Since I have nothing much to say today, I'm going to share three of my dreams from last night, courtesy of mugwort pillow. Feel free to diagnose any obvious mental illness you notice.

① I'm at a Nirvana reunion concert, with Courtney Love sitting in for Kurt Cobain. That could never happen, of course. The drummer is in a snit, maybe about Courtney being there, maybe about something else, and he refuses to go on stage. I don't care, I'm just the janitor, holding a broom backstage, but someone grabs me and makes me play the drums.

I'm not even a big Nirvana fan, and I barely knew who Cobain was until a decade after his death. I sure as heck wouldn't go to a Nirvana concert, or any concert, but damn if I wasn't pretty good on the drums.

② My girlfriend is moving away with me in a few days. Where are we moving? I don't know, but before we go, her friends have told us they're robbing a bank. Me & my girl have lunch at a cafe a few blocks from the bank, then walk past and see cops all around, blue lights flashing. "I hope they're just asking questions, like cops do," says my girlfriend. She walks to the fence to get a closer view, and I wake up.

I don't even know who the girlfriend was. She didn't look at all familiar.

③ I'm the only employee working at a Burger King during a blizzard. It's late at night, nobody's out on the dangerous streets, so there are no customers. I'm pretty sure my boss would understand if I locked ip the place and went home, but as a point of pride I want to keep the restaurant open. Also, I want to make myself a Whopper, so I get a patty cooking, but I can't find any of the buns.

I think this is my subconscious protesting that since I'm eating healthy and all, it's been weeks since I've had a hamburger.

News you need,
whether you know it or not

• Stanford scientists warn that civilization as we know it will end in "next few decades"

• Power companies caught paying local news outlets for glowing coverage

• Climate change could cause 'disaster' in the world's oceans, say scientists

• FDA allows abortion pills to be sold at retail pharmacies, say two drugmakers

• In first act in power, Republicans remove metal detectors from House chamber

Seems stupid to me, but it sure shows the Republicans' priorities.

• A newspaper vanished from the internet. Did someone pay to kill it?

Jeez, someone with lots of money really wants old rape allegations against Curtis N. Ofori, co-director of Greenhall Capital Partners, removed from the web.

• New York cops escort Proud Boys, help them evade subway fares

• A single, moderate dose of psilocybin reduces depressive symptoms for at least two weeks, controlled study finds

• California Dem to be sworn in on first Superman comic book

• Google researcher, long out of math, cracks devilish problem about sets

Mystery links
Like life itself, there's no
knowing where you're going

• click

• click

• click

Clicks ahoy

• Has the United States ever been a democracy?

• Treat my body like vegetable peelings

• A record year of death:

Who were the victims of police violence in the US in 2022?

Despite the grim, nearly daily occurrence of murders and homicides by the police, cops continued to kill with impunity, almost never facing criminal charges or significant disciplinary action. Police officers were criminally charged in just ten cases last year, less than 1 percent.

• US military budget remains insane, only more so.

In 2015, the United States spent $585 billion on its military, more than the next 11 countries combined. Since then, the United States withdrew from Afghanistan, ending its longest-running war.
And yet, eight years later, President Biden approved $858 billion in military spending — an increase of about $273 billion. Had military spending kept pace with inflation since 2015, military spending would be below $700 billion. Instead, the military budget is barrelling toward $1 trillion annually.

• Microplastics are in your fruits and vegetables.

• Keeping track of how corporations screw over their customers

• Despite a rebrand, Charles Koch won’t stop until U.S. democracy is dead.

• Remembering the Catholic Church's role in the immolation of Vietnam

• Dude catches baseball, gets rich, complains about it

• The spooky quest to build a Google Maps for graveyards

• The scientist who discovered sperm was so grossed out he hoped his findings would be repressed.

• Star Trek on terrorism and unified Ireland — banned in the UK

♫♬ Mix tape of my mind ♫

• A Better Place to Be — Harry Chapin

• Darlin' Be Home Soon — The Lovin' Spoonful

• I am the Doctor — Murray Gold

• Money Changes Everything — Cyndi Lauper

• Shenandoah — Kansas

• Wide Open Spaces — The Chicks

Eventually, everyone
leaves the building

• Walter Cunningham

• Lou Mougin

• Edith Pearlman

1/5/2023
Tip 'o the hat to Linden Arden, ye olde AVA, BoingBoing, Breakfast at Ralf's, Captain Hampockets, CaptCreate's Log, John the Basket, LiarTownUSA, Meme City, National Zero, Ran Prieur, Voenix Rising, and anyone else whose work I've stolen without saying thanks.
Special thanks to Becky Jo, Name Withheld, Dave S, Wynn Bruce, and always extra special thanks to my lovely late Stephanie, who gave me 21 years and proved that the world isn't always shitty.