Had to do a Costco run today. We were running low on paper towels, and needed trash bags, laundry detergent, that stuff I only want to buy twice a year. I had a little extra time, it was lunchtime, and I thought, by golly, I’m going to try one of those giant hot dogs this place is so famous for. I got the combo — hot dog plus drink — for $1.50 and sat down at a shared table to eat. The couple next to me had come in from Canada to shop, but were disappointed they couldn’t find Bugles. Yes, the horn-shaped snack food. Another couple sitting nearby suggested they try Aldi, just three miles away.
“But there’ll be a 25 percent tariff on those levied at the bridge, so I hope that doesn’t eat up the anticipated bulk savings,” I said, and we all shared a grim chuckle. This Costco is in red Macomb County, and the fact we could laugh about it struck me as a slim slice of dim sunshine in a dark time. Then I came home to learn the on-again, off-again tariffs are kinda off, then kinda on, and we’re supporting Ukraine militarily again? But the market is still down 600 points, just today. Capitalists these days must feel like a frat boy who brought a hot girl home from the bar at closing time, and learned too late that she was crazy as a shithouse rat, and also pregnant.
We tried to warn them! Now they’ve fucked around and are finding out. A friend was drinking on a bar patio last night — we’re deep in Fool’s Spring this week — and a Cybertruck pulled up to the stop sign at the corner. Everyone on the patio began yelling abuse at the driver. This is good news.
Oh well. Concentrate on the good! Kate’s house passed inspection with flying colors, and closing is set for the end of the month. Don’t tell her, but her father is giving her a [deleted] for a housewarming present. Me, I’m still thinking. The problem is complicated by her boyfriend’s two cats, so any decent furniture is probably not a good idea. I saw a few pieces of furniture at Costco, but the style now is this nubby upholstery that makes everything look like a giant scratching post. Think I’ll wait until she’s moved and see what gaps need to be filled.
Meanwhile, I tackled the taxes. What should have been a two-hour chore stretched out to the full day, because That Tax Program Everyone Uses was glitchy as hell. I laid down for a nap after four hours, and a potential solution came to me in a doze. Didn’t work, although now, even though I changed nothing, it claims our forms are error-free and ready to file. Then I wondered if the problem was Safari, the Mac browser I’ve been using forever. More and more sites are dropping subtle hints that they’re “optimized for Chrome,” and the thought of migrating all my bookmarks and passwords gives me a headache.
Finally, I assume you’ve been paying attention to the Mahmoud Khalil case. It makes me think of Larry Flynt, and why a bigshot Harvard lawyer like Alan Isaacman took his case to the Supreme Court. As Isaacman and Flynt both pointed out, when the government wants to crack down on free speech, they don’t go after the Girl Scouts first. They target the pornographers, people others are afraid to stand up for. And when they want to break all the laws around immigration, they go after a troublesome Palestinian activist. But they won’t stop there. And I think that’s evident.
Midweek is here. Hope no more glitches.
David C said on March 12, 2025 at 6:12 am
Three words: cat claw covers. It probably took us three or four months to train our cats to use only their scratching posts. The cats hated them at first but got used to them. With the covers and a lot of cajoling, they learned to not use the furniture and they don’t need them anymore. One more word: Feliway. It’s a cat pheromone. We give the scratching posts a squirt once a week and it seems to keep them attracted to the them.
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Deborah said on March 12, 2025 at 8:47 am
The photo in the article is from a couple of days ago, of the Tesla dealership where I protested yesterday https://www.latintimes.com/chicago-police-criticized-shielding-tesla-dealership-during-womens-day-march-after-string-577995. As I described in my comment in the nn.c previous thread, there were 3 Chicago cops still there. That photo is crazy, who are they protecting with that kind of force? Billionaires of course. As someone on Bluesky said, it’s too bad that Uvalde school wasn’t selling Teslas.
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alex said on March 12, 2025 at 9:46 am
Congrats to Kate on her house!
Here’s a gift link from the paper that I’m keeping (for now, even though it drove Paul Krugman out with its editorial interference in his work, I was dismayed to learn). I have yet to see this stated better anywhere in legacy media:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/opinion/trump-economy-tariffs.html?unlocked_article_code=1.3U4.l6gd.E2kVRuqamH95&smid=url-share
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alex said on March 12, 2025 at 10:23 am
Bugles? They still make those? I remember them being so awful that I just assumed they no longer existed. I never see them laid out in anyone’s junk food spreads. Of course I also don’t understand the enduring appeal of Doritos, unless bonkers advertising is sufficient to drive sales of utter crap. To be sure, I can’t get enough of that obese ginger guy in a red thong surfing the ski slopes on his belly.
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Minnie Fleming said on March 12, 2025 at 10:46 am
Congratulations to Kate!
Following up on David C’s suggestions, we like the Pioneer Pet SmartCat post. It’s also Wirecutter’s favorite. An occasional spritz with Feliway or rubbing down with catnip keeps cats comin’ back.
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Julie Robinson said on March 12, 2025 at 10:53 am
So happy for Kate! She’s probably going to need curtains or blinds and those end up getting pricey. Heck, even paint is pricey these days.
This year I tried to use the free version of That Program but after 15 minutes couldn’t access it through irs.gov. Since I was also doing Mom’s taxes I bought the multi-license, good for up to five returns.
But. But. But. Everyone has to use the same email and login, and son & wife felt that was a loss of privacy, so they didn’t use it. After a call to “customer service” that jumped between four different people, they refunded me. So I guess there’s that.
Every year I say I’m going to use someone else, but I’d have to type in all the info again and inertia wins.
I will add that our refund came in less than a week. We have an uncomplicated financial life and use the standard deduction.
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Dave said on March 12, 2025 at 11:14 am
I can’t remember if I posted here that we saw a Cybertruck on the north side of Indy that someone had graffitied with spray paint with various vulgarisms, this about six weeks ago.
We got our tax return back nine days after filing. Ours is rather simple these days. We pay to have it done by a small accounting firm in a small nearby town we’ve used since we’ve moved back to Indiana. How will it be with the destruction for the billionaires benefit of the IRS?
Wonder how LA Mary’s doing?
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alex said on March 12, 2025 at 11:31 am
I last did my own taxes two years ago and got sold a deluxe version of TurboTax or whatever it was because I couldn’t complete mine on the free version, and evidently this also bought me a free Credit Karma membership. I found the whole experience cumbersome and irritating, and now I get deluged with Credit Karma e-mails trying to sell me shit I don’t want or need. At least I get to see my credit score whenever I please.
Last year I went to a tax preparer since I was rolling my retirement assets into a brokerage account and this year I decided to go that route again. Already got my tax refund and already blew it on garage door repairs.
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David C said on March 12, 2025 at 12:24 pm
Ugh. Credit Karma is a huge pain in the ass. CONGRATULATIONS!! YOU MADE A PAYMENT ON TIME!! You are using none of your credit cards! Maybe you should get another one! They use up all the exclamation points.
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Jeff Gill said on March 12, 2025 at 1:27 pm
It’s March 12, 2025. Five years later. Maybe a different fifth anniversary for me than for you, but we’re all thinking about it a bit, I suspect.
https://open.substack.com/pub/knapsack/p/broken-still-healing
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Mark P said on March 12, 2025 at 2:54 pm
My father died 25 years ago on March 24. My mother died 13 years ago, and my brother died seven years ago. I have a photo on my refrigerator of the three of them taken probably around 1995 in front of my parents’ house. I can hardly stand to look at it. There is still pain, and a residual disbelief that they can be gone.
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Mark P said on March 12, 2025 at 2:58 pm
And on a different note, Social Security is now considering doing away with phone lines to deal with recipients’ problems. So, not a frontal attack, but chipping away at it bit by bit.
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Sherri said on March 12, 2025 at 3:02 pm
I’ve called my senators, not that I have high hopes that the Dems will accomplish anything. Cantwell’s DC voicemail box was full, was able to leave a voice mail at her Seattle office, talked to a staffer at Murray’s Seattle office.
The Dems claim they have no power yet are afraid of being blamed for anything that happens. I find that kind of situation somewhat freeing; oh, now I can do whatever I want, because it doesn’t matter, might as well make as much noise as possible doing the right thing. Dems seem to find that paralyzing.
You’d think the Dems would have learned by now that no matter what kind of personal relationship you might think you have with that Republican lawmaker, no matter what he says to you in private, he ain’t never gonna vote with you when it matters, Charlie Brown.
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Dexter Friend said on March 12, 2025 at 4:28 pm
My grandson’s dad has been trolling me as I pepper Facebook with shit that Musk says; he says I am misconstruing the message and I should avoid all news because I just don’t get it. It’s quotes I post. This is why we have this disgusting fuck Trump; people didn’t really believe he was really going on a tear to rip America apart at the very seams.
When Musk recently said he was bent on destroying Medicare and Social Security, you can damn well be sure of his commitment. If Trump reels the bastard back in, we’ll just have to see.
We have no Costco nearby and I don’t need to buy giant quantities anyway. The hot dog combo I have heard about forever. Heluva deal.
The LA Dodgers are soon to blast off for Japan. They were all issued blue filter glasses for sleep, and some kind of vitamins that induce sleep. They are wearing compression socks and tight track pants to prevent swelling. It’s a ten hour flight , that’s all. Science like this , ha! Years ago, they put a planeload of us young men on a decrepit, stinking 707 bound for Ton Son Nhut via Yakota and Anchorage from Travis AFB. No bottled water, no food, just a tiny cup of apple juice. 18 hours as I recall. No compression socks.
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Sherri said on March 12, 2025 at 4:56 pm
You know the old saying, it’s not what you don’t know, it’s what you know that isn’t so that’s the problem. Sam Seder did a debate with a bunch of young conservatives, and oh my. I could only stand to watch about 20 minutes off it, when they were debating Trump’s rescinding DEIA rules in the federal government, but when he got to the young man who was convinced that even public agencies got tax breaks for hiring people of color, and couldn’t be convinced that government agencies weren’t getting any tax breaks *because they didn’t pay taxes*, I couldn’t take anymore.
https://youtu.be/Js15xgK4LIE?si=aj-ohHh7Ncrj3KJn
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Deborah said on March 12, 2025 at 5:15 pm
Jeff G, yikes all of those things happening at the same time for you, sorry to hear it’s still on your mind but certainly understandable.
We left Chicago for NM on March 20, 2020. I think that was the day Illinois declared itself shut down, our phones blared the warning on our way out of the state in a rental car. Those days were scary and depressing, when we stopped for gas, we didn’t use the restrooms, we only used groups of trees to hide behind off the roads. We stayed in a hotel one night and were the only ones there besides the person with a mask behind the counter. We eventually made our own masks out of laundered old leggings, doubled up until we found out those weren’t very effective. I didn’t get Covid until the following year or so and I had it twice three months apart, but had gotten a couple of vaccines before that so it wasn’t bad at all. Remember washing everything you bought at the grocery store before you brought it inside?
I’ve been to Costco four times in the last month, three times in Albuquerque related to my hearing aids and once in Anaheim, CA to do some shopping for my husband’s former son in law who had that serious spine surgery I mentioned before. The Costcos all look the same probably, those two certainly did. Each time I went I got the hotdog, but no soda, even though I paid for it, but who cares with that low price. I also got the chocolate ice cream cup for hardly anything, and that was a lot of custardy ice cream in those cups, now I’m craving that ice cream. I don’t have any desire to make a trip to a Chicago Costco just for a cup of ice cream though.
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Sherri said on March 12, 2025 at 5:30 pm
Things shut down earlier here for Covid, because it started here. The first deaths in the nursing home happened February 25, and the local Costcos were overwhelmed that weekend. By March 4, the big tech companies had sent everyone home. March 6 was the last time I was at a large public indoor event. March 10 was the choir rehearsal for the Skagit Valley Chorale that turned into a superspreader event.
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Jeff Gill said on March 12, 2025 at 6:54 pm
Yep; I first heard to prepare for an infectious disease outbreak in late February because of ministry colleagues up in your neck of the woods, Sherri. They described enough to make me start getting ready Mar. 6-8, not that it helped. It was clear the Pacific Northwest was seeing something that could have been 1918 in scope. It wasn’t, but it sure started out looking that way.
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Julie Robinson said on March 12, 2025 at 8:20 pm
Jeff, that’s a lot of loss to process in such a short time. We lost five friends before the vaccines came out, and of course D ended up losing his job, though it came as early retirement instead of a layoff. We were here in Orlando the first week in March when we realized how bad things were. We flew home on the 10th, stocked up on groceries and started our quarantine.
My mom and I had gotten sick after our Christmas trip, and looking back I’m sure we had Covid. The symptoms were the same and it hung on and on.
Deborah, when you get your hotdog they usually place the drink cup on the counter, then you go fill it yourself. I couldn’t choke down a hotdog without a drink. They are tasty, and it’s the only place I eat hotdogs.
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Sherri said on March 12, 2025 at 8:30 pm
I remember so many of my friends had kids in college who were doing a semester abroad then, and everyone scrambling to figure out whether they should come home and how to get them home. One friend had a son in Germany doing a semester abroad and a daughter in Africa with the Peace Corps.
Fortunately, right here we didn’t have to deal with too many anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers, except for some firefighters who lost their jobs because they wouldn’t get vaccinated. There wasn’t much support for them in Redmond, though.
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SusanG said on March 12, 2025 at 10:08 pm
My youngest sister purchased a modest house in the early 80s. It was on Pleasant Avenue, a walk away from Northside High School. Before home ownership, my sister the baby of the family, was a party girl. Her hangout was the Irish bar on State Street.
Home ownership did two things for my sister. It elevated her management skills, which she used to climb the corporate ladder. It bonded her to my father, who helped her navigate dealing with repairs and improvements.
I am a person of impeccable taste and common sense, so here are my recommendations to Kate:
Buy a new, boring couch. Fill it with pillows and throws. The all-star couches are made by England Furniture. 100 percent American-made in Tennesee. Solid wood fames. They have numerous styles and many fabrics. They aren’t cheap, but they don’t break the bank. Everything else buy used. Better quality, better value and a good way to stick it to the man. As much as I hate FB, Marketplace is the bomb, as is Restore.
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Sherri said on March 13, 2025 at 2:24 am
This week brings another anniversary. Twenty-three years of sobriety, one day at a time, despite the best efforts of Trump and Musk to drive me to drink! Nope, not going to let them, at least not today!
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Jeff Gill said on March 13, 2025 at 6:38 am
As the Church Lady really ought to say: “Not today, Elon!”
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Deborah said on March 13, 2025 at 11:45 am
Julie, I’m not a soda drinker, the only thing I like is diet rootbeer, it doesn’t have caffeine or calories but it’s hard to find most places. I use that soda cup you get at Costco with your hotdog for water which is plentiful and free to help choke it down (don’t get me wrong, I like their hotdogs surprisingly).
I have become so jaded, I’ve never been this jaded about everything, it’s getting me down, I feel like I’ve aged at least 10 years since November.
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Peter said on March 13, 2025 at 11:56 am
Sherri, congratulations! That is some real willpower there!
Deborah – I don’t blame you for being jaded. But I’m still my smiley self – I try my best to keep a positive attitude – it really pisses off my MAGA friends to no end!
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Jakash said on March 13, 2025 at 1:09 pm
March 11, 2020 was the day that the World Health Organization declared Covid a “global pandemic.” As I commented here on nn.c. the next day, we saw the play “Bug” (a coincidental title) on the night of March 11. “Seeing that play in the midst of this pandemic was noteworthy, as well. After having read Sherri’s comment yesterday regarding a ban on gatherings of more than 250 people in her area, and having read the day before that the Court Theater here is limiting its audiences to 100, being in the sold-out, 500-seat Steppenwolf was… uh, shall we say, thought provoking.”
As the months, and now years, have gone by, I kinda can’t believe we did that. (It was the last performance in that theater for quite a while.) Though many people knew that Covid was not just going to “end,” I would have been even more depressed at the time to realize that it would still be making people sick 5 years later.
As the lockdowns and precautions ramped up, I recall thinking that if the crisis just kinda blew over, that cranks would complain about how overblown the response had been. (Blew over / overblown, I like that!) The fact that over a million people would die in the U.S. and many, many more be seriously affected and that the cranks would “still” say it was way overblown didn’t occur to me.
Another thing I recall is one Sunday, on our way out the door to the grocery store, bringing in the paper with the banner headline to the effect that “CDC recommends masks in public places.” Uh, we went sans mask despite that, though it would be the last time we did so for a LONG time.
That was quite a moving blog post, Jeff.
Congratulations, Sherri! Don’t let the orange felon and the Muskmelon drive you to drink. I think it’s safe to assume that they won’t be driving any of us to drive a Tesla…
Yesterday’s daily New Yorker cartoon:
https://www.newyorker.com/cartoon/a61061
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Dexter Friend said on March 13, 2025 at 1:56 pm
Peter, I understand your comment about willpower. In my 33rd year of sobriety now, I have never encountered a person who got sober with only willpower.
Of course, my contacts in this field are all in AA.
Reels shows up in Facebook constantly. Yesterday, IA or not, I saw Rob Downey, Jr. interviewing David Letterman. David said he was “an alcoholic back then” (time frame not revealed), saying he had just fucked up a job but got a second chance, and instantly realized “I knew then that alcohol was the ruler of my life…” .
He said he has yet to take a drink since then.
Surrender to it, realize it rules you, admit total defeat, and then build yourself up , back to sanity/sobriety/success.
David Letterman may have done it himself. I know many people who have rejected 12 step programs and gotten sober. I knew many, many more who rejected some kind of help, 12-step or not, who are dead, in prison (one young man from our group is doing life for a drunken murder), or are in care facilities for physical or mental care, or, like my brother, living with dementia. My brother has not spoken or recognized me for 11 years. Wet brain disease.
Beverage alcohol is my king.
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Deborah said on March 13, 2025 at 4:16 pm
Off topic here but not in the world: If Canada would become a US state with a population of 40 million (California has 39 million with 52 Districts and obviously 2 senators) wouldn’t that add a lot of liberals to the house and 2 to the senate? I have to believe that compared to the US most of Canada would be on the liberal side. Am I wrong? I realize some would be conservative (MAGA is not really conservative I realize) but not as many as are liberal (I mean they have universal healthcare for heaven’s sake). How would that work for Republicans? Chances are it will never happen and Trump is just trying to use his bloviating about it as a negotiation tactic over tariffs, but has he ever even vaguely thought it through? Oh never mind, of course he hasn’t.
He is obsessed with McKinley as an expansionist (Hawaii and Puerto Rico, the Philippines even Cuba for a short time) and McKinley loved tariffs. Who has been feeding him this crap about McKinley being a great president? Also McKinley was assassinated so there’s that.
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Sherri said on March 13, 2025 at 5:03 pm
I agree with Dexter. Willpower doesn’t keep me sober. Learning how to become comfortable in my own skin, set appropriate boundaries, spend more time thinking about what I can do to make things better than what other people think about me, “keeping my side of the street clean”…among the lessons I learned in those church basements that have kept me from reaching for a drink.
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Deborah said on March 13, 2025 at 5:41 pm
Dorothy,
I have some books I want to order and you mentioned that your niece has a bookstore in Georgia and people can order books through her. Is that correct or do I have that wrong. I don’t use Amazon anymore and I don’t want to order through Barnes and Noble if I can do it through a real live bookstore. How do I get in touch with your niece’s shop?
I’m on my 8th book for my reading project but want to order some more for the future.
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Dorothy said on March 13, 2025 at 6:24 pm
https://www.avidbookshop.com/ Here’s the link to Avid Bookshop, Deborah. They are actually in the process of relocating to a new address in Athens GA so the order MIGHT be delayed just a little bit. I imagine they’ll communicate when you place the order. That is very sweet of you to think of them. Janet will be happy to have a new customer!
SusanG i have to say something just because I cannot STAND pillows on sofas. So please don’t take offense. I am likely in the minority on this topic as they sure look gorgeous when done correctly. But nothing screams PLEASE DON’T SIT ON ME! like seeing a sofa having so many pillows on it that there’s no place for my ass to squeeze in there and have a seat. What is one to do at someone’s house when you want to sit down on a sofa that is crowded with pillows? Do you throw them on the floor? Do you pick it up and hug it? If there is a room in the house where you do not receive company and it’s just for show, then by all means use the pillows to your heart’s content. But I am perplexed by people who use them all over a bed, because at night they have to go somewhere so you can get some shut eye. But then they’re on the floor where you’ve walked and maybe have dog or cat hair, and then you’re polluting the surface of the bed with that crap after putting the pillows back on in the morning.
To say I have opinions on this topic is an understatement.
Nancy I have a question. Is Pilot Joe unable to read this website? If he’s banned from commenting I’m guessing the answer to my question is no. I keep wondering if he’s unaware he’s banned, and maybe he thinks you stopped publishing. At any rate I’m grateful for his absence. He was such a party pooper.
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SusanG said on March 13, 2025 at 7:49 pm
Dorothy, I’m with you on the pillows. My rule is: two pillows on the couch, two pillows on the bed (for sleeping, not for decoration). The couch pillows are small (20 x 20). I buy pillow covers new (I’m terrified of bedbugs.) Fillers are from Amazon and super soft.
I use mine for sofa naps. The doggoes use them for security and naps. First-born drags them off the couch and uses them as toys. Second-born is obsessed with digging, so one of the pillows is all torn up. If Kate has scratch pads for the cats, they will prefer pillows.
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Deborah said on March 13, 2025 at 8:09 pm
Thanks Dorothy, I’ll wait a bit to give them a little time to get settled in, I’ve bookmarked the page from their website that tells how to order online. I have a couple of books to read in the meantime.
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Sherri said on March 13, 2025 at 8:54 pm
Look, I’m not a purist about politics. I don’t tend to have many litmus tests. But cooperating in the destruction of the federal government is a big one. I don’t care what eleventy-dimensional chess game you think you’re playing, you’re wrong and stupid and gutless, so just get out of the way. Which is what you’re going to hear when you ask me for money.
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Sherri said on March 13, 2025 at 10:05 pm
A lesson I learned very early on in my involvement in local political campaigns is that sometimes you have to fight a battle you know you’re going to lose today in order to win the battle tomorrow. You don’t change minds and activate new voters by going along with the status quo. You change the status quo by fighting and losing until you win.
Congressional Dems seem to believe they should just sit on their hands, let the courts do the work, and wait for 2026. If there’s still enough federal government and Congress still exists in 2026, I hope they’ll discover the meaning of “primary challenges.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/rebeccatraister/p/fight-fight-fight?r=2h24&utm_medium=ios
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Jim G said on March 13, 2025 at 11:12 pm
But Sherri, the Democrats have to sit on their hands now, or they won’t be able to get elected in 2026 so they can sit on their hands some more! Or something. I guess the Dems lesson from “When we fight, we win” and losing was to stop fighting.
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Dexter Friend said on March 14, 2025 at 1:51 am
Velshi is the MSNBC host who is their utility man, filling in, sent all over the world as needed, and is Canadian. He recently said Canada is so huge they would demand every province become a state, if somehow Trump annexed Canada. Both Houses would be Blue instantly and stay that way. Personally, I would rather have J. Trudeau in the White House than the whore-hopping rapist 34 count felon. Later this year, ex-banker Mark Carney, Trudeau’s successor, will run against a Conservative in a big election. That will command interest. Carney already has been dissing Trump.
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JodiP said on March 14, 2025 at 7:32 am
I don’t have anything to add to Sherri’s observations about the budget vote….
So I will add my congratulations to 23 years for her and 33 for Dexter! I really appreciated what it took for each of you to heal. Honesty, connection, purpose.
I do have large decorative pillows on my bed. Someday I won’t be so busy packing and schlepping
and can have coffee in bed again resting on those pillows!
The truck comes tomorrow! I have so many mixed emotions, but I am certain I made the right choice and that my new home and neighborhood are full of possibilities!
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Deborah said on March 14, 2025 at 8:25 am
Good for you Jodi. Making big changes is both scary and exciting. I did that over 35 years ago and it was the absolute best thing I could have done. You won’t regret it and better times are on the way.
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Jeff Borden said on March 14, 2025 at 11:49 am
Did you see what Elmo posted on his sewage system a couple of hours ago? He wrote that “Hitler didn’t murder millions of people. Public sector employees did.” And this racist ketamine addict has tRump’s ear. I’m sick to my stomach.
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candlepick said on March 14, 2025 at 12:03 pm
A lovely idea to support Avid Bookshop. Additionally, know that bookshop.org is the Amazon-alternative devoted to supporting local independent bookstores across the country. You can pick a store(s); you can buy without picking a store(s) and know that you still will be supporting indies generally (because all registered stores benefit from profit-sharing pool). It recently added an eBook platform that is another excellent way to disengage from Amazon.
Libro.fm is the audiobook alternative that supports local bookstores.
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Julie Robinson said on March 14, 2025 at 12:35 pm
Jodi, hope your move is going well. Are any of the animals coming with you?
Avid is encouraging customers to order through bookshop.org during their transition to a new place. They get 30% of the sale.
It’s a glorious day in Orlando and I’m feeling so good I’m not going to engage the news at all.
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Sherri said on March 14, 2025 at 3:23 pm
I don’t know why Dems aren’t talking about Trump’s obvious cognitive decline. I mean, the fixation on annexing Canada? Really? You can’t talk about how stupid that is? You can’t talk about how nobody wants that, while there’s a place right here in the US that wants to be the 51st state?
Sometimes, I feel like Casey Stengel. Can’t anyone here play this game?
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Deborah said on March 14, 2025 at 3:49 pm
What would happen if the Democrats just don’t show up in the chamber when it’s time to vote? Do they have to have a quorum to hold the vote?
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Mark P said on March 14, 2025 at 5:09 pm
All those public sector employees in Germany were Nazis — just like Musk, who is also a Nazi public sector employee.
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Deborah said on March 14, 2025 at 6:10 pm
Whoa, Dick Durban, another old white guy senator past his prime. What in the heck happened to Fetterman? I don’t get it.
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Sherri said on March 14, 2025 at 6:30 pm
Fetterman seems to have looked at Kristen Sinema and said, yes, that’s the Senator I want to be. Either that or that stroke he suffered turned him into a Republican.
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JodiP said on March 14, 2025 at 9:28 pm
Thanks for the well wishes! I’ve been pretty teary tonight, the last one after 30 years.
But for many reasons it’s the right choice.
Julie, my wife got the dog and I have the 2 cats. I am fine with that, as Hamilton was very much bonded with Melissa. The cats are delightful and one is pretty fond of me. The other one loves everyone and he’s super mellow.
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Sherri said on March 14, 2025 at 11:50 pm
Adam Serwer explains how current politics works:
https://bsky.app/profile/adamserwer.bsky.social/post/3lkenoeaj5k2t
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Deborah said on March 15, 2025 at 8:29 am
Climate change is real and happening fast https://www.npr.org/2025/03/15/g-s1-54089/tornadoes-move-south but you all knew that.
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Jeff Gill said on March 15, 2025 at 12:38 pm
Sixty years ago, U.S. presidents spoke like this. LBJ wasn’t perfect, wasn’t a saint, but he could make this speech and bring MLK to tears.
https://billmoyers.com/2015/03/06/american-promise-lbjs-finest-hour/
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Deborah said on March 15, 2025 at 12:40 pm
In a few minutes we’re going to walk over to the Tesla showroom with our signs to see if there really is a protest going on. It was supposed to rain and be very windy but so far no rain and it’s hard to tell about the wind from our perch on the 17th floor. It’s certainly not very windy or our building would be moving.
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Heather said on March 15, 2025 at 2:21 pm
Sherri, someone posted a picture of the earth as seen from above the Arctic circle–and it suddenly makes sense why Trump wants to control Canada and Greenland.
I’m disgusted with Durbin and other establishment Democrats. They need to get out of the way for leaders who understand the urgency of this moment.
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Deborah said on March 15, 2025 at 2:45 pm
My husband went with me to the protest, he got his photo taken a lot because he was standing in a good spot, he’ll probably be on the internet and maybe the newspapers. There were about 150 – 200 people out there when we were there, and lots of good signs. At first there were only 2 policeman but when we left there were 20. It got more raucous the longer we were there. It was actually a good day to have a protest, bunches and bunches of people were out on the streets because it’s the day they turn the Chicago river green for St. Patricks day. Lots of people wearing green with beads and funny hats. We were there about an hour and a half, it was still going full steam when we left but since we’re going out this evening, I wanted to get back and get some stuff done.
A lot of cars honked and very few people were negative that walked by. I’d say it was a success.
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alex said on March 16, 2025 at 8:43 am
Here’s another WaPo gift article, a well-crafted long-form piece by Michael Lewis that shows how careful dissection of federal bureaucracy would improve civil service versus the chainsaw method. And it’s a touching story besides.
https://wapo.st/4buoiLX
I’m paid up through December and can’t get a refund so enjoy.
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basset said on March 16, 2025 at 9:05 am
Unrelated, but… was just thinking how much I miss the Sunday paper showing up in our yard, complete with magazine. I don’t think our local Gannett outpost even offers home delivery any more… they’re already printing four hours away and not at all on Saturdays.
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Dave said on March 16, 2025 at 10:40 am
Basset, I miss that, too, I used to look forward to all of that, even the ads. I think the Indy paper is printed in Peoria, IL., another Gannett group paper. The Columbus Dispatch is printed in Columbus but was printed in Indianapolis until Gannett closed that facility.
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Icarus said on March 16, 2025 at 11:35 am
Someone said the following: The republicans are the school shooter; the democrats are the Uvalde police force.
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Julie Robinson said on March 16, 2025 at 1:17 pm
We still get a print newspaper seven days a week and we pay through the nose for it, as well as a large carrier tip. It’s tiny, the magazine and TV guide are long gone, and half the news is from sister papers in Fort Lauderdale and Miami.
It’s also a source for information not available elsewhere, and they do some great investigative work. Reading it keeps my mom busy half of the day, and I’m sure she mental stimulation is good for her. Plus the hubs worked for papers for 30 odd years and still feels civic pride about their mission.
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Dexter Friend said on March 16, 2025 at 2:26 pm
St. Paddy’s looms, I shall have a Jiggs dinner tomorrow, and Spring is nigh, and thoughts of love are blooming I suppose. For me, reflection. XM Radio host Ron Bennington mentions from time to time how your first love never is forgotten. My childhood love was a girl who brushed me off instantly and there was never anything but one dance at the high school freshman party. Life went by, marriage to a young woman happened, and while I was love-struck-blind, I didn’t pick up on that. She turned out to be a serial cheater, and worse, with my former best friends in the cast. For me, the good thing was that I was young and could rebound. I still hate what #1 did to wreck our marriage, but I no longer hate her. I just know you readers are mature enough to realize how that works.
43 years with Carla Lee, starting 50 years ago, was what I was destined for, so the past was just prelude to happiness.
There are web pages for geezers to hook up. I am no longer able to take on social obligations with a partner as time flies by. I am glad I at least recognize this.
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Sherri said on March 16, 2025 at 4:55 pm
I’m about 3/4 way through Careless People, the book Facebook doesn’t want you to read. It’s a tell-all by Sarah Wynn-Williams, who worked at Facebook in global affairs and in close proximity to Zuckerberg and Sandberg. Facebook is trying to stop further sales of the book on the grounds that she violated a non-disparagement contract.
Needless to say, neither Zuckerberg nor Sandberg come off well in the book. It really gives the lie to the whole Lean In nonsense Sandberg tried to promote.
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