You didn’t think this through, did you, Lupin? You have to keep him in prison here, or he’ll just scamper back next door. You’re as dumb as a human.

The US can only “run” Venezuela if it puts tens of thousands of soldiers into Venezuela, kind of like Iraq.

John would laugh at the thought that I’m trying to make my coffee the way he made it. He used to complain that my coffee was so strong that it could pour itself into a cup and walk over to the table. His was better.

I thought everyone knew that you tried Latin American leftists in Miami, not New York.

It’s shocking how cowardly so many people on the left are. I expect anti-imperialism to be non-negotiable. But no.

Does Trump have any idea what you have to do to occupy another country? With Hegseth ”in charge”?

Highly recommended.

Trump is not the first President to pull this. Remember Noriega and Aristide?

@pbsnews.org David Brooks lied about the collapse of the Clinton Israel/Palestine negotiations. But I guess that’s the standard these days.

It’s legal in California. And I am a recreational user.

A bit of pink in the sky this morning. John would have pointed that out to me, so I’m pointing it out to you.

I hope bunches of New Yorkers take themselves and their friends and families out for a nice dinners tonight.

Socialists like nice things, and we don’t buy the cheapest crap out there. Most often, we don’t want positional goods, but every so often…

One interesting note on the CPR audit. I’ve been through audits, and it’s hard to imagine sloppier audits. In audits I went through, the receipts and reimbursements of anyone who had check-writing/preparation authority were examined.

Do you ever remember the olden days, when the only reference to Trump was in the tabloids you saw in the grocery line, and you never gave him a moment’s thought?

So to start 2026, one of our holiday CDs has died, and I find that I can’t replace it.

Happy New Year!

🚨 Breaking: NYC no more affordable than it was 53 minutes ago. An exclusive on how it all went wrong for Mamdani.

Thinking again of abandoning social media.

John and I usually stayed home on New Year’s Eve. But it was never lonely then.

May we please have our blankets?

Today would have been our first 45th Anniversary.

Okay, who wants my clothes from the 1990s?

The NYT has reupped this one, so I’m going to comment. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/u...

Heating up tamales.

Freed the lizard!💪🏻

Some of my ancestors have been in what became the US since the 1630s. I would be ashamed to describe myself as a “Heritage American.”

Tariffs are making clothing much more expensive. Donating clothes to nonprofits means that a lot of clothes will be sold to consignment stores, and sold for higher prices than in the nonprofit stores.

John and I went camping a lot. We had a romantic notion at one point that we’d move to the country after we retired. We’d live in the woods, take long walks, live near a creek… We didn’t do it because we realized we’d have to spend a lot of time in the car.

Ian is lying on the floor of the living room in a sunbeam. I offered him the opportunity to go outside, but he said, nah, I’m good.

One year I bought Solstice tree lights with a controller that did strobe, random blinking, regular blinking, and just on. John hated them and threw them out when we took down the tree. I had lost interest in them, and just left them in the on position, but he didn’t want me to renew my enthusiasm.

Listening to John’s holiday music mix CDs.

Poor Ian sees the sun, demands to go out, and discovers that it’s still cold and wet.

Happy Christmas!

And the kid was eight, ferhevensake!

Listening to the Gospel Messiah. I heard parts of it and really liked it. John hunted down some of it and turned it into CDs for me. toohot2handel.com

I bet there are a lot of university professors who are very glad to be retired.

Really feeling John’s absence this year. He would already have been to the store for last minute stuff. And would have made sour cream and Lipton onion soup dip for me.

Just in time for the end of the semester, Clyde and Fritzi have opened a door-to-door homework-eating service.

It’s always about the landlord. www.sacbee.com/food-drink/r...

When I was a kid, I asked my father if I was eligible for DAR membership. My father said that I was, but if I joined, he would disown me.

Anyone who is surprised by the perfidy of the Dems should listen to my story. I hadn’t thought about this in years, but a Dem operative tried to browbeat me into doing something I thought was inappropriate and didn’t have the power to do anyway.

34 months.

I doubt very much that any mainstream news outlet would spike a piece because a left organization refused to be interviewed.

Forgot to post, but in October, I hit 7 years at the Sacramento Bee and in June I hit 12 years as a professional journalist. It's still the best profession in the world.

Canned soup with John was good. Without him it’s just blah.

Yay, Pasadena! pasadenanow.com/main/califor...

If you deliver something to someone’s porch, put your phone number on the card, so that if you’ve misdelivered it, you can come and recover it. I have a poinsetta for Nena.

What happened last night was 25th Amendment stuff.