By WhskyJack, a Trail Mix Contributor
We were out politicking a bit this weekend. One of our councilmen/wannabe Mayor was having a birthday/fundraiser. He has come through for us several times and, as he is also first in line to be our next Mayor, we attended.
But, he isn’t the point of this post. It was the band he hired for entertainment. Three old white guys dutifully going through boomer nostalgia. Not into it and neither was the audience.
As we were starting to leave they launched into a Stevie Ray Vaughn song. Mrs Jack decided to stop and listen. They were butchering it but there was enough rhythm to keep a steady beat and dance. So I extended my hand out to Mrs Jack to ask if she wanted to dance and we started. First on the crowded deck (people moved chairs and tables for us) then out on the lawn. Interesting thing was the more we danced the better the band became. By the end of the song they were doing a decent job.
As I thought about it later, a little appreciation does wonders — especially when your dream job starts to be just the same old same old.
I wonder how many of our Congress critters and elected officials at all levels start feeling the same way. None of them started out to be hacks. But everyday the same old routine and what do you get?
Hey we can’t all be Stevie Ray but with a little appreciation and encouragement maybe things can be better.
More Posts by WhskyJack
kudos to jack and mrs. jack, the trail’s fred and ginger, bringing joy into not so joyful days of old musicians, forgotten neighbors and of course some of us on the trail.
wapo:
Russian operatives set up an array of misleading Web sites and social media pages to identify American voters susceptible to propaganda, then used a powerful Facebook tool to repeatedly send them messages designed to influence their political behavior, say people familiar with the investigation into foreign meddling in the U.S. election.
The tactic resembles what American businesses and political campaigns have been doing in recent years to deliver messages to potentially interested people online. The Russians exploited this system by creating English-language sites and Facebook pages that closely mimicked those created by U.S. political activists.
The Web sites and Facebook pages displayed ads or other messages focused on such hot-button issues as illegal immigration, African American political activism and the rising prominence of Muslims in the United States. The Russian operatives then used a Facebook “retargeting” tool, called Custom Audiences, to send specific ads and messages to voters who had visited those sites, say people familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details from an ongoing investigation.
People caught up in this web of tracking and disinformation would have had no indication that they had been singled out or that the ads came from Russians.
One such ad featured photographs of an armed black woman “dry firing” a rifle — pulling the trigger of the weapon without a bullet in the chamber — the people familiar with the investigation said.
Investigators believe the advertisement may have been designed to encourage African American militancy and, at the same time, to stoke fears within white communities, the people said. But the precise purpose of the ad remains unclear to investigators, the people said.
Another showed an image of Democrat Hillary Clinton behind what appeared to be prison bars.
[…continued…]
Yes it’s true…..if you show a band that you’re listening, they get better……and it’s something you can actually try whenever you see a band….make a request you’re sure they know, throw a fin into the tip jar, applaud, etc…and watchem perk up…..
as johnny mercer wrote and as a very very young bette and an old bing sang, “you’ve got to spread joy up to the maximum bring gloom down to the minimum” to get the best outta folks
cnn:
“The Simpsons” took a break from the funny Sunday night for a serious appeal.
At the end of the show’s Season 29 premiere, a photo appeared showing the animated cast holding the Puerto Rican flag.
The mom character on the show, Marge Simpson, could be seen holding a sign that read “Unido” and middle daughter Lisa Simpson, with a tear running down her face, stood in front.
The still directed viewers to UNICEF, Save the Children and One America Appeal.
The official Twitter account for “The Simpsons” shared the image, writing “How you can help.”
late night comics spreading joy?
from The week:
Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, and Seth Meyers unpack Trump’s feuds with Puerto Rico
All the late-night comedy hosts began Monday’s shows with thoughts on Sunday night’s mass murder in Las Vegas, but many of them also had something to say about President Trump’s “asymmetrical tweet assault against the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Carmen Yulín Cruz,” as Stephen Colbert put in on The Late Show. After acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke called the federal relief effort in Puerto Rico a “good news story,” Cruz responded with a critique that did not mention Trump, and Trump “took it very personally,” Colbert said. He read some tweets of Trump “blaming the victim” and accusing Puerto Ricans of wanting everyone done for them. “Keep in mind, this is a man who literally has a button on his desk that he pushes and a butler brings him a Coke,” he said. He shook his head that Trump dedicated a golf trophy to Puerto Rico, presented Trump with his own trophy, and ended with a satirically pro-Trump Real News Tonight report.
On The Daily Show, Trevor Noah was similarly baffled that “a man who’s spent 71 days of his presidency at a golf course” would call the “hurricane-ravaged people of Puerto Rico” lazy. He also shook his head at that golf trophy, though he suggested that “in Trump’s mind, that made sense, right? He was, like, ‘This weekend both the golfers and Puerto Rico had to deal with water hazards.” And Noah pointed to the angry tweet from Lin-Manuel Miranda, who’s actually “like the nicest person you will ever meet in your life.”
On Late Night, Seth Meyers had another Puerto Rican, staff writer Jenny Hagel, explain what “nasty” would look like in Puerto Rico and delivered some untranslated insults. Meyers contrasted Trump’s tweets with the GOP’s proposed tax cuts for the rich and failure to renew health care for 9 million children.
and at wapo: “Read Jimmy Kimmel’s emotional, scathing monologue about gun control after the Vegas massacre“
here’s part of what kimmel said:
“President Trump is visiting Las Vegas on Wednesday, he spoke this morning, said he’s praying for those who lost their lives. In February, he also signed a bill that made it easier for people with severe mental illness to buy guns legally. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, a number of other lawmakers who won’t do anything about this because the NRA has their balls in a money clip, also sent their thoughts and their prayers today, which is good. They should be praying. They should be praying for God to forgive them for letting the gun lobby run this country, because it’s so crazy.”
Stevie Ray was just what I needed Jack. Thanks. Brought back fun memories of seeing two of his concerts before his untimely death. Such a genius. And yes, Tom Petty — dammit!
Rolling Stone: Tom Petty’s 50 Greatest Songs
Let us dance as it eases the heartache of the dying of an American way-of-life. Death to institutions and common decency by a thousand paper cuts to the constitution. And the baby boomers are dropping like flies and the younger humans are being shot at like fish in a barrel. The death of Petty was so mishandled, just like Prince. These talented men who leave their adoring fans in shambles at their passing. Petty’s pr people did a horrible job. Same with Prince as the guy didn’t even have a will. All of the money humans who surround these people not really helping them. I still think Dave Bowie was a class act even in his passing. It is going to continue…
Today the SCOTUS hears the case on gerrymandering in Wisconsin, the state of the original gopness.
I cling to my science and humor. Humor is fading, but science and it scientific method keep moving forward. I love science for its fluid nature and yesterday was the 50th anniversary of Plate Tectonics. No one punishes science for change, evolution of thought. Science is not a moral issue like religion. When I was a child and teenager, I was fascinated by continental drift, the greenhouse effect, Pluto and throughout my lifetime these have changed into more refined science with different names like plate tectonics, climate change and dwarf planets. Some live by religion, I strive to live by science.
Blood on the hands of the NRA and their Violence of Lies is just as good as any recruiting tool for terrorism. I think the NRA should be punished and I just read a headline that the NRA goes dark. The NRA is very dark and they are suffering because Obama was a better gun salesman and trump is just the violence conduit. Their sales are dropping and they cannot find enough mentally ill humans who hoard guns.
Malaysia Flight 370, to go down in the history books like Amelia. The southern Pacific gobbles planes and we are almost blind in that area of the globe. When Flight 370 first went down, hundreds of humans started mapping the sea floor. I heard complaints about wasting money on mapping the sea floor. Well, the money dried-up as the interest in finding the plane or any answers. Money goes to space or politics, not what we need in the ‘now.’ We should know our planet a bit more before abandoning it.
Jack… thanks for sharing your thought. I have found in life that my parents were right when they said showing appreciation to people will go a long way… always saying please and thank you will go a long way. Be it musicians, politicians, sales people, waitresses, gas attendants… hey you name it… all will do a better job for you if you’re polite and show a smile. And in turn, you too feel better.
Also… a good glass of wine helps 🙂
The NY Times reporter who covers ISIS said not to dismiss out of hand that the Las Vegas shooter influenced by ISIS
That would certainly be a kick in the pants and what would PG and the NRA say now
Has the NRA made the argument yet that this wouldn’t have happened if the concert goers had brought sniper rifles for taking out possible 32d-floor shooters?
“No one punishes science for change, evolution of thought.”
bw, glad you pointed this out.
unlike science, we humans tend to hate change, to rarely forgive those who change even for the better. some are accused of hypocrisy or playing politics or worse. we tend to accept only those ideas we first fixed in our brains and even require each other and especially our representatives and leaders to agree with and constantly espouse those fixed ideas no matter facts/reality proves different.
so sad that we aren’t better at intellectually evolving and allowing our politicians to evolve. I remember purists castigating Obama (others too ranging from sen. byrd to Clinton) for having taken stances contrary to present pc… some never forgiving even though these past “sinners” evolved and redeemed themselves.
They could have brought guns – they were in Nevada where you can open carry and also conceal carry
Let’s blame the victims for not being armed
sniper rifles? hah! they would have needed to carry bazookas … you know wipe out that end of the hotel just to be sure you caught the whole gang… so there’s collateral damage, but heck we preserved the 2nd amendment (even tho’ at the expense of some of the other amendments).
any info on whether shooter was a red-blooded registered republican? maybe a red cap with MAGA emblazoned on it found in the room? it’s been reported he was a multi-millionaire real estate guy who dabbled in casino fun… sound familiar?
speaking of same,
from sfgate:
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that local officials in Puerto Rico “have to give us more help” in responding to devastation caused by Hurricane Maria, a defiant response to criticism that federal recovery efforts have been sluggish.
As he headed out to visit the island, Trump praised the federal response, telling reporters at the White House that “it’s now acknowledged what a great job we’ve done.” He added that at “a local level, they have to give us more help.”
Added Trump: “in Texas and in Florida, we get an A-plus. And I’ll tell you what, I think we’ve done just as good in Puerto Rico, and it’s actually a much tougher situation.”
The president is expected to spend more than five hours on the ground, meeting with first responders, local officials and some of the 3.4 million people whose lives have been upended by a hurricane that, in the president’s words, left the island U.S. territory “flattened.”
[…continues..]
🙂
Ms Graham Cracker thinks outside the box, which may be the key to unraveling a result with no known motive that fits within said box.
Well given that the distance numbers being thrown around is 400 yards, (close to a 1/4 mile). You would not only need a rifle but some training and skill to hit a man sized target.
besides carrying around a heavy long gun interferes with your dancing.
Then I imagine the carnage if 40,000 people at the concert started returning fire at where they believed the shooter was.
Kinda shows the fantasy world the NRA lives in.
Jack
Pat
It is katrina all over again.
It is all those victims fault.
Really, How the F are the locals supposed to better support the efforts.
Jack
Mama Red Bird on our new feeder just now. Proving to be quite popular with the reds, and frustrated squirrels can’t get to it, settling for left overs on the ground.
Craig, good picture of me and the Missus dancing, lol
Jack
What the news media is not covering with PR is how different it is for them. Texas and Florida have vast nongovernmental nation wide networks they can draw on. Our local utility sent trucks tools and workers to both Florida and Texas. When we have a devastating ice storm they will return the favor. The same is true with other support groups, bb and her Red Cross come to mind. These are significant resources that an Island like PR can’t draw on. They really are more dependent on the federal government to help.
Jack
In PR, just simple things like getting truck drivers to where they are needed is a major task. First there was no way to contact them so they would know where they are needed. Even if you could given the conditions of the roads could they get there, and do they have more important immediate concerns like injured family to attend to.
Jack
Excellent post, Jack. And you’re correct–a little appreciation goes a long way.
jack, soon as I saw that drawing it was the image I had in mind of you and Mrs. J
And here’s to our Puerto Rican hero who is probably going face-to-face with SFB at this moment. The hero? Mayor Yulin of San Juan who, through her leadership, has led her city through two weeks of crisis.
SRV – it doesn’t get much better. And no, there aren’t many who can do what he did.
“They really are more dependent on the federal government to help.”
jack, have a feeling that the stark reality of that dependency is what’s behind pr governor having to suck up to the twit. perhaps there’s some tacit role playing going on with him and the heroic mayor. good cop bad cop routine. when maria first hit, gov was blunt and very direct in his calls for help…. probably got word that didn’t sit well with the great white master so had to change tone whereas it was less risky for the mayor to get the s.o.s. message to the mainland.
looks like he’s still trying…. according to Bloomberg:
Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello warned Tuesday that millions could flee the commonwealth for the U.S. mainland if sufficient aid doesn’t arrive soon to stem a crisis that’s been unfolding over the past two weeks.
With President Donald Trump scheduled to meet with Rossello in a matter of hours, the governor told reporters in San Juan that some of the island’s 3.4 million residents were already leaving in search of better conditions. Most of the island remains without electricity, and about half of all residents still lack basic water services after Hurricane Maria.
Rossello said he couldn’t stop the short-term outflow of islanders, but said the exodus would continue without an effective aid package from Congress.
[…continues…]
Never have been much of an SRV fan, Jack, but you and the missus make a lovely point.
Meanwhile, on another note/rant entirely: I am not a very good Christian, obviously, for I firmly believe it is time for Pat Robertson to retire to a nice quiet padded cell, where he can preach his nonsense to the walls. I’ve heard Alzheimer’s patients preach a more biblical gospel than he does. This mess has nothing to do with Trump, athletes who dis the flag and/or veterans, or taking God out of schools. This mess is about a man who decided, for whatever peabrained reason, to do evil.
Ahem. Rant over. Will now retire to a corner and chew my fingers. And listen to Tom Petty backing up Johnny Cash. Two immortals gone.
Faire, here you go Cash doing Petty. Tom Petty thought this was the best recording of this song.
I read yesterday that like me, Tom Petty had an abusive alcoholic father, it may explain why this song has such a connection for me.
US Rejects UN Resolution condemning death penalty to target LGBTQ
politico: “Trump brings harsh edge to Puerto Rico trip”
President Donald Trump brought a jarring tone to Puerto Rico as he was briefed on the hurricane devastation, appearing to blame the U.S. territory for having “thrown our budget a little out of whack” and complimenting officials for sustaining only 16 deaths, compared with the much higher human toll of Hurricane Katrina.
“I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you’ve thrown our budget a little out of whack because we’ve spent a lot of money on Puerto Rico,” Trump said Tuesday in his first public remarks from the island, which declared a form of bankruptcy in May. “And that’s fine.”
The president also appeared to boast that the death toll in Puerto Rico pales in comparison to the more than 1,800 fatalities that followed Katrina in 2005.
“We saved a lot of lives,” said Trump, who added that “every death is a horror” and broached what he called “a real catastrophe” in Katrina.
“Sixteen people versus in the thousands,” the president said, overstating Katrina’s death toll.
“You can be very proud of all of your people, all of our people working together,” he told Gov. Ricardo Rosselló. “Sixteen versus literally thousands of people. You can be very proud. Everybody around this table and everybody watching can really be very proud of what’s taken place in Puerto Rico.”
Trump came face to face Tuesday with the “politically motivated ingrates” he slammed on Twitter just days before, landing in Puerto Rico after spending much of the past week boasting about a wildly successful response effort that hasn’t matched the reality of the hurricane-ravaged island — and after picking a fight over the weekend with the San Juan mayor.
[…continues….]
That boy don’t act right.
Lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon rut.
He’s so low he’d have to stand on a dime to pee on a nickel.
He could walk under a barbed-wire fence without taking his hat off.
the hill: Juan Williams: Trump’s smokescreen on Russia won’t work
also from the hill Report: Trump admin denied Puerto Rico request to let victims use food stamps for fast food
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello says that the federal government has denied the U.S. territory’s request for its citizens to redeem food stamps for ready-to-eat hot meals, amid widespread food shortages and power outages in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
The nearly 1.3 million people on food stamps in Puerto Rico — almost 40 percent of its population— are unable to use the benefits of the federal program to buy fasts food or pre-prepared meals at supermarkets, according to The New York Times.
Food-stamp recipients are usually prohibited from buying hot foods and other items that can be eaten “in store” such as sandwiches, soup or pizza.
Puerto Rico requested the administration temporarily lift the restrictions on the program, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
So far, the administration has refused, even after granting similar waivers in Texas after Hurricane Harvey and in Florida after Hurricane Irma.
[….continues..]
If that boy’s brain was lard….it wouldn’t grease too big a pan.
—Jed Clampett
“You can be very proud of all of your people, all of our people working together,” he told Gov. Ricardo Rosselló. “Sixteen versus literally thousands of people. You can be very proud. Everybody around this table and everybody watching can really be very proud of what’s taken place in Puerto Rico.”
Was it Colbert who said he’s got more flip flops than a Jimmy Buffet concert?
patd, trump hates Puerto Rico. It’s pretty plain. And he’s a chicken shit and criticizes on twitter where he feels like a big man but praises when he’s face to face.
He’s probably getting even with some guys down there against whom he holds some kind of grudge over the millions PR lost over the failed gold course.
He walks! He talks! He craaaawls on his belly like a rep-tiiiiile…..
You guys really threw the budget out of whack, heh heh heh……
But we gonna help you, Fellers…….Why? Because we LIKE you……All except for HER…..[points short finger]
Florida, DR414-18 Hurricane Irma response for me was a week of delivering food, fresh cooked and served at shelters and community centers, along with Heater Meals (MRE’s but only 1200 calories). These went to a shelter in Daytona Beach, Melbourne, Bunnell and people deep in the swamps where there are no cell phone signals of any kind. We delivered pallets of water and ice to communities without fresh water because their wells were fouled. We did damage assessments all over Florida. We helped people needing the basics to live.
My second week was spent as the manager of the largest shelter in Florida. RC provides the first secure shelter after people have been driven from their homes. They get showers, clothes, three meals each day and the resources to move to the next step of their new lives. I ran a great shelter, mostly working men and women. They were the real working poor, always one step from disaster.
One of the most important points about the Red Cross is we are non-political, when I take you into my Red Cross shelter you are now in a place like the UN. We do not care about your political status. If you are affected by the disaster, you are welcome in the shelter. Fortunately, I had staff fluent in Spanish, including different dialects. It is like English, we have various dialects in the US and we are different from England English or Australian English or Indian English.
We worked twelve to nineteen hour days. No one complained, the only reason we stopped at night was we could not find anyone else to feed. The next day we would repeat the previous day. We wanted everyone in our area to have food and water while they did not have power or their wells were fouled or their homes were broken.
At the shelters, all were served. Even though the Red Cross shelter is not a pet shelter, creativity reigned. A room would be dedicated to pets and not a RC room. I have a service dog and she ended up doing a lot of therapy to the clients and staff. Letting someone pet her head was as good for them and her as for me. PTSD is a nasty thing, and finding little things that make it a background issue is great.
Eric Von Zipper, III
Puerto Rico. I was asked to go there before Hurricane Maria hit. Several RC volunteers went. I did not not enough vacation time to go since I was using it to do Irma in Florida.
RC was there when Maria hit. RC is stacked up in places like Atlanta trying to get people on the territory. If I had time I would like to go. My Spanish is poquito, but that matters little if you have translators, who are all over the place. RC is like others in taking to the water to deliver people and goods.
What is going to be important is how the WH support people work around the SFB hate of brown people. It sounds like a few of them will do something good. For that I also add “yeah, sure”.
Good show, BB…….
BB — Thank you for your service.
So much good and worthwhile today. Jack and Mrs. Jack and their community service, BB on the ground with the RedCross.
It stands in stark contrast to the actions and remarks of SF. Never in my lifetime has a President been such an embarrassment to the office. Seldom in mylifetime has a president had so many opportunities to be presidential.
When is someone going to wake up to the fact that this prick has no business being in this position and act accordingly? In the wake of recent events it may be hard to remember that a tragedy of a different kind is going on every day in the form of the TrumpPresidency
Have you noticed PG has neither a playlist. a pet or a home team
Gracias, Ms Bronc
Yet Orangius is an honorable man….so are they all…honorable men…..
Ya know SFB is having to actually step up and do something for the first time in his life. Before everything was handed to him, He pretended and others delivered. It worked well for most of his life. He never moved in high circles where he would be tested, until now.
GWB was right, when he said he is the decider. It is the only real job the President has. SFB, so far has failed miserably. But we are the ones to suffer. As always
Jack
Blue Bronc
Sounds like you had a good time, and you are good at what you do.
It is amazing at how much of our world depends on volunteers, people who step up do a job and never get paid. From people like BB to rural fire fighters, people delivering meals to shut ins to people like myself trying to have a better neighborhood. We are out there in the millions. often getting little attention until we are missed and then it is blamed to bad luck.
I personally do it because I enjoy it, and when I quit enjoying it or some one starts giving me too much shit, Then “F you, I’m a volunteer, I don’t have to take this shit”. };-)
That is freedom I never had with any other job.
Jack
Great observations, Mr Jack. In the old days when I was a boss I noticed that my employees worked better and bigger when I let them know that I had faith in their abilities to get the improbable done. Showing appreciation is definitely a key to getting the best efforts out of people.