Feline mystique - What is my furry gal trying to do/say?

Ember has a fuzzy little wind up chicken (with hard plastic beak and feet) that became her comfort toy when she was barely 1 year old. She is 7 now and has been through several "Chickies" because I introduce a new one to her when the old one gets too dirty and broken to keep around.

She carries it around when she is distressed, e.g. when I leave home or sometimes when I'm in the shower.

She used to bring Chickie into bed to rest between Ember and me. Glad she stopped that because I got jabbed by the feet and beak when I rolled over.

Sometimes I came home to find Chickie in Ember's water dish. Never figured out if she was trying to bathe, drown, or baptize Chickie. She stopped doing that a couple years ago, but lately Chickie has been showing up in strange places again.

I came home from the grocery store a couple days ago to find Chickie in Ember's empty food dish. What was that about? Telling me to get food for Chickie? Or saying that she would eat Chickie if I didn't fill the dish? Later, I found Ember napping inside her carrier with Chickie beside her. Was the message, "Take us with you next time?"

This morning, I was out for about half an hour. When I came home, Chickie was in one of my sandals. Am I supposed to take Chickie out for a walk with me? Ember would never let herself be parted from Chickie while I was away, so does it mean, "Take us with you?"

Also, lately Ember has been watching my hand closely when I go out of the apartment. The door handle is the lever type, not a knob. A couple times she has stretched out her paw toward the door handle. It was a half-hearted stretch. If she wanted to, she could easily stretch and jump just enough to touch the lever. I keep the door locked now, just in case she decides to check on what's beyond that door.

Putting it altogether, I think Ember wants to go out with me and take Chickie along.

A valuable movie speech for our times - Judgment at Nuremberg

Spencer Tracy, as Judge Dan Haywood, delivers this speech at the trial of 4 judges in Nuremberg for crimes committed under Nazi rule. His words have meaning today for US politics and values.

Reflections on historical moments

We all live through historical moments. Each day of our lives, personal and world events around us are tomorrow's history.

Some personal events stand out as significant moments that we record in diaries, in family stories, and in our hearts. And some events in the world around us will be recorded in history books for future generations to study.

Occasionally our personal lives intersect with and become a part of recorded history. Abraham Zapruder joined a crowd of citizens lining city streets to watch the US President pass by. He carried a camera to record the moment for his friends, neighbors, children, and grandchildren. It was November 23, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. His film became the famous Zapruder film.

I just happened to be watching TV that day, home sick from school, but well enough to lie down on the couch and watch a TV program. So, at 14 years old, I saw the moment by moment news flashes as reports slowly trickled in about JFK's assassination (no Internet, cell phones, or fax machines). It was a national and international event, but to me it felt personal, too, although my life did not intersect with it like Zapruder's life did. I was young, idealistic, impressionable.

There are many DUers who remember that day. But even the younger ones among us have been witnesses, through news coverage, of major events. It seems like there have been so many "big ones" in our lifetimes. Is it only that increasing technological developments have put news in front of us so quickly and thoroughly? Is it that 24/7 news coverage has amplified everything into "something big?"

Or, are big, history changing events actually happening more often and more rapidly? My parents lived through many technological changes in their lifetimes, but the significant historical events were HUGE - the 1929 stock market crash, the Great Depression, Pearl Harbor, WWII. It became personal for them when my father joined the Navy and was sent to the Pacific, and my uncle joined the Army and was sent to Europe where he was captured and spent 2 years as a POW in a German camp. After the war, they learned about the Holocaust. A whole new political, financial, and social order came from that war.

Just a little over 2 decades ago, we witnessed external threats again, from international terrorism. But now, we are threatened from within, and it seems to me that historical events in my lifetime have been moving more and more in that direction. Assassinations of the 60s - JFK, RFK, MLK. Watergate and Nixon's pardon. The Reagan backlash against the social and political gains of the 60s civil rights and environmental movements. The SCOTUS decision that put Bush Jr in office. The increasing divisions and loss of sense of community.

And now Trump, with multiple historical events and threats occurring in rapid succession - foreign election interference in 2016, racial attacks being normalized, the J6 insurrection, the backlash against current indictments, and the defendent running for office with party and Congressional support.

To get through it, I remind myself that my parents' generation got through their challenges. I have to believe that we will, too. But to do it, we will have to work just as hard and be just as committed to succeeding. This is our our personal intersection with historical events. Today's events are tomorrow's future for all of us, so the outcome is just as personal for us as Zapruder's film, my father's Pacific service, and my uncle's European service were for them.

Huffpost good article explaining the Georgia indictments

The article gives the number of alleged crimes, the number of indictments, and discusses some of them.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-indicted-georgia_n_637ea2bce4b082d8e6cd4fcd

Is this another Trump threat to witnesses?

Trump has dirt (komoromat) on a lot of people. If he leaves the US, like he just recently suggested he should do, he would be free to "tell all" on the people that he feels betrayed him to SC Smith.

So, is his suggestion about leaving the country a veiled threat to witnesses who have testified to the grand jury and would testify in a trial?

In effect, it is as if Trump is saying, "Your disloyalty is driving me from the country and from my rightful place in the White House. So why shouldn't I leave for a place where I can speak freely?"

Trump is known for his vindictiveness. No way would he just walk away without getting vengeance on people that he feels betrayed him, or who were not successful enough in coming to his aid.

I think that he really would leave rather than risk a trial that he's likely to lose and an election that he can't be sure of winning. But his announcement of that possibility must put fear in the minds of witnesses who, if he has to flee, would face his vengeance.

Cats interrupting interviews

Ember the cat is freaking me out with a miraculous behavior change.

She has always DESPISED being brushed or combed. When little, she squirmed and wiggled loose. As she got older, larger, and stronger, she got more assertive - hissing, slapping me, and slapping the brush right out of my hand.

I tried different kinds of brushes and combs. Even tried a toothbrush in case the cat brushes were too harsh. Nothing doing. She howled and as if being tortured. I tried treats as a reward afterward and a lure before brushing. Ember wasn't having it.

And then, a couple days ago, the miracle happened.

I cleaned out a bathroom drawer and removed an old hairbrush of mine. I still had it in my hand when I walked to my desk, where Ember likes to perch next to me. I laid it down to type something. Ember sniffed it. Then she rubbed her face against the bristle side. I picked it up slowly and cautiously and ran it over the top of her head, where she loves to get scritches and even tolerates brushes sometimes, very briefly. I was shocked at her reaction. She leaned into the brush so that it ran over the side of her neck. I tried it on the other side and she leaned into it again. Dreamy, half-closed eyes of contentment. Was this my fierce Ember or an imposter?

I let the brush slide down a bit to her shoulder. No hissing. No finger shredding. No slapping at me or the brush. Nevertheless, I stopped, not wanting to push my luck. And then the second miracle happened. Ember looked at the brush and me as if wondering why the brushing stopped. She nudged the brush and my hand to continue. So I did.

OMG!!! Was this just a feline suckup job? No, it wasn't feeding time.

And it has happened a few times since then. I left the brush on my desk. When she feels like it, she rubs against it. That's my cue to pick it up and let her rub against it, then brush her.

Thus is so uncharacteristic that I am spooked.

This one is for you, Siwsan.

You have wondered how Madoc got into screw lid jars to reach treats. This is how it's done.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10181859282

Any bets on when the latest DOJ indictments will be released?

The grand jury meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Today (Tuesday) went by without any news about the indictments.

So, will it be this Thursday? Or sometime next week?

I expect to see violence at some point by Trump supporters.

It will not be a single large attack like the one against the Capitol on J6. It will be individual acts of violence in various locations. Maybe some assassination attempts on Democratic leaders or their families. Maybe some infrastructure damage like destroying power stations.

In other words, acts of domestic terrorism. They are harder to defend against and to trace and prosecute.

If Trump supporters carry out terrorist acts as a reaction to the charges that Trumo faces, when are they most likely to do it?

Will it be when the J6 related indictments are announced?

Or the fake elector charges in Georgia if they inckude Trump?

What is likely to be the event that pushes them over the edge? The start of the J6 trial in DC?

Or will they protest peacefully during the trial, but turn feral when a jury convicts him?