interference with her personal housing unit and decided to do something about it. I use an extension cord to keep my phone.charged while browsing online , typing at DU, etc. Then I can move from kitchen table to desk or living room couch. But the cord slides under the tunnels when I pass from kitchen to living room, making an uncomfortable lump under the tunnel floors.

First she tried swatting and scratching the cord through the tunnel floor, but it would not budge. So, from inside one tunnel, she pawed the tunnel floor until she had dragged the entire apparatus, house and 2 tunnels, into the middle of the kitchen floor, away from the cord outlet. Then she crawled inside and stared at me. She looked smugly satisfied.

OK. It's HER tunnels and kitty house. And the apartment is her home, too. So I ignored the inconvenience of stepping around or over the setup in the kitchen.

But....I had to move it to wash the kitchen floor. Ember was not happy. She tugged one of the tunnels loose, dragged it across the floor, and plunked herself down inside it, leaving the kitty house and other tunnel several feet away. She can't re-attach it, of course, so now my dilemma is whether to do that for her or leave it as it is. I don't want to disturb her notion of fen shui.

Just watched a recent Colbert monologue in which he said the 4 Federal prosecutors who resigned from the Stone case had trouble finding the exit. Barr had relocated DOJ "up Trump's ass."

Earlier in the monologue he showed Trump using the first letters of 4 corporations to spell MAGA.

Colbert demonstrated that you can rearrange "Donald Trump" to spell "Plod Turd Man."

Reminiscent of Tom Marvolo Riddle and Lord Voldemort.

Lord Turd Man.

Kinda surprised me since I've only been here a few months. Appreciate the thoughtfulness.

Reported by NPR and NY Daily News.

The decent thing to do regarding any human being with a diagnosis like that is to wish them well. I can't bring myself to do that. I will withhold some of the more vile thoughts that come to mind.

Isn't he the one who mocked Michael J Fox for his parkinson's? When Fox appeared in public on behalf of stem cell research without his meds so people could see the effects of the disorder, Limbaugh accused him of faking it and made fun of him.

How tempting to let Limbaugh know how public cruelty feels.

I both hope and dread.

I hope that the impeachment and trial proceedings have alerted the general public to the extent of corruption in the Senate and administration.

I hope that awareness drives huge numbers to the polls to vote them out.

Then, if Trump and his enablers refuse to accept defeat and leave, claiming that he actually won, I hope the people openly protest in huge numbers and keep it up as strongly and firmly as Hong Cong does.

But I also dread this, because it will get very ugly. Trump & Co. wiil not tolerate protests, no matter how peaceful they are. They will use force to stop protesters. Trump's racist armed militias will back him. I fear that the nation will face a time like the 1960's or worse. I don't want to see that. But we must make a peaceful stand, if necessary. And hope for the best outcome because we cannot .accept a dictatorship.

In 2016 the Trump campaign solicited foreign aid from other countries besides Russia. It was reported at the time.and confirmed by the people he solicited. I wonder why nobody has mentioned it as a pattern considering the current impeachment discussions.

In 2016, Trump and his sons e-mailed British members of parliament soliciting aid for his US election campaign.
They targeted UK MP's who supported Brexit on the assumption that they shared a common view of governance with Trump. They also sent solicitation e-mails to elected representatives in Canada, Australia, and Iceland according to a BBC article.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36599724

Recipients considered it bizarre and rejected the solicitations. Even the Brits knew it was against US law.

The act of solicitation was illegal, even though it was rejected.

Glad that DU does not allow conspiracy theories because I think I have heard them all and do not want to hear any more.

I bring up this anniversary only out of respect for his memory.

Don't let it be forgot
That once there was a spot
For one brief shining moment
That was known as Camelot.

Thete are lots of you tube videos of cats watching videos but I've had dogs who viewed and reacted to scenes on TV, too.

My cat loves a video made for cats called Cat Sitter. It is by far her favorite and she watches the entire thing totally mesmerized.

But she also likes scenes from human movies. She loves the Harry Potter flicks. (Yes I still have them.) I think the owls and strange creatures attract her attention. She recognizes planes and helicopters on screen from seeing them through my window. She looks at the window as if to ask "How did they get in here?"

She loved a Natiional Geographic wildlife video until it showed lions taking down a zebra. Ran from the room and I found her under the bed.

She knows the sound of the DVD tray opening and the clicking sounds of the VCR starting up. (Yes I still have that and some old videocassettes too.) When she hears them she hops onto a chair or footstool to watch the screen and decide whether to stay for the film.

call and all of the distortion and spin that Nunes et. al. are promoting will be the core of the defense in the Senate trial. The defense will be about Hillary and Biden in 2016 and not about Trump in 2019.

They will claim that Trump had a valid reason for investigating both Hunter and Joe as well as Hillary due to what they call Ukrainian intervention in 2016.

The entire position that Nunes preached in his opening remarks will be the foundation of the defense.

Edited to add:

This line of defense will be the justification for the irregular channel secrecy with Guiliani abd the rest.