There is a crow’s nest in the tree across from my apartment. They must have just had a chick, because they’re aggressively dive-bombing people. Over the weekend, I saw that avian asshole attack 2 people so much that they ran away. Fortunately, they haven’t gone after me yet. But others have. I feel like they’re more aggressive than usual this year, but I don’t know.

I’ve been trying to cut down on my time on the Internet. Not a complete shut down, but just not faffing around. Anyway. Turns out that I am once again writing some nonsense from the bus rather than having written anything in advance. Sorry, but it might be better for me.

Look, we all agree that Alaska Rep. David Eastman is the wooooorst. Fuck that guy. What an ass.

But! Maybe Seattle’s tourism industry should embrace it. A city so great you’ll have a dangerous second trimester pregnancy terminated just for a visit.

In Wednesday’s Open Thread, I called a hair shirt a “hare shirt.” I got called on it by Roger in the comments, and I feel so, so, so bad. I’ll have to say 30 hale merrys.

I was talking to Darryl last night, and he wants you all to know he is very, very, very sorry that he missed yesterday’s Drinking Liberally thread. It’s a deep sadness. It probably kept him up last night. He’s wearing a hare shirt.

I’m feeling a bit blah today. So even less of my nonsense than usual.

This week 3 of my dinners have been Rainier cherries. I don’t think it’s good for me, but it’s still pretty great. I was talking to one of the people selling them at Pike Place, and she said they were not from Washington yet. I may be done with them by the time the Washington crop is selling, but I doubt it. Hopefully the price comes down a bit.

I did have a minor ethical issue. On Tuesday night I had 2 pounds of cherries before going to Drinking Liberally. I wasn’t hungry. I don’t normally drink on weekdays. So I wasn’t going to spend money. Is it ethical to do that in a group if you’re a regular who normally gets food? I eventually felt bad and got the smallest thing on the menu, and over tipped.

It’s Tuesday night and I’m on the bus back home from Drinking Liberally. I just realized that I haven’t written anything for the open thread, and I just want to go to sleep when I get home. So here’s not much. Sorry.

2 things: I love talking the bus home, but this is the second week in a row where the post 11:00 bus has some unfortunate smells. Also the driver is really shouting at some driver parked in a bus stop.

Hope this isn’t too incoherent.

It’s filing week. If you’re in Seattle, that means you’re probably filing for mayor. But if you aren’t happy with your local elected officials or if there’s an open seat, you should consider running for something.

What a great idea to end homelessness! Just make it illegal to be homeless. Doy. Most people enjoy sleeping in tent cities and on benches so much that the only way you can possibly incentivize them against it is criminalizing it.

We can all agree that people with a criminal record are the ones we do best at integrating back into society. I mean look at how well it worked for drugs.

I am writing because I hope you will do everything you can to support an independent commission investigating Russia. With the firing of James Comey and, holy cow, the interview with Lester Holt, it’s clear that something is up. I don’t know the extent of Russian ties and I don’t know that anyone can at this point. But Trump’s words are clearly lies.

Thank you,

Carl Ballard

HorsesAss.org

(You can contact Senator Murray or Senator Cantwell for this or anything else.)

Only several hours after Ed Murray decided against running for reelection, the HA Editorial Board decided to endorse Ed Murray not running for reelection. Unlike The Seattle Times or other editorial boards, the HA Editorial Board encourages dissent (at Drinking Liberally last night).

So no, Ed Murray can run if he wants. Nothing has been proven. That said, if he decides to run, or even just in his public statements and defense in court, he should stop the victim blaming. And obviously, fuck him if he did it.

Carl Ballard

The headline is a little off (he was held in one facility rather than transferred to a different facility). And even if it was accurate, we’re not as a society going to be as worried about violent criminals in jail too long as we are with the early release scandal that happened earlier. Still and all, I hope he’s the only one. And we should have better safeguards going forward.

So the House Republicans passed a monstrosity of a health care plan. I normally don’t talk about national stuff unless there’s a local angle. But honestly: Fuck the entire GOP. I know, some of them didn’t vote for it. And I’m sure there will be a much tougher road in the Senate. But, you know. Fuck every last one of them.

If you’re represented by someone who voted for it, you might want to let them know that fuck them (but more polite, maybe?). If you’re represented by someone who voted against this shit show of a bullshit bill, please thank them. If you’re represented by Dave Reichert who opposed it on the House floor but supported something similar in committee, you might want to let him know that you see him.

I know it has been successful in many localities, but I just do not like the soda tax Seattle is considering. It always feels very fat shaming whenever people trot it out. Here in Washington where we don’t have an income tax, it seems like a strange place to use your time and energy to push.