Spokane and the Administration

Sunday was to have been a ride day, but I slept very poorly and just was not up to riding.  So, we went downtown and walked around a little.  Spokane started out life as a railroad town.  There was a huge railyard smack dab in the middle of the city.  Train traffic on the rails (at grade level) tied up car traffic something fierce, everyday.  The city fathers decided that they would like to relocate the yard, and get the rail companies to donate their land to the city.  They accomplished this by deciding to host an Expo.  This was back in the 1970's, expos were a thing.  Anyway, they accomplished their goals, had the Expo, broke even financially, and made it into a huge urban park when the Expo was over.  There is an extensive article about this.

 Here are a few photos.  This is one of the bridges over the Spokane River.  I don't know what that building is in the distance, it's very interesting.

Part of the falls.  The river is down a bunch.  We're in Stage two level drought restrictions for watering. 

This is the original home of the water company.  They were bought, or merged with, or something by Avista.  I think the original name was better.

Here is another building we can't identify, under construction.

It was nice walking through the park, people watching, and strolling.  The grave disappointment of the day is that there were no food trucks in the park, we really wanted a hot dog.

Today has felt like being in a blender.  47 is crazier than ever.  He has launched a case against President Obama, saying he conspired to steal the 2016 election.  He did not.  AG Bondi is saying he'll be tried for treason.  Obama issued this statement.

 "Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response. But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and have a weak attempt at distraction.   Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes. These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio."

47 is also demanding an investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails - again.  Bondi, I am certain, will comply.  

Today, this happened. The Justice Department on Tuesday said it fired Desiree Leigh Grace as the newly appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, hours after federal judges in the state chose her over President Donald Trump's pick, Alina Habba.  Article is here.  Bondi called the federal judges that chose Ms Grace "rogue" judges.  Update 7/23:  There is now opinion that Bondi did not have the authority to fir Ms Grace once the judges had appointed her as the U.S. Attorney.  

The Speaker of the House. is sending the House home until September, so he can block any chance of a vote on releasing the Epstein files.  They'll be on extended holiday, getting paid and receiving their luxurious sick leave.  Apparently there will be a trip to talk to Ghislane Maxwell about the Epstein files, and whether or not the now president was involved in child rape.  Chances are, she'll say 47 was never there in exchange for a pardon and early release from jail.  More corruption.  

One can only hope that the Epstein files are enough to bring down this administration.  Even among the MAGAts there is much anger that the files have not been made public.

One more thing is this article about what happened the last time they tried to get high school kids to harvest the crops. It was a complete and total failure.  It's worth reading.