This is What Trolls Look Like - Aug 2020 - Nevada City Cakifornia

https://www.theunion.com/news/nevada-city-opens-investigation-into-outrageous-actions-during-march/fbclid=IwAR32GkwAf5fKzxAcJIMfh6Sic9BT1AMotAARoDOXKdE5MFDQRKPd__0D8wM

THIS IS WHAT TROLLS LOOK LIKE !

A few (15-20) violent right-wing so-called 'Blue Lives' counter-protestors attack around 100 PEACEFUL Black Lives Matter protestors, many young people, kids, and moms, (and including one Council member who was knocked off her bike, face down onto the pavement) in Nevada City, California, with no intervention by local police. Some refused to intervene, blaming the peaceful original protestors for being there. Some of the police who were there can be seen on video walking and chatting with the perpetrators, and a sheriff's deputy refusing and going away when asked to intervene, making shooing gestures. Police told protestors to file a complaint later, instead of protecting them from violent harassment at the time.

The trolls used their flagpoles to attack people. Stole phones and threw them in the sewer. They had told the police ahead of time that they would be there.  Believed that law enforcement was on their side. On the day, they were right, whatever the chief of police and sheriff say now. Police are not accepting any complaints which people try to file.

No one has been charged or arrested yet.

The worst guy was one in a black trump-cult t-shirt.

Well, things have been happening in Portland and everywhere

I love, love, love this image.

It is not mine, but a screenshot from FB, with attribution to where it came from, and who made it.

dt sent mercenary stormtroopers to Portland Oregon, to attack and get rid of PEACEFUL Black Lives Matter protestors. They did attack, with many injuries. They committed the war crime of destroying medical supplies. They had no insignia, no identification. They kidnapped people in unmarked vans and disappeared them overnight. Veterans came out to protect the protestors. Dads came out with leaf-blowers. A Wall of Moms came out to protect the protestors. They got tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed, shot with rubber bullets.

Meanwhile, dt said he was sending more 'feds' to other Democratic cities. These weren't 'feds', they were private mercenaries run by betsy devos' brother. (The education secretary who wants all the kids back in school, so they and their families can catch the virus and die. Well over 200 kids 12 and over, and staff have tested positive for the virus from a Georgia summer camp at which all the participants were pre-tested, but kids weren't masked.)

The GDP is down 33%. In the 'great depression' it was only down 15%. 150,000 have died in the US, but that is an undercount. The numbers are still going up, because of states re-opening too soon, and trump-cultists and other idiots who have been holding mass events, unmasked. Even here, after being in Sacramento first. And some few restaurants here refuse to distance, clean, or wear masks. Their operating permits have been revoked. 

dt says he wants to delay the election. He cannot do that legally. He is trying to destroy the Post Office to prevent Voting by Mail, since as he said right out, with higher turnout from easy voting, repubs would never win again. He has filed a suit to eliminate ballot drop-boxes, so everyone would have to vote in person, in long lines. And risk getting the virus and dying.

Black Lives Matter protestors have thought their cause was enough to knowingly risk their lives, not just to the virus, but to police and other murderers. 

dt supporters, on the other hand, have been stupid enough to attend his rallies in crowded indoor locations, since they had drunk the dt koolaid and didn't believe the virus was that bad. Now many are sick from the rally in Tulsa Oklahoma, and at least one has died, dt's most prominent black supporter.

If the dt supporters, including our local anti-vaccers / anti-maskers /and extreme right-wingers were only going to kill themselves, I'd say "Great. Nominate them for a Darwin Award." (given for being stupid enough to wipe out the winner and all his potential/actual progeny). But of course they won't just be killing themselves and their families, but innocent neighbors, bystanders, grocery clerks.

So, the first question is, if dt tries to illegally delay the election and declare martial law, or if he loses the election and refuses to leave office, claiming fraud, will the real military support him? Maybe not; they swear to defend the Constitution.

And will the rest of the reality-based community be as brave and together as Portland has been.

The mercenary storm troopers have left. The nightly protests are completely peaceful again.

If Tina were still alive, I think she would have been out on those streets.

Remember when . . .

This great picture was posted by Cara Wasilewski on FB page Indivisible Women of Nevada County

Well, here we are. Dying.

Because, first of all, because dt had disbanded the Obama-era task force on preparing the US for a potential pandemic virus. And got rid of the stockpiles of equipment. And removed the observers who were in China watching for such a thing. (Although that is not the only place to watch; swine flu started here.) And then his administration did nothing when warned in January about the virus.

And thanks to the stupidity, greed, and incompetence of dt and his many repub enablers, and his trump-cultist followers, many of whom are still with him. They have drunk the KoolAid.

If only they weren't taking so many of the rest of us with them into oblivion. (Over 150,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 by Aug 1, 2020)

And it is not just in the Midwest or the South, or Michigan, that there are armed trump-cultists trying to impose their stupidity on the rest of us. Without, let it be noted, any attempt at federal intervention against actual threats against the governor, by armed thugs, like in Michigan. No, the only 'federal' response is anonymous thugs in Portland OR, beating up, tear gassing, pepper-spraying, shooting, peaceful protestors who made dt look bad. And dt threatening to send them against other Democratic cities.

But locally here too, on Saturday, a large maskless protest in Sacramento, with local idiots as well as out of state agitators. Then they moved up here for a large maskless protest in downtown Grass Valley. What are they protesting? The withdrawal of operating permits for several restaurants who had refused, (despite long attempts to help them), to follow any re-opening guidelines for masking, distancing, cleaning.

I don't think those out of town agitators, and the local anti-vaccers/anti-maskers/exteme-right-wingers, would be able to keep those restaurants in business all by themselves anyway, since all the reality-based community is saying that they will never eat there again. As several said, if they are refusing to follow cleaning guidelines now, what do you suppose their kitchens are like normally?

The ones I saw in Safeway a few weeks ago without masks were old white guys, and the store was doing nothing about them. Luckily there are a few other groceries who are better. And it isn't only old white men who are so stupid/uncaring of others' safety. They are just some of the most arrogant.

Wearing a mask or not is an IQ test, not a political statement. And besides, the government's facial recognition surveillance can't tell who you are in a mask...

I don't have an illustration for this

There are local demonstrations; I am joining them.

If you are not, you are part of the problem.

If you push back against the phrase "Black Lives Matter", you are part of the problem.

We have all seen this too often.
And no one is held responsible. The killers are usually not even charged. If charged, not convicted.

My heart still hurts for Trayvon Martin. And I am still outraged that his stalker and killer wasn't charged for months, and was acquitted by a racist jury.

 While under the same racist prosecutor,  an abused woman who fired a warning shot into the wall,  to discourage her pursuer, was sent to jail for 30 years.

And Tamir Rice. 12 years old. Holding a TOY gun. In an OPEN CARRY state - in which it is perfectly legal to be showing a real gun. Shot to death within a few seconds of when the cops arrived. And his sister tackled and not allowed to go to him as he lay dying. And no medical assistance called or given. The first call his policeman-murderer made was to his union, to get their help in covering his ass. No punishment.

Hundreds have been murdered since then, mostly by cops. And now Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd.

Some of the instigators of violence in the demonstrations, and those burning down black-owned businesses, are white supremacists.

If you are only seeing/hearing mainstream media, you are missing important things. If you are only watching/reading/listening to sources from one point of view, you are missing half your mind, like a Trump-cultist.

Statistically, probably not all white cops are racist scum murderers. But too many who may not think of themselves that way are protecting those who are. And their unions are fighting reforms.

This quote from historian Bruce Catton's speech, "The Meaning of the Civil War", given in 1961 near an anniversary of the war, should have been given more publicity, and taught in every school, since then.

"The Civil War was about something. It was fought for something. And— let us never for a moment forget it—it won something. 

Under everything else, the war was about Negro slavery. 

It was fought for freedom—and if ever anything was worth fighting a war for, freedom was and is the cause. The war won freedom—for the slaves, and for the people who owned the slaves, for all of the people in both sections who in one way or another had consented to slavery.

... The Civil War turned the Negro from a chattel slave into an American citizen, and it left us with the eternal and completely inescapable obligation to see to it that the citizenship is made good. There could be no greater absurdity than an attempt to commemorate any Civil War anniversary on a basis which would deprive Negro citizens of the right to attend. 

Unless the Negro can join freely and fully in all national centennial ceremonies, the ceremonies are not worth ten minutes of anybody’s time. 

And that is why the Civil War is worth remembering. 

It gave us a broader freedom, and it laid upon us the obligation to live up to that freedom and to make it unlimited, for everybody. Freedom is indivisible.

Winning it for the Negro, we won it also for all of the people who then were or ever would become Americans—for the man who has fled from oppression, misery and discrimination overseas as well as for the fugitive from the American slave pen and auction block. We can never have, permanently, a second-class citizenship in this country; because of the Civil War, we are no longer that kind of country.

We might just as well stop trying to find a comfortable middle ground between the ideas of Abraham Lincoln and Adolf Hitler. There simply isn’t any such place."

Bruce Catton in The Meaning of the Civil War


The modern appearance of white supremacists, KKK, and swastika-bearing real neo-nazis, crawling out of hiding like cockroaches, emboldened, aided and encouraged by trump, is an embrace of the ideas of Hitler.

As is out-of-control police violence against peaceful protestors and reporters. And attacks on reporters by "police-associated white supremacists". (Fairdotorg June 9 2020) 

Definitely time to sew again...

Empire-style dress design drawn for a costume history class in 2016

But not with a patterned fabric used like this batik-style one, although I just made over 2 dozen versions of this design in colorful new incarnations.

I have been falling for wonderful linen fabrics, which come also in the soft greyed colors which are my favorites, as well as brighter colors. And some of my favorite fabric designs go with some of those linen colors.

So, the parts of this picture with the patterns will be solid colors of linen, with a pattern on the front of the bodice.


Maybe one of those 2-Sprig colorings I just made. This version of the design fits more closely together, and has some interesting layouts.

You can see that these textured designs look like embroidery.  So for me, they seem more appropriate for smaller areas like a bodice front.


Time to start making something...

When I was in school the first time, 50 years ago, I used to draw the costume I was going to make during vacation, and prop it up on my desk to look at while I studied for finals. I find this drawing has the same effect. I keep looking at it.
 

Between Every Two Pines

Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world.  John Muir

I found this wonderful quote by John Muir for the booklet I did for Mom's memorial service. It's something like the way I always felt, thinking about going back into the woods on my own, when I was a kid.

I took the picture in a graveyard up near North San Juan, after another funeral; I was looking for two pines.

Now I have made it a transparent picture for dark t-shirts, and like this for cards and journals. (Photoshop online made available by the college, whose students can't come to campus to the library now.)

Maybe with the quote below it instead of interrupting the sky...

Pacific Coast Iris hybrids 2010, 2020

Hybrid Pacific Coast Iris, growing among hardy geraniums

Picture from May 16, 2010.

I'm mourning that I haven't seen any of these beautiful small irises around the house this year; there used to be several of them. And a particular loss, the beautiful white one with lavender and blue lines, that Cyndi gave me decades ago, from a Native Plant Society sale, is all gone. An idiot tenant had dug all of it's offspring out years ago, but there was one survivor - finally choked out by blackberries and neglect. The beautiful ground cover hardy geranium visible in this photo is almost gone too. It's shade tree had died, then they were dug out by the friend of a tenant, who thought he was weeding. They haven't recovered, not helped by being taken over by blackberries (mostly cut back now).

The tall purple iris just started blooming a few days ago, and the little white-with-blue-lines wild iris started blooming last week in the woods down the hill.

And the old-fashioned almost-wild roses down the hill by the highway just started blooming this week. They are always the earliest. And the lilacs. And I heard the first (Mountain?) chickadee song yesterday. 

May 1, 2020 There were lots of flowers on the tall dark red-violet iris in this area; last year's clearing was good for it. And the more sun from losing so many tall trees. There are still a few small plants of this beautiful small iris that should be in big clumps. And a few buds. One beautiful survivor is the small lavender-color ground cover Veronica Waterperry. The incomplete but careful hand clearing I did around and among it helped. Time to do it again this year, and really dig out the returning blackberries...

Time to Sew Again 2020

My 2-sprig textile design

from part of a copper batik stamp

I am cleaning up my sewing room, and organizing the fabrics I have on hand for the top 20 or so projects I have in mind. (Of which if I get 2 or 3 made, I'll be very happy.) I want to alter/make a couple of patterns, for a linen tank top to replace the one I used for sleeping for many years. And a linen princess-line tunic to go with my favorite multi-color long skirt, which I plan to embellish with card-weaving (time to get back to doing that too) along the seams. And from that a pattern for linen tunics/dresses with a bodice panel from one of my textile design fabrics. Maybe a Viking costume with card-weaving. . .

I have plenty of fabric on hand, linen and my (and Amy Vail's) textiles, a few pre-washed, for the first few projects. Time to get a washing machine again, once it is possible. Linens are beautiful, soft and strong, but definitely need to be pre-washed several times.

Here's another of the Empire/Regency inspired clothing designs I did several years ago for a Costume History/Fashion History class, using textile designs I did for the project.

Empire-inspired dress design
using my textile designs

It will be fun to get back to doing one of my favorite things. Maybe roses next. . .

Social Distance / Physical Distance 2020

Birds on water, Camano Island, 2009 or 2010

They're calling it Stay-at-Home, Shelter-in-Place, Social Distancing, but what we really want is Physical Distancing -- and to keep as close with our friends (social contacts) as we can, by phone and internet. And the interesting phenomenon, in Italy and New York, of neighborhoods on their balconies and roofs singing or making noise together. (In New York it is noise at 7pm to express appreciation of medical / health workers.  New Yorker Radio Hour 4/11/2020)

Here in California, and from the CDC, we are asked to wear masks in public, to protect others in case we are infected but asymptomatic. But masks are hard to get. (Although a local group has started sewing masks for hospitals, 100s of masks, well-washed. It has spread to other places, but it started here.) It is possible to trade off on masks. The virus remains viable longer on hard, cold surfaces, and becomes inactive sooner on soft, warm surfaces. So waiting several days between wearing a mask will "disinfect" it.

Listen to On The Media from 4/12/2020 about supplies, government stealing orders of masks, ventilators,  from orders by governors, and sending them to other states more politically important to the administration.  (500 ventilators the Colorado governor had ordered, intercepted by government, 100 'given back' at request of republican congressman / while Florida gets anything it wants.)


Take care everyone - and keep in touch.

Keep In Touch 2020

Fallen mailbox  March 19, 2011

Grandpa's large old mailbox was knocked down in a fast snowstorm, maybe by the mailman or a snowplow, maybe by a neighbor with a tractor -- tracks were visible under the top several inches after they melted. I left it out there since at least it was a marker for the address -- I was using a post office box at the time. And after a month, someone took it, before I could put it up again.

I have a new, small mailbox now. I am emailing with a family member, and went back on Facebook to get back in touch with a couple of friends. (And started again looking at a couple of groups as inspiration for starting some projects, which I have already collected fabric for.) And this is definitely an opportunity to clean the house. . .

And the OLLI adult education, which cancelled its classes, all on campus, first thing for this semester, has developed an entirely new Zoom schedule of classes for this semester, and is planning for summer. 

Old friends have moved away.

4/24/2020 And I had lost touch recently with a close friend, but it was just a misunderstanding. We are talking on the phone again.

Campus Is Closed 2020

Library, Sierra College, Nevada County Campus

This picture of the library on campus from across the pond is from several years ago, maybe 2013. It was the semester we lost 3 Thursdays to snow vacation. The picture was taken on Friday, the day after it started snowing quickly during class and campus was closed.

I walked home; it's only 2 miles on the wooded trail, a little farther the way I went along the roads. At class next week, we discovered I had reached home before the professor had gotten out of the parking lot with everyone trying to leave at once.

Last October, we didn't have any storms, no rain although some wind. But we had SIX power outages from PGE, the first one over 3 days. No wind here when the power was off. Supposedly only 10 days total. Everyone, including grocery stores, lost freezers full of food. Yes, some of them had backup generators; it wasn't enough.

Now, with the Corona virus pandemic, and shelter-in-place/social-distance, almost everything except grocery stores is shut down. Government offices and some businesses/restaurants are curbside pickup. I was glad to hear hardware stores are open, in case of a stopped-up drain. And I need batteries and light bulbs.

Our wonderful local independent radio station is unusually running many already recorded programs, but still keeping us updated on what is happening. And YubaNet, which we usually depend on for weather, fire, election and meetings information, is moderating regular virtual town meetings.

But schools are coping. They are shut, but at least most California districts are trying to get school lunches to kids. And some online, I don't know details. But I know at least 2 community college students who have been homeless, and certainly many more can't do online courses without the library. Over the last few years, this campus has lost the majority of its on-campus courses to online ones, and the computer lab closed several years ago.

The exception was the adult ed OLLI short courses, all I have taken for the last year, which were all in person. But since they were for older students, they were cancelled first thing. And now they are back! The 2 I had wanted to take are not, but a bunch of interesting things are available this semester on Zoom. They put that together in a month...

Old dogs are learning new tricks.

PS. Minimally Photoshopped -- I took out a garbage can.

Goodby Spot March 25, 2020

Spot on heater March 12, 2011 - 6 months old

The kittens were born in September 2010. Since Lassie died, the remaining three have been healthy and happy, going out on the balcony/low roofs when the weather was nice (which it was all February 2020). They often slept on the bed with me, or near/on a heater. They had a newly cleared table in a sunny window in the bedroom. But this morning, Spot is gone.

Yesterday aft and eve, not eating, crying out from time to time in that deep voice as if to be sick, but not being sick. Sleeping on foot of bed, alone. ( Usually her friend/sister Grey Mouse would have been with her, licking her head and ears. But it was chilly; Grey Mouse was sitting on the radiator heater. ) Then late eve down off bed, curled up there at foot, and after a while, sick. Then she felt better, tried to get up on bed by me (Rexie was sleeping under the cover -  they would have fought). I thought she was OK. This morning when I woke, she was dead. By 10am already stiff. I think she must have eaten something bad while their food and water dishes were empty yesterday morning.

Back at the beginning of the year Spot had a respiratory thing, and was having trouble breathing. I put her in/under a blanket with a bowl of steaming water. An old-fashioned remedy which helped a lot, and warmed her up too. Also, she wasn't eating, so giving her some of the smallest jars of meat-based baby food worked well. She was very hungry, and gobbled it instantly. She had lost a lot of weight, and didn't have any to loose, a small light little cat. She had, I think, by 2 days ago, fully recovered, always eager to eat and drink.

Spot was the friendliest as a kitten, when they had visitors a few times. She and Grey Mouse were friends now, most of the time, sleeping curled up together, or half on top of each other. Occasionally Rexie would tolerate being on the bed at the same time as the pair of them. (And not even sitting on the top of my head growling, as he did as a kitten twice when Buddy came into the bedroom.)

Since January, I have been noticing especially how pretty her eyes and Grey Mouse' eyes were; their eye colors have gone quite grey, very pretty with their cool grey coats. I meant to take pictures...


Goodby Spot. I love you.  I.miss you.

I was probably listening to Bach online - Bach's birthday program in the middle of the night when she died near the foot of my bed. The music was on only softly, so I should have heard her, and didn't hear anything. My favorite composer will never seem quite the same to me, perhaps...