TGIF! [DOT 15/9/23]

15/9/23 MegMegMcGee 43

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Well that’s awful.

‘An alarm bell’: Libyan poet warned of flood risk in Derna before dying in storms
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/14/libyan-poet-the-rain-floods-mustafa-al-trabelsi

The dumbest timeline

Hunter Biden indicted on three gun possession charges amid Republican attacks – US politics live
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2023/sep/14/biden-impeachment-republicans-democrats-us-politics-live-updates

Spanish women are fed up

Spanish journalist confronts man who she says groped her on live TV
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/09/14/spanish-journalist-isa-balado-grope/

Wishing the worst on this guy

Police union leader said woman killed by Seattle officer ‘had limited value’
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/13/police-union-leader-said-woman-killed-by-seattle-cop-had-limited-value

Sprots!

Trea Turner, Philly and the case for not booing a struggling sport star
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2023/sep/14/trea-turner-philadelphia-phillies-mlb-fan-support-baseball

Stonks!

Dow jumps 300 points for best day since early August as Arm debut revives IPO market hopes: Live updates
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/13/stock-market-today-live-updates.html

Sign me up!

The 23-year-old who spent three years living in the Tower of London
https://www.cnn.com/travel/megan-clawson-tower-of-london/index.html

Have a super day!

avataravataravataravataravataravataravataravataravataravataravataravataravataravataravatar

43 Comments

  1. On my way to DC. Looks like a kind of meetup with Meg.

    • Meg meet-ups are awesome! Have fun!!!

    • That’s so cool! I’m sure you’ll both have a great time. 😁

  2. Our flight was cancelled so I’m stuck in the Dublin airport for 5 hours!  British Airways is awful!  Honestly, I’m surprised I’m alive right now after a week of driving the Irish countryside.  This place has the most insane roads I have ever seen.  Farscy, sorry I can’t hook up with you this trip.  Short England stay then wife has scheduled every minute in Brussels & Bruges.

    • I’ve got tickets to Ireland next April. Gotta go to the passport office today since I stupidly let mine expire.

      • Still waiting w/ another delay.  Ireland was beautiful & I’ll post some pics when I’m back.  If you are renting a car, I suggest you drive at breakneck speeds on some golf cart paths with other drivers doing the same in the opposite direction to prepare yourself.

        • That’s the plan at this point. Probably divide the duties with my brother-in-law, who used to be a truck driver.

    • no worries mate…tbh with how short staffed we are at mo i’m not at all sure i’d be able to get the time off anyways

      seems everyones catching a wierd flu like illness….and the rest is on holiday

  3. Once again, I sleep easier knowing that Hunter Biden will never be elected president and hopefully will be put away for decades.

    • He should fall on his sword, plead guilty, and ask for the maximum.  MAGAts will lose their fucking minds trying to figure out a new strategy for ‘24.

      • Nah, they’ll just invent something new to get mad about. No shortage of rage there.

        But I do hope this is another lesson for Biden (and Democrats, writ large) that if you bend over backwards to try and be “fair” in the face of right-wing nonsense, you only get screwed harder. (Even better would be if they learned something about the carceral system at large … but I’m not holding my breath for that.)

        I am mildly hopeful about Hunter Biden’s lawyers as they begin to file lawsuits over revenge porn/leaked files because that seems like the most open-shut case in legal history.

  4. Lying on the form?  Easiest defense ever, since denial is a well-researched phenomenon in addiction.  Possession charge?  The law’s been thrown out in three (Southern) states, whose denizens I’m sure will rush to Hunter’s defense.  Either that, or their heads will explode from cognitive dissonance.

    • Right? Republicans want EVERYONE to carry guns, including toddlers and service dogs. Except for Democrats. They should always be unarmed.

  5. I thought that article on the woman living in the Tower of London was going to be either about some kind of historical reenactment or possibly like From The Mixed Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankewiler, but it turns out to have been much more mundane. But it was an interesting article regardless.

    • …I confess I skipped that one…sort of assumed the bit that made it worth a write up would be whatever qualified her to be there but there’s a few people who live in the tower (or at least within the larger thing that’s inside the moat) & I probably would have clicked through if it was a beefeater who’d written about it

      …but if it’s interesting perhaps I’ll remember to check back later…ta

  6. I really hope the stonks link ends up more about the second part of the article’s lede — confidence in the economy being the driver — instead of the IPO angle. Higher stock prices due to rational economic expectations does good things for the economy, but more IPOs are stupid and counterproductive.

    • Even the Lake County conservatives are balking at this one. Mount Dora is moving ahead with it, and refused to reconsider, to their inestimable credit. Lake County is filled with MAGA Trump-humpers. Like my mother-in-law.

  8. I have a strange question for my fellow Deadsplinter folks, and it’s really perhaps a bit more of an ask/favor–not 100% fleshed-out yet logistics-wise, but after this weekend, I can figure the logistics…

     

    It’s for my Dad, really, because I realized within the last couple weeks, that I might  actually know enough people who are *already* near-ish these places, that they might actually be there before next April😉💖💞💝

    When He & I had talked (years ago!) about his wishes for after he died, he wasn’t particularly wedded to a “traditional” burial (his exact words when I asked him where he wanted to be buried were, “Aaaahhhh, I dunno… sprinkle a little of me here… a little of me there… if you’re going on a trip somewhere neat, maaaaaybe take a little of me along, and sprinkle me there too?”😆😂🤣💖

    And then, a few weeks ago?

    I realized, I KNOW people who are going to/near places that were important to him…

    And that’s when I realized, there was a *chance* to BRING those places back TO him!😃🤗🥰

    And I wondered if any of YOU who happen to be in the vicinity of them would mind mailing me a small pebble, or a teaspoon or so of sand–which i can place inside his urn when we bury it next spring–So that even if *I* can’t make it to alllll the places on the list with his ashes–THOSE PLACES *are* with him again😉😃💝

    So I’m going to share some pictures from his ship’s 1969-70 Mediterranean Tour book–and also the i can remember places he went for trainings, on the 70-72 deployment, and that were important in his family history;

    Norfolk Naval Shipyard

    Manhattan (Kip’s Bay), NYC

    Paisley, Scotland

    London, England

    Nieuwenhuishoek & Zwolle, Netherlands

    Paris (ideally, a pebble/sand from near-ish the vicinity of either Notre Dame or the Eiffel tower–since those were the places he went on New Year’s Eve)

    Cannes

    Valberg (French Alps)

    Malta

    Athens & Corfu, Greece

    Trieste, Italy

    Barcelona, Spain

    Memphis–Dad and the rest of the guys from the base where he’d just finished training were sent there to help keep the peace, in April of 1968, the day after Dr. King was murdered.

    There may be other places I think of, in the next week or two…

    But if it’s not too big a favor to ask, and any of y’all, or a close one of yours happens to be going to ANY of those places, between now & early next year– would you mind DMing me so I can send you postage for a little (1/2 inch/1 cm or so) pebble, or a teaspoon-ish of sand), to place in that pretty little urn with him?😉

    I already have connections in San Diego, I’ll be getting pebbles from the places where he grew up/lived *myself*, and even have a co-worker headed to Galveston this winter, who’s going to bring me some sand from there😁💝

     

     

     

    • And I forgot the pictures from the book-

      TW/CW, there ARE two pictures from Barcelona that were apparently taken during a “Bullfight.”

      They’re black & white pictures, so not super-graphic, but they do depict the middle of it.

      https://photos.app.goo.gl/5fXtxcFzSnQ4Uwxx8

       

    • That’s a touching idea. I don’t expect to be going to those places, but if I do I’ll help out.

      • Thanks, BDC!💗

        It was the Co-worker’s trip to Galveston (My Great Aunt & Uncle moved there in the 1950’s, and Dad visited them on his last leave, after training in Texas, before he flew out to meet the ship in the Gulf), and my cousin heading to the Gulf-side of Florida later, that popped the idea into my head.😉

        Shortly after, I realized that my old neighbor grew up in San Diego–and his parents still live there, and then I realized that some of the folks *here* are near/near-ish enough to some of those places, that they *might* go there in the next few months…

        And every time I thought about it, and realized I “know someone headed toward _____,” it just made me GIGGLE, because that it SO the goofy sort of thing he would’ve gotten an absolute KICK out of doing–and he would have just LAUGHED over the fun & absurdity of it🤣💖💫

         

        It’s TOTALLY something silly that he would’ve loved–and it just *feels* like 100% the thing I have to at least TRY to get done, before he goes into the ground** next May/June-ish😉

        My Auntie/His Baby sister is taking a pinch of him with her, to sprinkle when she & my uncle go on their trio to The Holy Land, this October–

        Back in 1970–Black September, specifically, The Forrestal rushed to the Jordanian Coast, to assist with cover & evacuate American Civilians.

        After my Auntie asked me if she could take some of Dad’s ashes with, was when I found out my Co-worker was headed to Galveston, and THEN my cousin said she was headed to Florida😆😂🤣💖

        So I felt like it was the PERFECT sort of Dad-joke from/for him, to at least TRY to get him a bit of earth from those places, to make up for the weight of ashes that I’m keeping out for *me* to sprinkle per his wishes, so that our priest doesn’t get *too* suspicious, that dad’s urn is “a little lighter than it *should* be😉🤫🤭

    • zwolle is near me and i will actually need to be there at some point once i make an appointment with the immigration people which ive been putting off coz no rush

      shouldnt be a problem

      nieuwenhuishoek i probably wont be near anytime soon tho..

      • Thanks Farscy!😁🤗💖💞💓💗💝

        I’ll figure out the logistics, to get you the postage AFTER this weekend (a bit busy with that whole “Shifting apartments thing!🤪😂🤣), but like I said elsewhere, EVERY time I’ve thought about it, & realized *someone* i know irl or from online is “going ____” it seems to just *click*, and it’s yet *another* “Dad Place”–sooooo ifigured I’d just throw the idea *out there* into the Universe, and just SEE if I can get at least *some* of those pebbles/bits-o-earth for him(and it’s been CRACKING me up, as I’m moving!😆😂🤣).

         

        He would have LAUGHED SO much about it–ESPECIALLY if I can get a few from “mh interwebs folks, because he was SO computer-phobic–but would have ME look things up “on that phone of yours!”

        And that’s what’s making me giggle over & over again, about the idea😉😄😁🤗💝

        • lol dont worry about the postage its really not going to cost me much to send an envelope over to you

          now figuring out how to fill out the customs form is going to be interesting…. wonder what they’ll make of small bag of sand and a pebble from zwolle? lol

           

    • That’s a lovely idea, I’m sorry I’m not near enough to any of these places to help.

      • Thanks, Hannibal!

        I may remember others, once this weekend is over–the idea *just* got fully fleshed-out last night, after I talked to all his siblings & they were ok with me waiting to bury him, until I cam celebrate “One last round of holidays” and we can celebrate his birthday–since I MISSED celebrating his 75th, because things were too busy & I was too wiped, still.

        When I told his brothers & staters *WHY* I’d like to wait & what i was hoping to gather *for* him in the meantime, they liked the idea, and agreed that Dad would’ve gotten an absolute kick out of it😉

        So I’m just gonna TRY!😆😂🤣

        If it’s *supposed* to work out, it will, annnnd if it doesn’t succeed?

        The Adventure of *Trying* to do it, will be one last memory I can make *with* him, to remember him by😉💖💝

    • I’m in London for the next 24 hours.  Not sure about finding stones or anything but will try.  Daughter is here for 4mos so I’m sure we could help you out at some point.

  10. 😭 babyHZ has Covid and is miserable. We’ve pulled our other two from school. This is going to be a long ten days of isolation. FML

    • Oh no, HZ!!!

      I’ll be thinking ALL the good & healing thoughts in your direction! Hoping for a full & FAST recovery, and as easy a quarantine as possible, too!💗💞💓💖💝

       

    • Thanks friends!

      We all have Covid. At least the rest of of are a symptomatic this far.

  11. Looks like they turned off comments on The Root. They were there a couple days ago. I wonder if they’re going to do it on all the Giz pages, which would probably be the death knell.

    • TheGrio is the place. There are no comments and there is way less Harriot but it’s way better than what has become of The Root.

       

      *Heart broken…still*

    • Hiya PS!!!

      Sorry, that that one got Borked by Herb & the Vultures, too!😠😡🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

    • Eww, Cory Lewandowski of all people. 🤮

      • ‘Right, the savior that’s f**king Corey Lewandowski’

Leave a Reply