I have been "off the grid" for a week -- I plan on returning tonight or tomorrow. It's been wonderful not giving a moment's thought to the cartoon with a desk in the oval office.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

It's too nice to stay indoors today. I didn't see much in the news, so I'm reading about Denver's growth spurt (there seems to be a crane on every corner in and around downtown, way too many -- I'd much rather they kept the parking lots), food (recipes and new local restaurants) and of course, Central and Latin America and Mexico.

What's on your agenda this weekend? If you've found something binge-worthy to watch, or something great to cook, please share.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Our last open thread is full. I will be back blogging soon, just not today.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

There has been an afternoon or evening storm every day this week. It's even cloudy this morning, most unusual for Denver.

Weather, however, pales by comparison to the gray and troubled skies over this country. The news is so unthinkable it's like we are permanently living in a state of shock and shame. There's a man with a desk in the oval office who is, in my opinion, not fit to be there. He's putting all Americans at risk globally and at home. More and more, I study the benefits of moving and living in a country like Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia and my latest: Panama (especially now that Trump's name has been stripped from the tower he licensed it to.)

Since I will be spending the day in Court, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

Sorry, I've been running around and meeting deadlines and today I have to drive to the state prison in Limon (90 miles away) and tomorrow to the jail in Georgetown (50 miles away) and it's 99 degrees here. The plumbing pipes are being replaced in my building so for three weeks the water has been shut off from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. No water, no shower, no toilet use. Really a pain.

I'll be back as soon as I can. This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

I've been busy at work and not reading much news. It's usually about Donald Trump.

I'm taking the weekend off from him. I'll follow the election news in Mexico instead. The past two weeks on Senor de los Cielos, Aurelio (the drug trafficker loosely based on Amado Carrillo Fuentes who reportedly died in 1997 after plastic surgery) has been kidnapping each presidential candidate and then grilling them on their position on legalizing drugs and extradition. He's trying to decide which one to make President. One is obviously a takeoff onAndrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). Aurelio doesn't like him much. In real life, Lopez-Obrador is way ahead in the polls. He's described as a leftist, and this isn't his first rodeo, so I don't know why so people are comparing him to Trump.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Stephen Miller's great-grandfather flunked his citizenship test. Check out #Resistance Genealogy. "Unless your ancestors came on a slave ship or you’re Native American,” you came here as an immigrant, says Jennifer Mendelsohn, who created the #resistancegenealogy hashtag last summer".

More on Miller here.

The Sheriff in El Paso County, TX has refused to allow deputies working overtime to work at temporary shelters housing migrant children:

The El Paso County sheriff prohibited his deputies from working off-duty at a temporary shelter housing migrant children, saying he refused to support the Trump administration’s “unjust” policy of separating families at the border.

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I haven't seen any news yet today, so here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

I'm off to the jail in the mountains and won't be back until after dinner. It's a beautiful day for the drive though.

In the news, Argentina has charged Pablo Escobar's widow and son with money laundering. I tried to read the 57 page order in Spanish, but all I got was the investigation was started due to information received from our holy global warriors, the DEA, in conjunction with Colombia, who passed it on to Argentina. At first there wasn't enough evidence to charge them, but the court now believes there is. They will both remain free pending the outcome.

The charges seem to be that they invested money with a drug trafficker in Colombia named José Bayron Piedrahita Ceballos, who worked with the "Office of Evigago" and Cali Cartel who also managed investments in Colombia and Argentina. He was arrested last year and is awaiting extradition to the U.S. on bribery and obstruction of justice charges in the Southern District of Florida. The Indictment is here. (He allegedly bribed an ICE agent.) [More...]

We haven't had an open thread in a while. Here's a new one, all topics welcome.

Subtropical storm Alberto made landfall this afternoon in Laguna Beach, Florida near Panama City. It's moving north, up through the Florida Panhandle. I hope everyone stays safe. Two TV news persons died when a tree fell on their car.

On Donald Trump and Memorial Day, from David Frum in the NY Times:

It’s not news that there is something missing from Trump where normal human feelings should go. His devouring need for admiration from others is joined to an extreme, even pathological, inability to return any care or concern for those others. But Trump’s version of this disconnect comes most especially to the fore at times of national ritual. Donald Trump cares enormously about national symbols—the flag, the anthem—when he can use them to belittle, humiliate, and exclude.

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