Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

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

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

So many bastards, so little time.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Even though I know this is a bad idea, I’m off to do it anyway!

Maybe you would prefer that we take Joelle’s side in ALL CAPS?

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

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129Comments

  2. 2.

    sab

    Northern lights here proved to me that Ohio isn’t Iceland. But my 72 yo husband had never seen the Milky Way and now he has.

    We saw Northern Lights, but only dimly between the trees.

    He didn’t want to go out at all, but I said “I am 70 and it has been on my bucket list for most of my life and we will never get to Iceland!” so being a good guy he got in the car and went. We had fun just driving around looking for a site. We kept bumping in to the same group of kids who had good advice.

    I am glad he has had cataract surgery because I am really night blind with traffic.  Just being a passenger was scary. I would hate to be a deer. We drove up one twisty road that we ( my parents and me) drove every week when I was young ( Cleveland Orchestra’s summer home, Blossom Music Center) and although I am very familiar with the road I had trouble seeing. Husband could see, but very twisty road he is not very familiar with.

    Other sites were better.

    ETA Husband was in Coast Guard stationed near Lake Huron. He should have seen the Milky Way, but apparently he never bothered to look up. Typical.

  3. 3.

    🐾BillinGlendaleCA

    @sab: I’ve seen shots from June Lake(near Mammoth) all the way down to the Salton Sea.  I wish I had a car that didn’t have a tire I  can’t trust, It looked amazing.  We had cloud cover.

  4. 4.

    sab

    @🐾BillinGlendaleCA: You had cloud cover!?  What a waste!  And Chris Mathews wasn’t home at all.

    For this I want to actually see myself. I have seen amazing photos forever.

    Sunday night might be clear again, and most people need to be home in bed.

    ETA I haven’t hated big trees so much since we moved up from Florida when I was twelve, 58 years ago. I lost all horizons and gained forests. It’s been a tradeoff.

  6. 6.

    Splitting Image

    I’m a little jealous of everyone who got to see the aurora last night. It was cloudy here and it’s raining right now, so I’m not holding out much hope for tonight.

  7. 7.

    trollhattan

    We saw no aurora last night on account of forgetting about it on account of driving back from the Bay Area after watching Runner Girl @ her last meet. Or maybe her penultimate meet depending on whether her time qualifies for NCAA West. Find out next week.

    If she makes that it’s still our last time watching in person on account of “West” meaning Fayetteville, Arkansas this year.

    And in pet news, our Rocco turns eight today. Squeezing a few more months out of his puppy phase, sugar face and all. Stopped eating our shoes, though.

  8. 8.

    AliceBlue

    From 1967-68 we lived on Loring AFB in Maine, about 5 miles from the Canadian border.  I remember us standing in our back yard one cold night and seeing the Northern Lights; they were red, shimmering and flashing.  We were absolutely transfixed and I can still see them in my mind all these years later.

  9. 9.

    🐾BillinGlendaleCA

    @NotMax: I replaced the one that had a leak and I’d have to add air to once a week to drive it, they noticed that one of the others had unusual wear, so best not to drive it too far until I get it replaced.

  10. 10.

    eclare

    @NotMax:

    Whoa those are huge!  I plan to downsize as I get older, I can still lift my 50 pound dog, but in fifteen years?  Doubtful.

    Very happy to report that she did her job today.  As a single female, I don’t respond to door knocks unless I am expecting someone.  Someone knocked, and Lucy sprang into action, racing to the front door and barking.  Whoever it was left quickly.  Who’s a good girl!

  11. 11.

    NotMax

    Quite the auroral show witnessed in the Poconos not long after sunset sometime in the late 1960s or maybe very early 1970s. Unable at this far a remove to pinpoint the date more precisely.

  12. 12.

    sab

    OT I just mailed off my dad’s second to last tax return. I signed it because he’s dead, and I forgot to include Form 56. What was I thinking? Urk. I needed more copies of the probate appointment letters, and forgot to put a postit on the file.

    The mind turns to mush when the decedent is your own loved one. I have known that for decades, but forgot it when my own mind was mush.

  14. 14.

    Jeffro

    This whole thing – the multiple levels of criming, scamming, and outright poor business management – is almost hysterical.  Almost.

    trump may owe $100M from claiming a “double-dip” tax break (gift link)

    Do average Americans get to count losses twice against their taxes?  Or blame – and SUE! – their lenders when they default on a vanity project?  Hmmm…

    Former President Donald J. Trump used a dubious accounting maneuver to claim improper tax breaks from his troubled Chicago tower, according to an Internal Revenue Service inquiry uncovered by The New York Times and ProPublica. Losing a yearslong audit battle over the claim could mean a tax bill of more than $100 million.
    The 92-story, glass-sheathed skyscraper along the Chicago River is the tallest and, at least for now, the last major construction project by Mr. Trump. Through a combination of cost overruns and the bad luck of opening in the teeth of the Great Recession, it was also a vast money loser.

    But when Mr. Trump sought to reap tax benefits from his losses, the I.R.S. has argued, he went too far and in effect wrote off the same losses twice.

     

    There is no indication the I.R.S. challenged that initial claim, though that lack of scrutiny surprised tax experts consulted for this article. But in 2010, Mr. Trump and his tax advisers sought to extract further benefits from the Chicago project, executing a maneuver that would draw years of inquiry from the I.R.S. First, he shifted the company that owned the tower into a new partnership. Because he controlled both companies, it was like moving coins from one pocket to another. Then he used the shift as justification to declare $168 million in additional losses over the next decade.

    As his cost estimates increased, Mr. Trump arranged to borrow as much as $770 million for the project — $640 million from Deutsche Bank and $130 million from Fortress Investment Group, a hedge fund and private equity company. He personally guaranteed $40 million of the Deutsche loan. Both Deutsche and Fortress then sold off pieces of the loans to other institutions, spreading the risk and potential gain.
    Mr. Trump planned to sell enough of the 825 units to pay off his loans when they came due in May 2008. But when that date came, he had sold only 133. At that point, he projected that construction would not be completed until mid-2009, at a revised cost of $859 million.

    He asked his lenders for a six-month extension. A briefing document prepared for the lenders, obtained by The Times and ProPublica, said Mr. Trump would contribute $89 million of his own money, $25 million more than his initial plan. The lenders agreed.

    But sales did not pick up that summer, with the nation plunged into the financial crisis that would become the Great Recession. When Mr. Trump asked for another extension in September, his lenders refused.

    Two months later, Mr. Trump defaulted on his loans and sued his lenders, characterizing the financial crisis as the kind of catastrophe, like a flood or hurricane, covered by the “force majeure” clause of his loan agreement with Deutsche Bank. That, he said, entitled him to an indefinite delay in repaying his loans. Mr. Trump went so far as to blame the bank and its peers for “creating the current financial crisis.” He demanded $3 billion in damages.

    unnnnnnnreal

  15. 15.

    MattF

    I saw the Northern Lights when I was in college, at Cornell. There was a big hill leading up from the freshman men’s dorms to the main campus, and people just sat on the hill watching the lights in the sky. It was late ‘60s, so lots of ‘Oh wow’ing aided by pharmaceutical enhancement.

  16. 16.

    Tony Jay

    Catching up on Eurovision a bit late after delayed Doctor Who.
    Luxembourg teetering on the brink of being Prime Eurovision.

    Lithuania have a singer called Silvester Belt? And he’s come in Andre the Giant’s best 1970’s ‘going the disco’ outfit?

  20. 20.

    TBone

    @Jeffro: holee SHIT

    I was just yesterday wondering what huge frauds of his we don’t yet know about.  I was wondering what tea Michael Cohen might spill after he’s finished testifying in NYC but I know that’s a pipe dream if he wants to stay alive…

    Russia, if you’re listening

  21. 21.

    Jackie

    Sheldon Whitehouse says it looks like quid pro quo and it’s likely the Senate will investigate TIFG 👍🏻

    Former President Donald Trump recently made a controversial proposal to a gathering of oil executives and lobbyists at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida: favorable policy in exchange for $1 billion in campaign cash.

    Now, it looks as if the U.S. Senate may launch an official inquiry into the ex-president.
    That’s according to the New Republic’s Greg Sargent, who spoke to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) about Trump’s recent entreaty to the oil industry. Whitehouse said it was “highly likely” that the Senate Budget Committee would investigate the former president over his brazen offer.

    “The phrase that instantly came to mind as I was reading the story was ‘quid pro quo,’” Whitehouse said, adding that he was also concerned about a series of proposed executive orders oil lobbyists drafted for Trump and to have ready to sign on day one should he win a second term in November.

    “Put those things together and it starts to look mighty damn corrupt.”

    Lots more at the link: https://www.rawstory.com/mighty-damn-corrupt-senate-likely-to-investigate-trumps-quid-pro-quo-with-oil-barons/

  22. 22.

    Miki

    @sab: You must have listened to George Szell conducting the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom – lucky you!

    My first favorite recording of any classical music was Robert Marcellus playing Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Szell. (I played clarinet and my teacher lent me the recording to listen to in preparation for a state contest.)

    Then I heard a recording of Szell conducting Cleveland on Beethoven’s Eroica. It became another favorite. Then Szell conducting Braham’s 4th. These many, many, many years later he’s still a favorite conductor.

    Apparently Szell could be a real jerk, and was criticized for conducting from his head instead of his heart. But damn – if that’s where you start hearing great orchestral recordings it’s hard to listen to other versions.

  23. 23.

    Tony Jay

    OMFG. Spain Must Win!!
    Lycra & Lace Granny with two bearded guys in Fuck Me Boots and assless gimp pants.

    THIS! IS! EUROVISION!!!!!!!

  25. 25.

    MattF

    @TBone: I was reading, just yesterday, that TFG accused Biden of cheating at golf. Yes, every accusation is an admission, but that’s an example for the psychology textbooks.

  27. 27.

    eclare

    @Tony Jay:

    I’m following a live blog, sounds nutty as usual, which is good.  If you haven’t seen Finland’s entry yet, just wait.

  28. 28.

    sab

    @Miki: We moved up from Florida where our orchestra couldn’t even finish together. We were sort of lucky to even have an orchestra. Van Cliburn played for them and I got his autograph. He was very tall and very kind.

    Then I went to George Szell concerts. I was only twelve, but I was stunned and enraptured.

  29. 29.

    Tony Jay

    @eclare:

    I’m up to Ireland. Marilyn O’Manson doing half hearted Oirish Paganism with faint echoes of Finland’s Lordi.

  30. 30.

    TBone

    @MattF: he is always, always so effin PETTY. I’m really enjoying the extra spotlights he’s bringing on himself.  He’s not gonna get out of everything, after we trounce that fat bastard at the ballot box. Something is gonna catch up with his trifling ass

  31. 31.

    Jackie

    @Baud: Biden plays some golf, but he prefers bike riding as opposed to sitting in a golf cart for exercise.

  34. 34.

    NotMax

    Arm on the side where received the COVID jab yesterday throbbing to beat the band, fingertips intermittently tingly or slightly numb. It’ll pass in another day or two, as it has previously. Meanwhile too tender to lie down on or roll over onto that side.

    Why I ask for the injection to be administered in the non-dominant arm. Learned my lesson about that after the reaction to the very first shot when vaccine initially became available

  36. 36.

    prostratedragon

    @Jeffro: Oh boy. Going to get back to the article later, but I know some of the story already. Note that the business plan hallucinated envisioned substantial ongoing income, as well as buzz and cachet, from leases to high-end retailers located in mall floors in the base of the building. Which sits jammed up to north end of the Wabash Ave. bridge. Blocks away from the N. Michigan strip where all the Burberrys and Ferragamos are. The “losses” or failures to perform generate themselves.

  44. 44.

    Tony Jay

    @eclare:

    The UK entry almost made me agree with fusty white geriatrics about the dangers of gays in sport, but it was too turgid and weakly delivered to even do that well.

    Sorry, Ollie. Nil points.

  46. 46.

    Anoniminous

    @Jackie:

    My MIL played golf back in the day when players walked around the course.  She said she liked it because she could go bird watching, got some outside time,  exercise, and nobody could bother her.

  48. 48.

    DrDaveChemist

    @Miki: Too young for Szell, but I got to see Maazel conduct from the front row of Severance Hall when I was in HS, and his recording of Moussorgsky is outstanding. My memories of Blossom are mostly pop music but I’m pretty sure my parents took me to a classical concert or two shortly after Blossom opened. I was totally disappointed to discover after moving to New England that the lawn at Tanglewood isn’t sloped like the lawn at Blossom, but they do let you bring a bottle of wine, which was absolutely off limits at Blossom.

  52. 52.

    prostratedragon

    For those interested in video game music, wfmt.com is streaming a program this evening that will listen to some examples. For some years the station has expanded a weekly segment on movies scores to include game music. I’m not a gamer apart from board and card claasics, but i noticed that this is really good music.

    The show airs at 7 Central/8 Blog at the url above (click Listen), and will be available for a couple of weeks at the show’s website, “Sounds Classical”. Also, the station has put up an article and Spotify playlist of video game music.

  55. 55.

    Miki

    @sab: Yikes. And wow!

    I’m always grateful that I had a family that loved classical music, that I grew up when public schools supported and funded classical music, and that my community did the same (Minneapolis and St. Paul).

  57. 57.

    🐾BillinGlendaleCA

    So I got out my el cheepo solar telescope to look at the Sun and see the cause of this whole aurora thing, a large group of sunspots.  I was able to see them as well as other sunspots.  No pics, only visual; so far.

  58. 58.

    Jeffro

    @MattF:I was reading, just yesterday, that TFG accused Biden of cheating at golf.

    I saw that and that’s when I knew that irony is really, truly dead.

    LOLOL

    Just pathetic.

     

    @Baud: I don’t think he plays very often at all, which makes it even funnier!

    trump: “BIDEN IS OBSESSED WITH WATCHING FOX NEWS!!1!”

  60. 60.

    sab

    @DrDaveChemist: I saw and heard  Szell and the Orchestra at Blossom, but it was many years before I saw the Orchestra at Severance, and that was years after Szell died. A huge regret, but I was too young to drive.9

  61. 61.

    Jeffro

    @prostratedragon: in a way, I almost understand him suing his own lenders.

    “You actually BOUGHT all that b.s. I was shoveling at you?  Nothing about that plan was ever going to work, except possibly to stroke my ego of course.  You morons…how could you be dumb enough to lend to ME?” – djt

  62. 62.

    Sure Lurkalot

    One of my neighbors moved to a nearby condo last year. She’s bipolar and was a bit of a PITA on HOA issues but generally, a good egg. She had a dog whom she would walk 4 or 5 times a day until about 2 years ago when my neighbor had to put her to sleep due to illness and old age. It was doubly sad because that dog was her life, she could never hold down a job and she made the decision that she just couldn’t afford to get another dog.

    The doorbell rang this morning, it was my old neighbor holding an adorable 2 month old puppy, Pumpkin, just the sweetest little doggo you ever could meet. I just about burst into tears, so happy for both of them.

  65. 65.

    Ruckus

    @NotMax:

    So has tire technology. Most tires are far better. I know, I used to sell and mount tires when I worked in a gas station. A few hundred decades ago.

  66. 66.

    Ohio Mom

    Today we switched out the old bedroom rug — which had a hole on Ohio Dad’s side, worn by his shoes and his all-around bull-in-china-shop nature.

    That meant moving a lot of funiture and removing all the dust and grime that had accumulated under and behind said furniture.

    Everything is almost back in place. The new rug is a lot louder visually than the old one. It’s an adjustment. It was a great steal from FB Marketplace, we budget-watchers must make do.

  70. 70.

    sab

    @Miki: You had good music there.

    My mom loved music. My dad didn’t. He had more and better music training than my mom, but he just didn’t get it. He tried, but he just didn’t get it. My older sister the art historian is the same. Her brain is totally visual. My dog likes music better than she does, and it makes the dog howl.

    My sister has musical kids. The oldest kid sang solos in the church choir. His aunt has a bachelor’ s degree in voice and piano from China and a masters from San Francisco. The oldest’s kid’s teacher told my sister to just stop. Any imput from her about music made her kid worse.( Made me laugh. I am not a perfect person.)

  72. 72.

    Miki

    @DrDaveChemist: That orchestra has given us a boatload of talented performances ….

    I only know Mussorgsky from Night on Bald Mountain in Fantasia, in 1975, in a small movie theater in Carmel By The Sea, and some acid. Intensely memorable.

  74. 74.

    Tony Jay

    @eclare:

    The Boy here has just watched Slovenia and written ‘put on some clothes’ in his scorecard.

    Baggy orange undies?

  77. 77.

    sab

    @Miki: Everythibg about Northern Ohio is music, and every kind of music at the highest level. Kind of leaves art historians out lost in the snow.

  78. 78.

    eclare

    @Tony Jay:

    I thought it was pretty good.  Attractive woman who can actually sing surrounded by half naked writhing young men…

  79. 79.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Miki:

    Never saw Szell at Blossom, but saw and heard him conduct the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance when I was young. My first classical music album was a compilation called “100 Men and a Perfectionist” and I realized Emerson, Lake and Palmer were totally ripping off Janáček.

  88. 88.

    sab

    @NotMax: Probably unfair, but I always thought of Sandusky as either Cedar Point Amusement Park (amazing)  or alternatively as where the drunks go to drink (not at all amazing, even with a great lake backdrop.)

  89. 89.

    prostratedragon

    @Jeffro:  That whole side of the story really needs to be excavated and told in every medium imaginable. What were so many people “thinking.”

  91. 91.

    sab

    @sab: Not really. We have a lot of visual artists here also. Just being snide because sister disagrees.

  94. 94.

    Jay

    Wildfire evacuations have started, in BC, Alberta and Manitoba. Air quality alerts for Edmonton.

  96. 96.

    Jeffro

    @Jackie: I had forgotten about that one!  lol

    I like how Biden/Harris 2024 keeps using that picture of trump on the golf course: pale, flabby, confused, and looking generally horrible.

    It’s so overdue that even our normally quick-to-clutch-those-pearls snooze media hasn’t even taken a token “Biden campaign goes low, uses unflattering picture of trump” swipe at BH’24.  Tells you something!

  97. 97.

    DrDaveChemist

    @sab: Isn’t Sandusky also where you take the ferry to the Lake Erie islands? Speaking of drunks, I have a tiny printed wine glass from my grandfather (maybe?) from a winery on Middle Bass Island with a verse from Psalms (to appease my Baptist ancestors?). I vaguely recall visiting the Perry  monument on South Bass Island commemorating the Battle of Lake Erie from the War of 1812.

  99. 99.

    Anoniminous

    @Jay:
    Expect more as the fires still smouldering from 2023 burst back into flame.​

    In Sumatra peat fires have been burning since 1997. Every year the flames die back only to start forest fires in the next.

  101. 101.

    Jay

    RFK Jr.’s medical revelation is surely a first in American politics. We’ve been getting a lot of those firsts lately. Once upon a time, breakthroughs in U.S. politics tended to involve marginalized groups fighting through barriers of prejudice to claim their rightful place in the public sphere.

    Nowadays it’s more like: multiple felony charges, sexual assault verdicts, insurrections, dog-murdering and white supremacy need not be politically disqualifying. You shall overcome, thugs, half-wits and psychos! In this electoral climate, a brain-eating worm might feel right at home. Necessary, even.

    Perhaps brain parasites are even in line with our cultural moment. Season two of the HBO series The Last of Us is filming in Vancouver right now, continuing the story of people infected with a terrible parasitic invader that transforms them into predatory, ravening beasts. It might not seem like an obvious political persona. But TV shows have launched worse political careers — recall The Apprentice.

    https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2024/05/10/Doc-Steve-RFK-Jr-Brain-Eating-Worm-Parasite-Political-Circus/

  102. 102.

    Tony Jay

    @kalakal:

    These ones do! I haven’t seen this much shady crack since I had to spend a cold month in Philly working for the Maggia.

  103. 103.

    prostratedragon

    @MattF:  I know of the book, and it’s a reminder I guess that it’s not only tfg; after all, he had little to do with the housing bubble that began nearly 20 years ago and led to an earlier cohort of falling Deutschebank and other officers; type “investment banker suicide” in your search engine and you’ll be up-to-date.

  105. 105.

    Jay

    @Anoniminous:

    @sab:

    Most of BC, Alberta, Sask. Manitoba, Yukon, North West Territories, Northern Ontario and Northern Quebec is going to burn this year.

    We are in a major drought as well. Rivers that should be in spring freshet are not, some are bare trickles, some are just dry riverbeds. What water remains is superheated. We have already had major fish kills.

  107. 107.

    Anoniminous

    @Jay:

    Projections are for a La Nina to develop sometime in July-Sept of this year which should help you out a little bit with higher than normal precipitation.

    Here in my part of New Mexico mountains that “should” (sic) have over 2 meters of snow have nothing and that in a El Nino year which is supposed to send above average precipitation.  La Nina generally makes it dryer here so we’re expecting some towns to run out of water by late summer.

    FUN!!!

  108. 108.

    Jay

    @sab:

    Our first “Forest Fire of Note”* for 2024 was in January, on Vancouver Island, in the RainForest. The Rainforest never used to burn.**

    *that’s a Ministry term for a fire large enough to require multiple crews, air support and threatens property.

    **well, except for the Fraser River fires of 1921, but that was due to horrible logging practices.

    since 2020, forest fire season here has started roughly 2 weeks earlier each year. What was a July/August event, is now an April/May event.

    Global “Weirding”.

    In 2021, we had a horrible forest fire season, followed by massive flooding in November.

  109. 109.

    Dan B

    @DrDaveChemist: I’ve been to South Bass Island and seen the monument to Perry.

    Also Cedar Point – the Breakers Hotel, rumored to have hundreds of rooms.  The rooms were so narrow it must have taken contortionists to make the beds.  The bathrooms, down Tha hall, shared, had mushrooms growing around the base of the toilets, and the window screens were covered with bugs.

    Lovely!

  110. 110.

    bjacques

    Switzerland (Nemo) really cleaned up in the jury votes. (According to Graham Norton, the presenter from Serbia looked like Missy from Dr. Who.)

    The people have Israel 320 points (somewhat expected) and Ukraine 307 points (completely unexpected), Croatia 337 points (expected), France 227 points (less than expected), and Switzerland 226 points to win!!

    Netherlands were robbed, but I doubt they could have beaten Nemo.

  111. 111.

    Dan B

    @sab: Music:  My mother graduated from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music as did my father’s sisters and two of my cousins.  My grandmother helped Gertrude Seiberling organize the Tuesday Musical Club at Stan Hywet which eventually produced the Akron Symphony Orchestra.  We went to the Cleveland Symohony Orchestra under Szell and to Blossom.  I hated sitting still and being quiet.

  112. 112.

    Jay

    @Anoniminous:

    It will depend on how strong the La Nina is, and the jet stream.

    The last La Nina didn’t do much for us, but it impacted the NWT and the Yukon.

    The one before that didn’t hit until November and caused massive flooding after a horrible fire season. Massive erosion and debris from the fire sites. The mud and debris negated flood protections, took out highways, railroads, bridges and the silt killed most of a generation of salmon by smothering the eggs. The silt is still there increasing flood risks. The Nicola and Clearwater riverbeds were raised 2 feet. The dykes have not been raised 2 feet to match because of land ownership/responsibility issues. Some areas of dykes have been raised, but you need the dyke to be all the same height, not patchwork.

  113. 113.

    Fake Irishman

    @DrDaveChemist:

    Funny, my parents bought wine to Blossom a few times in the ‘90s. A couple of high school buddies and I caught the Cleveland Orchestra’s  reconstruction of Beethoven’s famous Vienna concert where he debuted several piano concertos and several symphonies. Great fun.

    Mom also had a membership and got to sit in on a few rehearsals. She took me to one; first time I heard Sibelius’ Second Symphony — it was fascinating hearing them fine tune passages and connect the whole thing together. I remember reading the review from the concert in the Plain Dealer a week later and totally understanding what the music critic was hearing and discussing.

    utterly fascinating.

  114. 114.

    sab

    @Dan B: Tuesday Musical Society is older than the Cleveland Orchestra.

    My first political action, at age 15, was to campaign for John Seiberling, antiwar Democrat for Congress. Gertrude’s grandson. He helperd start Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and Alaska Wildlife Refuge.

    Grandmother was a Tuesday Musical Subsriber from day one. Mom was when we moved back north. I stopped when I got sucked into the elder care vortex and couldn’t go out at night anymore.

  115. 115.

    Miss Bianca

    @Tony Jay: How’s the Irish singer doing? Bambi Thug? I’m rooting for them!

    ETA: Should have read further down. Sounds like you are not a fan, lol!

  116. 116.

    bjacques

    @Miss Bianca: I thought Bambi Thug were fun, so they placed reasonably well. But Nemo’s song and incredible footwork on that tilting platform were incredible, especially appearing almost to lose their balance at exactly the same points of their routine, during the semifinal and then the grand final. (Yes, I watched both.)

  120. 120.

    Tony Jay

    @Miss Bianca:

    I didn’t mind them, but I’m always of the opinion that if you’re going to go crazy (and monster/nature dryad/zombiequeen certainly qualifies as crazy) at Eurovision, then really lean into it. The costumes jarred against the pretty mundane lyrics and it never really popped.

    Croatia’s entry certainly did, and while I preferred it to the Swiss entry I’ve got no complaints about Nemo winning. It was catchy, really well performed, and – most importantly – the performer just straight up enjoyed the performance. Other than when the votes go to a bafflingly bland dancefloor screamathon (quite often) it’s always acts who just come out and perform a catchy banger from the heart that win.

    I love silly, but they never win. Sorry Spain and Finland.

  121. 121.

    sab

    If anyone in your family has anything with Vanguard, take time now to figure out their problems. My dad had an account, an IRA. Supposed to be smooth sailing. Not! because one of my sisters had a Vanguard 401k account when she was single, and another years later when she was married. Same person, same social security number, but Vanguard cannot figure out that women get married and change their names. I did that, so my siblings, who did not do that, cannot get their share until I prove that maiden name me and married me are the same person. Not hard to do, but Vanguard won’t actually let you tell them that. Every call  in is two or three hours fighting through their phone menu and then being on hold with people who are clueless to help.

    I have always heard that Vanguard is good at investments. After this I dont’t care. Get the hell away from them. Who cares if they invest well if you can’t get your investment back.

  123. 123.

    Scout211

    @sab:

    We have been happy with Vanguard but when our two daughters married and changed their names, we changed their names on the list of beneficiaries on our accounts.  It sounds like your dad’s account did not get your married names updated on his list of beneficiaries.  It’s frustrating but there may be more paperwork and proof that they will need to release the funds since the names are incorrect on his account.

    I may be misunderstanding the problem you are having but it sounds like the problem is with your dad’s list of beneficiaries on his account and getting the funds released may take some time and added paperwork.

  124. 124.

    sab

    @Scout211: I had a couple of jobs when I was single. They didn’t keep me informed. I never actually had an investment. They just set up that I might since I worked there.

  128. 128.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @MattF: There was a big hill leading up from the freshman men’s dorms to the main campus

    Libe Slope, ascending from West Avenue eastward to Olin and Uris libraries and “The Straight” (Willard Straight Hall, the original student union) and the main campus beyond. There were paths (IIRC asphalted) down the slope with railings during my one year of grad school there, which stayed unshoveled (like practically every sidewalk in Ithaca) through the winter. I was boarding at Deke House and one subfreezing day just for the hell of it I tried navigating one of those snowy paths at day’s end. I made it without incident nearly to the bottom when I went arse over teakettle, my briefcase flying from my hand, as I tripped on the 3 snow covered steps just 6 feet short of the road …

    (I also recall that in years past the students would steal trays from the cafeteria in the Straight and coast down the slope on them. Apparently that lasted til one kid shot down the slope and onto West Avenue to be hit [and IIRC killed] by a car. Might[ve happened when you were there. After that the Straight made damn sure no one left the caf with a tray.)

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