"Singing Simon and Garfunkel’s 'America' to heal my brain 🧠 In 2017, I sustained a brain injury caused by never treated Lyme disease."

"My first symptom was a psychosis that would make me see horrific images nonstop 24 hours a day for 22 months.... About six or seven months into the psychosis I lost all control of the muscles in my body including the muscles in my face. I lost my ability to speak.... By then it was too late to treat the Lyme disease; it was all about strengthening my brain and getting my ability back. Two years ago, after progressing from wheelchair, to walker, to cane, back to my feet I was still struggling with my speech when I intuited that playing the ukulele could help by doing multiple things at the same time as a regular practice...."

Awful yelling in Congress today.

Secret Service chief Ronald Rowe Jr. got into a screaming match with a GOP lawmaker over 9/11 during an otherwise cordial hearing. https://t.co/SK6rnmRGdj pic.twitter.com/eKwBOkO1mN

— POLITICO (@politico) December 5, 2024

"There’s a movie about me opening soon called A Complete Unknown (what a title!). Timothee Chalamet is starring in the lead role."

"Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me. The film’s taken from Elijah Wald’s Dylan Goes Electric – a book that came out in 2015. It’s a fantastic retelling of events from the early ‘60s that led up to the fiasco at Newport. After you’ve seen the movie read the book."

Tweets Bob Dylan (who writes his own tweets, obviously and reportedly).

I love the way Bob endorses the movie and the book without assuring us that the story they tell is the truth. In fact, I hear him saying that they are not the truth. The book is a "fantastic retelling." And Timmy's portrayal is "going to be completely believable" not because he really is like Bob, but because "Timmy’s a brilliant actor." And there isn't even one Bob: there's Bob, younger Bob, and some other Bob. Who is Bob? He's teasing us to think that he isn't really anyone in particular. It ain’t no use a-talking to him/It’s just the same as talking to you. That's why "A Complete Unknown" is a great title. We don't know him and we won't know him, but I'm sure Timmy'll do a fine job. He's brilliant. You can believe him as the lead character in the fantastic retelling of The Fiasco at Newport. That was something like The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, I believe.

The word "believe" only appears in 1 Bob Dylan song. I'm not counting "I Don't Believe You," because "believe" is only in the song title. It's this song, "I Believe in You":

"Those who could face exposure include such members of Congress’ Jan. 6 Committee as Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming."

"Trump has previously said Cheney 'should go to Jail along with the rest of the Unselect Committee!' Also mentioned by Biden’s aides for a pardon is Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who became a lightning rod for criticism from the right during the Covid-19 pandemic.... The president himself, who was intensely focused on his son’s pardon, has not been brought into the broader pardon discussions yet, according to people familiar with the deliberations. The conversations were spurred by Trump’s repeated threats and quiet lobbying by congressional Democrats, though not by those seeking pardons themselves. 'The beneficiaries know nothing,' one well-connected Democrat told me about those who could receive pardons...."

From "Biden White House Is Discussing Preemptive Pardons for Those in Trump’s Crosshairs/The nomination of Kash Patel, who has vowed to pursue Trump’s critics, as FBI director has heightened concerns within the president’s inner circle" (Politico).

Comfortable soup.

 

Were you expecting "potato flakes" — AKA "instant mashed potatoes"? I loved that. 

I'm posting this video because Jacques Pépin making this soup is comfort food for your mind... but I will tell you that you can get some nice "potato flakes" at Amazon, and I'll earn a commission if you use that leek... I mean link. But commission-earning is not why I'm posting this video.

I bet this soup is actually really good. It's obviously simple to make. And I don't know about you but I didn't know exactly how to clean and cut up a leek. Please try to avoid using the phrase "take a leek" in the comments. Pépin refers to it as a "lick," so there's another path to childish humor.

Goodbye to commenter Michael K.

Other commenters mark his passing in the comments to Tuesday night's sunrise post and in this earlier post that day.

This morning I'm seeing Neo's blog post, "RIP commenter 'Mike K'": "RIP Mike K, and all the commenters here who may have died but all we know is that they disappeared never to return."

Yes, I've mourned the unexplained loss of Bissage for 15 years.

Bissage was a dearly beloved commenter on this blog who disappeared one day, when the uncooperative dear became uncooperative. I've tried to call him back: "Come back, Bissage. We're counting oranges again. Remember? 42. 42. 42..." To no avail.

I appreciate hearing the specific news that a commenter has died, like when Gahrie's brother's dropped into a comments thread: "Hello.... This is my brother gahries account, and it appears this post was close to the last thing he read/saw before he passed away Sunday morning sometime after 130am...."

I miss Gahrie and Bissage and Michael K and many others who died or drifted away and even some of those who left in a huff. They, unlike the dead, can drop back in. Why don't they? It's not for me to figure out. The blog, like life itself, can only move forward, and the day will come when we will all be left behind. So thanks to all — except the actual trolls — who walked along this way as far as they did.

"Even if [Daniel] Penny’s found innocent on all charges, his ordeal still sends a grim message to all New Yorkers remains: Don’t think about standing up to protect the innocent."

"And this is far from Bragg’s only outrage. Consider his prosecution of Jose Alba, the bodega clerk attacked in his workplace who accidentally killed in self-defense — the charges dropped only when the 'optics' got bad. Or Bragg’s two-years-belated indictment of a cop for punching an unruly perp (who wasn’t harmed) he was escorting out of an Upper West Side Apple Store. Or the charges against Scotty Enoe, a CVS worker, who stabbed a serial shoplifter to death after the homeless man pulled the knife on him. This DA sides with the perps every time — and against those who resist them. Not to mention the resources wasted on his ultimate political persecution: the ridiculous pursuit of now-President-elect Donald Trump over 2017 book-keeping entries that supposedly tampered with the 2016 election...."

Writes the NY Post Editorial Board in "Daniel Penny trial: Alvin Bragg is a menace to our society and must GO."

"You mentioned fertility and regret, and I'd like to take both of those concerns head-on."

Said the Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar, arguing against state law that restricts access to puberty blockers and hormones as a treatment for gender dysphoria. Full transcript here. Audio here.

I do want to acknowledge that there is evidence to suggest that gender-affirming care with respect to hormones can have some impacts on fertility. Critically, puberty blockers are -- are -- have no effect in and of themselves on fertility, so I don't think that concern can justify the ban on puberty blockers, which is just pressing pause on someone's endogenous puberty to give them more time to understand their identity. With respect to hormone use, there are some effects on fertility, but the court found that many individuals who are transgender remain fertile after taking these medications. They can conceive biological children. 

Sunrise — 7:05.

Talk about whatever you want in the comments. And support the Althouse blog by doing your Amazon shopping going in through the Althouse Amazon link.

"A no-confidence vote in the French parliament on Wednesday has triggered the collapse of the government, plunging the country into political chaos..."

"... and stoking anxiety about the euro zone’s second biggest economy. Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s administration becomes the shortest-serving government in the modern French republic and the first in six decades to be toppled by a no-confidence vote. Although the motion was put forward by a leftwing alliance, the swing votes of Marine Le Pen and her far-right lawmakers, wielding unprecedented influence, were key to its passage.... In a fiery address during Wednesday’s debate, she said her decision to back a no-confidence vote was about stopping a budget that 'takes the French hostage, and particularly the most vulnerable, low-income pensioners, sick people, poor workers, the French considered too rich to be helped but not poor enough to escape the tax bludgeoning.'"

From "No-confidence vote topples French government, plunges country into chaos/The support of Marine Le Pen’s far-right lawmakers was key to the motion, which made this the shortest-serving administration in the modern French republic" (WaPo).

"Four years ago, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion in the Supreme Court’s first case on transgender rights..."

"... ruling that a federal civil rights law protects gay and transgender workers from employment discrimination. But he was silent on Wednesday, the only member of the court to ask no questions. That made it harder to predict how the court will rule, though there is reason to think that the five other members of the court’s conservative wing were not inclined to strike down the Tennessee law before them or to instruct lower courts to subject it to demanding judicial scrutiny. At the same time, it would be a mistake to read too much into his silence or his 2020 majority opinion, which was tightly bound to the text of the law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Justice Gorsuch is a committed textualist, meaning that he interprets the plain words of statutes without regard to their apparent purpose.... The case now before the justices does not turn on the Civil Rights Act but on the Constitution’s equal protection clause...."

From "Live Updates: Supreme Court Appears Inclined to Uphold Tennessee Law on Transgender Care/Assessing the court’s ultimate direction was complicated by the silence of one justice in the conservative majority, Neil M. Gorsuch, the author of a key case on employment discrimination. The court’s decision is expected by June" (NYT).

"The Democratic Party needs to figure out better ways to counter disinformation, including the disinformation that it is elitist."

Writes Patrice La Belle, M.D., in the comments section of the Michelle Goldberg column in the NYT, "If Anyone Can Save the Democrats, It’s Ben Wikler."

"Trump Talks to DeSantis About Replacing Hegseth/And about appointing Lara Trump to the Senate."

A pithy headline at The Bulwark.

This is too tit-for-tatty.

Look out, Ron!

"Currently, the Justice Department and the F.B.I. are barred from using compulsory legal processes, like subpoenas and search warrants, to go after reporters’ information..."

"... including by asking third parties, like phone and email companies, to turn over their data, or to force them to testify about their sources. But that limit is in a rule issued by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. Should Mr. Trump’s attorney general rescind that regulation, the F.B.I. would be freed to go after reporters’ information. Internal guidelines also flatly ban investigating someone on the basis of activities protected by the First Amendment. And there are strict limits around opening investigations into members of Congress or reporters. But an F.B.I. director, especially if there is a like-minded attorney general, could interpret those limits so narrowly as to make them meaningless, or even throw them out. Mr. Patel has also called for using the Justice Department more aggressively to uncover who in the government is providing information to news reporters, and said that leakers should be prosecuted. He wrote in his book that all federal employees should be forced to submit to monthly scans of their devices 'to determine who has improperly transferred classified information, including to the press.'..."

From "Kash Patel Has Plan to Remake the F.B.I. Into a Tool of Trump/President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the F.B.I. has called for firing the agency’s top officials, shutting down its Washington headquarters and prosecuting journalists" (NYT).

"There are people who enjoy dressing up and going out for a special night."

Said David Fisk, president and chief executive of The Charlotte Symphony, quoted in "Arts Galas Show That Extravagance Never Goes Out of Style/They are costly, labor-intensive and seemingly dated, but cultural organizations say black-tie dinners remain essential to pleasing donors and paying the bills" (NYT)(free-access link).

Yes, I'm expending one of my 10 gift links of the month on this thing. I selected the quote in the title because that one guy said what I was thinking the whole time I was reading the article: Rich women need events to which they can wear expensive evening gowns. But I'm sending you over there so you can see some gowns (and lavishly set tables and fussily arrayed foods). I don't want you to miss that absolutely crazy photograph by Michelle Groskopft that I'll just excerpt a bit of so you can find it:

Rich women have needs, and arts associations need their money.

The other reason you should go there is to look at the numbers — how much is spent to put on the event and how much is netted. And read the comments, e.g., "This type of article is useful for showing the magnitude of the excess. The cost vs gain. This is about vanity, greed and self-promotion. The attendees don’t care about the art or the causes. If they did, they’d write checks and forgo the snow crab."

They may not care about "the art," but they care about art — the art of their own self-presentation. An audience is needed for that art — the hair, the makeup, the plastic surgery, the jewelry, the fingernails, the shoes, the gowns. Without all that would it even be worth amassing riches in the first place? 

Sunrise — 7:08.

AND: As you can see in the previous post in the video I was taking of swans, this redness suddenly occurred. It lasted only about a minute. I've seen redness like this before and missed it because I didn't have a good enough vantage point. This occurred 3 minutes before the official sunrise time and was gone before the sunrise time. It's hard to time sunrise photography, because you can know the sunrise time, but many days don't have interesting color at all, and some of the very best color — especially the most intense color — comes on suddenly and fades before the usual time for optimum color.