Details: Oppo wanted to go to Washington, D.C., to petition the government for redress of grievances, but found the costs of travel, drinks, and hotel accommodations too burdensome. Looking for relief on this from a liberal judge.

In Addition: Not sure if I need more than one signature on a letter for it to qualify as a “petition.” Not defined anywhere, like natural born citizen.

I guess I could email someone, but I doubt they’d read it.

It’s being ground to bits in a slow mill; it’s being roasted at a slow
fire; it’s being stung to death by single bees; it’s being drowned by
drops; it’s going mad by grains.

-- Charles Dickens, Bleak House

One Brussels at the suggestion.

Bunch of Hercule Pyros.

But worth it.

Trump plans to weaken vehicle mileage rules that limit air pollution
The Associated Press | Dec. 3, 2025 | Matthew Daly, Alexa St. John

Saying “rules that are claimed to limit global warming but don’t” would alienate a bunch of people.

Let’s instead say “weaken rules that limit air pollution,” because more people will be against that.

And — we consider carbon dioxide that plants breathe to be “pollution.” But we don’t have to say that out loud.

President Donald Trump is expected to announce a proposal Wednesday to weaken vehicle mileage rules for the auto industry, loosening regulatory pressure on automakers to control pollution . . .

There’s that scary word again. Specifically what pollution?

. . . from gasoline-powered cars and trucks, according to several people familiar with the White House plans.

You can trust us to honestly report the words of the unnamed sources of our news organization. Really, it was several hundred people, but “several” will do.

The move would be the latest action by the Trump administration to reverse Biden-era policies . . .

i.e., they were going forward, and Trump is going in reverse . . . That’s bad, right?

. . . that encouraged cleaner-running cars and trucks, including electric vehicles. Burning gasoline for vehicles is a major contributor to planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

Where do electric plants get their power to charge up these electric vehicles, again?

The Republican administration says the new rules would increase Americans’ access to the full range of gasoline vehicles they need and can afford.

Hurrah!

I’m getting rumblings of some sort of border dispute between Russia and the Ukraine. I’ll keep you posted.

Also, apparently the Ukraine has dropped the “the.” I won’t keep you updated on that, though.

Half empty. Check!

Uses telegrams. Check!

She’s hired, as my new assistant!

Other detective magazines are cheaper than 15 cents, though. She’d better be good.

Bonus points because Scotch usually has a twist-off cap, not a g-damned French cork. Some brands have a cork with a bulbous plastic top, which is both very cool and easy to pop out while looking like James Bond.

A totally idealized image:

In reality, I have found that those little pointy prongs, no matter how much you wiggle them against a very solid cork, only succeed in pushing it halfway into the bottle. If you stop and try again, it gets worse.

I’ve had some occasional success with this tool, but I don’t need this kind of extra uncertainty in my life.

I give it an F for its unreliability. Or mine.

Oh, and regular corkscrews can shred a cork, without even removing it one iota, so they kinda suck, too..

Hint: Whichever one you choose, it means you’re prejudiced against the other.