Puffins Are Pretty Darn Photogenic
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Monthly Archives: September 2022
Political About-Face To Ponder
“We all need to work together, regardless of party lines,” Mr. DeSantis said on Fox News on Tuesday night, adding that he was “thankful” for the Biden administration’s assistance. “The administration wants to help,” he said. “They realize this is a really significant storm.”
Intercepted Phone Call To Ponder
From The New York Times.
A Russian solider, Sergey, to his girlfriend.
“We detained them, undressed them and checked all their clothes.Then a decision had to be made whether to let them go. If we let them go, they could give away our position….So it was decided to shoot them in the forest.“
Girlfriend:
“Did you shoot them?“
Sergey:
“Of course we shot them.”
Girlfriend:
“Why didn’t you take them as prisoners?“
Sergey:
“We would have had to feed them, and we don’t have enough food ourselves, you see.”
‘We Have To Stop Telling Ourselves We’re Always Number One’
“And take on more of the attitudes that a lot of immigrants come into this nation with almost automatically.”
Now Hiring
Tweet to ponder.
This is one of the Former Guy’s better ideas. We all lack self esteem and could use more positivity in our lives. In fact, I’m going to adopt this practice. So I’m now hiring. Since I’m not quite the public figure the Former Guy is, I will expect more direct positive reinforcement especially when on the golf course.
If you think you can say, “Great shot Ron, that tree had no business being there, the course architect is a sad (sick) person.” Or “Amazing round Ron, so much winning, the LIV Tour should sign you.” Then please apply. There’s no actual compensation, but being in my presence is priceless.
Today’s ‘Grand Old Party’
Washington State Students Can Now Take Excused Mental Health Days
Washington joins 11 other states that specifically allow students to take excused mental health days off. From Crosscut:
“Schools can now accept mental health symptoms in the definition of an excused absence, just as they do physical health symptoms. It formalizes allowing students to take days off to care for their mental health, including for counseling and behavioral health appointments.
The law does not allow students to excuse themselves, and each district will come up with its own requirements — for example, if a parent or doctor note will be needed to determine whether an absence is excused.”
One principal acknowledged,
“. . . it’s a change that’s been needed. ‘If a kid breaks their leg, we wouldn’t expect them to take part in PE. But I don’t think there’s an equivalent for a student with debilitating depression.'”
The new rule also enables schools to collect information on its overall mental health, which can inform how they might respond in other ways.
I’m not sure much more information is needed to conclude families, teachers, and administrators are woefully unprepared to adequately help students’ with their mental health challenges.
Cruelty As Political Strategy
From Maureen Dowd, “How Low Can They Go?”
“The argument that migrants coming across the border have a more severe impact on border states is obviously valid. You can’t have a nearly unchecked flood of people coming in — an average of 8,500 a day, according to Axios.
. . . President Biden ignores the border, giving it to Kamala Harris to get under control. We all know that’s not happening. Republicans like Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham who once tried to work on solutions have now just degenerated into using the border issue to bash Democrats as flaccid.
But the contentions of Republicans about geographical unfairness and Democratic inaction are undercut by their meanspirited behavior.
They are willing to make life worse for vulnerable, exhausted people who are already in a terrible position — and chortle while they’re being cruel.
As Blake Hounshell noted in The Times, DeSantis is courting Trump donors by adopting the racially charged playbook of Trump, who ‘made frequent and aggressive political use of Latino migrants during his run for the presidency in 2016 and long thereafter, casting many of them as ‘criminals’ and ‘rapists’ during his presidential announcement at Trump Tower.'”
Further evidence, as if we needed any, of the (dis)United States decline. Especially if it works.
Utter And Complete Bullshit
“The creators of a new program that aims to ‘reboot’ your biological age say that within a decade people who live into their 90s could feel as if they are in their 40s, thanks to rapid advances in the longevity field.”
Don’t be like the humble blog reader who fell for this.
Downtown Olympia’s Newest Mural
Knee jerk criticism of downtown Olympia is as predictable as the salmon returning under the 4th Street Bridge, which is happening right now.
But there’s a lot of beautiful art, none more so than the newest mural, “Welcome to Squaxin Territory” and “Land of the Raven”. Thank you Joe Seymour and friends.
Pressing Pause 