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Yosemite morning

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Long disjointed ramble

 I was a little disappointed in Jamie Dimon's recent interview on Trump. We've been hearing a lot of this "he bloviates and says a lot of things we don't like but we like his record and there are checks and balances if he strays" type talk of late. Which I think is totally misguided and fails to appreciate the damage he has done and continues to do to the constitution and democracy. 

The checks and balances don't work. The senate said that they wouldn't impeach because it was a matter for the criminal courts and now they have flipped and say, well, we should have impeached him. Had our shot. Big, dishonest double game. And the SCOTUS is nothing but a partisan extension of the GOP most days.

Speaking of SCOTUS, they ruled that Texas was out of bounds in installing razor wire fencing and not allowing the feds border access. Surprised me on that one but I concur. But get Texas congressman Chip Roy. Because it was a narrow decision they lost, it should be ignored and Texas can now do what it wants. Do liberals get to ignore 5 to 4 decisions that go the other way now too? How does this all work?

I don't subscribe to a lot of magazines or periodicals. Let's see; Washington Post, New York Times, The New Yorker, Talking Points Memo, what else?

Today I joined Vanity Fair, there is a deal, a dollar a month for a year. They have had quality writers in the past and I was intrigued by this article, Palm Beach is having a Class 5 identity crisis. Read it if you can get through the paywall.

There is a real difference between Palm Beach and West Palm Beach and one of the differences is that Palm Beach has a history of showing a lot of hostility to members of a certain tribe. My sister is a long time resident of West Palm and I remember stories she told me of not being allowed at certain country clubs or the person who had invited her would risk suspension or expulsion.

This goes back to the Mizner era and the Breakers, place has always been a breeding ground for rich racists and anti semites and it apparently continues to this day. But a lot of wealthy right wing money has flown down the coastline towards Mar a Lago and these birds of a feather tend to flock together.

I hate Florida, always have. Bugs, reptiles, humidity and bigots. The beast rots from the head and has polluted the government from the Governor, Surgeon General and school boards on down.

I have been the recipient of a few instances of pretty nasty anti semitic talk in my 44 years of Fallbrook. That which emanated from the low income Metzger type folks really never bothered me. Getting it from the elite was a different story, from not being able to sit down with the ruling class at certain events to out and out racist bombasts from prominent members of the town.

Didn't take long to understand that we should not go where we were not wanted, that we would never have an invitation to certain gatherings and we were fine with that because we were both disgusted by these people.

It is one thing to experience hatred, when that hatred is produced and fostered by the powerful it gets even more poisonous and toxic. Who would ever want to be part of their toxic club anyway?

I thought that this story was really good. 

Once again god furnishes a get out of jail free card.

I drove to Encinitas and Carlsbad and back yesterday. The potholes were incredible after the intense rainstorm.

photo: SDUT
I had heard about a cheap gas station on El Camino near Ocean Hills and took the 78 east to get home.

Wrong move.

It took a half hour or longer to get off the exit, the 78 was under water. I heard a guy had a paddleboard out there. I finally made it to the gas station. $3.87 a gallon, not bad.

I was flattered when I ran into Diane O'Bannon today and she told me that she had made my peach walnut ginger scone recipe. She said that it was delicious but messy and it is. The batter gets very wet from the juice in the peaches. So don't worry about how it looks, focus on the taste.

Saw an interesting looking woman at the coffee shop and she let me take her picture today with my cell phone.

Forgive me, forgot her name.

I liked her makeup and her hair which you can not see here.

Good vibes.

I have a beautiful tree/shrub in my yard and I don't remember its name.

Its foliage gets such a pretty purple when wet. I sent arborist Roger Boeddart a pic and he didn't know either.

iNaturalist says it is probably in the Dicots class but that doesn't sound right either.

Anyone know?

It was a beautiful misty morning in the canyon.

There were two red tailed hawks sitting on a bough in front of my driveway.

K-i-s-s-i-n-g.

Should start to nest in about a month, I have my eyes open.

The river is really high right now.

There is a washout next door, I called the road department this morning. 

Somebody hooks a tire in the hole one day or night, they are going down to the river in an e-ticket ride.

I haven't had my real camera out in weeks. Too busy. I worked all weekend. I came in yesterday and wondered where everybody was. I thought it was a Tuesday but I was a day off.

Fallbrook shuts down on Mondays.

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I don't really understand the Google metrics. I had over 12 million views on Google +. Blogger is much slower. Still just under 5 million views for the Blue Heron Blast. Should take about three more months at current speed to break five million.


A shade under 13 thousand posts, but even more comments, which is cool. It was born on March 3, 2008. In five or six weeks I will commence upon my seventeenth straight year of writing. Only took one extended mental health break, in 2014. Besides that it has been Steady Eddie. Thanks for being along for the ride.

It has changed a lot from the days of Grumps, Window Dancer, KJ, MMWB and the rest of the early fans. Peace to all of you, friends.

2 comments:

RoxAnn said...

I think your shrub might be a Vitex Trifolia. I had one in my yard for about 10 years. I’m pretty sure that’s the name.

Blue Heron said...

I think you are right. Purperea variety. Flowers are actually very pretty too. Thanks.