Gallery of my husband’s photographs – first three taken this weekend at the Vancouver Tattoo Show, next four alley images shot over the past few weeks.
Vancouver Tattoos And Alleys
Monthly Archives: April 2017
100 Days Of Trump By Bernie Sanders
Ponder Bernie Sanders – not as a politician, servant of corporate interests or member of America’s elite white boy club. Ponder Sanders as a reasoned voice without personal agenda. A man who spoke just over eighteen minutes of Trump 100 days truth from the heart of a true American.
In a reasonable world, citizens regardless of political affiliation would hear Bernie’s take on 100 days of Trump. Ours is not a world of reason. Unfazed by cacophony of spluttering discord frothing at corners of right wing America, optimism appeals to faint vestiges of sanity – please ponder 100 days of Trump by Bernie Sanders.
100 Days
This Friday will conclude Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. Pondering 100 days is fraught with peril, self preservation demands leaving satire and beating obvious to death well enough alone. Rather than rant, I’ve chosen to borrow content straight from the donkey’s ass. Raided verbatim from the link below – in Donald Trump’s words, his October 2016 election “contract” with America…
http://www.npr.org/2017/04/24/520159167/trumps-100-day-action-plan-annotated
“What follows is my 100-day action plan to Make America Great Again. It is a contract between myself and the American voter — and begins with restoring honesty, accountability and change to Washington.
Therefore, on the first day of my term of office, my administration will immediately pursue the following six measures to clean up the corruption and special interest collusion in Washington, DC:
* FIRST, propose a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress;
* SECOND, a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health);
* THIRD, a requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated;
* FOURTH, a 5 year-ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service;
* FIFTH, a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government;
* SIXTH, a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections.
On the same day, I will begin taking the following 7 actions to protect American workers:
* FIRST, I will announce my intention to renegotiate NAFTA or withdraw from the deal under Article 2205
* SECOND, I will announce our withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership
* THIRD, I will direct my Secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator
* FOURTH, I will direct the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to identify all foreign trading abuses that unfairly impact American workers and direct them to use every tool under American and international law to end those abuses immediately
* FIFTH, I will lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion dollars’ worth of job-producing American energy reserves, including shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal.
* SIXTH, lift the Obama-Clinton roadblocks and allow vital energy infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline, to move forward
* SEVENTH, cancel billions in payments to U.N. climate change programs and use the money to fix America’s water and environmental infrastructure
Additionally, on the first day, I will take the following five actions to restore security and the constitutional rule of law:
* FIRST, cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama
* SECOND, begin the process of selecting a replacement for Justice Scalia from one of the 20 judges on my list, who will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States
* THIRD, cancel all federal funding to Sanctuary Cities
* FOURTH, begin removing the more than 2 million criminal illegal immigrants from the country and cancel visas to foreign countries that won’t take them back
* FIFTH, suspend immigration from terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur. All vetting of people coming into our country will be considered extreme vetting.
Next, I will work with Congress to introduce the following broader legislative measures and fight for their passage within the first 100 days of my Administration:
1. Middle Class Tax Relief And Simplification Act. An economic plan designed to grow the economy 4% per year and create at least 25 million new jobs thro ugh massive tax reduction and simplification, in combination with trade reform, regulatory relief, and lifting the restrictions on American energy. The largest tax reductions are for the middle class. A middle-class family with 2 children will get a 35% tax cut. The current number of brackets will be reduced from 7 to 3, and tax forms will likewise be greatly simplified. The business rate will be lowered from 35 to 15 percent, and the trillions of dollars of American corporate money overseas can now be brought back at a 10 percent rate.
2. End The Offshoring Act. Establishes tariffs to discourage companies from laying off their workers in order to relocate in other countries and ship their products back to the U.S. tax-free.
3. American Energy & Infrastructure Act. Leverages public-private partnerships, and private investments through tax incentives, to spur $1 trillion in infrastructure investment over 10 years. It is revenue neutral.
4. School Choice And Education Opportunity Act. Redirects education dollars to give parents the right to send their kid to the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school of their choice. Ends common core, brings education supervision to local communities. It expands vocational and technical education, and make 2 and 4-year college more affordable.
5. Repeal and Replace Obamacare Act. Fully repeals Obamacare and replaces it with Health Savings Accounts, the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines, and let states manage Medicaid funds. Reforms will also include cutting the red tape at the FDA: there are over 4,000 drugs awaiting approval, and we especially want to speed the approval of life-saving medications.
6. Affordable Childcare and Eldercare Act. Allows Americans to deduct childcare and elder care from their taxes, incentivizes employers to provide on-site childcare services, and creates tax-free Dependent Care Savings Accounts for both young and elderly dependents, with matching contributions for low-income families.
7. End Illegal Immigration Act Fully – funds the construction of a wall on our southern border with the full understanding that the country Mexico will be reimbursing the United States for the full cost of such wall; establishes a 2-year mandatory minimum federal prison sentence for illegally re-entering the U.S. after a previous deportation, and a 5-year mandatory minimum for illegally re-entering for those with felony convictions, multiple misdemeanor convictions or two or more prior deportations; also reforms visa rules to enhance penalties for overstaying and to ensure open jobs are offered to American workers first.
8. Restoring Community Safety Act. Reduces surging crime, drugs and violence by creating a Task Force On Violent Crime and increasing funding for programs that train and assist local police; increases resources for federal law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors to dismantle criminal gangs and put violent offenders behind bars.
9. Restoring National Security Act. Rebuilds our military by eliminating the defense sequester and expanding military investment; provides Veterans with the ability to receive public VA treatment or attend the private doctor of their choice; protects our vital infrastructure from cyber-attack; establishes new screening procedures for immigration to ensure those who are admitted to our country support our people and our values.
10. Clean up Corruption in Washington Act. Enacts new ethics reforms to Drain the Swamp and reduce the corrupting influence of special interests on our politics.
On November 8th, Americans will be voting for this 100-day plan to restore prosperity to our economy, security to our communities, and honesty to our government.
This is my pledge to you.
And if we follow these steps, we will once more have a government of, by and for the people.”
Pondering Cassini’s Imminent Demise
April 26, 2017 marks the beginning of NASA’s Cassini Mission end. Twenty years from home, fuel supplies close to exhaustion, Cassini’s imminent demise starts with the first of 22 planned dives between the rings of Saturn. The final plunge on September 22,2017 will lay Cassini to rest somewhere in the arms of Saturn. Mindful of protecting one of Saturn’s 62 moons from impact of an out of control space probe, Cassini’s assisted suicide is planned to maximize scientific discovery.
Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA said – “No spacecraft has ever gone through the unique region that we’ll attempt to boldly cross 22 times. What we learn from Cassini’s daring final orbits will further our understanding of how giant planets, and planetary systems everywhere, form and evolve. This is truly discovery in action to the very end.”
These videos give me goosebumps. Oh Cassini, know your service to humanity mattered.
Timeline of Cassini Mission – https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/the-journey/timeline/#saturn-orbit-insertion
I Could Stand In The Middle of Fifth Ave. and Shoot Somebody
Woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep because I started thinking about this.
Disdain for Donald Trump is a given. Considerably less definable – who those responsible for his meteoric rise in popularity might be. Daily media coverage peppered with Trump’s reckless brand of flippant arrogance, persist without thought or mention of citizens urging him on. Trump announced presidential aspirations with the slogan – “make America great again”. What crossed the minds of his boisterous supporters? Who are these people and why do they embrace “great” as a nation prescribed by Donald Trump? On January 23, 2016 Trump spoke to supporters in Sioux Center Iowa –
“They say I have the most loyal people — did you ever see that? — where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters,” Trump said, illustrating his point by pulling his fingers into a gun shape. “Okay? It’s like incredible.”
The crowd laughed and clapped, and someone in…
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Housed In Vancouver Night
Vancouver houses at night, photographed by my husband –
Pondering North Korea
Pondering North Korea begins with 28 approved hair styles for men and women. Women can choose from 18 government sanctioned styles – married women must wear their hair short, single women are allowed to display long locks. Men choose from 10 styles and are prohibited from hair longer than 5 cm. Senior men are forgiven for hair up to 7 cm in length.
North Korea takes a dim view of crystal meth, but tolerates opium and marijuana. While not technically legal, pot smoking North Koreans have little to fear. Marijuana is cultivated along railroad tracks and readily available in local shops.
In North Korea the year is 106, not 2017. Year one began April 15, 1912 – birthday of their first leader Kim II-Sung.
North Korea’s “Three Generation Rule” is a nasty reality for citizens declared political dissidents. That person is sent to a hard labour prison camp along with their entire family. Parents, siblings, children incarcerated by association – not just for the rest of their lives, but for the lives of two future generations born, living and dying in prison. A practice deemed necessary to cleanse and maintain government ideals.
As of 2016 an estimated 5,899,000 persons, 25% of North Korea’s population formed the world’s largest paramilitary organization. Mandatory conscription for males, selective female conscription require 10 years service with the KPA (Korean Peoples Army). Watching them march is mind blowing –
Due to trade sanctions, 2010 marked the year acute fertilizer shortages saw the proliferation of shops selling human feces for fertilizer.
Ponder a glimpse into North Korean propaganda –
Oppenheimer’s Deadly Toy
Trump and his cabal of nincompoops would find a way to blame fake news, Hillary or Obama for this video. I’m not re-posting for them – this is for people willing to understand that together we can make a difference.
My recent post on Fukushima unleashed a wave of pondering. A friend sent me this link; spend five minutes watching it, then tell me why mankind never learns.
April 11, 2017 Full Pink Moon
Roughly every twenty nine and a half days, a full moon occurs when sunlight fully illuminates Earth facing side of the Moon. Phases of the Moon are a matter of perspective, perceptible refracted light in relation to lunar orbit define phases of the Moon. We see a full moon when it orbits on the exact opposite side of Earth from the Sun.
Depending on where you live the first full northern hemisphere spring, southern hemisphere fall moon falls on April 11, 2017. Native American tribes dubbed spring’s first full moon the Pink Moon, named for wild pink ground phlox, the first bloom of spring. Also known as the Flower, Sprouting Grass, Egg and Fish Moon, spring’s first full Pink Moon is believed to have originated on America’s east coast with native Algonquin tribes.
http://fullmoonphases.com/pink-moon/
If you happen to fall under pink moonlight, ponder long ago and once upon a time. Gaze into the night, embrace prickles of instinctive wisdom with reverence for people who once called spring’s first full moon pink.Next, listen to Nick Drake’s Pink Moon….
2014 JO25
On April 19, 2017 the orbit of 1 km wide asteroid 2014 JO25 will pass 4.6 LD ( 1,768,239 km ) from Earth. In astronomical terms anything within 100 LD is considered a PHA (Potentially Hazardous Asteroid ) 1 LD = distance from Earth to the Moon ( 384,400 km ). Stacked against vastness of the cosmos, 4.6 LD miss by a behemoth projectile amounts to humanity winning the lottery.
2014 JO25 will pass without consequence, no harm no foul. From NASA –
“There are no known future encounters by 2014 JO25 as close as the one in 2017 through 2500. It will be among the strongest asteroid radar targets of the year. The 2017 flyby is the closest by an asteroid at least this large since the encounter by 4179 Toutatis at four lunar distances in September 2004. The next known flyby by an object with a comparable or larger diameter will occur when 800-m-diameter asteroid 1999 AN10 approaches within one lunar distance in August 2027.”
From Earthsky –
“For backyard observers, the exciting news is that asteroid 2014 JO25 might be be visible moving across the stars though 8″-diameter and bigger telescopes. Can it be seen with smaller telescopes? Maybe, but in order to be able to detect its motion across the stars, at least an 8″ scope will be required. The asteroid will not be visible to the unaided eye, as it may show a brightness or magnitude between 10 and 11.
The asteroid is currently located in the direction of the sun, but – during the first hours of April 19 – the space rock will come into view for telescopes as it crosses the constellation of Draco. Then, during the night of April 19, asteroid 2014 JO25 will seem to move across the skies covering the distance equivalent to the moon’s diameter in about 18 minutes.
The asteroid will be close to star 41 Comae, which is very close to Beta Comae. This star is magnitude 4 and thus visible to the unaided eye. Illustration by Eddie Irizarry using Stellarium.
That’s fast enough for its motion to be detected though an amateur telescope. The best strategy to catch the space rock in your telescope is to observe a star known to be in the asteroid’s path, and wait for it.
If you are looking at the correct time and direction, the asteroid will appear as a very slowly moving “star.” Although its distance from us will make the space rock appear to move slowly, it is in fact traveling though space at a speed of 75,072 mph (120,816 km/h)!
Because it will appear to move very slowly, observers should take a good look at a reference star for a few minutes (not seconds) to detect the moving object.
Although asteroid 2014 JO25 will be closest to Earth on the morning of Wednesday, April 19, 2017, (around 7:24 a.m. Central Time / 12:24 UTC) the space rock may look a bit brighter (but still only visible in telescopes) during the night of April 19, because the asteroid will be at a higher elevation in our skies.”
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