Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Raking the Forest

  

Summer Shrimp Salad: packed with shrimp and crunchy vegetables, this cold salad is a refreshing meal for a hot summer day. | recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #dinner
 
 
It started with a laugh. But by the end of the day, it had turned into insight. Surprisingly, the inspiration was Hubs who was, at the time, minding his own business, raking the front lawn. So yeah, insight from raking. 
 
Watching him, the laugh came first because what popped into my mind was trump's comment that the devastation from forest fires is the result of mismanagement. You remember, don't you? Mr. inject-yourself-with-disinfectant announced that the government should be raking our forests. 
 
I know, forest fires are dangerous, devastating, and deadly, not really something to be laughing at, but it wasn't the fires themselves, it was the absurdity of the ignorance, you had to either laugh or cry (and sometimes both).
 
That night, after a broiling hot day and a refreshingly cold dinner, I would sit down to once again watch the latest of the January 6th hearings. 
 
 
 Summer Shrimp Salad: packed with shrimp and crunchy vegetables, this cold salad is a refreshing meal for a hot summer day. | recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #dinner
  Summer Shrimp Salad
 
 
When they started televising the hearings, I had an overwhelming sense of futility. At this point, I fully believed that there were two groups of Americans, those of us who understand the jeopardy our democracy is in, the seriousness of a bloody coup under the direction of a maniac, and those who are so ill informed or brainwashed that they either don't understand the ramifications of an autocracy, or just don't care. Two impeachment trials and dead capitol police didn't change any minds, why would these hearings?
 
But as I watched the hearings, and even later, as I witnessed the republican politicians push back with lies and repeated disinformation, I started to have a little hope. The people testifying were those who had actually been there, part of the administration. They were coming forward with truth, context, timeline, and insight.
 
The hearings, of course, are going on right as Bannon is going to trial for ignoring his subpoena.
 
Before these hearings, there were no ramifications, no repercussions, and therefore no downside to continuing the lies, deception, and misdirection.

But now we're witnessing testimony from administration loyalists. And, part simultaneously (and part as a result) we're seeing the start of accountability. There have been not just subpoenas, but raids, confiscation of electronics, demands for records, arrests, and even trials.
 
I realized, as more former members of the administration seem to be coming to terms with what they had been complicit in, understanding their patriotic responsibility to come forward and swear to the truth (or, of course, some less patriotic and more self preservation/jump from the sinking ship, I don't want to end up in jail motivation), that these hearings have done something meaningful for all of us.


 
Raking the Forest | picture taken by, featured on, and property of www.BakingInATornado.com | #blogging

 
We, those of us who have understood from the beginning just what was happening, are now bearing witness to exactly who have been able to find their inner strength, recalculate their moral compass, and come forward. And we understand exactly who's left, still determined to keep digging that hole, and ignoring subpoenas. 
 
The result of these hearings is simple. They're raking the forest.

Wheat from the chaff my friends, wheat from the chaff.


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Summer Shrimp Salad        
                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe

Ingredients: 
4 oz wide egg noodles


2 green onions
1/2 red pepper
1 cup grape tomatoes
8 oz broccoli slaw
4 oz fresh snap peas

12 oz medium cooked shrimp


Directions:
*Cook the noodles to al dente. Immediately rinse a few times with cold water to stop the cooking process. Drain well. Place in a large bowl and refrigerate.
*Make the Everything Bagel Vinaigrette. Refrigerate.
*Slice the green onions and chop the red pepper.
*Add the cooked shrimp, green onions, red pepper, grape tomatoes, broccoli slaw, and snap peas to the cooked pasta. Mix gently. Add the Everything Bagel Vinaigrette. Mix gently.
*Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, mixing now and then. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.
 

18 comments:

  1. My nephew will be here this weekend and this looks like a winner for him!!

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  2. By the way, raking the forest is, well, the perfect analogy in some ways as that topic came up during the last administration

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  3. We're changing the 'p' to a 'k'. Progress!

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  4. This looks delicious! I couldn't agree more. I find it ironic justice that it's the young women with the balls to stand up for the truth. We are at the edge of a cliff barely holding on and if we lose we will be going to back to Germany 1940's and we all know how that ends. I'm terrified most days but I'll keep doing what I can where I can and hope there are more like of the sane group.

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    1. I hate when everything is compared to Hitler and Nazis because I think it diminishes the extreme level of depravity,. But in this situation, I have to agree with you, the signs are there, and the number of people who don't get it, or do but are fine with it, is terrifying.

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  5. First, kudos to the women (and men) with courage who have stepped forward and those who have put their very lives and future careers in danger. Second, the J6 committee has done everything right (my only tiny quibble is that more of it should have been in prime time). I suspect one particular Vice-Chair is behind a lot of the "done right" stuff: choosing former president's supporters as public witnesses and ending each hearing with a cliffhanger or a bombshell. People love a good cliffhanger and want to watch the next episode to see what happens next Too bad this isn't a work of fiction and I know people who are still in total denial or still think it's "politics".

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    Replies
    1. I know people like that too, and I think it's incredibly sad how divorced from reality they are.

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  6. No one should be afraid to reflect, realize s/he was wrong, come forward and admit it, change and be allowed to move forward. As Oprah Winfrey says, when we know better, we can do better.

    Let's hope that all of us, in any way that we have wrong thinking, will be willing to learn better and then do better.

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  7. Replies
    1. Hubs raking, and the hearings being that night, pulled it together for me.

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  8. Did you hear the comparisons of trump's and Pence's speeches in DC? trump's was so dark even suggesting there is no rule of law anymore! Imagine that coming out of his mouth when he doesn't realize that he was the cause of all of this chaos and division!

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    1. Being the cause of anything makes someone with his pathology feel like g-d. There's no distinction, with him, of good and evil, just power and ego.

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  9. Great analogy! Yet, while we’re witnessing some acts of courage, it seems there’s an increase in unspeakably vile behaviour from the right, especially from the likes of MTG, Boebert and Gaetz. If their aim is to distract from the investigation into the insurrection, they’re doing a damn good job of it.

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    Replies
    1. I agree. I do think that they've been using this tactic for so long that many of us are starting to filter out a lot of their behavior as just white noise. The danger is that the more we ignore them, the deeper they sink, and there's no doubt that they are dangerous,

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