United States

From occupied DC

magnificent view of arc de triomphe in paris

How does it feel to live in an occupied city? Well, it fucking sucks, man. How does all this feel? It fucking sucks, man. In case you’re unaware because you’ve been living under a rock for the past week or so, our so-called commander-in-chief decided that the capital (capitol) city is such a hornet’s nest of criminal activity that it is a national emergency that he had to surge the troops or whatever the fuck he is thinking on any given sundown. It’s all bullshit. This whole administration is bullshit. Don’t worry, though: it’s all a distraction....

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What even is the law now

referee showing red card to goalkeeper

You’re watching a soccer game: It’s USA versus Germany, World Cup knockout round. It’s early in the match, about 13 or so minutes in, and Germany are awarded a corner kick. Pretty normal stuff. Well, there’s some tussling and janking around in the box, a pretty normal big mess. But the referee blows his whistle—normal enough, and then the stadium announces that VAR is going to take a look. VAR, or Video Assistant Referee, is the name of a technology and procedure for looking at contested calls on the field. In a box, several referees look over...

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Trump take trophy

white adidas soccer ball on grass

From the annals of You Can’t Make This Shit Up: President Trump has revealed that the champions of the Club World Cup won’t be getting the original trophy, because he’s keeping it. English club Chelsea easily dispatched France’s Paris Saint-Germain in the final of the tournament in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on Sunday, with Trump joining the players for the trophy lift—much to their confusion. It has since been revealed that the intricate prize hoisted aloft by the London club’s captain, Reece James, was a replica because the president of football’s governing body, FIFA, has let Trump use...

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On the media (not the NPR show)

Antique newspaper

We all have our issues with the news media. There are just too many to name, count, or even describe generally. It’s a mess out there, whether it’s corporate power, two-siding every issue, hell, even just describing facts. So, I will limit this post to just one issue: I am simply begging the news media to stop covering voters and start covering elected officials. Barely a day goes by without some story popping around where either a Trump voter says why they voted for Trump (you know, to educate the libs), or somebody who is very hurt...

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Making America More and Less American, for 249 years.

I’ve always felt lucky to be an American, and still very much do.  It’s harder this July 4th though, to be proud when our rights and notion of equality are intentionally violated. So called “police,” acting at the direction of our government without warrants, just arresting people on vibes, including U.S. Citizens like Adrian Martinez, Andrea Velez, Jose Hermosillo, Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, Jensy Machado.  Doesn’t matter if you show ID, either due to their incompetence or arrogance, you can be put in jail with no lawyer. Last week a group of men in masks, street clothes, tactical...

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It’s what they always wanted

Jonah Ryan, running for Congress, giving a speech outside

The Big Beautiful Bankrupt Barbaric Baffling Bullshit Bill: What the hell else is there to say about it that hasn’t already been said millions of times all over the print and online media. Let’s recap: So why the hell are these people trying so hard to pass a bill that sucks ass and will basically mean their eviction from office? You’d probably answer with something like “fealty to Trump” or “afraid of losing the primary” and I guess there’s a certain way you would be correct. But, that’s not the primary reason. The primary reason is: Because...

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Samuel Alito saw a picture book he didn’t like

Several children's books shelf

Among a torrent of Supreme Court decisions today came one involving a picture book. Well, that’s a little reductive, but also not really. The case, Mahmoud v. Taylor, centered on if a school had to give parents an opportunity to protect their children from such dangerous things as picture books involving LGBT+ themes on the off chance it inhibited the parents’ rights to practice their religion. Without getting too far into the weeds with regards to the facts of the case, the case involved several families in Montgomery County, Maryland, who argued that the local schools adding...

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Energy blogging

Pylon transmission power lines

We’re currently living through two trends that are quickly converging with force. First, the electrification of the energy system: a long-running focus of environmentalists, who know that there is no way to combat climate change without changing things that run on fossil fuels to work off the electric grid. Sure, the electric grid currently is pretty dirty, but it’s long been far cleaner than burning straight fossil fuels, and the electric grid has the capability to get cleaner. So, we have things like cars, stoves, hot water heaters, furnaces, etc., joining the electric grid in massive numbers....

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Thank you, Thank you, and Childcare

person making clay figures

I remember when Mike Tyson was set to take on Evander Holyfield, when the first iphone was advertised, and when the Era tour tickets were scheduled to go on sale.  So, I’m not going to pretend like my return to the blog-o-sphere is not soaked with anticipation.  What’s he been up to? Has he written under a different name? What has he been drinking?  The answer is making charts, no, and check out this beer-score chart.  Here is the science to back it up: But what I would like to discuss today is childcare. Other countries do it...

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Alabama candidate for governor McFeeters gets an owie

Dirt bike riders motocross race

Ken McFeeters (maybe should stick to his McFeeters from now on) had a little mishap with a dirt bike. Okay, you see, he’s a guy who ran for the U.S. House and I guess lost, and I don’t care enough to look up whatever the hell else he has done, but he is currently running for governor of Alabama in the Republican primary against Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Stupidest Senator Who Has Ever Lived). Anyways, he decided to try a stunt where he would do a sweet jump (wheelie) with his dirt bike and call out Tuberville for...

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