The last sunrise of spring.

Write about whatever you like in the comments.

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.

Write about whatever you like in the comments.

"Well, now we finally know what would happen if The Wall Street Journal and Us Weekly had a baby. In a piece titled 'Everyone in Trump’s Cabinet Is Eating Sauerkraut'..."

"... the Journal reports that various White House officials are shedding pounds thanks to a hot new diet that involves eating lots of fermented foods, like sauerkraut and kimchi.... There’s just one drawback: 'sulferous odors' have caused some 'friction at home.'... HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was, naturally, the first to jump on the trend. Now he’s converted Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, Transportation secretary Sean Duffy, and Vice-President J.D. Vance. We’re told that the men have been getting compliments on their 'glowing skin' and seeing various health benefits, including dramatic weight loss.... [S]everal Cabinet members have been looking svelter, and what other explanation could there be? It’s not like there’s some new magical weight-loss drug out there!"

Writes Margaret Hartmann, in "Sure, the Trump Cabinet’s Weight-Loss Secret Is Definitely 'Sauerkraut'" (New York Magazine).

"Would I rather watch the cast of 'Hamilton' at the White House than men pummeling each other into bloody pulps?"

"You bet. But there’s a chasmic difference between brilliant Broadway performers and hyped-up men kicking and punching for spectacle. I can’t bear to think what the rest of the world sees when it watches the most powerful country on Earth, the heart of democracy, descend from the hilltop into the primal muck where man-as-beast triumphs over the sublime. (That’s me being polite.)"

Writes Kathleen Parker, in "Trump’s big, beautiful brawl was the worst birthday present ever/A $60 million South Lawn cage match cheapened the People’s House" (WaPo).

"[If] the jury were to find Mangione guilty while accepting the emotional disturbance defence, they would have to convict him of manslaughter."

"That would carry a sentence of up to 25 years in prison, rather than murder, which could mean a life sentence. An extreme emotional disturbance defence only applies to defendants in New York state who are accused of murder. It differs from a 'not guilty by reason of insanity' defence, which would allow a defendant to go to a psychiatric facility instead of prison...."

From "Luigi Mangione withdraws plans for psychiatric defence at murder trial/Lawyers earlier said they would argue the Ivy League graduate, 28, was suffering from ‘extreme emotional disturbance’ when he allegedly shot Brian Thompson" (London Times).

"Days after his arrest and before Mangione retained her as his lead attorney, [Karen Friedman] Agnifilo told CNN that a psychiatric defence could be the right move for him. 'There might be a not guilty by reason of insanity defence that they’re going to be thinking about, because the evidence is going to be so overwhelming that he did what he did,' Friedman Agnifilo, then a CNN legal analyst, told the network."

"The videos are all over social media... Go ahead and let A.I. do your homework — with the latest technology, you won’t get caught...."

"Humanizers rewrite A.I.-produced text to make it sound less robotic, formulaic and trite. Autotypers slowly drip words and sentences into documents, making it appear as if papers were typed at a human pace when in fact, they were produced by A.I. They even fabricate typos, deletions and revisions. Both tools can help students evade software designed to detect A.I.... In some cases, the very same companies selling detection tools are also making apps that allow students to cheat...."

From "Student Cheating Is Becoming Impossible to Detect in an A.I. Era/Big tech companies and small start-ups are using social media to hype new tools that allow students to trick teachers and A.I. detectors" (NYT).

"['The Ring,'] a remake of a Japanese film, 'Ringu,' received mixed reviews, but the image of Samara crawling through a blurry television screen became seared in the cultural memory..."

"... and Ms. Chase won the award for best villain at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards. That year she returned to Lilo in the sequel 'Stitch! The Movie' and in the 'Lilo & Stitch' TV series, which ran from 2003 to 2006. She then transitioned to her biggest TV role yet. In HBO’s 'Big Love' — which chronicled the trials and tribulations of Mormon polygamists — she starred as Rhonda Volmer, a cunning 14-year-old bride in waiting, in 32 episodes between 2006 to 2011...."

From "Daveigh Chase, ‘Lilo & Stitch’ Voice Actor and ‘The Ring’ Villain, Dies at 35" (NYT). Chase died of "complications of bacterial meningitis and a blood infection" while she was "homeless and living in Los Angeles with her boyfriend."

Accepting accolades.