Events

Welcome to an extra stop on the Brews and Choos project. Update: Mikkeler Bar closed permanently in October 2022. Had it not, I would have dropped it from the official list because, it turns out, they didn't actually brew on premises. Brewery: Mikkeler Bar, 34 Mason St., San FranciscoTrain line: BART, PowellTime from Chicago: about 4½ hours by airDistance from station: 200 m While in San Francisco last weekend, I happened across a brewpub that would fit the Brews & Choos ethos perfectly, were it in...

I popped out to San Francisco this past weekend, then had a ton of things to work on today that precluded posting any of these photos. So, from south to north order, starting with Moss Beach, including a WWII-era anti-aircraft bunker on the left: Just a short way from there is what used to be a scary section of the Pacific Coast Highway, now a bike trail: The Powell end of the Powell & Mason cable car, at Market St: The Ferry Building: Looking up California St. from Sansomme: Transamerica Pyramid: And...

Sheesh: Eriq Gardener provides four reasons not to think a Supreme Court insider leaked Justice Alito's (R) draft opinion. NPR reports that Justice Thomas (R) of all people complained about people losing respect for the Court. Alex Shephard agrees with me that the GOP caught the car with the Alito leak, but that won't stop them from threatening every other privacy-based right Americans have. Military analyst Mick Ryan examines where the Ukrainian army might engage the Russians next, and how they have...

According to my Garmin, I got almost 18 hours of sleep the past two nights, but also according to my Garmin (and my groggy head), few of those hours made a difference. I take some of the blame for that, but on the other hand, someday I want to stay in a hotel room where I can control when the air conditioner turns on and off. Anyway, while I slept fitfully, these stories passed through my inbox: EJ Dionne reminds us that the current Supreme Court has decided many more anti-democratic cases than just the...

A little-known United Nations agency would like its $22 million back, please: At the United Nations, two officials had a problem. The little-known agency they ran found itself with an extra $61 million, and they didn’t know what to do with it. Then they met a man at a party. Now, they have $25 million less. In between was a baffling series of financial decisions, in which experienced diplomats entrusted tens of millions of dollars, the agency’s entire investment portfolio at the time, to a British...

Chicago actually had clear skies and lovely spring weather today. That said, I'm in San Francisco this weekend, where the weather is almost exactly the same (12°C and clear). Posting will be sporadic until Tuesday.

Gray skies, day 45: they say the sun will come out tomorrow. I would not bet my bottom dollar on that. In any event, I'll be in San Francisco for a couple of days, where they've had sun on and off for a while, with sun predicted tomorrow and Sunday. Then, if the predictions hold true, I'll come back here Monday in time to throw open all my windows. We'll see. But I am really sick of the rain and clouds already.

South Texas College of Law Houston Law Professor Josh Blackman sketches out a timeline pointing to a right-wing Justice's clerk as the likely source of the Dobbs leak: First, where did the leak come from? Most people are presuming this leak came from someone with access to the opinion, such as a Justice or a clerk. That presumption is probably correct, but it is also possible there was some illegal exfiltration of the document. ... People who are fanatical about abortion may go to great lengths to...

I mentioned a couple days ago that we haven't seen the sun much this spring. Today the sun came out for only the second time in the last 43 days: The National Weather Service categorized just one day in April as “clear and sunny,” said Kevin Donofrio, science and operations officer. NBC 5 meteorologist Paul Deanno said Tuesday just one of the past 42 days saw significant sunshine. That report was followed by another dark and soggy day. Donofrio said this April saw 39.6 mm more rain than usual. Paul...

A day and a half after the unprecedented leak of Justice Alito's (R) draft opinion in Dobbs v Jackson, everyone and her dog has a reaction piece: David Von Drehle in the Post warns that Alito's arguments in Dobbs, if accepted as the final majority opinion, would imperil many other rights based on privacy law: "[S]hould Alito’s draft opinion be affirmed by the court’s majority, there will be little to prevent states from enacting limits [on contraception] if they wish. Women will have only as much...