We had some unpleasant excitement in my town last weekend that you might have heard about. I woke up to see a posting from a relative about a couple of state legislators being shot. His source seemed sketchy. And he is a bit prone to conspiracy theories and immediately leapt to it being a plot for the Republicans to take back control of the legislature (which has basically been a tie this past year). I started searching more mainstream sources and it finally did show up. And then, mid morning, there was the press conference where we learned that Melissa Hortman and her husband had been killed. So shocking. I found myself in tears.
I had been planning on attending the No Kings rally at the state capitol ,but was a little up in the air about logistics of getting there. I knew from the past two rallies I attended that parking would be an issue, and transit would be an issue too. I was thinking about riding my bike but not sure where I'd be able to lock it up. Anyway, then I heard from one of my besties asking if I'd be interested in going to the much smaller demonstration in my neighborhood. She has a bum hip and can't walk great distances at the moment. So her excuse became my excuse.
The neighborhood demonstration was only six blocks from my house, in front of a senior living campus that is attached to St. Catherine's University. The campus also has housing for retired members of an order of nuns! We lined up alongside the busy street and waved signs and flags. I think there were maybe, 150 people? Decent turnout. 80% of the cars going by gave supportive honks so I suppose we were preaching to the choir, but it was still fun.
I am not big on making signs, I never seem to have the clever or creative ideas. At the last minute I found an image of Melissa, printed it and taped it to a piece of cardboard.
What else... this weekend HWD and I are going to another party at the swinger lady's house, this one is a Pride month body painting party. The organizer cracks me up - her event announcement included the following: "🌈All for queer people. Sorry if you are a cis het/straight person catch us at a different event. All genders are welcome and will be present at the party! I know that FOMO is real but please only come if you are bi, queer, lesbian, gay, pan, omni, etc. If you are bi-curious/heteroflexible you are welcome to come but please be for real about it and not just like maybe if every single star aligned I would look an extra second at someone with gay intent." 😂 I'm guessing she's had issues in the past with straight guys trying to infiltrate queer parties.
Anyway I'm looking forward to it because HWD is great with the artistic stuff, hopefully I'll have a fun picture or two to share.
I got my new laptop yesterday! I'm sooooo excited to have a computer that's actually fast again, instead of going to the kitchen and toasting a bagel while I wait for pages to load. The info transfer from my iMac was pretty seamless. I did discover this morning that my printer was no longer working. I researched and found a post on Apple Support that spelled out a complicated process of deleting Epson files from several different folders on my hard drive, then downloading new install files from Epson and re-installing the printer.
I confess, it looked like a huge hassle and I started wondering if I should just buy a new printer. This one is well over 10 years old (although still works just fine) and printers are cheap. But, after I got home from Pilates and yoga, I decided to try it. It worked!! Let's hear it for not buying new stuff and making do with what we have. Also, I feel cheered that I can still figure this stuff out and haven't become a stereotypical useless Boomer.
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I’ve heard some republicans said disgusting things just because the people killed were on the other side of the aisle. I guess basic human decency doesn’t exist on that side of the aisle.
Yeah, I was proud to hear that our Senator Tina Smith directly confronted one of those jerks.
It was tragic that those politicians and their spouses were attacked and killed - this is not the behviour that any democracy can tolerate, Winding up sections of the public with hate speech has consequences, yet those (knowingly and cynically) doing are not held to account for it. In a nation that seems to be ever more polarised and where so many have weapons, I fear it was as inevitable as it was tragic. That it wasn't universally condemned by politicians of all stripes is utterly shameful.
Agreed - in particular the response of Sen. Mike Lee of Utah needs to be remembered at the next election.
That was just stunning news, so incredibly sad and maddening. Locally a man was arrested near a No Kings parade with concealed automatic weapons and extra ammo and when they searched his home they found multiple pipe bombs and other devices. Crazy stuff the right wing is spinning up.
I'd be proud of myself for getting a new computer up and running AND connected to older devices too! (probably why I just keep getting a new chromebook instead!)
Wow, that's scary - I'm glad that dude was caught. We're really reaping the consequences of our permissive gun culture.
Apple makes it super easy to move everything (files, settings, even wallpaper) from an old device to the new one. One of the reasons I'm loyal to their products even though they cost more.
What a tragic loss for your community as she was such a great lady and Speaker of the House there. Her and her husband did a lot for Minnesota, and everyone that knew and loved her will be missing her forever. May they both RIP.
And I hope the Hoffman's totally recover and he can continue to do all the good he can do for all of Minnesota.
Congrats on your new laptop and printers can be a pain sometime as I have had several issues with mine too.
I hope you enjoy your weekend..
She was so effective. And at the demonstration, I was chatting with a woman who knew her and she said that Melissa went out of her way to support new women legislators.
I heard that Mrs. Hoffman is out of the hospital already so that is good news!
Since we’ve been speaking elsewhere and you already know I feel about what happened to that poor woman, her husband, and dog. And you also know the following so I’ll just say this for anyone else reading.
I too went to my no kings rally. It was large and very peaceful. I gave my 🫶heart hands to people who flipped me off as I smirked at them.
My sign said deport Trump
Nicks was deport Elon
The rally brought me hope
I hope you have fun at the swingers party. It wouldn’t shock me if straight men tried to infiltrate, many don’t understand boundaries at all.
Interestingly it seems to be the death of the sweet dog that has pissed people off the most. It is not smart to piss off the pet parents of the world.
I'm not real worried about being bothered by straight guys...most of 'em aren't looking to get with a 67 year old lady with gray hair. 🧑🦳
Sad news about those legislators.
Have fun at your painting party. It sounds interesting.
There is nothing quite like transitioning to something faster. I know the feeling well. I have two desktops and a laptop that are filled with memories and old files that no longer serve a purpose. I should do something with them, but throwing them out seems like a sin. And I'd have to destroy or reformat those hard drives. So I keep one as a backup and the others as backups to the backup.
Sheesh... 😐
... there's a place nearby that recycles those things... i should check into that...
We are kind of lucky here - there is a dedicated drop off spot for electronics to be recycled. It does take a little effort because you have to figure out how to wipe the device before turning it in. I'll take my iMac to the Apple Store though; sometimes they'll give you a coupon if you bring in one of their devices to be recycled.
My printer is 15 years old. I need to update it. Like you, I hate to get rid of something that works just fine.
The party sounds like a lot of fun!!
Hugs!!
I usually am not one to buy a new device just to have something new. I kept my last phone for six or seven years, I think.
What a whirlwind of a week—shock, solidarity, celebration… and a triumphant printer resurrection. I like how you thread it all together with warmth, wit, and zero need for a new Epson!
Last weekend did feel pretty intense. I get a little obsessive about these things and was feeling the need to constantly be checking to see if the killer had been captured yet.
@smartasswoman It’s hard to look away when everything feels so charged.
When I first heard the news from your hometown I was VERY confused. Then it dawned on me two families, with similar names, were targeted. I had a senior moment for sure. CRAZY people are everywhere - not JUST in DC - see image.
I didn't go to any of the rallies. Used the same excuse I did the day before for blowing off a photowalk - the weather. WHO would have believed that after 2+ years of drought we'd be crying "no mas" for rain. But after the last 3 weeks, we are!
There was a lot of that confusion. I'd look at the comments on an online article and people would be saying, "this article isn't credible, in one place it says they were killed and in the next paragraph it says they're at the hospital having surgery." Well...because it was two separate incidents.
We finally got a healthy amount of rain here too. It was sorely needed.
The interesting thing I got out of the ordeal in your state is that the guy who killed those folks wasn't a immigrant or one of the so-called dreadful folks they want to get out of the country. He was a homegrown a-hole who thought to take things in his own hands.
Anyway proud of you for going to the rally. I guess when your printer figured you were going to dump it for a newer on, it got it's act together and decided to start working again.
I tend to be a little complacent, thinking that MN is such a great, tolerant place to live, but in truth that's only the Twin Cities, Duluth and Rochester. The smaller cities outstate can be quite conservative. And, of course, we are not exempt from having people with mental health issues.
I read about the murder of your congresswoman. My US Rep was on the hit list. This violence is condoned at the highest level and makes me ill.
Wow! I didn't realize he also had targets in other states.
What happened in Minnesota was very troubling. I don't expect political assassinations to happen in America or here. I know they do - Kennedy and Luther King - but it's still a shock when it happens.
It seems, at least from where I'm standing, you're slowly being edged towards swinging!
For some reason it seems even more troubling that it's down to the level of a local legislator, who is part time. We don't even have weapon screening security at our State Capitol, if you can believe it. I'm sure they will have to start seriously considering that.
Ummmm it's hard to picture becoming a swinger since I'm not particularly interested in "casual" sex. 😂