Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The lights are all blinking red.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Republicans do not trust women.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Republicans in disarray!

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

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

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

An almost top 10,000 blog!

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

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Friday Evening Respite Open Thread

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It’s been One of Those Weeks, my sleep schedule is gehfuckten, and there are still mail-order tomatoes that need to be tranplanted. How’s your day been?

Reader Interactions

169Comments

  1. 1.

    M4

    My day would be better if the comment box remembered my details on safari mobile and I didn’t have to use a shortened name ?

    But I am pretty good! Thanks for asking. Yesterday’s job interview went really well. There is a long weekend coming up. My hair is just the right length this week too.

    I guess I should start another short story soon ? haven’t quite figured out the plot yet though.

  2. 2.

    Yutsano

    I’m on day four of being unable to stay signed in to the major data system the IRS uses. Work has been amazingly fun because of that. And no one has been able to figure out the cause yet. I can’t complain. I have two short weeks in a row.

  3. 3.

    lamh36

    ‪Good morning from Sydney. It’s May 26, 7am! Got a full day trip planned today…Blue Mountains, Wildlife Park and harbor cruise! Wearing another shirt my lil sister helped me pick out.‬
    ‪#AussieVayKay #BlackNOLAChickInOz ‬
    https://twitter.com/psddluva4evah/status/1000121349250019328?s=21

    Hope y’all have been able to follow me on twitter and/on FB. I haven’t really been able to post…the time difference threw me for a loop and I’m still not quite adjusted.

    I also haven’t quite caught up with posting blogs about it either. I didn’t bring my laptop and so I’ve had to try using my phone, but it doesn’t seem to be holding the charge like it usually does.

    Anyway, having a great time…5 more days before heading back to the US

  4. 4.

    Phylllis

    Had an email at 4 pm informing me we’d been awarded a $454,000.00 grant for summer programs for the next four years, so that’s set up a nice long weekend with a warm feeling. Which will last until about 8:05 a.m. Tuesday morning when I have to herd all the cats involved and get them cracking on it.

  7. 7.

    Betty Cracker

    @lamh36: You’re talking to us…from the future! ? I have followed your exploits on the Twitter. So glad you are having a great time.

  8. 8.

    Mike in NC

    Here in the Tampa Bay area we’ve seen a popular bumper sticker that shows an AR-15 with the slogan “Armed Patriot since 1776”.

  10. 10.

    trollhattan

    I was hoping to make it home for dinner, but things are very topsy turvy at the office.

    Anybody who doesn’t recognize the bug-out cue we’ve been expecting for six seasons isn’t watching “The Americans” and has a sad, sad life.

  14. 14.

    Roger Moore

    I’ve been working on a poster for an upcoming conference. Also, one of our instruments has been on the fritz for a month or so, which means we’ve been working with service people to get it fixed. So I am not looking forward to a restful long weekend.

  18. 18.

    Emerald

    Of course the kittehs jump right out and go asplorin’ first! Of course they do!

  19. 19.

    Shell

    Had an email at 4 pm informing me we’d been awarded a $454,000.00 grant

    Before Id read the whole thing my first thought was “Was it from a Nigerian prince?”

  20. 20.

    VeniceRiley

    Flying out to my sister’s place to care for my elderly mother for the long weekend; so my saint of a sister can have a break

  21. 21.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    It’s been One of Those Weeks, my sleep schedule is gehfuckten,

    The long days are fucking with me. I’m finding the sun has a lot more effect on my sleep patterns as I get older, but only in the morning

  23. 23.

    Yutsano

    @trollhattan: Go back in time. Give the Iroquois a few of those along with ammo and maintenance instructions. Watch the future morph into…something.

  26. 26.

    hitchhiker

    Spent the last five days in Paris, where it’s been mild and lovely with the occasional rip-roaring thunderstorm. Lovely city, lovely to be here with my sweet first-born, who is just as direction-challenged as I am, but can speak the local language.

    Picture me — 60-something in a baseball hat, tee-shirt and jeans — following her as she frowns at her phone and pauses to mutter, “Sorry, we should have been going that way.” I smile because how can you not smile when you get to do this?

    Just read that the Irish have wisely told their former overlords in the Catholic church to stuff it, tyvm, they’d prefer to leave pregnancy decisions up to women. Fantastic margin, too.

    It’s a good night.

    And it’s grand to be away from the soul-sucking nonstop coverage of incompetence and malice in the USA.

  27. 27.

    MattF

    Not at all bad. Didn’t rain. Major condo building renovation project going on since last year is almost done. Unsure what to do over weekend– watch Rolling Thunder come in?

  29. 29.

    geg6

    Fuuuuuuuuck! My muffler gave up the ghost on my way home from work. Of course, it pulls this shit on a holiday weekend four days before payday. Fuuuuuuuuck!

  35. 35.

    Elizabelle

    @chopper: Oh no. Be well. No bad aftereffects, I hope.

    Doing laundry and sucking down a cold beer. Happy start of the long weekend to everyjackal.

  36. 36.

    debbie

    Those kitties were mighty surprised to see the size of those puppies as they decrated. So cute!

  38. 38.

    Chet Murthy

    @trollhattan: When’s Barron’s school out for the summer? I’d expect she’d be scarce his entire vac — what parent of a small child wouldn’t be, when they have *literally* nothing better to do, hein?

  39. 39.

    geg6

    @trollhattan:

    The crazy thing is I called my sister to borrow her car over the weekend (she rarely drives it due to chronic vertigo that no one seems able to diagnose). When I got her on the phone, she said she was just going to call me to ask me to drive her husband to pick up her car tomorrow as she had just had to have her muffler replaced. What are the odds?

  44. 44.

    Chet Murthy

    @B.B.A.: I remember that speech by Enda Kenny (sp?) about the clerical pedophilia crimes (or was it the Magdalene Laundries? I forget). The moral outrage in the man was wonderful. I felt like: “here’s somebody who really understands that it’s living breathing humans who matter first”. So I guess I kind of expected that Ireland would vote this way: it’s the way they’ve been going for a while, eh?

  45. 45.

    vtr

    Monaco Grand Prix this weekend – my second least favorite course. In two weeks we’ll be in Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix.

  49. 49.

    Ruff the Dog

    Someone brought stress goats to my kiddos’ high school to help at AP test time. We had to sign a waiver involving injury and death. So they’re known as the baby death goats around the house. And although we’re all too afraid to speak without irony lest someone mock us for being honest and unguarded, I will say that stress was properly alleviated and it was truly lovely.

  50. 50.

    MomSense

    @chopper:

    I hope you are ok.

    I felt well enough to take a shower today. That wiped me out so I’m going to try and rest.

  51. 51.

    RedDirtGirl

    Strange day for me. I’ve been at my new job for 9 weeks. The first 2 months were training, this was my first week solo. Had my first work anxiety dream last night which rattled me enough that I felt off kilter all day. Made a few mistakes, no big deal. Then a particularly difficult client chewed me out for something that actually wasn’t my fault at all. Her assistant had screwed up. Towards the end of the day the assistant called to let me know he had explained everything to the client and thanked me for my efforts. We chatted for a bit and when I got off the phone I felt so much better. That is until I emailed my boss to let him know. According to his reply, I wasn’t talking with the assistant at all. It was my boss pranking me! Fucking Hell!

    Then I get home and talk to a co-worker who’s been there ages and he said he thinks that the prank was making me think it was a prank, when in fact I did actually speak to the assistant….I am sooooo confused. Either way, I’m glad I have the extra weekend day to plot my revenge. Any ideas? Just for background, I’ve been with the company for 3 years and know and like everyone a lot.

  52. 52.

    zhena gogolia

    @Yutsano:

    You’re reminding me of a great movie scene I saw on TCM. It was a Western with Richard Denning and Dennis Morgan, called “The Gun That Won the West,” about the Springfield rifle. I only caught the end, but it had one of the funniest lines I’ve ever heard. Denning went to see the Indians to warn them to stand down because the white guys now had these great new rifles. The Indian chief, who was a former friend of his, said something like, “We’re not backing down. We know that we are brave and strong.” And Denning, waving the rifle around, says, “We don’t have to be brave. We’ve got these.”

  53. 53.

    geg6

    @Emerald:

    My mom had an ear problem that gave her vertigo. But the ear, nose and throat docs checked my sister’s ears and that doesn’t seem to be it. Then they thought it was her blood pressure but that wasn’t it. They sent her to a neurologist who didn’t find anything. It’s a mystery.

  57. 57.

    chopper

    @RedDirtGirl:

    should be fine. of course being the ER you can’t even walk in there to ask directions without being stuck for 6 hours.

  58. 58.

    NotMax

    So old can recall regular Friday evening food/recipe front page posts. (In fact, IIRC, they used to be on Saturdays and at some point migrated to Fridays.)

    ;)

  60. 60.

    Phylllis

    Thanks everybody. We’ll get to continue offering a bridge program for our rising 9th graders to give them a good running start at high school. Been offering it for the last couple of years and are just starting to see it make a positive difference.

  64. 64.

    M4

    @RedDirtGirl: that sounds insane and terrible and I guess it’s good you already know and like everybody, because otherwise it would sound like some red flags were raised.

  65. 65.

    NotMax

    More twists and turns than that street in San Francisco.

    The judge in the Sept. 11 trial ordered the Pentagon’s top lawyer and the fired Guantánamo war court overseer on Wednesday to testify in July in a defense bid to get the death-penalty case dismissed for alleged outside meddling by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

    At issue is whether Mattis’ surprise firing on Feb. 5 of Harvey Rishikof, the civilian attorney overseeing the Guantánamo war court, was tied to Rishikof’s exploration of guilty pleas as a way of concluding the long-running trial.

    Were the judge to find the firing was related to unlawful influence, he could dismiss the case entirely or take the death penalty out of consideration for the jury. Source

    And a shout out of appreciation to reporter Carol Rosenberg, who has been laboring in the Gitmo trenches for what seems like forever, consistently providing concise and stellar coverage.

  68. 68.

    germy

    More good news.

    Vindicated.

    As many of you know, this has been a very difficult period for myself and my husband Brad as we have dealt with the impact of these accusations, but we are happy to see that this nightmare is finally drawing to a close. https://t.co/nHCjnebCBO— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) May 25, 2018

  71. 71.

    Yarrow

    @geg6: A friend of mine has Meniere’s disease and when it’s bad she’s so dizzy she can hardly get out of bed. It took them awhile to get that diagnosis.

  72. 72.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Randy Credico– a very strange person who I gather is some kind of talk radio goon and friend/associate of Roger Stone– just said on Ari Melber’s show that Assange is willing to meet with Adam Schiff. If true– a big if, Credico’s oars don’t seem to touch water*– could Assange cut a deal with Meuller wrt extradition? His accusers are in Sweden, no?
    ETA: or could it be a sign of something I’ve been wondering about for a while: When will it suit Putin’s ends to start fucking trump in order to fuck with the USA

    * last time I saw him on Melber, he kept lapsing into impressions– Reagan, Nixon IIRC– it was both sad and very annoying. Made me wonder if Meuller would have trouble using people like this, and Nurnberg and Stone as witnesses since they often seem genuinely addled for one reason or another.

  73. 73.

    Ruckus

    @geg6:
    I’ve been seeing neurologists at the VA for 3 yrs. They’ve given me every test under the sun and every 4 months or so I have another appointment and get the same basic neuro test. My issues keep progressing but no one seems to know what to do, or what it is. There have been suggestions made by some docs and other docs say no, so we go no where. Meanwhile I have OK days and bad days. The bad days are winning. Yesterday I had to measure a small part that another worker had made. Hold the part in the left hand and the tool in the right. Left hand didn’t work, I kept dropping the part. It’s frustrating as hell to have an obvious problem and no one knows what is wrong. Next appointment in about 8 weeks, I get to go through the same thing. Again.

  74. 74.

    NotMax

    Wall of pushback on this still standing.

    The Trump administration has told Congress that it’s reached a deal that would allow Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE Corp. to stay in business, a source familiar with the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a confidential matter said Friday.

    A resolution of the ZTE case could clear the way for the United States to make progress in its high-stakes trade talks with China. But news of the agreement drew immediate fire on Capitol Hill.

    Under the agreement, ZTE would oust its management team, hire American compliance officers and pay a fine. The fine would come on top of the roughly $1 billion ZTE has already paid for selling equipment to North Korea and Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.

    In return, the Commerce Department would lift a seven-year ban on ZTE’s purchase of components that the Chinese firm depends on from U.S. companies. The ban, imposed earlier this month, threatened to put ZTE out of business.
    [snip]
    “If the administration goes through with this reported deal, President Trump would be helping make China great again,” said Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York.

    Schumer added: “Both parties in Congress should come together to stop this deal in its tracks.”

    “ZTE presents a national security threat to the United States — and nothing in this reported deal addresses that fundamental fact,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. “If President Trump won’t put our security before Chinese jobs, Congress will act on a bipartisan basis to stop him.”

    Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida tweeted: “It is a great deal … for #ZTE & China … Many hoped this time would be different.”

    Congress, Rubio said, “will need to act.” Source

    Declaring it D.O.A. is premature but remains not out of the running for consideration.

  75. 75.

    M4

    @Yarrow: my mom has it. She got attacks much more often before they diagnosed her with celiac, and now she has bad stuff less across the board. Not saying that’s the case here.

  77. 77.

    different-church-lady

    @M4:

    My day would be better if the comment box remembered my details on safari mobile and I didn’t have to use a shortened name

    Is that you, MI6?

  81. 81.

    Corner Stone

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Made me wonder if Meuller would have trouble using people like this (Credrico), and Nurnberg and Stone as witnesses since they often seem genuinely addled for one reason or another.

    I think they are all playing some kind of soupy swamp game of Telephone. Can’t believe a god damned thing any of them say about the others, or anyone. They all give this self-serving insider vibe off.

  82. 82.

    Corner Stone

    @RedDirtGirl:

    According to his reply, I wasn’t talking with the assistant at all. It was my boss pranking me! Fucking Hell!

    That is a flashing Red Light. That’s not a joke.

  83. 83.

    Yarrow

    @M4: Yeah, my friend gives up gluten off and on but isn’t consistent with it. She feels better when she’s off gluten. She’s also got some intestinal issues and staying off gluten helps those. As far as I know she’s never been tested for celiac. I know they couldn’t afford that at this point.

  84. 84.

    geg6

    @MomSense:

    They’ve checked everything. This has been going on for four years now. She can only drive on flat roads and that’s a challenge here in Western PA.

  85. 85.

    Corner Stone

    I get more pissed every single time I see the Leslie Stahl story about what Trump told her pre-election.

  86. 86.

    Steve on St. Simons Island

    @M4:

    My day would be better if the comment box remembered my details on safari mobile and I didn’t have to use a shortened name ?

    But I am pretty good! Thanks for asking. Yesterday’s job interview went really well. There is a long weekend coming up. My hair is just the right length this week too.

    I guess I should start another short story soon ? haven’t quite figured out the plot yet though.

    Sounds like the makings of a great plot right there!

    “Like the height of trees in desirable neighborhoods, my hair was all the right length. The job interview even went well despite my grating personality. In fact, the only thing going wrong on this glorious day was the comment box forgetting my name. I tucked the pistol in the my waistband and headed out in search of Alain.”

  90. 90.

    Steve on St. Simons Island

    @Yarrow: doing slightly better. I think the fact the Mayo is putting together a plan for her is a huge relief and takes away some of the frustration that was making her feel worse.

  91. 91.

    Corner Stone

    @Steve on St. Simons Island:

    The job interview even went well despite my grating personality. In fact, the only thing going wrong on this glorious day was the comment box forgetting my name. I tucked the pistol in the my waistband and headed out in search of Alain.”

    “Things were looking up for me, despite the fact that I was usually an annoying kind of random pedant. I had wanted to move to New York City for some time but it never seemed to become real. At last, I had the chance to break free from the chains of The City. The used needles, the homeless, the late night call and response from convenience store personnel. Only I had one thing to take care of first…and his name was…”

  93. 93.

    Steve on St. Simons Island

    @Corner Stone: let’s do this as a choose your own adventure story!

    If you load the pistol with hollow points, turn to page 32…,

  94. 94.

    Yarrow

    @RedDirtGirl: @Corner Stone: Yeah, that set off warning bells for me too. Not knowing the players or how people interact it’s a little hard to know, but the way it’s described left me thinking something isn’t right there. It certainly isn’t professional for the boss to be impersonating a client’s assistant. Depending on how it was done and what was done could be bordering on some kind of fraud.

    My recommendation would be to clear it up in the most professional way possible and then keep interactions with the boss strictly professional and don’t be alone with him. Something isn’t right there and that isn’t a prank.

  99. 99.

    Ruckus

    @MomSense:
    That is a great question. I have to take B-12 and have for over the last 3 yrs. It changed my life and gave me back quite a bit. As you can see above I still have issues but mentally I’m in much better shape than I was. Partially it’s from one of my meds that slows B-12 uptake. But B-12 is so important to our brains working that I noticed a difference by the end of the second day on B-12. Here’s some info for anyone who wants to know.

  100. 100.

    Steve on St. Simons Island

    @chopper: well played!

    @Yarrow: thank you! Beach therapy tends to help. She’s more relaxed than I’ve seen her in months, I’ve already forgotten what a union is.

  101. 101.

    Luthe

    @geg6: Microseizures? A reaction to medication? I know when I forget my morning lamotragine I spend the whole day having nanosecond long dizzy spells.

  102. 102.

    Gelfling 545

    @geg6: Had chronic vertigo. Nobody could really get a handle on it but the consensus seemed to be ocular migrsine, maybe, probably. Got acupuncture for 4 months. It’s gone. Still not reslly sure what it was but the being gone part is reslly, really good. Placebo effect or whatever, I don’t care. It’s gone. It’s been gone a good few years now.

  105. 105.

    debbie

    @geg6:

    Vertigo can occur after a viral infection. My sister-in-law’s mother developed it. Nothing helped, and it eventually went away on its own.

  107. 107.

    SenyorDave

    Question – Is it possible that Rosenstein agreed to these ridiculous meetings because Mueller is close to wrapping things up? Or is Rosenstein sure there is absolutely no chance that there is even the appearance of anything there? I just can’t see why else hw would agree to it.

  109. 109.

    Corner Stone

    @M4: “It was a beautiful day in The City, I noted as I stepped over the dead junkies or homeless. In the end, what did it really matter? A little cool for the season but I was ok with that. It helped me hide my sawed off under the trench coat as I went in search of the only man in town that mattered. The asshole who fenced stolen comment box perpetuity. He had skipped town before, but the whisper was Alain was back. I’d find out. And it wasn’t going to be pretty.”

  111. 111.

    father pusbucket

    my sleep schedule is gehfuckten

    My personal preference is “aufgefricken”.

  113. 113.

    Yutsano

    @zhena gogolia: Somehow I got reminded of a great video series on Hiawatha. How my brain went there is a mystery, I’ve given up trying to figure that out a long time ago! But it’s an interesting thought experiment if the Natives of the Upper New York confederation had a more equal/advanced technological footing (and better immunity) what history would have been like. Their ideas of governance were certainly unique for the era!

  116. 116.

    gene108

    I was thinking of trying to make a pesto lasagna this weekend.

    I have never made pesto before, before I start, I want to modify the recipe a bit for some dietary restrictions due to dialysis.

    Is it possible to make pesto without the nuts and cheese? Could I try subbing in tofu to get the creamy texture the cheese and nuts would give it?

  118. 118.

    Platonailedit

    Looks like Irish women have collectively given their middle finger to the pedophile church and their own brand of wingnuts by a margin of 2 to 1.

  121. 121.

    donnah

    @debbie:

    Yes, the trees need to be finished, then I’ll probably do the heading and fill around the lettering at the bottom. The background will be a muted image of the trees in the Hundred Acre Woods, sort of like the clearing.

    I’m really excited to finish it, but it all takes time. It’s been a great project so far. And I’ll be really glad when I can donate it to our library.

  126. 126.

    Gelfling 545

    @Ruckus: B12 is great stuff. My hematologist says that as we age we don’t absorb a lot of things well. Today was shot day. Tomorrow morning I’ll be feeling great.

  127. 127.

    chris

    @Steve on St. Simons Island: Had to google-map St Simon’s. First pass – you took your ill wife to a bug and alligator infested hummock in a giant swamp? Zoom in – oh, it’s a luxury hummock in a swamp, probably has bug and alligator wranglers.

    Glad to hear both of you are feeling better.

  128. 128.

    Gelfling 545

    @gene108: You can do a pesto-ish thing with just the basil and oil and garlic if that’s allowed for you. Whirl it in the blender, et voilà. The taste is mostly basil anyway.

  129. 129.

    Spanky

    @M4: M4

    As far as Messier objects go, that one’s pretty good, although a tad too far south to really pop.

  130. 130.

    Ruckus

    @Gelfling 545:
    I take B12 and B2 for neurological issues and they do work. I am able to do the over the counter oral rather than shots, which is rather nice. B12 because, well everyone needs it and I wasn’t getting enough normally. The B2 is for migraine prevention and while it is not a cure, I still have them occasionally, my incidence rate is dramatically smaller.

  133. 133.

    Roger Moore

    @geg6:
    I had a coworker who had recurring, crippling vertigo. Hers turned out to be because she was chronically deficient in magnesium; for some reason she didn’t absorb it well from her diet. She started getting IV supplements regularly and was able to work again, but she was never quite 100%.

  134. 134.

    eclare

    @geg6: One of my aunts has vertigo and does some eye/neck exercises where she looks at a chart on a wall and does…something. She says it helps. Vertigo sucks.

  136. 136.

    Brachiator

    I had the day off and went to see “Solo.” Absolutely spoiler free quick review.

    I had a good time. The movie was a pleasant diversion with a couple of narrative surprises in an otherwise workmanlike production. The guy who plays a young Han Solo is perfectly acceptable.

  137. 137.

    eclare

    Going to adopt two cats tomorrow from a couple who can’t care for them anymore (relatives), and older cats do not get adopted to strangers. I’ve been stressing about it because I already have a very timid, declawed cat (he came that way), and a dog, but I think I have a plan for the herd. Operation Catnap commences tomorrow, not at dawn. Any suggestions for getting a very sharply clawed and angry cat into a carrier are welcome.

  138. 138.

    Steve on St. Simons Island

    @chris: thank you! For whatever reason, there aren’t a lot of gators here. An hour south in Jacksonville? Infested. But we do have bugs, and we are well South of the gnat line. The little bastards like to bite during your backswing.

  139. 139.

    Brachiator

    @Chet Murthy:

    The Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI exit poll on Friday suggested that voters had backed the change by a margin of 68% to 32%.

    Wow. A wonderfully emphatic rejection of the old rules.

  141. 141.

    Gelfling 545

    @eclare: my sister used to use gardening gloves and her husband’s motorcycle jacket. Though my Mewtant is sharoly clawed (and polydactyl) he has always gone peaceably into his carrier.

  142. 142.

    Mary G

    @lamh36: been following up on the tweets. Love the new hairdo you got in Dallas. I want to go to Australia, but probably never will. The plane trip would be unbearable unless I could afford first class.

  144. 144.

    Gelfling 545

    @Ruckus: Imteresting about the B2. My granddaughter gets awful migraines. I will suggest this to her. I don’t mind the injection at all. I do it at home so it’s reasonably convenient and with a very thin needle so it’s not painful. Works quickly and lasts a month (28 days, actually). I’ve had issues with anemia (including transfusions at one point) so the injections are in my life to the end and probably increased in frequency as time goes by. It does make such a difference though.

  145. 145.

    Mary G

    @M4: what about Against Stupidity? I keep checking.

    Those ten hours when my hair is the perfect length are heaven!

    I couldn’t stay off the net last night and screwed up my sleeping badly, but a four-hour nap has restored me.

    @Chet Murthy: Fuck the patriarchy! I never thought I would see the day when feckin’ Ireland is more liberal than here.

    @RedDirtGirl: I thought he felt bad you had to deal with The Asshole Client and was trying to help you out, but wrong way to do it.

  147. 147.

    Mary G

    @donnah: Your mastery of your craft never fails to astonish. Love seeing the work in progress and your library’s very lucky!

  148. 148.

    Joy in FL

    I saw on Twitter and then confirmed on the Tampa Bay Times website that Publix is immediately suspending political contributions. The die-in and boycott and publicity worked. I emailed Publix and thanked them.

  149. 149.

    Repatriated

    @eclare:

    Any suggestions for getting a very sharply clawed and angry cat into a carrier are welcome.

    If the carrier has a removable top half, take it off. This transforms it from “enclosed space of doom” into “mandatory seating location box”. Watch the cat’s tail as you put the top on, and practice quickly reassembling it without the cat present.

  150. 150.

    eclare

    @Repatriated: It is a top loader, but it would be difficult to remove the top half. It is also a side loader, and tomorrow I’m taking it over to their house to open the side door and put a can of mackerel in so the two can get used to it. I’ll then leave, and repeat on Sunday, with hopes of getting them on Sunday. Thanks!

  152. 152.

    Steve on St. Simons Island

    @Joy in FL: there’s a left wing troll in the comments! I didn’t know we had any. Other than, you know, Corner Stone.

  156. 156.

    Ruckus

    @Mary G:
    I think I agree on the plane trip for you all things considered.
    I flew to NZ 15 yrs ago and it was hard on me in steerage. And I was fit as a fiddle then. Today I have no idea if I could stand it for 13 hrs.

  158. 158.

    J R in WV

    @geg6:

    My dad had really terrible vertigo years ago, and the docs couldn’t find what was causing it. ENT doc said his ears seemed fine, etc. It eased up a little bit, and he was out mowing one summer afternoon, which he actually loved to do, pushing the mower around the hilly plot he had, when the mower blade picked up a wire which hit his calf.

    Deep puncture wound… off the the Doc. They hit him up with major antibiotics because of the type of deep wound, and lo and behold, it cured his vertigo permanently. Maybe worth a try?

  159. 159.

    Ruckus

    @Gelfling 545:
    Ask your doc but I take 200mg of B2 twice a day = 400mg/day and 400mg of magnesium oxide once a day. There have been a number of trials of B2 and magnesium oxide because some studies have shown that some migraine sufferers have both B2 and magnesium levels lower than considered normal.
    Like I said it isn’t 100% effective. I’ve had migraines for going on 50 yrs now so a bit of experience and sometimes I’ve had short to long periods that I’d get 4-6 migraines/month. Other times I’d go over a year with none. No rhyme or reason that I or any doc has been able to determine. And the only things that stop a migraine for me are drugs that shouldn’t be taken regularly as in 4-6 times a month. But now I get 0-2 a month. That is a massively better outcome than anything else I’ve done. I am also on a daily beta blocker that is known to help prevent them but I’ve been on that for over 3 yrs and it didn’t have an effect. The combination might.

  160. 160.

    J R in WV

    @Ruckus:

    Maybe you should insist that the VA refer you to a medical facility with more experience in neurological problems at one of the Universities around CA there somewhere??

    Someone well regarded once said insanity is repeating the same action and expecting a different outcome… sounds like your VA docs are stuck hard in that kind of loop…

  161. 161.

    Ruckus

    @J R in WV:
    Well it may be a doc issue. One of the neurologists prescribed a med for me which gave me massive hallucinations that were so disorientating that I couldn’t walk to the bathroom, 15 ft away. I don’t see him any more. The next one said I may have had a TIA, which is a mild stroke and often comes before a big one. So I spent 8 months getting checked out by both neuro and cardio to find out I didn’t and that my heart is working great. He also prescribed a opioid that basically got me stoned for 2 months and not in a good way. Last appointment I got him again and he tried to give me the same med again. He spent less than 5 min with me. He’s useless. The next neuro guy is very good and thinks he knows what’s wrong with me (Parkinson’s) but needs more to make a diagnosis. With the VA you get who you get, you have to make appointments for the days the people you want to see are in the clinic and then hope that you get that doc. Also the clinics are actually staffed by residents doing a 90 day rotation who then talk to their supervising attending, who then comes in to see you. It’s is an efficient set up when you have something they normally see, when you have something that is a judgement call, requires a lot of experience with and you only see them every 4 months or so……..
    As for docs with specific knowledge the VA does a lot of research on Parkinson’s because the percentage of vets with it is higher than the general population. They seem to be quite good with it, once they know you have it. And I may not, it can be lots of different things but they’ve ruled out a lot/most of them. If I have it, it’s early and the only thing the meds do is make it more livable, they are not curative. So the time taken can be annoying but it is not a life threatening issue.

  162. 162.

    J R in WV

    @Ruckus:

    I recall your list from a comment a little while ago. And the method of just having you see random resident, as you say that’s ok for folks with routine issues well documented in their charts, but you aren’t routine nor well documented.

    Best of luck. I’ve been seeing the same family doc/gerontologist since I was maybe 30… since the late 70s. He’s just a couple of years older than I, and plans to practice until he keels over. I dread that, as I have various chronic issues he seems able to deal with, and the next Dr may not agree with the treatment that has been working for years now. One never knows, do one?

    Best of luck!!

  163. 163.

    Ruckus

    @J R in WV:

    One never knows, do one?

    Someone somewhere said there are no guaranties in life. There sure aren’t. I’ve had two businesses wiped out in the last 25 yrs, earthquake and recession. I have been hit by a truck. I wasn’t in a car at the time. I’ve known love and known despair. I’ve outlived my family, I’ve outlived a lot of people I know. In the last 2 yrs 9 people I know, all younger than me have died. I’m still here, full of piss and vinegar. I can still make things in metal to extreme accuracy. So life isn’t half bad. Of course the other half sucks donkey balls but still.
    And best to you and yours!

  164. 164.

    Aleta

    @Steve on St. Simons Island: Like the height of trees in desirable neighborhoods, my hair was all the right length. The job interview even went well despite my grating personality. In fact, the only thing going wrong on this glorious day was the comment box forgetting my name. I tucked the pistol in the my waistband and headed out in search of Alain.

    The cloud of gnats that had dropped into my golf shorts alongside “Vivian” quieted down soon after the stretchy waistband closed on them. It was too hot to get riled up. With any luck the proven wicking action of the expensive performance fabric would desiccate them.

    The Subterranean Termite lay just ahead, cars clustered on a neighboring hummock. I turned into the roadhouse for some boiled peanuts and a fresh drink. The layman witch doctor was not behind the bar that afternoon, replaced by an unsentimental apprentice. I would have left a comment for my friends down at the station. But the form on my mobile device had betrayed me one too many times.

  165. 165.

    Aleta

    @Ruckus: You’ve been through a lot.

    Thanks for the info, and a reminder to take B12 again. I feel better when I do.

    I saw recent article about new ! migraine drug that is said to actually target the problem much better than previous scattershot medications. Newly approved and soon to be available. If you form an opinion on it in the future, I’d be interested to hear it.

  166. 166.

    Aleta

    @Ruckus: rats, my comment to you vanished. Was it the “dru ” or the “medicatio “– or “migrai n ” although you used that one.

  167. 167.

    Aleta

    I missed this, though probably covered here.

    Richard Engel @RichardEngel
    Our reporting shows members of President Trump’s inner circle, including Giuliani and Bolton, have deep ties to an Iranian group that was once classified as a terrorist organization.

    Guliani tells @nbcnews he can’t remember how much money he took from an Iranian opposition group that was once on the US terrorist list. Experts say the group is like a cult, and it pays those who give speeches singing its praises.

  168. 168.

    Ruckus

    @Aleta:
    Sometimes they just disappear. There is no known reason. WP just gets hungry and you post at that same moment – boom comment gone, never to be seen again.

  169. 169.

    Aleta

    Guardian

    A Guatemalan woman shot dead by a border patrol agent in Texas has been named as Claudia Patricia Gómez Gonzáles by local media outlets which reported that she travelled to the US in the hope of finding work to pay for her education.

    Gómez, a 20-year-old Maya-Mam indigenous woman, died on Wednesday after she was shot in the head by an agent in the border town Rio Bravo, Texas. Gómez left her home in the rural village San Juan Ostuncalco in the western region of Quetzaltenango earlier this month and travelled to the US to find work to pay for further education, according to an interview with her mother broadcast on a local TV channel.

    “She told me she wanted to keep studying at university but we don’t have the money … We’re poor and there are no jobs here, that’s why she travelled to the US – but they killed her. Immigration killed her,” said Lidia Gonzalez. “She didn’t do anything wrong.”
    …
    Details about the shooting remain unclear. According to US Border Patrol the agent fired his weapon at least once after a group of people he suspected of being undocumented resisted arrest and attacked “using blunt objects”. The agent, a 15-year Border Patrol veteran, was responding to a report of illegal activity just after midday on 22 May. In showing the aftermath of the incident which was posted on Facebook, a woman can be heard shouting at an agent: “Why are you mistreating them? Why are you mistreating them? Why did you (shoot) at the girl? You killed her. He killed the girl. She’s laying there and she’s dead.”

    In the video, an agent is seen leading away a small group of men. Border Patrol said agents detained three undocumented immigrants who had tried to flee the scene. Authorities later confirmed that the three men are Guatemalan nationals. The Guatemala consulate from nearby Del Rio has travelled to the scene.
    The FBI and Texas Rangers are investigating the shooting. The agent has been placed on administrative leave in accordance with Border Patrol policy.

    Gonzalez graduated as a forensic accountant in 2016 but dreamed of studying further, according to her father, Gilberto Gómez. In a separate interview the deceased’s aunt Dominga Vicente called on US authorities to show discipline and stop treating immigrants “like animals”.

    Hundreds of thousands of people from rural villages in Guatemala have been forced to risk the perilous journey north thanks to intense poverty in the region. In 2017, 65,871 Guatemalans were apprehended at the southern US border.

    The Texas branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has called for border agents were obliged to wear body cameras.

    “While we do not yet have all the facts in this case, Border Patrol’s history of violence against immigrants requires us to scrutinize every incident involving lethal force closely,” Astrid Dominguez, director of the group’s Border Rights Center, told CNN.

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