I know everybody has been wondering what furry nail polish looks like. So here it is:

It definitely isn’t boring.

Pittsburgh wants to get rid of public transportation because. . . there are too many people using it. And it doesn’t seem like people are protesting all that much.

In California, children will now be able to have more than two legal parents. It is unavoidable that this measure should be adopted in all places where children are born through surrogacy.

Are we on our way to becoming Somalia with nukes?

This is only one of many Canadians who felt happy to hold a Canadian passport in the last week.

A funny photo re: the shutdown.

I agree completely with the following prognosis: “Today just marks one in a series of likely governing crises that will become the norm over the next several years, particularly if the Democrats continue to hold the presidency.  A gutless and mentally flabby mainstream media will continue to engage in Chuck Todd-esque neutrality — both sides are to blame — and the disciplined minority — however objectively crazy — will continue to leverage the many veto points in the constitutional system to prevent effective governance, in the process proving its point about the lack of efficacy of government action.” The impasse will be resolved only when a significant proportion of the population will become politicized. Sadly, this will only happen if the economy becomes much more damaged. Our long-term prospects are good but short-term there will be lots of trouble.

A naked protest at a university in Hungary.

“The pathetic truth about America is that the capitalists, not our pussy media, are the final check and balance to our political system: if they are displeased, they normally can fund the shit out of candidates to oppose those who have not done their bidding. But the anarchists we have now in the House don’t give a happy monkey fuck about the backing of banking whores and portfolio pimps. You wanted deregulation, motherfuckers? Here ya go.”

The first official gay marriage took place in Montreal in 1942. The quoted article from 1942 is curious not only because it tells of a very real lesbian marriage but also because it refers to its protagonists, aged 25 and 34, as “girls.” I wonder, were women considered “girls” in those times until they died or just until they married men?

I arrived in Montreal just as its amazing revival began. I really hope that the crazy amounts of money that are pouring into the city today don’t destroy it. And it is quite likely to happen.

And the post of the week is so good that I found it difficult to choose the best passage from it to quote. The entire thing is excellent. Here is a snippet: “To know oneself is to find the measure of how far one falls short of a perfect, operating machine and to try to rectify this.   One strives, therefore, for perfection, especially with regard to underperforming parts of one’s psyche.   One oils the cogs by applying different commercial salves and balms.  One hopes ultimately to succeed, to become the quintessential well-oiled machine that is, in theory at least, unstoppable.” I often imagine myself as a machine in order to do everything I need. So the post rings very true.