This Popular Science article tells us about a proposed law in Washinton state thae would preclude employers......

........from requiring employees to have microchips implanted under their skin so that they can be identified and tracked. I live in Washington and find this comforting as back in the 1980's I worked for an Architectural firm in Spokane that had a partner who became maniacal about tracking employee hours and office costs and billing them to the appropriate project. I say maniacal because we're talking 15 minute segments of time, single sheets of velum and entering project codes into the copy machine. After our second staff meeting run by an outside consulting firm, where two somewhat robotic women explained all the new procedures, I decided to come in early, write a memo to all the staff, detailing that we were to sign up for appointment for a "S.M.I." with the consultants in the next two days. The memo went on to explain that the "Subcutaneous Microchip Implantation" was relatively painless, would located behind their ear and would leave no meaningful mark that could not be hidden by combing one's hair a little differently for a while. I left a copy on everyone drafting table before the office opened and then went out for a coffee. I did not admit to doing this to anyone and no one ever asked. The five partners in the firm were stymied because there were at least half a dozen of us who could be considered suspects. Though one of the Junior Partners walked by my desk that afternoon and winked at me.

https://www.popsci.com/technology/washington-state-bans-worker-microchips/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Re: Khamenei"s Death - How many virgins is a martyr for the Islamic faith supposed to get? I'm hoping......

........that they are age appropriate and his long history of E.D. comes into play.

Trump wants to ban "Mail In Ballots".....

.....which have been really successful here in my home state of Washington. If he were to be succede in banning them, heaven forfend, I wonder if we here would not have a pre-existing "work-around". Our "paper" ballots do not have to be mailed in, but can be dropped off at drop boxes around town, primarily at city and county libraries. Not ideal and I expect Trump's plans would include a signature verification hurdle to clear (which our ballots require on an outer "safety" envelope, but it is something to consider.

Rant from another thread: Years ago, when factory jobs were disappearing, we were told that was OK because the US was..

.......moving towards being a service economy and displaced workers needed training to get them ready for these new jobs. I sat in classes with 40 year old unemployed foundry workers from Kaiser Aluminum who were being counseled to learn coding. This before computer programs took over coding. That said, it's about time that this idiot country of mine got serious about creating a "Sovereign Wealth Fund" that invested some of the wealth that this country creates every year and invested it for the benefit of all, not just the wealthy who skim off the top.

Just heard Marco Rubio described as "America's top diplomat" and briefly felt dizzy, as if I'd lost touch with reality.

A link here took me to the Epstein files and they are disgusting for sure. One sort of funny note, though, is that.....

........Robin Leach, remember him from "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", is mentioned in the fourth paragraph or so, down the page. Call me petty, but I'd love to see that pretentious asshole go down with this large crew of child abusers. Hey, here's an idea, let's do a Nuremburg style trial with all of them in the dock together. Good times. Woody Allen!

This article from "The Literary Hub" should make comfortable, establishment Democrats less comfortable as it......

.......ties together our sides anemic responses to both Minneapolis and the Gaza Strip. How's that for a pairing?

https://lithub.com/from-gaza-to-minneapolis-we-are-still-being-told-to-disbelieve-our-eyes/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Somebody tell Sen. Scott that if the Obama video is "the most racist thing that I've seen out of the White.....

......House", that he admitting that there have been other racist stuff that he has ignored.

Should I be worried? As a quasi-socialist, non-practicing Buddhist and non-flag-waving, somewhat embarrassed.....

......American, should I be worried when I read the following and surmise that the government may be coming after me?

"But after Trump DOJ leadership issued a series of memos demanding that prosecutors target those who espouse “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity,” both the focus and the standards in these cases have changed. The memos direct federal law enforcement to use speech — including “extremism on migration, race, and gender” — as key criteria for who to investigate and against whom to bring the most aggressive charges possible".

This from TPM this morning.

Some Repubs have started to Blame Trump's excesses lately on Steven Miller. As if. They can't bring themselves.....

.......to find fault with their "Dear Leader". I'm reminded of House Republicans when Ronald Reagan started disappointing them by veering off the path of Conservative Purity. Remember Speaker Robert Michel's plaintive calls to Ronnie's advisors to "Let Reagan Be Reagan"? Pathetic then and now,