Ideas, Opinions, Genealogy, and Book Reviews
The God Jar by Phill Featherstone is a hard book to characterize. There are elements of mystery, science fiction, sorcery, magic, and historical fiction. The author does a nice job of blending them. It makes for an interesting story. Some parts being more interesting than others.
Continue reading “The God Jar by Phill Featherstone”
Yesterday was what I called the day of bad driving. It was also the day of good eating but I’ll get to that in a minute or so.
We had visited the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond. Out interest was specifically the exhibit on Pompeii but the price of admission to that included general admission of the museum. As I retired scientist that interested me and maybe I’ll have another post on that in a day or two. But for now I’ll just say we had spent the night in Richmond and so were at the museum when doors opened and left in late morning. I could have stayed longer but we figured we had a 5 hour drive in front of us. We live in southeastern PA.
Continue reading “Bad driving and good eating”
Several years I was on the email list of our Congressman and every week, I’d get an email which included many, if not all, or the bills he voted for. He was a Republican so naturally most were Republican bills.
But some were described as bipartisan and I would look up the ones that sounded interesting. Nearly always, they were passed with well over 200 Republican votes and a very small number of Democrats – maybe 3 or 4.
Continue reading “What is bipartisan”
I was thinking back on my posts on Mitch McConnell (aka Moscow Mitch) and election security and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s opposition to what has been called a bipartisan election bill. One answer to why he opposes it is that it is really a Democratic bill.
H.R.2722 was passed by the House last month and has been “Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration” on June 28 according to Congress.gov
Continue reading “Are Republicans against election security ?”
Lately there has been a lot of talk about Moscow Mitch (or #MoscowMitch), a new nickname or perhaps title for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Is this deserved or not?
I tend to think it appropriate but there is opinion on both sides of the issue. Continue reading “#MoscowMitch, a deserved nickname or not”
Yes, we need to increase our election security. But there are some who think it unnecessary or perhaps they welcome Russian intervention as it has helped them in the past and they hope it will continue to keep them in power. But that is just my opinion and many agree but I am getting a bit ahead.
Continue reading “US Election security”
I’ve talked about health care here but not recently.
This morning I saw a new option from the Center for American Progress which seems to cut costs while providing universal coverage. Read about their Medicare Extra Plan,
President Donald Trump would like to send citizens who disagree with him back. Presumably back to their country of origin if they are naturalized citizens and it is a bit unclear where citizens born in the USA go. Perhaps the lands of their ancestors.
Deporting citizens is a bit of a problem. So it seems to be another empty threat. Is ‘send her back” like “lock her up” in that way?
Continue reading “Where to send me ???????”
Preston and Child are about all you need to hear to know it is going to be a good, and likely great, mystery novel. Their collaboration is simply amazing. The new book is Old Bones by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. This is a new one in the Nora Kelly series and is scheduled to be out on August 20, 2019
If you have read many of my reviews, you know that I occasionally buy a book but more often my reading matter comes from the library or reading advance reader copies (ARC) that I find on NetGalley ( https://www.netgalley.com/ ). A few weeks ago I was perusing Netgalley to see if they had anything interesting. Of the hundreds of books available there the Preston and Child book stood out.
Continue reading “Old Bones by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child”
My grandfather liked to tell jokes. Many were simple and maybe a bit silly. He had one about his in-laws that I remember. His in-laws were Emma Cash & Malcolm McKenzie.
The joke goes something like this. Malcolm did not marry for money but did marry CASH.. A very short joke but it came to mind yesterday as I was editing the record of Emma Cash on WikiTree.
Continue reading “Emma Cash & Malcolm McKenzie: a father-in-law joke”
Our Environmentalist in Chief aka President Trump claims that he has been good for the environment. He cites his leadership in many achievements in ensuring air and water quality.
I am glad to hear good news at last on the environment
But not everyone believes.
Continue reading “Environmentalist in Chief”
For those who do not approve to President Trump’s Concentration Camps and torturing children, there is a protest on Friday July 12th, 2019. It is called Lights for Liberty: A Vigil to End Human Concentration Camps.
As far as I know, the pro-Concentration Camp rally has yet to be organised.
Is the real purpose of this torture to get us to ignore the Mueller report, various investigations or maybe something else while we are being outraged by his latest actions?
Is torture too strong a word? I don’t think so. Being separated from family and being held in prison is very bad for children. The administration does not call them prisons. They are federal detention centers. They try to use words that minimize the harm they are doing.
Continue reading “Why is President Trump torturing children?”
The Long Call is my first Ann Cleeves book. It is also a first for these characters as she is starting a new series of crime mysteries (The 2 Rivers Series).
But I did see Shetland, a TV series based on a series of her books. I liked the TV series do I decided I’d try one of her books.
Continue reading “Ann Cleeves new series of crime mysteries”
Seems a bit odd to be writing a “Toothbrush Memo to Justice Department“. But it seems it is needed now since the judges seem to think that toothbrushes and other items are needed for the safe and sanitary conditions required to by children separated from their parents by the Trump administration (see Mistreat children in custody (not safe and sanitary)). The Justice Department lawyers working on the case may need a bit of help from a concerned citizen.
Continue reading “Toothbrush Memo to Justice Department”