Recent Photos, No Politics for a Change

I have some photos that have not been put in the blog.  Sloth, I suppose.  The first was taken with Jim's cell phone.  His phone is newer than mine and has a better camera.  My night time photo technique is to press the phone against my forehead, using my head as a tripod.  It does steady the camera, and it also looks really stupid to anyone who sees you.  Anyway, the eclipse.  

It was kind of cool how the eclipsed part looked bright and shiny.

These were taken closer to the 9 Mile Recreation area.  I am so grateful than the fire fighters were able to save it.  The fence burned up, but everything else is safe.  This is what's left of a lot of trees.  Carbon.

These trees are cut up for removal.  They've become dangerous trees due to fire damage.

My theory, unencumbered by facts or data, is that the holes were caused by smoldering stumps.  They sat there and smoldered until they were used up.  The dirt looks like that because it's mineralized, all the organic material has burned.

Spokane had volcanoes a zillion years ago.  The  volcanoes leaked basalt out the sides of the cones.  Those rocks are basalt.  This had to make life difficult for the people cutting fire breaks.  Hopefully they had power tools.

Today we rode down the Aubrey Wright parkway to see what we would see.  Fortunately the really cool neighborhood that fronts on the water was spared.  There was a lot of devastation in the housing behind them that fronts on Nine Mile.  It's so weird, one house will be left untouched, and the two on either side of it are burned to the ground.  We continued on and looked at the Rifle Club which was completely destroyed.  Then we saw this.  At first I thought it was a new fire forming.  It's not, it's a dust devil that is picking up dirt from the fires.  It had pretty fast rotation.  After it sputtered out, a cyclist coming towards us shouted out "that was crazy!"  He's right.

This is a house just outside of our gate.  It recently sold.  It got a new roof.

There was also excavation, I'm thinking for the sewer.  Look at the left side of the photo.  That is a window well that has been removed.

It was interesting how much work was being done at once.  It's done now, the guy running the power tool did a good job replacing the lawn that was disturbed.

So, that's what we've seen and done recently.  

Television interview and a Ride to the Lake

I think it was Tuesday that we drove out to see if the trail to the lake was open.  It was!  Yay!  We had planned to ride yesterday, but the smoke rolled in.  That was disappointing.  So, we went to Costco to buy toilet paper.  It's expected that prices for tp will increase significantly now that 47 has put tariffs on Canada.  Wood pulp for toilet paper comes from Canada. 

Yesterday we were on television.  A reporter came and interviewed us about our experiences evacuating.  We were chosen because Jim wrote an email to three members of the City Council about our experience evacuating and included posts from Nextdoor about other residents' experiences.  He also sent it to three members of the local media. There is a lot of concern in the public about how difficult it was to evacuate on Indian Trail due to traffic volumes, and watching flames in their rear view mirrors.  This concern is exacerbated by the fact that a 300 unit apartment complex is moving through the planning commission process, which will put an additional 300-600 cars on Indian Trail, a main evacuation route.  So Madeleine Mullins from KXLY came to our house, carrying a big honking tripod with a camera on it, and talked with us.  She's very likeable.  Most of it was edited out, but I think we presented well and did not sound like wingnuts.  The article and the interview can be found here.  The video starts playing muted, so look in the lower left hand corner and click on the sound sign with the slash through it.

Today we rode to the lake.  The heat was off, the air quality was good, and it was just a stellar day.  The park employee previously told us the fire had burned to the fence and the recreation area.  Actually it burned the fence as well.  The was no water, and no fire retardant, so I'm not sure how they put it out.  

There is a  really good article about why Spokane did not run out of water while fighting the fires.  It also mentions the fact that the waste water treatment plant ran for 18 hours and performed perfectly with either no staff, or minimal staff.  Previous urban fires have done terrible damage because their water systems could not hold up to the demand.  In this instance Spokane did get the infrastructure right.

I have a photo from the other night. Today's original post had to be deleted because it was infected with css code that was not only messing with that post, but everything I've ever published. I have no idea how this happens. Hopefully I will get lake pictures up at some time in the future.  Right now I would just like to be done with this.

Sun set.

 OK, I quit.

Dolly Parton Has Left Us

This is one of the nicest tributes to Dolly that I've seen today.

That is all.

Canada and Joanne

This is part of the reason Canada bailed on the trade negotiations.  When the team from Canada arrived, they thought they had the agreement that had emerged the prior week.  Instead the people from the US pulled these things out.  No way would this be accepted, especially interference with Quebec.

Dairy Market Access: The U.S. demanded that Canada alter its supply management system and accept Washington's interpretation of how dairy licensing and market access should be allocated for American farmers. [1, 2]

Removal of Retaliatory Measures & Provincial Bans: Washington called for Canada to drop all retaliatory tariffs, for provincial governments to end bans on sales of U.S. alcohol, and to scrap "Buy Canadian" procurement policies. [1]

Industrial & Auto Sector Terms: The U.S. introduced last-minute terms targeting Canada’s auto sector and production rules. [1]

Digital and Media Regulations: The U.S. pressed for an overhaul of Canadian online streaming and tech laws, which Washington asserted discriminated against American digital and media firms. [1]

External Trade Autonomy: The U.S. pushed for restrictions on Canada's independence to pursue separate free trade deals with other international nations. [1]

Language and Culture Protections: The U.S. targeted specific Canadian laws designed to safeguard and protect the French language and Canadian cultural heritage. 

Labor Alignment & Enforcement: Washington demanded that Ottawa strictly align its regulatory approaches and information sharing regarding forced labor and child labor. The U.S. sought to use these restrictions as economic leverage over Canadian supply chains. 

Automotive Refusals: While the U.S. initially offered to lower existing auto tariffs from 25% to 15%, it introduced restrictive production terms and flatly rejected Canada's counter-demands for lower tariffs on heavy trucks. 

Total Rescission of Retaliation: The U.S. demanded that Canada entirely drop its previous counter-tariffs without the U.S. providing parallel concessions on major Canadian exports like lumber, steel, or aluminum. 

There's so much more to say about the orange ball of crud, but I think I'll give it a rest.  

The news of Joanne's death has sort of taken the stuffing out of me.  Ellen did a wonderful write up, so I think I'm going to purloin her work, which you can find here.  Joanne was truly a woman of substance.

 

Forest Managment

Yesterday the AQI was good enough to ride, so we did.  We were hoping that the trail would be open to the lake, but it's not.  We snuck down the road that vehicles towing boats take to the lake, but the trail was still closed.  Then we were busted by a park ranger who was really nice.  He said they're working hard, but people just can't be there, it is not safe.  We apologized and departed the area.  

Forests need to be managed.  In Spokane we just can't have those thick, luxuriant forests in places where it rains a lot, they'll burn.  Ponderosa pines can have their branches trimmed up 20 feet with no ill effects.  The last time DNR did cutting and thinning, our project was limited to trees less than 8 inches in diameter.  Apparently there was a thought that the big trees would be logged for profit.  Not bloody likely given the terrain.  Anyway, a new Ponderosa study says to limb them 20 feet up and have 30 feet of separation.  The trees' bark is fairly resistant to fire.  The president of the HOA is adept at working the DNR grant system, so we're going to try for more money to get more tree removal and limbing done.  Tree removal is incredibly expensive.  We're small neighborhood, 23 houses.

Here is thinning.  I'm having to readjust my thinking on what a healthy forest looks like.

More thinning.  

In 2003 the B&B fire burned 91,000 acres in Oregon.  Here is a really good article on the fire and how it changed forest management.

As you may have noticed, I'm a lot more interested in forest management now than I was. 

This is from Facebook, posted by The Other 98%.  I can't just link to it, so I'm pasting it in its entirety.  It's emblematic of the current administration.

The chief of the U.S. Forest Service told Congress in July, under oath, that his firefighting force is "stronger than at any point in recent years" and "fully staffed and equipped to respond aggressively to every unplanned ignition."

Last week, in one 72-hour stretch, more than 600 requests for crews, aircraft, and equipment went unfilled. Aircraft and crew requests alone were turned down 265 times in three days. Most of it came from the Pacific Northwest, where fire had just torn through neighborhoods in Spokane, Washington's second-largest city.

That is the gap between what the Forest Service says in Washington and what its firefighters are living. Nine of them told the Guardian the agency is nowhere near staffed for the fires the country now gets, and that they are barred from saying so in public.

One fire captain explained it with a number anyone can hold. A soccer team puts 11 players on the field and keeps a roster of 30 for substitutions. In the Forest Service, he said, there are no substitutes. "Showing up to a game with 13 people is insane. Playing a whole season with 13 people is abuse. That's how we fight fire, and nobody gets to take a day off."

The country has sat at "preparedness level 5," the top of the scale, since July 18. More than 49,200 fires have burned over 7.2 million acres this year, past the ten-year average, in a fourth straight year of drought, with the worst months still ahead. This is the fire season the climate now hands the West every year, and the federal force built to meet it is getting smaller.

The break is at the management level. The specialized bosses who run large fires take decades to train and cannot be replaced in a season. The teams that coordinate major disasters numbered 46 in 2023.

There are 38 now. In Oregon, during a year that has burned more acres than any on record there, private contract crews sat idle because there were not enough qualified managers to run them, said state senator Mike McLane.

The Trump administration cut roughly a fifth of the Forest Service in 2025. The firings did not target firefighters, but they hollowed out the support roles crews now cannot fill, as the fire seasons keep getting worse.

The chief keeps telling the public the force is stronger than ever. His firefighters have a blunter word for it.

"How are we supposed to feel," one fire captain asked, "when our leaders, the same people who get up and speak to the mourning families when firefighters die, are lying about our capacity?

So, that's it.  47 continues to run the country in to a ditch, but at least has has his security blanket, AKA the binkie.  The press is finally covering Natalie and I now understand why she's giving Secret Service the willies. 

 

Life in These United States

Greetings and salutations.  

Currently there are two major issues with the food supply.  Taylor Farms has received the most attention here.  The recall of contaminated bagged salad was withdrawn after the owner gave 47 a bunch of money.  Taylor Farms is everywhere.   

Taylor Farms operates under these names:
Earthbound Farms, Eat Smart, 
Walmart: Marketside, 
Target: Good & Gather, 
Kroger: Simple Truth, Simple Truth Organic, 
Aldi: Little Salad Bar and Simply Nature, 
Whole Foods Market: 365 by Whole Foods , 
Safeway / Albertsons: O Organics and Signature Select, 
Publix: GreenWise, 
Costco: Kirkland Signature (select packaged salad and produce items)
They also sell under their own label, and there is a lot of it on the shelves.

Federal data reveals U.S. foodborne illness cases are up nearly 400% this year compared with the recent annual average.

The FDA also released a warning about salmonella tainted eggs that have the potential to be fatal if not cooked sufficiently. Eggs should be cooked until firm, 160F. The 2026 Salmonella egg recall by Midwest Poultry Services involves plant/identifying codes P1950 or 084962, and best-by dates from July 20 to August 17, 2026.

Screw worms are also with us, as well.

Last Friday we went out to the alternate trail head we're using until the bridge replacement completes.  We were hoping to make it to the lake.  Alas, alack, that was not to be.

We talked to a park employee who told us the recreation area was fine, it burned right up to the fence and was stopped there. However, the trail is damaged with debris.  They're working on it.  The park on the other side of the river, that previously burned, is burned once again.  That will take some time to recover.

That burn was the Aubrey White fire.

The Aubrey White Fire broke out on July 6, 2025, burning roughly 40 acres along the Centennial Trail in Riverside State Park near the Bowl and Pitcher area. The fire triggered local evacuations, road closures, and minor structural damage. In August 2026, court records revealed that a suspect named Aaron Farinacci confessed to setting the Aubrey White Fire as part of a series of arson fires in the Spokane area.

That's the sociopath who set the recent fires.  He had been in jail in Arizona, served 10 years of a 12 year sentence for killing his father.  His father asked him to do the dishes and he killed him for it.  Some people just should not be out in society.

During the evacuation, I threw our helmets into a large bag, knocking my helmet mirror off in the process.  The mirror does not stay on this helmet very well, my last helmet was much better.  Anyway, it took more time than it should have to get it back on the visor.  This is what is should look like, please make a note of it.  It tends to defeat my spatial relations.

The insurance people were out in large numbers.  I took this on August 13.  Not sure when they got here, or how long they are staying.

Finally, there is this, a robot lawn mower.  It's like a roomba with blades.

That's about all I want to say.  47 is back to being a demented threat to the planet.   Everyday it just gets worse.  And yet, the republicans are just fine with it.  

A Ride in the Car

We had trash pickup today.  The city sent out a message that they would get to as many recently downgraded Level 3 areas as possible, but that it wouldn't be all of the houses.  We put the wheelie bin out with hope, and they did show up.  So, now we can stop fly tipping, which makes me feel like a villain.

This was the sunset last night.  Notice the number of contrails we can see.  There was also some blue in the sky.  This was an improvement from what we've been seeing.

Today we took a ride to see what we would see.  One thing we saw is that we can get to our primary grocery store.  That was good.

There is so much misery left by the fire.  This was a fire set by one sociopath.  One guy started the Old Trails fire.  This is up the hill on the bluff.  Spokane has many vinyl fences, they're cheaper than wood, and faster to put up.  They also melt when confronted by fire.  The hill side burned right up to the fence.

There are many staging areas for fire vehicles.

Fire retardant on the road and an apartment.  It's an amazing chemical, there is a hill side that was sprayed, you can see the burned grass stop exactly at the retardant line.

Here is the apartment that got covered.  Apparently it is very difficult to remove from structures.  Look at the signs, they're pink.

There were four duplexes on Indian Trail Road.  Now there is one.  The other three burned.

 

This is the road that vehicles used to take their boats down to the docks at Nine Mile Recreation Area.  It's closed at the moment.  There is a strong smell of camp fire in the woods.  According to the internet, Nine Mile recreation area was not damaged.  
 

This was a huge church, Riverside Real Life it was called.  It burned to the ground.  Happily the memory care facility next door was spared.
 

That's what we saw.  Sorry about photo quality, all were taken from a moving car, so they're not great.  I think my cell phone camera struggles with bright sunshine and trees.  

That's it.  That's all I have to say.

Level One at Last

We've been downgraded to Level One, which is Get Ready.  We can't go to sleep on this yet, but there will be mail and trash collection, and I can order drugs from Amazon.  I think I'm going to hold on Amazon until I see if the mail is getting through.  Our post office is often erratic.  I can't remember how they ship, USPS or Amazon drivers.  Update:  Drugs came UPS, which is good.

Anyway, air quality is still awful, but we can leave the neighborhood without worrying about not getting back in.  AQI is at 209.   

This is an excellent article about what the fire fighters were up against.  The fire fighters were in the left most clump of houses during the time frame of the article.  Red dots are houses that were destroyed.  We are not on the map, we're a little north and east, and about two miles (as the crow flies) from where it happened.  It gives one pause to contemplate the distance.

There have been a couple of essays (what do you call people who write long form on Facebook?) on Facebook about the level of development along Indian Trail.  The Spokane City Council has approved a multi family development that will house 300 families just below my neighborhood.  That's 600 more cars that will be on a two lane road.  Indian Trail was our evacuation route, and for many others.  The first time we tried to leave it was gridlocked, we went home and tried again later.  If that fire had come up the hill towards Indian Trail, we all would have been incinerated.  The over arching theme of what people have been writing about is infrastructure.  It does not appear that any thought is being given to moving the traffic that is being caused by untrammeled growth along Indian Trail.  

Yesterday we saw fire trucks from California going up our street, Menlo Park and Half Moon Bay.  They were up checking for hot spots.  They drove all the way up here for this.  Fire fighters are good.

That's it!  That's all I've got.

Lessons Learned and Greenland

We've spent the last two days awaiting the forecasted high winds and high temperatures.   It's hot, but there's been no wind.  At the moment, it's eerily still.  AQI is bad with the lack of air movement.  The clothing go bag is packed.  I can do toiletries in about 10 to 15 minutes.  So, this time it should be a calmer evacuation, if required.  Current wind flow is out of the south, heading north and away from us.  Leaving the house gives me a little angst in case the go now comes while we're away.  They will not let you back in for love or money.

Here are the lessons learned thus far. 

In general, during fire season:
    Keep the car gas tanks full.
    Top off the medication bottles so there is enough for an extended stay.  We transfer pills 
    from the big bottles to small bottles that live in a drawer, so that is why I'm saying this.

When you get a text from emergency management using the phrase "particularly dangerous situation", start packing immediately.  Don't deny, equivocate, or engage in magical thinking, start packing.  Be ready to start the car and leave.

When you get the "go now" text, go.  

Don't even think about taking two vehicles.  It's bad enough being in one car with a loved one, taking two cars is not good.

Get the car out of the garage before power is cut.  It's so much easier than taking the garage door off the trolley, and raising it manually.

There is almost always a power outage.  The power company does not want live wires on the ground sparking more fire

Empty the ice maker and turn it off.  We didn't do this, and some of our neighbors did not either.  That was truly an aw shit moment.  After 48 hours of no power, enough free water will run out of the ice maker and on to your floor.  Actually, do this as soon as the "go now" text arrives, so you don't forget as your brain is being overwhelmed by stress chemicals.

Decide ahead of time which documents you need to take.  I have staged our passports, birth certificates, and social security cards to go if we leave.  Everything else, I think, is electronic.  I've decided there is nothing in this house that is worth dying for.

In news of the world, a US oil drilling company is off the shores of Greenland, planning to come ashore and start drilling for oil.  Greenland and Denmark have not been involved in this decision.  Greenland is being nice about it, I think they should repel all boarders.  I guess this is part of 47's plans to capture the territory.

 

Life in the Zone

Our neighborhood is still in Evacuation Level 3, that's the get out now designation.  Being here means there is no Amazon delivery, trash pickup, and no mail.  Last night one of the neighbors took the contents of his garage freezer out to a dumpster he has access to.  He graciously took our bag of spoiled meat.  So, our current plan for waste management is to put the small stinky stuff in plastic grocery bags, and stuff them in the trash cans in front of businesses.  Technically that's fly tipping.  Civilization is breaking down.

We are so close to being in Level 2.  They get trash pickup, don't know about mail.  We are where the question mark is.  The yellow is Level 2.  That's a block and a half separating us.

This morning we walked up the big hill to see what we would see. We saw just how close we came to disaster.  Two houses built up there had fire up to their perimeters.  They're a different development, but are close to us.  There was a beautiful house to the left of this house burned to the ground.  It was deep into the trees, and was lost.

There are some tiny hot spots, but they're all surrounded by ash.  There is not a lot of fuel left up there.  

This is a fire break.  They dig these by hand.  The sheer physical labor involved with putting out fires is staggering.  When the fire hits the bare dirt, it goes out.  This works less well if it's really windy, and embers are being blown up the hill.

We went grocery shopping today, during the time we were in Spokane Valley, prices went up.  Of course they did.

Day Third and Final of Being Evacuated

We found a new better web site for fire reporting.  This is where we were yesterday at the neighbor's house.  Look lower right on the photo and find "W Excell Ln."  That's our street.  Follow it up to the end of the street, See the pink stuff?  That's the fire.  

It started in Airway Heights, headed north east, jumped the river, and never looked back.  Lucky, we are so lucky.  8,300 acres burned in this fire.  

This neighborhood was spared.  Others were not so lucky.  It's interesting how they were encircled and survived.  Fire is weird.

As of this writing (9:38 am 8/3/26), we are still under level three evacuation.  The power is still out.  Avista has assigned a crew to us, but the extent of the damage to infrastructure is not known.  I'm guessing Level three will persist until power is restored, there are lines down.  We have a refrigerator full of deteriorating food.  What is not known is whether or not the trash guys will be collecting on Wednesday

By the time we left the hotel and drove home to get more clothes, the power was on.  So, we got back in the car and returned to Spokane Valley to pick up our stuff.  All the meat in the freezer is toast, as are the french fries.  I'm keeping the egg bites and the frozen ravioli, they got a little soft, but they're not frozen in the grocery store, so hopefully we'll live.  Jim has returned from the grocery store with a bag of ice.  So life is better.

We're still at level three, but people around us appear to be moving back in, so there are too many of us for the police to yell at. 

Day Two of Being Evacuated

This is how close the fire came to us.  This house is at the end of the street.  Ground flames were very close to reaching the house.  Fortunately it was not crown fire.

This is the garage, look up hill on the right where the ground is dark.  That's where Department of Natural Resources fire guys put it out.  For those of you not familiar with fighting fires, like I was not until recently, there's a fire boss.  He and a spotter fly a race track over the fire looking for outbreaks.  They spotted the fire headed for the house, and they got there in time.  If the wind had shifted just a little, it could have wiped us all out.  The current count is 600 structures lost, grateful we are not to be in that count.

This is behind the same house.  The stuff that looks like ground fog is fire.  There are still hot spots in the woods.  The hoses are still there and are charged with water.  They'll be dousing those again until they go out.

Hoses on the hill side.

Now I will engage in some petty whining.  I hate this!  This is worse than when the RV was in for repairs.  Air quality is really terrible (AQI is 252), so we can't go do anything out doors or walk around.  During the day we're basically in the car with the air conditioning on recirculate to keep the smoke out of the car.  Bored, we are.  The power is still out, it's down to 10,000 8,478 6,682 people without service.  We're seriously thinking about buying a generator to run the refrigerator and one outlet.  That would give us food and internet.  We have head lights and little lamps and we're not afraid to use them.  And there is the food thing, today was MacDonald's egg McMuffins for breakfast, and then a cheeseburger at Wendy's for lunch.   At this point, I would kill for a salad.  I can feel my arteries hardening off.

Tonight and tomorrow night we're in an extended stay hotel, it has a full size refrigerator, silverware, dishes, and etc.  We're still eating microwaveable dinners, but at least there will be vegetables.  The downsides are the internet is glacial, we're hard up against the freeway, and the people next door have about 6 little kids.  However, we're not in a shelter, we have a car, and I should just stop complaining. Our house is undamaged, which is more than many people can say. 

Police and National Guard still have our area cordoned off.  There is one way in to the neighborhood that they do not seem to know about, so we were able to get in to the house today.  There were several people in their houses.  There were several generators going.  No one is supposed to be there.  I guess we'll go back tomorrow and hopefully we can some more clothing.  When I packed (with my hair on fire) I did not think this would go on this long, but I was wrong.

So, as my brother used to say, here we are and here we be. 

Update 6/2:  We have two new fires as of this writing.  Good thing there is no climate change. 

We Are Evacuated

We are evacuated.  We're in an absolutely horrible hotel in Spokane Valley.  I think we got the last vacancy.  I'm hoping to go somewhere else tomorrow, but we have this booked just in case.  There are many screaming children.  

The winds were driving the fire.  It was able to jump the Spokane river.  One of our neighbors has an app that shows the fire taking a turn to the west.  So, unless the wind direction changes, our neighborhood should still be standing.  I have no idea how long before we can go back in.  Before we left, the police were going door to door telling people to get out.  We hid from them because we weren't ready to go.  We ended up leaving the jeep and the bikes so that we could be in the car together.  Traffic getting to the freeway was just horrendous.

The Veterans' Hospital has been evacuated, shelters are full. This is the worst thing I've ever been in.  This is from the kitchen window, when we first realized things were bad.

The smoke as seen from I90 on the way to Spokane Valley.

The police put crime scene tape on the post light.  Not sure why.

This is a crown fire, meaning that fire is jumping between tops of trees.  That sort of fire spreads quickly.  A wildfire is fought differently than a crown fire.  Crown fires require water to be placed on the tree tops, wild fires are fought with setting back burns and digging fire breaks.  Washington has made a disaster declaration.  National Guard is mobilized.  

Here is a happy thing.

So, this is what's happening with us.

Update, Jim just talked to the neighbor who lives up at the end of the street.  Fire was approaching his house, fire fighters arrived in the nick of time, and he suffered no damage.  The rest of the hood is good.

 

Air, Fire, and Stupid

This was four days ago, the air quality was better, so we rode.  The millfoil continues on its path to world domination.  If the park service does not get control, soon, the lake is going to be impenetrable.  Seattle has boats with paddle wheels that remove it.  Eradication is virtually impossible, every fragment of the plant that hits the lake bottom will root and grow.

This is what we saw on our phones this morning.  The use of the phrase “a particularly dangerous situation” in a red-flag warning is a first.  Jim and I are wondering if we should load up the car with the important stuff.   This is the wildfire map.  Currently it's not showing anything burning in the immediate vicinity, so one wonders what one should be doing.  If you have access to NYT, this is what they had to say on the subject.

Jeanine Pirro has been forced to drop the prosecution of David Hearn.  Apparently her expert has said the damage to the reflecting pond was due to a botched installation and not vandalism.  I hope Mr. Hearn sues for mental anguish and the waste of his time.  Another stunning win for the Department of Justice.  

The confirmation of Todd Blanche for AG is not going well, either.  47 currently has pulled it, and plans to wait until after the mid-terms when all of the troublesome republicans are gone.  There is a time limit on how long someone can be "acting", and we may be rolling up on that.  Blanch is second only to 47 in corruption.

In the WAPO today there is an article about this:  "Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the head of U.S. European Command, sent written notification to senior Pentagon officials saying that without another Navy destroyer he will be forced to choose defense of the United States “homeland” over that of Israel, said the officials, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the correspondence."  A large percentage of US Arleigh Burke destroyers are parked near Israel to provide missile defense.  Even worse, the follow on build of DDGX ships to replace the aging Arleigh Burkes is at risk.  Why, you wonder, it's because 47 wants to build battleships.  Battleships!  Also known as drone targets.  Apparently he's been watching Victory at Sea again.   47 has given no-bid contracts to Finland for 11 ice-breakers.  Never mind that we have no infrastructure to home port these vessels, or Coast Guard crews to staff them.  47 wants to dominate the Arctic.  

We're still at war with Iran.  Apparently there will be some shock and awe bombing of energy infrastructure this weekend.  47 wants to leave Tehran in the dark.  This is a war crime.  

Israel continues to attack Lebanon.  Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz had this to say: "Twenty-four Lebanese villages, hundreds of years old—we destroyed all the buildings, not house by house, but entire villages. Their destruction has been completed. You need to understand: 15,000 to 20,000 homes across all 24 villages have been destroyed."  He must be so proud.  Israel has truly lost the moral high ground, and they are taking the US down with them.

So, that's my happy talk for today.  Carry on and keep calm.