I found a real idiot

 

Well, this headline made me realize that I can still be dumbfounded.

Republican senator James Lankford apologizes to black voters for trying to overturn the election saying he did not realize they would be upset about challenging African-American communities' votes

"In his letter Lankford said he had not realized that attacking the integrity of election results from Atlanta, Philadelphia and Detroit, all majority minority, would be seen as an attack on black voters.

'What I did not realize was all of the national conversation about states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, was seen as casting doubt on the validity of votes coming out of predominantly Black communities like Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Detroit,' Lankford wrote, in a letter obtained by the Tulsa World."

Must not have been paying attention then.

'After decades of fighting for voting rights, many Black friends in Oklahoma saw this as a direct attack on their right to vote, for their vote to matter, and even a belief that their votes made an election in our country illegitimate,' Lankford said. 

'I can assure you,' he continued. 'my intent to give a voice to Oklahomans who had questions was never also an intent to diminish the voice of any Black American.' 'I should have recognized how what I said and what I did could be interpreted by many of you,' he said. 'I deeply regret my blindness to that perception, and for that I am sorry.'

Well, we can be thankful for that at least.  He's still an idiot.

 

Is that a promise, Rand?

 

Well, Rand Paul is in the news, saying that if the Senate impeaches soon-to-be-thank-God-ex President Donald Trump, then about 1/3 of the people in the Republican Party would leave the Republican Party.

I think that would basically end the Republican Party as a functional political force.

So I want to ask Rand, is he sure about that?  Because if he is, then well, more power to the impeachment.  

(If there was an easier way to make sure Donald Trump didn't run for President again, like a heart attack, then impeachment might not be necessary.  But maybe it should be necessary, just to break up the Republican Party.)

Anyway, here are links to two articles.  I'm basically going to grab the text of the second one to annotate, and point out how many good things there are in it.

Rand Paul warns ONE THIRD of Republicans will leave the party if McConnell allows Trump to be convicted in impeachment trial as president plans revenge on ten GOP lawmakers who voted against him

Sen. Rand Paul Warns About a Mass Exodus from the Republican Party

"Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) late Friday night warned senators about the possibility of Americans' leaving the Republican Party if they move to impeach President Donald Trump. 

"I don't often get ask my advice from leadership {about} how they should react. [That is unsurprising.] My unsolicited suggestion would be this: they will destroy the Republican Party if leadership is complicit with an impeachment or leadership votes for an impeachment, they will destroy the party," Paul explained to Fox News' Laura Ingraham. [Destroy the Republican Party? Sign me up!]

Paul said that throughout the course of the Trump administration he has praised Trump when he believes the president is right and broke with Trump when he believes the president is wrong. [The latter did not happen very often.] But an impeachment would be detrimental to the accomplishments that came out of the president's four years in office. [Accomplishments?  I'd like to see his list.  It better not be very long.]

"Impeachment is purely a partisan thing. It's for these moral, 'Oh I'm so much better than you and you're a bad person because I'm so moral' – It's for these kind of people to do this," he explained about Democrats' partisan impeachment push. [Baloney.  It's about following the laws of the country, or not.]

"I didn’t agree with the fight that happened last week, and I voted against overturning the election," the senator said. [Oh, how noble of you!] "But at the same time, the impeachment is a wrongheaded, partisan notion but if Republicans go along with it, it will destroy the party. A third of the Republicans will leave the party." [He keeps saying "partisan", as if only Democrats are upset about a mob invading and ransacking the U.S. Capitol building. Really?]

Paul warned that the second impeachment push is no longer about the Electoral College but rather about a moral question. [Um, it never WAS about the Electoral College.  Where is he getting that from?  Did he not read what the House passed?]

"This isn't anymore about the Electoral College. It's about the future of the party and whether you're going to ostracize and exclude and ex-communicate President Trump from the party," he said. "Well, guess what? Millions of his fans will leave as well." [Good riddance. I'd think actual Republicans wouldn't be upset by that.]

Ingraham pointed out that millions of Americans will also feel ostracized, like they too have been impeached, should GOP leadership move forward with ousting Trump."  [ If they believe in Trump and what he stands for, ostracism is a gentle way to get pushed out.  I'd prefer exile.]

That was fun. 

Lighthouse of the Week, January 10-16, 2021: Seal Island, Nova Scotia, Canada

 

Note:  this is Seal Island, Canada, not Seal Island off the coast of Maine, which is also known as Machias Seal Island.

This week's lighthouse is ostensibly in Nova Scotia, but it's really an island well south of Nova Scotia, named Seal Island (as I am guessing you have guessed by now).

So click here to see where.   It's zoomed WAY out so it's possible to see where it is in relation to Nova Scotia.

Here's what Lighthouse Friends has to say about it:  Seal Island Lighthouse   It has been there awhile, dating back to 1831.   Apparently there's a rock nearby named Blonde Rock that has caused a few shipwrecks.  Well, that wouldn't be the first time a ship full of sailors has gotten into trouble because of a blonde.

(A stretch, I know.)

I couldn't find an actual picture of Blonde Rock, but here's a picture of the HMS Blonde, which wrecked on the rock and gave the rock its name.

Now back to our lighthouse.

According to Lighthouse Friends, "The old lantern and [Fresnel] lens were taken to Barrington and installed atop a replica of the top half of Seal Island Lighthouse that now serves as Seal Island Light Museum."

I'll make a turn to the Lighthouse Directory (what a great resource) to get basic specifications.

"Active; focal plane 31 m (102 ft); white flash every 10 s. 21 m (68 ft) octagonal pyramidal wood tower with lantern and gallery, painted with red and white horizontal bands; lantern painted red."

The Lighthouse Directory notes that the lighthouse is endangered due to both remote location and poor maintenance.

So now, pictures of this historic, remote, endangered lighthouse.  There aren't very many;  a lot more of the one in Maine are findable.  There are quite a few more of the replica in Barrington, which is half-size.

First picture is from the National Trust of Canada, which is linked above on the word "endangered".

 

And two more

Witney adds a DWTS baby

 

Cute, vivacious, and talented Dancing with the Stars pro Witney Carson just had her baby.  She delivered two months after her slightly taller and slenderer fellow Utahn (and probably Mormon) dancing pro Lindsay Arnold had her child.

(BTW, I don't care that Lindsay went on vacation.  If she and the fam can, and they want to, they should.)

Meanwhile, back to Witney.  She delivered by Caesarean (as did Arnold), which may mean a bit more time before she's back on the boards.  And I have to say, the nearly-there picture in the article is rather impressive;  the female body is capable of pretty amazing things other than dynamic dancing.

Dancing With The Stars pro Witney Carson reveals the name of her newborn son after welcoming her first child with Carson McAllister

Who's the highest paid model in the UK?

 

I'm sure that's something everybody asks themselves regularly.  And (semi-seriously), the UK has produced some of the world's most famous and well-paid models over time.  Twiggy (aka Dame Lesley Lawson);  Kate Moss; Naomi Campbell;  Abbey Clancy;  Stella Maxwell;  Lily Cole -- just a few notable names in a long list.  And those names exclude numerous crossovers, like model-actress, model-singer, model-singer-fashion designer, model-activist, etc.

So, it can be news about who the current highest-paid fashion model in the UK is.

And the answer is, for 2020:   Cara Delevingne (who of course has done some acting, too). 

Cara Delevingne becomes Britain's top paid model after raking in a whopping £16M last year... eclipsing the earnings of veteran supermodel Kate Moss

Not a lot to notably quote;  she earns big money (about 16 million pounds), and also is a director for her father's real-estate portfolio worth about 45 million pounds.

Dang.

Anyhow, she's a bit waifish for my personal taste, but she's no doubt gorgeous, with a face that at times is reminiscent of another great beauty, Michelle Pfeiffer.

Here's a picture of Cara that reminds me of Michelle a bit.  They both have a square jaw, high cheekbones, great eyes, awesome symmetry.

Here's a couple of Michelle, for comparison.

And here's Cara, looking good (black-and-white keeps it classy).

Sweet Highway 41 in Chicago

 

Not a great title, but a great city, and the great Highway 41 runs right along the storied Chicago lakefront.  Now we'll see a place that has a lot of stories to tell (as well as more that I wish I could hear, if the walls could talk).

Around the curve



Speaking of curves:  Oak Street Beach. Back in the '60s and '70s, supposedly Playboy photographers needing a model for a quick shoot could find plenty of attractive Chicago women at Oak Street Beach in the summer. Remember that the original Playboy headquarters building and the Bunny Beacon (actually named the Lindbergh Beacon) was located in Chicago, along with the original Playboy mansion. Chicagoan Playmate and Playmate of the Year Jenny McCarthy was quoted once about being on Oak Street Beach and looking up at the Playboy building. 

There's a main reason Oak Street Beach may have been a model search area for the Playboy photogs -- the Playboy building overlooks it. In this StreetView, panning around will show you the big black X-marked quadrilateral of what was once called the John Hancock Building. It's either the John Hancock Center or just 875 N. Michigan Avenue now. Anyway, the light beige building in front of it, with the tower on top, is the former Playboy Building. The building was once called the Palmolive Building (before Playboy), and has been renamed the Palmolive Building. Whether or not Playboy is involved, the Art Deco building is now on the National Register of Historic Places.



Here's a view (there's a lot of them) actually on the beach. This one's from March, so it was nearly empty.



Sunnier day:



Now, we zipped past one landmark that can't be skipped past -- Chicago's Water Tower, which is a couple blocks down the street from the aforementioned John Hancock Building. So we'll go off-highway for this view.



And now, back to the highway and the drive.

The beige building directly across the street here has a penthouse apartment with a lawn. If you don't believe me, look at the satellite view.  

It was featured in a CBS "Sunday Morning" feature about lawn care during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has a round fountain in the middle.



Next stop, Lincoln Park (which has a zoo).

Lighthouse of the Week, January 3-9, 2021: Capo D'Orso, Italy

 

Since Camila Giorgi is from Italy, and I know I haven't featured a lighthouse in Italy for roughly awhile, I will feature a lighthouse from Italy this week.

And the one I've chosen is the Capo D'Orso lighthouse on the mainland of Italy (the Amalfi Coast, actually).  I state that upfront because there is also a Capo D'Orso lighthouse on Sardinia, and they do not look the same at all.

This one is perched on a cliffside, which given that's what a lot of the Amalfi Coast looks like, should not be surprising.

It's also for rent, according to this undated article from Italy magazine, and according to that same article, it's the most requested.

It's not very accessible (as you'll see), and it's fairly high up on the cliffside, so it's not easy to photograph from at sea.  Thus, there aren't a lot of photos of it.

So, I'm also providing a link to the Google Maps satellite view, in which you should note the stairs down to the sea:  Google Maps satellite view.   This will also enable figuring out where it is on the Amalfi coast.  If you're curious, it's about 30 km from Positano (tell Diane Lane), but the drive is estimated to take more than an hour.  When you see the road, you'll figure out why.

How about some quick stats from the Lighthouse Directory?

"1882 (station established 1862). Active; focal plane 66 m (217 ft); three white flashes every 15 s. 2-story stone keeper's house, with a white lantern mounted on a platform or porch in front of the house. The house is painted red with white trim."

And here's two pictures.  Wikipedia has a couple more.