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My dentist said he needed a hand like this...
3,526 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 2201 – 2400 of 3526 Newer› Newest»The Middle East looks ready to explode. The Israeli air strikes in Syria seem to have killed a bunch of Russians, perhaps mercenaries, and Putin personally demanded an end to further strikes. The stories at Foreign Policy are awful.
And of course, just for today, Foreign Policy features The Teflon Don.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/02/12/donald-trumps-sexual-immunity/
Is the Post subscription department just totally screwed up? I keep getting bills that make no sense. I'm Sunday only. I got a bill for $4 early this year for "52 weeks" up to mid-next month... which isn't 52 weeks. Now I get a new one that's $22 for 8 weeks (through the same date). When I go online it says I'm paid up until the week before the bills. The online billing option offers me 79c for that next week; up to $46.39 for 24 weeks... which is $2.68 an issue... over 3x as much. No bulk discount but a bulk penalty. And I can't even get a year? Renew weekly?
So now I've got to keep an eye on billings from the Post. The Miami Herald's online subscription setup is an absolute mess.
Mr. P and I also had loads of trouble with the WaPo subscription system, which is in his name with me as an added user. But I kept getting notices to renew, too. Eventually we got it straightened out, but it did nothing to endear the subscription system to us. Grrr...
yellojkt, NPR just reported that a Bichon Frisée won best-in-show at the Westminster Dog Show. Your fluffy little white dog will doubtless be elated by this news.
Mrsjkt is most definitely elated. She sent me a message yesterday that the bichon won Best Non-Sporting Breed and this morning sent me the notice about Best in Show. My Little White Fluffy Dog has never been as fluffy as that show dog. It is a serious poofball.
Awww :-)
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/14/585658994/win-like-flynn-a-bichon-frise-is-this-years-top-dog-at-westminster-show
Scc: Bichon frise. Apologies to fluffy little white dog and his staff.
I drop the "frise" all the time. Seems kind of pretentious. We were told ours is actually a bichon/poodle mix by the rescue shelter but we were also told he was six years old four years ago and he does not act ten now. His personality is all bichon and you have to look real hard to see any poodlish features so we think he's mostly bichon.
Doesn't matter what the jkt family thinks. It's what fluffy little white dog thinks (and doubtless he has high self-esteem)!
The high school shooting near Ft. Lauderdale no doubt means more security measures.
The shooter was former student, according to the sheriff. "SWAT components" are still checking the school, so no accounting of casualties.
The community of Parkland had just been rated an extremely safe place to live.
DC Area folks may have heard that Hank Dietle's burned down last night.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/historic-tavern-in-rockville-burns-after-early-morning-fire/2018/02/14/1b340a88-1173-11e8-8ea1-c1d91fcec3fe_story.html
The post article calls it a "rough & tumble dive bar"... yes on the latter, but I hadn't seen the former. It was a beat up 101 year old structure. They've got Montgomery County's liquor license #001. The bar worked at a glacial pace, and just about as accurate. There was one competent employee, a young girl who had to leave at eleven o'clock.
In spite of all that it was a great place. A great number of and variety of folks ran through there. It was a strange house right on Rockville Pike within sight of White Flint (who was built and died within Dietle's lifespan). Dietle's became home to the local Rockabilly scene after the Quarry House Tavern was shut down due to a fire (and resulting flood) in the Indian Restaurant upstairs several years before. It was a fun place. A lot of local rockabilly (and other rootsy bands) played there on busy Saturday nights. Good small local music venues are rare and to loose one with such history makes it a sad day for me.
Our state highway department has become pretty good at building concrete "noise barriers" along highways. The expressway alongside the school where the three-minute massacre took place is lined with such barriers.
I suppose schools may disappear behind such barriers, and of course security checkpoints, never mind that they can't afford them.
Florida Gov. Scott wants the FBI director to quit.
FYI, I pinged the Post subscription folks via email and they came back with what I think is a reasonable offer for a year subscription. I hate that I have to go to battle to get this. Ok, its a minor skirmish, but still...
A NY Times op-ed piece on Tommy guns, Chicago mobsters, and gun control has this info on the author: A. Brad Schwartz is a doctoral student in history at Princeton and a co-author, with Max Allan Collins, of the forthcoming book “Scarface and the Untouchable: Al Capone, Eliot Ness and the Battle for Chicago.”
A pretty good way to get attention as a graduate student.
Naming 13 specific individuals for specific acts, rather than a generalized claim of influence or collusion or whatever, is something that can't be dismissed with a wave of a hand. Excellent.
We're so afraid of making a statement: "Ex-Playboy Model Describes Alleged Affair With Trump" - NYT. She described a real affair, not an alleged affair. Maybe what she said isn't true? Well, how about moving the allegation words to where I think they belong: Model alleges affair....
Now for something uplifting, "Thirty-six minutes after the gold medal was won, the Olympics happened" (re the 15K X-C race):
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/thirty-six-minutes-after-the-gold-medal-was-won-the-olympics-happened/2018/02/16/283130a8-130d-11e8-9570-29c9830535e5_story.html
Among the last finishers were that gorgeous well-oiled shirtless Tongan (drool!), and Portugal's lone winter Olympian, whose citizenship derives from his parents (Vietnamese boat-people) who happened to be living in a Macau *ahem* refugee camp when he was born.
Dave & Jim, it seems that Trump's collection of people he'd love to fire grows longer by the day: Sessions, Rosenstein, Wray, Kelly, perhaps McMaster (for declaring Russian meddling in the 2016 US election is indisputable), and of course Mueller (not to mention all those who've already left, voluntarily or otherwise). Did I forget anyone? Who'll be next in Trump's cross-hairs? Cue G&S's "I've Got a Little List."
Holy crap! From Anne Applebaum's column, "After the Parkland shooting, pro-Russian bots are pushing false-flag allegations again":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/after-the-parkland-shooting-pro-russian-bots-are-pushing-false-flag-allegations-again/2018/02/16/46c3a674-1356-11e8-9065-e55346f6de81_story.html
...By Friday morning, some of the same [Russia-linked] accounts were also pushing something slightly different: the hashtag #falseflag. That’s a reference to the conspiracy theory, already widespread 48 hours later, that the shooting never happened, that the attack is a “false flag” operation staged by the U.S. government as a prelude to the seizure of guns...
As the Parkland, Fla., #falseflag campaign shows, the Russian effort to shape U.S. politics, U.S. emotions, even the U.S. gun-control debate did not come to an abrupt halt with the election of Trump. It continues — and since the events of 2016, very little has changed. Despite the bad publicity, Twitter has not removed bots from its network, and despite some theatrical agonizing from its chief executive, Facebook has not taken steps to ensure that its targeted advertising systems are not still spreading disinformation, too.
No serious attempt has been made to put pressure on any of the tech companies, let alone to regulate them...
[N]o one at the highest level of the U.S. government has made a significant commitment to prevent Russian involvement in the next election, or the next debate, or the next national argument, either. Trump continues to regard Russian intervention as a “hoax.” Trump’s aides and lieutenants have refused to spend any time or political capital on finding solutions. Money Congress allocated for that purpose has never been spent by Trump’s administration. Remember all of that over the next few days as you read the indictment of the Russian Internet team, along with the commentary — because the same tactics, the same games, are already in use once again.
At the VA, queries from the press have been shifted from the department's public affairs officer to the White House. Looks like the Secretary is on the way out for not being enthusiastic enough about privatization.
The comments on Applebaum's column seem instructive.
I think we're looking at assorted personnel changes at Justice, not all at once, VA of course, The noise machines will continue to criminalize Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Trump and whoever he's relying on for advice at the moment will be encouraged by broad support from Republican voters and highly positive recent poll results pointing toward a win in this fall's election. If that materializes, we're in for a nasty two years leading up to 2020. The Trump administration is largely implementing radical Koch-type agendas for wrecking entire federal agencies and programs. Since it's a negative agenda and the objective is smoking ruins, there's no need to be overly concerned about remaining in power. It's more important to accomplish the work of destruction.
About the best I can say is that West Germany managed to construct a decent democratic state out of the ruins, and Rwanda hasn't done badly, either. Unfortunately for the US, from 2020 onward, we will have a significant minority that wants to keep the federal government, apart from Defense and Homeland Security, crushed.
Dave's comment on smoking ruins seems on target, unfortunately. A Dem congress and Pres could probably undo a lot of the damage, but would be difficult as the Rethugs would resist.
Glanced at UCLA basketball game on TV. Kevin Love, who played there a decade ago and is now in NBA, was being interviewed. He said he wanted to give something back to the university that did so much for him (he played one year), so made a large donation. What is it? A weight room for basketball players! Sheesh.
Peace balloons, anyone? From today’s NPR Sunday Weekend Edition (audio and transcript available online)
"50 Years Later, Mister Rogers Remains Our Favorite Neighbor":
https://www.npr.org/2018/02/18/586216858/50-years-later-mister-rogers-remains-our-favorite-neighbor
Fred Rogers' pioneering childrens' show debuted on Feb. 19, 1968. We look at what made the series different for its time and how Fred Rogers contributed to saving public broadcasting.
An excerpt from week 1 of the show, when it went national across the US (ironically, Rogers was a Republican, even donated generously to the GOP!):
ROGERS: (As himself, singing) Fences - the world is full of fences. And some I like. And some I don't like - the kind that keep me out... ([Speaking] as himself) Here we go, to make believe.
[Reporter Andrew] LIMBONG: On the first week of his show, there's this five-day story arc where King Friday XIII is preparing to go to war...
[Author Michael] LONG [Peaceful Neighbor: Discovering The Countercultural Mister Rogers]: ...Because he's upset that things have changed in the neighborhood...
BETTY ABERLIN: (As Lady Aberlin) Just because Lady Elaine made a few changes is no reason for you to set up border guards.
ROGERS: (As King Friday XIII) There may be other changers, and I refuse to let them come in.
LIMBONG: The king builds a fence with barbed wire around the castle. People are required to give their name, rank and serial number if they want to come over.
LONG: And so Lady Aberlin decides that she's going to exercise a voice of dissent. And she and another character in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe devise a plan whereby they're going to float peace balloons with peace messages attached to them. And these peace balloons are interpreted by King Friday to be paratroopers. And he calls for his armed troops to fire on these peace balloons...
ROGERS: (As King Friday XIII) Fire the cannon. Fire the cannon. Man your stations...
LIMBONG: Eventually King Friday XIII acquiesces and accepts the messages of peace and change. From issues like violence to border walls to gender roles, "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" has something to say to kids and to the rest of us 50 years later...
Brazilian newspaper quits Facebook:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/biggest-brazilian-newspaper-quits-facebook/
Angelica Mari, Brazil Tech, 12 Feb 2018
Folha de S�o Paulo rebels against the company's news feed changes to
emphasize posts from connections rather than brands.
select text:
Brazilian newspaper Folha de S�o Paulo has announced it will no longer
post news stories to its Facebook page as a response to the company's
changes to the News Feed algorithm.
According to the Brazilian company, Facebook's policy changes to emphasize
posts from connections rather than brands will reinforce users' tendency to
share content they agree with, thus facilitating the creating of opinion
bubbles. Folha argued that the changes will also increase spreading of fake
news.
"In effectively banning professional journalism from its pages in favour of
personal content and opening space for 'fake news' to proliferate, Facebook
became inhospitable terrain for those who want to offer quality content like
ours," Folha's executive editor S�rgio D�vila told The Guardian.
More in http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/30/55
2018 Winter Olympic Google doodles:
https://www.google.com/doodles/series/snowgames?id=71389805
A German soldier does not shiver with cold, he shivers himself warm. Original quote from WWII East front, but quoted after the report of the state of the military: there are not enough warm hats for the soldiers.
In the Capitol's Statuary Hall, Mary McLeod Bethune will replace a Confederate general representing Florida.
I was inclined to say "already?" but this is not an occasion for being snarky. Congratulations Dave, sometimes good news comes through from your state.
We had a teaser spring day today and it's still 72F.
While I was wondering from where and from whom the NRA gets all that money they buy our representatives with, I found that a large chunk comes from individual small donors. Not only that, after school shootings the donations increase. Conclusion: We the people rather have an increasing number of mass shootings than having our access to guns restricted.
http://money.cnn.com/news/cnnmoney-investigates/nra-funding-donors/index.html
A significant portion of the American public think the "right" to own military firearms, not to mention pistols, is so essential that we must put up with constant massacres. Of course these same people tend to blame the massacres on "good" people not being sufficiently armed, schools not being armed camps, too many crazy people left to wander around, whatever. Others can explain the mentality better than me.
Locally, I think people are finally being a bit creeped out by the prospect of getting shot while going shopping, thanks to some road rage incident. Cranky drivers shouldn't have pistols within reach.
A local state senator, Republican of course, showed up in the NY Times story on Stoneman Douglas students visiting legislators in Tallahassee. She expressed interest in limited gun control. That's rather remarkable.
"The NRA was the first civil rights organization."
Heard on NPR reporting on CPAC. It's probably true, too.
Our own state senator, who is also senate president this year, is involved in negotiating some limited gun control legislation, which would be the first in many years. The legislature has lately been expanding "gun rights" every year, except that open carry remains taboo, presumably because of all the tourists.
Apparently the governor has his own proposal and the legislature's Republicans another. I'm astonished that the House is allowing even the tiniest of restrictions.
If it were not for their money, them tourists should go to hell. Not only do some of them insist on sunbathing topless or worse, they also prevent us from proudly prove our manliness by carrying openly a gun. They are a very mixed blessing, to say the least.
We should have guys in white golf shirts and khaki pants parading around International Drive \with their AK-15s. More fun than Imperial Storm Troopers. Star Wars Land is opening in June.
Today, I spent far more time than expected at the Botanical Garden. Ahead of the annual fund-raising party for the bonsai collection, a couple who are experts, and knew the donor of the collection quite well, were attacking a backlog of maintenance on the little trees. After finishing work on lights (basically assisting the guy who was doing the real work), I casually started assisting with the bonsai, doing stuff I'd handled a few years ago, removing small roots from ficus trees, which being more or less banyans, need constant trimming and removal of small, dead roots. The little trees had been at the bottom of the maintenance priorities, so soon I was removing small roots that circled the pots, then finally parts of an entire sheath of roots that had enveloped the pot of a particularly big ficus bonsai. At the start, I wouldn't have believed that the pot would be almost fully revealed. And I wouldn't have believed that I would have done much of the cutting, urged on by the expert.
Bonsai is an amazing art-form. I recall when we visited the (immense) Montréal Botanical Garden many years ago that their Japanese section had some trees that dated back to the 17th and 18th centuries, with their respective log books recording the trees' provenance and maintenance procedures.
In the Chinese section at Montréal there was a similar genre, although I forget its name, but it also had specimens that were centuries-old and similarly documented.
Hey Poirot, you around? I imagine there's a lot of excitement up your way over Olympic gold for first the US women's ice hockey team, and now the US men's curlers.
The New Yorker has a story on the NRA's lobbyist in Tallahassee, Florida and her remarkable success in changing Florida gun laws, and setting the trend for similar laws elsewhere in the nation. And influencing the Supreme Court.
It's a creepy tale. Whats going on is not mere lobbying. The NRA has grafted itself onto the legislature.
Looks very much like the Florida legislature will try to oust the Broward County sheriff and blame everything on him. Bad security, lousy deputies. Maybe they might oust the school board, too?
Trump: "I really believe I’d run in, even if I didn’t have a weapon." If only...
Dave, reportedly the Broward County sheriff is a Democrat, so Republicans are out to get him. His surname of "Israel" probably doesn't help him much with some of them, either.
Sheriff Israel is a Democrat, formerly Republican. The county is rather heavily Democratic, meaning it is at best willfully ignored by the Legislature.
There's an interesting situation to the north, where first-term congressman Brian Mast, who ousted a one-term Democrat, who in turn ousted a one-term Republican loudmouth, wrote an op-ed that appeared in the NYT backing an assault weapons ban. A weak one, but a radical position for a Republican anyway. He might get primaried, but there's a very good chance the district will go back to Democrat, if a candidate can be found.
A scapegoat always is a valuable asset that allows you not to make any changes.
Sharks, manatees, and a ray or two at the beach. And lots of surfers.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fort+pierce+shark
Researchers found that one additional question could considerably improve the accuracy of poll results. This all important question refers to how the polled person expects his social circle to vote.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-018-0302-y
It is much easier to suspect your friends and family to vote for a questionable person than to admit doing it yourself.
I offered dafter and granddafter a trip to anywhere, and they are planning to go to Japan during Spring break. So they went to the local large PO that does passport paperwork, for granddafter, and the line was out the door. My driver's license is about to expire after the maximum # of renewals, so I went to DMV with an appointment, and the people without appointments were out the door, even though the process inside the building seemed pretty efficient if not hurried, and I got processed including a photo and exam in about 45 mins after arriving maybe 20 mins early. They took my thumbprint at the start, and used it to associate me with the process at subsequent stations. That's a good matching algorithm, because my thumb wasn't on the sensor exactly the same way every time. I wonder why so many people didn't have appointments -- appts were introduced to reduce the hordes. One problem was I couldn't get the Real ID version of driver's license because I didn't have exactly the required documents. Even though my Medicare # is based on SSN, Medicare card wasn't on the list of acceptable documents. The clerk would not be flexible. So check out precisely which documents are required. Next time I think I might renew the passport, which is Real ID, instead of braving DMV, as that can be done through the mail, avoiding the hordes.
I renewed my passport quite a while back to avoid the mess of complying with Real ID for the driver license. I recently got a fresh driver license card with a prettier mug and some nice new features, since I've been flying domestically quite a lot and it has become the mandatory internal passport. Though last trip, I had to show my passport for a domestic flight. My boarding pass had been printed in Paris.
I'll be in Japan the first half of April on a tour with what amounts to a large group of 30, but mostly extended friends and family, all but me from Portland and Seattle, most of Japanese families. I've been going with the same groups (changing members, but some regulars) for years. Tokyo, Himeji Castle, Nagasaki, Okinawa.
Dave, I'm so glad you're getting to make this trip to Japan, and will look forward to reading your highlights (especially re any botanical gardens you'll visit, right?).
When Mr. P and I renewed our passports we made appointments at our local main post office, and had no problem. Hint for women: To achieve a less-unattractive mug-shot, I avoid my customary "natural look." Instead I wear about three times my usual light amount of daytime makeup (especially lots of blusher and dark eye-liner, as well as dark-red lipstick), because otherwise there's something in passport-photo cameras that I swear seems to fade out facial features. YMMV, of course. And while RBF isn't a good idea, remember also NOT to smile so your teeth show, because that's not allowed any more.
I am off to Spain next week. There should be about 25 of us on the trip. We are going to Madrid, Barcelona, and the island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean. I suspect I will be eating some very good seafood and some nice Spanish jamon.
OK, now I'm starting to get REALLY frenvious, pj!
PJ, a music trip again? Mallorca in March is lovely, but the water is oh so cold. Have a wonderful trip and stay healthy.
The Georgia legislature had duly punished Delta and is considering a no sales tax event for firearms and such. The Florida legislature is far enough into its budget work to probably not do the sales tax this year.
Yes, it's another music trip, gmbka. Although there isn't quite as much music as on the other trips. That's okay, though. There will be good museums and historical sites and some excellent food.
Prado with El Greco and Thyssen Bornemisza stuck in my mind from our trip to Spain years ago. And endless areas of olive tree groves. And the peaceful tranquility of Aranjuez not far from Madrid. So many places to go, so little time and energy left. Like NP, I envy you.
My next trip is to Germany, which is overdue, and from there to Jerusalem to visit a friend. It's still more than 2 months away, but I am already prepared to use a sherut (collectivo in other parts of the world) in Israel. Looking forward to it is part of the joy of traveling.
Ten un buen viaje.
During the annual NRA convention gun violence and injuries tend to decrease by 20% all over the country. One researcher suggested to make this a year-long event. My idea is to assemble the gun enthusiasts permanently in one place. Any suggestions where that should be?
From the Los Angeles Times review of a "spiritual biography" of Donald Trump: "As Noah built a mighty ark, so have Brody and Lamb built their vessel, broad and beamy and loaded with what smells like 40 days' and nights' manure in the bilge."
I finally looked up reviews of "Dialogues of the Carmelites." This one is from the evening, with lousy weather, when I was there. It provides some details on just how good the singing was (the night went by quickly) and a look at how such a stark and seemingly simple staging is so effective. I am really enjoying Google Translate.
https://www.olyrix.com/articles/production/1762/dialogues-carmelites-theatre-champs-elysees-poulenc-py-rhorer-7-fevrier-2018-weitz-killy-petibon-koch-gens-devieilhe-otter-barbeyrac-cavallier-jouffroy-roche-piolino-hys-richard-lecroart-orchestre-national-france-choeur-aedes-romano-critique-chronique-com
OMFSM I'm old, because I remember watching her receive the Oscar on TV when I was a kid! "At 93, Eva Marie Saint will present an Oscar and remember the man who cheered her own win 63 years ago":
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-lopez-eva-marie-20180303-story.html
SPOILER ALERT: The column is quite poignant, so you may need a tissue by the time you reach the end.
Still not on WaPo online. "White House shooting: Man suffers 'self-inflicted wound'":
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43273830
"...Washington DC police said on Twitter that their "natural death squad" was on the scene..."
Oops, it IS there, but farther down the page:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/person-suffers-self-inflicted-gunshot-wound-near-white-house-secret-service-says/2018/03/03/b0876810-1f05-11e8-b2d9-08e748f892c0_story.html
Best comment thus far (and my immediate thought, too!):
captain willard
9 minutes ago
(Edited)
If only President Turnip had been there to rush out, hurdle the fence and subdue the assailant with his considerable action-hero skills....
Liked 24
Any sous vide cookers out there? IMO it's the best for the things it's the best for.
A relative or two cook sous-vide a lot. I don't but I've approximated it by using a lid on the pan while cooking steak/ meat at lower temps (not completely, but enough). Works nicely, to be honest.
Tomorrow is mock-lemongrass pork. Lemon extract, pickled ginger, lime oil, and basil (for the grassy note), fish sauce. The lemon extract and lime oil lack intense acid, which makes the taste much more like lemongrass. Probably will not cook it mock sous-vide, though. Seems too much mockery for good cookery.
HP, your sophisticated cooking never ceases to amaze me and I am very sorry that you live too far away for me to accidentally drop by at dinnertime.
I tried doing an el-cheapo sous-vide thing once. It didn't really do much for me. I think it was a chicken recipe that was on some NPR show. It seemed kind of flavorless and putting a sear on afterward didn't really work because the meat was already firm. Probably deserves another go.
It looks like Germany will finally have a government with Merkel as chancellor. Her party and the Social Democrats got together in an "entirely loveless marriage of convenience."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/germany-will-finally-have-a-government-after-social-democrats-clear-the-way-for-merkels-fourth-term/2018/03/04/837b6486-1bcf-11e8-98f5-ceecfa8741b6_story.html?utm_term=.0a7bbf5c8271
I'm looking forward to going to the Prado. I'm also looking forward to seeing "Guernica." I saw it in New York back in the 70s when it was living at the Museum of Modern Art. We have side trips to Toledo and the Valley of the Fallen and Segovia. I don't see anything about Aranjuez, but we will get a more complete itinerary when we get there. Rodrigo's "Concerto de Aranjuez" for guitar and orchestra is an often played classical piece and a beautiful one. Miles Davis played part of it on his "Sketches of Spain" album.
Good to hear you are going to Germany, gmbka. Heading to Jerusalem as well will make for a long trip!
Guernica has lost its power over me since I lived with it, or better a large print of it, for more than 10 years. That happens with paintings when you get used to them, such as Munch's Scream or the Mona Lisa.
Aranjuez only has a royal palace. On our Spain trip we we landed in Madrid, grabbed our rental car and got out of Madrid as fast as possible because Madrid was part of our trip with the group, which we would join a week later. So Aranjuez was ideal because it was only about 40 km from Madrid and we were tired. Good times, long gone.
Photos of surfers taking advantage of the big swells from the far distant storm. Weather is otherwise pleasantly cool. I'll be adding and revising in the next couple of hours.
https://flic.kr/s/aHsku7PSGP
In the trial of the Pulse club shooter's wife in Orlando, her attorneys are trying to establish that the shooter hadn't been targeting LGBT people. He'd been driving around Orlando, been to Disney, and had done searches for clubs. He was perhaps looking for any club where he could kill a lot of people. I suspect that security at Disney Springs rivals Lafayette Square.
I'm not following the trial. The interesting part is simply that you don't need a sophisticated terrorist conspiracy to sow terror. Just unhappy closet cases with access to weapons.
I suppose an adequately competent surveillance state could find most of the closet cases, so ordinary citizens could continue to enjoy carrying their guns around.
I suppose it's a matter of some relief that no major maker of jeans has embraced pistols as the logical fashion accent for their pants.
I think Sam Nunberg is going to be almost as fun as a barrel full of Scaramuccis.
Remember FBI agents going into someone's apartment at something like 5 am. Manafort?
Greg Sargent explained that Mueller is going after Trump, and there's still demands for the Attorney General to appoint a separate Special Counsel to uncover Crooked Hillary's manifold corruption and betrayal. So I can see Sessions being scapegoated as a weakling tool of the Hillary Conspiracy. So any thought of impeaching Trump has to wait until Hillary is safely in a federal prison. Or something like that.
I'm trying to finally read "Brave Genius: a scientist, a philosopher, and their daring adventures from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize" by Sean B. Carroll. The principals are Jacques Monod and Albert Camus. Crucial Resistance figure and, subsequently biologist Francois Jacob, who shared the Nobel with Monod, figures prominently. Carroll, not to be confused with a theoretical physicist with nearly the same name, is also author of "The Serengeti Rules," which paired with Neil Shubin's "Your Inner Fish" explains a great deal of why thing are the way they are.
In another context, I just used the phrase or cliche, Coals to Newcastle, and realized it's totally obsolete. I wonder what other such phrases that once meant something (and probably still do, as metaphor) but are now obsolete in terms of the original sense, there are. Ice to Eskimos may be coming back to relevance.
"Dail" a phone.
I still have a rotary phone in the basement which is quite useful when the electricity is off. If I can find it in the dark, that is.
5,3 Million women went on strike today. Poor pj probably had to make his own bed today. I just hope he at least got something to eat.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43324406
gmbka, you're lucky your copper wire phone still works. Here, mine failed and AT&T would not replace it, only upgrade to VOIP (understandably to get everyone to the same technology), so now it goes through a modem that will fail if the power goes out. It's a backup to the cable modem, but without power they both go out, so no Internet, and I am left with the i-cell phone, which will be swamped if there's a major earthquake or similar emergency.
For those in and around Washington, the Wooly Mammoth announced their new artistic director today. Sounds like they're ambitious.
Watched an elaborate local production of "Gypsy" tonight. For the late 1950s, an odd and venturesome musical, I suppose.
This weekend brings a big outdoors art show locally, a huge plant sale at the botanical garden in Orlando, and second week of a big palm and tropical plant sale in the Ft. Lauderdale area. Our predicted low tonight is 40, all but certain to be the coldest until next November.
Without doing any planning, I walked with one of our lifeguards up the beach on Monday. I was with my camera, he was getting set for a lunch-hour swim on a day with (for us) a big swell from the distant Atlantic storm. A little video tale:
https://youtu.be/2wq5PT7LXK0
Gypsy is an odd show with a very show-tuney set of songs but a very dark story line. I've seen it twice. Once on tour with Tyne Daly and the latest Broadway revival with Patti Lupone. It takes a big woman to fill Mama Rose's shoes.
In Gypsy, you can see the underpinnings for Follies. The first half is one of the oddest things I've sat through in a while. And I've never shied from adventurous theater. I almost wonder how the theater, which puts on safe entertainment for mostly elderly audiences, got the idea to make it the centerpiece of the season. Next year, it'll be My Fair Lady.
We have a fine Mother Rose, capable of bullying, cajoling, pushing, and going to pieces.
I saw Bernadette Peters on TV (Tonys Awards, perhaps?) perform a sizzling rendition of "Rose's Turn" from when she appeared in a Gypsy revival.
Sondheim's lyrics for West Side Story, Gypsy and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum all foreshadow his future output. BTW, he was a protégé of Oscar Hammerstein II.
I don't know how reliable the source is, so take it with caution. Or it may be that Joel's editing, or otherwise working without a byline.
Karol Markowicz, "Where do the #MeToo accused go from here?":
https://nypost.com/2018/02/19/where-do-the-metoo-accused-go-from-here/
...Some of the men of “Me Too” are returning to work, like Joel Achenbach at the Washington Post or Glenn Thrush at the New York Times. But most Americans couldn’t pick Achenbach or Thrush out in a crowd. Celebrity men, instantly recognizable, face a much harder challenge....
I would take that as "will be returning to work in a timely manner."
Seems the most reasonable interpretation, Dave. JA's 90 day suspension should be up in about a month.
Gmbka, don't accidentally drop by. Let me know a bit in advance, and I'll make enough for three. ;).
Last night was a bit of a miss as I hadn't had anything prepped and started cooking last minute-- hot dogs, chopped garnish.
The best bit was graham buttermilk quick biscuits (condensed milk, yogurt and lemon juice for the buttermilk.), with walnuts and strawberries in condensed milk/yogurt mix. I had it as a quick strawberry shortcake on biscuits, minimal sugar.
We're having gumbo tonight, light on the chicken (just one cut-up leg quarter in it), but will round off with shrimp before serving.
BBC just reported the death of Stephen Hawking at age 76.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking
Well well. The PA 18th district special election is still too close to call. Even if Lamb-D does not win, this is a spectacular outcome because Trump won the district by 20%.
If Lamb wins, Trump will lay the blame on Saccone; should Saccone reverse the outcome, Trump will doubtless claim credit.
Note byline: "Stephen Hawking, physicist who came to symbolize the power of the human mind, dies at 76":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/stephen-hawking-physicist-who-came-to-symbolize-the-power-of-the-human-mind-dies-at-76/2018/03/14/d4298e14-273a-11e8-874b-d517e912f125_story.html
Hawking lived quite a life.
We had our big annual outdoor art sale this weekend. In consideration of probable downsizing in a few years, I opted for five expensive but impressive Murano glass drinking glasses by a cunningly good craftsman in Wisconsin. They can do everyday duty.
Also picked up a framed lupine tile by http://www.oddinq.com of Portland, Maine. He'll be at the Smithsonian Craft Show at the National Building Museum in late April.
Lamb has claimed victory. Even if a recount ends up otherwise, it's a stunning reversal from 2016, even if the Republican candidate (who seems a smart, competent individual) was lackluster by comparison to Lamb.
Pompeo as secretary of state reminds me that Kim (and his predecessors) have wanted meetings with US presidents and a peace treaty, on their terms, since the 50s, and Trump probably thinks such a meeting means Kim will surrender his precious nukes. And will likely as not be bombing Iran's nuclear facilities to set an example.
Lamb slaughtered that 20+ R lead. Looks like he wins, barring absentee ballots yet uncounted, but either way, kudos.
Tillerson has turned duties over to his deputy and made it clear while relived of his duties, he is Secy of State until midnight, March 31. Curious defiance/ move. I'm okay with it.
Dave, what a fascinating artist Jonathan White is. I love the plant-inspired pottery and sculpture. The industrial stuff is also cool.
Hawking lived a remarkable life, and I'll miss his cameos on the Big Bang Theory, too. Many obits are prewritten and kept in the can, and this one might have been one such.
Lamb-D won by only 600 votes, which is why the result has not been officially announced.
Dave: Love the tiles! http://www.oddinq.com/tiles
HP: We always got a kick out of Hawking's cameos on Big Bang Theory, too.
gmbka: According to NPR this AM, Lamb picked up nearly 100 more votes by absentees overnight, but there are still more to go. All relevant digits tightly crossed.
Sneaks, if you ever drop by: Have been thinking of you and yours during the rapid sequence of Nor'Easters recently, and hope you're all safe and as inconvenienced as possible.
Still PA district 18 special election. The GOP wants to impound all voting machines in their quest to question the election results.
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2018/03/14/GOP-to-challenge-District-13-results-seek-to-impound-all-voting-machines-used-in-special-election-pennsylvania-congress-rick-saccone-conor-lamb/stories/201803140110
SCC: To Sneaks: "...as LITTLE inconvenienced as possible."
To gmbka: Wow, just wow! (But thanks for the info)
NYT's Oz correspondent's Australia newsletter:
I still recall having no idea what this whole Nippers thing was when we first arrived in Sydney a year ago. Even when I signed up our two children, I didn’t really understand what we were getting ourselves into.
But now, as the Nippers season comes to a close, I’m overwhelmed with appreciation.
It may take a few more Sundays to figure out exactly why, but there are a few things I greatly admire about Nippers — and perhaps by extension, Australia itself.
First and foremost: the encouragement of managed risk, at least with nature. Here, children are not told to avoid the mighty ocean. They’re taught to be safe in it.
The approach grew from necessity. As John L. Light writes in his book about children and sport, the first surf lifesaving clubs in Australia began around 1907 after a number of drownings. Nippers followed in the 1960s to keep the lifesaving clubs flush with rescuers, teaching young people two very Australian values along the way: surf safety and a healthy sense of competition.
There are now roughly 40,000 kids, 5 to 13 years old, giving it a go every summer.
And at least in our group at Bronte Beach in Sydney, fear, courage and pragmatism were all in the mix.
One day, when our beach was closed because of violent rip currents, my son’s group learned about the stonefish — that’s the one that looks like a rock but is the most venomous fish around, with spiky dorsal fins that will inject poison into your feet if you step on one.
All the children simply nodded when they were told to keep an eye out for them when playing near the rocks at the edge of the beach.
Again, they were not told to stay away from the rocks; they were told how to navigate the dangers found there. I was amazed at the matter-of-fact approach, a far cry from the overprotectiveness I’d seen at the Brooklyn summer camp my kids attended before we moved to Sydney and where just being in a shallow pool was a cause for parental fright.
And last weekend, I was reminded of that contrast yet again. The waves were big on Sunday — rolling tubes of aquatic force that only a few surfers decided to brave.
But there were the 8- and 9-year-olds, as you can see in the photo above, my son among them, jumping into a more protected area surrounded by volunteer parents in bright orange.
That community vibe also won me over. The risks every Sunday were managed by neighbors, by friends, by people who knew at least a few of the children and how to handle children that particular age.
The moms and dads were strong. Masters teaching young apprentices, they didn’t scoop the kids out of the water at the first sign of struggle, or when a surge of water pushed them toward panic.
Rather, they encouraged our children to keep going.
Sometimes a volunteer would swim alongside a boy or girl who was losing motivation. Sometimes a child would recover on a buoy, briefly, before being sent off again.
Even when waves crashed our children into a mess of sand and sea, the adults simply smiled and waited for them to re-emerge.
My wife and I absolutely loved it, tears and laughter included.
Yes, we’ve covered wars and our kids spent most of their lives in Mexico City facing a different set of dangers so I recognize we may be more comfortable with risk than most. And I know I’m not the first outsider or Australian to wax philosophical about Nippers.
But week after week, I’ve marveled at the scene. It’s been great for my children’s confidence. It’s been even better for their (and our) love of the ocean.
Could that be what Nippers is all about for many of us, engaging with the coast to find joy?
This is a stunning place, Australia, ringed with ribbons of sand and blue-green waves that much of the world’s population will never see. The water may be threatening — but how many of us could give it up if we tried.
Surf lifesaving is as much about experiencing the sublime as it is about safety.
Americans we are, but Nippers we shall be.
I got similar comments about Australians and their hazard-prone continent for a long time. Rural Floridians tend the same way. There's snakes, gators, nettles, bad algae, sharks, lightning, neck-breaking waves, whatever. You live with them.
I more or less learned beach by peer diffusion as a kid in grades 6-8. The local beach was a certified neck-breaker, but responsible adults thought kids were too rubbery to be bothered by that. So there was a whole little culture of crashing surplus life rafts on rather big, very crunchy waves. We all survived just fine.
Left unsaid in the essay was the vaster gulf between the two countries in dealing with risks from badly-behaving or negligent people.
I cannot use the words I'm thinking to express my outrage over this without disrespecting the generosity of our virtual host.
"Tennessee legislators decline to pass resolution denouncing neo-Nazism":
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2018/03/14/tennessee-legislature-refuse-condemn-neo-nazi-white-nationalist/425083002/
A House committee declined to pass a resolution that stated Tennessee denounces white nationalism and neo-Nazism.
The sponsor, Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, didn't receive a second motion to proceed with discussing the resolution in the House State Government Subcommittee on Wednesday...
At least a Tenn judge just was indicted for obstruction, graft, and bribery, a Missouri governor is going down over kidnapping, an Alabama sheriff has been busted using prisoner food stipend to buy his own house (the law is dumb and directly allows/forces embezzlement)... a georgia gang was busted today...
Wait, why am I making this sound like a good thing? Rocks are being overturned and cockroaches are scurrying or getting stomped with justice.
Keep this in mind.
For indictments by the Special Counsel: https://www.justice.gov/sco
For press releases on indictments, convictions, etc. by everybody NOT him: https://www.justice.gov/briefing-room
And just in: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/mueller-subpoenas-trump-organization-demanding-documents-about-russia/ar-BBKgwn3?ocid=spartanntp
Red line is officially crossed.
The Alabama sheriff seems to have been obviously living beyond his means for some time. While he did it legally, I expect consequences.
With respect to Mueller, the red line is indeed crossed.
The Miami pedestrian bridge collapse is tragic and puzzling. The bridge was designed by an eminent firm that had designed, among other things, the Sunshine Skyway bridge across Tampa Bay (which is now not high enough for the biggest cruise ships). It was put into place quickly in a way that was seen as non-disruptive and safe. Presumably the construction company did something wrong--or could the design have been flawed? In any case, the result is terrible.
Back to Trump, I think the Pennsylvania congressional race might have dimmed his aura of invincibility. If he were personally popular and requested a show of confidence, those voters might have given it. In another comment, I compared Trump to my only attempt at reading an Ayn Rand novel. The protagonist, an architect, mistreated his clients and girlfriend (the latter was beyond mere mistreatment and with a female author. . . ) I expected the tale to be one of hubris followed by a rich dose of Nemesis. The guy was going to get worked. But no, he was Rand's hero. I quit reading as soon as I realized as much. Trump has been like that. Everyone went Randian on him. Maybe those Evangelicals are holding Sunday school classes on Rand's Christianity?
To my surprise, I've got a quasi affordable ticket to Paul Simon on 9/11. Of course last 9/11, I was visiting the memorial at the Pentagon while waiting out hurricane Irma.
We saw Paul Simon in Orlando a few years back when he was touring with Sting. An interesting show of performers different but complementary styles.
With respect to the Simon concert, I've never set foot in an actual basketball palace, not even the college variety. UNC's Carmichael Arena didn't quite quality. Surprisingly, it's still standing. Did visit the basement of Portland's palace.
Fresh back from Pink Martini's first visit to Melbourne. It had been planned for January but was rescheduled because their lead singer needed shoulder surgery. Which was good for me. I was bed-ridden sick in January.
Re the Trump Organization subpoena, Lawrence Tribe (law professor) tweeted this:
"Did you know that, even though corporations have 1st Amendment free speech rights, they DO NOT have 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination? That’s key to Mueller’s subpoena to the Trump Organization. The jig is up, Donald."
PJ,
how was your trip?
NYT: "President Trump, weighing in directly on the Stephanie Clifford case for the first time, claimed in court papers filed by his lawyers on Friday that the porn actress who alleges she had an affair with him violated a confidentiality agreement at least 20 times, exposing her to damages of at least $20 million."
I imagine it would be easy for her to crowd source at least that much.
For the fall election, the Florida legislature didn't do anything obvious to help Republican candidates, but we're awaiting a Supreme Court decision on redistricting (I bet 5-4 in favor of gerrymandering, perhaps with a coda to quash the Pennsylvania redistricting).
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is fundraising like crazy. They perhaps lucked out with Lamb, who came from a family with deep political expertise and who might actually have benefited from out-of-district Republican spending.
A NYT op-ed explains the Nunes campaign to undo the Mueller investigation. Mueller seems to be bringing as many indictments
as possible, as fast as possible, to ensure his office's investigations bear some fruit. They can't submit a public report and might get defunded before they can report to Congress.
We were 33º at dawn. Awfully late in the season for that. Didn't seem to be any frost.
Now, NY Times and the Observer (Sunday Guardian) are onto Cambridge Analytica, the wonder-working political data outfit of which Steve Bannon was chief. They swiped millions of profiles of Facebook users.
The Post has what looks like a damning Applebaum column. Russian cash in England. What a Saturday.
More stuff may soon hit the fan. WaPo homepage also reports:
Fired FBI official McCabe is said to have written memos detailing his interactions with Trump
Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has been investigating, among other things, whether President Trump obstructed justice in his interactions with top law enforcement officials, including McCabe and his former boss, FBI Director James B. Comey.
CNN reports that a source says Mueller has McCabe's memos.
The New Yorker is selling tickets to watch James Come talk to David Remnick on April 19. It'll be broadcast on the New Yorker's radio show.
And one or another Democratic Congress-critters may aid McCabe in getting his full pension after all. I wonder how Trump would stop THIS!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/03/17/andrew-mccabe-was-just-offered-a-job-by-a-congressman-so-he-can-get-his-full-retirement-and-it-just-might-work/?utm_term=.eceddb3e4291
The German xenophobic party Pegida had a demonstration with 200 followers in Munich today, their opposition 2500. Those 2500 sang, with no fewer than 35 choirs among them. It was well organized and all the singers had their sheet music, which ranged from Freude schoener Goetterfunken to Bella Ciao, an Italian resistance song under Mussolini. Must have been quite a spectacle.
Watching Channel 4 News on Cambridge Analytica right now. They went undercover pretending to be interested in Sri Lankan elections.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpbeOCKZFfQ
Whistleblower discusses data grab of 50M Facebook profiles to Channel 4 News.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb6-xz-geH4
"CNN reports that a source says Mueller has McCabe's memos."
Of course he does. And so does the NY State AG, who is beyond Trump's firing and 5th Amendment powers.
We might see court rulings on whether a sitting president can be indicted.
Upcoming months are looking unpredictable. Don't know where the Mueller (or successor) indictments will go.
We seem overdue for some kind of foreign affairs crisis. Putin seems to have settled on spreading corruption and killing selected enemies abroad rather than making further territorial grabs. Maybe a nerve agent killing in the Hamptons? A big, fat gas attack in Syria?
China will likely be subtle about excluding the US from the South China Sea. Their military seems to be developing new technology at an Elon Musk pace. With Trump's trade war, we will soon find out just how fast American exports to China have grown.
No idea what to expect from Korea, except that South Korea will do everything possible to keep the lid on. I still can't believe that we're imposing huge tariffs on them.
Congress looks to do nothing much beyond avoiding a government shutdown. The $1 trillion in borrowing needed for this year seems to not be getting any attention from the Freedom Caucus, which was so vigilant about Democratic spending.
"Sky-high prices of everything make US healthcare the world's most expensive" but not the best based on outcomes.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/13/us-healthcare-costs-causes-drug-prices-salaries
As to doctor's salaries it is worth mentioning, that in no other country young doctors start out with an average student debt of close to 200K. The taxpayers is not paying for their education as they do in comparable countries.
https://www.studentdebtrelief.us/news/average-medical-school-debt/
I will welcome spring some time in the future, today it is snowing. :-(
The northern half of Florida is under a tornado watch. Wind warnings. We are to expect thunderstorms this afternoon. My neighbor across the street is getting re-roofed. EEK!
Physicians are not all excessively paid, especially family practitioners and internists. Some specialists can have lucrative practices, but I don't think they are the big problem. A couple of recent stories indicate that in pharmaceuticals, the pharma industry isn't all that lucrative, but wholesalers that negotiate drug prices for insurance plans and hospitals (outfits like Express Scripts) are exceedingly profitable, and those are what Jeff Bezos's people seem to be attacking.
Florida peaches are on their way. With newer varieties that need fewer hours of winter chill, they can now be pretty reliably grown here. There had been a peach industry back in the 1980s, which faded.
http://www.floridatrend.com/article/24174/growers-optimistic-for-florida-peach-crop
Special election PA district 18: Saccone finally conceded.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2018/03/21/republican-rick-saccone-concedes-defeat-to-conor-lamb-in-pennsylvania-special-election/?utm_term=.9f1000a86d2c
Dear God, return of the warmongering neocons...
The president scraped so much from the bottom of the barrel that it must be shiny clean by now.
Looks like there will be a new Secretary of Defense as soon as Trump can find one. No candidates being mooted. I wonder if any can be found who would support Bolton's stated desire to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities and launch pre-emptive strikes on North Korea. It's easy for Bolton to demand military action, much harder for the military to do it without severe consequences.
Bolton also wants to assert Taiwan's independence and make it an "unsinkable aircraft carrier." That may not be acceptable to the Taiwanese and certainly not acceptable to the Chinese government.
Foreign Policy magazine is not looking forward to the results.
10-to-1 odds the nominee will be someone the President 'knows' personally. He's always been biased toward people he knows... like made-men. But it seems he 'knows' people on that magic picture box on the wall too.
I wonder how to speak to the middle ground. I encounter them from time to time.
There are the boodlers here, just about everyone associated with NY Times, and others, who recognize how dangerous Trump is and want to get him out. On the other side are hardcore supporters who like what he does no matter how outrageous or dangerous. What is the way to speak to those in the middle, who may have voted Trump last time because they were sick of being ignored, but aren't hard-core Trumps? I suspect winning over some of them is important, as not enough never-Trumps will vote in November to win Congress on their backs alone.
My Republican congressman, and three others from central Florida, voted against the appropriations bill.
The new after-Brexit British passports will be blue, in contrast to the red EU-passports to emphasize the independence of the Brits. They will be produced in France. :-)
Trump is considering a veto of the appropriations bill. In that case, I expect Democrats to sit on their hands.
The Narcissist-in-Chief signed the appropriations bill. Mr. P suspects Trump announced his threat not to sign it just because he wanted the public attention.
Re: What is the way to speak to those in the middle, who may have voted Trump last time because they were sick of being ignored, but aren't hard-core Trumps?
Representative-elect Conor Lamb seems to have threaded that needle, and no doubt Democrats will be studying his campaign model for his type of jurisdictions.
Also, on WaPo homepage just now: BREAKING: ‘You should do it.’ Trump officials encouraged George Papadopoulos’s foreign outreach, documents show. What did Trump know, and when did he know it (shades of Watergate hearings)?
I've read that one way money can be laundered is to offer books etc. for sale online at preposterously high prices (then the crooks buy them). Just now I inadvertently came across the following, which sounds suspiciously as though it fits that bill:
https://www.amazon.com/Washington-March-Piano-Ensemble-Intermediate/dp/B000M1AV8S
The Washington Post March for One Piano Four Hands (FJH Piano Ensemble Series, Late Intermediate) Sheet music – 2003
Buy New
$610.98 + Free Shipping
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Well, at least the shipping's free ;-) (I found someone else selling it new for $5.99 + $3.99 shipping)
NP, Lamb threaded that needle by moving quite a bit to the right and going as far as denouncing Nancy Pelosi who seems to be the bogeywoman for Republicans. I am not sure what the point is of gaining the House when the price is to behave like a moderate Republican. I am still glad that this happened because anything that could restrain the President at this point is welcome, but still.
Joshua Bell was looking and sounding fine. You wouldn't think he'd been performing more than 30 years.
What a treat.
gmbka, I'd rather have a moderate Republican than an extreme one. Democrats can't fall into the same ideological purity trap. The last thing that's needed is another circular firing squad that leaves the status quo.
Heard a few minutes ago on the 11 AM EDT news headlines on NPR, in a report about today's marches. I never could've made this up:
Counter-demonstrations called "March for Our Guns" will be held today in Montana, Idaho, Utah. Organizers are requesting that attendees behave in a civil manner and (wait for it) not bring their guns.
"March for our guns" as opposed to "our lives" illustrates perfectly the callousness of some gun owners. It makes me shudder.
yello, perchance did you and Mrs. jkt go to the DC demonstration, and see Lin Manuel Miranda and Ben Platt perform?
Well, I made it to Spain and back again. We took the train from Madrid to Barcelona, which was a lot of fun. Took a tour of a few hours at the Prado in Madrid. If you like art, you need to go there. We spent a fair amount of time looking at Heironymus Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights" triptych, Velasquez's "Las Meninas," and Goya's Second and Third of May 1808 paintings. All of which are much bigger than I had thought, especially "Las Meninas" which is enormous.
We also took side trips to Toledo and Segovia, which were fascinating but whose various types of cobblestones did a number on my feet. I walked with a cane for most of the trip.
When we were in Madrid walking from the Prado to another site, our local guide called us all together to point out three known pickpockets who were working our area. Us men were advised to put our wallets into the front pockets of our pants, which I did. A couple of days later when we went to the museum housing "Guernica," our bus driver identified four known pickpockets in the immediate area where we got off the bus.
In spite of all that, I enjoyed Madrid and liked Barcelona even more. We visited some great places, including three Gaudi sites, and heard some great music. My favorite was a piano recital in a lovely Art Nouveau auditorium by a Polish pianist named Rafal Blechacz. He looks like he's about 25 but is actually in his early 30s. His playing was gorgeous. I don't think he tours much so I felt fortunate to see him. We also went to Pablo Casals's house outside of Barcelona for a tour and a brief private concert of Bach music on the cello and a delicious meal on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. I have a couple of seashells from there. Lots of other delicious food was eaten in both places.
Eight of our original group of about 25 went on to the island of Mallorca. Our guide was an Englishman, but he has lived on Mallorca for about 25 years. So we had an excellent guide. The highlight was probably a visit to a monastery where Frederic Chopin and George Sand spent a miserable few months one winter. Chopin's piano didn't arrive until the day they left but he still composed quite a bit during their months there. We had a private concert of Chopin's musich in the cell (three rooms, really) where they stayed. That was lovely.
The town we stayed in on Mallorca has only about 10,000 people. It wasn't a particularly busy tourist season, so I moved my wallet from the front pocket of my jeans to the back pocket. It was only there for a few hours before some son of a bitch pickpocketed me. I survived the big cities and got nailed in a small town. Several of the members in our group gave me some money to get by for the last few days of our trip and to get my car out of the airport parking lot here when we got home. I am very grateful for that help. I was really impressed by Virginia's DMV Web site that I could pay for and print out a temporary driver's license while in Spain! It was actually quite easy. I remembered by checking account number so I could pay for it. I canceled all my credit cards. Capital One told me that the bastards who took my wallet tried to withdraw cash from ATMs using my cards, but the transactions were denied. Probably because they didn't have the PINs. In any case, I now have a new wallet, new credit cards, a new ATM card, and a new driver's license. And I still want to kick those bastards in a place where it would hurt. I also appreciate the help I got from my colleagues on the trip. I will send checks out to repay them tomorrow. I'm also happy that I didn't get hurt.
Watched Stormy Daniels on 60 Minutes, probably my only non-sports TV watching in two years. There are so many ways to frame the issue[s] that this will never be settled! male big shot having an affair; porn star vs POTUS; big shot has affair while wife has child; etc, etc. Who knows which will gain traction with which sub-population.
Another spin is porn star uses POTUS to gain publicity and income.
PJ,
you most certainly had an eventful trip. When we were there we were not warned of pick-pockets and the only incident was when a wino tried to take off my husbands hat. While I shouted to let him have it, my husband clubbed him with his cane and the wino took flight. I am so sorry that you were victimized and also that the walking was difficult for you.
It was a smart move to take a cane, I did the same for Costa Rica and because the various rainforests were slippery I was grateful for my third leg although I wore suitable shoes.
Your positive experiences sound delightful and enviable and I am considering to drop my promised visit to family in London for next year's Europe trip and replace it with Barcelona, where I have never been and which I always wanted to go to. Unfortunately I will be by myself and won't have the privileges you enjoyed. This year it will be Jerusalem to visit with a friend.
Thank you so much for your travel report, I enjoyed it tremendously.
Cambridge Analytica was also connected with the Leave organization in the UK (Brexit).
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/mar/26/pressure-grows-on-pm-over-brexit-cambridge-analytica-scandal-theresa-may
AND: An Australian accuses Facebook of illegally storing phone calls data from his android phone.
If I’ve got your number, so has Facebook
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43539881
I am getting symptoms of paranoia: unknown dark powers influence our lives.
PJ, it sounds as though you had an otherwise wonderful trip, save for the pickpocket blemish. Yes, there's a real sense of feeling violated, but it's good you were able to take the necessary steps afterwards, as well as receive needed help from other tour members (who will of course be gratified to receive your reimbursement). I confess to not having heard of the young Polish pianist you mention, but based on your review I hope I will in the not-too-distant future.
As to Chopin's composing sans piano: Some of us are able to read/write music just by hearing it in our mind's ear, i.e., without playing it on an instrument or singing it. Most famously, Beethoven did so in his later years, and produced some of his greatest works without being able to hear them except in his mind. And while in college, I recall being able to do my Harmony course homework assignments while listening to a baseball game on my transistor radio (oh, to be a multi-tasking teenager again!).
gmbka, for the last decade or so of his life my father carried a cane with him when he walked, more as a precaution than out of real need (he'd developed a slightly wonky knee). I envisioned someday seeing a headline to the effect of "Senior citizen thwarts mugger with cane," although despite living in a sketchy neighborhood he was never mugged, thank goodness.
Jim, did you get a chance yet to read Alyssa Rosenberg's astute opinion piece last night, "The most radical part of Anderson Cooper’s interview with Stormy Daniels"? I think she got it right:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2018/03/25/the-most-radical-part-of-anderson-coopers-interview-with-stormy-daniels/?utm_term=.a15438686d10
...[He] refuse[d] to treat Clifford as if she was irresponsible or immoral, or as if she were less than credible simply because of what she does for a living... The discussion of whether her story is credible was confined to facts that are relevant to that question...
And Dave, Crikey Cricket! I immediately thought of you when I heard this news report over the BBC this weekend. Is nothing sacred??? "Ball-tampering: Australia launch investigation, Steve Smith remains captain for now":
http://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/43530457
P.S. Jumper, long time no hear. Are You OK?
pj, thanks for the report, including the bad news. I'm feeling a bit self congratulatory about having gotten through two Paris visits with no pocket problems. The wallet tended to live in a jacket pocket, or shirt pocket.
I may take a cane, to Hawaii in August. The idea will be to do a full day of walking around Kilauea. That's made possible by a bargain air fare.
A bus/plane/boat tour from Tokyo to Okinawa awaits after Easter. Tokyo does a rather good job of hiding past horrors. It was freakish to be in one of the city's loveliest traditional parks and realize that nearly every tree is post World War II. The bombing had caused an urban forest fire. We will visit, for my second time, Himeji Castle, possibly the finest surviving original one. Last tour featured one that had been ruined by a siege during the Meiji Restoration. Tokugawa holdouts had holed up within, and the Meiji forces applied artillery. The reconstruction is nice, but the interior is a thoroughly modern museum. We'll visit Deshima, the former island where the Dutch trade delegation hung out, when they weren't making the occasional pilgrimage to Edo.
NP, I'd spotted the Australian ball scandal. There was something relatively innocent about it.
And from Miami: Paris Hilton's $2 million engagement ring flew off in a club. It was found in an ice bucket.
Jim, your thoughts on the cricket ball scandal?
HP, you around? Any signs of spring thaw (or mud season) yet? How's Hastings?
Dave, you remind me dafter and grandafter are in Tokyo now. I offered them a trip to anywhere, and that was the choice. Dafter was planning to stay mostly in the city, but I hope her hubby will get them out at least for a couple of days.
NP, cricket is the premier game in Oz. The various codes of football (Aussie rules, Rugby League and Union, Soccer) fight it out in the winter, but cricket has the place to itself in summer. And it is popular. The 20-over variety, that takes about as long as a baseball game and is played at night, sells out large stadiums. When I was the coach of Uni of NSW baseball 2nd grade, one of the players was called up to the NSW cricket team. Bye-bye baseball. (He went on to play for, and captain, the Oz cricket team, making him perhaps the country's 2nd leading man, after the PM.)
That reminds me, most Aussie young men have a nickname, including all the university baseball players. Geoff Lawson, the baseball and cricket player, was Henry, after the poet. Peter Calov (Russian name, pronounced Carlof, like the extra R in khaki, carkee) was Boris. One was Bandit because he broke an arm while at the national universities baseball tournament. Someone with red hair might be Bluey. Etc.
Cricket used to be like baseball used to be in summer here. On the radio all the time (and a test match takes a few days, all day) as a background to whatever else people are doing, and I understand it hasn't lost that role, even as people's lives and information intake have sped up. Oz punches above its weight in so many sports. Used to dominate world tennis and swimming. Always strong in cricket, rugby, athletics, and others from time to time. Very competitive players, who often are right on the line of poor sportsmanship, which they call playing hard but fair. Most evidenced in "sledging" or verbalizing at opposing batsmen in cricket matches, out in the middle where the spectators can't hear how vulgar it is. Because they are so often so good, they might expect that they should win just about every time, and don't respond very well when they don't, such as the current cricket series in South Africa, where the host team has beaten them. Steve Smith, the Oz captain, might be the world's best batsman, but his teammates have mostly been outplayed, and they don't like that. In cricket these days India and South Africa are on a par or better, which Oz hasn't gotten used to, after wiping the floor with everyone all through the 90s and being strong since.
I'm reminded of the blue team in a young adult soccer league, AYSO graduates of age 19 to late 20s. One team came from another league, and was in late-season form at the beginning of the season. The rest of the teams had just been thrown together, and didn't even know the names of all the teammates. The blue team would win its first few games, and imagined they were the king of the hill. However, they were already at peak form and improved little, while the other teams steadily improved over the season. I did not like to referee the blue team near the end of the season. They felt entitled to win every game simply because they were so special, however they would lose many or most of the last few, and not win the playoffs. They didn't take it well. Every year the same.
Pacifica, have you had any fresh artichokes yet this season? They've still been too expensive back East to justify buying (especially when fresh asparagus is on sale), but hope springs eternal that the prices will come down in mid-season.
SueSea, I think of you and wonder how you've been doing.
Has either of you gotten much rain this month?
Jim19, Rikugien Garden at the Komagome metro and Yamanote station is open till 9 pm with floodlighted cherry blossoms until April 5. It's one of the great daimyo gardens, saved and refurbished by Mitsubishi as part of a real estate development scheme, and it's transitioned gracefully into a contemplative park. It's the one that I mentioned as having suffered an urban forest fire. Something to look out for is beautifully pruned, large, evergreen broadleaf trees along the lakeshore. Despite this being a feudal garden of great cultural importance, the trees are southern magnolias. They've become Japanese.
Also, at Asakusa, the branch of the Sensoji Temple with the pagoda (recently refurbished) has its small but wonderful garden open. Once inside, you can't believe you're smack dab in TOKYO.
By all means urge the folks to escape. Even getting as far as Nikko, where day trips should be available. http://www.toshogu.jp/english/shrine/
Or I might try a day trip to Mashiko, the pottery town whose influence has been felt worldwide. I inadvertently did a Mashiko global tour; the town was a somewhat hurried stop on a 2016 tour, then I found Mashiko influence in Whanganui, New Zealand (a serious pottery museum), and I scheduled a visit to Cornwall without realizing that I'd be a modest bus ride from another Mashiko connection on St. Ives. I definitely recommend Cornwall sometime when the English aren't swarming.
So I'm going to Victoria, BC this weekend. I have no idea what will be in bloom but since this is the only time my teacher wife can get off we have to take what we can get.
We are going up to the NYC Botanical Gardens the 15 of April to see their Georgia O'Keefe orchid exhibit before it closes. The Brooklyn Botanical Garden has a cherry blossom festival the following weekend but we'll miss that.
PJ,
I've always been dismissive of pickpocket warnings even though I use a travel wallet where I just keep one credit card and enough cash for the day. Then last year my doppleganger Rick Steves reported that he got pickpocketed for the first time ever while in Spain. And he confesses he was taking none of the precautions he recommends in his guide books.
I wonder if pickpocket activity is picking up or if this is just anecdotal confirmation bias.
yello, this? http://www.butchartgardens.com/activities/calendar
Victoria's also famous for tea at the Empress Hotel (which my mother enjoyed many decades ago):
http://www.fairmont.com/empress-victoria/dining/tea-at-the-empress/
Mr. P and I were too poor for such activities when we camped on Vancouver Island toward the end of a long road trip during our student days, but would visit the above if we ever got the chance to return. Look forward to you sharing your photos.
Both Butchart Gardens and Tea (as well as Easter brunch) at the Fairmont are on the itinerary.
Been to Butchart. I had the car, having driven from Wyoming. A former professor of mine and a couple of students were the passengers--it was break day from a scientific meeting in Vancouver.
Just contemplated a $700 round trip ticket to Paris in July. Nope.
Her first two pix don't show leaving the city, but it's early yet. They have this school holiday week plus last Friday and the weekends on either side.
https://www.facebook.com/erica.deesse?hc_ref=ARQb2HGFOui1GZ5sjUNxQz12ib0AxPYJ9VDsyHGam9TgDl9V8lnII0eYxlXWa1kKJE0
Sometimes I wonder, is this really MY daughter? But then I think: my parents were dragged up in the Depression so I modeled some habits that don't exist today (even if they should still), things improved a lot during my life, and since dafter has been old enough to make her own judgments, let's say the past 20 years, the world has acquired Internet, smart phones, etc., etc., and the associated behavioral responses among the young.
Hey Dave, how about the Paris of North America, namely Montréal, in July? The vast and varied Botanical Gardens there should be going full throttle then, and presumably the airfare's considerably less than to/from Paris.
The Empress Hotel tea looks like a rip-off. Devonshire tea is tea with scones served with whipped cream/clotted cream and strawberry jam. The cream and jam are both sweet, and if the scones are fresh and warm it's wonderful. I remember having Devonshire tea on gloomy drizzly days in southern Victoria, Oz, 60 yrs ago, and it made the trip to see whatever it was we were going to see out among the tree ferns worthwhile. But $75?
Just booked a revisit to Longwood Gardens. But that's on Southwest, so can be changed.
....and I hope Chanticleer Garden. Maybe art in Philly? The Barnes collection is apparently awesome. But I haven't done Winterthur since high school. That deal was that the art class had a mandatory field trip up there. I was told I could come along as a substitute if someone skipped. Someone did, so I went. At the time, visitors toured in groups of four, so I was assigned to the teachers' pet group. Of course back then, A.I. Du Pont's Nemours mansion was visible merely as a stone wall topped with broken bottles. It still seems a good example of why not to build a mansion. I lived near his more manageable Jacksonville mansion.
Around, NP. Haven't checked in for a week. Need a break from the news this week. I was hoping for the indictment express to board more administration officials by Easter.
The Iranian indictments are important (they're Russia allies and they were essentially stealing money to bomb kids in Syria.) for the global cyberwar/crime scandal, which has been taking down quite a few heads of state (current and ex) of late. I'm glad to see the expulsion of suspected spies worldwide re the Salisbury attack, and more cybercrime rings taken down.
But it also seems so vast and entrenched that I wonder if Trump will stay in office until 2020 just because it's easier to leave him in place than to get Pence out first. Make no doubt, Pence is probably itching to see him impeached or resign so he can take over.
A nos, on va bien pour le Monsieur Hastings et moi.
We are mentally eyeing some rare and delicious leftovers in the fridge, but the digestion must toil first, alas, and our eyes sleep.
HP, I'm glad to know you and Hastings are chugging along through life, enjoying fine viands. I try to ration my day news dosages, in the interests of both my mental health and the need to accomplish tings that matter to me.
The best thing might be for Trump to remain in office, but neutered by Democratic-majority House (and Senate, if possible), so basically held hostage. I agree that Pence could do more damage, since he's a zealot who has greater knowledge of how the system works.
SCC: Accomplish THINGS. Ack!
Oh boy, another made man joins Spanky & the White House Rascals.
Yeah HF, I guess Trump figures it isn't only lawyers who seek fame and fortune. As if good name weren't the jewels of their souls, or even any longer necessary...
I-95 was closed for quite a while around New Smyrna Beach for a "brush fire."
I don't want to underestimate the obstacles to a Democratic House. The Cook Political Report sees it as certainly possible, but by no means a given. My local House seat is seen as safe Republican, just like the rest of Florida's Freedom Caucus seats. To the south, freshman Republican Brian Mast may have saved his re-election chances by coming out in favor of gun control. Of course he might get primaried, but it's a bit hard to do that against a seriously wounded vet.
Friend who's a retired English teacher sent this. Confirms my conviction that Trump's "crazy like a fox."
"Understanding Trump’s Use of Language":
https://georgelakoff.com/2016/08/19/understanding-trumps-use-of-language/
Inter alia, ...Always Selling
For five decades, Trump has been using all these techniques of selling and trying to make deals to his advantage. It seems to have become second nature for him to use these devices. And he uses them carefully and well. He is a talented charlatan. Keeping you off balance is part of his game. As is appealing to ordinary thought mechanisms in the people he is addressing.
It is vital that the media, and ordinary voters, learn to recognize his techniques. When the media fails to grasp what he is doing, it gives him an advantage. Every time someone in the media claims his discourse is “word salad, ” it helps Trump by hiding what he is really doing...
She also sent this, by Lakoff and a colleague. "Trump is using Twitter to manipulate the country. Here’s how to stop falling for it":
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/california-forum/article193085404.html
Scroll down page for "A Taxonomy of Trump's Tweets," including an example of each:
1. Preemptive Framing: Be the first to frame an idea.
2. Diversion: Divert attention from real issues.
3. Deflection: Attack messenger, change direction.
4. Trial balloon: Test public reaction.
Today’s Background Briefing had a legal person discussing the potential liability of Manafort, Trump, Flynn, et. al., and how those cases are going, and also how Mueller is releasing his information, that he can’t just publish, via his court filings. And also how a presidential pardon won’t help some of them in State courts, where the AGs would quickly pick up the thread if pardons were granted. That makes Manafort look at 300 years in prison – will that make him cooperate?
Trump is pretty obviously a skilled communicator of a sort, a familiar TV presence to many millions. There's been good analyses to the effect that he talks the way he does because he can get away with it and, after all, he won the election.
Earlier, I had mistook his style, combined with his fixed views on assorted subjects (until he suddenly changes his mind) to be signs of oncoming dementia. I'm now more in favor of "he behaves that way because he can get away with it, and part of asserting power is getting away with it."
I hadn't followed the trial of the wife of the Orlando Pulse club massacre perpetrator, but am relieved that the jury, after long deliberation, found her not guilty of helping her late husband.
Hi, everyone. I'm doing OK, trying to keep up with lots of paperwork, and not get too caught up in the underlying sadness of it all. What else can you do?
Trump is so repulsive to me, I have no idea how anyone can listen to him. Even reading about his speeches sets me off. This is a good couple of times removed piece about his most recent campaign rally:
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a19640515/trump-infrastructure-speech-ohio/
seasea
Yep, Suesea, keeping busy is helpful. Bearable Easter/Passover to you and yours, and a happy one to everybody else.
A neat story on seeing Rome through the eyes of Flavius Josephus, the Jewish turncoat turned popular historian and propagandist for emperor Titus. Yet more reason to get serious about actually visiting. Josephus's account is the only surviving one of the Jewish revolt and the wanton Roman destruction of Judea. It's been noted that the big page-turner, like most other ancient literature, might well not have survived.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/28/travel/rome-through-the-eyes-of-flavius-josephus.html?em_pos=medium&emc=edit_tl_20180331&nl=travel-dispatch&nl_art=0&nlid=73722835emc%3Dedit_tl_20180331&ref=headline&te=1
I encountered a full-sized statue of Titus's father, Vespasian, at the Louvre. It seemed life-like and the gentleman came across as a wise, kindly politician. A bit of Googling suggested that such images were highly stylized. And of course Vespasian was barbarous, as was his son.
About a decade ago (during a lull in my work schedule), I trolled a scammer one weekend. It's fun, but time- and thought-consuming. However, after a couple days I had other things I needed to do, so I ended it by asking him to send ME money (talk about chutzpah!).
"I Trolled An Internet Scammer For Two Weeks. Here's What I Learned":
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/columnists/hc-news-car-wrap-scam-20180325-story.html
Found this email in my spam filter a little while ago: well, it IS April Fool's Day!
SUBJECT: Congratulations. You Are Nominated By Canada Provincial Nomination Program 2018
Canadian Resettlement pnp.cicgov@gmail.com
Sun 4/1/2018 5:18 PM
Greetings from The Canadian Resettlement Programs! Congratulations, Canada Immigration Wish to inform you that your have been shortlisted to Apply for Canada PNP Immigration settlement program 2018. You have be randomly shortlisted through our electronic ballot system among the nominees to migrate to Canada. For more detail contact our PNP Office. Regards Public Relation. Canada Immigration and Resettlement Bureau
I just crossed the border back into the US if I had known about this, I would have stayed and applied. It is transferable, isn't it?
Nosy nosing around Canada. Could be entertaining.
That Canadian thing reminds me of a rejection letter I got from a liberal arts college. It said I'd been put on a wait list, but explained that only rarely did anyone actually get picked from the list, so I suspect that, with the possible exception of a few applicants who failed initial screening, they sent the wait list letter to everyone who didn't get put on a real wait list or an offer of admission. Somehow, computer forms from Big State U were a bit easier to take.
I wonder what the Trump voters think of him now when they see their nest-eggs shrinking because of his antics. I hope it is a learning experienc.
Chinese tariffs on soybeans may be more significant than the relatively small impact on stocks because of the regional impact, if Brazil and Argentina supplant the US as the main suppliers, although even a small impact on stocks is important to a lot of people.
A Big State U system has the high school records and SATs and university grades from thousands, maybe millions of applicants and students over decades. They know how to adjust the applicants' scores according to observed outcomes, in effect rating the high schools.
One of my dad's friends at UCLA was on the committee that looked into this (I guess German professor was not a growth industry), and I remember him discussing how they tried to correct for biases in high schools and other demographic factors, rather than simply taking the numbers provided at face value. I suppose that might lead to lawsuits these days?
Quite a while back, an assortment of colleges and universities, from elite to ordinary state, shared data on applications, admitted students, and how they fared. My huge and at the time low social class state U did well at educating students who’d had a choice of them or Penn. That shared data resulted in a number of books, one on the huge importance of athletics in admissions at elite private colleges, and insignificance at public ones.
As a student at a high school on a military base in 1967 who hadn’t set up a one-kid protest movement, I was probably not acceptable at any private college where I would have felt the cost was justified.
Africa is splitting up, well, not in my lifetime. But the process is causing problems now already, such as huge cracks in a major highway. Plate tectonics are fascinating.
https://qz.com/1244443/scientists-now-have-evidence-africa-is-physically-splitting-into-two-continents/
I wonder how many of the Army and National Guard members going to defend our border against whatever it is are Hispanics who came over that very border, or whose ancestors did? They aren’t likely to be German descendants from Iowa, or Sikhs from California, although maybe some slave descendants from Mississippi.
Scott Pruitt wanting his motorcade to proceed with lights and sirens is a more understandable abuse than many greater ones. M
Pruitt is so full of himself that he fits right in with this administration.
Opposing views on the Roseanne reboot, by two pop culture commentators I respect.
Former WaPo Celebritoloist™ Jen Chaney (well-remembered by yello and me), "Roseanne Is a Political Series and Let’s Not Pretend Otherwise":
http://www.vulture.com/2018/04/roseanne-is-a-political-series-full-stop.html?wpisrc=nl_act4&wpmm=1
Former basketball superstar, and social think Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, "Don't Be Fooled, 'Roseanne' Is Really TV's Most Anti-Trump Show":
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kareem-abdul-jabbar-dont-be-fooled-roseanne-is-tvs-anti-trump-show-1099170
My hunch is that current events in the next year will undermine Roseanne Conners' Trumpism.
Here is somebody who paints a rosy picture of our future. Even though I have my doubts, it was still a pleasure to read. Enjoy:
https://medium.com/s/state-of-the-future/the-great-lesson-of-california-in-americas-new-civil-war-e52e2861f30
Can it be that Trump actually considers Chemical Warfare as a serious matter? This is his first criticism of Russia, isn't it?
HF, methinks any displays of decency by Trump are comparable to the stopped clock whose hands tell the time correctly twice a day. (Remember how tea-party sweetheart Sarah Palin advocated for US military withdrawal from the Middle East, so as many Muslims as possible could bump one another off, which in her view was a good thing?).
Trump displayed his usual narcissism in his first tweet following word of this weekend's Trump Tower fire, boasting that his edifice was "well-built." Of course, it was built without sprinklers a few years before they were proposed to be mandatory, and he fought that notion tooth-and-nail on grounds it was too costly. (Wanna bet that The Donald's penthouse is chock-a-bblock with sprinklers, though?)
Good analogy, NP.
Paul Ryan is not seeking reelection to the House:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-speaker-paul-ryan-will-not-seek-reelection-he-tells-friends-and-colleagues/2018/04/11/0d2719e4-3d83-11e8-8d53-eba0ed2371cc_story.html?utm_term=.7b1152fd2e82
Sea change coming, pj?
Pompeo failed to disclose ownership of business connected to China.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/382765-pompeo-failed-to-disclose-ownership-in-business-connected-to-china
Only the best people.
A NY Times opinion contributor suggests that raiding Trump’s personal lawyer just might bring a swell of sympathy. That’s possible. Trump unfairly persecuted by the Deep State. Many Americans might actually think Trump’s a lonely hero, fending off Hillaru’s corrupt and godless minions. Wherever Fox & National Enquirer say.
Nevertheless, Democrats are showing real energy. Beto reminds me of our hayseed wonder, Lawton Chiles, whose first campaign for governor was a most unlikely success.
Pompeo’s neglect, or whatever, might have gotten less scrutiny in a cleaner administration. Then again, Obama’s Whie House personnel office seems to have been first class. Over at EPA, I had supposed that Pruitt was evil and bent on behaving like Ruritanian royalty, but competent in his attacks on regulations. Now, competent observers are seeing bluster and showboating, including back in Oklahoma. Q
"The Washington Post wins 2 Pulitzer Prizes for reporting on Russian interference and Alabama Senate race":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-washington-post-wins-2-pulitzer-prizes-for-reporting-on-russian-interference-and-alabama-senate-race/2018/04/16/0915c310-4197-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html
Trump will doubtless tweet that they're "fake" prizes.
Airplane movie reviews. A documentary on "Ukeo-e Heros" was perhaps 3 times longer than if might have been, but covered present-day traditional wood cut print making in Japan and an unlikely collaboration between a master print maker, David Bull, who is English (working in Tokyo), and young Utah artist Jed Henry. http://ukiyoeheroes.com/
"Battleship Island," a 2017 South Korean film about the island base of an offshore coal mine near Nagasaki toward the end of World War II (its ruins figured in the James Bond movie "Skyfall"). It is extraordinarily violent and over-plotted, but
it does give some idea of why Koreans view Japan with some dislike--it's a place where many Koreans were forced to work in the mines durng World War II, with many deaths and injuries (a case where Wikipedia may not be reliable and I'm not sure of good sources). I do not know how well this movie represents history (I suspect it of being a over dramatization of an extremely serious tale), but it is impressively produced. Rotten Tomatoes provides links to reviews.
First Harry Anderson, now Carl Kassel:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/carl-kasell-npr-broadcaster-who-brought-gravitas-and-goofiness-to-the-airwaves-dies-at-84/2018/04/17/173eecc2-3b49-11e8-a7d1-e4efec6389f0_story.html
Damn you, Peter Sagal, you made me cry. "Carl Kasell 'Was Kind Down To His Bones'":
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/17/603211630/peter-sagal-carl-kasell-was-kind-down-to-his-bones (audio and transcript both already available online)
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