Good Morning. Hello. How are you? #1513
A nine-hour SEATAC layover with Jane. Alex Padilla. Iran. Brian Wilson. Nitzer Ebb.
Good morning. Hello. Greetings from Seattle Tacoma International Airport, the kids play area by gate A1. Jane is… well, actually I don’t know where she went. This place is chaos. She was going down a slide made out of lugage a second ago. She has disappeared. I am tryping without looking at the screen while I scan for her. Oh. There she is. She is on the big toy airplane, behind the redneck looking woman. This place rules.
Oh look my wife is back.
I asked Emma if she had anything to say. She says “RDU is the greatest airport ever and I really take that for granted.” She also wants to be clear she is only talking about Terminal 2 at RDU. Which is not the terminal from whence we left today. Alaska is in Terminal 1 these days, which kinda sucks, TBH.
This place is packed today. It is kind of unpleasant. Once Jane’s done playing, hopefully we’ll go find an empty spot.
So. What do we got today. Saw before I fell asleep last night that Israel bombed Iran. Lovely. Sounds great. Makes perfect sense. They signed a non-proliferation pact, we tore it up, they get bombed. Seems super fair.
I read some complex thing about how Trump has given up his right to re-instate sanctions on Iran, and that now rests only with the EU, and they are gonna chicken out, so if Iran just takes it on the chin and chills, by October they will be reinstated into the world of international finance and get all their money back. I don’t know if any of this is true. I need to delve. I guess I am telling you so maybe you can point an article or two my way. Hook a brother up.
Alex Padilla got hoisted by his own petard and arrested by ICE. This was, obviously, a gross criminal act and horrible and terrifying step on our journey toward fascism. I will say this because it is true and if I don’t say it you will probably give me shit for what I am gonna say next:
It was also poetic justice, as Alex Padilla was the chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee overseeing ICE for 2023 and 2024, when the Dems controlled the senate and it was already really fucking obvious that ICE was evil, and they gave them nine billion dollars.
I do not particularly hold out hope that Padilla or any other Democratic senator will do anything about this, because they already should have been doing something and were not. He’s not even the first Democratic congressperson to be arrested by ICE this term.
I know that is incredibly cynical of me but I really am pretty sick of these folks doing nothing.
Also I haven’t read any news today and it would be so awesome if I was wrong and Kristi Noem got impeached or some shit this morning or even if they just, I dunno man, stopped voting for his nominees. Seven Democratic senators voted to confirm Kristi Noem.
A prominent and humorous Twitter user made a tweet about Walmart Radio:
Clearly this man needs to become an avid reader of GMHHAY. WALMART RADIO, this is your time to shine.
RIP to Brian Wilson and to Sly Stone and to Nitzer Ebb’s Douglas John McCarthy. I did not know he was referred to as Douglas John McCarthy. In my head, he was Douglas McCaerthy. But in my head, he was awesome. I have loved Nitzer Ebb forever. Only ever got to see them once, at Warsaw, in Greenpoint. Got roofied. Except I probably got roofied earlier that evening at the Pop Will Eat Itself show. It was, needless to say, quite a night. But man, I love them. Especially Belief. I listen to that record a lot.
Similarly, I had a single opportunity to see Brian Wilson, at the Orpheum in Boston in 2004 on the Brian Wilson Presents: Smile tour and it was fucking awesome and I loved it. Went with Judi. She lives in Seattle now. COINCIDENCE?
I did not ever get to see Sly Stone, that is sad. I did learn, however, on the day he died that he produced the first recordings of “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love” when Grace Slick was in her band prior to Jefferson Airplane. That guy was on it.
We have nine hours to hang out at this airport. Could we go to town? See a friend? Well, yes… in theeorry… but it is… I dunno, man. It is a lot. Jane is in a great mood right now. Loving everything. But how long will it last? And do we spend a hundred bucks or more on cabs? Or try and take the train? We are paralyzed with indecision. I raised the prospect of this eternal layover with my wife a month or two ago and asked how she wanted to handle it. She did not have strong opinions. Nor did I. Neither of us still do. Who can say what the next nine hours will hold.
So far, though, this trip rules. Jane loves flying. She loves looking out the window, she loves airports, she loves looking at each gate and seeing where people are going. She loves this play area because there are a bunch of kids. The first flight was five hours she handled it like a pro. I am optimistic for the next one. Until she starts to get tired. Our flight boards here at 7:20, which is 10:20 our time, which isn’t that late for her, so I can imagine excitement and adrenaline will get her onto the plane. But if she falls asleep on the plane, then things will be a mess with jetlag tomorrow. Maybe I’ll just keep poking her the entire trip.
Okay I am going to go pay attention to my wife now. She will probably not be pleased about this.
Byeee.
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Good Morning, Hello, How Are You vol 1.