But enough bad news. Since it appears we’re going to the dogs in any case, we might as well enjoy ourselves.

• Agility competitions for pipsqueak pooches.
• A writer whose specialty is dogs is saved by one. (H/T for this one!)
• Forty-two St. Bernards. Plus one tot. Adorable, but I’d hate to be the one who had to clean that yard. (H/T M.)

And you may remember the foster dog who came to me in need of surgery to correct a rare birth defect.

Well, he got his operation courtesy of our wonderful local vet, went into a prison-pet program for training, graduated (with honors, I’m sure :-) ). And is now in his forever home. That’s him there in the foreground.

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Offshore types are always advising us USians to get a second passport as a precaution against tyranny.

I sympathize with this. As I’ve said before, if I were rich, I’d definitely have an offshore hidey-hole lined up, with all the real estate, bank accounts, and tricks of citizenship that that entails.

But of course, that’s just the problem. Nearly all advice from the “get out while you can” crowd is directed at people who consider $500,000 to be spare change, not people who consider $500,000 to be some incomprehensible figure that can’t be totaled using any reasonable number of fingers and toes.

Then, leaping from link to link last week, I stumbled upon this: an offshore residency and passport plan that costs less than a late-model used car. And otherwise requires no more resources than a working-class person should be able to marshal, given a bit of time. And it’s in someplace warm, to boot.

So tell me — how much use do you think alt citizenship in the Dominican Republic would be?

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• If you’re going to the big game today I’m sure this’ll make you feel wonderful, no matter who wins or loses: hot dog vendors with the skills and proclivities of the TSA.
• Of course, if you turn out to be one of the “suspicious” attendees, you won’t feel good at all if they use one of these on you. (And here’s a video.)
• But it could be worse, you know.
• All of which got me to wondering how the fedgov would handle somebody like Lawnchair Larry today.
• Or for that matter, any of us.
• So if you’re going to do something “illegal,” best to do it by proxy. Or Lego. :-)

I fear that in the last couple of days of not posting (deadlining, sorry), I may have lost track of all the hat tips due for links. So hoping I’m not leaving anybody out, thank you’s to P, F, H, and M.)

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