Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

You cannot shame the shameless.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

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

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Too little, too late, ftfnyt. fuck all the way off.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Republicans do not trust women.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

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On The Road – Rileys Enabler – Edinburgh, Dublin, Galway and Shannon

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Rileys Enabler

Writing from the Shannon airport (small and makes international travels a BREEZE) on the way home to Houston.

First part of the journey- 2 1/2 days exploring Edinburgh, including the Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile and all steps between. Edinburgh is a picturesque city, soaked in history and pubs. We loved it- stayed in a rented Air BNB with family.

Day 3- RyanAir flight to Dublin, the NYC of Ireland (sort of). Dublin is the definition of a bustling city- highlights of the stay there were the Fish Shop dinner (get reservations ahead, it’s booked solid and worth it) and the full Book of Kells experience at Trinity college. Breathtaking.

We rented a car from Dublin to drive across to Galway, and I was honking it would be rolling green farms but they’ve got a good bit of the highway surrounded by stone walls and high vegetation so the views don’t get really good until almost to Galway. Once close, plenty of low stone walls and sheep. Galway is a lovely smallish town to explore- lots of history and fantastic food (Nimmos by the Spanish Arch is lovely). We also did a special tasting meal at Aniar, which was built around all local ingredients and was a marvel.

From Galway we drove the Burren to see the Cliffs of Moher, and were blessed with sunny warm weather for the hike. The cliffs are incredibly beautiful and full of Puffins, though we did not see one in person, sadly. Highly recommend this part of the trip- the drive is a bit white-knuckle but worth it in the end.

Final leg of the trip was Galway to Bunratty Castle and village- a sort of walkable historic immersive experience and well worth the drive, over to Limerick for our last pub crawl and back to Shannon to fly out. Whew! Have loved our time in both countries and cannot wait to return and explore.

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On The Road - Rileys Enabler - Edinburgh, Dublin, Galway and Shannon 8
Edinburgh, Scotland

Portion of the Royal Mile shopping and historical district

A dog by any other name (open thread)

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Slate published an article that says dog names are trending more human-style in recent years. Anecdata from my circle seems to confirm this.

Humans tend to name new dogs immediately for obvious reasons. But sometimes I wish I’d gotten to know these fellows better before naming them.

Badger and Pete (dogs)

“Badger” and “Pete” suit them well enough. But as a pair, they are so Felix and Oscar! Or maybe Tessio and Fat Clemenza (sorry, Pete, but I know damn well your mind would be on the cannoli, even after a mob hit).

I also think “Feldman” would have been a terrific name for our bug-eyed Badger dog. Pete would make a fine ”Ralph” too — even though “The Honeymooners” was before my time, I can detect Pete’s Kramden qualities.

Oh well. We do the best we can in the moment and move on.

Open thread!

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Monday Night Open Thread

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I hope everyone had a relaxing and reflective weekend. I have been on a sustained several day stretch of doing jack shit. My big adventures were making several runs to Lowes because they have had a sale on mulch of five bags for ten bucks, and since I didn’t do a delivery this year- every couple of years I have a truck of it dumped out back, on off years I just get a few bags here and there. So that was just too good of a deal to pass up, even though the plastic waste pisses me off.

In other news, I may have a lead on some free pine mulch, because a massive tree a couple houses over was hit by lighting and cracked down the middle. It was weird- it had stopped raining and was overcast still, then out of nowhere, an explosion. I went out onto the porch and chatted with the neighbors and no one saw smoke or anything on fire or fallen, so we all headed back in. Turns out a massive pine had been hit and cracked down the middle:

Monday Night Open Thread 5

That happened on Friday, and then I guess last night the wind broke it in half and it fell:

Monday Night Open Thread 6

I slept through it falling of course, and only noticed today when I was coming home from Lowes. At any rate, the entire alley is closed down and I spose a tree service will be out and about some time this week to clean it up.

Other than that, not much of anything. I have managed to grow a pimple the size of a shooter marble on my forehead, my sinuses have blowed up, and I’m on season 2 of the Boys and playing Horizon Forbidden West. Wish I had something informative or interesting to say, but I just don’t.

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Open Thread: Capt. Theresa Claiborne Retires After A Groundbreaking Career

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United Airlines Capt. Theresa Claiborne accumulated more than 20,000 flight hours during her...

She’s been flying planes, both military and commercial, for about 43 years, breaking down barrier after barrier along the way.

But on May 23, Captain Theresa Claiborne will land her “final flight” at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey after traveling from Lisbon, Portugal, with her friends and family in tow.

“I’ve had a great career,” Claiborne told CNN Travel via Zoom shortly before setting off for Lisbon. “And it’s time for me to park the brakes for the final time on a big airplane.”

Retirement flight

While she’s looking forward to “closing that one chapter and starting another,” Claiborne can’t help but get a “little teary” when she thinks of the “wide-eyed” children who often marvel at her as she strides through an airport in her pilot uniform.

“After this, walking through the airport, I won’t have a uniform on,” Claiborne says. “People will just look at me like I’m just a passenger like everyone else; that’ll be a little different … I’m hoping that I can still make an impact on the industry.

“To still impart that knowledge on young people, and particularly young Black women, that they can do this.”

Becoming a pilot was something Claiborne, originally from Virginia, could never have imagined for herself as a young girl. She was about 7 years old when she took her first flight — an international jaunt to Turkey.

“My father was military,” she says. “So I grew up really all over the world … I’d been on big airplanes before but never dreamt of flying one.”

That all changed when Claiborne joined the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) during college and was given the opportunity to fly in a T-37, a twin-engine jet trainer.

“Once I got that first taste of being in the air and being in command of the airplane, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is what I’m going to do,” says Claiborne, who was about 20 at the time.

Sink or swim

While she was keen to apply for undergraduate pilot training, Claiborne explains that the US Air Force was only training 10 women a year at the time and “had already selected the women for my graduating class.”

However, this number soon increased, and Claiborne jumped at the opportunity to earn her pilot wings.

Around six months after graduating from California State University in Sacramento, she began pilot training.

“It’s sink or swim … Either you make it, or you don’t,” she says, pointing out that she found it particularly difficult at first as “she didn’t have a strong math background.”

“I just beared down and made sure that I made it, because that’s the kind of personality I have.”

Read the rest here.

Hoover award winner Theresa Claiborne was the first black woman to become a pilot in the United States Air Force. She describes her career in the military and commercial airline pilot along with the challenges she’s faced.

 

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War for Ukraine Day 824: The Bombardment Continues

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(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Quick housekeeping note: The girls are both fine. Rosie has another week off before her next round of chemo starts. I want to thank everyone, again, for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations. They are all greatly appreciated. I’m going to keep today’s update shorter.

One additional item: I know the news from Gaza is bad. I’ve seen the videos of the aftermath of this morning’s (local time) strike. You DO NOT need to see them. Or the screen grabs or pictures. It is enough to know what happened.

Russia attacked Kharkiv again today.

For the third day in a row, rescuers have been removing rubble from the store, finding the remains of the bodies of civilians who were killed. Meanwhile, russian forces attacked Kharkiv again today with three glide bombs, targeting a candy factory and an agricultural machinery factory. A 46-year-old woman was killed, and 11 other civilians were injured.

#LetUkraineStrikeBack

📷Suspilne Kharkiv

President Zelenskyy travelled to Spain today. Among other things he signed a joint security cooperation agreement. The video to his joint press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is below.

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Monday Afternoon Open Thread

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Not sure if I have shared this photo yet of Henry sliding off his pile of dog beds.

This was before his recent haircut.

And yes, that is a box of Christmas ornaments in the background.  And on my coffee table I have a ziploc bag of the ornaments that I have in a basket on my deck for the season, next to the front door.  At least they made it to the coffee table, where they were pushed aside to make room for my Easter decorations, which were pushed aside to make room for the vases of peonies.

Pretty soon I’ll have the whole cycle of holidays and seasons represented on my coffee table.  If I don’t run out of room first!

Open thread.

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Memorial Day Monday Open Thread

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Going back to at least the medieval church calendar, there’s been a community tradition of scheduling a ‘holiday’ approximately once every six weeks. And from what I’ve read of medieval history, decrying the behavior of people who chose to celebrate every sacred holiday with feasts, festivals, and avoiding their religious duties goes back just about as far…

… 3. HAS MEMORIAL DAY ALWAYS BEEN A SOURCE OF CONTENTION?
Someone has always lamented the holiday’s drift from its original meaning.

As early as 1869, The New York Times wrote that the holiday could become “sacrilegious” and no longer “sacred” if it focuses more on pomp, dinners and oratory.

In 1871, abolitionist Frederick Douglass feared Americans were forgetting the Civil War’s impetus — enslavement — when he gave a Decoration Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery.

“We must never forget that the loyal soldiers who rest beneath this sod flung themselves between the nation and the nation’s destroyers,” Douglass said.

His concerns were well-founded, said Ben Railton, a professor of English and American studies at Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts. Even though roughly 180,000 Black men served in the Union Army, the holiday in many communities would essentially become “white Memorial Day,” especially after the rise of the Jim Crow South, Railton told the AP in 2023.

Meanwhile, how the day was spent — at least by the nation’s elected officials — could draw scrutiny for years after the Civil War. In the 1880s, then-President Grover Cleveland was said to have gone fishing — and “people were appalled,” Matthew Dennis, an emeritus history professor at the University of Oregon, told the AP last year.

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