Monthly Archives: August 2021

Returning to the original thread concerning the pandemic, it appears the monoclonal antibody treatment, supplied by Regeneron and applied to the former President on the occasion of his

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is vowing to begindispensing Regeneron monoclonal antibodies — the treatment given to President Donald Trump when he had the coronavirus — through mobile clinics amid a record-breaking stretch of new cases and hospitalizations that have ravaged the state.

DeSantis said at a news conference in Jacksonville on Thursday that while coronavirus vaccines have been effective at preventing illness and death, more was needed to help curb the spread of the virus in a state that has become the U.S. hotbed of the latest surge of infections. The governor championed Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody cocktail for those who have already gotten sick, saying it is “the most effective treatment that we’ve yet encountered for people who are actually infected with covid-19.” [WaPo]

Unfortunately, supply is tight – too tight and probably too expensive – for DeSantis’ attempt to stave off disaster to have a realistic chance of working. Still, he had this to say:

In announcing the treatment, DeSantis claimed that the Regeneron treatment should “become part of the standard of care” for Floridians moving forward.

“This is going to be with us for a long time,” he said.

And do you know why that would be, Governor? Because BOOBS like YOU screwed up big time!

And it’s worth noting that the virus can develop resistance to this treatment:

Like other antiviral drugs, monoclonal antibodies, when used as antiviral agents, are also susceptible to developing resistance as a result of alterations in the viral genome which can alter the pathogenic potential of the virus resulting in the emergence of viral escape mutants, which may render the virus-resistant to a specific monoclonal antibody. [PubMed]

My correspondent replies regarding my comment about whether it’s proper to use the term ‘stupid’ in this situation:

Yes, yes, human cognition and sensory systems evolved to keep us from getting eaten by the sabre-toothed tiger, etc. But when people willfully ignore the science and allow ourselves to be intentionally led astray by politicians and wealthy — both groups knowing the truth — how is it anything but stupidity? Or in other words: “I know full well that this will destroy the future and possibly adversely affect me much sooner, but I’m going to do it anyway for some possible short-term personal gain or simple to feel comfortable in my faulty worldview.” And yes, it’s systemic, so it’s much harder to see (for the individuals) how those individual decisions are causing it, so another inaccuracy for the word “stupid”. But when making a short, one-sentence comment, rather than writing several paragraphs, it’s hard to find a better word.

Why are we really here? Well, it’s complex, very complex. The reasons include interactions between complex systems (hence, more complexity — and that’s using rather academic divisions between different human pursuits and foibles). For example, I include corporate personhood in American law. Corporations have been given to much freedom to sway the public on that basis. They’ve used it to convince us that there was no global warming for decades so that petro companies could continue to rake in huge profits. How did that come about? Well, one of the key SCOTUS rulings in its favor started with some law clerk bought off by rich railroad interests in the late 1800s.

Another cause is the right-wing’s propaganda about “socialism”. Where did that come from? Why, that came about because wealthy, white, former-slave owners and other racists didn’t want to give Blacks their full rights after the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments (yes, 3 of them) all tried to provide them. The whole “socialism” meme started back around the turn of the 20th century as racist code for Blacks being able to vote. While we’re on that subject, I’ll also point out the DOJ was created solely to solve this problem. And the Voting Rights Act. And the Civil Rights Act. [At this point, I feel like it would be ethically acceptable to simply charge any organizations whose purpose is furthering racism (e.g. the KKK, but plenty of others) with treason, and start locking up their leaders for long federal sentences. But only because I oppose the death penalty for treason. Because if 3 amendments, a federal department and 2 huge pieces of legislation are not persuading you, it’s time for corporal punishment.]

We are also here because of the changes in political alignments of various groups and classes of Americans, described by conservative writer David Brooks in an upcoming The Atlantic print article (where he blames one group of liberals, with which I disagree, but his description of the groups is good). Class warfare has morphed into fascists vs. progressives with a lot of confused centrists not doing the right thing.

And we’re here because of a panopoly of human flaws, from greed to confirmation bias to other cognitive weaknesses, including our horrible ability to correctly estimate relative risks. But we do know these things. They are documented in lots of literature, and even the popular press (best selling books, even). Else how would I know them? So why do not more people avail themselves of this knowledge and make use of it? I guess they’d rather wreck civilization, kill a few billion people than change their world views. That seems, well, stupid.

And I’ve only gotten started on the causal reasons above. I could go on and on.

There is much to appreciate in my reader’s reply, but I think my reader is unfairly disregarding two components of the electorate:

1. Those who have observed several verified government conspiracies and have decided that anything that seems like a conspiracy is probably a conspiracy. It’s neither logical nor reasonable, but for some it’s what their existence begins to revolve around.
2. Those who have permitted their religious upbringing to dominate their view of the world, and that religious upbringing tells that climate change isn’t happening, or its Part of God’s plan.

   Or this guy has another approach to the problem:

   Right-wing pastor Perry Stone says that Christians don't worry about climate change or the environment because they know that all those problems will be taken care of when Jesus comes back. pic.twitter.com/TGi6diOzU8

   — Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) August 11, 2021

   We won’t talk about that fiendish problem of stewardship and how it means take care and not suck dry.

If this report from CNN is accurate:

Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are surging and in Dallas, Texas, there are “zero ICU beds left for children,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a news conference Friday morning.

“That means if your child’s in a car wreck, if your child has a congenital heart defect or something and needs an ICU bed, or more likely if they have Covid and need an ICU bed, we don’t have one. Your child will wait for another child to die,” Jenkins said. “Your child will just not get on the ventilator, your child will be CareFlighted to Temple or Oklahoma City or wherever we can find them a bed, but they won’t be getting one here unless one clears.”

The judge added no ICU beds have been available for children for at least 24 hours. The Texas Department of State Health Services told CNN the shortage of pediatric ICU beds is related to a shortage in medical staff.

Horrific, avoidable incidents like this deserve the prompt and decisive attention of the Texas Legislature:

Impeach Governor Abbott now.

In a rich country like the United States, in a rich State like Texas, this should not be happening. It’s time to recognize that Abbott’s incompetence is a menace to society and remove him.

Now.

For situations in other States, Steve Benen has a helpful list in his nightly roundup.

If you have an interest in gerrymandering, positive or negative, Daily Kos Elections has issued its expectations of how gerrymandering will play out this year, now that the US Census has issued its results.

More here. I see they expect an unfair Republican advantage to persist.

In your Halloween collection you have an effigy of Pope Urban VIII.

That’s the implicit question in a Steve Benen rant:

The good news is, Texans are seeing “decisive actions” from top state officials. The bad news, these ostensible leaders are taking decisive actions that are likely to make conditions worse, not better.

Backed by a court ruling, Dallas County’s Clay Jenkins (D) this week announced that all local public schools, child-care centers, and businesses in Dallas County must require face coverings to help stem the tide of COVID-19 infections. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) are ready to fight — not against the pandemic, but against the policy designed to address the pandemic. …

And if “liberty and individual choice” leads to a breakdown in Texas’ public-health system, as infections, hospitalizations, and deaths rise, so be it. That’s a price the state’s Republican governor and state attorney general are willing to pay.

After all, governing and protecting the public during a pandemic is fine, but they’re no match for conservative ideological goals, which must take precedence.

Developments in Texas are difficult to watch from a distance — The Atlantic‘s Adam Serwer noted, “Abbott and Texas Republican legislators have undermined virtually every effort to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus” — but they’re by no means unique. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) also refuses to abandon his passivity toward the crisis, and is investing much of his energies into fighting against local officials who are eager to take potentially life-saving steps.

On some days, I figure Abbott and DeSantis are competing with Governor Noem (R-SD) for the 2024 Presidential nomination in some sort of macabre pretense that the pandemic isn’t so bad, even if it does force hospitals to setup extra beds in nearby open spaces.

On alternate days, I think this is evidence of absolutist ideological tenets of freedom and the evils of government intrusion. It seems the officials in question believe that free citizens will, naturally, make the proper decisions. I had a bitter laugh at this notion yesterday.

And then there are those days when it seems like they’re operating off of obscure religious tenets that precedent freedom over life & health. Their maneuvers are those of cult leaders, asking their followers to perform maniacal stunts to prove their worthiness, and, not incidentally, strengthen their adherence to their cult.

And if it kills a few vulnerable people, hey, it’s all part of God’s plan, now isn’t it? The great absolver of responsibility.

So, yeah, I don’t have an answer for Benen, but I have a final selection of options to pick from.

Colbert & Alda culminating in … squirrels.

I can’t help the visuals in this newsletter clipping for a local veterinary clinic:

Minnesota State Fair (August 26th through September 6th): Traffic in our neighborhood is crazy during the fair! Remember to give yourself extra time to get to your appointment. Visit Dr. Megan at the MVMA Surgery Suite in the Pet Pavilion on 9/1! She’ll be performing surgery at 2 pm and 4 pm.

Music, dancers in very little, and the finale: We’ve fixed the hernia of your bulldog!

I need to be put away, don’t I?

NPR trumpets the Senate’s passing of an infrastructure bill yesterday:

The Senate voted 69-30 Tuesday to approve a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, a historic piece of legislation that could reshape American lives for decades.

The measure fulfills a call from President Biden for the two major parties to work together to deliver one of his top priorities, but it faces an uncertain fate in the House of Representatives as progressive Democrats press for even greater spending.

The obvious question is What happens next? The bill goes to the House of Representatives; the House Democrats decide if they like it as-is, or if it must be changed to keep the left-wing happy. If it’s changed, then it goes back to the Senate, where the Senators will either change it in a conference with the House, or simply approve it – or if former President Trump, who has been frantically against this legislation from the beginning, can bully those Republican who assented this time into not assenting again.

And if no changes are made by the House while approving it, or the Senate approves House-authored changes or a bill composed in conference, it goes to President Biden for his signature and, incidentally, his victory lap. Which will gall Trump no end.

But the truly important question is whether this is an inflection point, even a U-turn junction, for the Republicans’ political path – or merely a survival twitch? Nineteen Republicans voted for this legislation in one of the largest mass defections of Republicans to a Democratic cause celebre in quite a long time. I mean, decades. The group even includes Minority Leader and infamous Senator “No” Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

So how does this play out for the rest of this session of Congress? It can…

Be a survival twitch. The Republicans who defected realized the American Rescue Plan, passed earlier this year with nary a Republican vote, is reportedly tremendously popular, and credits goes almost exclusively to the Democrats. Given their general incompetence, this has to make them uncomfortably aware of the degraded Republican reputation. The antics of such Governors as Noem (R-SD), DeSantis (R-FL), Abbott (R-TX), and others does not help their situation.

But this realization doesn’t mean there’s a permanent change. An enraged Republican base would destroy their reelection chances as well, and their base will not tolerate compromise in general. They may even be taking a chance with this vote. But I think they had to go there. As a plus, it strengthens the hands of Senators Manchin (D-WV) and Sinema (D-AZ), as they can point at this as proof that bipartisanship does work, weakening Democratic unity.

Be an inflection point. This would be a major turning point in American political history in which a significant number of Republican officials have broken with the former President, as well as his base. This suggests that they’ll finally turn to governing, whether it’s because they realize that simple contrariness is not a valid political strategy, or that the current challenges take precedence over the simplistic gamesmanship we see today.

I think this is unlikely. They imperil their reelection chances and they have not begun to provide the leadership through which they’d teach their constituents to understand why we compromise as leaders – at least so far as I’ve heard.

But time will tell. Keep an eye on the future maneuvering of the Republicans who voted for this legislation.

And watch Trump for laughs.

So bright and cheery.

Governor Abbott (R-TX) is yelling for medical help:

Gov. Greg Abbott appealed for out-of-state help to fight the third wave of COVID-19 in Texas while two more of the state’s largest school districts announced mask mandates in defiance of the governor.

Abbott’s request Monday came as a county-owned hospital in Houston raised tents to accommodate their COVID-19 overflow. Private hospitals in the county already were requiring their staff to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. …

The highly contagious delta variant is fueling the wave. [AP]

Remember, Gov Abbott is one of several Republican governors who’ve refused to issue new mask mandates or signed legislation banning mask mandates, he has hospitals that are literally overflowing, so of course he’s also reversing direction on those mask mandates … uh … no.

The governor is taking action short of lifting his emergency order banning county and local government entities from requiring the wearing of masks and social distancing to lower the COVID-19 risk. Abbott has said repeatedly that Texans have the information and intelligence to make their own decisions on what steps to take to protect their health and the health of those around them.

So, ignoring the obvious questions concerning supplies and facilities, are medical professionals duty-bound to respond?

I suppose they will point at their medical oaths or motivations for joining the medical profession as reasons to respond, as balanced against burnout and exhaustion, and that’s all very valid.

But I’d like to point out that Governor Abbott is acting in bad faith. He’s duty bound to take actions to promote the public health; that’s why he has emergency powers that he can use at need. He’s refusing. He wants to hide his dereliction of duty behind the statement Texans have the information and intelligence to make their own decisions on what steps to take to protect their health and the health of those around them, but when your hospitals are overflowing with Covid-19 patients, it should be blindingly obvious that, No, they don’t have that ability.

Look, I’m not dissing Texas citizens. People in general are neither evolved nor trained to properly evaluate a virus, or the data describing it, that infects and degrades organisms as does SARS-CoV-2, much less its delta variant. Virologists and public health specialists are trained in this esoteric discipline; the rest of us just have to trust them.

This is where government has a role to play. It can disseminate information and orders at speed when necessary, informing citizens when a dangerous situation exists – like a tornado springing from the clouds. The time has passed when Abbott should have issued mask mandates and even vaccine mandates; as I said, he’s derelict, and the only reason I don’t recommend he be bounced from his position is that his Lt. Governor is, based on his idiotic statements during the 2020 election, no better. Ideology is all they know, and when the ideology is bad…

Abbott is obviously frantic. I wonder if he has national ambitions? This is the sort of behavior I’d expect from someone who sees the similarly incompetent Governor Noem (R-SD) as a competitor in an upcoming contest.

And doesn’t care about the lives of his constituents.

Reading Dr. Solomon Stevens remarks concerning conspiracy theorists, or those with a “conspiracy mentality,” as he puts it, reminded me of yet another, errr, theory:

And those with a conspiracy mentality lack social trust [or asabiyah – haw]. They see the world as moved by what Daniel Pipes called a “hidden hand.” Forces that cannot be seen or controlled are wielded by people behind the scenes who cannot be held accountable or controlled. The deep state is responsible. Satan is behind it. Some ethnic, racial or religious group is enabling it. People who we do not know but who have significant power are trying to hurt us.

Just think about all the ways in which social trust has eroded in recent years. For those with a conspiracy mentality, law itself is suspect; it is being manipulated by some hidden hand. The news media are seen as hopelessly biased and unreliable. Medical professionals are part of a conspiracy to promote a fake narrative about a disease. The election has been stolen. Our teachers are working to destroy the country. [The Post and Courier]

Along with the usual faux-explanatory power of conspiracy theories is this: these theories of hidden powers relieves the believer of responsibility. The degree to which one is loyal to a particular version of social theory, which is to say the theory, implicit or explicit, by which one believes society should be run, is developed by a number of factors; I hesitate to even attempt to fully enumerate them. But we can include in that list personal / family prosperity, and religion and its precepts & dictates; as well as personal experience and prejudices.

In reality, the correspondence between the dictates of all of these various contributors to personal social theory and the result is not necessarily congruent. That is, a particular group may take to heart the Christian decree of Don’t tolerate a witch to live!, which sounds good if you and your fellow citizens believe a witch is always a malevolent personality, but in practice the society resultant from hanging all the witches is so damaged that the formal dictate is quietly discarded.

The state of decay of a society might be described as the divergence of the apparent state of a society from the desired, or ideal, state. We don’t like the idea of unintended consequences, do we? Yet, they occur, diverging our society. Disturbing our prestige, even.

But if a different explanation, The Lizard People, say, can be found, then It’s Not Our Fault. It’s someone else at fault. The faults of our society suddenly fall to the acts of malevolent forces, rather than our own incompetence, fatuous principles, and dismayingly awful theories of how humanity works.

And all we need to do is eliminate those others. So easy.

Humanity hates to look at itself, a fault long ago observed and established. “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” – George Orwell

Animus:

a feeling of hate or anger toward someone or something:
He harbors no animus toward his rival. [Cambridge Dictionary]

Noted in “Republicans aren’t conservatives. They’re nihilists,” Max Boot, WaPo:

From Gallup:

Max Boot is succinct concerning current consequences:

A reader writes concerning my Arts Editor’s indoor succulent garden:

Must be using those LED strips with alternating sections of red and blue lights? We had those going on our porch – made the deck look like it was outside a strip club …..

I tried to take a picture, as there are two different light sources in use:

Not really useful – evidently CCD doesn’t like those shades of color. Two of the lights are actually red/blue, while the other is a white light that, if memory serves, is supposed to mimic the Sun.

A reader remarks on the post concerning failing currents in the Atlantic Ocean:

Wow. All the bad things climatologist said could happen are all coming to pass ten times faster than originally imagined. Humanity is so incredibly stupid.

I suppose it depends on what is meant by ‘stupid.’ Humanity never evolved to properly evaluate what has been happening world-wide, has it? Our sensory radius is only a few miles, and none of it is specialized for the kind of pollution that leads to climate change.

I find it difficult to organize my thoughts on the question, perhaps because ‘stupid’ can mean many things in this context. How about ‘ignorant’? Are we ignorant? I think our scientists are learning as fast as they can, but the fact that we are not a rationally coordinated species, or society, can render their efforts moot.

And even when coordinated, when the coordinating authority is irrational (think: Pope), it just makes things worse.

The problem may be that a species with our capabilities is doomed to wreck its ecological niche, if only simply through numbers. The creditable impulse to help and heal may be our downfall.

Kaiju battles are all fun and games until someone get shish-kebabbed. See if you can identify the turtle on the left. He’s regretting his choice at this moment.

Gamera vs Viras (1968) centers around kaiju Gamera’s central slogan: Gamera, friend to all children!, but in its darker aspect. This odd movie actually has at least some of the elements of a good story, but with bad acting, harvesting of 15-20 minutes of footage from previous entries in this series, and awful special effects, it’s hard to take seriously. In a nutshell, two boys, one a Japanese Boy Scout, and the other an American Boy Scout (Far East Council), hijack, as a prank, a small (too small?) research submarine for a joyride in Tokyo harbor. Soon, they find Gamera mooching around the bottom, and engage him (is it a him, or a her? I’m not sure it’s ever mentioned) in a playful race.

But then a ship from planet Viras appears. Gamera had foiled an attack on Earth by a Viras ship earlier; this is revenge. Gamera is immobilized, along with the boys, but the boys escape. Gamera’s memories are scanned and soon his fondness for human children is identified as a weakness. The boys are captured and used to force Gamera to attack Tokyo. Because the boys are captive, the UN Security Council agrees to surrender.

First Gamera, then the UN Security Council. Is there something about young boys that makes them all-important? Or is Gamera just a wimp?

But these are not passive little boys. They’re busy wreaking their own brand of trouble on the ship of Viras, messing with crewmen, power connections, and communing with a fellow prisoner, nicknamed ‘Space Monster’. Eventually, they find a way off the ship, and Gamera makes the ship his prey.

Story over? Nope.

That’s Mr. Space Amoeba to you, bub.

The sad-eyed ‘Space Monster’ turns out to be the Captain of the Viras. In the shattered wreckage of the ship, he, or maybe ‘it’, absorbs the crew survivors (“but Captain!”) and becomes a towering kaiju, oddly reminiscent of the kaiju in Space Amoeba (1970), if somewhat more monochromatic. It and Gamera then engage in an epic battle, complete with a shish-kebabbing and a cheering section.

There are positive story elements present: apparent end of the good guy turtle, plucky little guys who get themselves out of sticky situations, and … and … how about oddly reserved parents who suggest the boys should be put to bed without supper after all this fun? Oh, wait. Sometimes the eyes of the invaders are kind of fun.

But yeah. The aforementioned flaws of acting, special effects, and using footage from other movies, as well as ludicrous science and a laboriously creaky plot, overwhelm the good points, rendering Gamera vs Viras a definite No go! in my book.

A new Journal springs up on Substack:

Welcome to the Journal of Free Black Thought, a publication dedicated to foregrounding the widely diverse black perspectives that are rarely given room, and hence rarely encountered, in mainstream idea spaces. The Journal will publish essays that address black history, black intellectual history, and the history of black literature and the arts. It will publish reviews of contemporary literature and arts. And it will publish essays with heterodox takes on pressing concerns of the moment. It may even publish the occasional poem or piece of short fiction.

If I had more free time I might subscribe; as it is, I don’t know much about it. Substack tends to look for authentic, unique voices, though.

I recall seeing Legally Blonde (2001) when it first came out, or shortly thereafter. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t think it was anything special. Not so with David Lat:

So is Legally Blonde “more relevant than ever,” as the Times contends? Does the movie stand the test of time?

My own verdict: yes. Legally Blonde is one of my favorite films, law-related or otherwise, and I owe it a debt of gratitude. Just as some people can say they went to law school because of Legally Blonde, I can say that the movie influenced my own move from practicing law to writing about it. My first blog—Underneath Their Robes, as pink as Elle’s resume, in which I pretended to be an attractive blonde woman obsessed with law and fashion—definitely drew inspiration from Legally Blonde.

And even Zach somewhat agrees, conceding that Legally Blonde is solid. When I asked him where LB ranks in the law-film pantheon, he responded “Better than MCV, although not on the level of The Devil’s Advocate—but what is?”

A reader of Lat’s Original Jurisdiction adds:

Legally Blonde featured prominently at the National Advocacy Center for federal prosecutors during the two-week trial advocacy course I attended as a brand-new AUSA.

I hope Jurassic Park (1993) hasn’t had similar influence on paleontologists.

My Arts Editor loves succulents, those juicy, furry plants that you can sometimes eat. Here’s her collection, first in natural light, mostly.

And some with the grow light on.

“[C]omputational theology.”

I ran across this in the article “Does Prayer Work?” by Dariusz Jemielniak, Free Inquiry (August/September 2021). This sums it up:

We measured the covariance of the mean length of life, controlled for nationality. We discovered that bishops live longer than priests. However, due to a marginal effect size, this result should be treated with caution. Additionally, there are several good reasons priests live shorter lives than bishops that are not related to the number of prayers received. First, priests have much lower dispositional incomes (salaries and perks), and the income-mortality gradient is higher at low-income levels. Second, they often come from a lower social class and have lower social capital accumulated, which is known to translate to lower longevity. Third, bishops are somewhat preselected for longer life in such a comparison, because to become a bishop one has to have been a priest for many years (the minimum age to become a bishop is thirty-five, but the average is much higher). Some priests simply die before they can even be seriously considered for the role.

In our study, recently published in the top-tier academic Journal of Religion and Health, we found that the studied bishops did not live longer than male academics. Additionally, no difference was found between the mean length of life of bishops from the largest and smallest dioceses. If the number of intercessory prayers affected longevity, it should manifest there. It appears that the effect of rote intercessory prayers, even in massive numbers, is not observable.

They also observed no meaningful differences between bishops of large and small dioceses, which would generate larger and smaller numbers of prayers.

Honestly, their use of the phrase computational theology sounds like a joke to me:

We hope that our study will pave the way for a new academic field of computational theology, and we welcome other similar analyses as well as further research.

They’re not generating theology, which is how I’d take that phrase. Characterization of the phenomenon under study might yield phrases such as Measurement of Attempts To Manipulate The Divine., or more compactly, Divine Manipulation Metricization.

To see why I actually take seriously the topic of using the right words, see here and here.

Decadal:

of or pertaining to a decade [Collins Dictionary]

Noted in “Can we fix climate models to better predict record-shattering weather?” by Adam Vaughan, NewScientist (31 July 2021, paywall):

However, the higher resolution required for some models generally needs more computing power – and resolution isn’t the only issue for projecting extremes: another significant one is timescales. Much climate modelling works on centennial timescales, but some scientists have now turned to decadal predictions, which could roughly be described as weather forecasts spun out to predict the next few years. These have already been shown to predict Atlantic hurricanes.

“There’s definitely a move towards these decadal predictions. They are not for predicting what climate change will do, but what climate change is doing now,” says Ted Shepherd at the University of Reading, UK.

Closely related to my concerns about unintentional misuse of words is, of course, the intentional misuse of words. Dana Milbank of WaPo notes historian and General Ty Seidule’s (US Army – ret.) views on the subject of deliberate misuse and the glorification of one of the most infamous examples from American history:

[Seidule] told me [Milbank] of the disgust he felt when he saw a photo of an insurrectionist in the Capitol on Jan. 6 carrying the Confederate battle flag — “the Flag of Treason,” he calls it — past a portrait of Charles Sumner, the abolitionist senator nearly caned to death by Preston Brooks, a proslavery congressman from South Carolina. Seidule wanted to suit up in his old uniform and fight the Capitol terrorists. “The people who did that need to be in orange jumpsuits and shackles,” he said.

In his book, Seidule writes of the importance of words in defeating the Lost Cause lies. It wasn’t “Union” against “Confederate,” he argues. It was the “U.S. Army fighting … against a rebel force that would not accept the results of a democratic election and chose armed rebellion.” Confederate generals didn’t fight with “honor”; they abrogated “an oath sworn to God to defend the United States” and “killed more U.S. Army soldiers than any other enemy, ever.” It wasn’t “the War Between the States,” as Lost Cause mythology would have it; the Civil War was, properly, “The War of the Rebellion.” They weren’t “plantations” as glorified by Margaret Mitchell, but “enslaved labor farms.” Writes Seidule: “Accurate language can help us destroy the lies of the Lost Cause.”

So, too, can accurate language destroy the lies now being floated to justify Jan. 6.

As it happens, I’ve always been a little wary of sentimentalization, of romanticization, but I think only now do I fully realize that this is how to pull a cover over the dark features of whatever event is being romanticized. This romanticization, this lying, about the Civil War has been extremely destructive to the United States ever since 1865. Its foul brood has brought about unjustified resentments that has led to terrible crimes against black communities.

And that damage should be taken as a salutary lesson by everyone today. The WaPo article is entirely about Republican attempts to redefine the January 6th insurrection. As these fourth- and fifth-raters continue to cling to power, the work of the select panel is supremely important, for it must diagnose what went wrong for these rebellious American citizens who reacted like five-year olds to the failure of the former President to be re-elected. The most basic feature of democratic systems, the peaceful and productive transfer of power, came under attack.

Is this the result of poor civics education? The work of national adversaries determined to undermine the governmental system of the arsenal of democracy? Resentment over swift societal change (gay marriage, transgender rights)? These are just some of the potential answers to the questions the select panel must answer.

And, meanwhile, we must pay more respect to the power of language. From misusing ‘deserves’ to mischaracterizing the most miserable war the United States has ever experienced, the lack of respect for its power may be one of the most underestimated mistakes Americans have made over the centuries.

Black Mountain Side (2014) reminds me that not all archaeology expeditions are echos of Indiana Jones‘ spectacular digs, full of divinities and snakes and evil people.

Sometimes digs are full of evil divinities, villainous deer, and delusional people.

If you look closely, you’ll see snow!

And snow!

In this spritely tale, an archaeological specialist in Amazonian languages is summoned to a camp in the far north of the Alaska wilderness. Choppered in over the deep snow fields, along with groceries and other supplies, he’s been called on to help decipher a mysterious artifact, discovered buried in the ground and in situ, as they say. As he investigates,  he meets the poker playing men who run the camp: director, electronics specialist, archaeologists, medical doctor. All good guys.

The next day, the locals, i.e., Inuit, who have been providing the bulk of the labor, abruptly vamoose, heading out over deep snow fields with little in the way of supplies, towards the nearest village that’s miles away.

Something’s wrong.

This is followed by illness, madness, mutations, amputations, and an unfortunate use of guns to resolve some delusional conflicts. As we near the end of this enchanting tale, we finally get that rupture in our finely spun cocoon of rationality, a visit from an entity angry and powerful, but an entity that, too, cannot prove that it even exists. This irrationality, confronting our imported scientists, completes a picture that included cephalopods and a long walk by that scientist.

With a final complication. But let me remind you: cephalopods.

Confusing review? I assure you, I’ve reread the review and tried to clarify, but, like reality, irrational chaos lurks around the edges of this story, the idea of powerful, jealous entities, with alien motivations and probably no sense of humor.

You’ve been warned.