Midweek ramble and links

Funny thing, human psychology. I wrote Monday night that my bedroom renovation project had begun to feel like purgatory. So I gave myself permission to take a break from the project yesterday … which naturally made me feel good about working on it again. Got a fair bit done.

By next week I’ll have reached the point where I’ll need The Wandering Monk’s assistance again (to replace sections of bad flooring, mostly). But I’m afraid the Monk may have finally wandered.

Oh, not wandered from the area; he bought a house a year ago, so he won’t be leaving for a while. But in early fall he introduced me to a charming young woman he didn’t admit being taken with. At that exact moment, he also quit responding to my texts, started making mistakes when I was finally able to track him down for work, and became forgetful.

Can’t say whether it’s all about the young woman. But the Monk, with whom I always thought I had a terrific working relationship, doesn’t appear to want to work with me any more.

I hope I can still track him down to get him to help me finish the bedroom, but after that … well, I don’t know what I’ll do without him, but I suspect I’ll soon have to do without him.

Sad. But now on to links and commentary …

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In light of the fact that socially maladjusted “pranksters” can now command SWAT teams to anyone’s door, and in light of the fact that these crack teams of the best that law enforcement has to offer a) rarely attempt to discern truth from fiction and b) don’t much care who they kill, one of the readers over at Herschel Smith’s place had a worthwhile suggestion.

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On the lighter side, here are three times cops posted drug bust boasts on FB — and quickly regretted it. (H/T f)

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Two really good longform articles for you if you’re enjoying being a little slow getting back to speed after the holidays:

Fractured West. Why politics differ so drastically east and west of the Cascades. (Everything the author says about Oregon pertains to Washington and much of the rest of the west).

Wilderness of Mirrors. Just when you think The Intercept is merely another lefty rag and not the center of investigative journalism it set out to be, it comes up with something unusual. This one’s about CIA counterterrorism maven (and co-founder of the deep state) James Jesus Angleton and how paranoia begets paranoia.

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In the shorter reads department, this editorial bidding farewell to the Obamacare individual mandate doesn’t even have to be read all the way through. It simply wins the prize for best opening sentence of the week.

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Or you could have a nice Jewish grandmother who somehow stumbled into a career writing memoirs for some of the country’s deadliest criminals.

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Seattle has just wrapped up its wettest four year period in recorded history.

But that’s nothing compared with the “global warming” you guys back east are enjoying, is it? Hope you’re having just tons o’ fun.

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I gather from past queries that you dear readers aren’t the type for New Years resolutions. But here are 15 realistic ones any of us can manage.

Even procrastinating and not making resolutions until January 3 fits right in. 🙂