Open Mouth, Insert Foot

You may have seen this story from a couple of days ago, about our new ambassador to Germany, Richard Grennell, practicing Trump-style "diplomacy":

Trumpian U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell has expressed great excitement over the wave of anti-establishment conservatism in Europe, saying he wants to “empower” leaders of the movement.

At a sit-down interview at his official residence in Berlin with Breitbart London, Ambassador Grenell said: “There are a lot of conservatives throughout Europe who have contacted me to say they are feeling there is a resurgence going on.”

“I absolutely want to empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders. I think there is a groundswell of conservative policies that are taking hold because of the failed policies of the left,” he added.

Somehow, wanting to "empower" Nazis and their allies in Germany smacks a little bit of being tone-deaf. OK, completely tone-deaf.

And I'd love to know more about those "failed policies" of the left. Does he means the ones that insure that people have health care, jobs, food on the table, and the like? Those policies seem to be pretty successful, especially in western Europe.

And this part just demonstrates how far out to lunch Grennell is:

“There’s no question about that and it’s an exciting time for me. I look across the landscape and we’ve got a lot of work to do but I think the election of Donald Trump has empowered individuals and people to say that they can’t just allow the political class to determine before an election takes place, who’s going to win and who should run.”

Of course -- that's why we have primaries and nominating conventions and the like -- to make sure the voters have no voice.

Needless to say, the reaction has not been positive, both in Germany and at home.

And of course, the State Department is defending him:

The U.S. State Department on Tuesday defended remarks by the new U.S. ambassador to Germany that drew condemnation from across that country’s political spectrum, saying that U.S. envoys “have a right to express their opinions.”

“Don’t we as Americans have the right to free speech?” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in response to questions about U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell’s comments in an interview he gave last weekend to Breitbart News.

Asked whether it is State Department policy for U.S. ambassadors to advocate for particular political parties, Nauert responded, “Ambassadors have a right to express their opinion. They’re representatives of the White House, whether it’s this administration or other administrations.”

One, representatives of the U.S. government, such as ambassadors, do not have an unfettered right to express their own opinions -- there are distinct limits on that for them.

Two, do note the self-contradiction in her last statement.

(Nauert, by the way, in a previous incarnation was one of Fox News' resident racists.)

The German government should just declare him persona non grata and kick his ass out of the country, but they won't -- Merkel is a lot smarter than Trump.

Putin laughed.

Hypocrisy So Thick

you could walk on it. Mitch McTurtle's rationale for cancelling the Senate's August recess:

“Due to the historic obstruction by Senate Democrats of the president’s nominees, and the goal of passing appropriations bills prior to the end of the fiscal year, the August recess has been canceled,” McConnell of Kentucky said in a statement on Tuesday.

(emphasis added -- as if you needed it.)

McTurtle obviously has the same sense of history that his boss does. (You don't think Trump is his boss? Guess again.)

What the article points out, and what is probably more on point, is that cancelling the recess is going to hamstring the ability of vulnerable Democrats to go home and campaign. And don't ever think he's not that underhanded.

Green Man Review

The site's up and running again, so you can pop on over to read about things Turkish. Really, truly.

The Wedding Cake Decision

It's weird. My first impression is that it's right up there with Hobby Lobby and Citizens United in terms of farfetched assumptions. I'll post in some detail tomorrow, since I have an appointment this morning and there's a lot of commentary to digest.

Patience.

This Week at Green Man Review

Due to trouble with the database, this week's edition is late. I'll post a reminder when it finally goes live. Patience, my dears -- these things happen.

Review: David Petersen: Mouse Guard: Fall 1152

Another from the late lamented Epinions. I actually discovered this book from a review at Green Man Review. (Yes, I do occasionally read reviews, especially when I have to edit them.)

After the Winter War of 1149, when the Mouse Guard threw off the yoke of the Weasel Warlord, the mouse cities in the forest were able to live in relative peace -- as much peace as mice can find, at any rate. The Guard, under the captaincy of Gwendolyn, maintains the safety of the trade roads and protects the farmers and merchants. One merchant has gone mssing -- he and his grain cart never reached Barkstone. Three of the Guard's finest, Kenzie, Saxon, and Lieam, are sent to rescue him. They discover his cart and, after dispatching a snake that attacks them, discover the merchant -- pretty thoroughly digested, by this point. They also discover among his effects a map of Lockhaven, the Guard's stronghold, the sort of thing that is kept under lock and key and is never to leave the fortress town: their merchant was a traitor, but in league with who?

This one is a delight, from the mice -- real mice, with tiny little pink toes and beady little eyes, not disneyfied in the least -- to the absorbing story -- an action/thriller if there ever was one -- to the wonderful graphics work. Where to start?

The story is a good one, tight and well planned, with mouse-heroics galore, treachery, a night march on Lockhaven, leaders plotting strategy, and even horrendous monsters. The characters are vividly drawn -- Lieam, a new recruit but a hero nevertheless, is a prize -- while Gwendolyn is the very picture of a commander with a major mess on her doorstep, and the context is well thought out and beautifully executed.

The drawing is just wonderful. What he can't show in facial expressions -- and let's be honest, mouse physiognomy doesn't leave a lot of room here -- Petersen conveys in body language, and the mice actually look like mice. (Sorry -- that still just blows me away.) The pages are beautiful -- the drawing is better than good, the colors -- mostly in warm tones, browns and golds and coppers and siennas and umbers, with just the right touches of blue and green and gray -- are perfect, and layouts, while pretty regular, set up some good rhythms through Petersen's formal sophistication -- things like two-page spreads in which one page mirrors the layout of the other, and then suddenly you hit a spread that is all one scene. It sets up a nice flow for the story, very clear and intelligible. (A note: looking through again, I'm struck by the way Petersen manages to blend realism and formal abstraction in the same scenes -- it makes for very rich, strong images and doesn't really call attention to itself.)

There's not a lot else to say -- in its most important aspects, the book is simply indescribable. You really have to see it. In fact, I highly recommend that you do.

(Archaia Entertainment, 2009)

Today's Must-Read: Horror Story

I've written about the Trump regime's practice of separating children from their parents at the border, no matter the circumstances of their arrival. (A follow-up post is here.) From Tom Sullivan at Hullabaloo, the full petty nastiness of this regime in depth:

Buzzfeed reported Friday night:

A Salvadoran mother who applied for asylum as part of a caravan of Central Americans that traversed Mexico for the United States this spring has had her two sons removed from her custody and placed in the care of the federal government in New York.

Officials offered no explanation for removing the children, the latest in what's becoming a growing pattern of separating immigrant parents from their children under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy for undocumented migrants caught trying to sneak into the US along the southwest border.

Except the woman had arrived at port of entry, applied for asylum, and passed the first step in the process. Immigration and Customs Enforcement gave her 10 minutes to say goodbye to her children.

And they're violating not only American law, but international law as well:

Except under international law, signatories to the Convention and Protocols Relating to the Status of Refugees "shall not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees who, coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened." The U.S. is a signatory. Donald Trump might call a bad deal, but it is a binding one.

All the worst aspects of Trump and his base in one nasty package, only exacerbated by the actions and attitudes of the knuckle-draggers who are enforcing this policy. (I could make a few comments here about small people with a little bit of power, but you know the type: ICE agents, TSA agents, petty bureaucrats, "bad" cops.)

It's worth reading, if your stomach's up to it. And then consider how quickly Trump and his minions have destroyed our standing in the world. Putin is just beside himself with glee.

Antidote: Zoo Baby

Via Digby, there's a new baby crowned lemur at NaturZoo Reine in Germany on May 7.

Crowned Lemurs (Eulemur coronatus) are listed as “Endangered” by the IUCN. In Madagascar they are threatened by habitat destruction and hunting. European Zoos are cooperating within a coordinated breeding-programme (EEP) to maintain an “insurance population” of these lemurs, which in future might provide animals for re-stocking or release in their native range.

There are currently some 80 Crowned Lemurs in European zoos. The baby born at NaturZoo Rheine will contribute to this hopefully growing population.

Lincoln Park Zoo has, I believe, five crowned lemurs (they're hard to count -- they keep moving around when they're not all sleeping in a big clump) and had a birth last year.

Digby links to a site called "ZooBorns" which does have a somewhat spotty page for Lincoln Park Zoo. Just off the top of my head, what's missing from ZooBorn's LPZ pages are: four snowy owl chicks last year, four Japanese macaques born two (three females) and three (one male) years ago, a Grevy's Zebra born either last year or the year before, ditto for a Bactrian camel, and a litter of red wolves born two or three years ago. Oh, and there's a new black-and-white colobus born this year, a couple of white-cheeked gibbons born last year and a Hoffman's two-toed sloth born last year.

I should also mention that LPZ has the largest nesting colony of black-crowned night herons in Illinois; they are endangered in the state. They've pretty much taken over the Children's Zoo (although for some reason they avoid the bear habitat -- wrong kind of trees, I think). Zoo staff has blocked off parts of the path because guano.

There -- isn't that better than Trump?

Today in Stupid: How To Lose Friends and Influence People

In all the wrong ways. Yes, of course this is about Trump, who has now decided to impose tariffs on steel, aluminum, and anything else he can think of imported from our closest trading partners: Canada, Mexico, and the EU.

The United States is likely to impose steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada, Mexico and the EU Thursday, according to a source familiar with the decision.

The source, who preferred to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the situation, said the tariff decision is coming this morning and is "99.9" percent done. The U.S. expects the EU will retaliate in due course.

Because, of course, it's all so unfair:

"People have no idea how badly our country has been treated by other countries. By people representing us who didn't have a clue," Trump said, arguing that trade trends "destroyed" American steel and aluminum industries.

Needless to say, he's totally clueless. Take Canada, for example:

“These tariffs are totally unacceptable. The numbers are clear: The United States has a $2 billion U.S. dollars surplus in steel trade with Canada – and Canada buys more American steel than any other country in the world, half of U.S. steel exports. Canada is a secure supplier of aluminum and steel to the U.S. defense industry, putting aluminum in American planes and steel in American tanks. That Canada could be considered a national security threat to the United States is inconceivable.

“I want to be very clear about one thing: Americans remain our partners, friends, and allies. This is not about the American people. We have to believe that at some point their common sense will prevail. But we see no sign of that in this action today by the U.S. administration.” – Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, speaking at a press conference last night.

That "national security" jab is a response to Trump's cover story: somehow, importing steel and aluminum from our staunchest allies is a threat to "national security."

Canada will retaliate:

Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs on C$16.6 billion ($12.8 billion) worth of U.S. exports and challenge U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs under the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Thursday.

Mexico and the EU will also retaliate:

Europe and Mexico pledged to retaliate quickly, exacerbating trans-Atlantic and North American trade tensions.

The European Commission’s president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said Trump’s decision amounted to trade protectionism and that Europe would respond with countermeasures. “This is protectionism, pure and simple,” Juncker said. Mexico said it would penalize U.S. imports including pork bellies, apples, grapes, cheeses and flat steel.

He's also talking about imposing tariffs on Japanese cars:

President Trump last week launched an investigation into whether auto imports posed a national security risk to the U.S., a justification that might be used to raise the duty on cars from 2.5 percent up to 25 percent.

“It’s hard for Japan to understand and we cannot accept it,” Abe said in a session of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, adding that Tokyo would let Washington know its concern over the direction of U.S. trade policy.

And he wants a total ban on imports of German luxury cars:

President Trump wants to impose a total ban on the imports of German luxury cars, according to a new report from CNBC and German magazine WirtschaftsWoche.

Several U.S. and European diplomats told the news outlets that Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron about his plans last month during a state visit.

Trump reportedly told Macron that he would maintain the ban until no Mercedes-Benz cars are seen on Fifth Avenue in New York.

There's one small problem with that:

A number of German automakers have plants in the U.S., including Mercedes-Benz in Alabama and BMW in South Carolina.

That popping sound you hear is champagne bottles being opened in the Kremlin.

Aside from the fact that Trump is a moron, we're long past the time when any single country can go it on its own. The world just doesn't work that way any more. Tom Sullivan has a good analysis of the whole debacle, and brings up an interesting point that supports my comment:

Catherine Rampell writes in the Washington Post that his view of trade echoes the mercantilists of the 17th and 18th centuries before there was an America to be great:

Like an 18th-century mercantilist, Trump perceives no mutual gains from trade. In any transaction, he sees only a winner and a loser. And the winner is determined by who has the trade surplus.

Since there’s no way everyone could come out ahead, there’s no point in trying to create a system of rules oriented toward that outcome. Plus, he seems to believe everyone’s going to cheat anyway — including, and perhaps especially, our supposed friends.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, countries could engage in this sort of behavior: there was no such thing as the multi-national corporation then, for starters. It was also the beginning of the age of colonialism, when the "great powers" were free to plunder "newly discovered" lands to enrich themselves. It doesn't work that way any more (except that it's those multi-nationals doing the plundering these days, but even that's winding down -- it's gotten to be really bad PR).

The only ones who are going to suffer from this latest round of Trump's idiocy are us. Again.

Estivation

Or, if you prefer to older spelling, "aestivation." It's the hot-weather equivalent of hibernation, when some animals enter a state close to suspended animation until things cool down.

That's what happens to me when we have stretches of near 90-degree weather, like for the past week or so. All I want to do is sleep.

We are promised respite tomorrow. We'll see.

Culture Break: The Ivory Consort: Como Poden

This is the first track on their album Music From the Land of Three Faiths. I've gotten very fond of the music of medieval Iberia. Can't imagine why.

A Reminder

For all the RWNJs who are about to start screaming about Roseanne Barr's First Amendment right to freedom of speech being violated because just about every network and streaming service that is/was showing her new series or reruns of her old one has dumped her:

 

As might be expected, they're fine with the NFL trying to muzzle the players protesting police violence against minorities.

Today in Disgusting People: Usurper Edition

Memorial Day tweet from Fearless Leader:

Happy Memorial Day! Those who died for our great country would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today. Best economy in decades, lowest unemployment numbers for Blacks and Hispanics EVER (& women in 18years), rebuilding our Military and so much more. Nice!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2018

Somehow, it's all about him.

I can hardly wait to see what he comes up with for Independence Day.

Via Joe.My.God., who has some of the reactions. (Hint: They're not real supportive.)

Review: Ludwig van Beethoven: 9 Symphonies (The London Classical Players, Roger Norrington, cond.)

This is another review that was first published at Epinions and is no longer available there.

In light of my continued fascination with the tension between traditional and contemporary sensibilities in music performance, it seems irresponsible not to comment on Roger Norrington’s release of the complete Beethoven symphonies. Norrington is an adherent of the “historically informed” school of performance philosophy. His recording of the symphonies, along with the overtures “Coriolan,” “Egmont,” and “Creatures of Prometheus,” give us an “original instruments” version in which Norrington has adhered to Beethoven’s metronome markings (Aha! you say. The famous metronome markings – which, by the way, are noted in the list of works included) and as closely as possible to the conventions of early nineteenth-century performance. The recordings are accompanied by highly informative historical and technical comments in English, French and German.

I thought long and hard about how to approach this review (a misnomer on its face – Beethoven is a little beyond my opinions, I think, and I have no particular agenda vis-à-vis modes of performance) and finally decided that, rather than try to deal with the interpretations of all nine symphonies (and after listening through the course of a day, my head is too full of glory to make a coherent statement on that basis), I would take one symphony – the Seventh – as my touchstone. Mostly that’s because it is the one I know best – my personal favorite, heard in any number of renditions – but it’s also, I think, characteristic of Beethoven, if somewhat more energetic than normal. (Wagner called it the “Dance Symphony,” and to prove it, he did – he danced to the whole thing while Liszt played it on the piano. They were in Italy at the time.)

One thing that’s striking right from the start: the feel of the music is lighter than I’ve been used to. There are subtleties here that I’ve never spotted before, and an amazing clarity to the sound. That all goes together, somehow, and I think it must be due at least in part to the use of instruments built on the standards of Beethoven’s day – the violins seem less hard in tone, the woodwinds somewhat more airy, the brass not quite so overpowering (more on that later). Norrington does establish early on a strong momentum to the work, although – one of those subtleties I mentioned – it begins as more of a subliminal pulse that carries the orchestra along. It’s not obvious at all, but sort of sneaks up on you as you realize you’re being carried right along with the orchestra. For a work by a composer noted for writing that seems to happen in fits and starts, who built the melodies as he went along out of parts he introduced separately, that’s quite remarkable.

The allegretto of the second movement is an even more obvious reflection of this tendency on Beethoven’s part, and Norrington highlights the way the parts fit together, keeping things moving fast enough that relationships become readily apparent. Since there is often some controversy about tempo in Beethoven’s works – many consider the composer’s own metronome markings to be too fast – I have to say that the in first version of this symphony I ever heard, by Otto Klemperer, I thought in my innocence that the second movement was a funeral march, analogous to the second movement of the Third Symphony. I find Norrington’s take much more suitable, although to be honest I think he could have pushed it just a little. I also have to mention the little fugato that Beethoven threw in here, simply because it’s one of my favorite things about Beethoven. This one is crisp, clear, and builds to a rousing crescendo that sets the stage for the meltingly lyrical passage that follows. The presto resumes that momentum, now much more apparent, and pure Beethoven: we’re seeing a fairly light-hearted version of romantic Sturm und Drang that Norrington pulls off beautifully.

The fourth movement, noted as “allegro con brio,” sort of encapsulates everything I find most appealing about Beethoven, and is one reason the Seventh is my favorite. And “brio” it is, high spirits, energy, and that momentum now a driving force that pulls the orchestra, the audience, and sometimes I think the universe as well to the overwhelming finale. Oddly enough, given all the arguments about tempo, I find that Norrington’s finale, and the movement as a whole, is slower than my preferred versions, those by Herbert von Karajan and William Steinberg. It’s about energy and running on the edge: Norrington’s version is almost too well-behaved and, I think, loses some impact because of it. (Steinberg’s version, heard long ago on a radio broadcast, is breathtaking, the horns in the final fanfare just on the verge of breaking, the whole orchestra right on the border of losing it, but never quite. It’s amazing – just the sort of thing a twenty-something with more hormones than brains wants from Beethoven.) This is not to say that Norrington’s version lacks impact – there are passages here that stop you cold. One comes away with a real sense of controlled passion.

Which leads me to the essence of the whole collection: intelligence in the service of passion. Norrington has brought a great deal of intelligence to his interpretations and managed to keep the symphonies alive while doing it, catching that intensity that is one of the main reasons we listen to Beethoven. Can’t ask for much more.

(EMI Records, 1989)

What's New at Green Man Review

And there's a lot this week:

Oliver Brewing Company’s Cherry Blossom Cherry Wheat Ale, Canadian singer-songwriter Dana Sipos, Scottish singer Siobhan Miller, another treat from Folkmanis, the interconnectedness of our reviews, Oysterband’s ‘Red Barn Stomp’, ‘Places’ in fantasy novels, and other cool things

There's even more, so scoot on over and enjoy.

Today's Must-Watch

As a follow-up to this post from yesterday, I strongly recommend that you watch this segment of All In with Chris Hayes. It's horrifying, and it's our government doing it:

Via Digby, who notes the "president's" reaction to the bad PR:

Put pressure on the Democrats to end the horrible law that separates children from there parents once they cross the Border into the U.S. Catch and Release, Lottery and Chain must also go with it and we MUST continue building the WALL! DEMOCRATS ARE PROTECTING MS-13 THUGS.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2018

And his base thinks it's all OK, because they are as ugly and racist as he is. Clinton was too kind: they're not "deplorables" -- they're contempible.

My Politically Incorrect Brain

I tend to misread things if I happen to catch just a glance. For example, there's an ad on the buses that says "What It Vivitrol?" (It doesn't tell you what it it, except to give one of those horrible made-up drug names that bear no relation to any known human language.) I keep reading it as "What Is Vitriol?"

But the one that caps all the others is: I have the first volume of Glen Cook's Instrumentalities of the Night series sitting out, which is titled The Tyranny of the Night. Needless to say, as I walk by and catch it out of the corner of my eye, I read it as The Tranny of the Night.

And don't think that doesn't call up some weird images.

WWJD? As If They Care

I don't know if I've mentioned this here in so many words, but have you noticed how evangelical "Christians" are oblivious to the teachings of Christ? I ran across two stories this morning that point that up, one directly, one indirectly, but first a couple of Bible verses to set the context. First, from the Gospel According to St. Matthew, Chapter 25:

31 “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. 36 I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? 38 When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’

40 “The King will answer them, 'Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

44 “Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’

45 “Then he will answer them, saying, 'Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’ 46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

(Emphasis added.)

I emphasized those lines because this post is about refugees (and, by extension, immigrants).

Add in that the Bible is replete with verses admonishing believers to welcome strangers.

Now, from Friendly Atheist, a recent poll:

When it comes to accepting the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the least of these — you know, the people Jesus loved — white evangelical Christians are the least likely people to lend a helping hand.

A new Pew Research Center survey finds that white evangelicals rank lowest when it comes to saying the U.S. has a responsibility to accept refugees. Only 25% of them approve of accepting people who escape their countries and seek a better life in the United States, compared to 43% of white mainline Protestants and 65% of people without organized religion.

And, via Digby, just to point up the way we treat refugees:

Now, we’ve uncovered tens of thousands of pages of evidence documenting U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials physically, sexually, and verbally abusing children. The majority of these children are asylum seekers fleeing violence in Mexico and Central America. Some are teenage mothers. Some are escaping gang violence. Some are in need of medical attention. All of them have risked their lives to find safety – and tragically, CBP has shattered that dream for so many.

CBP’s abuses are not only unconscionably inhumane, but they also violate United States law and international human rights law, which give protections to migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers – no matter their country of origin.

The uncovered documents show CBP officials – including Border Patrol agents – committing the following abuses:

Threatening children with rape and death
Depriving children of food and water and holding them in freezing and unsanitary detention cells
Shooting children with Tasers and stun guns
Punching a child in the head repeatedly
Running over two 17-year-olds with patrol vehicles
Subjecting a 16-year-old girl to a search in which they forcefully spread her legs and touched her genitals

The violations are numerous. By law, CBP can’t hold unaccompanied children for longer than 72 hours. Children in CBP custody are entitled to safe facilities, adequate food and water, and proper medical care. And as federal officials, CBP officers are legally required to report all allegations of child abuse to law enforcement, child protective services, or the FBI.

I can't help but wonder how many of these ICE agents think of themselves as good Christians.

There's a petition at the link.

Might Makes Right: NFL Edition

After all due deliberation, the NFL owners have reached a policy on player protests:

NFL owners approved a new national anthem policy Wednesday that gives individual teams the authority to set their own anthem-related rules and permits players to remain in the locker room during the playing of the anthem, according to a person familiar with the deliberations.

The new policy eliminates the current requirement from the league’s game operations manual for a player to be on the field for the playing of the anthem, allowing a player to remain in the locker room. Teams would then have the ability to set their own policy for players who choose to take the field for the anthem, including the ability to discipline a player for any protest during the national anthem.

However:

The new policy also is expected to contain a clause that the league could fine a team for any protest by a player on the sideline during the anthem, according to a person familiar with the owners’ deliberations.

They're calling this a "compromise." Right.

The reaction has not been universally positive, and at least one owner is telling them to fuck off:

Despite the NFL’s approval of a revised policy that requires players on the field to stand during the national anthem, Jets chairman Christopher Johnson told Newsday on Wednesday that his players are free to take a knee or perform some other protest without fear of repercussion from the team.

“I do not like imposing any club-specific rules,” Johnson said. “If somebody [on the Jets] takes a knee, that fine will be borne by the organization, by me, not the players. I never want to put restrictions on the speech of our players.

Even the New York Times let them have it:

The owners of the National Football League have concluded, with President Trump, that true patriotism is not about bravely standing up for democratic principle but about standing up, period.

Rather than show a little backbone themselves and support the right of athletes to protest peacefully, the league capitulated to a president who relishes demonizing black athletes. The owners voted Wednesday to fine teams whose players do not stand for the national anthem while they are on the field.

Let us hope that in keeping with the league’s pinched view of patriotism, the players choose to honor the letter but not the spirit of this insulting ban. It might be amusing, for example, to see the owners tied in knots by players who choose to abide by the injunction to “stand and show respect” — while holding black-gloved fists in the air.

Remember this?

Photo:  Getty Images

And one former player noted the raging hypocrisy:

U.S. Flag Code passed in 1942 during WW2.

176: Respecting the Flag

D. “The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery”

I. “The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any way whatsoever.” pic.twitter.com/mCzmklImf9

— Sage Rosenfels (@SageRosenfels18) May 23, 2018

Something tells me this isn't over yet:

The NFL players’ protests have never been about the military or the flag. They’re about police brutality and white supremacy. Failing to protest injustice in America is not patriotic, it’s dangerous. #TakeAKnee

— ACLU (@ACLU) May 23, 2018

And:

pic.twitter.com/3FvuGyy4tA

— NFLPA (@NFLPA) May 23, 2018

Lawsuits in 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . .

Culture Break: Terry Riley: Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band

OK, so it's Terry Riley Week. It could be a lot worse -- I could be feeding you a combination of Balinese gamelan and hard-core serial minimalism.

This one's from the Rainbow in Curved Air CD. Couldn't find a live performance on YouTube (and it's unbelievable how few videos there are of Riley live), so you get to listen without visuals.

Yes, of course he's one of my favorites.

Image du Jour

This one cracked me up:

Thanks to commenter Mikey at Joe.My.God.

And the Right Wing Goes Wild!

The Obamas have signed a multi-year deal with Netflix:

In an announcement on Monday, Netflix revealed that Barack and Michelle Obama had signed a multiyear deal to produce films and series.

The reaction from the trumpanzees is as might be expected. A couple of samples:

Make sure to cancel today and check other and say cause Netflix works with terrorists

— Ryan Francis🍀🇺🇸 (@HalfAssCatholic) May 21, 2018

Cancel @Netflix. This will be nonstop social engineering cultural Marxist programming and serve as a money laundering front for bribes just like their books are. #wakeup #wwgowga

— Full Metal Squirrel (@MyManJimmyJack) May 21, 2018

There's more at the link. You'll note that these examples are not unusually incoherent for right-wingers. It's also worth noting that the responses to these two, at least, are not terribly supportive.

At least Obama waited until he was out of office to capitalize on his presidency.

Footnote: There are way too many self-appointed pundits who keep insisting that we on the left have to understand these people and their concerns -- economic insecurity, changing society, blah, blah, blah. I do understand them: they are small-minded, petty, self-absorbed, vindictive people who resist anything contrary to what they "know", and what they "know" comes from demagogues and con artists. They need authority telling them what to do and what to think.

Vox has an interesting, and fairly disturbing article on at least part of this phenomenon, via Digby.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Florida is getting even stranger than I thought:

I wonder how many of them voted for Trump?

And on the Other Hand

That thumping sound is the USCCB fainting and hitting the floor:

A survivor of clerical sexual abuse has said Pope Francis told him that God had made him gay and loved him, in arguably the most strikingly accepting comments about homosexuality to be uttered by the leader of the Roman Catholic church.

Juan Carlos Cruz, who spoke privately with the pope two weeks ago about the abuse he suffered at the hands of one of Chile’s most notorious paedophiles, said the issue of his sexuality had arisen because some of the Latin American country’s bishops had sought to depict him as a pervert as they accused him of lying about the abuse.

“He told me, ‘Juan Carlos, that you are gay does not matter. God made you like this and loves you like this and I don’t care. The pope loves you like this. You have to be happy with who you are,’” Cruz told Spanish newspaper El País.

This is not a random occurrence -- Francis has made similar comments in the past, though not as straightforward as this.

Via Joe.My.God.

And it seems to be part of a trend:

The Archbishop of Canterbury has admitted that gay people have been “appallingly” treated by the Church of England.

Archbishop Justin Welby has been at the centre of splits in both the Church of England and the global Anglican Communion over LGBT issues.

 Liberal clergy are pushing for a more accepting stance towards same-sex couples, while traditionalists want the Church to stick by teachings that homosexuality is “unnatural”.

For "traditionalists" read "reactionaries," who somehow remain convinced that the 4,000 year old tribal taboos of a group of Middle Eastern nomads form the basis of morality. And it seems that the heaviest resistance to change in the Anglican Communion is coming from the African bishops, who think that the worst aspects of the colonial period are somehow "African."

Well, I wish them both luck. They're going to need it.

 

Today in Christian Love

Actually, the fact that the police protected the marchers is sort of surprising:

Religious hard-liners in Moldova's capital tried to crash a rally in support of the country's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community but were fended off by police who deployed tear gas.

The Orthodox Christian protesters unsuccessfully attempted to break through a police line set up to guard dozens off demonstrators who marched through Chisinau in the May 19 rally against homophobia.

Video footage from the scene showed Orthodox activists rinsing their eyes with water after apparently being repelled by police.

It's even more surprising considering that Moldova's president is such an anti-gay piece of work:

The Moldovan branch of Amnesty International last year accused President Igor Dodon of violating the country's constitution by saying that he was not the president of Moldovan gays.

"I have never promised to be the president of the gays, they should have elected their own president," Dodon told reporters the same day as last year's rally that police cut short.

Dodon had criticized last year's march before it was held, saying it promoted "actions [that] contradict our traditional values."

Dodon said ahead of this year's march that "only normal families" have a place in Moldova.

A note to Dodon: Life is change; adapt or die. You might keep that in mind.

Vias Joe.My.God.

I Hate Mornings Like This

Again, it's chilly, rainy, windy, and gloomy. I'm way too subject to weather conditions, and I'm a sunshine and warm days kind of person. Days like this, I can't get started.

Maybe I should move to New Mexico or something.

Review: Terry Riley: Requiem for Adam

It appears that eBay has taken the final step and eliminated all reviews: the links for Epinions reviews in my "Reviews" pages go to Shopping.com, which claims that it can't find the page. So, expect a lot of recycling here. I will be updating links on the "Reviews" pages as material is republished.

And since Terry Riley is in the air today (see the GMR post below), here's a review of his Requiem for Adam:

Terry Riley’s Requiem for Adam was written as a memorial to Adam Harrington, son of David Harrington, of the Kronos Quartet, and Regan Harrington, who died suddenly at the age of 16 of a coronary thrombosis while walking with his family on Mt. Diablo, near San Francisco. Riley is a close friend of the Harringtons, and Adam shared a birthday with his own son.

The Requiem is cast in three movements: “Ascending the Heaven Ladder,” “Cortejo Funebre en el Monte Diablo,” and “Requiem for Adam.” “Ascending the Heaven Ladder” opens with a quiet, spare passage that is quite funereal; there are small quivers of dissonance in this section, often unexpected and unsettling, as it rises to passages that are quite ethereal and that somehow, without our really noticing it, begin to incorporate dance rhythms, and then progressing with some intensity to another ascent and again, quiet. In the “Cortejo,” the quartet is joined by an electronic soundtrack of horns, bells, electronic percussion and gongs for an opening that establishes the feeling of a processional – the image in the first measures recalls nothing so much as the Third Movement of Mahler’s First Symphony, with its broken fugato treatment of the traditional children’s song, “Frere Jacques.” Like the Mahler, the “Cortejo” gets a bit raucous; Riley himself says that this is “funeral music more in the tradition of New Orleans Dixieland than Beethoven,” which is certainly an accurate assessment. The movement gradually takes on a driving, almost frantic rhythm that comes dangerously close to that characteristic of contemporary music that I call “urban Weltschmerz,” a holdover from the days when dissonance was all the rage – and then, the music stops, abruptly. The “Requiem” opens with another quiet, contemplative passage that calls to mind long vistas viewed with only the wind for company, the quiet of wild, lonely places, the deep silence of grief, which moves into a a pulsing, 7/8 dance rhythm, building to an intensity that suddenly catapults itself back into a very quiet, almost tenuous passage that echoes the similar sections in the first movement, and leaves us hearing an afterimage as the final resolution.

Riley captures, in these three movements, all the energy and passion of a young man who, as Riley says, “had music raging in him – the pulsations of a young life with its longings for freedom, to see as far as one can see, from the top.”

The Philosopher’s Hand, which finishes off the album, is a short (app. 5 minutes) track of Riley improvising at the piano on a suggestion by David Harrington that he play something for four or five minutes “thinking of Pandit Pran Nath,” a philosopher and friend of Harrington and Riley. The result is serene, thoughtful, and elegant, recalling is some measure that combination of fluidity and edginess in the piano music of Erik Satie.

Riley is an astonishing composer, formally considered a Minimalist along with Philip Glass and Steve Reich, but one who exhibits a very broad range and moves in other modes quite comfortably – I attended a concert by Riley a number of years ago here in Chicago; in the first half, he performed a classical Indian raga, followed by a shorter, informal raga; the second half was devoted to a work for altered piano, sitar and drums, which brought down the house. His availability on CD is, unfortunately, quite limited commercially. (Note: Since this was written, Riley's music has become much more available.) He certainly deserves wider exposure, although his music is certainly not material for W-Rock-R-Us FM.

The liner notes for this CD, written by Riley and Bob Gilmore, are very well done and quite informative. (The booklet is also quite beautiful, illustrated by photographs from the “Black Pulse” series by Mike and Doug Starn.) Riley talks about Adam Harrington and the technical design of the Requiem. Gilmore talks about Riley and his impact on contemporary music, crediting him with inventing repetitive minimalism, further developed by Reich and Glass, and tracing the development of Riley’s style through the 1960s and 70s. It was while teaching at Mills College in Oakland, California, that Riley met four young people in the fall of 1978, a string quartet on the lookout for “new” music to add to their repertoire – the Kronos Quartet. This has been a relationship that has been important to the development of both partners, and only underscores the point that, aside from personal considerations, Kronos was the only possible group to record Requiem for Adam.

I admire Terry Riley immensely, and I love his music. I admire the Kronos Quartet, and they occupy a significant place in my music collection. Quite frankly, if you are not familiar with Terry Riley, I’d suggest you find an opportunity to listen to this music first. But, with the full realization that this music is not for everyone, I recommend Requiem for Adam very highly.

It's Sunday Again

and time to check out What's New at Green Man Review:

Some Terry Riley works for string quartet, Rocket Raccoon and Groot, a Charles de Lint novel and video fiction, a new Fairport album, Mast Sea Salt Chocolate and other matters

And there are lots of other matters, so click through and check it out.

This Month's School Shooting

Like Digby, I have nothing to say, so I'm just going to borrow her post:

She also includes a comment from David Hogg:

Get ready for two weeks of media coverage of politicians acting like they give a shit when in reality they just want to boost their approval ratings before midterms.

— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) May 18, 2018

Just recently saw a comment that we're twenty weeks into 2018 and there have been 22 mass shootings.

Welcome to Trump's America, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the NRA.

We're Not Going to Disappear

No matter how hard the Trump regime tries to make it happen:

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) official disclosed that the agency will roll back support for the collection of data on the health and well-being of LGBT people through the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).

“The BRFSS is one of the few federally-supported data collection activities that make the needs of LGBT people known to governmental agencies responsible for the safety, health and welfare of the public,” said Kerith J. Conron, the Research Director at the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. “By removing LGBT measures from the BRFSS, the federal government is shirking its responsibility to LGBT Americans.”

Today, at the conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research in Denver, Colo., a CDC official disclosed that the BRFSS module on sexual orientation and gender identity that the CDC provides to states will no longer be included among BRFSS optional modules starting in 2019. The sexual orientation and gender identity module has been an optional module since 2014 and has been used by over 30 states and territories.

According to the CDC, “[The BRFSS] is the nation’s premier system of health-related telephone surveys that collect state data about U.S. residents regarding their health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions and use of preventive services.” The BRFSS is a federal-state partnership, and it “collects data in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia and three U.S. territories. BRFSS completes more than 400,000 adult interviews each year, making it the largest continuously conducted health survey system in the world.”

This is evangelical "Christian" thinking: if you pretend they don't exist, then they don't exist. And if you wonder about that connection, Joe.My.God. has more on Robert Redfield, the director of the CDC, at the link. He's a real piece of work.

Idiot(s) du Jour

The Republicans on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. According to them:

The Earth is not warming. The White Cliffs of Dover are tumbling into the sea and causing sea levels to rise. Global warming is helping grow the Antarctic ice sheet.

Those are some of the skeptical assertions echoed by Republicans on the U.S. House of Representatives Science, Space and Technology Committee yesterday. The lawmakers at times embraced research that questions mainstream climate science during a hearing on how technology can be used to address global warming.

Some of the specific comments are hair-raising:

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) questioned Duffy on the factors that contribute to sea-level rise, pointing out that land subsidence plays a role, as well as human activity.

Brooks then said that erosion plays a significant role in sea-level rise, which is not an idea embraced by mainstream climate researchers. He said the California coastline and the White Cliffs of Dover tumble into the sea every year, and that contributes to sea-level rise. He also said that silt washing into the ocean from the world's major rivers, including the Mississippi, the Amazon and the Nile, is contributing to sea-level rise.

"Every time you have that soil or rock or whatever it is that is deposited into the seas, that forces the sea levels to rise, because now you have less space in those oceans, because the bottom is moving up," Brooks said.

Considering that the earth's surface is about 70% ocean, that the depth of the oceans averages just over 12,000 feet (the deepest part is over 36,000 feet, or just shy of seven miles), the oceans could easily swallow all the land on earth. Of course, at that point rise in sea level becomes irrelevant.

However, back to Brooks' comments; sorry, but erosion has minimal impact on sea level. As noted above, there's a lot more ocean than land on this planet, and the rate of deposition of sediment is insignificant in relation to sea level.

There's more, including the committee accusing federal climate scientists of fraudulently manipulating climate data. Read the whole thing.

One can't help but wonder how much money Big Oil has pumped into their campaign chests.

Today in Disgusting People: Of Course He Does

Priceless:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt said on Wednesday that he now has a legal fund in place to help him fight off a growing list of allegations against him related to his spending and reported ethical missteps in office.

“It has been set up,” Pruitt told the Senate Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies about the fund. He was speaking during a hearing that was meant to focus on the EPA’s 2019 budget but that centered on questions about his conduct – including an allegation he had sought to be transported through traffic with flashing lights and sirens.

Pruitt has been under pressure from lawmakers in recent weeks over reports about his routine use of first-class travel, his 24/7 security detail, costly office renovations, and ties to industry – criticisms he called overblown on Wednesday.

"Overblown"? What? Not "Fake News"?

He is still supported by President Donald Trump and most Republicans lawmakers, who have welcomed his efforts to roll back Obama-era environmental regulations that are seen by industry as overly burdensome.

So, "industry" sees drinkable water and breathable air as "overly burdensome."

Out of all the crooks and grifters Trump has shoveled into his regime, Pruitt is undoubtedly among the two or three worst. And that's some pretty stiff competition.

Read the whole thing -- Pruitt is even worse than you imagined.

A Step At a Time

Thinking back over the past forty years or so, it's really remarkable how far we've come in society's acceptance of gays. And it shows up in unexpected ways:

Theodore Vidal and his boyfriend Colin Beyers were walking the Seaside Heights boardwalk on Friday after having spent the past few hours at Lacey High School. It was on that boardwalk that their story would become a national headline.

The bow-tie wearing teens had just attended Vidal's junior prom.

There's video at the link, which for some reason won't display in this format. However, via Towleroad, there's this description of the event:

Culture Break: Colin McPhee: Balinese Ceremonial Music

This popped up on this morning's playlist (yeah, I listen to all sorts of stuff in the morning). McPhee is a fascinating figure in American music, more because of his influence than his actual compositions, which weren't often performed during his lifetime. His book, Music in Bali was tremendously influential on people such as Lou Harrison and Terry Riley. It's somewhat ironic that discussions of Riley's music focus on the influence of Indian raga and tend to ignore Balinese gamelan.

At any rate, here it is. From the introduction on YouTube:

While Canadian composer Colin McPhee lived in Bali only for the decade of the 1930s, he was so enamored of the music of the island's local percussion orchestra, the gamelan, that it shaped his entire compositional style. His Balinese musician friends were, for their part, intrigued when his piano arrived. As described in his book, A House in Bali, they were puzzled by the thick-sounding Western-style chords, but they quickly were impressed by the way one or two people at the keyboard could imitate the multi-layered simultaneous patterns of their own music. While in Bali, McPhee made over 40 direct transcriptions of Balinese gamelan compositions. His partner was the young British expatriate composer, Benjamin Britten. The set of transcriptions comprises three works, arranged in a typically Western fast/slow/fast suite. Since Balinese music with its patterns was an inspiration for minimalism (which McPhee, who died in 1964, did not quite live to witness) this music sounds surprisingly modern.

Somehow, I'm Not Surprised

I get the feeling Trump has been played:

Donald Trump’s historic meeting with Kim Jong-un has been thrown into uncertainty as North Korea warned it could be cancelled over US military exercises and if Washington presses ahead with its one-sided demand for Pyongyang to give up its nuclear arsenal.

Kim Kye-gwan, North Korea's deputy foreign minister, warned on Wednesday that Pyongyang was not interested in talks that would pressure the rogue state to "unilaterally" give up its nuclear programme, taking aim at "unbridled remarks" by John Bolton, the US national security adviser, and other high-ranking White House officials.

In a statement issued by the North Korean Central News Agency [KCNA], Mr Kim took issue in particular with Mr Bolton's references to the so-called Libya model of nuclear abandonment and his statements on "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation."

Mr Kim claimed the remarks cast doubt on America's sincerity, underlining that his country was not Libya, which met a "miserable fate."

He added: "This is not an expression of intention to address the issue through dialogue. It is essentially a manifestation of awfully sinister moves to impose on our dignified state the destiny of Libya or Iraq which had [sic] been collapsed due to yielding the whole of their countries to big powers."

Trust Bolton to stick his foot in it, but I think Kim was just looking for an excuse -- and sure enough, Trump gave it to him.

There goes the Nobel Prize (pfft!).

Via Joe.My.God.

Hide Your Irony Meter

or you're going to have to replace it:

Via press release from the Family Research Council:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) today announced the appointment of Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) as its newest commissioner, for a two-year term. Mr. Perkins will remain FRC president during his time with USCIRF.

Perkins must have written that release himself -- it goes on to turn reality on its head with its glowing description of Perkins' advocacy on behalf of "religious minorities" (trans: Christians in majority-Muslim countries).

All in all, it's just payback to the evangelicals to keep them in the fold.

We Can Make It Work If We Want To

Case in point: this story, which comes hard on the heels of John Kelly's remarks on immigrants.

First, the lead-in:

As a formerly non-English speaking immigrant, here is a story I cherish.

It's 1997. I just moved from Korea to Los Angeles area. I took regular English courses in Korea, and that was good enough to get me out of ESL classes and into the regular 10th grade classes.

— T.K. of AAK! (@AskAKorean) May 11, 2018

And then the story itself:

It was my second day at the biology class. There was a quiz. My bio teacher, Ms. Gallagher, told me I didn’t have to worry about the quiz since I just got to the class, but gave me the quiz sheet anyway.

This is more than 20 years ago, but I still very clearly remember every detail of that quiz sheet. The quiz was about photosynthesis. It had a diagram of a leaf, and I was supposed to write what kind of gas comes to the leaf, what is expelled, etc.

I remember staring at it for about five minutes, slowly getting angry with frustration. I was mad because the quiz was easy. I learned about photosynthesis in Korea as a 7th grade. I knew all the answers. Just not in English.

The quiz was my new reality. I hope you all have a chance to experience this: the experience of suddenly becoming stupid, suddenly having all of your knowledge turning into dust, useless and inaccessible in a new environment with new language.

After five minutes, I just decided to write in the quiz in Korean. It didn’t matter that Ms. Gallagher told me the quiz wouldn’t count; I wasn’t going to turn in a blank quiz sheet. I just had to prove to myself that I didn’t suddenly become stupid.

Two days later, Ms. Gallagher handed out the graded quiz. Then she announced to the class: “[TK] has the highest grade. He had the perfect score.” What – I looked at my quiz sheet. She graded my quiz in Korean, and gave me all the check marks.

I asked Ms. Gallagher (somehow) how she managed to grade my paper. Turned out Ms. Gallagher took my quiz to a Korean Am math teacher at my school. The math teacher’s Korean wasn’t great either, but she looked up the dictionary to help my bio teacher grade my quiz.

I get more emotional each time I think about this. Because the older I get, the more I realize what an extraordinary step Ms. Gallagher took for the sake of her student. She already told me the quiz wouldn’t count. She didn’t have to go through the trouble of grading my quiz.

But Ms. Gallagher graded my quiz. I truly believe that moment changed the trajectory of my immigrant life in the United States. Thanks to my teacher, I was able to prove to myself that I didn’t suddenly turn stupid. I just had to learn the new language.

So I did. I learned English, I studied hard, and graduated second of my class. My graduation speech was like a scene out of Napoleon Dynamite–it was so rambling and so terrible and so accented, my classmates were so confused. They were kind enough not to boo me off the stage.

I moved onto a good college, then a good law school. Now I’m a lawyer and writer who engages the world via my writing. I’ve had writing professors telling me they use my English writing as a model for their students. That blows my mind every time I hear it.

So. Every time a fuckshit like John Kelly talks about non-English speaking immigrants not assimilating to America, I think back to Ms. Gallagher. I remind myself that America has way more Ms. Gallaghers than John Kellys.

I don't think I need to add anything, except to note that the last comment is right: we do have a lot more Ms. Gallaghers than John Kellys. The problem is that assholes like Kelly and his boss are in charge -- at least for the time being.

What's New at Green Man Review

It's Sunday again, and quite a mix of things at Green Man Review:

Nietzsche, Stephen King considered, chocolate of course and other matters

Nietzsche? Yes, you read that right. But it's the "other matters" that get really interesting, so pop over and take a look.

OK, This Is Funny

The 2020 Republican convention is already having problems:

Cities across the country are turning down the opportunity to host the 2020 Republican National Convention, where President Trump is expected to be nominated for a second term.

The cities that have rejected hosting duties insist Trump and today’s divisive politics are not factors in their decisions. They instead cite high security costs and disruptions in the normal flow of business and traffic.

But Trump is almost certainly a factor in some cities’ decisions to opt out.

Ya think?

It gets better:

“Most of the cities that have turned down the RNC are Democratic cities,” said Evan Siegfried, a New York-based Republican strategist.

I have news for Mr. Seigfried: most cities in this country are Democratic.

Via Joe.My.God.

Starting the Week Off Right

Via Digby, this story shows that it's not all con men and grifters in the world:

He is faster than a speeding stroller, more adorable than a kitten, and able to get a stranger's attention with a single courtesy. This is America's latest superhero -- and the only superhero with the power to feed the homeless.

By day, Austin Perine is a mild-mannered 4-year-old from Birmingham, Alabama. But once a week, he turns into this alter ego: a superhero set on feeding as many homeless people as possible. He likes to go by the name "President Austin."

"That's his idea of what the president is supposed to do," said TJ Perine, Austin's father. "I was like, buddy, you have no idea, but hey, I'm going along with it."

And of course, there's video.

There’s a tiny superhero with a special gift for capturing the hearts of the homeless in Alabama

Steve Hartman caught up with the caped crusader @OnTheRoadCBS https://t.co/Wjjs1fbN9B pic.twitter.com/s3Lsh51a0L

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) May 4, 2018

What's New at Green Man Review

It's that time of the week again, and there's more reviews at Green Man Review. This week turned out to be about folk rock, with some very entertaining stuff indeed, so go check it out.

I Know Posting's Been Sketchy

for two reasons: 1) I managed to come down with a really nasty cold that left me totally drained; and 2) I'm so sick of Donald Trump and his assorted scandals that I don't even want to read about them, much less write about them.

A Few Warm Days

Photo:  Britannica.com

and things just explode: apples, hawthorns and magnolias are blooming, trees are leafing out all over the place, tulips are blooming, along with violets and a few other things I haven't been able to identify.

And there are already goslings at North Pond -- I saw a couple of pairs of geese with at least a dozen little ones from the bus yesterday. There will be ducklings soon, if there aren't already.

And of course, after today we go back down to the 50s.

Today's Must-Read: It's Out In the Open

From Jonathan Chait at New York Magazine:

In 1995, National Rifle Association president Wayne LaPierre signed his name to a fundraising letter referring to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents as “jack-booted government thugs.” The implicit association of American federal law enforcement with fascists provoked a furor. Former president George H. W. Bush publicly resigned his NRA membership in protest; LaPierre had to apologize.

Last night, in the midst of a long, deeply incriminating interview, Rudy Giuliani called FBI agents “stormtroopers.” Here was the president’s lawyer, not an outside lobbyist, comparing federal law enforcement to Nazis directly, rather than indirectly. The Washington Post’s account of Giuliani’s interview noted the remark in a single sentence, in the 30th paragraph of its story. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Politico accounts of Giuliani’s interview did not even mention the stormtrooper remark at all.

Note that last part: if you're wondering what part our "free, independent and adversarial press" has played in bringing about Trump, there it is: comparing the FBI to Nazis doesn't even rate a batted eyelash. As if that didn't make it obvious enough:

Rosenstein appears to have reached a limit. The New York Times reported yesterday that Rosenstein and some FBI officials “have come to suspect that some lawmakers were using their oversight authority to gain intelligence about that investigation so that it could be shared with the White House.” The Republican document-demanding game is that they either force Rosenstein to compromise the investigation, letting them inside the prosecution so they can help Trump undermine it, or else he refuses their demands, giving them a pretext to fire him and install a more pliable figure. Rosenstein publicly declared the other day the game was up and he wasn’t going to be extorted any more.

The Wall Street Journal, which has served as a reliable mouthpiece for Trump’s legal defense, defends Congress’s right to take control of the investigation. “Congress is acting through its committees as a separate and co-equal branch of government—the branch that funds Justice and has the right and obligation to exercise oversight,” it editorializes. Rather than denying Rosenstein’s charge that his department is being extorted, the editorial confirms it, treating him like a cowering store owner who hasn’t quite got the message. “We don’t want to see Mr. Rosenstein fired or impeached,” the Journal concludes, “but he and the FBI need to recognize Congress’s constitutional authority.” Nice Department you got there, Rosenstein. We’d hate to see something happen to it.

The role of the press is only one part of this story. Of course House Republicans are trying to undermine Mueller's investigation: If Trump does down, they go down with him: to their way of thinking, the law should not apply to them, and if it applies to one of them, they're all in danger.

Read the whole thing, of course -- it's not really all that long, and it pulls together a lot of what I (and others) have been saying all along.

Via Digby, whose comments are worth reading as well.

Culture Break: The Danish String Quartet: Æ Rømeser

Another selection from the album Last Leaf.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

You've no doubt run across stories about the push to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize -- based on something he had nothing to do with. There are a couple of posts at Hullbaloo that I really wish could have been combined, but they weren't, so I'm doing it.

The first is about the Peace Prize nonsense, from Digby:

Sure, of course. Makes perfect sense:

The campaign to award a 2019 Nobel Peace Prize to the current president — regularly criticized for delivering personal attacks on Twitter — is heating up, following news of this week’s historic summit between North and South Korea that could mark the first step toward denuclearizing the peninsula.

Thanks to the tentative progress being made on the Korean peninsula, at least one British bookie has predicted that Trump has favorable odds of winning a Nobel this year — and some of Trump’s top defenders are falling in line.

“After North Korea triumph Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, not Obama,” declared a Fox News op-ed published on Friday.

Offhand, I can't think of a bigger travesty right now. "Peace through strength"? Excuse me? Is that what he's been doing?

And the cherry on top is everyone's favorite Fox News bully:

However, for those of us in the reality-based universe, Digby also posted this:

The only reason I bring this up is because Trump is saying that nobody ever did what he has done etc, etc as usual and well, it's wrong. There have been other talks and they may end up being seen as the precursors to some kind of rapprochement between the two countries. They did not deter North Korea from pursuing their nuclear weapons program and it's highly unlikely, considering the message America has sent to the world about the consequences of giving them up. (America will invade you and your leaders will be killed.)

Trump will strut around like a conquering hero and we'll all be forced to kiss his hem as the living God he is, but it won't make it true. If this happens it will be because there has been a very slow, long term thaw and a tremendous amount of pressure coming from all directions over the course of many years. Trump's tweets will not have been the reason.

The bulk of the post is a timeline of meetings in this century between leaders of the two Koreas, and summaries of the substance/results of those meeting.

But, this is Trump: he has a history of taking credit for other peoples' accomplishments. (See "Obama, Barack H.") And the idea that his policies, whatever they are (even he doesn't know from minute to minute) are going to bring about world peace is beyond ludicrous.

Yeah, It's Sunday Again

And the news is just as dismal as ever, so to cheer you up, here's What's New at Green Man Review:

Yemeni coffee, Jack Vance: a tribute volume, A 40,000-year-old hedgehog, interlibrary loans, lakriti and other cool things

There's more of course -- there's always more. So head on over and lighten your day.

Last Light

I went out for the last smoke of the day just at dusk. There was still light from the sun reflecting off the windows of the high-rises along the lake, the lower-rises closer to my place were in shadow -- not deep shadow, but not lighted, except by the street lamps -- and the moon was about a quarter of the way up the sky and perfectly round and still pretty big -- not as big as at moonrise, but larger than it would be later, higher in the sky.

I love this city -- everywhere you look, there's a picture.

(Which maybe means I should poke myself and start taking pictures again.)

Image du Jour

From the comment thread to this post at Joe.My.God.

With thanks to commenter Bluto.

Oh, and about the post: My own comment was simply "They (Republicans) really hate the Establishment Clause, don't they?"