Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The jury literally has a bell they can ring to force Trump to show up on command. Greatest thing ever!

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Let there be snark.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Peak wingnut was a lie.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

Come on, man.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Not all heroes wear capes.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Early Morning Open Thread: World Cup

Early Morning Open Thread: World Cup

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world cup watching keith knight
(Keith Knight via GoComics.com)
.

If I understand correctly, the World Cup doesn’t start until Thursday, but every good fan is already busy getting drunk prepped for the big day. (Observant Muslims and those with medical exemptions have to make an extra effort, I guess.) After perusing Spencer Hall’s exquisitely entertaining flow chart at SB Nation, I am now prepared to root for Australia, assuming anyone demands I pick a team. We are assured there will be no vuvuzelas, if only because the Brazilian fans will make such artificial noise-enhancers unnecessary.

I sincerely hope one of the more knowledgeable front-pagers takes over blogging The Cup, but though I am ignorant about sports I’m all in favor of seasons and rituals. So, if those of you who know a box-to-box midfielder from a deep-lying playmaker will leave a comment here (or email me later), I’ll do my best to put up posts at the proper times, okay?

Looks like the opening ceremonies start Thursday afternoon at 2:15pm EDT, with the first game scheduled for two hours later…

***********
Apart from football planning, what’s on the agenda this weekend?

Reader Interactions

123Comments

  2. 2.

    Origuy

    When the WC was in the US a few years ago, the Brazilian fans were based in Los Gatos, a suburb of San Jose. Los Gatos has a nice compact downtown and the Brazilians made it a party every night.

  3. 3.

    Amir Khalid

    It may or may not be that the fans in Brazil will be so loud that they won’t need vuvuzelas. There will be no vuvuzelas in Brazil anyway, because those obnoxious things were preemptively banned by stadiums all over the planet right after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

  7. 7.

    Fort Geek

    I started a new CAD drawing project last night. I’ve been a fan of the evil, demonic Car from 1977’s “The Car” for years, now. I don’t feel like shelling out $200 for the long out-of-production Ertl die-cast, so I’m going to try to make my own. I’m starting from the same platform George “Batmobile” Barris did, a 1971 Lincoln Mark III. It took some searching, but I found a ’69 produced by Johnny Lightning.

    The plan is to draw the Lincoln, convert that to The Car, then use the plans to scratchbuild one for my model shelf.

  8. 8.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Amir Khalid: Yes to which? :-)

    My wkend is going to be filled with finishing several little projects, trim a new window, build some countertops, maybe the new compost bins if the rain lets up. Strange weather here abouts this year. Unusually cool and wet. NOAA says 78 will the warmest we get for the next 5 days, and t-storms every day. As long as there’s no hail or tornadoes that’s OK with me.

    Question: Anybody else notice an extreme drop in Hummingbird numbers? Usually we have 50-75 of the little buggers, but I don’t think we could make a baker’s dozen right now.

  10. 10.

    raven

    The Charter cable system here is going 100% digital on the 12th. They have been bombing folks with commercials, email’s and mailings but odds are lots of folks don’t have a clue that they have to pick up a free (for a year) converter box. My prediction is that, when the World Cup starts, head will roll.

  11. 11.

    Arclite

    Arclite Jr. daughter has a swim meet today (it being past midnight already). Currently ranked #2 in the state and144 among 11-year-olds in the USA, so it will interesting to see if she improves that. Not that I tell HER that. I just want her to have some fun and hang with her friends.

  12. 12.

    Schlemizel

    The son & his family are moving into their house this weekend. I expect by tomorrow afternoon I will be stiff and sore and fairly pissed off at the boys obsession that everything has to be done exactly as he wants it, no exceptions no variations.

  14. 14.

    Morzer

    I am now prepared to root for Australia

    “You are entering a world of pain”.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Schlemizel:

    fairly pissed off at the boys obsession that everything has to be done exactly as he wants it, no exceptions no variations.

    You know the answer to that is repeated and blatant incompetence, don’t you? After the 3rd or 4th obvious screw up he’ll say, “Forget it! I’ll do it myself!” and you can then sit back and drink beer.

  17. 17.

    Neil H

    AUSTRALIA! Somebody noticed we’re there! Yay!

    Australia is going to get absolutely creamed at the World Cup. Most of us (those of us paying attention to anything that isn’t rugby or AFL, at any rate) have basically already accepted this.

  21. 21.

    Schlemizel

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    That sort of happened the last move. He managed to drive one of his helpers off & it all just elevated his stress level. I keep trying to show him after the fact that his stress was not beneficial but its not working.

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Schlemizel: Heh. When one of my sons engages in one of their “quirks” (I have my own, Dog knows) that just doesn’t make sense, I always tell myself, “You already raised him once, Tom. You don’t need to raise him again.” Doesn’t change anything, but my stress levels are much better.

    Good luck and watch your back, meaning be careful how you lift.

  23. 23.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @Morzer:

    “You are entering a world of pain”.

    We are willing to take on anybody in the world in their third favourite form of football and thrash them soundly.

  24. 24.

    Baud

    Shared sacrifice

    Golden parachutes are encountering a stiff wind.

    Shareholders at four companies have voted in recent weeks to prevent executives from cashing in on certain stock bonuses if their companies are sold, the latest sign that investors are pushing back on the generous pay packages in the event of a merger or sale.
    ….
    Defenders of golden parachutes say they can create value for investors. Chief executives of acquired companies often expect to lose their jobs after a merger closes. If they know they will be compensated, they might be less likely to stand in the way of a deal that would pay shareholders a premium. “You want to get to the point where management, from a personal financial standpoint, is indifferent” about a deal getting done, said George Paulin, CEO of Frederic W. Cook & Co., an executive-compensation consulting firm.

    Since 2011, shareholders have had a say in how much executives are paid, including golden-parachute payments. “Say on pay” votes are now required by the Securities and Exchange Commission. While they aren’t binding, boards are under pressure from regulators and shareholder-advisory firms to consider investor views when crafting executive-pay packages.
    ….
    Cash severance payments, which once commonly exceeded three times an executive’s annual salary and bonus, have been trimmed, experts said. Other perks have all but disappeared. One such example are gross-ups, which obligate a company to pay the high taxes levied on corporate perks, in effect letting the executive take home the full amount…
    ….
    Shareholders have also driven a shift to golden parachutes that only compensate executives who are fired after a merger, rather than agreements that pay out even if the executives keep their jobs. “The appearance of double-dipping” irked some investors, Mr. Paulin said.

  25. 25.

    Kay

    I love this kid:

    Two sixth grade math classes lost an entire week’s worth of instruction taking a trial run of a new test and now they want payment for their time.
    But for now the test is still in its trial period and Laroche’s 37 students are among the 81,000 that spent two 75-minute periods in March and two 90-minute periods this past week completing the test.
    “I thought it was unfair that we weren’t paid for anything and we didn’t volunteer for anything,” said Beaulieu. “It was as if we said, ‘Oh we can do it for free.’”
    Beaulieu used his math skills in the letter, determining that the two classes would collectively earn $1,628 at minimum wage for their 330 minutes of work.
    Laroche mailed the letter off to the PARCC, United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Massachusetts Secretary of Education Matthew Malone. Laroche used return requests for a better chance at getting an answer.
    “We’re hoping we’ll get some type of response,” Laroche said. “I would think with us having them sign for the document might add a little bit of pressure on getting a response from them.”

    My son did a test of a test in May and I know the test people don’t like it when the kids who are “testing the test” are called “guinea pigs” by the anti-test people, but he of course doesn’t know that. I asked him how the test went and he said ” Okay. We were the guinea pigs”.

    Because they are, of course.

  26. 26.

    Schlemizel

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I just don’t want him to stroke out before I go. I can live with it while it is happening but I keep hoping he will be able to look back & see that his behavior was not helpful and grow a little as a human.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Schlemizel: I like to think I am still growing as a human, I certainly work at it, chances are he is too. As to his “stroking out before you go”, just do what I did: Forbid him to die before you. ;-)

    On the more serious side, being a parent doesn’t end when they move out. In some ways it becomes even harder then, as keeping one’s mouth shut is no longer an option. It is a requirement.***

    *** a rule I do break from time to time but it is rare

  31. 31.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Teachers here do longer, more free-form projects after the testing month(s) are over, because they want to do them but don’t have time prior to end of testing. This type of thing wouldn’t be unusual as a project. My son and his friend did a hypothetical two week trip to Japan where they made a budget, calculated exchange rates, airfare, passports, the whole works.

    He does this irritating thing where he asks if he can ask a question before he asks the question. It’s not a big deal, he picked it up somewhere and he’ll tire of it, but I notice it. During the project he asked me to email his teacher for clarification on one part and I told him to email her himself. He did and sure enough he wrote “we have a question” after heading the email “question”. I thought “oh, that poor woman”. That must go on all day. What if all 25 of them do it? :)

  32. 32.

    PurpleGirl

    @OzarkHillbilly: I have friends who help each other move;I’ve also seen them have fights, get over-stressed and have a whole bunch of other problems from the moves. I know it can be expensive but I found when I moved from one apartment to the Co-Op it was much easier to hire movers. They did the major packing, knew how to take things down stairs from the third floor walk-up (the new place has elevators and I’m on the 17th floor) and generally made the move easy for me. Also I was able to stage the move over several days (for no more money) and get some things (like furniture) settled in before bringing in things like books. I recommend it to anyone moving. Hire help. Your health will thank you for it.

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @PurpleGirl: Agreed. My wife sold me on it on our last 2 moves. We still had to work but all the heavy lifting was done for us. Dog willing, we will never move again, but if I had to? I would pay somebody to do it for me.

  34. 34.

    Schlemizel

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Yeah, growth is a regular feature of actual living. It had not occurred to me to simply forbid it (although when the army sent him overseas I did tell him I would kick his ass if he came home with medals).

    I guess that worked as the ones he got were pretty much participation awards despite having been in the soup on many occasions. I noticed however that there were bronze stars all around for Lt. Colonel and above so maybe it wouldn’t have taken much to get one of those.

  35. 35.

    Botsplainer

    @Baud:

    I tried making a statement like that to my dad about yard work a lot of years ago. Surprisingly, it wasn’t well received, and I don’t remember much about the immediate aftermath in the swirl of stars…

  36. 36.

    Schlemizel

    @PurpleGirl:
    I was moved by my hiring company my last two moves. One was the greatest moving experience ever quick, simple and well done. The second was not so hot, We ended up with a bunch of broken things and stolen items. Had to fight with the moving company & never did get any real satisfaction.

    They tend to let the drivers hire as needed and the drivers tend to hire day labor at best, often drinkers/users looking for a quick buck. Its a crap shot.

  37. 37.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Ha. I’m sure I used to do that throat clearing exercise. I’d advise him to start demanding answers rather than simply asking questions. ;-)

  38. 38.

    Elmo

    Hoping that the wife’s neck will allow us an outing on the boat. There are only so many sunny weekend days, and so far she hasn’t been able to stand the idea of bouncing even a little.

    The rule is that there can be no cajoling, no pressure, and no guilt about the boat. If it’s no, it’s no, and I am cheerful and will not show the least bit of disappointment or sadness.

    But that part can be hard, when buying the boat was my dream come true and I would spend every day on the water if I could. Havent had it out yet this year, and only twice last year. I do not begrudge, and god knows I wouldn’t make her pain worse for the world, but I mustn’t show even a little sadness or she will feel terrible.

    So I’m hoping, and preparing myself for a cheerful “Yeah, I didn’t much feel like it either. Let’s go to the movies instead.”

  39. 39.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Schlemizel:

    although when the army sent him overseas I did tell him I would kick his ass if he came home with medals

    Heh. My line is always, “If you die, I will shoot you through the coffin.”

  41. 41.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    He signed his full name and I thought “oh, she knows who you are. It’s May. 170 days with you. You’re the “I have a question” boy.

  42. 42.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Elmo: Why can’t you leave her behind? When I was still caving there were many times the wife was not up for it, but she did not allow that to stop me from going.

  43. 43.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    LOL. Grade school was a long time ago for me, so I have to admit that the idea of interacting with a teacher through email or social media is bizarre to me. It shouldn’t be, but it is.

  44. 44.

    Schlemizel

    @Elmo:
    I feel for you. My wife is kind funny in that if she likes something I am not allowed to say anything even remotely negative about it. I have always had a habit of making up funny lyrics for popular songs, I do it without even thinking about it, its just word play to me. When we started dating I would sing along using my own lyrics & she would get very irate if it was a song she liked. So now I don’t do it outloud very much.

    You do need to vent about it though so as long as she does not know your nym here is as good a place as any. It sucks that you can’t use the boat the way you thought you would and it is worse you can’t show disappointment about that. Hopefully she will get better though and you can make up for lost time.

  45. 45.

    Elmo

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I don’t want to. It wouldn’t be worth it – I’d rather go to the movies with her, or sit at home, or cook, or whatever. I’d just really, really like to take out the boat together.

  46. 46.

    Elmo

    @Schlemizel:

    Don’t get me wrong! The rule is of my own making, not hers! It’s just that she feels bad enough as it is, knowing how I feel about the water. If I actually showed unhappiness it would be worse, but it isn’t as though she’s oblivious to my feelings. Not at all. So this is a self-imposed rule, because I don’t want to make her feel worse about it than she has to.

    She loves the boat too. But her physical pain gets in the way.

  47. 47.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Elmo: OK, I understand that. Life is a compromise and there were times I didn’t go because I preferred being with her.

  48. 48.

    Schlemizel

    @Elmo:
    I see, not that it makes it any better. Well you’ll just have to muddle along until she is better I guess. Hope that is soon, for her sake more than yours.

  49. 49.

    Botsplainer

    @Schlemizel:

    I feel for you. My wife is kind funny in that if she likes something I am not allowed to say anything even remotely negative about it. I have always had a habit of making up funny lyrics for popular songs, I do it without even thinking about it, its just word play to me. When we started dating I would sing along using my own lyrics & she would get very irate if it was a song she liked. So now I don’t do it outloud very much.

    We have a constant music battle in the car – hers runs to really awful pop of two varieties: either “I’m so pretty, and if you worship me and my cooch enough I might sleep with you” or boy band “I worship the ground on which you walk and drown in your beauty, charm and scent”. Mine goes to alt/grunge/hip hop with the message “I’m sick of your shit, get out” or “fuck me or don’t, I don’t care”.

    She demands that her music be listened to, exclusively. Recently, when the loathsome 50 Shades of Summer (or some nonsense like that) was singing about being so down with his uncontrollable desire because the girl was standing there in his American Apparel underwear while her ripped skinny jeans were on the floor, I caused great distress when I reflected that no guy ever actually thought that. He might say it to get laid, but he never really thinks it to that level; that the song was written for 17 year old girls who want to believe their boyfriends worship them that much.

    Good times….

  51. 51.

    NotMax

    @OzarkHillbilly

    One of my mother’s (and by extension due to furious repetition, my own) pet peeves.

    You raise corn.

    You rear children.

    (Afraid we’ve lost that battle.)

  52. 52.

    Schlemizel

    @Botsplainer:
    UGH! My wife listens to some really awful country music but we compromise in the car and get along really well. However she loves those shitty “reality” shows and I run screaming from the room. The most recent one is called something like “Proof That Little People Can Be As Big An Asshole As full Sized Ones”. It goes with “Real Assholes Of –Some Shit Hole Place“. I have no idea why anyone would want to watch a group of inflamed assholes for an hour when they wouldn’t want to spend 5 minutes with them in real life.

    She used to watch one about Amish who left the community that I watched a couple of times until it was obvious the whole thing was fake. No idea why I expected better.

  54. 54.

    NotMax

    @Botsplainer

    Sounds as if you need to compromise on something the both of you can barely tolerate.

    Or the Sinatra/easy listening channel. (Songs have lyrics one can actually make out? Who knew?)

    /half-kidding

  55. 55.

    Botsplainer

    @Schlemizel:

    Oh yeah, I went through about 10 years of reality TV before Netflix streaming made it obvious that we could have a variety of decent, commercial free entertainment that can’t be ignored. I still catch her occasionally.

    Never did tell her that we could socialize with friends more and catch real time drama in meatspace, unedited and unscripted, but she needs to quit being an antisocial misanthrope and get off the couch. Hell, we got everything from bi-swingers to nudists to man-whores in our (well, mostly my) circle. Plenty of drama there to go around, and it’s more funny than rage-y.

  58. 58.

    Baud

    A preview of what the blogs will be talking about this week. Guess who?

    “[M]any Senators came to wish they had voted against the resolution. I was one of them. As the war dragged on, with every letter I sent to a family in New York who had lost a son or daughter, a father or mother, my mistake become (sic) more painful.”

    “I thought I had acted in good faith and made the best decision I could with the information I had. And I wasn’t alone in getting it wrong. But I still got it wrong. Plain and simple.”

  61. 61.

    Botsplainer

    @NotMax:

    Sounds as if you need to compromise on something the both of you can barely tolerate.

    Classic country or 70s. Both of us would be extremely irritable by the end of every ride.

  62. 62.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    At the time, I wasn’t mad at her, specifically I was mad at Congress. I’m still mad at Congress on national security.

    They can’t do this. They can’t scream about the Unitary President and then pull this bullshit show where they go on talk shows and draft laws like the Gitmo law here they have to be “consulted” and then take zero responsibility for outcomes. Power doesn’t work that way. If they want it (and they can take it back, anytime, they have enormous power) they have to take risks and share responsibility for results. Otherwise, the President will act, or not act.

    Pelosi got so much shit for “taking impeachment off the table” but that’s a decision. It’s a recognition that she has this power and a public announcement she is opting not to use it. So few of them even do that. It gets worse every year.

  64. 64.

    Botsplainer

    And speaking of classic country, I once had a lot of fun with a poster who was talking about loving her some country music while decrying the substance abuse, misogyny, lawlessness and violence in rap and hiphop.

    I started posting lyrics about whiskey, cheating, being done wrong, jail terms, squabbles, and asking what made country musicians such special flowers undeserving of equal scorn.

    I ended up getting crickets.

  66. 66.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Completely agree. There are a few (rare) times when I feel lefty critisms of the media are over the top, but the one thing the media has been consistently horrible at in the Obama years is in failing to treat Congress (and especially Republicans) as responsible elected officials, as opposed to just a foil for the president.

  67. 67.

    Elmo

    @tybee:
    Little 4-cyl Bayliner open bow runabout. We use it to cruise and fish – neither one of us can ski, and although we could pull a tube, we really don’t have any friends with kids to make it worthwhile.

    But we both love fishing.

  68. 68.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Baud: I think that a large percentage of the population really does not grasp the way that separation of powers and checks and balances work. In some cases, the failure to grasp it is deliberate.

  69. 69.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I loved that about Pelosi. She was completely comfortable with her enormous power.

    I like legislators who want to be legislators.

    It’s a job, all by itself. It’s not “foil to the President” as you so aptly put it. They have the “completely negative” part of “checks and balances” down pat, that’s for sure. Because it’s really safe.

    “I wouldn’t have done it”. Yeah, we know. What about your job, though? Would you do that?

  74. 74.

    Botsplainer

    A thousand kinds of awesome – What if Fox News covered D-Day?

    Hannity called for President Chairdaddy’s resignation, asking “why does anyone still trust this president, after his demonstrated failures in protecting Pearl Harbor? Or the Philippines?”

    Bill O’Reilly noted that “‘Eisenhower’ sounds like a German name” and questioned the wisdom of letting a possible Nazi sympathizer command the invasion force when a

    Real American, Gen. George Patton, is being wasted on a diversionary operation back in England, the sort of pinhead scheme we’ve come to expect from this President.

    On Fox & Friends, Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade traded innuendo-laden quips about rumors that First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt is a lesbian, and guest Dr. Keith Ablow, the worst psychiatrist in the world, attributed the shaky start of the invasion to the mental scars that polio left on the psyche of Ol’ Gimpy What Rides In A Wheelchair Haw Haw Haw:

    The President is a broken man. So it only makes sense that he’d have a broken plan. You’d never see Calvin Coolidge rushing into a European invasion without knowing where the paratroopers were going to land.

    Fox commentators reserved some of their harshest mockery for Paratrooper John M. Steele of the 82nd Airborne, who spent much of the day hanging from his parachute’s shroud lines after his ‘chute snagged on a church roof in the occupied village of Ste-Mère-Église. Steele had played dead while German patrols passed beneath him, and was eventually captured by Nazi troops, although he later escaped and made his way back to American lines. Megyn Kelly said she was “disgusted” and “skeptical” of the recommendation that Steele be awarded the Bronze Star:

    The Bronze Star is for valor. What kind of “valor” is there in playing dead and getting yourself captured? What information did Steele give up to his captors? Was President Roosevelt aware of Steele’s cowardice?

    Read more at http://wonkette.com/550932/what-if-fox-news-had-covered-d-day#1Hf3gfrIxuujyUZD.99

  75. 75.

    Schlemizel

    @Botsplainer:
    I prefer life without drama but I can live with it. What I really don’t want is to interact in anyway with self-involved assholes. Those seem to dominate “reality” TV.

  76. 76.

    Schlemizel

    @Buffalo Rude: I saw that & had to laugh. When I saw the comic I had thought it looked like he was trying to imitate Waterston. Guess he was not!

  77. 77.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: At least your were only starting a conversation with yourself, unlike Omnes, who gave himself quite the stern talking to last week when he was trying to reply to someone else. :-)

  81. 81.

    Randy P

    We’ve been to Europe 4 times, and we have a strange habit of unintentionally showing up in World Cup or Euro Cup cities at tournament time. Completely by accident. Most recently, after confessing I had no idea who was playing on the TV at the cafe, I was asked (in German) “What are you doing here in Basel if you’re not here for the football?” I was there because it was a convenient stopping point between Nice and Leipzig. I had been wondering why hotels in Basel were so expensive, months in advance…

    That was in 2008. And though Leipzig wasn’t a tournament city, Germany was doing very well in the Euro Cup the week we were there, so we were greeted with tooting horns half the night nearly every night.

    We were there for the Bach Festival. Kind of an odd and charming combination of two sides of German culture.

  84. 84.

    Anonymous At Work

    Wow…Wisconsin’s news has become so common place that it hasn’t hit much of any place yet, has it?

  91. 91.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Baud: Even if he gets one, people have already gotten married in at least Dane and Milwaukee counties. Also too. Judge Crabb’s decision poked at Scalia, which is always a bonus.

  94. 94.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Baud: So, the shareholders have finally figured out that CEOs are parasitic growths, have they?

    About fucking time.

  97. 97.

    Amir Khalid

    There’s no way to tell from what’s in the news story whether this resulted from the dead man having the worst possible luck or from his own gross stupidity. But I do have to wonder why he was carrying a gun at all.

  98. 98.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @Amir Khalid:
    From the link:

    NewsChannel 9 learned that McKenzie had a clean driving record and had no prior criminal history. He was also a gun-carry permit holder.

    Makes me wonder if Tennessee has any requirements beyond being able to to breathe and ay the fee in order to be issued a gun-carry permit.

  103. 103.

    WaterGirl

    Booman has a great photo over at his site. it’s about Wisconsin, but it’s not related to the gay marriage ruling.

    In that same thread, there’s a link to a story about a bill: Bennet, Tester Introduce Bill to Ban Members of Congress from Becoming Lobbyists, Close Revolving Door.

    I found the photo and the link very uplifting .

  105. 105.

    WaterGirl

    I went to the farmer’s market this morning and forgot that I had work to do for a client just a few blocks away, so now I get to drive back across town. Oh well, at least it gave me time to water everything at home before it gets too hot.

    I am very excited about my two baby zucchini. (Or is it zucchinis?)

  106. 106.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Anybody else notice an extreme drop in Hummingbird numbers? Usually we have 50-75 of the little buggers, but I don’t think we could make a baker’s dozen right now.

    It’s been quieter than usual for us the past month or so, after a month of passing-through visits early and late from migrants heading further north. There were late winter storms south and west of us so I’ve wondered if the usual summer residents might have been affected by those.

    I’m not going to get into a proper World Cup mood until the opening day, and then probably not until the first day proper: three matches a day is a treat.

  107. 107.

    Bonnie

    Don’t do World Cup; but, still walking on air because we have the Super Bowl Champs. Pardon me while I do a happy dance.

  109. 109.

    kindness

    If Mint Julips are what you drink for the Kentucky Derby, what is it one drinks for the Belmont Stakes?

  110. 110.

    Randy P

    @Amir Khalid: Let’s not forget that the gun was loaded and also not in the glove compartment or otherwise stored. That points to “stupid”.

  115. 115.

    NotMax

    So help me, Suffern ACE, your message was not there while I was typing and paused to make a short trip to the little commenter’s room.

  117. 117.

    Suffern ACE

    @NotMax: there needs to be a better drink, though. Something that says “queens”. Maybe something with four types of rum, ouzo, sake, baiju, Fernat and coke.

  119. 119.

    gogol's wife

    NewsMax — “Paul Ryan: House Will Investigate Bergdahl Deal.” Oh goody. What a surprise.

  120. 120.

    kindness

    Long Island Iced Teas. That’ll get you shitfaced in no time at all.

    Sports and alcohol…..quite the pair.

  122. 122.

    tsquared2001

    Nothing going on but the football. Watched Messi earlier and the England friendly before the lighting and now the US friendly versus Nigeria. I love Saturdays and my world cup fever is off the hook, that shit is so high

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