The HOA community block party this afternoon was an unqualified success, with over 40 people attending. The weather cooperated with temps in the low 80s, a nice breeze, and no rain.
After I put everything away (I'll clean everything tomorrow and stow it for next year) I went out to the local biergarten and had a 16-ounce glass of their Rind & Shine (a Belgian witbier with tangerine peel added - very tasty!) and a teriyaki chicken platter from a food truck. Very good beer and foods.
A shower was mandated, and now I are relaxing as the food settles and alcohol whispers its siren song in my blood.
And . . .'Association of Accidental Americans'? I love it but . . . aren't MOST Americans "accidental"? I mean I did not choose to be an American.
"Renouncing U.S. citizenship can be an intensive and lengthy process" . . . yeah, canceling your "America" subscription is harder than canceling Amazon Prime . .🤪
"After years of legal battles with several groups representing Americans wanting to give up their citizenship, the department on Friday published a final rule in the Federal Register that reduces the cost from $2,350 to $450.
Renouncing U.S. citizenship can be an intensive and lengthy process. Applicants must repeatedly confirm in multiple written and verbal attestations to a State Department consular officer that they understand the implications of the step before being allowed to take a formal oath of renunciation. It must then be reviewed by the department. [...]
The fee was raised from $450 to $2,350 in 2015 to cover the administrative expenses as the number of people wanting to renounce their citizenship surged in part due to new U.S. tax reporting requirements for American expatriates that angered many.
That dramatic fee increase drew significant opposition from groups such as the France-based Association of Accidental Americans, which represents people mainly living abroad whose U.S. citizenship is due purely to their having been born in the United States."
JUST IN: With disclosures for a potential vindictive prosecution motion due to the defense on Monday, feds (Pirro) drop criminal case against Army vet who said he burned flag in park to protest Trump pledge to prosecute flagburners. No explanation. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/27...
Watching the girl's state basketball tournament. In Class 2A, Providence Academy is feasting on turnovers committed by Duluth Marshall. C'mon, Duluth, protect the ball and make it close!
help wanted: oversized pool toys needed (preferably not inflatable) for security mission thousands of miles away. must provide crew that's willing to take 1 for the ''team,'' and ''show guts''(perhaps literally), be comfortable being used as target practice with live munitions. mission planning provided free of charge with purchase of florsheim shoes
Only in Florida: Florida resident Ryan Dieter was arrested after pushing a Sea Tow captain — who had saved him from a burning boat — overboard and stealing the rescue vessel.
Sweet Jesus. Zorro Ranch reads like a real life Salo and yet somehow worse. That rapist fck defaced historical and sacred artifacts for grins, giggles & ego gratification.
I'm sorry he is dead for the simple fact we cannot torture him for decades.
Welp, I guess it's our turn for an epic snowstorm. We're supposed to get a million inches of snow overnight. It's already started. I've been making soup this afternoon, rustic soup with turkey, farro and veggies. Just the thing for hunkering down.
The HOA community block party this afternoon was an unqualified success, with over 40 people attending. The weather cooperated with temps in the low 80s, a nice breeze, and no rain.
After I put everything away (I'll clean everything tomorrow and stow it for next year) I went out to the local biergarten and had a 16-ounce glass of their Rind & Shine (a Belgian witbier with tangerine peel added - very tasty!) and a teriyaki chicken platter from a food truck. Very good beer and foods.
A shower was mandated, and now I are relaxing as the food settles and alcohol whispers its siren song in my blood.
Ayman interviewed the Iranian Foreign Minister, and they're gonna' show it shortly. FYI, if anyone is interested.
It costs MONEY to renounce US citizenship??
And . . .'Association of Accidental Americans'? I love it but . . . aren't MOST Americans "accidental"? I mean I did not choose to be an American.
"Renouncing U.S. citizenship can be an intensive and lengthy process" . . . yeah, canceling your "America" subscription is harder than canceling Amazon Prime . .🤪
•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•---•
"State Department slashes fee to renounce US citizenship by 80% to $450"–https://apnews.com/article/us-citizenship-state-department-ab78db7aced64919edff3de26eebb681
"After years of legal battles with several groups representing Americans wanting to give up their citizenship, the department on Friday published a final rule in the Federal Register that reduces the cost from $2,350 to $450.
Renouncing U.S. citizenship can be an intensive and lengthy process. Applicants must repeatedly confirm in multiple written and verbal attestations to a State Department consular officer that they understand the implications of the step before being allowed to take a formal oath of renunciation. It must then be reviewed by the department. [...]
The fee was raised from $450 to $2,350 in 2015 to cover the administrative expenses as the number of people wanting to renounce their citizenship surged in part due to new U.S. tax reporting requirements for American expatriates that angered many.
That dramatic fee increase drew significant opposition from groups such as the France-based Association of Accidental Americans, which represents people mainly living abroad whose U.S. citizenship is due purely to their having been born in the United States."
Missed this in the firehose yesterday. Judge Boxwine and her no good, very bad week.
Josh Gerstein
@joshgerstein.bsky.social
· 1d
JUST IN: With disclosures for a potential vindictive prosecution motion due to the defense on Monday, feds (Pirro) drop criminal case against Army vet who said he burned flag in park to protest Trump pledge to prosecute flagburners. No explanation. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/27...
https://bsky.app/profile/joshgerstein.bsky.social/post/3mgxtcoje4k2i
'Terence, this is stupid stuff:
You eat your victuals fast enough;
There's nothing much amiss, 'tis clear,
To see the rate you drink your beer.
But oh, good Lord, the verse you make,
It gives a chap the belly-ache.
The cow, the old cow, she is dead;
It sleeps well, the horned head:
We poor lads, 'tis our turn now
To hear such tunes as killed the cow.
Pretty friendship 'tis to rhyme
Your friends to death before their time
Moping melancholy mad:
Come, pipe a tune to dance to, lad.'
Why, if 'tis dancing you would be,
There's brisker pipes than poetry.
Say, for what were hop-yards meant,
Or why was Burton built on Trent?
Oh many a peer of England brews
Livelier liquor than the Muse,
And malt does more than Milton can
To justify God's ways to man.
Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink
For fellows whom it hurts to think:
Look into the pewter pot
To see the world as the world's not.
And faith, 'tis pleasant till 'tis past:
The mischief is that 'twill not last.
Oh I have been to Ludlow fair
And left my necktie God knows where,
And carried half way home, or near,
Pints and quarts of Ludlow beer:
Then the world seemed none so bad,
And I myself a sterling lad;
And down in lovely muck I've lain,
Happy till I woke again.
Then I saw the morning sky:
Heigho, the tale was all a lie;
The world, it was the old world yet,
I was I, my things were wet,
And nothing now remained to do
But begin the game anew.
Therefore, since the world has still
Much good, but much less good than ill,
And while the sun and moon endure
Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure,
I'd face it as a wise man would,
And train for ill and not for good.
'Tis true, the stuff I bring for sale
Is not so brisk a brew as ale:
Out of a stem that scored the hand
I wrung it in a weary land.
But take it: if the smack is sour
The better for the embittered hour;
It will do good to heart and head
When your soul is in my soul's stead;
And I will friend you, if I may,
In the dark and cloudy day.
There was a king reigned in the East:
There, when kings will sit to feast,
They get their fill before they think
With poisoned meat and poisoned drink.
He gathered all that sprang to birth
From the many-venomed earth;
First a little, thence to more,
He sampled all her killing store;
And easy, smiling, seasoned sound,
Sate the king when healths went round.
They put arsenic in his meat
And stared aghast to watch him eat;
They poured strychnine in his cup
And shook to see him drink it up:
They shook, they stared as white's their shirt:
Them it was their poison hurt.
—I tell the tale that I heard told.
Mithridates, he died old.
A.E. Housman
Oh my...looks like Trump is preparing to stick the shiv into John Cornholio and he's gonna endorse Paxton...
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-texas-2676118703/
With any luck, the Trump Kiss Of Deathᵀᴹ will take them both out.
He's made bigger mistakes lately.
Yes--the 4 letter word that starts with "I" and ends with "N"!
Nobody could have predicted this!
Watching the girl's state basketball tournament. In Class 2A, Providence Academy is feasting on turnovers committed by Duluth Marshall. C'mon, Duluth, protect the ball and make it close!
Sports that ball!
Bets on how long until we get "nobody knew that middle east conflict could be so complicated"?
I thought Jared was supposed to have fixed it all in the first Administration.
“Who could possibly have foreseen?”
help wanted: oversized pool toys needed (preferably not inflatable) for security mission thousands of miles away. must provide crew that's willing to take 1 for the ''team,'' and ''show guts''(perhaps literally), be comfortable being used as target practice with live munitions. mission planning provided free of charge with purchase of florsheim shoes
Speaking of broadcast...
𝐍𝐅𝐋, 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐁𝐒 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚 $𝟏 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞
wait, wut?
The NFL wants to ensure fans can't influence owners by not buying shirts or tickets.
Highly qualified to be the next head of DHS
Only in Florida: Florida resident Ryan Dieter was arrested after pushing a Sea Tow captain — who had saved him from a burning boat — overboard and stealing the rescue vessel.
The Sea Tow captain was reportedly found safe.
Caturday post: I've been saving this one. Clementina stretching.
https://substack.com/profile/109098101-birb-general-of-the-us/note/c-227918849
Looked like the middle of a flip until my brain properly recognized the perspective.
In other news, one tiny part of the govt seems to still be working. My passport came to do, and I renewed w regular old service 2 weeks ago.
Now to find a country to accept a fleeing middle aged white woman w no marketable skills...
Hey asshole, "Fake News" is the label dictator Donnie applied to the media he didn't like.
Brenden Carr: "It is very important to bring trust back into the media, which has earned itself the label of 'fake news'."
Chris Murphy
@chrismurphyct.bsky.social
The is the federal government telling news stations to provide favorable coverage of the war or their licenses will be pulled.
A truly extraordinary moment.
We aren't on the verge of a totalitarian takeover. WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT.
Act like it.
https://bsky.app/profile/chrismurphyct.bsky.social/post/3mh2fzqtojs2c
My great uncles who died protecting and defending the United States during WWII are spinning like tank cams in their graves.
Those licenses are owned by regime friendly billionaires. Should be asking why they have to threaten their friends.
Sweet Jesus. Zorro Ranch reads like a real life Salo and yet somehow worse. That rapist fck defaced historical and sacred artifacts for grins, giggles & ego gratification.
I'm sorry he is dead for the simple fact we cannot torture him for decades.
And get him to turn on the people who it's looking like had him killed.
Welp, I guess it's our turn for an epic snowstorm. We're supposed to get a million inches of snow overnight. It's already started. I've been making soup this afternoon, rustic soup with turkey, farro and veggies. Just the thing for hunkering down.