The first sunrise of summer.

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"According to [David] Thomson, movies — especially American movies — have whitewashed history, glorified violence and made role models out of thugs, narcissists and murderers."

"The consequences shape our public life. Donald Trump 'is our movie man,' Thomson writes, meaning that Trump’s presidency, which Thomson sees as a catastrophe, was foretold and to some extent made possible by Hollywood. Not just bad movies.... Turning our humanity upside down and our values inside out is what good movies do.... 'We are no longer the selves we hoped to be,' Thomson concludes. 'We are not exactly alive any longer.' It’s the movies that condemned us to this limbo."

Writes A.O. Scott, in "Did Movies Ruin Everything? How the film writer David Thomson found himself in a lover’s quarrel with cinema — and America" (NYT).

"What if he’s right?...

"I was just a curious, concerned citizen. I guess I was there at the wrong place, wrong time."

Said David Carter Hearn, 67, "a cyclist and three-time Olympian as a canoeist who says he stopped at the [Reflecting Pool] on Friday just to have a look, then reached down to touch a strip of peeling blue paint mixed with the algae. The U.S. Park Police arrested Mr. Hearn shortly after, accusing him of destroying government property, a crime that can carry up to a 10-year prison sentence."

I'm reading "Trump, Claiming Vandalism, Says Reflecting Pool Will Likely Need to Be Drained/The pool has taken on clouds of algae after a hasty renovation. A three-time Olympian was charged with destroying government property after he says he touched one of the strands of blue paint peeling off the pool’s bottom" (NYT).

"The administration has not released the names of others accused of vandalizing the pool, a crime that Mr. Trump said on Saturday could lead to 'years in jail.' In a later post, he said without evidence that vandals had 'poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool.'"

I don't know if the claims of vandalism are true, but the temptation to vandalize was obvious and strong even before Trump started talking about vandals. Now, it's unavoidable, and I think we will never have our pool back where it belongs in the American psyche. It's a mess, a bone of contention, a symbol of everything and anything people don't like about Trump. The pool never worked as it was intended, and now its essential badness is glaring at us, and it will never calm back down into the serene murky swamp it once was. 

"A possible referendum in Oregon on animal rights would end fishing, hunting, even pest control, just when Democrats are trying really hard not to be seen as 'weirdos again.'"

I'm reading "Protect Every Animal From Cruelty? Not in 2026, Oregon Democrats Say" (NYT).

The measure, known for now as Initiative Petition 28... would give all animals the same protections from cruelty that Oregon grants dogs and cats.... Hunting, trapping and fishing would be outlawed, along with scientific research on animals, lethal pest control and conventional livestock production.... 

The fight is in some ways very Oregon, long a proving ground for ideas that initially seemed politically impossible only to enter the mainstream, such as medical aid in dying, universal vote-by-mail and legalizing the hallucinogenic compound in magic mushrooms for therapy.

When people think of "animals" — as in "I love animals!" — they're not thinking about cockroaches and mosquitoes.

ADDED: According to Ballotopedia, the initiative "Applies to mammals (including vermin), birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish." So I think "lethal pest control" is meant to call to mind mice and rats, not the various troublesome insects. The NYT article says "all animals" and also, more than once, says "pest control." 

In the comments here, Tom T. said, "Then would come the court decisions defining pet ownership as cruelty and outlawing it." That got me looking into the argument that pet-keeping is a form of cruelty to animals. Here's an interesting Vox article from 3 years ago: "The case against pet ownership/Why we should aim for a world with fewer but happier pets." Excerpt: 

It often leads to the trivialization of serious subjects...

Writing the previous post and trying to get to Meade's YouTube page, I googled the name of the page, Meadeification, and got this:

Here's more of Meade's trivialization of a serious subject:

The Purple Path.

Video by Meade, at the first sunrise of summer.

The last sunrise of spring.

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The summer solstice arrives here at 3:24 a.m. There's nothing really to go out and look at. One can only find the solstice in your mind. Perhaps there is a ritual to externalize whatever spiritual feeling you have about the solstice. There is the idea of arriving at one's sunrise vantage point early — sunrise isn't until 5:18 — but the sign says the place is closed after 10 at night and before 4 in the morning.

Here's another photo of the milkweed in the golden hour light.

"Ludovico Mazzarolli, a constitutional expert, told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera that a €50 ticket would exclude visitors unable to pay and violate the Italian constitution’s insistence on free circulation within Italy."

From "Venice mayor faces backlash over ‘barbarous’ entry fee increase/Plans to curb overtourism in the lagoon city by increasing day tickets to €50 face opposition after lower prices failed to change visitor behaviour" (London Times).

The weeds — milk and butterfly.

At 5:22 a.m. on the last day of spring:

The Mystery of the Paint Peel.

Link.

Getting Into the Weeds/Or: Even a Turtle Can Be Slowed Down.

"He came in strategically prepared to disarm us with niceness.... It worked on you, didn't work on me."

Ana Navarro: “[Vice President JD Vance] also came in… strategically prepared to disarm us with niceness. He came in being affable and laughing easily and being very nice. I mean, it worked on you, [Joy]. Didn't work on me.” pic.twitter.com/CKDFqQesGp

— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) June 19, 2026

"On the second floor of their home right by the National Mall, Melania has the master bedroom all to herself."

"Her husband Donald goes to bed in what used to be a living room. But with a little creative thinking, as Kevin McCloud would say on Grand Designs, he has transformed it into a curated sleep space all of his own.... Trump appeared... to be engaged in a decorating arms race with Melania in the room next door. Trump was 'determined to have the better room'.... To this end he was said to have removed gold pieces that his wife had selected for the hallway and brought them into his own bedroom to sleep among them.... Sleep scientists, and Cameron Diaz, will tell you that separate bedrooms does not imply an unhappy marriage...."

From "Trump 'steals Melania’s decor to make his bedroom better than hers'/The latest insight into life inside the White House pits the president against his wife in a decorating arms race" (London Times).

The details in that article are taken from the new book "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump" by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan (commission earned).

"[Michelle] Obama called [George W.] Bush 'a wonderful man' and 'a funny man.' 'I love him to death,' she said...."

"'It turns out the country is starved to see a White center-right Republican and an African American center-left Democrat having fun and being able to converse, not as political figures, but as citizens,' Bush said."

From "George W. Bush gifts Michelle Obama a tin of Altoids at Obama Center opening in an ode to their friendship" (CBS News).

"You don't have to tip. You wanna tip."

An Aussie discovers Texas Road House for the first time. Epic!

The World Cup needs to be permanently held in the US. It offers the most for the teams and the fans. 🤣🇺🇸🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/5AFbUVWrFZ

— Buzz Patterson (@BuzzPatterson) June 19, 2026

AND: Costco has your beans:

Culture shock… Europeans in America pic.twitter.com/fxxgdHqKng

— Meidas_Charise Lee (@charise_lee) June 19, 2026

Sunrise.

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