Monthly Archives: August 2018

Egyptian Faience:

Egyptian faience is a sintered–quartz ceramic displaying surface vitrification which creates a bright lustre of various colours, with blue-green being the most common. Defined as a “material made from powdered quartz covered with a true vitreous coating, usually in a transparent blue or green isotropic glass,” faience is distinct from the crystalline compound Egyptian blue.^[1] Notably, faience is considerably more porous than glass proper and can be cast in molds to create vessels or objects.^[2]Although it contains the major constituents of glass (silica, lime) and no clay until late periods, faience is frequently discussed in surveys of ancient pottery, as in stylistic and art-historical terms objects made of it are closer to pottery styles than ancient Egyptian glass. [Wikipedia]

Noted in “World Roundup,” Archaeology (September/October 2018):

ISRAEL: A small faience head from Abel Beth Maacah in northern Israel may represent a king who lived during the 9th century B.C. The sculpture, which sports a manicured beard, wavy tresses, and a painted black and yellow headband, was likely part of a figurine that would have stood about 8 to 10 inches tall. Its high degree of artistry is leading experts to believe it may depict King Ahab of Israel, King Hazael of Aram- Damascus, or King Ethbaal of Tyre, three rulers known from the Bible.

Follow the link to see the picture.

I use ‘movie’ in a loose sense, the idea of a story, told in a theatrical format, committed to film or other medium which permits extensive editing. The filming of a play might not qualify; a TV mini-series, on the other hand, appears to fit the definition.

This particular mini-series was broadcast initially last April, but in Britain. I’ll call it ‘Belated’ because that’s how it feels.

Being part of this family is just fuckin’ exhausting isn’t it, sisters? Sisters? Oh, crap. This’ll make for an awkward dinner conversation.

There are two lessons to take from Ordeal by Innocence (2018), a BBC mini-series based on the Agatha Christie novel of the same name.

First, this may be the most insanely dysfunctional family I’ve ever seen.

Second, if you’re looking for revenge, don’t monologue^[1] about it. In this story about a dead step-son who is the sardonic witness to the family’s dysfunction, it’s his inclination to spew his plans for revenge which results in his untimely demise.

I shan’t get too much further into this movie, because my Arts Editor and I both found it difficult to connect names to faces and, sometimes, motivations to characters. Suffice it to say that the first victim in this three-victim story seems to have managed to inspire every character, with perhaps the exception of the maid, with a reason to commit mayhem upon her person; the second, our monologuer, might or might not be the fall guy, and the third also let his bitterness get the better of him. Or perhaps the story-tellers just tired of him. Where there’s a conscienceless murderer handy, there’s a way, as the old saying goes.

I thought this movie came close to being top-flight. There was the building suspense, the disbelief at each revelation of a new facet of dysfunction, the suggestion that the surrounding culture is also at fault, it was all fairly interesting. But I didn’t quite get there. Perhaps it was the subject matter, which is certainly not inspirational; nor was it easy to draw lessons from it, other than Don’t be English.

But maybe this was a cautionary tale about studying competing theological systems.

In the end, it’s about a collection of foster children trying to survive a family embedded in a society of hypocritical taboos and social expectations, and how their reaction to it can be equally horrible.

Don’t skip the ending. As if you could.

¹I ran across the term monologuing in The Incredibles (2004), where it is used to describe a villain who stops in the middle of the action to describe his evil plans to the hero, who, at the time, happens to be in a tight spot. I transfer the term loosely here, but the spirit is the same: announcing plans to the presumably helpless, who turn out to still be potent.

It’s been a while since I expressed disappointment at Australian Prime Minister Turnbull’s endorsement to build the world’s largest coal mine in Australia. Well, now Turnbull has been evicted from the Prime Minister’s residence (which he never physically occupied) because he was too ambitious on the issue of CO₂ emissions for his Liberal Party to stomach, and he’s being replaced with social conservative and, until now, Treasury Minister Scott Morrison. His position on anthropomorphic climate change?

In a country where the debate over climate change and clean energy has brought down several political leaders — including Turnbull — Morrison has been unequivocal in his support of Australia’s traditional power source.

He famously brought a lump of coal into parliament in February 2017. “This is coal,” Morrison shouted across the chamber. “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be scared. It won’t hurt you. Those opposite have an ideological, pathological fear of coal.” [WaPo]

I suppose he denies that burning the stuff releases releases mercury, along with all the climate change gasses. The former Prime Minister’s description of his opponents certainly has a ring of familiarity for me:

Friday’s vote was the second one on Turnbull’s leadership in three days and the culmination of years of what Turnbull asserted was an “insurgency” by opponents aided by right-wing commentators and media outlets, including Sky News, the Australian equivalent of Fox News.

“There was a determined insurgency by a number of people, both in the party room and backed by powerful voices in the media . . . to bring down my prime ministership,” he told reporters.

I’m not sure how American right-wing and Australian right-wing commentators line up, but it’s probably not too far off. That Mr. Morrison is also an Evangelical Christian is also not surprising, as an existential crisis brought on by our own activities, supposedly blessed by the Divinity, seems a paradox.

Looks to be another step backwards. Fortunately, Morrison’s Liberal Party holds a razor thin majority in coalition with the National Party, so Labour may be able to take control soon. I’m not sure if they’re any better, though.

We attended the Minnesota State Fair on its first day – yesterday. Here’s a few pictures from the poultry barn of the non-poultry – the bunnies.

Coloration and buddyship.

Nice markings, reminds us of Smudge, a late kitty we had the privilege of hosting.

Cute!

I’m a sucker for gray cats. And gray bunnies are dignified, too.

I liked the size contrast.

Good markings! Too bad the pic is out of focus.

The pure black reminds me of our late cat Mischief.

You just want to grab those ear, don’t you?

Yoda.

A small cow.

Mr. Plush doesn’t care about you.

Two more minutes and I’ll have escaped. In six pieces, yes, but my sister is a tailor!

My ears disapprove of you. You may leave now.

Unfortunately, yelling at Mother Nature is neither effective nor satisfying.

That was from light winds and heavy rain. Since this is during the Minnesota State Fair, our street is lined with the vehicles of attendees, and I can only say I hope they feel lucky that those branches didn’t land on their expensive SUVs.

One of the unusual problems faced by prosecutors in the various investigations involving President Trump’s associates is his pardon power. If one of his associates are willing to take the hit of being found guilty of various crimes, they can hope that he’ll pardon them for their incidentally illegal services, and they can rise from the dead to serve him again.

At least, that’s true of federal prosecutions, but not true of state prosecutions, but most of these are federal prosecutions.

But as I was reading about Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, it struck me that the Feds have their own big cannon in this war – the use of immunity. This has been granted to Weisselberg. By promising a witness that he or she shan’t be visiting a prison for their misdeeds, they’ve basically rendered the Trump cannon impotent.

It must be a fascinating exercise in deciding when to use this weapon. After all, you are immunizing a probable criminal from the usual consequences of his or her illegal activities, and that has to hurt. But the key here is that the most senior person responsible for the illegal activities is the big target – not just for the sake of the pride of the prosecutors, but for the very practical reason that, if they are not caught and punished, they’ll just do it again. It’s part of their temperament, after all, because If they didn’t get caught last time, why should they this time? So let’s go off and reoffend again, collect the goods, and, well, hurt society again.

Usually immunity is used just to tempt a confession and more information out of someone already hip deep in the muck, but not so often used to immunize them from a Presidential pardon. Normally, potential criminals are more likely to have a turncoat assassinated; to have a crime pardoned is substantially different.

Maybe in the great scheme of things doesn’t mean much, but I find it interesting and anticipate it may influence the course of future events in ways not analogous to a big Mob investigation and eventual trial.

But, then again, aren’t we all, outside of a few gang members and extremists?

Anyways, if you were a family values voter, how would Representative Hunter’s response to being charged with treating his campaign funds as personal funds strike you? From CNN/Politics:

Rep. Duncan D. Hunter seemed to shift any blame onto his wife, Margaret, on Thursday for alleged campaign fund abuses, saying she was the one handling his finances.

“She was also the campaign manager, so whatever she did that’ll be looked at too, I’m sure,” the California Republican said on Fox News.

“But I didn’t do it,” Hunter said. “I didn’t spend any money illegally.”

>crunch<         >crunch<

Nothing quite like throwing your spouse under the bus, I suspect. But how will the typical family values voter respond to this defense? Sure glad I don’t have to pick between him and the ancient evil of Cthulhu, it’d be a hard choice.

Our historical obsession with hating other people, at least here in Western Civ, can be fascinating. Archaeology has a very short article on a recent find illustrating the practice:

A thin lead curse tablet dating to the fifth century A.D. that was folded and nailed shut to intensify its power has recently been opened, some 80 years after it was discovered beneath the hippodrome in Antioch, in modern-day Turkey. Curse tablets from the period are generally in Greek or Latin, but this one, although difficult to make out with the naked eye, turns out to have been written in a Jewish dialect of Aramaic using Hebrew lettering. “This means it was written by a Jewish scribe,” says Rivka Elitzur-Leiman of Tel Aviv University, “if not a Jewish magician.”

I’ll omit the pic, since they are using it with permission from the researchers, but you can see it at the above link. It makes our era a little less unusually cut-throat, doesn’t it? It turns out the message had something to do with a chariot race, so venality seems to be a universal constant.

It’s cousin saving time. Too bad he’s a barbaric wretch.

Once again, the Japanese are plagued with monsters in War Of the Gargantuas (1966), and, given the aplomb with which the Japanese defense officials face these situations, you’d think they’d have developed better strategies for dealing with creatures standing more than 100 feet tall. Perhaps they should hide all their cities underground?

Note stuff coming out of neck. Reeks aesthetically.

But this time around there’s a Western element, as some of the biological cells of … (wait for it) … Frankenstein … not Frankenstein’s Monster, which is different … are to blame for the eponymous characters. (I’m visualizing the costume crew working on labcoats for 100 foot tall scientists.) Why? Uh, it had something to do with cell replication, and, oh, I don’t know. The scientific team, lead by the American doctor (Russ Tamblyn) and including the attractive Japanese lady, were remarkably casual about the whole thing. It’s been maybe 30 years since I’ve read Frankenstein, and I don’t recall Shelley’s genesis of the Monster, except he was an amazing physical specimen, not the riveted together hunk of junk of the cinematic versions.

Let’s count up the monsters, shall we? First, there’s the giant octopus that has the cargo ship in its tentacles during the opening storm. Then there’s Gargantua #1, a big, hairy humanoid, which takes exception to the giant octopus harassing the ship, and chases it away. Hurrah for the ship’s crew, yes!

Oh, wait, this is more of a tantrum over a toy, isn’t it? And, not only does the ship go down, most of the crew becomes … dinner.

An intervening moment while the scientific team puzzles over what appears to be their “Frankenstein,” which is now huge and fond of human meat, as #1 ventures on land and ravages an airport, including a fairly shocking consumption of one of the would-be passengers. The Frankenstein they had been studying was peaceful and friendly, goldarnit!

But when the Japanese trap the Gargantua in an electrified river, all seems to be coming to a happy ending, until #2 Gargantua appears (that would be 3 outsized critters) and rescues #1. Equally huge, and in fact identical to #1 except in coloration, the two hide out in the forest and river, and during this Gargantua Golden Era one of the search teams ventures too near a cliff and the aforementioned Japanese lady scientist nearly tumbles to her death, only to be saved by #2, which, interestingly enough, hurts himself doing so. She is returned to the American scientist, but when #2 returns to tend to wounded #1, he (honestly, they appear to be sexless) discovers … chewed up human clothing. Extended pantomime suggests a line has been crossed, and soon enough the two are rolling (#2 with a limp) across Tokyo in a Gargantua death match, and eventually into Tokyo Bay they tumble, all the while the Japanese worrying about them shedding more skin cells that might turn into more Gargantua Frankensteins, which has comedic possibility written all over it in purple ink.

In a fittingly huge bit of deus ex machina, an underwater volcano in Tokyo Bay chooses this moment to erupt and build itself into an island, allegedly consuming the battling Gargantua in the process. Yep, there was a nudge-nudge wink-wink from the cast on not finding any corpses to, ah, study.

Yeah, just why did I waste all these bytes on this review, anyways? If there’s a thematic exploration in here, I missed it. Maybe it had something to do with titanic mistakes requiring titanic acts of God to cover up? Seems unlikely.

Make up your own. And, remember, having read this review, you needn’t actually watch the movie. Unless you enjoy watching models of military vehicles and cities being destroyed. Although I must admit to chortling when the Gargantua were running through various towns and cities. You’d expect each step to be its own earthquake, local humans jolting up and down in rhythm to their footsteps….

I personally found this paragraph from a WaPo report on Trump’s situation following the Cohen and Manafort disasters dismaying, if unsurprising:

Trump and his legal woes are unlikely to recede into the background. Republicans face 77 days of midterm campaigning that could be jolted by unwelcome legal surprises. Still, the president remains overwhelmingly popular in his own party — with an almost 90 percent approval rating. And supporters like [Trump supporter Dan] Eberhart still support much of the president’s agenda.

90% is where I start shaking my head. Granted, there’s not been much in the way of polling since Tuesday, so perhaps the Republican base might be losing its faith in a tainted President – but there’s little reason to make such an assumption, outside of a hopeful heart.

But I fear there’s two factors working against such an outcome. First, there’s the allegiance to conservative media which feeds them partial facts, dubious assertions, and then emotional appeals. Even on an ostensibly NeverTrump site such as The Resurgent, I ran across this ugly post from Marc Giller:

So far, the only one of that bunch serving any jail time is Anthony Weiner—and that’s because of his proclivity to sext with underage girls, not because he had a ton of Cilton’s emails, many of them classified, on his personal laptop. Even after an Inspector General investigation determined serious irregularities in the way that the FBI and the DOJ handled the probe into Clinton’s homebrew email server, not a single person in her orbit had been indicted, charged or tried for a crime.

Reading the first couple of responses was interesting^[1], which I’ll leave to the footnote.  Giller then commits the cardinal sin – he claims that none of this excuses Trump. The problem is he just spent a couple of paragraphs proclaiming that Trump is not being treated fairly, that the Democrats were just as bad – despite the obvious fact that Federal Prosecutors appointed BY Trump are also those ripping his former team members into shreds for their chronically illegal ways.

Does Giller really think these Federal Prosecutors, appointed by Trump, are just going to ignore these alleged crimes committed by Obama, Clinton, Holder, and anyone else from the previous Administration? Prosecutors don’t make their career by refraining from red meat prosecutions; taking down the high ‘n mighty can lead to even greater things for the ambitious, such as Guiliani, who went from a Federal prosecutor taking down Mob dons to the Mayor’s seat of New York City. On the other hand, pursuing a false prosecution could gain them a janitorial position at, say, the Barack Obama Elementary School in St. Paul (which is right across the street from my fencing club). Absent personal knowledge of ill-doing by members of the previous Administration, I think the sober citizen must take their cue from their fellow Americans who happen to be these Federal prosecutors and assume that whatever illegalities may have occurred in the previous Administration were exceedingly trivial and quite probably accidental.

But, ironically, Giller may be correct on his primary thesis – the GOP base will not be swayed by these legal hand grenades that Trump’s own Prosecutors are tossing into Trump’s backyard, because of the lies that people like Giller have decided to believe in. I’d be completely unsurprised if Giller said he really believed what he said, I just think it’s misinformation motivated by a mistrust of the evil liberals^[2] and the belief that conservatives, as a brand, cannot possibly be worse than conservatives, even if they ally themselves with Trump. It’s a strong emotional motivation for those who have committed themselves to the position that liberals are bad and conservatives are good.

Which is why I stay an independent and a strong believer that those folks who are within, say, a standard deviation of the political mean of this country have much to contribute – I’m more than willing to consider suggestions from both sides within that parameter. The problem for the GOP? They’re now mostly 2, 3, or more standard deviations out there, and heading further out because they’ve closed off their information intake. That is, they believe the mass media, which tries so hard to bring the truth to their customers because of the free market practices, is really fake news – despite a century long pedigree in many cases – while upstarts like Fox News, documented as not serving up all the information for its viewers that it should by Bartlett, and allied organizations continue to spoon feed them information which feeds into their sensibilities.

Giller is almost certainly right in his prediction – because of perceived unfair treatment, which is untrue in itself, but still rings true to me. His base will go off in a huff and “how about Clinton and Obama” with no idea that if there was something there, career-hungry prosecutors would be all over them like maggots on a bunny carcass.

So the problem isn’t Trump – it’s the tendency of the conservatives to believe the worst of their opponents without due consideration that maybe they’re wrong – maybe they’re being lead around by the nose.

And that second factor I mentioned? Sorry, I forget what it was. Maybe I worked it into the above. I suppose I could go back and rework that paragraph so I didn’t have to admit to this mental goof on my part, but what of it? My reader might as well know that I can be forgetful from time to time.

¹First came a fist pump for Trump, with a list of his accomplishments. The first one was truthful, if troubling for those who want a quality judiciary, the second, not an accomplishment but a failure, the other twelve mistakenly attributing to Trump what Obama had already accomplished – or just another mistake committed by Trump. That was followed by someone noting that, no, Clinton had not committed any crimes, so please stop fucking saying that. An honorable but, I fear, futile paean to truth.

²Which makes any reverence for George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, or other leading, but ancient, liberals a bit of a conundrum. I classify them as liberal using my simple, yet fair, definitions of liberal and conservative.

The conservative is someone terrified of what the future might bring and bent on conserving that which has gotten them, or us, this far. This is a fair definition in that it recognizes that many cultural and legal practices are of value.

The liberal is someone who is horrified at certain events in the past and seeks to improve those aforementioned practices as a way to eliminate the horrors of the past. Sometimes they have foolish ideas, but at least they recognize there have been problems which can be addressed.

There is no doubt that Washington, et al, were liberals, as they were horrified at the abuses of the English monarchy, and sought to replace it with something new.

Equitation:

The art and practice of horsemanship and horse riding. [Oxford English Dictionaries]

Noted at the Minnesota State Fair today.

Regarding the indictment of two Trump supporters in Congress, a reader writes:

Since Citizens United allowed corporate money to buy politicians, and the Republicans accepted the most morally corrupt donations, (looking at you, NRA) it increasingly seems as if the only people left in the party are senile, crazy, or utterly corrupt. Fox “News” can broadcast what they want forever, but it won’t change the facts in an actual trial.

Incidentally, while Hunter has denied the charges, which Amber Phillips of The Fix has detailed here, it occurred to me that Hunter may be persuaded to step aside by his Party, and very soon. In both Collins’ and Hunter’s cases, the governor of their states are and/or will be Democrats. If these two alleged law-breakers succumb in criminal proceedings, they will be forced to give up their seats, meaning those governors can then appoint replacements, who would be Democrats. Appointing a moderate Democrat could crack open the grip the GOP has on these two seats, because voters are notorious for liking their elected officials on a personal basis, and then re-electing him.

But if they bow out in favor of another Republican candidate, then no doubt the Republicans will think they can retain the seat. It certainly makes sense out of context.

But within the context of a country in which the independents appear to be sick of the general incompetency of the GOP? I’m not sure their strategy will work.

Maybe Collins and Hunter should have tried to be a bit more law-abiding.

Back when I was reading REASON Magazine of libertarian fame, I ran across the concept (I forget the name) of “regulatory capture.” The basic idea is that regulatory agencies are supposed to regulate the behavior of their subject entities, but the entities will then maneuver to “capture” the agency and thus obviate the agencies’ goals and efficacy. The libertarians seemed to think that was as good a reason as any to not have regulations.

While reading the first part of Andrew Sullivan’s weekly tri-partite column concerning the recent Pennsylvania grand jury report on sexual abuse in six dioceses in the Catholic Church, and how the senior members of the hierarchy were either directly responsible, or at least covered for those who were, it suddenly occurred to me:

The unrepentant sinners have captured the Catholic Church.

Oh, maybe not the Pope himself, at least not this one. But unrepentant, yes:

One afternoon, the priest invited George, who was around 14 at the time, to a rectory 25 minutes south of Pittsburgh, where he met several other priests: “During a conversation about religious statues, the priests told George to get onto a bed and remove his shirt, and strike a pose like Jesus on the cross. Then they instructed him to strip off his pants and underwear,” writes the Philadelphia Inquirer. “In the unnerving moments that followed, George claimed that [the priests] began taking photos of him on a Polaroid camera. All of the priests giggled — and then added the photos of George to a collection of photos of other teen boys.” This was a grooming gang.

Yeow!

The Church is the regulator, the agency that lays down the rules, such as no rape or murder or theft or venerating other Gods. The regulated entities? Anyone else who has sinned. And, yet, here we see conscience-less sinners in the dress of priests, taking advantage of a child.

So, what of it? It’s a fair question. I’m not sure that anyone’s formally studied methods for rebuffing attempts to capture regulatory agencies, and if those attempts would be any different than understand that regulation is in place to protect the public from the negative side effects of those entities in their operations of existence, if you take my meaning.

And would those methods have general applicability, or not? Beats the hell out of me.

But I thought I’d mention it. It’s better than talking about the ultimate capture that took place a couple of years ago.

… and will the embankment be high enough to keep him on the track? I speak, of course, of Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal lawyer, whose own lawyer had this to say:

Asked on NPR whether Cohen would accept a pardon from Trump for his admitted crimes, Davis gave an emphatic “no.”

“I know that Mr. Cohen would never accept a pardon from a man that he considers to be both corrupt and a dangerous person in the Oval Office, and he has flatly authorized me to say under no circumstances would he accept a pardon from Mr. Trump,” Davis said.

He went on to criticize Trump as someone “who uses the pardon power in a way that no president in American history has ever used a pardon, to relieve people who have committed crimes who are political cronies of his.”

“Mr. Cohen is not interested in being dirtied by a pardon from such a man,” Davis said. [WaPo]

Tastes to me like someone who has suddenly realized he’s been drinking poison and it’s time to take the cure, no matter how noxious. Such as telling your former boss you’d rather be in prison than be pardoned by him.

He’s trying to make right with everyone who will be judging him in the future. Will it work? Hard to say. Someone’ll probably cut him a break when he gets out of prison.

I know I voted for the right guy 10 years ago when he faces the following on Facebook:

One of my favorite parts of summer is deciding what to read when things slow down just a bit, whether it’s on a vacation with family or just a quiet afternoon. This summer I’ve been absorbed by new novels, revisited an old classic, and reaffirmed my faith in our ability to move forward together when we seek the truth.

Not only does he read, but he cares about the truth to the extent that he brings it out, dusts it off, and doesn’t let the fact that it’s an old thought stop him from posting it. Long time readers know that I’ve brought this sort of thing up before, but it’s worth reiterating: reality, truth if you will, is far more important than ideology, religious zealotry, or any other illusion we care to foster, because reality is what we must live with, while all the others are merely fanciful – and often damaging – thoughts on how things ought to be.

Which is why I, with many, many others, have so little use for Fox News.

Poor Stephen Colbert of The Late Show. He goes on a two week vacation and misses out on former Campaign Manager Manafort’s multitudinous convictions and President Trump’s personal lawyer pleading guilty to multiple counts, including admitting to paying off to two former mistresses of President Trump’s, as reported by The New York Times:

Mr. Cohen acknowledged the illegal payments while pleading guilty to breaking campaign finance laws and other charges, a litany of crimes that revealed both his shadowy involvement in Mr. Trump’s circle and his own corrupt business dealings.

He told a judge in United States District Court in Manhattan that the payments to the women were made “in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,” implicating the president in a federal crime.

“I participated in this conduct, which on my part took place in Manhattan, for the principal purpose of influencing the election” for president in 2016, Mr. Cohen said.

For my older readers, do you remember the commercial for the number of licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop? I think we’re seeing that here, the gradual dissolution of a Presidency through his own mis-deeds. Manafort may be a bit of a sideshow, as the President merely employed a crook in that case. But Cohen deservedly occupies center-stage, as his admission of guilt directly implicates the President in a campaign finance crime.

And that last bit may be the one saving grace for the President. A lot of folks look at campaign finance as an arcane part of the law, perhaps not as important as, say, instigating the robbery of the opposition political party. In particular, the base of the Trump Party won’t, for the most part, care, and that’s the key to why I’m not entirely excited or shocked by this revelation, because the Trump Party base remains the key to the actions of the GOP members of Congress, and they, in turn, are the key to impeaching the President. They are second- and third- raters, for the most part, devoted to Party over Country, and ignoring their paramount responsibilities of monitoring the Executive, producing quality legislative work, and protecting the United States’ various resources, from environmental to human. So long as the Trump Party base prates about their President in the most glowing of terms, the GOP won’t take seriously the idea of ousting him for what they’ll deem a minor crime.

So we should speculate as to the excuses now to be put forth. Cohen lies! is easy enough. No one was hurt! is obvious as well. More odious, and destructive to the reputation of the Trumpists, is But Gorsuch and other conservative judges!

Feel free to come up with more and send them to me. And if you think this is no chortling matter, remember that sometimes the best way to highlight the seriousness of an issue is to dribble sarcasm all over it in such a way as to clarify the foolishness of those on the other side.

And for those of you puzzled over the commercial reference, or nostalgic, here’s one of those commercials:

Looking at the 3 Day Novel Contest, it’s not clear to me that they’re running it this year. The rules page mentions dates in 2017. Heck, their Wikipedia page doesn’t even mention a 2017 winner.

Hope they’re just being dilatory. Outre experiences such as this one are an important part of today’s society. They do seem to have an active Twitter feed. I hope they haven’t switched over to one of the more repulsive forms of communication available on the Web….

And I don’t plan to participate this year. My Arts Editor has frowned on it and I’m in the middle of a short story in any case.

This is actually a week ago, at least, maybe more. It appears the west side of the garage is premium ground for the tomato plants.

A couple of weeks ago, Representative Chris Collins (R-NY) was indicted on insider trading charges. Today, Representative Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA) and his wife were indicted on federal charges of misusing campaign funds. Is it a trend?

Normally, for 538 or so people, you’d expect a few to be bad apples, or for one or two to trip over the laws that can sometimes have special application to members of Congress, and I’m more than willing to accept that these two fall into this category, particularly as Duncan appears to have served honorably in the recent wars with the Marine Corp.

But its not hard to consider the possibility that they are representative of the general run of Republicans in Congress, given recent behaviors over the last 4-6 years, and the general drift of the party to the extremist right.

So it’s worth keeping an eye on this situation. As Federal prosecutors were selected by Trump, there’s no reason to think Collins or Duncan was setup, unless it’s a particularly vicious intra-party feud. However, Collins was an early supporter of President Trump and almost certainly hasn’t earned a trump-up charge (sorry) to clear him out of the House. Hunter appears to be in a similar position.

Will we be seeing a wave of such indictments? I’d like to believe not, but given how the party has drifted away from its law and order fundamental tenet, I will not be surprised if more sitting Representative and Senators of the Republican persuasion find themselves staring at a judge.

Might not hurt to put in a supply of popcorn. Collins occupies one of the reddest seats on the East Coast, but his indictment and subsequent decision to drop his re-election bid may put it firmly in play, especially if district independents are sick and tired of Republican shenanigans. Duncan’s seat in California’s 50th district has been solidly Republican for years, judging from Ballotpedia, so, again, it’s a little difficult to assume the Democrats might seriously challenge for Hunter’s seat, even if district voters are repulsed by the charges.

… and, by the same token, it’s not really wise to pay attention to a person proclaiming on the activities of their spouse. In both situations, they may be inclined to stretch the truth – and they’re also likely a second-hand source. So what to make of Simona Mangiante Papadopoulos, whose husband plead guilty and is to be sentenced for lying to FBI Agents concerning his work on the Trump Campaign? Lawfare’s Quinta Jurecic, and Benjamin Wittes are on the case:

Anyone who has been paying attention to the Russia investigation has probably seen Papadopoulos’s wife appearing on television over the past couple of months to declare her husband blameless and request a presidential pardon. It seems that Mueller’s team has as well. In a lengthy footnote, the sentencing memo documents and rebuts Simona Mangiante Papadopoulos’s protestations. The repudiation of her claims—specifically, that her husband “voluntarily reported” his interactions with Mifsud to the FBI and was subsequently entrapped by the bureau—is fairly damning. [Mueller’s footnote rebutting her claims omitted for brevity – HAW] …

These lies are the sort of thing the FBI prosecutes routinely. In fact, they are the sort of lies the FBI doesn’t tend to overlook.

The bottom line is that the George Papadopoulos story should be neither blithely dismissed nor inflated into more than it likely is. It appears to have been the trigger for the Russia investigation. It does not appear to hold the key to what we don’t yet know about L’Affaire Russe.

Papadopoulos’ stubbornness on the matter, evident in the footnote I omitted, is most curious, because he must know that digging in your heals will make prosecutors less likely to suggest to the judge that leniency might be appropriate. Is he so certain that, having plead guilty, he’ll get the leniency regardless? Is he certain he’ll be receiving a Presidential pardon despite having plead guilty? Is he so far gone in the party-before-country rathole that he can’t envision coming clean? In a way, he may be emblematic of much of the conservative side of the political spectrum these days, grimly clinging to what the Leader says is right without regard to how much damage the country may be sustaining.

Perhaps the War of 1812 was too long ago, and we need reminding that the United States is not an invulnerable institution. Existential threats tend to shake people lose from comforting, yet damnable, delusions.

Or pound the nails home in their coffins.

Vedette:

A vedette is the main female artist of a show derived from cabaret and its genres (revue, vaudeville, music hall or burlesque).

The purpose of the vedette in a cabaret or nightclub show is to entertain the public. The vedette has to know how to sing, dance and act on stage. [Wikipedia]

Noted in the Wikipedia entry for Gypsy Rose Lee:

Gypsy Rose Lee (born Rose Louise Hovick, January 8, 1911 – April 26, 1970) was an American burlesque entertainer and vedette famous for her striptease act. Also an actress, author, and playwright, her 1957 memoir was adapted into the 1959 stage musical Gypsy.

Some sort of Volvo. Noted in a parking lot nearby.

Seems to be in superb shape.

WaPo reports on one of the negative consequences of President Trump’s constraints on legal migrant Mexican workers:

Normally, the crabs would be steamed and hauled through double doors to a long, fluorescent-lit room, where dozens of employees at Russell Hall Seafood would extract the meat. But on this day, the steel tables inside that room sat empty.

“There’s nothing going on at all,” said owner Harry Phillips, “ ’cause we haven’t got our pickers.”

Changes to a foreign-worker visa program have left businesses like Russell Hall without the seasonal laborers — mostly from Mexico — who help drive Maryland’s signature industry.

About a third of picking jobs remain unfilled across the Eastern Shore this summer, as few Americans have responded to openings and Mexican laborers are stranded at home without permission to come here to work.

The situation illustrates a general unwillingness among U.S. workers to perform certain kinds of labor, some of the business owners here in Dorchester County say. It also demonstrates how President Trump’s “America First” policies have not necessarily helped those workers or small-business owners but instead have dealt them a new economic reality.

But it may be damn good for the crabs. No, not humor, just fact. A little less consumption means a few more crabs, doing there thing, out in the environment.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Michael Bars said his agency — which manages the H-2B program — is “focused on ensuring the integrity of the immigration system and protecting the interests of U.S. workers.”

“We are committed to reforming employment-based immigration programs so they benefit the American people to the greatest extent possible,” he said in a statement.

Mr. Bars and his boss, President Trump, may actually be accomplishing it – just not in quite the way envisioned. And, of course, at the expense of those running the crabbing business.

But, like the American farmer, some American workers have been sacrificed for the good of President Trump the rest of us.

At work, some of my colleagues periodically organize a fund and materials drive in order to donate to one of the local school districts. My first inclination is, like most folks, thinking of how to contribute.

Source: Flickr Hivemind

But I have second thoughts on this one. As a society, we should be adequately funding our schools, not because our students deserve it or some such empty phrase, but because, if society doesn’t make adequate investment in the education of our kids, we’ll become a pack of second-raters and the world will pass us by. Indeed, we might even be influenced by foreign powers in our corporations and our politics.

If that doesn’t make your skin crawl, you haven’t been paying enough attention to the outside world.

So I look at this drive and I wonder: Are we enabling the cheapskates who’ve not heard of TANSTAAFL^[1] in the Minnesota Legislature to continue to “hold taxes down” in a penny-wise, future-foolish manner? Does bridging the gap I presume exists through these informal, non-guaranteed way really make do, or are we doing unforeseen damage to an educational system already under attack by conservative forces which have convinced themselves that teachers’ unions and secular education are the Devil’s tools, rather than the light and the way to a brighter future.

Or, if I with hold a donation, am I condemning children to an inferior education?

¹TANSTAAFL: There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.