(no subject)

[elainegrey]

The drive to Ohio on Sunday was very pleasant, except for a few moments of panic when my phone blacked out and a separate time when it seemed unable to connect to map data. I'd not turned around when, a half hour from home, i realized all my paper maps were still in my home office. I'm downloading "off line areas" to my iPad and to my phone -- I also ran over my data limits during the trip.

Bah, that was the negative -- which i am working to ameliorate for my return. The positive was that i had brunch with my parents in Chapel Hill (inadvertently choosing just the right time for Chapel Hill to be a ghost town: it was graduation and many folks were off in the stadium). The day was beautiful and, as i ascended the Blue Ridge escarpment, it was like watching spring run in reverse. I can't believe i've never noticed fringe trees before. Chionanthus virginicus is what i've seen around my new home. I thought i was seeing it as i drove through Virginia and West Virginia but apparently it's some other tree that flowers in a similarly delicate dangling manner -- at least at highway speeds.

I took a nice break in West Virginia driving down the New River Gorge to Thurmond. It's a National Park and almost a ghost town. I stopped for dinner in Chillicothe, Ohio. Some time i'll need to arrange my travels so i can visit some of the mounds remaining from the Hopewell cultures.

Yesterday i had a lovely lunch with KQ, a woman who i used as my pretend manager during the time working for the horrible horrible director KS. She's not managing now, as well, and i wasn't sure what to say. I thrive not being a manager: i'm not sure she's doing so.

Dinner was with my California colleagues and one of the local folks. I ordered a salad that was delivered with bacon bits on it. I chose not to make a fuss, and assumed i'd made the error in missing the meat in the listing. Having not had meat for such a long while, i found the bacon unappealing enough that i may begin double checking salad orders in the future if it's at a restaurant where they might add bacon as an elegant finishing touch.

Regarding the news, the New York Times says (and i imagine wide, innocent eyes) that the President's handling of intelligence "could ... open the president ... to accusations of a double standard." I'm not sure how one opens a door that's been blown off its hinges.

I'm not sure how i feel about the NYTimes coverage. There's something on the edge of gleeful tattling in statements like this (admittedly not in the body of an article but in the more conversational morning briefing). Instead of comparing this event to campaign rhetoric and hyperbole, i think i would appreciate something more grounded. How have we shared IS intelligence with Russia in the past? I am glad for the officials who broke the story, but i really have no idea how outrageous it is. Assuming a responsible, normal president, and assuming intelligence that was ours to share, would a president actually broach issues like that? I suspect so, but maybe it's handled in other ways? I've no idea.

Comments

[threeringedmoon]

It was evidently given by an ally under the express understanding it not be shared. I am fairly certain that it won't be a problem in the future, since allies would be crazy to share information with the Leaker in Chief in charge.

[arlie]

If I were an ally's intelligence officer, I'd be thinking of the US as a potential channel for sharing disinformation. :-(

[amaebi]

Yeah about "could expose President Joffrey to charges of having a double standard."

But then, as a nation we've abandoned the practice of evaluating policy for its effects, and its effects for match with goals that are about how the nation operates.

All gossip, all the time.

Agreed with the previous two commenters, too.

[warriorsavant]

I find the best way to enjoy a veggie burger is with melted cheese and bacon on it. :-)

[annie_r]

I have mostly given up on the NYT in favor of the WaPo. NYT lost me in the runup to the election with their lack of Hillary coverage, and then put some really questionable people on their staff (climate change deniers, etc.)

[zlabya]

The "fringe trees" sound simply lovely! I adore delicate trees--the reason why weeping cherry blossom trees are one of my absolute favorites, though I love my sturdy and common-in-my-home-region maple trees as well.