At the Pictureless Café...

... you can talk all night.

The tilted hat, Part 2.

Now both Cardinals and Rockies players are wearing their hats crooked in protest.

This is the shit. pic.twitter.com/viy4cVD53h https://t.co/3ZXr97CKU0

— Jacob P.M.🌔 (@JacobBSpeaks) September 6, 2026

"Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner meet Zelensky on first visit to Ukraine’s capital following three hours of negotiations with President Putin in Moscow."

The London Times reports.

“The situation is of course not simple,” Putin said before the negotiations began. “We will do everything that depends on us to ensure the safety of the negotiation process and mediators such as yourselves,” he added.... 

Afterwards, Witkoff thanked Putin for the “incredible memories” from the visits to the Russian capital. “We were all talking about when we retire, we’ll have all these incredible stories and incredible memories, and yours will be right at the top of it all,” he told Putin....

Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin aide, told reporters... “The talks ‌went beyond a mere exchange of views on resolving the ⁠Ukrainian crisis. Economic issues and potential major, mutually beneficial Russian-American projects were discussed in some detail.”

"[W]hen a man suddenly began to shout vulgarities and became violent... two other passengers, relying on zip ties, duct tape and sheer will, restrained the disruptive man until the authorities could board the plane and take him into custody."

I'm reading "Unruly Passenger Is Restrained With Duct Tape During a Flight/The passenger on an American Airlines flight began to shout vulgarities and then became violent on Thursday, the authorities said. That’s when two passengers stepped in" (NYT gift link).

Richard O’Lenick, 53, one of the passengers who restrained Mr. Lundeen, said in a phone interview on Saturday that Mr. Lundeen began to shout racial slurs at one of the flight attendants.... Mr. Lundeen struck the laptop of the man next to him, and then grabbed the man’s throat, Mr. O’Lenick said. When a woman in a seat ahead of the scuffle tried to intervene, Mr. Lundeen started to attack her as well.

That’s when Mr. O’Lenick and Juan Mejia...  jumped into action from their seats two rows ahead....

"The emergency request marks the latest turn in a dizzying legal fight over mail-in voting, even as states begin distributing mail-in ballots to voters."

"The upshot has become clear in recent days: It will be the Supreme Court that has the final say on President Trump’s plans to restrict mail voting in the midterms. It’s unclear how fast the justices will move and announce a ruling.... The Trump administration had already filed emergency request to the justices challenging a shorter-term pause [the trial judge] had imposed on the plan. But the trial court judge acted to extend her freeze before the justices ruled, necessitating a new request from the administration for Supreme Court action...."

I'm reading "Trump Administration Again Asks Supreme Court to Allow Mail Voting Restrictions/The filing puts the legality of the president’s push to impose limits on mail voting squarely before the justices even as states begin sending out ballots" (NYT gift link).

Sunrise.

Write about whatever you like in the comments. I really missed comments yesterday! So glad to have them back. I know readers are still there, but it really means something to me to see your words.

"The Tetris Company, the company that owns the rights to the classic video game, denounced a clone of the game produced by the Trump administration that has the player block space aliens and zombies from crossing the U.S.-Mexican border."

I'm reading "Tetris Owner Denounces Trump White House Clone of Game/Responding to Build the Wall, an apparent copy of the retro video game, the Tetris Company said 'we take copyright infringement very seriously'" (NYT gift link).

Here's the "arcade" page at whitehouse.gov and, clicking through, here is the "Build the Wall" game that is, basically, Tetris. 

"Washington professor who parodied university 'land acknowledgment' wins $600K settlement."

FIRE reports.

It has become increasingly common in academia to encourage statements that formally recognize indigenous ties to the land. In December 2021, Reges criticized land acknowledgment statements in an email to faculty, and the next month he parodied UW’s model statement in his syllabus: “I acknowledge that by the labor theory of property the Coast Salish people can claim historical ownership of almost none of the land currently occupied by the University of Washington.” Reges’s statement was a nod to John Locke’s philosophical theory that property rights are established by labor, and a response to the Computer Science department’s recommendation that professors include the UW’s model statement in their syllabi. Reges objected to the political nature of the UW’s model statement and sought to demonstrate that there are competing views on the value of land acknowledgments.

That was retaliation and viewpoint discrimination [by the University] according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The tilted hat.

"Grow the fuck up"

Cardinals manager Oli Marmol was furious with umpire Doug Eddings after Eddings told rookie pitcher Hancel Rincon to fix his hat in the middle of his MLB debut pic.twitter.com/3t3AitYsCX

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) September 5, 2026

DETAILS: "Marmol ejected after rookie Rincon told to straighten hat out" (MLB).

“The batter [Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman] said, ‘Hey, can he wear his hat like that?’” [umpire Doug] Eddings recounted after the game. “I really didn't know, but it was really, really crooked. I asked the catcher to tell him to straighten his hat out, and the pitcher did. Nobody said anything until he gave up a couple runs.” 

Rincon said the comment didn’t distract him from his debut and that he didn’t argue with Eddings about his comment. “I had no idea why he told me to do it,” Rincon said through an interpreter. “It's fine.”...

“I had an issue with Doug,” [Cardinals manager Oliver] Marmol said... “Just Doug. He took it upon himself to tell our rookie pitcher the kid's ‘not going to wear his hat on my field that way.’ You got Dontrelle Willis, CC Sabathia, Pedro Strop -- plenty of guys that have worn it way more tilted. I have an issue with that. That's just a power-hungry move, in my opinion."

SIDETRACK: "The way you wear your hat..."

And I think of the 4th sentence of "Moby-Dick":

Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.

"An Illinois mother allegedly hanged her 2-year-old son that she described as the 'anti-Christ' — hours after discussing the Lindsay Clancy case with friends...."

"Corie Walsh, 38, is facing first-degree murder charges after one of her neighbors found Walsh’s son, Barrett, hanging from the rafters in the family’s basement.... Walsh allegedly told investigators she killed her young son because he’s the 'anti-Christ' and 'devil,' according to prosecutors. Little Barrett was found with his feet off the ground, and a ligature around his neck.... Walsh was reportedly found lying in a bathtub, fully clothed and drenched in bloody water."

The New York Post reports.

Is this the new "Me Too" movement?

"Not everyone at the Anti-Capitalist Co-Working Club is an actual anti-capitalist...."

"The club isn’t for debating Marxist theory or organizing labor unions. For many, the name simply signified a set of values they believe are missing from modern work culture: rest, community and self-actualization.The club, which operates on Fridays out of a recently opened arts space called Living Room in Mount Pleasant and costs $20 per day, was founded last month as an alternative to the sort of co-working spaces that gained popularity after the pandemic — such as WeWork and Industrious that allowed remote workers a quiet place to log in outside of their homes. Unlike these spots, the Anti-Capitalist Co-Working Club explicitly rejects the 'grindset.'"

From "Even anti-capitalists need to work. Enter a different kind of co-working space. In a response to D.C. work culture, the Anti-Capitalist Co-Working Club invites people to spend their 9 to 5 in ways that reject the grind" (WaPo)(gift link).

$20 per day! Somebody's trying to make money. But who would join? You pay someone else to brand your doing your own work as anti-capitalist. But you're working! Maybe it's a way to get a sense of community with other women who are on the left. But you're working!

“Let’s all take a big breath together,” club organizer Sarah Stern said in a firm, gentle voice. The 20 or so people in the airy room inhaled slowly in unison, after a long stretch of silent work time....

In case you wondered why I said "women."

A typical session involves 90 minutes of independent work time followed by a lunch break, where Stern invites attendees to chat with neighbors by using prompt cards with questions like “What’s something you’ve unlearned about ‘hustle’ culture?” and “What’s your go-to ritual when you need to recharge?” Ninety more minutes include reminders to stretch and an art break....  An “art library” has supplies to paint, embroider or sew, including a jar filled with real cicada wings. The soft instrumental songs are akin to what one might hear in a yoga class....

How embarrassing! Credit to Stern for getting the Washington Post to write an article about her little capitalistic anti-capitalistic scheme for extracting $20 bills from ladies who long for a chance to make friends. 

Sunrise.

This is the open thread, but there's been trouble with the comments function all day, so it might look empty. Thanks to the few who are able to get through and keep the home fires burning. 

"The defense argued that Judge William Sullivan should investigate a lone holdout on the jury before declaring a mistrial..."

"... which would allow the prosecution to continue to pursue a murder conviction. A justice is expected to rule quickly."

The NYT reports on the impending declaration of a mistrial.

The day of intense courtroom drama was prompted by a message to the judge on Thursday from the jury’s foreperson. It said a lone holdout juror had acknowledged doubt about the case, but refused to follow the law. The note came on the sixth day of deliberations. Ms. Clancy’s lead lawyer, Kevin Reddington, said the foreperson indicated that the jury was split 11 to 1, with the majority ready to find his client not guilty.

UPDATE: Mistrial declared.  

"It's natural for dogs."

Take a side:

"Ken Paxton, you might not like the way he dresses, and I say this, it's so insulting to him, but I might as well say it."

"You might not like the way he looks. You might not love his look.... But he was the best Attorney General in the country, perhaps... and that speaks a lot louder than the suit he’s wearing that doesn’t look so great. Or anything frankly."

"The surrogate mother’s rights over the fetus she is carrying are greatly curtailed and she loses all rights to the baby she delivers."

Wrote Gloria Steinem, quoted by Kathryn Jean Lopez in "Gloria Steinem, a Voice Against Commercial Surrogacy" (National Review).

In 2019, when Andrew Cuomo sought to legalize commercial surrogacy, Steinem wrote:

A state that medicalizes and rents out female bodies — with third party profit as a motive and little or no regulation of risk to the women egg donors and surrogate wombs — jeopardizes a woman’s fundamental right to health and freedom and puts profit ahead of the long-term welfare of the fetus.

The use of the word "medicalizes" made me wonder what Steinem thought about hormone and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria.

Grok pointed me to her 1977 essay, "If the Shoe Doesn’t Fit, Change the Foot," where she expressed dismay that some people "surgically mutilate their own bodies" when what we need to change our ideas about sex roles.