fuck around and find out

Jack Smith was not fucking around

OMG! They did it! The grand jury indicted Trump on 7 counts including espionage and obstruction of justice and, as Jeff Tiedrich so succinctly puts it, “the entire wingnut outrage-industrial complex, as if on cue, melted straight the fuck down”. All the hardcore Trump supporters...Hawley, Boebert, McCarthy, Cruz, Stefanick, etc...are all accusing Biden of weaponizing the justice department against his “enemy” Trump because the walls are closing in on Biden's own criminality. It's a travesty of justice they scream while beating their chests. Except there isn't any Biden criminality no matter how much they scream about it and try to make it real, all they have are meritless accusations and projections.

Biden, who has prudently stayed out of the whole thing, refusing any comment from the White House on any of the investigations and indictments, and the DOJ did not indict Trump. A grand jury of ordinary Americans who heard all the testimony, saw all the evidence, decided that Trump did indeed break the law and issued the indictment. But his cult, and those who are depending on Trump getting elected again to save their own hides and implement their white nationalist agenda like those mentioned above, are having none of it accusing this administration of doing exactly what Trump has said he will do once he is back in office and what the House republicans are currently doing with their bogus investigations into Biden and his family and the FBI and the DOJ for actually doing their jobs, jobs which Trump prevented them from doing when he was in office. To that end, Trump is currently trying to find out the names of the FBI agents who conducted the search at Mar A Lago so that he can target them for retaliation if he gets reelected.

Hours after the indictment, two of Trump's lawyers resigned so he is now, once again, looking for lawyers in Florida who are willing to throw their careers away to ridicule and probably without being paid.

Predictions are, of course, that this indictment will just boost his ratings like the NY indictment and the E. Jean Carroll trial initially did, and Trump and Stefanick immediately started to fundraise on it, but hold onto your hats folks because Jack Smith is not through with Trump. He's still investigating J6 and Fani Willis is still working on an indictment for his attempt to change the votes in Georgia in the 2020 election. Meanwhile most of the republicans in office haven't had much to say, neither condemning nor supporting the indictment, their silence mostly an attempt to keep their distance while not alienating Trump voters.

The wheels of justice turn slow but maybe they are finally beginning to grind.

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Whoa! Smith just unsealed the indictment, encouraging everyone to read it for themselves, and it's not 7 counts but 37, these being:

31 — Willful Retention of National Defense Information

1 — Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice

1 — Withholding a Document or Record

1 — Corruptly Concealing a Document or Record

1 — Concealing a Document in a Federal Investigation

1 — Scheme to Conceal

2 — False Statements and Representations

They also indicted Walt Nauta, Trump's personal assistant, seen on video moving the boxes of documents, as his co-conspirator.

Well, as they say, innocent until proven guilty, but the 49 page indictment is pretty damning detailing what the documents contained, their importance to our national security and that of our allies, and the lengths to which he went to conceal them from the authorities while showing them off to whoever he wanted to impress.

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More good news, the House Ethics Committee has reopened the investigation into Matt Gaetz concerning the allegations that he had sexual relations with a minor and paid her to travel with him, also investigating possible illicit drug use as well as violations of House rules.

 

several days of brief forays in the yard and evil and despicable men

It is just too hot to be outside.

We got an unexpected 3/4" of rain Monday. I left shortly after it stopped to go to the post office and the streets were steaming. Literally. What else did I do Monday, I did the grocery shopping, I went to yoga. The grocery store has taken down it's 'masks required' banner and the employees were all mask free as were about half the customers. I still wore mine though and probably will for awhile with the more contagious and more virulent Delta variant of covid showing up in the US.

Speaking of covid, research is confirming that it was here long before it 'officially' arrived. We're pretty sure that's what my sister had in December 2019 amid reports of people being diagnosed with an unknown coronavirus with all the symptoms of covid as far back as October/November 2019. One of the blogs I read is Interim Arrangements written by Sabine who is connected to the scientific community in Germany and she translated an article by a German virologist who has been involved in covid research from the beginning. In this article he address its possible/probable origin (and no not in a lab) and also the concept of 'herd immunity' which he says does not apply to the human population. Bottom line is the only way you will get immunity to covid is through vaccination or surviving the virus and that if you don't get vaccinated you will eventually get covid. The problem with surviving the virus is that survival comes with serious other health issues later so get vaccinated. Anyway, here's a link to her post with the article.

I've only been keeping a cursory eye on the political machinations of the Republicans Party of Insurrection, you know, keeping my blood pressure down, but they are still being completely who they are. Locally, in Texas, ERCOT, who is in charge of our unregulated power grid, is asking people to conserve electricity during this heatwave...set your thermostat to 78, don't use your oven, turn off lights...because not only did it fail with extreme cold weather, it will likely fail with extreme hot weather. So is our governor concerned about that and doing something, anything, to fix the problems with our independent power grid? No, his big concern is the non-existent crisis at the border. If Biden won't continue building Trump's wall, then he will build it in Texas and he is asking Texans to pony up with the cash to do it. Nationally, McConnell has proclaimed bipartisanship dead and is still saying out loud and in public that his only focus is obstruction of any and all Biden's policies and if republicans get control of the Senate in 2022 and a seat on the Supreme court comes up in 2024 he will not allow Biden to appoint a judge even though he pushed through Barrett during the 2020 election and he probably wouldn't allow Biden to appoint a judge if a seat became available in 2023. And the #3 Senate republican Barrasso has vowed to make Biden a half term president. I take that to mean if they get control of the House and the Senate in 2022, they will impeach and convict Biden regardless of the fact there have been no impeachable offenses committed by Biden. So as usual, republicans have no intention of governing and no intention of letting the democrats govern no matter what Americans want.

Back to the fun stuff. Tuesday I took the recycling to the containers, took some of the orange cosmos over to friend, went to Walmart  the Evil Empire (which also has removed it's 'masks required' notice) because HEB didn't have two things I needed, took my youngest grandgirl to get her first vaccination shot, and we got another unexpected rain, almost 2” Tuesday night.

Did I mention I'm not getting any day lily blooms? Few and far between so that's disappointing. But other things are being beautiful out there. After those two weeks of rain every step scares up a baby toad or two, from 1/2" to 3/4".

This is the third attempt of these wasps to build a nest in that particular spot on the succulent. I spray them away with the hose and then remove the nest.

My datura (jimsonweed) in the pot bloomed. It is also called moonflower because they bloom at dusk and close up in the morning.

This plumeria has started blooming. It has 10 bloom stalks. I put it in a bigger pot this spring and fertilized it but it's a dependable bloomer anyway. I had one I finally put in the ground when I still lived in the city because it had gotten too big for me to bring in. We were going through a spell of no real winter (but it didn't get as hot as now) and it grew into a small tree that bloomed profusely all summer, survived at least 5 years in the ground, and then we had the snow and winter in the 20s for two weeks that killed it. I knew it would not survive so I made many cuttings and this is one of them. In fact all the ones like this that I have are from that one tree.

Expect a few more pictures of the red crinum lilies while they're blooming.

I know you can't see them but there are baby wrens in this birdhouse. I saw one of the parents enter and could hear the cheeping babies...feed me!

And this morning there were 6 whistling ducks in one of the pecan trees. I had seen them several times before further down the street flying into a neighbor's tree when I walk the dog but this is the first time we've seen them in our trees.

So cool, and yes they were whistling little tunes, not a quack to be heard. 

some yard work, some cooking, and now they're saying it out loud and in public

Oh joy, woke up to rain this morning cause you know we haven't had much of that around here lately. Just about every fucking day for weeks. And for the next 6 days counting today, rain is predicted for 5 of them. By the time it's finally dry enough to mow...

Sunday would have been a good day to work in the yard, overcast, not hot, a little breeze, and I still have 3 bags of mulch to spread out but after Saturday's efforts I just couldn't get motivated. I took it easy and read mostly so Monday I did get out there. The plan was to spread the mulch but first I decided to gather up the yellow coneflowers I had pulled out and tossed on the full garden cart and passed the rangoon creeper on the way to the burn pile and noticed how vigorously it had grown and if I was going to cut all the dead branches off the fence I better do it now because otherwise the new growth would overcome it, so two more trips to the burn pile. Then I decided to look over the fence between the shop and the neighbor I spent so much time and energy clearing and keeping clear all last year but have not this year at all and the ironweed/briar has taken advantage of my lack of attention, some virginia creeper too which I pulled off and out but left the ironweed as it is too labor intensive and I was already hot and sweating buckets. And of course the wild grape has made a comeback. No, no, fuck no! I pulled it all off. Now I'm going to have to go back along the fence line with an herbicide and convince the wild grape, once again, that it's dead. Hopefully it will kill off the ironweed too. Finally dragged my tired butt in about 1:45. Never did get the mulch spread out.

Then I decided to make the yellow squash croquettes that I had a recipe for 

which I had read over several times previously which turned out not to be what I started it out to be. Looked good, seemed simple...finely chop squash and onion, add amount of flour, an egg, salt and pepper, mix well, spoon into 1/2” of hot oil, cook about 3 minutes each side, drain on paper towels. So I'm chopping away thinking, raw squash and onions cooking in 5 or 6 minutes? Then I realized I didn't have any eggs. Fortunately my sister now lives across the street the real reason I moved her over there and got an egg. So now I've decided I was going to just make this into a casserole and added some milk and bread crumbs to the other ingredients and stuck it in the oven. The 20 minutes start to finish of the original recipe had now taken almost an hour and it wasn't even cooked yet. It baked for 25 minutes and would have been better if it was completely cooked. Maybe I should have used a higher temperature. Anyway, it will get another chance to finish cooking tonight. In retrospect, the recipe must have meant 'minced', not 'finely chopped'. Btw, the recipe went into the paper recycling box.

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So now we have a retired general and an active congressman advocating the armed takeover of the US government. The former, Mike Flynn, telling a group that a military coup like in Myanmar should happen here and the latter, Matt Gaetz, telling another group that the Second Amendment was added to make sure the population had the weapons needed to engage in an insurrection against our own government. It wasn't, of course, as it was meant to mollify the slave states so they could keep their private militias for hunting down runaway slaves and also because there was no standing army at the time and the new country needed to be able to call up the citizens for it's defense, to protect the new government, not attack it. And new details coming out about the Oath Keepers and their part in the attempted coup on 1/6 with caches of weapons stashed, communication amongst the members and others during, a larger group stationed outside DC waiting to be called in, that they considered themselves Trump's private army just waiting for his word to attack. And of course the spineless Republicans who voted against a 1/6 commission choosing to protect their members who aided and abetted rather than our democracy. On a slightly humorous note, the lawyers for those arrested and indicted for their ebullient participation in the insurrection, giving cover for the objective of the Oath Keepers and other militia members decked out in their military gear, are trying the 'he's just a gullible dumb fuck and believed what Trump and Fox told him' defense. 

And this from the Aren't We Lucky Department, a headline in the Houston Chronicle today: “Texas is home to the highest number of accused insurrectionists”.

At least our Democratic state congresspeople flexed their muscles and prevented the most restrictive voter suppression bill in the country from being passed. It included things like no voting before 1 PM on Sunday, making it illegal to transport more than two non-family members to the polls, and allowing the state to overturn the results of an election and appoint the winner if someone, anyone, claims there was voter fraud, no evidence needed, just an accusation.

I'll leave you with this...sweet peas.

 

gleanings

Reports are coming out that the insurgents had inside help from the White House and DoD re preventing the police and National Guard from preparing for and responding to the attack on the Capitol and that some of the insurgents were in touch with the White House during the attack and that they were aided by people in the capitol giving them directions to Schumer's and Pelosi's offices as well as the Parliamentarian’s office.

Journalists were physically assaulted.

Off duty cops and members of the military participated in the insurrectionist attack on the Capitol.

From an NBC report: Several dozen are roaming through the halls, yelling, “Where are they?”

They were very clear in their own words what their goal was, to capture and kill, especially Pence.

Trump was reportedly enthusiastic about the Capitol insurrection but disappointed in the 'aesthetic' look of it, didn't like how "low class" his supporters looked.

It has been reported that some of these 'patriots' shit in the halls of the Capitol and smeared feces on the walls.

Trump has no intention of resigning, thinks he did nothing wrong, according to three White House advisors.

White House officials report that Trump was “excited” and “delighted” by the attack on the Capitol and was “confused” as to why others weren't so excited.

Republican Kevin McCarthy, who called Trump while he was cowering in the Capitol, asked him to call off the riot and Trump told him no, now thinks that impeaching Trump would just further divide the nation.

In a turn around so quick he must have gotten whiplash, Lindsey Graham, after being confronted in the airport by Trump supporters who called him names, is now back to supporting Trump and says impeachment would do more harm than good.

One of the men charged during the Capitol siege told the judge he is a federal employee.

From a government source who received an open source meeting - "Every aspect of it, including which rooms to go into and how to break the windows, were planned."

They had maps of the tunnels underneath and the layout of the building.

A sitting West Virginia delegate filmed himself participating in the attempt to overthrow the election. He was arrested today.

Trump Justice Dept says there will be no investigation into Wednesday's events or into any of the speakers. MSNBC.

The man filmed sitting at Pelosi's desk and who took a piece of her mail has been arrested and charged with three federal crimes.

Along with the pipe bombs, a truck full of guns and ammunition, Molotov cocktails, crowbars, sledge hammers, and other weapons, the FBI also found a van with napalm.

Despite the lies from the far right media and Trump's goons, the US justice department says there is no evidence antifa was involved.

Trump has been permanently banned from Twitter and other social media platforms for refusing to stop violating their rules.

Trump is now saying he regrets being talked into giving that 'concession' speech where he admitted Biden would be sworn in and there would be a peaceful transfer of power. See, we knew he didn't mean it.

Republican supporters of Trump don't think the perpetrators need to be punished.

The FBI is slowly, methodically, identifying people and arresting them.

It appears that the man who leads the group that organized the attack on the Capitol is the Attorney General for Alabama, Steve Marshal.

Two Russians aligned with the GOP were among those arrested one of which did not speak English.

Many computers were left on and active when the capitol was evacuated.

Cabinet members have been resigning to avoid having to weigh in on the 25^th amendment and those that haven't resigned are staying silent. Instead a sort of silent 25^th seems to be happening with senior officials acting as if Trump is not president, ignoring him and staying away from the West Wing.

Trump made calls to certain Republican senators during the siege demanding they overturn the election.

The Republican Attorneys General Association sent out robocalls the day before urging people to attend the march on the capitol.

In one set of photos released by the FBI for identification, six of them are republican lawmakers.

The capitol police officer that died protecting the Capitol was beat in the head with a fire extinguisher by MAGAts.

The House is moving ahead with impeachment and McConnell is doing what he always does...stonewalling. He has said he won't bring the articles of impeachment to the floor of the Senate for a vote until the 19^th. So much for his speech to Congress before they resumed the vote certification.

Seattle Police have let it be known that two of their officers participated in the attempted coup.

I could keep going with this as more and more details come out but I'll stop here.