Alabama Doug Jones vs Tommy Tuberville

Doug Jones vs Tommy Tuberville

 Usually I am not political when blogging but this time I truly have to make a comment.  Alabama  is a pure red state but in 2016 it elected Doug Jones, a Democrat to US senate.  It was a very close race with Doug Jones just narrowly beating Republican, Roy Moore, who had been accused of picking up underaged girls in his past. Though that had not stopped a large portion of Alabamians from voting for Roy Moore, since many Alabamians are die hard republicans and will only vote for the person with an R next to their name on the ballot. Still the race was an extremely close one with Doug Jones beating Roy Moore by just a hair's breath.

 Doug Jones is a very mild mannered man and tends to not lean either too far right or left on the political spectrum, in all truthfulness I would say that Doug reminds me of what Republicans used to be a few decades ago. With his moderate and unbiased attitude he was able to work across the Senate aisle, allowing Doug to co-sponsor 22 bi-partisan bills with his republican counterparts.   In today's highly charged and very partisan atmosphere this was and is an outstanding accomplishment. On his own Doug sponsored 7 bills for a total of an impressive 29 bills.

Now Doug Jones is up for re-election and his opponent, a republican naturally, is a college football coach by the name of Tommy Tuberville.  Tuberville is a fairly recent transplant to the state of Alabama having moved there just 18 months prior, however his newness has not hampered him from gathering a following of Alabamians who proudly proclaim that anyone that's RED has to be much better than anybody that's BLUE.  

I find that both confusing and troubling as it is obvious that Doug Jones has more experience and expertise in politics than Tuberville, as their backgrounds are poles apart - one being in athletics and the other having studied law.  However I am going to put that aside as there is something so much MORE important and that is the very character, nature and ethics between these two candidates vying to represent the state of Alabama in the US senate.

I've visited Doug Jones's Facebook page frequently and was more than aware that it was awash with trolls leaving denigrating remarks and harassing those who expressed support of Doug Jones.  That is just the cost of being either a political figure or a celebrity - you accept the comments of your supporters as well as the comments of those who oppose you.  THAT is USUALLY !

Yesterday I visited Tommy Tuberville's Facebook page, which seemed remarkably absent of dissenters.  I did notice a couple of comments where people had asked Tuberville why he declined a debate with Jones.  I decided to reply to one such question and mentioned that perhaps Tuberville felt he could not hold a candle to Doug Jones in a debate as Tuberville lacked the experience that Jones has had or the background in law.

Shortly after having left my comment I got a Facebook notice that, lo and behold, Tommy Tuberville had left an emoji on my comment.  That in itself was a surprise as most politicians simply post what they've been doing and then allow their followers free reign to leave comments.  But it was more surprising to see that Tuberville had left a laughing emoji (which in this sense was a sign of ridicule and was his way of thumbing his nose at me).  Granted that action of Tuberville's in itself would be considered immature and completely unprofessional.  However when I went back to Tuberville's Facebook page I was shocked to see that my comment was no longer visible nor was I able to click on any of the emoji as apparently Tommy Tuberville,  this candidate running for US senate,  had BLOCKED me!  I also noticed that other comments which had been in the negative had also been BLOCKED.   

Sorry coach Tuberville, but that is NOT how it is supposed to work.  You are now a public figure and you are supposed to take the comments of your fans along with the comments of those who oppose you.  ALL other politicians do so and your having blocked people just because they do not praise you shows just how immature, unprofessional and likewise totally unqualified you are to be a member of the United Sates Senate  - and Alabama certainly deserves better than an over inflated-egotistic  jock to represent its people in the US senate. 

Some time ago I ran across this bit of information.  Some of the information (such a current stock prices) might have changed since this first came out, but the basics, the bottom line, still remains the same.  Also - I delayed publishing this post for a couple of years and now I find that some of the predictions were amazingly accurate, such as the lifting of sanctions against Russia and the abolishment of the Iranian Nuclear Deal - 

Sources: Time Magazine, NY Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian UK.

Here are some facts : Decide for yourselves

1) Trump owes Blackstone/ Bayrock group $560 million dollars (one of his largest debtors and the primary reason he won't reveal his tax returns)

2) Blackstone is owned wholly by Russian billionaires, who owe their position to Putin and have made billions from their work with the Russian government.

3) Other companies that have borrowed from Blackstone have claimed that owing money to them is like owing to the Russian mob and while you owe them, they own you for many favors.

4) The Russian economy is badly faltering under the weight of its over-dependence on raw materials which as you know have plummeted in the last 2 years leaving the Russian economy scrambling to pay its debts.

5) Russia has an impetus to influence our election to ensure the per barrel oil prices are above $65 ( they are currently hovering around $50)

6) Russia can't affordably get at 80% of its oil reserves and reduce its per barrel cost to compete with America at $45 or Saudi Arabia at $39. With Iranian sanctions being lifted Russia will find another inexpensive competitor increasing production and pushing Russia further down the list of suppliers.
As for Iranian sanctions, the 6 countries lifting them allowing Iran to collect on the billions it is owed for pumping oil but not being paid for it. These billions Iran can only get if the Iranian nuclear deal is signed. Trump spoke of ending the deals which would cause oil sales sanctions to be reimposed, which would make Russian oil more competitive.

7) Rex Tillerson (Trump's pick for Secretary of State) is the head of ExxonMobil, which is in possession of patented technology that could help Putin extract 45% more oil at a significant cost savings to Russia, helping Putin put money in the Russian coffers to help reconstitute its military and finally afford to mass produce the new and improved systems that it had invented before the Russian economy had slowed so much.

8) Putin cannot get access to these new cost saving technologies OR outside oil field development money, due to US sanctions on Russia, because of its involvement in Ukrainian civil war.

9) Look for Trump to end sanctions on Russia and to back out of the Iranian nuclear deal, to help Russia rebuild its economy, strengthen Putin and make Tillerson and Trump even richer, thus allowing Trump to satisfy his creditors at Blackstone.

10) With Trump's fabricated hatred of NATO and the U.N., the Russian military reconstituted, the threat to the Baltic states is real. Russia retaking their access to the Baltic Sea from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and threatening the shipping of millions of cubic feet of natural gas to lower Europe from Scandinavia, allowing Russia to make a good case for its oil and gas being piped into eastern Europe.

A SCI-FI JUNKIE

Okay, I confess, I'm a Sci-Fi junkie.  I've always liked Science Fiction, from books to movies to television shows.

Among my favorites are the Star Trek series, ranging from the old classic Star Trek, starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, on through Star Trek The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Star Trek Voyager  and Star Trek Enterprise.  The series always held up hope for peace and goodwill towards all living beings.  It also often held up a mirror to our foibles and the flaws of present day humanity. . . foibles and flaws that Star Trek believed could be overcome.

So it is no surprise that Monday night I found myself watching back-to-back episodes of Star Trek Voyager on my BBC station .   One episode, "Muse",  called out to me and left a lasting impression.

The story begins with an ion storm that causes both Harry Kim's (Garret Wang) shuttlecraft and  B'Elanna Torres' (Roxann Dawson) shuttlecraft to crash on a planet. Unfortunately their crafts crash hundreds of kilometers away from each other. Fortunately the planet is an Earth like planet that happens to be inhabited by a humanoid race, its people have developed to what would be a stage equal to our Roman Empire.  They have enemies and they have wars, however they also have poetry and plays and therefore have hope.

One character, Kelis, is a young poet and playwright.  He finds B'Elanna's wrecked shuttlecraft and comes to the aid of the unconscious and injured B'Elanna.  His  experience inspires him to write a play about his rescue and about B'Elanna.  In his adaptation he makes B'Elanna an Eternal being, a god.  The play is well received by the people of his village and especially by the rich patron, who seems almost like a high ranking Roman dignitary.  The rich patron demands another play from the poet.

Kelis returns to B'Elanna's shuttlecraft , he had been tending to her and used the ancient medical practice of bloodletting to try to bring her raging fever down.  When he approaches her he finds she has regained consciousness.  B'Elanna tells him to bring her a device called a dermal regenerator and has him pass it across the deep slash wounds  he had created across her arm for bloodletting, as he does this he is astonished with how instantly the wounds heal and disappear, thinking she must definitely be a true "Eternal". . . a god.

To try to condense the story as much as possible; Kelis needs to write another play in order to keep his patron happy and Kelis thinks that the "Eternal"  B'Elanna,  can provide him with the stories he needs.  At first Kelis' attempts at writing the play is awkward and he is not pleased with the characters or their motives, but when Kelis' patron begins feuding with a longtime enemy, Kelis begins to fear warfare will result.  He begins to theorize that if he can write the perfect play his play could inspire his patron to try to make peace and prevent a needless war.  So he turns to B'Elanna for suggestions, allowing her to preview the play he has thus far created.  B'Elanna is truthful, telling Kelis that the play is a ridiculous romance with the characters all secretly in love with each other and she is appalled by all the needless kissing scenes that occur.

She encourages him to think differently, to create something that would motivate his patron to want peace and not war.  She tells him about his character, "Seven of Nine", how Seven was a borg and how she had changed due to Captain Janeway ,  who is basically a pacifist and only does battle when there is no other choice. 

Kelis agrees that he needs a stronger message and so writes that Seven of Nine is in fact also the Borg Queen and she is in battle with Janeway.  Janeway bests Seven of Nine and could easily slay her but instead she throws down her sword refusing to do so.  Seven of Nine responds that if she doesn't kill her then they will just continue to fight.   Janeway concurs that could be the outcome; that Seven of Nine could continually fight Janeway and she in turn could continually fight Seven  of Nine, but what would that accomplish?  Wouldn't it be better to cease fighting and each could then live their own lives in peace and be happy?   And so a truce is forged.

Though Kelis' play now has bones to it, the ending seems weak and lacking and Kelis is afraid it will be insufficient enough to change his patron's mind about  warring with his enemy.  Kelis then sends a messenger to B'Elanna begging for her presence at the play  and requests her aid in helping him come up with a impressive ending.

Unfortunately, a member of the play's cast, a young woman, is jealous of B'Elanna and goes to the shuttlecraft and threatens her, saying that if she comes to the play she will expose B'Elanna's identity to everyone in the audience.    B'Elanna however has by now made repairs to her shuttlecraft transmitter, thanks to Harry Kim (who had made the 200 kilometer hike from his crash site to B'Elanna's crash site on foot - and he happens to have just the device that will allow B'Elanna to make the necessary repairs to her craft so that they can contact the starship Enterprise and be rescued.)

Harry Kim is quite ready to return to the Enterprise, but B'Elanna is concerned about Kelis and his play and the impending possibility that his people will soon be engaged in war .  She tells Harry to go ahead and beam aboard Enterprise and to inform Captain Janeway to beam her aboard when she sends them a signal to do so.

B'Elanna arrives at the amphitheater dressed in a hooded long robe to cloak her true identity.  Kelis is relieved to see that she had  made it but the young woman who had threaten B'Elanna was enraged by her presence. 

As Kelis and B'Elanna go on stage, the young woman runs out into the audience and proclaims that the hooded stranger is in fact the real B'Elanna and her announcement sends a wave of confusion and loud whispers among the audience.  Kelis' mentor, an old and wizen gentleman who had once been a poet and playwright himself, rises and calms the audience saying that the young woman's performance is simply a part of the play, an act to create excitement and make things more interesting.  Kelis quickly agrees, going along with his mentor's explanation.

At this B'Elanna contacts her ship and gives the signal to be beamed aboard,  She disappears in a sparkling shimmer of light, most befitting of an "Eternal" and definitely making a unique and everlasting impression on all in the audience. 

Here  Kelis steps forward and says that B'Elanna has returned to her realm  . . .

It is here that this Star Trek episode was ever so relevant and left an indelible impression upon me  -

Kelis ends with saying  that the "Eternal" has returned home . . ."Where Peace reigns and Hatred has no home !"

How wonderful it would be if we could say the same of our own planet Earth. . ."Where Peace reigns and Hatred has NO home "

 

 

 

 

MAKE-UP AND MAKE-UP REMOVERS

Make-up.  Some of us love it some of us hate it, but most of us have used it to some extent. 

I confess that I'm not a big make-up aficionado  but I do use it.  Sometimes I  wear a lot, like when  I'm going out somewhere special, sometimes I wear just a little and quite often I wear none at all.  Regardless of how often one wears make-up or even how much make-up they wear, the real chore is in removing it.  Eye make-up tends to be the most difficult to remove . . . especially that stubborn, hard to remove  mascara.

I have tried a number of things from different soaps and creams to products actually designed to remove eye make-up, and for the most part have been only moderately satisfied with the methods of removal.  The majority have been mediocre at best.  Soap is effective but drying to the skin, especially around the eye area, and some scrubbing is required, creams are messy and many did not dissolve the mascara sufficiently,  also  many products left my eyes red and burning.

Recently I discovered a safe, natural product that dissolves make-up, even mascara, efficiently and doesn't burn my eyes or dry out my skin.  It is cost efficient and  easy to find in your local supermarket.  It  is plain and simple; Coconut Oil.  I purchase the Cold Pressed, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil and find it in the aisle with the oils and shortening.

Coconut Oil is a soft solid at normal room temperature in much the same way that butter or margarine is and at slightly warmer temps it becomes a  slightly cloudy but colorless liquid, refrigerated it becomes just as hard as a stick of butter.  It also smells just like coconut, which some may not like but I find very pleasant.

When I wish to remove my make-up I take about a teaspoon  of the coconut oil and massage it gently over my face, paying extra attention to my eyelashes .  After massaging a bit, I gently remove the coconut oil and the dissolved make up with a soft tissue or two.  Afterwards I cleanse my face as I normally would . . . in my case I'm fond of " Neutrogena Healthy Skin Boosters Facial Cleanser  "  I find it leaves my skin soft and hydrated .  According to the Neutrogena webpage the product description reads:

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:

 The rich, cushioning formula cleanses skin without over-drying and gently washes away dull surface skin cells.  Infused with antioxidant white tea and moisturizing vitamin E, the formula boosts three signs of healthy-looking skin: softness, evenness, and radiance. For skin that looks and feels healthy every day.

·         Oil-free

·         Dermatologist tested

·         Won't over-dry skin

Of course each and every one of us if different and what works for one does not work for all.  So I highly recommend  that if you wish to try either the Coconut Oil or the Neutrogena  Facial Cleanser, that you  should try just a tiny amount on a small inconspicuous test area of skin to see if you have any type of reaction such as:  burning, itching, redness, or rash.  My skin tends to be sensitive and there are many products that I cannot use, however I have not experienced any negative reactions with either the Cold pressed, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil  or the " Neutrogena Healthy Skin Boosters Facial Cleanser  " .

If you try it please let me know if it works for you and how you like or dislike it.

By-the-way, this is an unsolicited endorsement,  I am not a product sponsor  for Neutrogena nor am I receiving  any type of reimbursement  either monetary or otherwise for this blog write-up

10 YEARS IN THE MAKING

 

Continued from previous post

Eagerly I rushed to verify if my revelation was correct or not.  Removing the pile of clothes from the top shelf of the cabinet, I could tell it definitely contained  some pattern pieces but as I withdrew the pieces I realized they were pinned to fabric and were not of the pattern that I had been looking for.  This pattern had been pinned to a kitschy, cute pineapple print, fabric and had even been carefully cut out.  But then, in the flurry of getting our home ready to put on the market, I had tossed it in with a bunch of  clothing that I was going to repair "someday", and for the last 10 years or so it had sat around,  forgotten and with pins and tissue pattern still attached, waiting for me to "someday" put it together. 

 

To my surprise, as I extracted this unfinished garment from the pile, there, buried with it, was the pattern package that I had spent hours searching for. 

 

Of course now my priorities had changed.  After all, this unfinished garment had been waiting far longer and deserved to be moved to the top of my to do list. 

 

 

 

Yes I finally completed the dress with the sweet pineapple print . . .

 

 

 

 

 and the first time I wore it, my daughter asked if it was new and if I had made it.  I replied; "Yes. Yes I did make it and it only took me 10 years."

Misplaced in the Move

Searching for a lost pattern

 

In my last post I explained how  had I ruined a favorite dress, so it was only natural for me to decide to make another dress like it.  Somewhere there was a pattern but exactly where?  

Back in 2005 we had put our home up for sale and, trying to make my home real estate perfect, I gathered up all clutter and anything I felt was extraneous; furniture, books, cookbooks,  brick-a-brack.  This included all  (yes ALL) of my craft supplies, even my sewing and sewing machine. 

Our home sold quickly, too quickly really, we had to rent a tiny villa while we searched for a place to live full time.  We ended up buying close to 3 acres of land and building a modest ranch style house.  This took about 18 months, more or less. Meanwhile most of our belongs remained in storage.

We finally moved into our new home in July of 2007.  Even though that was 8 years ago much of my craft supplies are still stashed in miscellaneous boxes that are scattered about in various closets.  It was like an Easter Egg Hunt, trying to locate this particular pattern.  I looked in box after box, searched through drawers, plowed through every cabinet that I knew I had stashed crafting supplies within and . . . Nothing !  The pattern could not be found.  Then I remembered that in my personal closet, within a cabinet that I use to store hats and sweaters, I had seen a piece of pattern tissue sticking out from under a pile of clothes that needed repair.  Could this be my missing pattern ?

To Be Continued . . .

A Skirt Tail

My favorite skirt - no the ruffle doesn't really hang lopsided, it is just the way I attached it to the hanger.

In my zeal to finish some long standing projects, I deviated frequently from jewelry revamps to revamping my wardrobe. 

We all have favorite garments, something we tend to wear over and over again.  For me it's a mid-calf length, blue denim skirt that I truly adore because it looks good on me and is very comfortable.  Unfortunately a greasy stain marred the front of the skirt.  Before laundering  I tried to remove the stain with a stain stick and a great deal of  scrubbing.  Once the garment had gone through the wash and dry cycle, I was dismayed to see the stain was gone but in its place was a very light, almost white patch of fabric.  Perhaps the stain would have been better?

The skirt was put aside as I decided to "someday" try dying it with Rit fabric dye.   Finally that "Day" actually came.  Having bought a package of Rit, powder dye, in a dark denim blue, I proceeded to follow the instructions very carefully.  Naturally, like the idiot that I can often be, I failed to don an apron or change into the grubbiest of my grubby, "Never to be worn outside of the house" clothes.  Instead I was wearing a comfortably old, yet relatively nice, A-line dress.  It was one that I had made from a Simplicity pattern, using a soft, comfy, cotton interlock knit, in a pastel, apple green.  The dress, much like the skirt, was a favorite of mine and was worn often.



I had made the sleeveless, short version (shown in white on pattern).

 

Honestly I was trying to be very cautious but as I lifted the wet, freshly dyed skirt from its steaming hot, dye bath, it slipped and flopped back into the basin with a mighty splash.  Naturally the splash of indigo dyed water targeted my apple green dress.  At the moment there was little I could do except remove the dress and toss it into the basin along with the skirt.  Anyway, the skirt turned out beautifully . . . the apple-green, A-line dress however looked like c_ _ p ! 
Since I hadn't  time to prewash it (as the dye bath was still nice and hot and would be cold had I taken time to properly launder the dress)  the dye took unevenly, also my dress came out a shade of drab, charcoal gray rather than a clean denim blue.  :(

Okay, so now I had yet another project on my list . . .  make a new A-line dress like the one I had just ruined.  Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed !