This war without end is criminal. What is abominable is that they do not want to end it. No, they do not want. Do not try to tell me that there was no way to end it. Emperor Charles [Karl I of Austria-Hungary] offered peace; he is the only decent man to have appeared in this war, and he was not listened to. There was, through him, a chance that could have been seized... Clemenceau called the emperor a "rotten conscience," it's ignoble. Emperor Charles sincerely wanted peace, and therefore was despised by the whole world. [...] A king of France, yes a king, would have had pity on our poor, exhausted, bloodlet nation. However democracy is without a heart and without entrails. When serving the powers of money, it is pitiless and inhuman.

-- Anatole France

quoted in the Wikipedia Article on Karl I

Happy Friday everyone. As always, post any photos you like.

Didn't get out with the camera this week due to a nasty case of food poison so here's some leftovers from last weeks bug hunt. Hope everyone else is well and healthy.

...just this once.

I've previously written about my 17 year old escapades. Here's another.

One fine summer morn back in '71 I was hanging with some buds near the County Courthouse where we "freaks" gathered almost daily. What's a "freak" you may ask, it's just another word for hippie albeit with more shock value. My hair was down to the middle of my back as was my attitude. I was young, dumb, and full of, well, piss and vinegar.

It was a small gathering, about 3 or 4 if I remember correctly. We were hanging around a street corner shooting the breeze. Next to us was a large trash container that one could find on every street corner in the downtown area of the small northern Illinois town where I lived. The trash container was approximately 3 feet by 3 feet and 4 feet high. The top was rounded so as to make a perfect seat if one was so inclined and, since I was so inclined I hopped up on top of it like a court jester sitting on the king's throne. We continued our deep metaphysical conversation that was most assuredly about freaky stuff.

Psaki jumps ship into the waiting arms of MSNBC.
HEE, HEE.
In a prepared statement, Uncle Joe remarked ...

“Jen Psaki has set the standard for returning decency, respect and decorum to the White House briefing room,” Biden said. “I want to say thank you to Jen for raising the bar, communicating directly and truthfully to the American people, and keeping her sense of humor while doing so.”

I'm starting to think that this country is doomed.

The DOW is only 30 stocks. NASDAQ is 100 stocks and it's getting twice as bad as the DOW is.

[edit: it kept getting worse]

But the real bad news is in bonds. (reminder yields going up means prices are going down)

All of the following items are via the EFF Newsletter for May 3, 2022

I haven't a lot to say this week about recent news and events. I think I'm becoming like the Jokerized Americans David Sirota writes about in this article at the Lever. Even the Roe disaster (see this good article at the Lever), for example, doesn't make me do more than go, 'wev' much of the time. We've been fighting this almost my whole life and will NEVER WIN BECAUSE THE DEMS DON'T WANT THAT, so I thought I'd relax and get all academic and delve into a bit of Roman stuff.