More family obligations yesterday.
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It’s ongoing. It was avoidable.
Robert Reich, today: The Green Algae President: How He’s Handling Four Messes He Created, subtitled “The mess at the Reflecting Pool as a metaphor for his many other messes”
Referring to the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall, Minnesota governor Tim Walz commented on X: “Found an imaginary problem, said only they could fix it, didn’t listen to experts, hired buddies who grifted millions, failed miserably, bragged how great it went. The entire Trump presidency in a nutshell.” (Walz could have added: “blamed others for his failure, conjured up a conspiracy, then prosecuted them.”)
One remarkable aspect of Trump’s horrendous reign is how many crises and problems he’s brought on himself — created them out of thin air. Then he brags about how well he’s handled them. And when they go wrong — as they inevitably do — he casts blame on others or on his political opponents.
The four:
- The Return of Operation Metro Surge
- Trump’s Unending War in Iran
- Prices Continue to Rise
- The Reflecting Pool Worsens
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Briefly noted.
— Conservatives are about reversing human progress in favor of tribalism, and white supremacy —
- Salon, Chauncey DeVega, today: The military helped Black Americans find belonging. Pete Hegseth wants to reverse course, subtitled “The military has been a powerful force for social progress in the US. Under Trump, it is being used to undo it”
- “What Hegseth is really eradicating is the principle that the military should reflect and serve all Americans. His “warrior culture” is a mask for a 21st-century Jim Crow — one that uses colorblind language like “merit” and “fairness” to do the work of racism and other forms of prejudice, bigotry and intolerance.”
- Friendly Atheist, Hemant Mehta, today: Christian Nationalist “historian” caught citing a quotation that doesn’t exist, subtitled “Tim Barton attributed famous Declaration language to a colonial sermon. There’s just one problem: It’s nowhere in the text.”
- He just makes things up. Does it matter? Human culture is driven by stories.
- Here we go again.
- Joe.My.God (JMG), via CNN subscription page: today: Acting Spy Chief Begins Mass Firings Of Intel Experts
- Of course they do.
- AlterNet, Matthew Rozsa, yesterday: Inside Trump’s new weird obsession with the number 22
- With his examples of claims about 22 fountains in DC, 22 ships he’s destroyed in Iran, a meeting with 22 specialists, and so on.
- I take this as an equivalent to his repeated claims that problems will be solved in “two weeks.”
- Draw your own conclusions.
- Conservative dimwit.
- JMG, 20 Jun 2026: Nancy Mace Roasted For “Transgender Mice” Claim
- This item has appeared several times. She’s confusing *transgenic* mice with “transgender* mice. She doesn’t understand what the former term means, but she’s eager to attack it.
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More exploring the riches in my garage CD rack (the overflow from what can fit in the rack in the living room). Here is the key song from Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange, an album I was obsessed with some 10 or 12 years ago, even though this type of music is not what I’m usually drawn to. How did I hear about it? I don’t remember. But this is the key track. And here is the official music video, which I’ve not seen until now. Yes, the pyramid is the one is Las Vegas, and so on. I love the scenes driving across the desert. The desert where I grew up.
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I’m not sure I will survive all my partner’s disapproval and anger. I should have accomplished more by now.
