Sunrise — 6:42, 7:02.

Write about whatever you want.

"Meanwhile, during the car-T treatment, a method developed over many decades with millions of dollars of government funding, my cousin, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr...."

"... was in the process of being nominated and confirmed as the Secretary of Health and Human Services.... My mother wrote a letter to the Senate, to try and stop his confirmation; my brother had been speaking out against his lies for months. I watched from my hospital bed as Bobby, in the face of logic and common sense, was confirmed for the position, despite never having worked in medicine, public health, or the government. Suddenly, the health-care system on which I relied felt strained, shaky.... As I spent more and more of my life under the care of doctors, nurses, and researchers... I watched as Bobby cut nearly a half billion dollars for research... slashed billions in funding.... Hundreds of N.I.H. grants and clinical trials were cancelled.... I worried about funding for leukemia and bone-marrow research at Memorial Sloan Kettering. I worried about the trials that were my only shot at remission...."

Writes Tatiana Schlossberg, the daughter of Caroline Kennedy, in "A Battle with My Blood/When I was diagnosed with leukemia, my first thought was that this couldn’t be happening to me, to my family," published in The New Yorker today, the anniversary of the assassination of her grandfather, President Kennedy.

Schlossberg, who has 2 very young children, tells us she has a terminal diagnosis. This is terribly sad.

Meanwhile, in other RFK Jr. news:

If someone is known to be evil, why would we trust his opinion regarding who else is evil? Wouldn't the opposite of his opinion have more weight?

That's my question after reading this in Maureen Dowd's new column: "In emails Democrats released, Epstein wrote that 'Trump had spent hours at my house' with one of the victims and that he believed Trump knew more than he had acknowledged, and called Trump 'evil beyond belief.' You know you’re in trouble when someone evil beyond belief calls you evil beyond belief."

I'm interested in hearing your answer to my question, but I admit I've already used my question to prompt Grok, which pointed me to the context of the "evil beyond belief" quote, this email released by the House Oversight Committee:

"The bear ran so close to her 10-year son, Alvarez, that he 'even felt its fur,' she said, 'but it was going after somebody else.'"

From "Grizzly bear attack in British Columbia seriously injures 3 schoolchildren/Teachers used bear spray and a bear banger to drive the animal away, according to Canadian authorities. A parent said one teacher bore 'the whole brunt of it'" (WaPo).

"In a stunning and hasty reversal, the U.S. Coast Guard announced late Thursday that swastikas and nooses are prohibited hate symbols..."

"... erasing an attempt to soften their definition after the plan elicited furious backlash. The abrupt policy change occurred hours after The Washington Post first reported that the service was about to enact new harassment guidelines that downgraded the meaning of such symbols of fascism and racism, labeling them instead 'potentially divisive.'"

From "In reversal, Coast Guard again classifies swastikas, nooses as hate symbols/The new order came hours after The Post reported the service would instead classify such symbols as 'potentially divisive' under guidelines set for release next month" (WaPo).

Interesting. I note that Trump was asked about the policy at his press conference — the one with Mamdani — yesterday, and Trump said he didn't know about it:

"Minnesota, under Governor Waltz [sic], is a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity. I am, as President of the United States, hereby terminating, effective immediately..."

"... the Temporary Protected Status (TPS Program) for Somalis in Minnesota. Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!"

Writes President Trump, at Truth Social.

Here's the Washington Post article on the subject, "Trump says he will cancel temporary protected status of Somalis in Minnesota/The Trump administration has previously sought to terminate TPS safeguards for multiple countries. The designation shields particular nationalities from deportation" (gift link). Excerpt:

Hard to believe your eyes.

"Tofig Aliyev from Azerbaijan just landed the world’s first full-full-full at the World Games in China. A full-full-full is a triple backflip with a 360° twist in each somersault":

Tofig Aliyev from Azerbaijan just landed the world’s first full-full-full at the World Games in China. A full-full-full is a triple backflip with a 360° twist in each somersault pic.twitter.com/pVw3hWSJzP

— Dudes Posting Their W’s (@DudespostingWs) November 21, 2025

Slow motion:

Slow-mo half speed. His arms don’t touch the ground. Incredible. Full, Full, Full with a 360 degree twist on each flip. pic.twitter.com/isBewZMD1S

— Bobby Downes (@bobbydownes) November 22, 2025

"Marjorie Taylor Greene Says She Plans to Resign in January."

The NYT reports: "Her announcement came days after President Trump branded her a 'traitor' for breaking with him and helping compel the Justice Department to release its files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender. Ms. Greene, who was elected in 2020 and positioned herself as a die-hard Trump supporter until a series of recent ruptures with the president on a variety of issues, made the abrupt announcement in a video and statement she posted online, filmed from her home in Georgia, her Christmas tree on display behind her."

This is another one of the "certain topics" I was talking about yesterday in "I feel as though unseen readers are leaning on me to write about certain topics that I see out there." Today's news is easy to absorb, and now I don't have to react to what the NYT has been pushing at me for the last few days in things like "The Three G.O.P. Women Who Broke Trump’s Grip on Congress" and "Marjorie Taylor Greene Was Not on Our Bingo Card." 

In the "Bingo Card" conversation, Frank Bruni said to Bret Stephens:

"From the start, everyone recognized that the purpose of Texas’s redistricting effort was Republican political advantage."

"The district court erred by inferring bad faith and racial intent because the Texas Legislature’s map did not (through some hypothetical means) transform the only Democratic district in Austin — an exceptionally Democratic city — into a Republican stronghold."

Wrote Texas Solicitor General William Peterson, quoted in "Alito lets Texas reinstate gerrymandered House map that could give GOP 5 more seats/Alito’s move allowing Texas officials to continue to prepare for primary elections under the new map came just after the state asked the Supreme Court for an urgent ruling" (Politico).

This is one of the "certain topics" I was talking about yesterday in "I feel as though unseen readers are leaning on me to write about certain topics that I see out there." Today is a new day, with Alito's stay of the lower court's order. But if you want to engage with the very lengthy and emotional lower court opinions, I recommend the discussion on the podcast "Advisory Opinions," here. Excerpt: 

Sunrise — 6:38, 6:49, 7:02.

Write about whatever you like in the comments.

Trump and Mamdani, together at last.

Question 1 (to Trump): You called him a communist! Question 2 (to Mamdani): You called him a fascist!

Trump: "And I've been called much worse than a despot, so it's not — it's not that insulting."

Later, Mamdani is pressured again: "Are you affirming that you think President Trump is a fascist?" And Trump breaks in: "That's okay, you can just say it. It's easier than explaining."

Trump and Mamdani displayed their unity: They're both practical and they both want what's good for New York. The press kept confronting them with the way they've insulted each other, but neither man took the bait. They were stunningly relaxed and friendly and entirely able to slough off each other's political remarks.

"We need policies in place that make it possible for people to live with their family and then move next door and stay with generations of families their entire life. You should be able to do that in a functioning and thriving society."

Said Matt Walsh, on this new Daily Wire podcast, which is good from the beginning but I'm going to jump you ahead to something that sheds light on the subject of families and geography.

Walsh was responding to Ben Shapiro's idea that young men should move away from their home town if that's what it takes to succeed economically:

I'm giving you written transcript even though Walsh's manner of speaking does not transcribe well:

"I can kind of understand why Machiavellian Republicans would spew conspiracy theories.... What I don’t understand is why some Democrats are hopping on this bandwagon."

Writes David Brooks, in "The Epstein Story? Count Me Out." (NYT).

They may believe that the Epstein file release will somehow hurt Trump. But they are undermining public trust and sowing public cynicism in ways that make the entire progressive project impossible. They are contributing to a public atmosphere in which right-wing populism naturally thrives. 

I have been especially startled to see Ro Khanna, a House Democrat and one of the most impressive politicians in America, use the phrase “the Epstein class” in his public statements.

"I think that I should contribute money to Jasmine Crockett and then let everybody know that she also took money from Jeffrey Epstein."

Said Dr. Jeffrey Epstein, cracking an excellent joke, after Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) "boasted on the House floor this week that she was 'gonna expose it all' after her discovery that 'somebody named Jeffrey Epstein' donated to the campaign of former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY)."

From "Dr. Jeffrey Epstein – the Long Island neurosurgeon Jasmine Crockett confused with notorious pedophile – floats epic revenge he could exact on the congresswoman" (NY Post).

"In her rant, the Texas Democrat strongly implied that the Manhasset doctor’s April and August 2020 contributions to Zeldin, who is now head of the Environmental Protection Agency, were actually from the convicted pedophile – despite the fact that the $1,000 donations were made months after the disgraced financier died in a Manhattan jail cell."

"'I find it very difficult to convey how horrific it was... It was suffocating, wind so powerful that you had to sit down and curl into a ball...'"

"'... and turn your back to it so it didn’t knock you down the mountain. I couldn’t breathe with the ice and snow blowing so much in my face and then attempting to go up a very steep climb. It was just too many things at once.' They were two miles from their base camp and the large group of trekkers decided the safest thing to do was continue climbing for another mile or so in the hope of reaching a refuge. They would later discover it had been shut because park rangers had left to cast their mandatory votes in a presidential election the day before...."

From "Patagonia blizzard survivor: Our holiday turned into a ‘horror film’/A friend of the British woman who died while hiking in Chile said that park rangers had abandoned a refuge without telling them" (London Times).

"Men in power do not carry briefcases. Why should women?"

"Forgoing a bag simply telegraphs the impression that you have someone else to do the lifting for you. As Karla Welch, a stylist who worked with Ms. Harris at the beginning of her term, said: 'They all have bags. It’s just an aide carrying it.'"

Writes Vanessa Friedman, in "The Most Impactful Political Handbag Since Mrs. Thatcher’s/Sanae Takaichi, the new prime minister of Japan, makes a statement about work — with style" (NYT).

I jump to the middle of articles when I skim, and when I got to "a stylist who worked with Ms. Harris," I thought Who is Harris? 

Anyway, the new Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, a woman carries her own handbag, toting it at her side in the manner of Queen Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher. We're told: 

For Mrs. Thatcher, the handbag was a way of aligning herself with a respectable Everywoman accouterment.... Her bag was the kind of bag, British Vogue declared, carried by “a sensible, well-put-together person, reflective of an organized mind.”

The linked article sends us over to the OED to see this entry:

I feel as though unseen readers are leaning on me to write about certain topics that I see out there.

That provokes me to resistance. I've been writing this blog for almost 22 years, and the reason it works for me is that I only do what motivates me. I realize that this feeling that you're leaning on me to write about [whatever] must necessarily come from within — It's coming from inside the Althouse — but please know that if it were coming from you, I would be asking you to cut it out.

Sunrise — 6:42.

You can write about whatever you like.

"It has come to my attention that a post referencing Indigenous People's Day was published from Official Alamo social media accounts..."

"... on October 13, 2025. Given that on October 9th, President Donald J. Trump issued a proclamation declaring the second Monday of October to be Columbus Day, I have serious concerns regarding the writing, approval, and posting process of the Alamo Trust, Inc. (ATI) Communications Team in coordination with ATI leadership.... This is not the first incident that has highlighted personnel who are misaligned with the culture of The Alamo.... Specifically, the second draft of the Visitors Center & Museum (VCM) script, where a 'Land Acknowledgement' plaque was to be displayed in the lobby. Additionally, 'Freedom' was only mentioned once, 'Liberty' a mere 13 times, but 'Slavery' and 'Enslaved' were mentioned nearly 70 times. This speaks to a pattern of behavior that is completely misaligned with the priorities of my office, and the vast majority of Texans who care so deeply for our Shrine of Liberty...."

Wrote Dawn Buckingham, the Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office, in a letter discussed at a WaPo article titled "Republican overseeing Alamo renovation ousted after ‘woke’ social media post/Kate Roger, a Republican, has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against state officials after a social media post and PhD dissertation led to her losing the job of overseeing a massive renovation of the Texas landmark" (gift link).

And here's what Rogers had written in her 2023 PhD dissertation: “Personally, I would love to see the Alamo become a beacon for historical reconciliation and a place that brings people together versus tearing them apart, but politically that may not be possible at this time.”

(The headline says "Roger," but the rest of the article says "Rogers," which I believe is correct.)

"There’s coffee stations, then you’ve got smoothie and juice stations. You’ve got the wine bars and the beer bars. You even have kegerators..."

"... in people’s offices, then you’ve got seltzer stations, and you’ve got the juice boxes and stuff for kids," said Wendy Trunz who "recently helped her 24-year-old niece, Noelle Mosby, organize supplies for making sparkling waters — syrups, coconut cream, flavored teas, a soda maker — on a tray in her kitchen. 'I’m just not much of an alcohol drinker,' said Ms. Mosby, who is studying Ayurvedic medicine in Asheville, N.C. 'But I do like my sugary drinks.'"

From "Coffee in the Closet, Diet Coke on Tap/Customized drink stations are appearing all over the home, from the kitchen to the bedroom" (NYT).

The article begins with a profile of a TikTok "influencer," a mother of 10, who has "a five-gallon water dispenser for hot and cold filtered water; two coffee-making stations; a wine fridge in the master bedroom for bottled water, protein drinks and her husband’s Red Bulls; a hot cocoa and toppings bar... two countertop nugget ice makers; and...

"The departments of English, classics, philosophy, world languages and Spanish and Latino studies... will be grouped into the tentatively titled School of Human Narratives and Creative Expressions."

"The psychology, linguistics, social work and religion departments will make up the School of Human Behavior and Well-Being.... Is the move, as college administrators argue, designed to get professors to collaborate more across disciplinary lines, and share administrative burdens? Or is the end of academic departments, and elected department chairs, a way to weaken the rigor that makes areas of study distinctive, making the humanities easier to shrink and ultimately push out? Adam Rzepka, an English professor who specializes in early modern literature, suspects the worst. The plan is 'insane,' he said in an interview, and is a fundamental attack on the university’s core mission: expert-led education."

From "At This College, the English Dept. Is Out. ‘Human Narratives’ Is In. At Montclair State University in New Jersey, a departmental restructuring plan is igniting concerns about the future of the humanities" (NYT).

From Rzepka's blog (at the "insane" link): "In the Trump era, we’re familiar with the idea that Stage IV capitalism has collapsed satire into reality.

"How many people have that much cash buried in tubs under their property?"

Wrote the trial judge, quoted in "Police Found $1 Million in a Tub Under a Garage. The Government Gets to Keep It. A court ruled that the hidden cash, which the police found while searching for an illegal gun in Ontario, did not lawfully belong to the man living on the property" (NYT).

On Dec. 1, 2009, the police searched a house on the outskirts of Thunder Bay, Ontario, looking for an illegal .22-caliber handgun. Instead, they found cash....

"I like cartoons and evening champagne and spending an hour looking at Instagram reels in bed. I like easy things too."

"But I’ve found, as I have grown older, the world has incrementally foisted upon me a preponderance of quick and simple easiness; it’s inescapable. What’s more, I like it! I like it too much! And reading a difficult book is not going to change that, or anything. Still, for at least a few hours a week, I have a chance to dedicate myself, among friends, toward material that requires sincere mental devotion, and I feel the satisfying kind of exhaustion. It’s fitting we began with Spinoza...."

Writes Sebastian Castillo, in "The Secret to Getting Through Big, Dense, Difficult Books/Learning is painful, pleasant and, above all, communal" (NYT).

The book club's first book was Spinoza's "Ethics." Castillo sums it up: "The book’s argument, supposedly, is that everything one needs for salvation is already at hand."

Sunrise — 7:01, 7:22.

Write about anything in the comments.

"Seeing Mr. Epstein write that Mr. Trump is 'crazy' or 'truly stupid' and that 'I am the one able to take him down' is certainly more entertaining than..."

"... reading the testimony of Anouska De Georgiou, who told the court... 'loss of innocence, trust and joy is not recoverable.' Or Teala Davies, who testified: 'I’m still a victim because I am fearful for my daughters and everyone’s daughters. I’m fearful for their future in this world where there are predators in power, a world where people can avoid justice if their pockets run deep enough.'... Their pain matters. Their names matter. We should not co-opt their suffering for our own agenda. We should not value our schadenfreude more than their courage."

Writes Jennifer Weiner, in "Endless Gossipy Chatter About Epstein. One Glaring Omission" (NYT).

"Across the country, the ancient tradition of Orthodox Christianity is attracting energetic new adherents, especially among conservative young men."

"They are drawn to what they describe as a more demanding, even difficult, practice of Christianity. Echoing some of the rhetoric of the so-called manosphere, new waves of young converts say Orthodoxy offers them hard truths and affirms their masculinity.... Many of the young Americans new to the pews have been introduced to Orthodoxy by hard-edge influencers on YouTube and other social media platforms.... Orthodoxy 'appeals to the masculine soul,' said Josh Elkins, a student at North Carolina State University who was chatting with other young men.'The Orthodox Church is the only church that really coaches men hard, and says, "This is what you need to do,"' said Mr. Elkins, 20.... Some converts report approvingly that Orthodoxy has a more masculine feel than other traditions. Priests, who must be male and can marry, often have large beards and big families. Orthodoxy asks practitioners to make sacrifices like fasting, rather than offering them emotional contemporary music and therapeutic sermons, which critics describe as the typical evangelical megachurch experience...."

From "Orthodox Church Pews Are Overflowing With Converts/'In the whole history of the Orthodox Church in America, this has never been seen,' a priest said about the surge of young men drawn to the demanding practice of Christianity'" (NYT)(gift link, because there's much more to the article, many photographs, and a torrent of negativity in the comments section).

Typical comments over there: "Wearing gilded robes and kissing gilded books is masculine? Having an imaginary friend that you follow rules for is masculine? These guys are desperate for meaning and will bend over backwards and forwards for it. Anything but actual self reflection and growth." And: "What a sad spectacle. Real Orthodoxy is rooted in actual cultures, like Serbia or Georgia or Armenia, and for good or bad you can find an authentic culture there. What this article describes is a ridiculous Youtube phenomenon."

"I'm alarmed enough when I see a woman with her dangling boobies. If I saw a penis in the ladies rocker room, I would freak out too."

"This is nothing against trans anybody. What it's saying is if I turn around and I see a pee pee — a penis — in front of me inside of the room, I would probably go to management and say, 'Wait a minute. Why is there somebody a naked man in this room?' Because... just from a safety standpoint and just from a, you know, from a privacy standpoint, I would so I can see why she would have gone and reported to management. There's a man naked in the — now, if they clarified and they said, 'Well, trans, okay,' but I think they should take her concerns also seriously because if she's uncomfortable, does she not have the right to be at least uncomfortable with this situation is what I'm saying...."

Said Joy Reid on her Reid This Reid That podcast:

I only quoted part of what's at that clip. Joy Reid goes on and on about nakedness and extensively details what's wrong with "dangling boobies." Nor is she a fan of the "flat ass." Jacque Reid joins in. Both women assert that they are not transphobic... as they go on and on saying what has been getting people called transphobic. It's quite amusing (and, to some, I presume, enraging).

Here's the NY Post article about it: "Joy Reid joins outrage at trans members in locker rooms: 'If I saw a penis … I would freak out, too.'"

"If Musk earns $1 trillion over the next decade... an average of $100 billion each year... [he]could make $3 billion more each year than all 1.4 million elementary school teachers in the nation combined...."

"Teaching isn’t the only essential profession Musk is set to out-earn.... Each year, Musk will earn $72 billion more than all 107,950 family medicine physicians in the U.S. Musk will also out-earn all 1,057,660 construction laborers by about $46 billion.... Musk’s average yearly payment roughly equals the combined paychecks of all 3.2 million cashiers in the U.S. America’s 747,750 lawyers are... et to out-earn Musk, with his average annual payment coming in at three-quarters of their combined earnings...."

From "Good work if you can get it: Elon Musk is set to make more than every elementary school teacher COMBINED/Tesla shareholders approved a $1 trillion pay package for the world’s richest person" (Independent).

I'll just do a survey:

Pick the option closest to your reaction.

This is emotional mush for dummies who don't understand economics.

This is useful for thinking about whether, at some point, economic disparities really do matter.

Economic injustice is real and I hope this helps more people care.

This shines a light on pure evil.

 

pollcode.com free polls

At the Tuesday Night Café...

... you can talk about whatever you want.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act "requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to publish (in a searchable and downloadable format) all unclassified records, documents, communications..."

"... and investigative materials in DOJ's possession that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein. This includes (1) materials that relate to Ghislaine Maxwell, (2) flight logs and travel records, and (3) individuals named or referenced (including government officials) in connection with the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein. DOJ is permitted to withhold certain information such as the personal information of victims and materials that would jeopardize an active federal investigation."

Says the summary of the bill the House passed today, 427-1.

I'm skeptical about statements like this (from the NYT): "The House on Tuesday approved a bill directing the Justice Department to release all files related to its investigation into the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in a near-unanimous vote that was a stunning turn for an effort that Republicans had worked for months to kill."

All files?

"One colleague supposedly told Couric that 'with Deborah [Norville], people feel like they need to get dressed before they turn on the TV.'"

"Couric admits that during her time at TODAY she was unwelcoming to other women because she felt like she needed to 'protect my turf.' She writes that she was aware that 'someone younger and cuter was always around the corner' and singles out Banfield as an example. Couric writes: 'For a minute there, Ashleigh Banfield was the next big thing; I'd heard her father was telling anyone who'd listen that she was going to replace me. In that environment, mentorship sometimes felt like self-sabotage.'"

From "Katie Couric rips into former TODAY Show colleagues, admits she froze out female rivals to 'protect her turf,' says her toyboy ex was a 'midlife crisis' and takes potshots at Prince Harry who stank of alcohol in her new memoir" (Daily Mail).

"How do we squash the prejudice against female presidential nominees, which has always been with us, but became even worse after Kamala Harris got whomped by Donald Trump?"

Asks Gail Collins in a column with a title that asks a different question, "Where, oh Where, Will the First Female President Come From?"

Maybe it would be better to ask this other question, my question: When will we ever get to evaluate a female presidential candidate as just another presidential candidate? We've been nudged too many times to pick the woman because she is a woman. It makes people wary. I mean, really, why was Kamala Harris foisted on us?

So, yeah, she got "whomped." I'm collecting these colorful words that make losing seem violent but also fun. I'm thinking of George W. Bush taking what he called a "thumping" in the 2006 midterms, and Obama, after the 2010 midterms, saying he'd experienced "a shellacking."

Gail Collins is talking about whomping and squashing. Brutal words, but still polite. Euphemisms.

What's the etymology of "whomp"? It's the sound. A heavy, low sound. From the OED, quoting a 1960 issue of New Scientist: "The Sunday edition of the New York Times..whomped to the floor outside my apartment door."

"'A book isn’t a bad website, and a typewriter isn’t a bad computer,' says Richard Polt, collector, professor of philosophy..."

"... and the author of a defiantly countercultural book, The Typewriter Revolution. 'A typewriter is a thing with its own individuality, integrity and beauty. It doesn’t push content at people. It draws words from them.' Like a bicycle, Polt argues, a typewriter is 'a self-contained machine that doesn’t depend on external sources of power' but works its magic through a combination of human energy and inspired design. This makes it a precious counterbalance to the relentless expansion of digital technology — using one, he argues, can 'strike a blow for self-reliance, privacy and coherence, against dependency, surveillance and disintegration.'"

From "Why collectors are falling for retro office equipment/This month Christie’s will take bids for the first mechanical calculator, made in 1642. What’s led to the increasing appreciation and value of old apparatus?" (London Times).

"Grover Cleveland... was most easily roused to wrath when someone was misquoting Tennyson. There was thus some irony..."

"... when, in later years, Cleveland's political opponents dubbed him 'The Buffalo Hangman,' both because the label could have boomeranged in his favor and because it masked the fact that Cleveland was an especially faint-hearted executioner.... And yet he didn't have to do it...."

My son Chris reads biographies of the American Presidents and sometimes texts me photographs of striking passages.

This comes from "A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland" (commission earned):

"The United Nations Security Council on Monday approved President Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, a breakthrough that provides a legal U.N. mandate..."

"... for the administration’s vision of how to move past the cease-fire and rebuild the war-ravaged Gaza Strip after two years of war. The Council’s vote was also a major diplomatic victory for the Trump administration. For the past two years, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas has raged, the United States had been isolated at the United Nations over its staunch support for Israel. The U.S. resolution calls for an International Stabilization Force to enter, demilitarize and govern Gaza."

The NYT reports excellent news.

I love the serendipity of one more chance to use my "insect politics" tag.

This just crawled onto the front page of the NYT:

We're told: "The ant world is filled with Machiavellian dramas.... Now experts have identified a kind of regicide that has never been documented before.... 'It’s like a story out of "Game of Thrones,"' said Daniel Kronauer, an evolutionary biologist.... The discovery was made by an ant enthusiast... not a scientist...."

Prompts that occurred to me the morning after I read the Vanity Fair excerpt of Olivia Nuzzi's "American Canto."

I am protecting you from A.I. writing. Every word below was written by me except “hex memoir” and “cursed-dick lit." Grok came up with those 2 terms. 

Here's my blog post from yesterday quoting the book and mocking the prose style. And here are Grok's answers to my prompts. I'm just sharing my prompts:

1. Olivia Nuzzi's "American Canto" belongs in a literary genre with E. Jean Carroll's "Hideous Men" [actual title: "What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal"].

2. It's a style of writing that is exaggerated and beset with literary pretension — used by a woman who had a brush with a powerful man. It's related to memoirs by women (the "Bell Jar" genre) but it's deployed against political characters that are of great importance to people who wouldn't otherwise read florid subjective verbiage.

3. “hex memoir” or “cursed-dick lit” — these are established terms? Quote sources.

4. I'm a woman myself, 74 years old, but I just want to say that American women read some godawful trash.

5. What's the feminist argument that it is NOT feminist to immerse oneself in this kind of reading?

Sunrise — 6:39, 6:47, 6:53.

Write about whatever you like in the comments. And here is Meade's video:

"I did not like to think about it just as later I would not like to think about the worm in his brain that other people found so funny."

"I loved his brain. I hated the idea of an intruder therein. Others thought he was a madman; he was not quite mad the way they thought, but I loved the private ways that he was mad. I loved that he was insatiable in all ways, as if he would swallow up the whole world just to know it better if he could. He made me laugh, but I winced when he joked about the worm. 'Baby, don’t worry,' he said. 'It’s not a worm.'... I worry about evil.... Was it ever a question, that where there was a cloak there would be a dagger? A friend told me once, 'Never trust anyone wearing a lapel pin.' This politician did not wear one of those.... I mean to tell you that, as it relates to monsters, little can be assured beyond their ceaseless want.... I mean to tell you that as I studied them, I was sometimes fooled.... I mean to tell you that this is more meaningful and more meaningless than you might think. I mean to tell you that, before I was consumed by it, I could not have told you what it was.... I am talking, of course, about how it happened between me and the Politician. I am talking, of course, about how it happened between the country and the president... I mean to tell you now as best I can."

Writes Olivia Nuzzi, in "Olivia Nuzzi's American Canto: Read the Exclusive Excerpt/She flamed out and she faded away. Vanity Fair’s West Coast Editor returns to the written word to survey scorched earth" (Vanity Fair).

If you are a connoisseur of purple prose, don't miss this one. There are also some lovely pictures of Ms. Nuzzi, who seems to be quite beautiful.

Oh, A.I., make a charming argument for why purple prose should be celebrated when it is written by a beautiful woman. Answer: "A beautiful woman’s purple prose should be celebrated because her extravagant words are merely the audible shimmer of her own radiance spilling onto the page, and only a fool would demand a diamond dim its fire to spare the darkness."

AND: I had another prompt for A.I.: What do you think of the title "American Canto" for a purple prose account of a beautiful woman's love affair with a politician (specifically Olivia Nuzzi's book about RFK Jr., a married man)? I'll just give the conventional warning,  "Abandon all hope, all ye who enter here."

First, they came for the rainbow crosswalks, and I did not speak out, because I was not LGBTQ+.......

Link.

"It is... really important we don’t accidentally create body dysmorphia-style messaging and an unnecessary ‘fixing’ culture too early."

"Children should not be preoccupied with skincare. Their skin is already biologically excellent. Our job is just to protect it."

Said Dr Anjali Mahto, a dermatologist, quoted in "Actress faces criticism over ‘dystopian’ skincare brand for children/Shay Mitchell’s line sells products for youngsters aged three and older, which dermatologists say reflects a wider and concerning trend" (London Times).

Interesting phrase: "too early" (as if it's fine to have that body dysmorphia-style messaging and unnecessary ‘fixing’ culture later).

Another doctor, Amy Perkins, said:

"I'm a stickler for staying in your lane. I think his lane is the Ezra-lane..."

"... and I don't see him crossing a line. I'm assuming the New York Times is cool with it."

Said Jill Abramson, former executive editor, of the NYT, quoted in "How Ezra Klein's power play is guiding Democrats" (Axios), which tells us that "Klein's columnist-turned-operative role is raising concerns inside the Times and the Democratic Party, people familiar with the matter tell Axios."

ADDED: If anyone ever tells me to stay in my lane, I'm going to say I am in my lane. My lane is The Althouse Lane. I encourage you all to do likewise. Abramson okayed this clever move and she's a stickler for staying in your lane.

"'U r better at understanding Chinese women than at probability theory,' [Larry] Summers told [Jeffrey] Epstein."

"The two men bantered about probability and mathematics, but repeatedly steered the conversation back to Summers’ relationship. Epstein joked that 'the probability of you in bed again with peril was '0,' before reversing course and assuring Summers that 'she is never ever going to find another Larry summers. Probability ZERO.' Summers went on to describe what he saw as his 'best shot': that the woman finds him 'invaluable and interesting' and concludes 'she can’t have it without romance / sex.'... The final messages, dated July 5, 2019, show Summers still in regular contact with Epstein. That morning, Summers wrote he was in Cape Cod with his family — 'Bit of an Ibsen play,' he joked — and the two men exchanged a brief flurry of literary one-liners.... Epstein was arrested the next day."

I'm reading this in the Harvard Crimson: "As Summers Sought Clandestine Relationship With Woman He Called a Mentee, Epstein Was His 'Wing Man'/When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: convicted sex offender Jeffrey E. Epstein."

1. "Peril" was the code name for the woman the 2 men were discussing. If the Crimson has correctly identified her, she was already a tenured professor — at the London School of Economics.

2. Stop and think about what Summers was saying when he wrote that his "best shot" was for her to find him "invaluable and interesting" and to realize that "she can’t have it without romance / sex." I would interpret that to mean that he wanted sex (and romance) from her that he knew she didn't want. He just hoped she'd give it in order to receive professional and social benefits from him. No one should want sex that the other person does not want. It doesn't matter that you conceive of it as an even exchange because you are giving other benefits.

3. Imagine asking Jeffrey Epstein for advice on how to handle it!

4. I wonder how "peril" feels about all this — then and now. 

"Nobody got angry. You were angry at people that didn't want to get vaccinated and you didn't get angry at the person who used science..."

"... to create a horrible disease that was completely avoidable. And that killed who knows how many people. That didn't make you mad."

Said Joe Rogan, on his recent podcast with Adam Carolla.

Carolla: "Where's the anger over finding out that it was made in China at a lab... and then where's the anger over being forced or being vaxxed or all this misinformation being used?... I realized they don't want to say anything 'cause they're ashamed

Help me flesh out this idea for a self-help book.

The idea is that you reframe your problems/emotions/challenges/relationships as if they were a scene in a Broadway musical and find a way to sing the song (well, get AI to write the song and sing it for you). So, for example, you are brooding about growing old and not having achieved any of your real dreams, though others don't even notice you haven't, and you're left with this last shred of life and nothing in particular that you even want to do with it. You make that into a song. So, first, make the song for me. Second, outline a book that would be full of ideas like that.

***

It would be easy to promote, to write in parts, doing bits of songs on TikTok. But I'm not trained in Broadway singing or even talented in that kind of performance. I'd need to work with someone funny and charismatic and musically fantastic.

***

I just need a Broadway song about this idea and how, ultimately, I'm not going to do it. It's just another of my "unwritten books" — read about the rest here — and add that to the insanely long song.

"... House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax..."

"... perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat 'Shutdown.' The Department of Justice has already turned over tens of thousands of pages to the Public on 'Epstein,' are looking at various Democrat operatives (Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, Larry Summers, etc.) and their relationship to Epstein, and the House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE! All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT.... Nobody cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive and, if the Democrats had anything, they would have released it before our Landslide Election Victory. Some 'members' of the Republican Party are being 'used,' and we can’t let that happen. Let’s... not fall into the Epstein “TRAP,” which is actually a curse on the Democrats, not us. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

So says Trump, over on Truth Social.

His post is the top story right now at the NYT and the Washington Post, which of course had to throw cold water on Trump's seeming enthusiasm for full exposure:

The NYT: "It was unclear how quickly Mr. Trump’s tightly controlled Justice Department might release files on Mr. Epstein, or whether the president’s seeming backing of the idea might speed such a release, regardless of the vote....." Seeming backing.... The NYT is reading this news as I read all news. Skeptically. Somebody says something, whether they mean it is another matter. Trump is playing a sophisticated (or chaotic) game. This is just one move.

WaPo highlights Chuck Schumer's reaction: "The vote is to compel YOU to release them. Let’s make this easier. Just release the files now." And: "Legal experts raised concerns over the weekend that Trump’s demand for a new investigation could give Justice Department officials an excuse not to release all the documents."

Sunrise — 6:32, 7:04, 7:04.

Write about whatever you like in the comments.

"Interesting legal questions aside, the trial took on a dadaist sheen, befitting the act itself."

"The juror told me that she and her fellow jurors used words like absurd, laughable, and waste of government money. 'We’re supposed to be looking at the evidence, but a clear majority felt it was nonsensical, like Don’t waste our time or money,' she said."

I'm reading "Inside the Sandwich Guy’s Jury Deliberations/Can a flung sandwich cause bodily harm?" (The Atlantic)(gift link).

"At one point, sandwiches were served for lunch, an irony not lost on a jury spending hours contemplating the many possible uses of the breaded form (nutrition, satiety, projectile). 'Then we had lots and lots of jokes about the condiments,' the juror told me...."

The word "nullification" does not appear in the article. "Ultimately, the juror said the group decided the case on its merits..."

"When we first came here, you could go anywhere, land your kayak anywhere, and you never gave it a thought."

"Now, there’s hardly a place you can land. There’s a feeling of sadness at losing something, a tradition of access, that maybe wasn’t written down but was understood."

Said Donald Campbell, "a retired New York City teacher who has spent 35 summers in a modest lakeside cabin near Burnt Jacket Mountain," quoted in "Mystery Fuels Unease in Maine Woods: Who Bought Burnt Jacket Mountain? An anonymous new owner fenced off beloved trails and put up surveillance cameras in a region with a long tradition of allowing public access on private land" (NYT)(free access).

There's also this, from Lew-Ellyn Hughes, "a manager at the Greenville tourism center whose family roots in the region go back 200 years": "These weren’t the only trails — they weren’t in the top 10 trails. That’s not why people are sad. It’s people from away coming in and shutting things down. It’s the contrast between haves and have-nots — especially when the have-nots can’t find a place to live."

"The San Franciscan has never lived a day outside of California, presents younger than 58 because of his hair and genes..."

"... and has endeared himself to his party rank-and-file by criticizing Democratic leaders for not fighting harder before leading by example to confront Donald Trump.... Newsom is also the best-positioned Democrat according to the new rules of politics — namely, whether you are or can become famous by breaking through on social media. Ask yourself: How many other potential candidates are plausible celebrities who can transcend the political-pop culture divide a la Obama and Trump?..."

I'm reading "Admit It. Gavin Newsom Is the 2028 Front-runner. For years, Democrats and pundits have rolled their eyes at Gavin Newsom. But he’s positioned better than anyone else for the future of politics" by Jonathan Martin, in Politico.

At one point, Martin observes, "Newsom sounded like he was reading the stage directions, a la Bush 41, saying: 'Message, I care.'" He said: "You’ve got to be on the other side of caution. It’s just clarity, conviction. Finding your voice, being your authentic self, just letting it rip, and taking the shit along the way."

I was surprised to read "presents younger than 58 because of his hair and genes" — I thought it was politically incorrect to mention genes.

AND: I'm reminded of the old theory that the man with the best hair wins. Remember this one:

"We've got better vision. We've got better ideas. We've got real plans. We've got a better sense of what's happening to America. And we've got better hair. I'll tell you, that goes a long way."

The link goes to an old post of mine. You'll see the person who said "we've got better hair" went on to lose, and you'll see my contemporaneous statement that it was not good hair and that the only good hair was on the person who actually did win.