Author: Elise Patkotak

So there I am rereading Thackery’s Vanity Fair when I come upon this paragraph:

“Otherwise you might fancy it was I who was sneering at the practice of devotion, which Miss Sharp finds so ridiculous; that it was I who laughed good-humouredly at the reeling old Silenus of a baronet—whereas the laughter comes from one who has no reverence except for prosperity, and no eye for anything beyond success. Such people there are living and flourishing in the world—Faithless, Hopeless, Charityless: let us have at them, dear friends, with might and main. Some there are, and very successful too, Continue reading →

The New Colossus

By Emma Lazarus, 1883

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, Continue reading →

When I feel like there is no hope left in this world, something I think more and more often nowadays, the one thing that always keeps me going is my weekly shift at Bird TLC here in Anchorage. For those of you not familiar with us, we are Alaska’s pre-eminent wild bird rehab facility. Given my obsession with birds, you’d think it was the birds that help me keep my sanity. And it is to a certain extent. But to a much greater extent, it’s about the people I get to spend my Tuesday mornings with each week.

Working with Continue reading →

Refusing service to anyone short of Hitler or Goebbels is wrong. Doing so bring us down to the level of those we oppose. This is America. We all deserve to walk into a business and receive service so long as we are acting politely and decently. And yes, this even applies to Steven Miller, though there is no recorded incident of him being decent to anyone who wasn’t a powerful white male.

Having said that, let me add this. If these minions of Melted Creamsickle Goo are dumb enough to go to a restaurant where… let’s face it… there is Continue reading →

It’s getting harder and harder to be a true conservative because the Republican Party no longer represents true conservatism. The Republican Party now represents the values of the POS currently sullying the White House. And those values have nothing to do with ethics, morals, Americanism, democracy or compassion. They are totally unrelated to a country claiming to be a country of laws and they are definitely the kind of morals that only the world’s worst despots would embrace.

How do I know that the Republican Party as we once knew it is dead and gone? Because George Will has officially Continue reading →

There is a part of me that is grinning like crazy at the Trump people having trouble eating out in public. There is another part of me that feels… oh hell, there is no part of me that feels bad about this. In fact, yea! to the restaurant owner who refused to feed the mouthpiece that defends separating children from their families. Maybe someone should remove hers so she knows how it feels. Probably be the best thing that ever happened to those kids. They wouldn’t end up being raised in the poisonous atmosphere that is so clearly the Huckabee Continue reading →

So the question on everyone’s mind… well, other than the question as to when those sad little children will be returned to their parents… is what the hell are tactical pants and shirts and why does EPA Secretary Pruitt need them? And while we’re at it, how does he get away with scrubbing his computer so that it looks as though he’s sent exactly one external email in an entire year? Unless, of course, he contacts his buddies in the Scorched Earth Consortium using an alternative email… but he wouldn’t do that, right? Because then he would just be the Continue reading →

Everyone seems so horrified that someone as evil as Stephen Miller can be in the White House speaking for this administration while laughing at pictures of children screaming and crying while separated from their parents.

I may be horrified but I’m not surprised. Let me explain.

I’ve know more than one marriage where one partner was a total asshole and the other seemed to be the nicest person in the world. Everyone who knew them wondered why they stayed together given how incompatible they seemed. It took me awhile but I eventually figured it out. They were perfect together because Continue reading →

Yeah, I’m glad Creamsickle Goo is going to sign an order stopping the separation of children and parents at the border. But don’t ask me to give him credit for undoing a despicable act that he initiated in the first place. Realistically, I think we can all agree he is not signing this for humanitarian reasons. He did it because his party was already bleeding from his actions in the upcoming midterms and this was just turning that bleed into an arterial gush.

So the next question is clearly what about the over 2000 children already taken from their parents Continue reading →

Space Patrol. Sounds like an animated 60s TV series seen on Saturday mornings over your Sugar Pops. But it isn’t. It’s the latest brain fart from the POS trying to turn our attention away from the horrors he is committing at our borders. So the same man who last week said he canceled the war games with South Korea because they were too expensive, now wants to create a whole new arm of the military and claim space for America, and America alone.

I don’t even know where to start with this because it is so damn stupid. I mean, Continue reading →