They weren’t very little! Quite a few were a metre long and they wore them on their heads! They were chanting stuff like “the crocodile is coming” as they danced, and they were clearly thrilled at the prospect.

He is saying the right things, but I think of it a bit like the few times Trump says the right thing. He’s getting on in years himself, and he hasn’t changed yet.

Did they really dance with little crocs? They must be desperate, that being said, during his first days of presidency, Mr Mnangagwa appears to say all the right things until now. maybe we should be holding our breaths?

I find it a shocking that people are celebrating someone who deservedly has the nickname crocodile. All that dancing around with toy crocs is a bit scary.

Thanks so much for your support Linda. 🙂

I would have thought that not guaranteeing net neutrality was unconstitutional in the US. I assume there will be a challenge coming. I suspect that if Obama hadn’t signed such a law, Trump would be introducing one and criticizing Obama for not doing it. As it is, it gives him the feeling of the control he thought he would have as president but doesn’t.

I feel really sorry for Melania. She will be bearing the brunt of this. I think the third divorce will come within a of year of his leaving office.

Thanks so much Mark. I appreciate your kind words very much. They mean a lot to me. It’s people like you that keep me going. 🙂

Best wishes to your wife for a speedy recovery!

I would like to add my thanks to Heather for this site.

We have three weeks to enjoy it in its current form before net neutrality goes away.

After that, sites like this one will become painfully slow to access, or else will be extinguished altogether, or else will become prohibitively expensive if we can still get them.

State and local governments will not be able to enforce their own net neutrality laws, or provide internet access to their constituents via their own governments.

There has been an accusation that the “repeal” side has falsified comments under real names; people who never actually commented appear to have had their names used by “bots” or other real people. This accusation has not been investigated because the FCC is refusing to turn over their records to the New York Attorney General. (Gee, I wonder why not?)

As of now, there will be a requirement for “transparency”. The big telecoms will be forced to detail what they are providing, and for how much. But, if the lesson of Citizens United serves us, those proponents also supposedly supported transparency, but when push came to shove, transparency went away, because, as the Supreme Court noted, some people might get upset if their real intentions were to become public.

I’m sorry to be such a wet blanket, but history tells us that the control of information is vital to a functioning democracy. Ours is on the brink of being lost. The large majority of citizens are against the repeal of net neutrality, but our voices don’t count anymore.

The oligarchy is upon us.

L

I’d like to make the backdrop last year at this time. Personally, I was depressed and despondent. What I thought America was and Americans were was dissolved in an orange miasma of deceit and ugliness. Blech. Trump elected…wtf? Every morning I woke up generally happy (after all, I consider myself an optimistic fellow) then Trump loomed over me and with him a black cloud. But since I had no idea of his real agenda (did he have an agenda beyond personal-wealth and brand-recognition?) I could at least relax since Obama was still in charge through the holidays.

Then the tyrant (I didn’t actually know he was a tyrant at the time) was installed. But after a year, I feel the resistance is strong. America isn’t a majority idiot state quite yet and many who voted for trump (basically ALL the independents) regret it. Trump can only run on television-tactics and false-promises for so long. Time is ticking away for him. And now it’s finally been a year. Mueller is another wave he can’t avoid…we’ll see.

But back to my Thanks. It is people like you Heather, who write and cite and illuminate and elucidate from far, far away that has kept my balance and sanity during these trumpion years (it’s going to be a f’n “era” I just know it). I’m very thankful for an outside critique of America and the world at large. You take on the world, and do an excellent job, and I hope you’re proud of that accomplishment of assimilated knowledge. I regard you and Jerry’s WEIT as my two internet grounds to sanity. What is amazing is that I don’t need three. Your Homilies and WEIT is all I need for my social-media (don’t like that phrase) satiation. To be honest, both your wonder-twin powers are more than I can consume on a daily basis.

Well, if you haven’t got the hint by now, my most sincere THANKS for your efforts and splendid endeavors. I don’t know how long this trumpian/republican nightmare can go on, but I’m looking forward to your tweets and homilies that confirm my liberal bias and relieve my metaphorical pressure valve 🙂 Sanity exists!!!

Also the non-Weltschmerz side is therapeutic. Evolution’s endless wonders. This includes all the science and animal tweets and especially the cats and dogs and parrots.

Cheers and Happy Turkey Day from at-the-moment dim-America! I’m back at the stove. As I mentioned before, my wife broke her arm, so I’m on cooking duty. I enjoy it actually. I seem to drink more wine though. Oh well, tis the season.

I was assuming two driverless cars – then it wouldn’t have happened because both cars would be on the correct side of the road.