“Although I understand that I served at the pleasure of the President, I was nevertheless incredulous that the US government chose to remove an ambassador based, as best as I can tell, on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives.”
– Marie Yovanovitch, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, in testimony today in front of the U.S. House Congress, as part of the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump
Filed under News
“I would think that if they were honest about it, they’d start a major investigation into the Bidens. It’s a very simple answer. They should investigate the Bidens because how does a company that’s newly-formed and all these companies, if you look at – and by the way, likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens. Because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with – uh – with Ukraine.”
– Faux President Donald Trump, in response to a reporter’s question about the Ukraine and former Vice-President Joe Biden.
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“I know I can speak for myself. I forgive you.”
– Brandt Jean, 18-year-old brother of shooting victim Botham Jean, during his victim impact statement after the conviction of former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger.
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“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him in so far as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth – whether about the President or about anyone else – save in the rare cases where this would make known to the enemy information of military value which would otherwise be unknown to him.”
– Theodore Roosevelt, “The Great Adventure”, November 1918
Filed under History
“I want to know who’s the person that gave the whistle-blower the information, because that’s close to a spy. You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? With spies and treason, right? We used to handle them a little differently than we do now.”
– Donald Trump, in a speech to a select audience while at the United Nations on September 26, referring to the still-unidentified person who revealed details about his call with the president of the Ukraine
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“The actions of the Trump presidency have revealed the dishonorable fact of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. Therefore, today, I am announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry.”
– Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, initiating impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump
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Artist, writer, photographer and fellow blogger Art Browne has a unique – and sometimes twisted – view of our universe. Which is why I know, without a doubt, that he is my long-lost twin brother! When not tormenting spiders or ridiculing helpless cats on his blog, “Pouring My Art Out”, Brother Art captures some truly fascinating visions of the natural world. In a recent series of simple cell phone shots, he photographed the moon in various stages and from various angles over San Diego, California. A few of them are presented below.
I have to concede these lunar photos make me feel incredibly sentimental. Every time I look up at the sky and see that glorious moon, I – sniff – always get homesick.
Filed under Art Working
Once again, it’s time for “Banned Books Week” – the annual event where we free speech advocates and other enlightened souls are forced to counter the anger of the holier-than-thou crowd who somehow feel imbued with the power to tell everyone else what they can read and see. Help support literacy and education. It’s they’re the best tools against ignorance and arrogance. This is a battle we’ll never win. But it’s always worth fighting!
Here’s a list of the most frequently challenged books, categorized by year and by decade.
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“As one of the folks just said, it really is virtually impenetrable.”
– Faux President Donald Trump commenting on a stretch of the border wall in San Diego, California.
So, in short, the “virtually impenetrable” wall is penetrable. I can see it now: illegal immigrants taking selfies of themselves in front of the wall, before finding a way around or over it.
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“Words can come and go in a language, but those that show staying power and increasing use need to be recorded and described.”
– A post on the Merriam-Webster website announcing the nonbinary pronoun “they” as an entry in its dictionary.
Merriam-Webster acknowledges that “they” has been used a singular pronoun consistently since the late 1300s. The organization also notes it has evidence of the nonbinary “they” dating back to 1950, and that it’s likely there are earlier uses of the nonbinary pronoun. Merriam-Webster’s latest batch of updates includes 533 new words and meanings.
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Chief Writing Wolf 