I don’t know how much joy I should take from the Paul Manafort indictment. On the one hand, fuck that guy. He must have known what he was doing was wrong. I really don’t have any sympathy. On the other hand, it can’t end here.

I don’t know if it will. But just Manafort and his business associate is hardly enough for the crimes that have been committed.

In a previous post, I noted that men should have some idea that something is up with sexual harassment at work. I got some pushback on that. Now I’m reading about George H. W. Bush groping multiple women while making a joke about it. How many Secret Service agents heard his David-cop-a-feel joke and said nothing? How many other people were at those photo ops and didn’t say anything? The women’s colleagues, Bush’s people, photographers, other people in the area.

He said it out loud, in public, multiple time. People knew.

I got my ballot. I filled out all the easy stuff first. Mayor. City Council. The pointless tax advisory measures. But I can’t care about Port or School Board; I know they’re important, but they seem to be perpetually almost where they might be good, but never seem to get there.

And then there are the positions I don’t think should be elected. The possible rapist versus the racist for Sheriff. Judges who I’ll just support whoever NARAL endorses even though I don’t think that judges should be single issue people.

Sorry I forgot to put an Open Thread up this morning. I’m trying to finish a library book that I’m not really digging. But if I don’t finish it soon, I’m going to have to either return it or incur late fees. And there are other people who have it on hold, so I don’t want to keep them waiting. But don’t want to return it until either finish it or have something else ready.

Emmett has a piece on how Cascadia would have done in World Cup qualifying if we were a country. One thing that surprised me was our per capita wealth. I would have thought that it beat out the US, or at least come close. Oh well, at least the unis look pretty neat.

In the last open thread, I suggested that if you vote for the Republican in a partisan race, you are on team there are some good Nazis. I was taken to task in the comments for the grammar. I suspect that they wanted it to be team there-are-some-good-Nazis. But I think those extra hyphens don’t add anything. You could do all caps, I suppose team There Are Some Good Nazis. I guess the bottom line is don’t vote Republican: They think that there are good Nazis.

Ballots are dropping soon. I feel fine for whoever wins Seattle mayor and city council. As far as partisan races go: If you vote for any Republicans, you’re on team there are some good Nazis.

There was a store on one of my walks that I have no idea what it does. I have never been inside it, but it looks like it sold a random selection of dream catchers and potted plants. It’s not in the most expensive neighborhood, but it’s still urban Seattle. My best guess is that it’s either some sort of front operation, or a bored trust fund kid needed something to do.

Anyway, I walked past it the other day and it was gone. I think I’m sad about that. I’m sure the space will be put to better use, but I will miss walking by it and wondering what the hell was going on in there.

There is a special place in hell for the men who didn’t know something was up at work with other men. I can’t help but read it as “I made myself untrustworthy to all the women I work with.” If you never heard any rumors, it’s not because they weren’t going around. If you weren’t ever asked to stay late so a woman didn’t have to be alone with so-and-so, it doesn’t mean that so-and-so wasn’t giving off a vibe, or had a history, or whatever. If nobody has said “you’re a man, you go talk to him” or something similar, it doesn’t mean that those conversations didn’t need to happen.

Here’s the thing about Pence’s dumbass stunt that’s pissing me off: Nobody invited him. He bigfooted his way into a game just to leave. But nobody invited him.

Nobody was clamoring for the asshole who privatized a bunch of state assets and fought with the only Democratic statewide elected official because he wanted to fuck education over. Nobody demanded his mix of creepy and crooked show up at the game. The Colts did him a favor by letting him in, accommodating him and his security, and this is how he responded.

Woke up this morning: Another day without nuclear war. If there was a mass shooting, it was small enough that it didn’t make the news. These are the sorts of things we can think of as victories in the Trump era.

Another Open Thread written on the bus home from Drinking Liberally. The seat in front of me has a nondescript to go box in it. It’s past 11:00, so it’s not crowded; Nobody has to stand.

I both feel like I should do something, but also, nobody pays me to pick up trash. It seems pretty extreme to alert the driver. So, just write about it, I guess.

Another day, another mass shooting. Another round of meaningless expressions of thoughts and prayers. Another set of it’s-too-soons when anyone discusses solutions. Another rush to ignore a history of domestic violence (speculative at this point, but given the history). Another until the next.

Get your flu shot. Yes, you. Herd immunity is vitally important. And even if you think you’ll be fine, you never know who you’re passing it along to on the bus, out shopping, at work, etc. So for God’s sake, get a flu shot.

Do y’all use diacritical marks when writing in English? I only use the umlaut to indicate that you pronounce both vowels in words like reärrange. Because I am an idiot, when I write for work, I vary when I use them. So if I’m emailing someone in the office next to me, it’s äëïöü, but if it’s to a client or whatever outside, I just use unädorned vowels.