Latest Posts

Update

Friends and Family, Immigration

It gives me great pleasure to announce to y’all that New Wife has finally jumped through the last citizenship hoop, and is now our newest U.S. citizen.

(The actual swearing-in is in two weeks’ time, but that’s just the formality.)

We arrived at USCIS promptly as ordered at 2pm, and she was interviewed promptly at 3.45pm (#Gummint).  The interview — after all the shit we’ve had thrown at us over the past THREE YEARS — was more or less a formality:  she passed her citizenship quiz with flying colors, and considering that she speaks English rather better than I do, the token literacy test was likewise a breeze.

She celebrated by falling asleep on the couch within about 30 seconds after dinner.  (Being a worrier, no amount of reassurance from me could assuage her terror at the prospect of being kicked out of the country because #RandomGummintBastardy, so the post-interview stress dump took her out.)

But that’s all in the past, now:  as soon as she gets her passport I’m going to take her somewhere where she can toss it at Passport Control with a merry laugh as she returns to her new home country.

Head Above Water

Law and Order, Lifestyle

Reader Mike L. sent me this rather sad story:

A Colorado sheriff’s deputy resigned this week after officials learned she’d appeared in pornographic videos — a second career she took to “out of desperation” over mounting bills.

Oh no, how could she? OMG she’s supposed to be a role model, etc. etc. etc.

Right:

In part, that came from a June 2023 storm that left her home with $500,000 in hail and water damage that insurance wouldn’t cover; sky-high interest rates that tripled her adjustable-rate mortgage and led to foreclosure; and increasing utility, gas and food costs. She’d drained her savings, borrowed money from her family and cut spending, she told CBS. But the debt collectors kept calling.

You know what?  I cannot find it in me to judge or condemn her.  We’ve all been there, and she’s just lucky she had the errrr proper attributes to generate her alternative income stream.

That said:

Yowzer.

I just hope she can find another “regular” job, although it’s probably unlikely.

This may not end well, but it wasn’t going to end well anyway.  If I were in a position to offer her a job, I would.

Let’s just hope someone else feels that way.

Asking The Question

Celebrities, Funny Stuff, Gratuitous Chick Pics

Here’s another one that needs answering:

Okay, regardless of who these people are (most Murkins have no idea, which is not important), here are the the dramatis personae.

Holly Willoughby (no stranger to these pages, of course)

Alison Hammond (another Brit TV personality, and owner of the Most Irritating Voice On TV)

Ignoring what was said — trust me, it probably wasn’t that bad, it’s Brit TV — my question is:  how would one tell if the latter was blushing?

Speed Bump #784

Grammar Nazism

If you’re trying to fix colleges, you could at least start by using proper grammar in your headlines:

“Student sues South Carolina college after suspended for gun-related social media post”

…OR:

“Student sues South Carolina college after suspension for gun-related social media post”

…OR:

“Student sues South Carolina college after being suspended for gun-related social media post”

…OR:

“Student sues South Carolina college after having been suspended for gun-related social media post”

All those options, and you picked the wrong one.

Virtuosa

Music

Just when I thought I’d heard it all, here comes Valentina to absolutely crush Chopin’s complex and difficult Fantaisie.   Take a few minutes — yes, it’s just a few, compared to others’ lumbering efforts, and the tempo is actually as Chopin intended — and enjoy.

No thanks necessary;  all part of the service.

I’m not sure that “virtuosa” is a real word, but it is at least feminine in intent.