so, who's being blackmailed? that's the important question here.

so many times we’ve wondered what makes so many formerly ‘sane’ rethuglicans kowtow to the mango menace. threats of physical violence r rampant now, but in his 1st term, we were in a different place.
the combo of blackmail and bribery has been tsf’s m.o. forever. david pecker was his accomplice back in nyc. he had a safe full of stories that he ‘caught and killed’ on the movers and shakers in town. they probably targeted many w honey pots. the contents of his safe went missing when he quit the enquirer. they didnt evaporate.
likewise, putler is known to surveil ppl, sending prostitutes to visitors to moscow and recording them. and to send the likes of maria butino to american pols, nra laundered cash in hand.

we’ve speculated much about what happened to lindsey graham, and generally agree that he has something on him that is worse than his obvious sexual orientation.
even tho slobby and jeffy had broken up long b4 he died, no doubt he knows many prominent ppl who had been partying w the sicko. and what happened to the contents of jeffy’s safe? michael wolf says he had polaroids of mango that he showed him. no doubt there were more. the fbi emptied that safe under sicko’s watch. no 1 knows where they went.

the only dems i can think of that bent the knee were sinemanchin. but the entire gqp has bent the knee.
imho, they werent afraid of a mean tweet. they were afraid of the pics. and now they’re shaking in their boots.
and that’s y they r voting to keep it all dark.

asking for thoughts on dog food.

so, my bully dog is losing hair on her sides. weird pattern, same on both sides. no sign of skin irritation, just hair loss. took her to the vet. nothing wrong they cd find. recommended a fish oil supplement, but i’m a bit skeptical. vets seem to rec a lot of supplements/alt treatments that have not been proven, or in some cases disproven. like chondroitin supplements which have never been proven to repair cartilage.

i’m thinking i cd afford a higher quality dog food for her. maybe a fish based 1. i dont think the whole hog ppl food is worth the money. but curious is anyone has thoughts on what brands r worth the money.
i’ve fed purina to most of my dogs on the rec of my long time vet. many vets rec them, as they do have the strongest research arm. my dogs have always lived to a ripe old age.
currently feeding a brand called optim, which is what the breeder fed.

so, just wondering what folks here think.

EMERGENCY LIVESTREAM: US Bombs Iran Nuclear Sites- the bulwark.

hearing 75k in chgo yesterday. here's the thing, tho-

that was just downtown chgo. (i suspect that’s low.) and that’s after many impromptu crowds in the past week as ice has shown up here. but there were also protests in at least a dozen suburbs, some of them pretty red. i dont recall that happening b4.

there were 3,000 in evanston. there were a couple hundred seniors on the northside, outside a senior living bldg. the burbs that had big turnout have been trending blue since sick fuck 1.0. they showed up. but even those still red places had good crowds.

whatever numbers they’re bandying about, trust that it’s low.

rubber bullets.

just thought this song from the troubles is appropriate. rubber bullets r not harmless.

i just wish to point out that 1 reason we spend what we do on the social safety net

is that wages have been suppressed for DECADES.
when the majority- 60%- of the population dont make enough to meet basic needs, of course things like snap and housing assistance sky rocket.
it’s bugs me no end to hear about a crisis in “affordable housing”. ppl cd afford housing if they were paid a living wage. that’s a lot easier to fix than finding ways to build housing cheaply enough for ppl making a poverty wage.
my greatest disappointment in the last 2 dem administrations is the failure to fix the minimum wage. $15/hr isnt even enough.
it needs to b indexed to inflation.

for memorial day-

got to go to my friend’s monthly song circle yesterday for the 1st time in a while.
sang this 1. it was much appreciated.

interesting interview w justin earle-

got a boiler problem.

so, a bit of back story- my 10 yo boiler has been banging all winter. works fine, just noisy. i called the guys who installed it, they said it’s limed up and shd b replaced. i know it’s been 10 yrs, but they wanted twice what i paid. i figured i wd wait, at least until this tariff nonsense settles down.
but that seems a little quick to have failed. we have pretty soft water here. they said they cd do a flush, but they’d have to cut a pipe to add the chemicals, and the couldnt guarantee anything.
so i figured it couldnt hurt to just flush it myself, w just the water flow. so, i started that yesterday-
put a hose on the drain, and cut off the feed and the return, wanting to just flush the boiler itself. well, i got water for a few minutes. a bit of white stuff, but not that much. then nothing even tho the inlet valve was open. tho this worried me, i opened the other valves to let the whole system drain. got a fair amount of black sludge, but no more white stuff.

closed everything back up, but noticed no sound of water coming in. opened the bleeder on the upper most radiator, got a weak little hiss for a few seconds, then nothing. clearly, it’s not refilling. waited a while, opened the bleeder again, same. this morning it was same.

so i went and looked over everything (i dont know THAT much about boiler systems, but i’ve been living w 1 for almost 40 yrs now. this is my 3rd boiler.) i found a valve on the fresh water inlet that i didnt know the function of. so, that ja for google image search.
it’s a pressure valve, linked below. this appears to be the problem. it has a lever to fast fill. threw it, nothing.
so, reading up, and several pros say it’s not usually that the valve fails, but that there is a screen that clogs. i’m tempted to open it up, cuz i wont b getting any heat anyway. how much more broke can it get?
i have no doubt that my local excellent hardware store will have this valve. i have a contractor scheduled for tomorrow at my 2flat, and figure he can replace the valve if needed. it’s threaded, so it isnt a huge deal.
meanwhile i have a fireplace, so i wont freeze. it’s supposed to b nice most of the week.

so, before i venture out onto this limb, any advice from my betters?

https://www.plumbers-supply-co.com/2825533/product/bell-gossett-110191lf

ftr, leo is a sox fan.

CHICAGO — The Cubs looked for awhile like that they had a pope in their corner. But not so fast. Pope Leo XIV is actually a White Sox fan, his older brother said.

Born at Mercy Hospital and raised in south suburban Dolton, the earlier reports that Pope Leo XIV was a North Side fan was a surprise that was hailed by the Cubs’ Marquee Sports Network, citing ABC News.
snip

But later in the day, an ABC7 reporter caught up with one of the pope’s older brothers, John Prevost, and asked him to confirm the report.

He said it wasn’t true.

“He’s a Sox fan,” John Prevost told ABC7.

The confusion may have stemmed from the fact that their mother, the late Mildred Prevost, was from the North Side, John Prevost said. Their late father, Louis, was a St. Louis Cardinals fan. But Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, chose the Sox.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/05/08/pope-leo-xiv-is-a-sox-fan-despite-early-cub-fan-reports/