July 23, 2026
"What's the most disruptive thing that you could say in the most disruptive conversation that's ever been had?"
I like the blue jumpsuit.
That's image that sprang to mind for me as we were discussing this blue jumpsuit worn by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong at the Madison protest yesterday. "Trump Badly Screws Susan Collins as Maine ICE Death Takes Darker Turn."
The incident neatly captures how Trump, through his handling of this horrific ICE shooting, is inadvertently screwing over Collins and complicating her path to reelection... Can Democrats turn the ICE shooting into a serious liability for Collins and shift the broader moral debate over immigration their way? It should be very doable....
This is Francesca Hong, a Democratic Socialist who is ahead in the polls for the Democratic Party nomination for Wisconsin governor, speaking in the streets of Madison yesterday after a fatal shooting by the police.
— Laura Schulte (@SchulteLaura) July 23, 2026
AND: Here's bystander video of the incident.Protesters have taken the stage at Concerts on the Square pic.twitter.com/PPXQo6Jgm9
— Madison365 (@madison_365) July 23, 2026
"House Republicans on Wednesday muscled through a $95 billion budget framework that includes President Donald Trump’s request to fund the Iran war..."
From "House Republicans Ram Through Reconciliation 3.0 Despite Little Senate Buy-in/The framework includes money for defense, farm assistance and changes to voting laws" (NOTUS).
"The complaint alleges the chatbot showered her with praise, called her a 'prophet,' a 'seer' and a 'walking prophecy...."
July 22, 2026
"Across the seven sheds, each with their own atmosphere and theme, are life size, lifelike figures and animals, as well as miniatures, tableaux of found objects, ladders, old papers..."
From "'The door slid open and my jaw dropped': the astonishing sculptures only ever seen by 20 people/Ray Exworth spent his life filling Cornish sheds with breathtaking sculptures – but wouldn’t let anyone in to view them. Now, after his death, his secret body of work has been revealed" (The Guardian).
"Michelin-starred chef faces jail for garnishing desserts with ants."
A headline in The London Times.
Prosecutors [in South Korea] put the total number of individual ants served at roughly 49,000. The owner argued the dried insects were only used in a “small part” of the restaurant’s 15-course menu, largely as a topping for sorbets, and that restaurants in countries such as Denmark, the UK and Australia also serve ants. They noted diners were also able to choose non-ant toppings, including fermented vinegar and edible flowers, and disputed the prosecution’s estimate, claiming only about 60 per cent of diners opted to try the ants....
Ants are not among the ten insect species approved for human consumption in Korea. Grasshoppers, locusts, brown-banded cockroaches and two-spotted crickets, however, are among those deemed safe to eat.
"[RFK Jr.] was going to look into all of the vaccines and the food. He didn't do any of that. It's fake."
"They found a 19th-century house on Legare Street and began to renovate. But they needed lights — exterior and interior fixtures..."
From "Dave Dawson, Co-Founder of Bespoke Lighting Company Urban Electric, Dies at 53/He and his wife knew nothing about the business when they decided to produce lighting in Charleston, S.C. Their company became a beacon of American manufacturing" (NYT)(gift link).
I feel as though the blog has a theme this morning and this belongs in it.
👮♂️911 operator: "911 what is your emergency?"
— 👮♂️🚒 Tales of Badge & Blaze™ (@ScottEnlow) July 21, 2026
😳Caller: "I'm calling to report a bear on top of a light pole." pic.twitter.com/8g07ibZupQ
Today's news in under-loved statues.
2. And here's a gift link to a NYT article about a statue that Trump haters cannot allow themselves to love:
We're told the Jefferson statue was made by the same sculptor who "has also sculpted Mr. Trump, with one hand holding a MAGA hat and the other raised in a fist, a reference to his gesture after the assassination attempt in Butler, Pa."
The Charlie Kirk statue was made by a sculptor who doesn't even like Kirk! He's quoted saying "Well, this guy must be out of his mind." The Guardian doesn't like Kirk either. Its article ends with the statement that the sculptor "is left with a 6ft 4in statue of a renowned racist, which he has spent $100,000 making, and which no one wants to buy."
"It’s the noise before the chaos, the noise that is always there when I close my eyes to sleep."
"Govan pushed back on the idea that land art requires plentiful ego. With the typical monument..."
Govan is Michael Govan, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.That's from "He’s the Last Great Land Artist You’ve Never Heard of/Charles Ross spent 50 years building 'Star Axis,' a naked-eye observatory in New Mexico. Now his masterwork is ready. How to share it with a changed world?" (NYT).That's a gift link, and henceforth all NYT links will be gift links. Just yesterday, I was describing the effort of conserving gift links, with only 10 permitted each month, and this morning I wake up to find the new policy is unlimited gift links:

"And a few women describe the experience of 'leg hair harassment' or a term coined online as 'sunehara,' referring to the discomfort of being forced to see their colleague's leg hair."
Gorilla Clinic — I get it. A man is a gorilla if he's hairy. The BBC is reporting on a survey taken by this men's hair-removal business. Who came up with this idea that it's "harassment" to have to see a man's hairy legs in the office? I'm skeptical. It's just aesthetics.Akifumi Funatsu, the director of Gorilla Clinic, says he has noticed more clients coming to the clinic not just for cosmetic reasons, but as a matter of "social etiquette when wearing shorts." He thinks women believe that "men should have less leg hair," which has prompted them to seek laser hair removal so as not to offend those around them.
Anyway, as long as I'm talking about men in shorts, here's some video from the AC/DC concert last Sunday at Camp Randall, the UW football stadium a few blocks from our house. It was kind of funny to be lying in bed, falling asleep and hearing the live performance, which was pretty quiet by the time it reached our house:





