Just back from 2 weeks in Scandinavia. Had no idea how bad the ambient stress in the US was until I got away from it. Feel like I can barely breath in the US.

It has been 40 years since I was in Basic Training, but I still remember the classes on our obligation to disobey illegal orders.

Incredible article

I am not surprised the Dems caved. The rich donate to both parties, after all. But it still feels like a sticker punch to the gut.

#xfinitysucks I live in the middle of the largest concentration of data centers in the world. All of the homes and apartments around here can get fiber. Due to a contract my complex signed in the 90s, not only do I pay fiber costs for cable internet, I'm forced to pay for TV.

Winsome lost one. (VA governor race. Winsome Earle-Sears was the bat shit insane, even by MAGA standards Republican candidate.)

The US has not had a viable left since the Palmer Raids in 1919-20. This has resulted in the political center sliding to the right over the course of the last century. It is unhealthy for a political system to be this far out of balance. We're all (except the billionaires) paying for that now.

When Mom was hired as a teacher in the 1950s, she had to sign an oath that she was not, and had never been, a communist. Mom thought loyalty oaths were stupid and unamerican. So, she signed it in red ink.

Ordered 2 bolts for my motorcycle from the UK, total, US$2.48. Tariffed at 25% for 50 cents. Then UPS added a brokerage charge of US$14.50. Consumers aren't just paying tariffs, the shipping companies are minting money. #tariffs

If over a hundred people were killed, there is no ceasefire.

There has been a push here to get folks to donate to food banks. This is great. If you don't know what to donate, spices are shelf stable, a little can go a long way and they make food taste better. My friends who depend on food banks love it when they can get spices.

Dear pollen producing plants, Please stop trying to have happy fun sex time in my nose. I am not a plant. This is not a valid reproductive strategy for either of us. More importantly, I did not consent.

Full body inflatable costumes are *hot*. Going to wear a camelbak with lots of ice (the good kind), glue velcro under the clear window and sew it to a small towel, so I can wipe sweat. Wearing a sweatband or a bandana is absolutely necessary.

Also non zero chance they’re looking for people who post about going to the no kings rally. I am the type of person that thinks a rally needs more vocal support and visibility to be viable but you should also be careful in that there will be people who use your posts against you.

Here are all the accounts to block:

How do porcupine quills work?🧪 Meet Guillermo, a prehensile-tailed porcupine from South America. His most powerful tool is his natural armor. Guillermo's quills lie flat until he senses danger, then flex up to deliver a sharp surprise.

Today I learned that crinkle balls have doubled in price since 20 Jan. My cat loves crinkle balls. Alas, they run away and hide from her.

DC feds! Show your ID at Jose Andres restaurants and get a free lunch.

Rode the Blue Ridge Parkway this week. Saw this beauty.

"Antifa" just means antifascist. It is an ideology, not a group. Fascism opposes republican government, such as we have in the US. Those who oppose antifa are unamerican.

Judging by the traffic today, someone set the rapture machine wrong, and instead of sending good Christians to heaven, it sent all the blinker fluid there.

Reading about the tangerine wankmaggot's rant at the UN today, being invaded by space aliens who want to farm us as food is starting to look appealing. World, I'm deeply sorry. We Americans are racist believers in zero sum games.

*grumbles in old people* How the hell was I supposed to know that a vague gesture towards the side of my head and "I need to take your temperature" means "take out your hearing aid?" In my day, thermometers went under your tongue.

I bid one no Trump

I would like to suggest that Frances Perkins be the patron saint of government workers, past and present. www.episcopalchurch.org/lectionary/f...

The Bureau of Labor Statistics was founded by Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor under FDR, because you can't have good government policies without accurate information. Still true.

Last year, the average S&P 500 CEO made $18.9 MILLION, while the average worker made $49,500. So much for “trickle down economics.” Tax the rich.

I've been singing along to Tom Lehrer songs since I was a small child in the 60s. They are even funnier now that I know what sex and drugs are. He quit performing because it didn't make him happy. He released all of his music into the public domain. A real mensch, with bonus funny.

Got my Super Meteor in May. It has rained so much since then that I only just hit 2.5K miles tonight.

I haven't watched TV since Xena went off the air, but I just joined one of my local PBS stations. Access is important, even if I don't need or want that access.

The point of destroying government agencies is so that necessary work (i.e. all of it) can be outsourced to private companies. This means big payoffs for already rich people, taxpayers paying a lot more for a lot less and rampant inefficiencies. In other words, fraud and corruption.

Dear EU, Giving in to bullies just allows them to turn around and demand more. They will back down if you stand firm and united. Love, An American citizen

I went through a rough period after I was medically discharged from the Army. Ended up on welfare and food stamps (it was the 80s) for 9 months. Since then, I've finished college and been employed. Paid taxes. Helped others when I can. Just needed a little help to get back on my feet.

Funny, I've been expecting the tangerine wankmaggot to start cancelling the citizenship of native born US citizens for months now. Must be all of that 20th century history I've read and heard about from my elders.

In happy news, a black bear crossed Skyline Drive (Shenandoah National Park) in front of me today. Have ridden it on my motorcycle over 100 times, never seen a bear before! Stopped way back and just grinned.

Saw a bald eagle that had been hit and killed, probably by a car, in front of the Dulles Airport NOAA station today. I can't help but sadly think this is a good metaphor for the country right now.

I've seen much coverage lately of the "loneliness epidemic." This is due, in part, to Republican tactics of fear, hate and division. But I can't help but remember the first time I was unhoused. People looked through me. I many ways, that was harder than cold, hunger and lack of safety. See people.

When I lived in the largest city in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, I had to drive 9 hours one way, to Detroit, to see a pulmonologist. It took months to get an appointment. Rural health care is broken. This bill will make it worse.

On the legal necessity of those under the UCMJ to disobey orders, one of my drill sergeants in Basic Training stood up to an officer that demanded that he move the platoon on a 20 mile road march in extremely hot weather, despite there being no water for us at a water point. (1)

The specter of co-ed bathrooms has been used to control women for at least my lifetime. I remember anti-ERA politicians screaming about how ERA would lead to co-ed public restrooms, as if equal access to urinals was better than equal pay. I'll bet most of them had co-ed bathrooms at home, too. (1)

I was in high school during the Iranian Revolution. We had to escort a couple Filipino classmates between classes to keep them from being beaten up, because other students thought they were dirty Arabs (never mind that few Iranians are Arab). Some of our teachers taught us about SAVAK and Mossedeg

My heart, my gut and my brain are sick at the actions of my country.

The US Army Enlisted Oath (www.army.mil/values/oath....) specifies upholding the Constitution and obeying the President, as laid out in the UCMJ. I've been thinking about what I swore when I enlisted, and what it means now. I was trained that it was obligatory for me to disobey illegal orders. (1)

If you are having trouble with your hearing aids falling out when removing your motorcycle helmet, an industrial piercing helps hold them in. #OldBikerProblems

It is trivial compared to what is going on, but still annoying that Verizon is charging me $100 for a house call that didn't actually anything (I figured it out), especially after I spent over 20 hours on the phone and in chats with them and they insist on charging me for cable, which I don't use.

Reading about more escalation to violence by troops and police in LA, I'm thinking we should maybe call this the Civil Wrongs era.

Protesters Urged Not To Give Trump Administration Pretext For What It Already Doing

When I enlisted in the US Army, I swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, domestic and foreign. In Basic Training, we had classes on the obligation to refuse illegal orders. Right now, National Guard troops are being given illegal orders.

White men, usually in suits, have caused me more pain and harm than all other groups combined and multiplied by 20.

Her stats line up with CDC data…