HorsesAss.Org

Man, I went for a semi-smokey bike ride yesterday without a mask. I thought it was clear enough. But no! Semi-smokey is still too much if you’re breathing heavily.

Someone in my family said that Trump ate a classified document. I refuse to look it up. If it happened, it’s so much less bad than separating families. If it’s not true, he still thinks Mexicans are rapists who can’t be judges, or at least judge him. He is a walking, talking violation of the Constitution; If he’s an eating one too, that’s probably the least of our worries.

I am beginning to suspect that electing a man who admitted to crimes while he knew he was on mic, and who surrounded himself with criminals, was a bad idea. Although Donald Trump is a crisis to our democracy, the fact that he got so far for so long is also exposing a flaw in our court system. The man’s criminality was known for a long time, but allowed to fester. We have had decades to do something, and yet he has been mollycoddled for 4 decades.

Anyway, lock her up or whatever.

Good dog.

I’ve had my dog Feisty almost as long as I’ve had this blog, a 13-plus-year span in which she has been a source of love, metaphor, and humor. And so, while I don’t really blog here anymore, I thought it appropriate to briefly post on her passing.

She was a good dog (mostly), a loyal companion, and an enthusiastic hiking partner. In fact, without her, I don’t think I ever would have cultivated my love of hiking through our region’s many mountain trails. I already miss her deeply. But after months of progressive kidney failure that left her unwilling to eat and increasingly unable to walk, my daughter and I sadly did the only humane thing to do, and held her in our arms as the vet relieved her of her suffering.

But since this is HA, it would be a disingenuous tribute to Feisty to mark her passing without making at least one political point: When we euthanize a beloved pet, we rightly call it an act of compassion. But if we euthanize a beloved family member, the law calls it an act of murder. Whatever. When my time comes, if I am unable to avail myself of WA’s Death with Dignity law, I sure hope that my daughter has the strength to lovingly murder me the way we just lovingly murdered our family dog.

Rest in peace, Feisty. In the remote event that there’s a doggy heaven, I hope you were greeted by 72 squirrels to do with what you please.

The Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally has been getting together weekly since early 2005. For our first nine months, until the indoor smoking ban, an evening in a Washington pub meant inhaling lots of second-hand smoke and going home with stinky clothes. So join us this evening for an (unintentional) retro edition of DL. I mean, if you are going to inhale smokey air, you might as well do it while sitting in a bar with a drink in your hand talking politics! Amiright?

We meet every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the room at the rear of the tavern beginning about 8pm.

Can’t make it to Seattle? There are 255 chapters of Living Liberally, including 23 in Washington state, seven in Oregon and three in Idaho. Find a chapter near you. Or consider starting your own chapter.

Thank you for asking, I am enjoying my vacation.

Thank you for asking, I am enjoying my vacation.

I feel like there has to be a better way of explaining the smoke than an out of context number. I mean the higher number is worse. But is, like, 50 smoke tolerable? If the number doubles do I cough twice as much?

Maybe thre can be a rating based on how many tears it’ll cause standing in this crap for an hour. Or maybe this is the new normal, and in a few years, we’ll all just have an intuitive sense of what the numbers mean.

Deuteronomy 19:21
Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Discuss.

Samantha Bee: Fascists to watch 2018

WaPo: Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor candidate wants people to know that he is alive.

The Atlantic: Why the U.S. should provide universal basic income.

Seth Meyers: Senator Elizabeth Warren talks about the Democratic Party’s shift to the left.

Slate: Attention, cyclists, it’s fine for non-bikers to use the bike lane.

Vox: How ID laws can put trans people in danger.

The Atlantic: Is the dinosaur–apocalypse story wrong?

Trevor: Spike Lee, “BlacKkKlansman” and fighting the rise of racism in the Трамп era.

WaPo: FAUX News’ latest fringe theory—Robert Mueller is more dangerous than Vladimir Putin

GQ: Why bad cops are almost never held accountable.

The Dotard Трамп and Other Puppets:

• Seth Meyers: Rudy Giuliani and Omarosa cause problems for Трамп
• Trevor: Does the Трамп n-word tape exist?
• Our Cartoon President: “We built the wall”
• Stephen: Omarosa reveals Трамп’s secret staff nicknames
• Jimmy Fallon: Tweets with Beats—Трамп is hurt by these “clowns and losers”
• Jimmy Kimmel: Wolf Blitzer on Трамп attacking the media
• Bill Maher: Omarosa week
• James Corden: Pet names for the first family
• Late Show: Manafort’s legal team has a crazy plan
• Stephen: Melania Трамп responds to Omarosa’s book
• Seth Meyers: Omarosa says Трамп tried to buy her silence
• Our Cartoon President: Omarosa releases Трамп tapes:

• Rachel Maddow: Unlike Nixon, President Dotard Трамп admin pursues enemies list in public
• Our Cartoon President: “We should’ve built this wall together”
• Jimmy Fallon: A Трампy monologue
• Ari Melber: Watergate Lawyer says GOP may need a “smoking gun” to abandon Трамп
• Trevor: Трамп has met his match with Omarosa
• Stephen: Трамп’s obvious attempt to change the subject
• Jimmy Kimmel: Omarosa’s bombshells on Трамп, Kushner, Pence and Scaramucci
• WaPo: White House “can’t guarantee” Трамп didn’t use the n-word
• Mark Fiore: No guarantees
• Stephen: Трамп freely criticizes the free press
• Seth Myers: Senator Elizabeth Warren talks about corruption in the Трамп administration
• James Corden: The Omarosa-Трамп tapes you haven’t heard!
• Late Show: Destiny’s child reminds Трамп to “say McCain”
• Jimmy Kimmel: Mommin’ with Sarah Huckabee Sanders
• Trevor: Hating Трамп is a booming business
• Seth fires a dog
• Stephen: Geography 101—World maps Трамп can understand
• James Corden: “The Omarosa tapes” are real and they’re unreal
• Our Cartoon President: “I got some things to say about Lebron”
• Lawrence O’Donnell: What President Dotard Трамп said about being Black in 1989
• Stephen: W. Kamau Bell, “Yes, he’s a racist”
• Trevor: Omarosa on her secret tapes & Трамп’s biggest weakness
• Jimmy Kimmel: The Dotard Трамп uses all kinds of “N-words”.
• Late Show: NOW that’s what I call racist
• Stephen: Another day, another Omarosa tape
• James Corden: Robert Mueller’s indictment song:

• Ari Melber: Robert Mueller Prosecutors say Paul Manafort is a lying criminal
• Seth Meyers: Omarosa says Трамп knew about hacked emails in advance
• Jimmy Fallon: Трамп News Network—Omarosa’s “unhinged” tell-all memoir
• Rachel Maddow: John O. Brennan—I gave Трамп a year to live up to the office. He didn’t.
• Stephen: Трамп’s NDAs are completely worthless
• Jimmy Kimmel: Why did Donald Трамп cross the road?

Amber Ruffin remakes art created by problematic men.

The Atlantic: Can the undocumented “earn” citizenship?.

WaPo: How “Respect,” Aretha Franklin’s iconic song, came to be

Jim Jefferies replaces his weatherman.

Mental Floss: The 2000s internet.

Trevor: Why people uncomfortable with breastfeeding should suck it up.

Seth Meyers: Spike Lee on the connection between Charlottesville and BlacKkKlansman.

Kurzgesagt: Wormholes explained.

Stopping Gun Violence in America:

• Mother Jones: The Parkland teens learned a huge lesson on their cross-country trek.
• Trevor: Matt Deitsch and Emma González on meeting counterprotesters
• Mother Jones: Sandy Hook and Parkland parents united by tragedy–and a shared mission.
• Late Night: 3D Guns—What are they and how do they work?

Vox: Why is California always on fire?

Trevor: Washington D.C.’s Unite the Right rally is a flop and Leo Deblin comes to the rescue.

Seth Meyers: The kind of story we need right now—waitress body slams groper.

The roots of racism in Charlottesville.

Samantha Bee: Undocumented immigrants make your food.

Minute Physics: The twins paradox hands-on explanation.

The Atlantic: A surprising U.S.-Canada border dispute

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Thank you for asking, I am enjoying my vacation.

Thank you for asking, I am enjoying my vacation.

I don’t understand how Medicare for all became the liberal end all be all for healthcare. I mean, sure, it’s better than the status quo. It’s much better than what came before the ACA.

But it’s still insurance reform rather than healthcare reform. Granted, it’s a rather extreme version. But it still says that we need insurance for everyone. I would rather have the Federal government build and staff hospitals and doctors offices than be everyone’s middle person.

Also, given some states’ grossness, I don’t think they would implement it, at least for a while. It took a while for the states to implement Medicare in the first place. Many are still resisting expanding it basically for free under Obamacare. It’s tough to imagine them being on board for covering everyone.

Thank you for asking, I am enjoying my vacation.

OK last vacation post. Back to the regular nonsense schedule later.