all from the Canadian wildfires.

https://www.axios.com/2023/06/30/photos-canada-wildfires-air-quality-smoke-us-europe

Canada is burning from west to east. Our air quality in the US is bad in several states, but Canadians are right there, where the fires are blazing across its provinces. The AQI in their communities must be double and triple what it is in US communities.

Canadian DUers - How are you coping? How many people are being displaced due to smoke and fires? How does it affect daily life, especially for people whose jobs put them outdoors?

Due to fires in the Montreal area, NY State has issued an air quality alert for tonight and all day tomorrow.

I was shopping this evening and the hazy air looked like fog. The space around me looked fine, but the haze could be seen when looking up at treetops and buildings a couple blocks away. In other words, it was not thick enough to be clearly seen up close, but it was visible on all directions when gazing off away from me. There was a faint burnt odor in the air.

That was around 6:00 pm. At 8:00 we got some steady, light rain. I thought it would clear up the haze but it didn't. You could still see the haze in the air as the rain fell.

It was a smoke haze, not steam from the rain. Temperatures were not warm enough here today to cause steam from cold water coming into warm air. The ground was cool, not warm. The smoke smell remained.

Special Prosecutor Jack Smith filed to seal the list of 84 witnesses that Trump is barred from speaking to. The NYT and CNN, among others, filed to prevent the list from being sealed, claiming that DOJ gave no reason for sealing the list. Canon's ruling sided with the media.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/26/trump-documents-case-media-want-witness-list-revealed.html

To me, Madoc has the look of a cat who likes to knock things down. Even if I did not know that about him already, I would suspect it. It's a confident, superior look of "I can do this, so I will."

Trump's motive in taking and keeping the documents was solely for the purpose of selling them or using them as bargaining chips if he was indicted for one of his many crimes.

But now I see a possible second motive. He is obsessed with "proving" his innocence of any criticism or charge against him. Some of the documents that he keeps saying are his might have been taken as his "evidence" of innocence to show people. He would regard them as his personal docs because they were about him, in his mind.

Edit to add: I'd still believe that he monetized other docs. I also suspect that he tried to bargain with other countries to help him get back into the WH.

I removed the glitter, put on the shoes. Ember followed my every step, slinking warily.

And then I discovered why. There was a very faint whooshing sound from the right shoe. So faint that it was hardly detectable by human ears. But cat hearing is superior to ours.

I checked the shoe. There was a tiny gap, about 2 millimeters, between the platform and the cushioned strip on top of it where the foot goes. Every time I took a step, the pressure from the foot pushed a little air through the gap. Could not return the shoes after removing the glitter. So I plugged up the gap with invisible glue. It stopped the air leak.

Poor Ember. She thought the shoe was alive with that sound so similar to a feline hiss. She still does not quite trust the quiet shoe. Maybe she thinks that the shoe monster is just sleeping.

What song would you dedicate to him?

I'll start off with my dedication.

I just bought a pair of platform sandals, which I love since I'm short. The tops are white leather with little sparkles glued onto them, which I don't like, but I discovered that I can pick them off easily enough.

I put them on when I got home (before removing the sparkles). Ember backed away from me and crouched down in that slinking posture that cats use with things that they don't trust and might want to attack. So I put one foot forward for her to check it out. She hissed.

I took the sandals off and extended one out toward her to see that it's harmless. Nothing doing. Ember did not trust either the height or the sparkles. Vehement hiss, followed by a swat.

I left the sandals on the floor for her to check out in her own good time. She sneaked up on them and stretched her neck out to sniff them, then backed away and went to her dish. Like, "If I ignore them, maybe they will go away."

I will see later if she is ok with them after I get the sparkles off.

Never saw her react to shoes before.

Some thoughts occurred to me after watching Hillary on a video responding to the Trump indictment in Miami.

Hillary Clinton will go down in history as a great American who served her country as a Senator and as Secretary of State. She will always be known as the first woman candidate in a major party for the office of President who won the popular vote.

Her descendants for many generations will be proud to claim her as an ancestor.

Donald Trump will go down in history as a criminal who was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman, who stole top secret documents and obstructed justice when told to return them, who compromised national security, who aroused violence and racism in his followers, and who incited a violent attack on the Capitol in an attempt to stay in office after losing an election.

Trump's descendants for many generations will be embarrassed and ashamed to carry his name and might even change it. Unless, of course, if they inherit his lack of conscience and his inability to feel shame.