Sunday Salon. Sept. 13

My favorite photo of Ian and my Dad. It was taken in September 2018, just months before Dad died. Ian is turning one here and Dad is 90. Love!

Weather: Smokey. Rain is in the forecast for Tuesday. It will not come soon enough.

Family: Today is Ian's 3rd birthday. We will help celebrate the day of his birth with other family members and friends at a county park near their home. Keeping fingers crossed that the smoke doesn't necessitate a cancellation.

Books:

• Currently reading
• True Trump: An Honest Biography of Trump for Young Adults by Ross Rosenfeld. I agreed to read and review this book for the author. I wish I hadn't. Not because the book is bad, I just hate Trump so much I don't like reading about him for long stretches of time. (e-book, 26%)
• Completed this week
• The Next President: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Futures of America's Presidents by Kate Messner. A Children's book. It takes an interesting angle---right now there are maybe as many as eight people alive who will become president some day. (e-book)
• Bird Box by Josh Malerman. A thriller of a post-apocalypse in the near future. Also a book club selection well out of our normal type of selection. (Audio) After I finished listening to it, we watched the movie of it starring Sandra Bullock.
  

Bad News: 

I know I don't usually spend any time here on this post highlighting the bad news of the week but my thoughts and feelings these days are quite negative. We are living in what smells like a camp fire with forest fires not far from our home causing the need for the evacuation of several friends and church members. Out of caution my sister, who lives in Oregon, evacuated from her home to stay with our mother several miles away. The fire that threatened her home did destroy several small communities on the McKenzie River and it is still raging. The whole west coast seems to be burning.

In addition the news out of Washington, DC was very discouraging this week: President Trump knew in January how contagious the coronavirus was and how it is spread through airborne transmission. Yet, he spent months and months saying it wasn't too bad and no worse than the flu. Soon our country will exceed 200,000 deaths from the virus, after his followers decided to take him at his words, and not wear masks or successfully social distance. Some of his followers still consider the virus to be a hoax. He has also decided to disallow any efforts on the part of any governmental agency to conduct any anti-racism training for the employees. After last week's revelations that he called war heroes who died in service to our country, "losers and suckers," it is amazing to me that he still has any followers left. Yet, he does. How can that be?

Finally, we watched "Unfit" last night on 'On Demand'. It is about how Trump is unfit to be president based on his mental health and his authoritarian impulses. It is very upsetting yet I recommend that you watch and ask your relatives to do so, too. This man needs help. We do not need him running our country. (We had to rent it for $5.99)

 

Good News: A few positive pieces of news found their way through the smokey haze---

1. Look to God for the Strength to Transcend Our Divisions and Build a More Just America. OpEd by John Kasich. (USA Today) This is worth the time to read the whole thing, but here is my favorite paragraph that comes after the paragraph where Kasich, a republican, says everyone should vote for Biden:

Many of our great leaders, here at home and throughout the world, have seen fit to call on the power of God to intervene in the affairs of men or to inspire us to listen to our better angels. Consider the words of Abraham Lincoln, speaking to Congress in 1861: “…having thus chosen our course, without guile, and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear, and with manly hearts.” Consider, too, these words from Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936: “No greater thing could come to our land today than a revival of the spirit of religion — a revival that would sweep through the homes of the Nation and stir the hearts of men and women of all faiths to a reassertion of their belief in God and their dedication to His will for themselves and for their world.”

2. The Navajo Nation, reeling from so many coronavirus deaths, has now turned its attention to the election under its bipartisan leadership.  (ABC) If you would like to donate to their efforts to get-out-the-vote in Arizona, please follow this link. They currently have 22 paid workers in the field and need our help to support their efforts. (ActBlueNavajo)

3. Trump's idea to defer payroll taxes has turned into a liability for him. It was a bad idea which no one liked, but Trump made it an executive order anyway. Now he says if he is reelected he will make it permanent. That would spell the end for Social Security. It's turning out to be a very bad idea for Trump. (WaPo)

4. Dare I say it? The polls for Biden are looking very good right now. (dKos) Here are few tidbits that really intrigue me:

• Trumps approval rating: Taken all together and aggregating the seven polls that were reported, average out to a margin of -11.43%.  
• Predicted percentage of the vote: Trump 39.78%, Biden 54.58%. Just 4 days ago, on Sept. 5, the USC Dornsife poll showed a 9% margin. It is now a 15% margin.  In this poll Biden’s lead has widened by 6% over the last 5 days!//One week ago, on Sept. 2, the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed a 7% margin. It is now a 12% margin.  In this poll Biden’s lead has widened by 5% over the last week.
• How does this compare to 2016? There are half as many undecided voters as there were at this time in 2016. Also 1% of Clinton voters say they will support Trump while 8% of Trump voters in 2016 now say they will vote for Biden. What I don't know is where are these 8% of voters living? If they are all in California or New York, it doesn't help.

5. Twitter saved me a few times this week, especially reading the thread from the tweet from Jon Meacham, a presidential historian, after Trump compared his actions of not telling the American people about the seriousness of the coronavirus to what Churchill told the Brits during WWII...

On the lighter side, and boy do I need a lighter side this week:

1. On a related note...

2. This goes without saying...

3. Ever feel like you are living in a Dystopian novel? 

 

4. I chuckle about this one every time I think about it.

5. And this one, forwarded to me by my husband...

6. As a teacher, I can't help myself...

7. Right about now Van Gogh is wishing he hadn't cut off his ear (forwarded to me from my daughter)

8. Sometimes we just don't seem to be communicating on the same level. (Shared by my other daughter). Here God and an angel have some miscommunication...

I hope next week I am a more cheerful version of myself. What will help make me happy right now is if you leave me a comment below or on my Facebook page. Thanks. I appreciate it that you took the time to read this.

-Anne