Theresa May to step down, Boris Johnson to become U.K. prime minister, in elaborate transition of power

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I rarely initiate an action, but I'll usually join in once it starts. like the other day when I was over at Crazy Henry's house. it's an old weather beaten place that needs a new roof and has squirrels running through the attic. "we should rename the mayor" said Crazy Henry. I paid no attention; there was a Twins game on. they were winning for once. "I'm going to hold a plebiscite to change his name to Junior" said Crazy Henry a few minutes later. now the Twins were losing, so I turned towards Crazy Henry.

"why Junior?" I asked. "because it will put him in his place" he said. "I'm going door to door right now with a petition. Wanna help?" "sure thing" I said, "as long as I don't have to do anything." 

he grabbed a yellow legal pad and a Bic pen and was out the door, with me following. 

we went to three houses before anyone answered. a man eating a raw onion refused to sign, but said he would pray for us. the next house had a barking dog in the yard, so we skipped it. at a duplex we talked to two women who spoke no English. Crazy Henry gave them each a dollar and they signed his petition.

"that's a good day's work" said Crazy Henry. "let's go back to my place and verify signatures." so we did. I couldn't make out either one of the signatures Crazy Henry had paid for, but he wanted to count them anyways. I can't abide civic fraud, so I refused his offer of Van Camp's pork & beans and walked home in the rain.

While bemoaning Mueller probe, Trump falsely says the Constitution gives him ‘the right to do whatever I want’ (WaPo)

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I saw the fair haired man again. this time he was walking through the park pulling flowers out by their roots and tossing them on the sidewalk. no one stopped him. the park police were following him in their car, taking photographs and eating pork rinds.

he went after a patch of daisies that I particularly enjoyed looking at, so I barred his path -- though my heart was leaping up my throat.

"I like those flowers" I told him. "please don't destroy them. that's a waste of taxpayer's money."

"hah!" he replied. "I am protecting tax payers against these lazy daisies that do nothing but sit around and soak up the light. they should go to work so they can buy their own sunlamps." I found his illogic strangely appealing. I felt my brow turning to brass. "we could pull up the Persian roses instead" I told him. "I never did care for them." an hour later all the Persian roses were gone and our hands were bloody. the park police finally got out of their car to ask us for our autographs. 

How to Get a $5,000 Amazon Credit: Buy a House Through Realogy (NYT)

I was bothered by muckleheads in the winter and punkies in the summer, so I decided to move. I chose a neighborhood where the fire hydrants were all painted to look like garden gnomes. my realtor, Anne, showed me several homes in the area, but none of them were quite what I wanted. Anne became a little frustrated. "just exactly what are you looking for in your new home?" she asked me pointedly. "well" I said, "outside of the garden gnome hydrants, I want a place that makes me feel it is swell with my soul. plus a double garage." "Okay" she replied. "I think I have just the place for you." we drove down a street shaded by elms to a house on a corner lot, surrounded by a white picket fence. a wonderful place, I could tell even before going inside. I told Anne she was a genius -- this was the house I wanted. when we got inside she marched into the kitchen, where a family sat at lunch, and told them to leave immediately -- their house was sold. "but we aren't selling our beautiful house" said the father. "it's heaven on earth." Anne pulled out a starter's pistol and began firing over their heads, until they had all jumped out the windows screaming and running away.
I felt bad for them, but I was able to move in that same week. and Anne filled the double garage with real garden gnomes for me. she is worth every cent of her commission. 

Postcard to the President. (by guest artist Lance Read)

The trailer for the Mister Rogers movie is out, and people are so ready for a wholesome biopic

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"I wish I were Mister Rogers" I told Professor Barbara one day, as we walked along the Provo River Trail. "he represents the male ideal." I was trying to impress her with some beautiful sentiments. we continued to walk in silence. she often remains silent and lets me do all the talking. other times she begins on something and won't let go of it for hours. I managed to say one more thing before she spoke. I said "human goodness is as rare as hare's milk."

"ewe's milk makes better cheese" she began. "in Germany they often pair it with veal or pork sausage, along with boiled potatoes or cabbage."

the wind blew her hair into a red nest of fury. I could smell sewage from the river. we sat at a wooden picnic table to watch the leaves do nothing. then we each took a splinter with us back to our separate homes. 

Trump administration proposal would push 3 million Americans off food stamps

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I cherish my connection with Professor Barbara. she is smart, vivacious, and has flaming red hair that grows brighter the older she gets. so I asked her "why is Trump such a jerk?" and she said "in the Congo they rarely have good internet connections."

I pondered this answer a good long while, and finally decided I was not smart enough to understand it. so I asked the Man on the Street the same question. he was right there on a street corner, with a cardboard sign around his neck that read "Man on the Street." his answer was "go talk to Professor Barbara some more, son." "do you know her?" I asked him. "the Man on the Street knows everything" he replied loftily, and then ascended into the seventh heaven.

I went back to Professor Barbara, who was simply radiant with red hair and kindly brain power. "is my perception of Trump all wrong?" I asked her. "is he a good man trapped in a bad situation?" "you are not wrong" she replied, buffing her nails with an encyclopedia. "in Guatemala they have a saying --"

"oh, shut up" I told her. "let me take you to Queen Anne Kiddyland."

Facebook vs the feds: The tech giant will have to pay a record fine for violating users’ privacy. But the FTC wanted more.

I had to pay an enormous fine. I didn't have the money for it, and 
if I didn't pay by noon I'd have to appear in front of the Board of Inquiry. I was desperate, so I went to find Crazy Henry; he always has some screwball scheme, and sometimes they actually worked. I found him down at the drugstore, eating a box of Whitman's Sampler right in the middle of the aisle. I told him my problem. he thought about it a minute and then said "pay for these chocolates, will ya, and then we'll run off to my cabin up in British Columbia." "you have a cabin in British Columbia?" I asked in surprise. "Sure" he said, "doesn't everyone?" so I paid the fuming cashier and we took off for the Canadian border.
once across we hitchhiked to Victoria. "is your cabin around here?" I asked him. "Nope" said Crazy Henry. "I haven't got one. Just made that up to help a pal." "What!" I screamed at him. "Where will we live, how will we get along?"
Crazy Henry just smiled at me and said "as long as there are drugstores at least we won't starve." 

How Much Is a View Worth in Manhattan? Try $11 Million (NYT)

Crazy Henry lives in an old apartment building in a crummy section of downtown. he used to have a big drafty house out by the lake, but the roof needed replacing and it cost a fortune to heat in the winter, so he sold it for next to nothing and moved into an apartment with his pet monkey. I don't know why the landlord ever let him rent with a monkey in tow. my guess is that the landlord doesn't know about it. 
the last time I visited Crazy Henry he was upset about a billboard for Bernie Sanders they put up across the street where the freeway cuts through town. even without the billboard there's nothing to see but freeway traffic and warehouses, but Crazy Henry said he wanted his pristine view back.
 "what are you gonna do about it?" I asked him, knowing he'd have some nutty plan in mind. "I'm gonna sneak out tonight with my chain saw and cut it down" he said. "Oh, don't be such an idiot" I told him, "you can't do that." "Sure I can! Tonight right after the ten o'clock news I'll do it. Wanna help me?" he said. "Okay" I said, suddenly feeling very excited. 
but that night after the ten o'clock news Crazy Henry's monkey escaped out the window, so we spent half the night looking for it. we found it climbing up the Bernie Sanders billboard, like King Kong. 
"this is poetic justice" said Crazy Henry. we left the monkey there and went back to his place for a Totino's cheese pizza.

Macy’s pulls plates that say a meal is ‘skinny jeans’ or ‘mom jeans’ size

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I took Crazy Henry shopping, basically because he always got himself kicked out of stores before he could buy things he needed. he is a complete nut, is Crazy Henry. for instance, once we went into a bridal shoppe, just because he wanted to find out if they sold the little man and wife statues you put on top of the wedding cake. they didn't. then he climbed on top of a display case and wrapped himself in chiffon. "I'm camouflage" he told me happily, as the manager called the police. we got out of there fast.

today he needed socks and underwear, but he insisted on going to the hardware store for them. I told him he was crazy; they wouldn't have such things there. but they did; big economy packages of white tube socks and Fruit of the Loom seconds, right next to the bins that hold nails and screws. I don't know why, but I felt offended that a neighborhood hardware store, where I go to buy hammers and plate glass and gaskets, now carries men's underwear. I told the manager I thought it was kinda strange he had such stuff in stock. know what he said?

"it's a Facebook thing. now get your friend to stop chasing flies with a yardstick before I call the police."

Sammy the one-winged bald eagle survived a shooting. Now he’s the victim of a birdnapping.

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in my hometown someone kidnapped a large plastic statue of Ronald McDonald. it stood in the parking lot and was a great attraction for tourists coming through on their way to the lakes and mountains -- they'd stop to take a family photo in front of it, smiling and dreaming of fat trout and mountain ash groves full of healing pine siskins.

but then the statue was stolen one spring night, just as the tourist season began. unscrewed from its base and carried away. McDonald's offered a five hundred dollar reward for its return, no questions asked. the newspaper said it was undoubtedly a prank by some community college students. the chief of police hinted darkly that eco-terrorists were behind the whole thing.

but I thought I knew who did it. my friend Crazy Henry. he was always up to something foolish. so I asked him "did you steal that Ronald McDonald statue?" "Maybe" he replied, then got in his chariot pulled by two goats and fled to Montana. he hasn't come back yet, and he owes me 27 dollars.