Musings of a marginally sane feline-appreciating female.

Look, I’ll be honest, my level of investment in the World Cup has mostly been, “I hope everyone has a good time!” (And I still don’t think we deserved to host it.)

But when the final came around and one of the few countries that has a government that has told our shithead in chief to pound sand is there?

Well, Go Spain! (Yes, I am petty!) And well done! You were well within your rights to edit Trump out your celebration photos. Cheating bastard never should have been there in the first place. (And looked so out of place and awkward that it looked like he’d photoshopped himself into the photo, and poorly at that.)

As far as the cheating…JFC. We should have been disqualified from the tournament the minute he picked up the phone. Belgium absolutely whooping our ass in the next game was the best possible outcome there.

For everyone that couldn’t come because of our crappy, racist government – I’m truly sorry – it shouldn’t have been that way. To the Iranian team – having to play in the US and sleep in Mexico was completely unacceptable, but you handled it with so much grace.

To all the fans that came and saw that we are more than our terrible government – I’m so glad you were able to see and experience that. Watching you try all our food (and love it!) was awesome. I hope that you left knowing that the reason we have all these amazing culinary traditions is because we are a multi-racial, multi-ethnic society, despite our own government hating that.

The Tartan Army! Drinking Boston dry is a hell of an achievement, and I don’t understand the traffic cones on statues, but I love it.

Erling Braut Haaland – please do not milkshake duck on us!

Mexico & Korea fans! I know your game was down in Mexico, but watching y’all have so much fun did my heart good.

To the sportscasters today: The first line of Lionel Messi’s obituary isn’t going to be “lost the 2026 World Cup” so just chill a bit on that.

Found out this morning that Ornery Beer is closing their Fairfax location, which suuuuuuuucks.

It was our go to anytime we were in Fairfax city – awesome selection of beers, fantastic food, great service and people.

But, rent and operating expenses have become too much, and everything is expensive and no one has any money, so yeah, I get it. And better to close one location and be able to keep the other two open than have the losses from this one take down the entire company.

But it still sucks.

Then I had to go to Staples and the location just down the street from here is also closing in mid-August.

I *loved* having that Staples so close by and convenient!! Sure, 30% off on everything in the store to help get it emptied out, but I’d rather have the damn Staples.

I have no idea what could go into either of these spaces. A restaurant would be the logical next tenant for the brewery, but the Staples? I mean, it’s big enough for a grocery store I suppose, but there is already one in that shopping center. No idea how that space could be filled.

Honestly, I think we’re just gonna have some empty spaces for a good long time, because I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind either opening a new business or expanding an existing one in this country with it’s psychotic leadership. How do you even operate when a 50% tariff on some critical supply you use could happen at any moment thanks to a presidential temper tantrum, and wages aren’t remotely keeping up with inflation, and disposable incoming is becoming something of a fairy tale?

It just sucks, and honestly, I put the blame squarely on everyone that put that fascist in office, because his wars and shitty economic “policies” are fucking everyone over.

ETA @ 7/20, 5:49PM EDT: Shithead announces 50% tariffs on Canadian products.

Taco Bell saw what was happening and started pulling fresh veg off the menu over a week ago.

I’m mad at the administration that cut monitoring programs for cyclospora.

I’m mad at Taylor Farms. Very Mad. They are huge, don’t have a great track record, and supply produce to a LOT more places than just Taco Bell.

Do you think there is just one contaminated irrigation system at one of their farms in Mexico? (Which makes for a very convenient “foreigners are bad” scapegoat to boot.)

I really hope it’s just that one farm, but do I think a venture capital backed firm would be cutting corners anywhere and everywhere, putting profits over safety? Hmmm…

Is Taco Bell perfect? No. But they don’t grow the damn lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and whatnot, but they at least pulled it because someone had two brain cells to rub together and said “there are already enough jokes about gastrointestinal distress, let’s not add to it” and did the right thing.

And while we may know *one* point of origin for this outbreak, I will be treading lightly on raw veg for a little while longer. Increased heat this summer means additional irrigation, which means more chances for a contaminated system to be in operation somewhere. It’s going to take a few weeks to see if we truly have gotten it out of the food supply chains.

Will I still eat some Taco Bell if the mood strikes? Hell yes, get me a sack of crunchy tacos and some pintos & cheese! Sure, let’s 86 the lettuce & tomatoes for a wee bit, but hell yes.

Taco Bell isn’t the villain here.

I would like to stop sending young people off to die for the sins of the rich and evil in this country.

We can crow all we want about our “all volunteer” forces, but if it’s the only way out of poverty or violence, then it’s not volunteering.

Stop putting people in office who view service members as nothing more than pawns in their sick games.

I recently saw a video where someone was responding to a comment that was along the lines of “The administration is getting away with fucking everything…” and the response was basically “Oh, but they’re not, they’re losing a lot in the courts.”

The response was given in good faith and the subtext was, “Don’t fall into despair” – but the fact of the matter is, they’re getting away with pretty much fucking everything and losses in court don’t seem to matter cause they keep going on their merry way.

I understand wanting to point out anything even remotely positive happening and yes, we should point out those wins. But also, just let people be livid about things, too.

Because they shouldn’t be getting away with anything, because they shouldn’t even be in power.

Because every damn institution out there has failed the people of this country.

• The courts. Lower court wins don’t mean much when you know the last step is the billionaire owned SCOTUS, and no one will take action on that corruption.
• Journalism is dead. Trading softballs for access and tax breaks, and fascism gets clicks.
• Corporate America sold out for tax breaks, and a chance to get back their “white boys club” roots.
• The last administration couldn’t even throw down a few speedbumps, much less any guardrails for us in 4 years.
• Merrick Garland was quite possibly the worst choice for Attorney General that could have been made, and I lost track of how many times I heard, “The wheels of justice move slowly” when time was most certainly not on our side.
• Biden put his pride before the country and insisted he could run for a second term.
• The left couldn’t put its misogynoir in the junk drawer for one fucking day and tick a box for Harris.
• The right couldn’t see past it’s joy in being hateful and just…not vote for Trump.
• Dems continue to throw marginalized groups under the bus hoping they’ll peel off 3 Repubican voters, which will never happen.

And now we’re stuck with the most fucking evil and corrupt government in modern US history. We voted, repeatedly. We yell at our representatives, even though the vast majority of us don’t have the pull to get anything beyond a canned response. We protest. We do what we can with what we have, and we know it’s not enough, but we try anyway.

Now we have a war, a president looting the Treasury, ICE and the National Guard are still in the streets, no one in the Epstein files is feeling any pain, gas prices are up over 50% in 3 months, the cost of everything else is going through the roof, activists for the rights and equality of trans folks are being branded terrorists, and the AI cultists really just want us all dead.

Forgive people if they don’t get overly excited about the good guys getting some wins in court.

I know, I know, they want us exhausted, and beaten down, and just done with it all. Some days they’re going to win on that count.

By now, you’ve probably heard about the MV Hondius and it’s hantavirus outbreak.

Now, I follow some very smart, calm folks in the medical field, and they are not panicking.

So, I am not panicking. But damn if my left eye isn’t a little bit twitchy.

The US doesn’t have the infrastructure or leadership to deal with a public health emergency of any scale.

Some folks got off the fucking boat and flew home almost two weeks ago with NO contact tracing. All over the world. The wife of the gentleman who died – she got on a COMMERCIAL flight – and though they decided to not let her fly – a flight attendant is now sick.

I keep hearing, “transmission by close, personal contact” – 5 confirmed, 3 suspected cases on the boat, plus the flight attendant. How up close and personal were all these folks? I know, cruise ships are heaven for viruses, but still, if it really requires super close contact, doesn’t this seem like a lot of people?

Then I think about how half the country just couldn’t be arsed when it came to Covid. Wouldn’t mask, threw temper tantrums because they couldn’t get a fucking haircut, and were generally complete assholes about it. A government that didn’t do jack shit for anyone, but sure as hell tried to profit off it all.

And I’ll admit, I didn’t enjoy spending so much time Not Doing Things for multiple years, but I didn’t mind, cause it wasn’t hard – I didn’t want to get sick or make other people sick. What was hard was watching so many people not giving a shit about anyone else around them.

Plus the bonus of fucked supply chains.

It’s just all bringing up a lot of unpleasant memories, and I don’t particularly want to do it again, and thinking about it all makes me mad, sad, and tired.

And I’m not even talking about whatever the horror du jour is coming out of the administration.

I hate, HATE shopping for clothes and shoes, but I have done that, and now I would like to nap for like, a week, please.

I have an event on Monday where I have to not look like I work from home, so the past couple weeks have been getting an outfit & shoes.

Many thanks to Ross for the linen pants I got last summer, and the top & jacket I managed to just walk in, see, try on, and buy in about 10 minutes last week, which is nothing short of a miracle.  (A Tommy Bahama top & Guess biker jacket – all told the outfit would retail over $300 and I got it for under $65.)

Still needed shoes.  Ordered a pair of Aerosoles medium heels from DSW – their sizing has gone wonky and they were way too big.

Plan was to hit up the local DSW today, return the shoes, get new ones, hit grocery store on the way home, be done – it’s not even 15 minutes from home and a straight shot down the main drag.  Friend recommended Nordstrom Rack, said they had good deals and tended to be a bit less than DSW.  Looked it up, oh, there is one in the mall right across the street – and their website said they had the shoes I’d been looking at, and a touch cheaper.

OK then, DSW for the return, then Nordstrom Rack for shoes and oh, wait, I need a racerback type camisole.  

Return the shoes, go over to NR and wonder why I’d never taken note of them opening here.  Walked in and remembered I’d been to the one at the outlet mall once and, “Oh yeah, I hate this place.”  Clothes are arranged by brand, not style, and shoes are by size and then sneakers or not sneakers.  There is no rhyme or reason to the organization beyond that – not by brand, shoe style, or hell, even color.  I hunted around for about 10 minutes when I decided this was not worth saving $10.  And they had no camisoles, just shapewear.

MY MOTHER’S GENERATION DID NOT BURN THIER BRAS AND GIRDLES FOR ME TO STUFF MYSELF INTO SPANX, GODDAMMIT.

And honestly, if I have the inconvenience levels of Ross/Marshalls/TJ Maxx, I’d better have the same prices, and that wasn’t happening.

Off to Kohl’s, which is still on my shit list for the DEI fails, but sometimes you have to go to the retailer of last resort.  They had one – ONE – brand/style of not-shapewear camisoles.  I think it will work and if not, fuck it, I’ll safety pin the straps to my shirt if need be.  Of course, I rewarded them further with getting some underwear and a pair of activewear pants I will likely never be active in. 

Then there was the fitting room.  We have lost the ability to speedrun a fitting room session.  There was someone’s nana understandably tut-tutting over the preponderance of crop tops & too short shorts for little girls.  It was all I could to not say, “You can thank the men in the Epstein files for that shit.”

The good news is that every damn thing I got was on sale.

Then back to DSW where everything is wonderfully organized.  Found a pair of shoes (not even the ones I’d seen online, but these are cuter) – on clearance to boot.  Grabbed a pair of insoles for my chucks and near choked on the price, but the clerk said he had a set and that they were great.  (And he is on his feet all day, so, seemed legit.)  Also had a 30 day comfort guarantee, so hey, if they work, then it’s worth it.

Got home, the insoles don’t even begin to fit my shoes…  At this point, I still have some get up and go, so, fuck it, back to DSW for another return.  Halfway there it occurs to me I could have brought my chucks to make sure I got the right size, but I did not, so, I guess this is a sign from the universe.

Return the insoles.  Hit Walgreens on the way home for their insoles.  (Good, but wear down a bit quick, but they get the job done.)

As I am walking through Walgreens, I realize I have completely, and I do mean COMPLETELY, forgotten about the grocery store.

Go to the grocery store, get everything on the list, halfway to the car remember two things that weren’t on the list that I did not get.

That is a tomorrow problem.

And I’ll be there in some form or fashion, but I am telling you right now – I am pissed that we have to do this.

Too many goddamn people believed anything and everything they could to justify not voting for Harris for any reason as a cover for their fucking racism and misogyny. On the right AND the left.

“Oh, you’re inconvenienced by having to fight back against fascism!”

Fuck yes, I am.

I’d much rather be fighting about the best ways to help people – and having a chance in hell of that helping actually happening – instead of having to scream at my elected representatives to do their damn jobs, and scrambling to help those being hurt, and watching Congress just give away the damn farm to that addle brained maniac in the White House.

I’m not saying everything would have been unicorns & rainbows under Harris, but I guarantee you we wouldn’t have ICE agents shooting people in the streets, or starting fucking illegal wars to distract from the fact that this admin & it’s backers are full of pedophiles and rapists.

And I wouldn’t be sitting here having to wonder – how are the cops gonna be next weekend? Are they just gonna be unbothered by a bunch of people with signs? Is one of them gonna decide to take it all personally and be a dick?

We could be fighting better battles.