The Oscar nominations are out.

Here.

I don't think I've ever been less interested in the nominations. I haven't seen or been interested in seeing any of these movies. 

It's happening!

@PatMcAfeeShow it’s happening… pic.twitter.com/4GbBspkFlU

— Bob Rae (@TheBobRae) January 22, 2026

"The swan, who had recently lost his mate, would not move away from a vending machine at Tri-Township Park in Troy, Ill."

"The swan stared at his reflection below the Dr Pepper dispensers, thinking it showed his mate, park officials said. The swan needed a new partner, but the parks department would not be able to budget for new swans until April, said Sandy Pensoneau, the office manager at the Tri-Township Park District.... Park regulars had been clamoring for a response, Ms. Pensoneau said. 'The people that walk the park every day, they’re like, "Hey, you guys need to do something. This is sad,"' she said...."

From "Swan Seeks Mate: Must Like Cold Lake and Small Flock/An Illinois parks department sought help from the community to find mates for two swans after they lost their companions. Residents responded" (NYT).

"And this is for the people of Gaza. We've developed it into zones. In the beginning, we were toying with the idea of saying, let's build a free zone and then we have a Hamas zone."

"And then we said, you know what, let's just plan for catastrophic success. Hamas signed a deal to demilitarize — that is what we are going to enforce. Rafah we'll start with. This will show a lot of workforce housing. We think this could be done in two-three years. We've already started removing the rubble and doing some of the demolition. And then new Gaza. It could be a hope. It could be a destination. Have a lot of industry from the private sector. There'll be amazing investment opportunities. I know it's a little risky to be investing in a place like this, but we need you to come, take faith, invest in the people, try to be a part of it."

Acclimated.

Sunrise — 7:28, 7:46.

Talk about whatever you want in the comments.

"Barron Trump was on a video call with a woman in London when he saw her ex-boyfriend allegedly grab her hair and push her to the floor while shouting 'you are not worth anything'..."

"Snaresbrook crown court was told. Trump phoned the police immediately after he believed he had seen Matvei Rumiantsev, a Russian citizen, repeatedly punch the woman. In court, a dramatic call was played in which Trump’s son can be heard calling 999 operators and telling them: 'I just got a call from a girl I know. She’s getting beaten up.'... Trump, 19, was heard pleading... 'It’s really an emergency, please. I got a call from her with a guy beating her up.' The 999 operator then told off Trump for refusing to answer questions, saying: 'Can you stop being rude and actually answer my questions. If you want to help the person, you’ll answer my questions clearly and precisely, thank you. So how do you know her?' Trump replied: 'I met her on social media. She’s getting really badly beat up and the call was about eight minutes ago, I don’t know what could have happened by now.' He added: 'So sorry for being rude.'"

From "Barron Trump ‘saved woman’s life’ in London/The US president’s youngest son tells court that he saw his friend being assaulted by a former boyfriend during a video call and called the police" (London Times).

Barron made that emergency call on January 18, 2025. The trial is going on now.

"After a Thursday board meeting in New York City, Mr. Klempf, 34, flew to Athens for eight hours, where he toured the Parthenon."

"He then hopped on a flight to Egypt, saw the pyramids, rode a camel and visited the Grand Egyptian Museum, all before returning to San Francisco in time for Sunday dinner.... Mr. Klempf is among the growing number of travelers, short on vacation time or looking to save money, who are embarking on whirlwind itineraries that take advantage of time zones and credit card points to string together one- to three-day trips."

That's the travel trend called "microvacations," from "Travel Trends in 2026: Uncertainty, Face Scans and ‘Microvacations'" (NYT).

How awful!

I can see taking trips that are only 2 or 3 days, but not with all that time on a plane. Go somewhere nearer! But it seems people want "bucket list" credit, and there's nothing more bucket-list-y than the Parthenon and the pyramids. 

"Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland..."

"... and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region. This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations. Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st. Additional discussions are being held concerning The Golden Dome as it pertains to Greenland. Further information will be made available as discussions progress. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and various others, as needed, will be responsible for the negotiations — They will report directly to me. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

Writes President Trump, at Truth Social.

ADDED: I just want to note that I have seen that Trump kept calling Greenland "Iceland," and I'm not buying the theory that he was merely calling it an ice land and not mixing it up with the country named Iceland.

Trump is now confusing Greenland and Iceland: "They're not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you. Our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland has already cost us a lot of money." pic.twitter.com/Iu9CI6M2ku

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 21, 2026

I thought of another excuse that could be attempted. Trump likes to rename things, notably the Gulf of Mexico, so maybe part of his plan is to rename Greenland, which, after all, was misnamed in the first place. I do not think it's a good idea to use a name that another country is already using, but at least, he's not calling it Trumpland.

"Learning cursive will provide New Jersey students with 'the skills they need to read our nation’s founding documents'...."

Said New Jersey governor Phil Murphy, quoted in "Cursive Makes a Comeback in New Jersey Schools/In one of his final acts in office, Gov. Philip D. Murphy signed a bill on Monday requiring third, fourth and fifth graders to learn cursive" (NYT).

Proponents of cursive cite studies that link handwriting to better information retention and writing speed, and say — as Mr. Murphy did in a statement released as he signed the bill — that knowing script can help people read the original U.S. Constitution....

On Tuesday, Gabrielle and Kurt McCann, of Lebanon, N.J., were waiting to break the news to their 9-year-old son, Atlas McCann, when he got home from school. “I think it is important that kids are able to use that refined motor skill,” Ms. McCann said in an interview shortly after a meeting where she said she had taken all her notes in longhand.

But Atlas, she said, was thinking, “What’s the point of having to sit here and torture myself?”

The poor boy has the weight of the world on his shoulders. And now, this additional burden — handwriting! What for? Who reads the Constitution in the original handwriting? It's not even cut-and-paste-able. It's not searchable in handwritten form. Atlas will grope forward, if the time ever comes, asking AI what constitutional clause goes with whatever is the issue of the day. What constitutional clause deals with transgender women in girls sports? What constitutional clause gives cis gender girls the right to undress at public school in a single-sex locker room? The ancient handwriting will not say. AI will.

Let's consult not a politician but an expert:

“Oh, God,” Morgan Polikoff, an education professor at the University of Southern California, said when he learned of the New Jersey law.... He attributed the renewed affection for the style’s curlicues and squiggles to “boomerish nostalgia,” and said he was struck by cursive’s bipartisan appeal, with states as different politically as Arkansas and California requiring its instruction. Conservatives, the professor said, promote its utility for reading old documents; liberals like it for its beauty as an art form....

Fight the decline lest the day come when we cannot read the documents. Then what?

"The pink forests of the northern pre-spring."

"To day is a tree found in several communes in Mu Cang Chai such as Kim Noi and Mo De, and in Pung Luong Commune. The trees bloom at elevations above 1,000 meters. The H'Mong people there call them pang to day, or wild peach blossoms. It is one of the most distinctive flowers in Vietnam's northwestern mountains when spring approaches."

Reports VnExpress. Nice photos at the link. Great name for the tree — "to day." I love the idea of pre-spring, but it wouldn't apply very well to the forests of the Upper Midwest of the United States.

I'm seeing "Exploding trees possible across Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota" (KKRC Sioux Falls). That does not mean "exploding" with flowers. "[S]ap and moisture inside trees freeze rapidly... it expands, creating immense pressure within the trunk. If temperatures fall quickly enough, this pressure can cause the tree to split or explode with a sound like a gunshot or thunderclap...."

Notorious crackhead and grifter...

The White House distributed a print-out to reporters in the briefing room listing out “365 wins” from President Trump’s year back in office. #243 stands out: “Stripped notorious crackhead and grifter Hunter Biden of his taxpayer-funded secret service detail.” pic.twitter.com/LtpAC1wPGY

— Elizabeth Landers (@ElizLanders) January 20, 2026

What was so bad about 1976?

That's the teaser on the front page of the NYT for an article with a different headline, "The Conservative Conspiracy Against Women’s Progress Is Real" (by Jessica Grose).

The article says nothing about the 1970s. I do see a reference to the 1960s: "The report’s authors know they can’t tell all women to be stay-at-home mothers (returning the country to 1960s employment levels for women) because that would contradict their other goal, to dismantle the welfare state and put even more work conditions on parents receiving government aid." The 60s were 60 years ago, and the article does call the report "a curious set of guidelines for the future, since it seems mired in culture war battles from the 20th century, unable to face the past 60 years of change."

Usually the 1950s are selected as the era of the traditional wife and the 1960s represent the exciting period of changing gender roles. The 70s were the heyday of feminism. These decades feel quite distinct from each other to me, a person born in 1951. Jessica Grose was born... when? Maybe to millennials, the 50s, 60s, and 70s seem like one big chunk of boomer oldness. 

Winter morning.

Trump live, now, at Davos.

A quote (re drug prices): "You've been SCREWING us for 30 YEARS!!!"

"On social media, Mr. Macron’s sunglasses were seen as a political statement, projecting a tough image in the face of Mr. Trump’s threats to..."

"... impose tariffs on French wine and champagne and to annex Greenland. He has previously used his clothing to send a message, donning a turtleneck in the winter of 2022 as Europe contended with an energy crisis in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Some people likened the bespectacled Mr. Macron to the naval aviator played by Tom Cruise in 'Top Gun.' Others recalled former President Joe Biden’s penchant for aviators, though Mr. Biden was not known to wear his sunglasses while addressing world leaders...."

From "Why Was Macron Wearing Sunglasses at Davos? An eye condition, not a style choice, prompted President Emmanuel Macron of France to don aviators to address the World Economic Forum" (NYT).

I've written about aviator sunglasses before. Let me find that. Here, from March 2017, "And gold aviator eyeglasses are one of the sexiest shapes you could possibly wear." I wrote:

For the annals of sexiest shapes imaginable. Aviator glasses are back in style, we're told in the NYT.

I'm not buying that these glasses are obviously sexy. There's also... 

"One of my style icons is Gloria Steinem, and she’s worn that look forever."...

Aviator glasses were adopted by stylish people in the 60s. I'll never forget seeing Mort Sahl — the political satirist — on "The Tonight Show" holding up a picture of Gloria Steinem and railing against her, harping specifically on her glasses. As I remember it, he took the position that it was ludicrous to wear aviator glasses unless you were an aviator.