Last night's Edgar Awards ceremony, aka Poe's Prom

Homicidal knitters? The juror did it? What gives?

So, this morning as I was reading the Juror Information on Courthouse Security included in the jury duty summons I received yesterday, I came across this: “Firearms, electronic stun devices,alcoholic beverages, pepper spray, CO2 canisters, multi-tools, straight knitting needles, and other pointed or sharp items such as scissors and knives, are not allowed in the courthouse.

I guess my next project will call for circular needles, but if the can take away your AR-15s, can knitting needles be far behind?


And what about that martini I wanted bring in a thermos along with my sack lunch?

Washington Post app not working since latest update.

Anyone else experiencing this?

Lloyd District certified as one of only 4 'EcoDistricts' worldwide

Finally some good news from my neighborhood in PDX!
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/good-energy/lloyd-center-environmental-ecodistrict/283-aa8e0cc5-0b89-46a3-961f-4993059ad3d6

“To get certified, potential EcoDistricts must commit to making equity, resilience and climate protection part of every decision; form a collaborative governance body for planning and implementation; create a long-term roadmap for how projects and programs will be put in place; and track their progress to measure over time.
"It was a really rigorous 3-year process where we developed a long-term strategy in our 2030 road map," Leiber said. "It involved convening hundreds of people in the district."

The Lloyd EcoDistrict has several distinct areas of focus; for example, they’ve put an emphasis on placemaking and creating habitat for pollinators. That includes frequent cleanup parties at Peace Memorial Park, just above the Eastbank Esplanade, and community mural painting projects.
On Northeast Multnomah Avenue, bike lanes are separated from the roadway not by a curb, but by planters filled with native foliage to attract pollinators.
The Lloyd EcoDistrict organization has also focused on developing a path to decarbonization, working with building owners to increase efficiency and developing best practices that owners can share with each other.

Joshua Baker, outreach coordinator for the organization, said the workshops help forge another invisible part of resiliency: the relationships neighbors form with each other.
"We believe that the more bonds and the more connections that residents have, the more that they are able to respond to crises," Baker said.
And there will be plenty of opportunities to forge more connections in the runup to Earth Day. The organization is holding it’s annual fundraiser on Wednesday, a cleanup at Peace Memorial Park on Friday and a host of other events in collaboration with Earth Day Oregon.
A lot of climate strategies tend to focus on statewide, national or international policies. But Leiber said neighborhoods present the perfect scale to get people engaged and to implement programs that produce tangible results.
"It involves a lot of collaboration, which is easier to do in a few blocks rather than citywide," she said, "but it's more impactful than, say, a single property owner might have on one building."

The Court Kills by Garry Wills

Why do we slaughter our own children? Because the Supreme Court condones it.
April 4, 2023, New York Review of Books

We are the disgrace of nations because we can’t stop killing our children—along, of course, with their teachers, relatives, and innocent bystanders. We don’t even seem to want to stop doing it, not effectively, at any rate. We say we should, but we don’t. We just can’t. We are worse than the drunk who says he should stop drinking but doesn’t. At least drinking is (or was) pleasant in its early stages. But how can killing be pleasant at first?

Our children can’t fight back as they watch their classmates and teachers being mowed down. Why do we let it go on, case after case? Are we just more evil than all the other countries that do not have our murder rate—not only in schools but in churches, synagogues, and mosques? Are we just killers by breeding or tradition?

Some say we kill innocent people in large numbers because we have so many guns. Well, we do have them, more than any other country. But guns do not force themselves into our hands and fire themselves. We have to use them for them to work. Why do we want to keep doing that?

There is one thing that sets us apart. No other nation has a Supreme Court that claims its Founding Fathers wanted to make it possible for any individual to get military-grade weapons and kill like a combat soldier, spewing bullets from high-capacity magazines at split-second rapidity, racking up the tiny corpses before the police can possibly arrive.
…..

Why do we slaughter our own children? Because, through a supposed “Second Amendment,” the Court condones it. And it is allowed to do so because, unlike the executive and legislative, it is our unaccountable branch. It does not have to report how it is wined and dined at spas or hotels, or require any justice to recuse himself or herself if wooed by a commercial lobby like the gun industry, an ideological lobby like the National Rifle Association, a legal lobby like the Federalist Society, or a moneybags lobby like that of Ginni Thomas. Guns keep killing us because the Court, and the Court alone, has made them sacred.

https://www.nybooks.com/online/2023/04/04/the-court-kills/

Good old Joe Lieberman! Talk me down...

No Labels group raises alarms with third-party presidential preparations
It has money, name-brand political backers and declines to describe either President Biden or Donald Trump as acceptable candidates


By Michael Scherer
Updated April 2, 2023 at 4:51 p.m. EDT|Published April 2, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT


Former senator Joe Lieberman knows better than most the impact third-party bids can have on presidential elections. His 2000 Democratic campaign for vice president fell just 537 Florida votes short of victory, in a state where Ralph Nader, the liberal activist and Green Party nominee, won more than 97,000 votes.

But that didn’t stop the Connecticut Democrat turned independent from joining a meeting Thursday in support of plans by the centrist group No Labels to get presidential ballot lines in all 50 states for 2024. The group calls its effort an “insurance policy” against the major parties nominating two “unacceptable” candidates next year.

Asked if President Biden, his former Senate colleague, would be unacceptable, Lieberman said the answer was uncertain.

“No decision has been made on any of that. But we’re putting ourselves in a position,” Lieberman said. “You know, it might be that we will take our common-sense, moderate, independent platform to him and the Republican candidate and see which one of them is willing to commit to it. And that could lead to, in my opinion, a No Labels endorsement.”

Uncertainty over the $70 million No Labels ballot effort has set off major alarm bells in Democratic circles and raised concerns among Republican strategists, who have launched their own research projects to figure out the potential impacts. As Lieberman spoke, the Arizona Democratic Party filed a lawsuit to block No Labels from ballot access in that state on procedural grounds. Matt Bennett of the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way has argued that the plot is “going to reelect Trump,” and Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee has accused No Labels of wanting “to play the role of spoiler.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/04/02/no-labels-third-party-election/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJpZCI6IjEwNjYzNDExIiwicmVhc29uIjoiZ2lmdCIsIm5iZiI6MTY4MDQ5NDQwMCwiaXNzIjoic3Vic2NyaXB0aW9ucyIsImV4cCI6MTY4MTc5MDM5OSwiaWF0IjoxNjgwNDk0NDAwLCJqdGkiOiJmYmU4Yzc4NS05OTE2LTRiNmMtYWEzYi1hZjcxOWQ0OWJkMGIiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vcG9saXRpY3MvMjAyMy8wNC8wMi9uby1sYWJlbHMtdGhpcmQtcGFydHktZWxlY3Rpb24vIn0.fsgGFAz_I3iF11plqykqSMkRNwh3B7sDbjS37Fil168