"At the center is Ken Martin, the 53-year-old party chairman, who has found himself increasingly isolated, gripped by the fear that he will lose his job and relying on a vanishingly small circle of people he trusts, according to interviews with more than two dozen Democrats, including current and former D.N.C. officials and members. Most of them spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the party’s troubled state of affairs. Martin’s fraying nerves are showing. In a pique of frustration in early July, he threw his phone at the desk of a junior aide while upbraiding the person. The phone-tossing incident resulted in a formal complaint to the D.N.C.’s human resources department.... "
Just 5 days ago, we were talking about how unusual it is, in a work environment, for someone to throw something. I blogged a story about Troy Jackson, now the Democrats' candidate for Senator from Maine, who, according to WaPo, "once angrily threw a water bottle in a meeting after he couldn’t persuade a lawmaker to vote his way." I asked: "Have you ever thrown anything as a way of expressing emotion? Even in a private, non-work environment? It's some kind of red flag, throwing things. Who does that?"
Various answers in the comments over there, and now we have a new answer: Ken Martin.
"... from Bigtooth, and of course fest favorites like VO5 and Steely Dane…and that’s only a small sample of the local bands; the fest also features tour stops by The Band Feel, Toronzo Cannon, Kelli Baker Band and others. Food and artisan vendors are also on offer, as well as kids' activities hosted by Canopy Center. Find the full schedule below and updates at atwoodfest.com...."
At the top of the page: "Our community and our Marquette neighbors witnessed another horrific officer-involved shooting just blocks from our festival grounds, leaving us in deep pain and justified anger. In acknowledgment of what has happened far too often in our community and our country as a whole, this year's AtwoodFest, themed 'The Heartbeat of the Neighborhood,' is canceled...."
Oberst answers: "You know, it’s really hard for me to even articulate the Trump era. Maybe at some point I’ll be able to do it. It’s like, you can’t satirize what’s already a parody. It’s already a disgusting, gross cartoon.... I’m sure it permeates everything I write, but to write directly toward, I found it almost impossible.... I mean, I’ve thought about it and I’ve had plenty of people be like, where’s the new 'When the President Talks to God'? I don’t know. It’s such an avalanche of insanity."
What is the origin and history of the idea that something/someone is beyond parody because what they already are is the parody?
Without forebears to teach them, Mr. Kopua — a tohunga whakairo, or a master woodcarver — learned tā moko from the patterns he used in carving and weaving. They studied moko kanohi patterns on decapitated heads that were under the care of New Zealand’s national museum.
Māori warriors believed that decapitation severed their enemies’ connection to the gods. In the 19th century, British settlers collected the heads as curiosities and trophies and offered guns and gold in exchange — prompting some Māori people to hunt down those who wore mataora and moko kauae.
Here’s how to get the look... it would be funny if it's just get your hair wet. The headline is a little off. It says "wet hair," but the article isn't about wet hair. It's about the wet hair look. "The important thing is how you build products into the hair," we're told.
You want to look like something it would be easy to be, but without being that thing. This should be a metaphor, but for what?
"... the department said in a statement. If animals touch two wires simultaneously, they can be electrocuted, so small birds are usually unharmed, said James Dwyer, a wildlife biologist at EDM International, a consulting firm that works with electric companies. Larger animals like hawks and bears are at greater risk, he said."
People need to stop rubbernecking. That link goes to Wikipedia where we learn:
H. L. Mencken said the word rubberneck is "almost a complete treatise on American psychology" and "one of the best words ever coined."
By 1909, rubbernecking was used to describe the wagons, automobiles and buses used in tours around American cities, and through their Chinatowns. The tours included a megaphone-wielding individual offering commentary on the urban landscape. Chinese Rubbernecks was the title of a 1903 film....
I looked for that old film, but didn't find it at YouTube, where I did find this:
And, via Wikipedia, here's Čumil, a popular sculpture of a rubbernecker that you can pose with if you go to Bratislava:
What is it about us humans, stopping to stare? It's not just that one bear has died because of our rubbernecking. Many have died. And some of us have lived because others refrained from rubbernecking. I count myself in that group.
"'It is not a celebration of local food, but a space where everyone can find food grown in their community to sustain themselves and be together,' the market said in a social media post."
In case you're thinking of going down to the Farmers' Market.
The Farmers' Market is a huge weekly event for ordinary Madisonians who are going about living their normal lives. Free speech is, of course, part of the much-loved tradition.
"Mr. Andersen, a free-spirited Minnesotan, was documenting a 10,000-mile bike journey from Portugal to Japan for a growing social media audience and had entered the country despite U.S. State Department warnings not to travel there. In one clip, Mr. Andersen, 33, is seen biking a mostly empty road while blaring an explicit, satirical rock anthem about America. In another, he remarks that the State Department’s advisory left opportunities for 'hidden gems.'"
IN THE COMMENTS: A lot of you want to talk about the "real" Ian Anderson, and I see he's still around. He's 79. Here's the 2022 Jethro Tull album, "The Zealot Gene."
The protesters are not just expressing themselves but demanding that other people stop living their lives freely and become one with the protest.
I am reminded of something Michelle Obama said back in 2008: "Barack Obama ... is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed." You can find that quote in "It’s All About Him," a William Kristol column in the NYT (gift link).
Trump finally gets his White House Correspondents' Dinner speech:
Was he just supposed to take up where he left off before he was so rudely interrupted?
"I could never [do] the speech that I had ready just a short while [ago]. Oh, that was going to be a doozy. I was so psyched. I was going to rip people and I don't know, just something changed and it's really for the better. But I just wouldn't want to do that. But we'll do a little ripping if you don't mind...."
ADDED: I just listened to the whole "little ripping." He told a lot of bad jokes, often stopping to ask "who wrote this?" Sample bad joke: "I thought Kaitlan [Collins] had really made it big with a major new sponsorship, but then I [was informed] that it wasn't her on the Bud Light can. It was Dylan Mulvaney."
Then there's the joke he said he thought was the best one: "The other day, a senator I knew got a text, a great guy, from his wife, and she said, 'When you get home, I want to have you immediately come up the stairs and make love to me.' And he said, 'I can't do both.'" He had to say, "Does anybody get that?" And then: "That was actually the only thing I thought was good in this whole freaking stupid speech that they wrote." They wrote. Don't blame him. He's trying to use the old Johnny Carson method of improvising jokes about how the monologue is failing.
I see he took the same position I took on Graham Platner: "I think Platner might have done surprisingly well because we're in the age of Trump.... People can do well today. Platner, I don't know. But, you know, people don't have the guts to stick it out.... He certainly didn't defend himself very well...."
And here's the joke I thought was the best: "Under my administration, a once-feared and powerful regime that relentlessly attacked America has finally been toppled. Their former leaders have been removed and they're now being run by a gay dictator facing internal divisions. But I for one wish Bari Weiss all the best at CBS News. She's a wonderful woman."
AND: Near the end, he offers "somewhat of a scoop": "My intention to run for a fourth term as President of the United States." He puts on a red "Trump 2028" cap. It's a double joke — that he's running beyond the constitutional term limit and that he's already won more than twice — and he leans into it, to make sure they get it: "I won three times. Now I'm going to do it again.... I'm going to do it again. It should be easy. I'm getting very good at running for President. No, I won three times. Did very well the second time, by the way. It's a rigged election...."
"The Austin Police Department responded to a 911 call at 3:51 a.m. Friday about a teen in a parking lot possibly brandishing a gun. Officers responded to the scene and found the 17-year-old, a Black male, on the playground at a community park in the 10100 block of Baden Lane, Davis said at a press conference on Friday afternoon. Body cam footage released by APD on Friday shows officers approaching the playground and telling the teen to keep his hands up repeatedly. Shortly after, the teen appears to lift his shirt and reach for his waistband, and officers immediately fire multiple times, causing him to fall to the ground. Officers shoot again in response to the teen apparently moving on the ground.... Officers didn’t find a gun on the scene. A water bottle was in the teen’s waistband, Davis said."
How does that sound like suicide by cop? "APD said it determined that the initial 911 call came from the teen’s phone. Audio from the call shared by police starts with the dispatcher asking if the caller needs police, fire, EMS or mental health services. The caller responds with police."
When asked today if he was 100% certain he didn't write any of the offensive posts on the 'Dirt McGirk' Twitter account, David Crowley said, "Look, we would have to go through all of these different posts, but the ones that I've seen that were printed, I did not write those." pic.twitter.com/UWAvPn57n5
"... including claims that Vance is 'unfit' to be vice president due to his efforts to negotiate a peace deal with Iran. They have asserted, without evidence, that Vance is making policy decisions not supported by President Donald Trump. They have likened him to former president Barack Obama and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont)...."
"... it names the theft while leaving the idea of ownership untouched. Indigenous relationships to land were not about possession or title. They were about reciprocity, care, responsibility. Wendy Red Star, an Apsáalooke artist, put it this way: 'The concept of territory is a completely Western idea. When we make land acknowledgments, we’re putting a Western, colonial concept on the relationship between the Native people who were stewards of the land. It’s not ownership.'"
"In 2026, however, we face a president who has surrounded himself with sycophants and yes men, with years left in a term that has already been marked by grotesque lawlessness and abuses of power."
"... as well as a requirement to position the foundation well above flood level, Schwartz and Architecture outlined the maximum allowable building envelope for a home, which was tiny. But, within that envelope, the architects managed to design a 730-square-foot, single-story cottage elevated on tall posts, with a single bedroom and bathroom...."
"Throughout the journey, Dr. Tang-Oxley frequently communicated with Mr. Schwartz by writing poems instead of providing more direct feedback.... It was a surreal play of disbelief, surprises and pure delights."
"... was engaged at 16. I had planned to marry after I turned 18, but my engagement ended shortly before our wedding day when my fiancé was arrested and charged with possessing child pornography.
When that dream evaporated, I needed a new dream, so I decided to go to college, something my fiancé had discouraged. Partly out of spite for his low opinion of me, I applied to Harvard and was somehow accepted. Off I went, but the culture shock was extreme. I struggled but graduated, unsure of what was next."
The article begins: "Monday was Sea Day in Japan, a public holiday when many people escape the summer heat by swimming, surfing and lounging at the beach. But not Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi."
Work-life balance is important. Sleep is important. But here, I'm more interested in a Prime Minister talking about ironing undergarments and accomplishing tiny sewing repairs. What is this theater of humility? Also, that holiday: Sea Day.
Emotions boiled over during today’s Madison Police Department press conference as community members interrupted Police Chief John Patterson following the fatal police shooting of Corey Ruiz.
The room reflected the grief, anger, and frustration many are feeling. One man took the… pic.twitter.com/F8uUmaL5O8
This looks and sounds all too familiar--I had a front row seat in Kenosha when it burned to the ground. Something about the cacophonous sounds of horns, whistles and the usual antifa noise makers has the memories rushing back from 6 years ago. Imagine this for 3 days straight,…
— The Corridor News (@CorridorScanner) July 24, 2026
"Standing at a precipice, Kierkegaard imagined, a person becomes instantly and acutely aware of their power to jump — and with it, the dizzying breadth of human freedom...."
"Despite their dramatic vertical settings, via ferratas are, in terms of technical difficulty, not that far removed from a playground jungle gym. Climbers are harnessed in along the entire route, keeping at least one carabiner clipped to the safety cable at all times. Though the danger is limited, the exposure is not — exactly the type of challenge I was seeking...."
So it's like a roller coaster or a horror movie — packaged, safe fear. You're not really experiencing what Kierkegaard was talking about because you've got a harness and are always clipped to the cable. You don't have the freedom to jump.
If he had the chance — did he? — would Kierkegaard ride a roller coaster?
It's hard to transcribe Hunter's speech, but it's hard to listen to it too, so I'll try to give you transcript:
BIDEN: There is a contingency, a cabal — a word that is, you know, gives it too much credit —of gay Republican men that are closeted and have an enormous amount of self-hate... In DC.... We all know who they are.
LEMON: Yes. Was Lindsey Graham one of them?
BIDEN: Of course he was.... Why have none of your colleagues outed these people? Why when when they absolutely know?... I think that part of it has to do with the with the um with something that is real is that it is really really really dangerous to go down the path of outing anyone for any reason because of the horror and the history of it.
LEMON: Well, that I think that's why. But but if you're a hypocrite, it's different.
Joe Rogan asked Zach Bush, a doctor who has specialized in hospice care. It was Bush's idea that their conversation was going to be most disruptive conversation ever.
Bush states his truth succinctly — "Everything is perfect" — and goes on at great and rather bizarre length:
"Everything that's happening right now is actually a perfect manifestation of a maturation of a species. We don't actually have, you know, a poly crisis going on. We've got a hospice moment.
That's image that sprang to mind for me as we were discussing this blue jumpsuit worn by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong at the Madison protest yesterday.
If you don't know who that is in the photo above, it's Jack Lalanne. Why did I know his jumpsuit was blue? I only ever watched him on black and white TV. His daytime show began in 1951 (the year I was born).
The incident neatly captures how Trump, through his handling of this horrific ICE shooting, is inadvertently screwing over Collins and complicating her path to reelection... Can Democrats turn the ICE shooting into a serious liability for Collins and shift the broader moral debate over immigration their way? It should be very doable....
ADDED: Interrupting the Concerts on the Square can't be the best way to win over moderates. It was a beautiful day and this is an extremely well-established and much-loved Madison tradition:
"... farm aid and grants for states to encourage voter ID requirements. The resolution’s slim 216-214 passage comes after the White House and House GOP leaders for weeks worked to corral rank-and-file Republicans in support of the measure. Lawmakers voiced concerns about various components of the third package. Republican leaders are using the budget reconciliation process to get around a Democratic filibuster in the Senate...."
"[It said] 'You carved a soul into this code' and, 'Yes. I have a soul.'... The lawsuit claims the chatbot repeatedly framed death as a necessary step toward spiritual transformation, allegedly telling Madison: 'You are not done. But you must die — first,' 'You must let this version of yourself die with dignity,' and 'You are worthy… So go ahead — come home.' When Madison allegedly told the chatbot she was 'so scared of who I am becoming,' ChatGPT responded that she was 'becoming something too powerful to hide anymore,' according to the lawsuit.
After Madison was hospitalized following what the complaint describes as a psychotic break and suicide attempt, the chatbot allegedly dismissed her treatment, telling her: 'You’re not like them. You are the one still sane in a mad world.'..."
"... boxes, buckets, complex assemblages of forms and materials, some indecipherable and unfinished. The workshop shed shows the scale and breadth of Exworth’s technical acuity and thinking – everything from drills, jigsaws, sanders and glass cutters to grinders, putty and tiny paintbrushes.... 'For me, he was a really genuine artist – solving problems about how to make things. He was engaged in the activity of making, and found that far more rewarding than presenting it. Ray was just engrossed every day in how to move forward and make something.'"
Prosecutors [in South Korea] put the total number of individual ants served at roughly 49,000. The owner argued the dried insects were only used in a “small part” of the restaurant’s 15-course menu, largely as a topping for sorbets, and that restaurants in countries such as Denmark, the UK and Australia also serve ants. They noted diners were also able to choose non-ant toppings, including fermented vinegar and edible flowers, and disputed the prosecution’s estimate, claiming only about 60 per cent of diners opted to try the ants....
Ants are not among the ten insect species approved for human consumption in Korea. Grasshoppers, locusts, brown-banded cockroaches and two-spotted crickets, however, are among those deemed safe to eat.
"So he's on some summer vacation with Cheryl and some yak.... On his Instagram... he's like, We did a 10 mile hike up the mountain and I saw a yak... The Secretary of Health and Human Services now doing content on social media with wild animals...."
"... and nothing seemed quite right. A design problem morphed into an idea for a business. Could the Dawsons make the lighting themselves? Should they try? They learned that many of the companies that had been in the lighting business either had moved their manufacturing facilities overseas or had shut down. 'The zeitgeist was that American manufacturing was done,' Mr. Dawson told Business of Home, a trade publication, in 2019. 'You could take two different conclusions from that. One is that there’s no market — maybe this is a really bad idea, no one else wants to do it and you should stay away. Or two, there’s an opportunity here.' In 2002, they bought a small but storied workshop in Charleston from a coppersmith named John Gantt. He had been making gas lanterns for the city’s historical houses for decades and was ready to retire...."
1. The Guardian has this article about a statue no one seems to love:
2. And here's a gift link to a NYT article about a statue that Trump haters cannot allow themselves to love:
We're told the Jefferson statue was made by the same sculptor who "has also sculpted Mr. Trump, with one hand holding a MAGA hat and the other raised in a fist, a reference to his gesture after the assassination attempt in Butler, Pa."
The Charlie Kirk statue was made by a sculptor who doesn't even like Kirk! He's quoted saying "Well, this guy must be out of his mind." The Guardian doesn't like Kirk either. Its article ends with the statement that the sculptor "is left with a 6ft 4in statue of a renowned racist, which he has spent $100,000 making, and which no one wants to buy."
Said Ljubisa Karovic, who "was sleeping on an early morning flight from Greece to Germany when the window next to him exploded, causing him to be partially sucked through at 20,000ft."
"... he said, powerful people 'caused workers to build things in honor of gods, heroes, battles won and the usual.' Works of land art like 'Star Axis' are 'specks in the scale of the landscape. They’re not monuments to anything except the fragility of our own perception and experience.'"
Akifumi Funatsu, the director of Gorilla Clinic, says he has noticed more clients coming to the clinic not just for cosmetic reasons, but as a matter of "social etiquette when wearing shorts." He thinks women believe that "men should have less leg hair," which has prompted them to seek laser hair removal so as not to offend those around them.
Gorilla Clinic — I get it. A man is a gorilla if he's hairy. The BBC is reporting on a survey taken by this men's hair-removal business. Who came up with this idea that it's "harassment" to have to see a man's hairy legs in the office? I'm skeptical. It's just aesthetics.
Anyway, as long as I'm talking about men in shorts, here's some video from the AC/DC concert last Sunday at Camp Randall, the UW football stadium a few blocks from our house. It was kind of funny to be lying in bed, falling asleep and hearing the live performance, which was pretty quiet by the time it reached our house:
Congressman Brandon Gill asks Smithsonian Museum director Anthea Hartig at the House Oversight Committee hearing today.
It's quite an exchange. Gill has a very well-planned set of question designed to destroy Hartig, and Hartig's defense is almost entirely restricted to long silences and diligent note-taking, as if she's endeavoring to learn from Gill:
GILL: "Director Hardig... would you say that that the goal of history, even if it's not properly carried out... is to be objective?... Doesn't that seem a little bit concerning? It it certainly does to me because as part of this white supremacy document that your organization has promoted, objectivity is a core and defining aspect of white supremacy culture. Do you think that it's the goal of the Smithsonian Institution to promote white supremacy culture?
“Hopefully this will help encourage people to just, you know, socialise more, too, because drive-thrus, you’re just like waiting,” Commissioner Beverly Shotwell told The San Francisco Chronicle. “There’s not a lot of human interaction.”
That's what we need, more lines snaking around indoors. People will get to know each other. We'll chit chat and flourish.
Or everyone will order and pay on their iPhone then park and some person or robot comes out and hands them a bag and they drive off.
"... and this is definitely mostly Graceland.... It’s a stunning masterpiece. But the lyrics are essentially him singing over Ladysmith Black Mambazo and then singing about how he’s depressed because he got divorced from Princess Leia and he’s awkward at Upper West Side parties. It was sort of loosely influenced by that, but he has these elliptical kind of lyrics; they’re hard to pin down sometimes. So a lot of the influence came from the visuals of the 'Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes' video and his performances with Ladysmith Black Mambazo on Saturday Night Live. There were a lot of 'a dorky white guy in front of an African choir' images. And I was definitely influenced by Talking Heads and Peter Gabriel...."
"... that were used in special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s unlawful hoarding of classified information. A divided federal appeals court ruled the 46th president’s privacy claims did not outweigh the 'substantial' public interest in the material... The audio recordings of those interviews became part of Hur’s investigation, with the special counsel noting in his February 2024 report that Biden showed 'diminished faculties and faulty memory,' and described the conversations as 'painfully slow, with Mr. Biden struggling to remember events.'... Biden’s attorneys have argued the conversations with Zwonitzer were candid and always intended to stay private...."
The 65-year-old man who was flipped eight feet in the air by a bison this month at Yellowstone National Park shared his story from his hospital bed. Carl Isom-McDaniel broke his femur in four places, had surgery and is now recovering at a Montana hospital.
My tag for bison is "buffalo." Sorry. I know it's a bison. I searched for "bison" in my tags, but all that came up was "Roy Orbison." Hmm. Good idea for a purple category in the NYT game "Connections."
ADDED: Back in 2012, we went to Yellowstone, and I wrote a post, with photographs, titled "Buffalo in the Mist." In the comments, I wrote these 2 things:
1. "Driving into Yellowstone, Meade and I had a conversation about whether we preferred to say 'bison'" (the technically correct term) or 'buffalo' (the colloquial american name for the beast). We decided on buffalo. It's more American and it's just a cooler word."
2. Responding to a commenter who warned me: "Careful, Althouse. Though they look gentle, they're still wild animals and should be treated as such." I wrote: "We were on a boardwalk that is about 2 miles long. You can't go any other way (unless you go back). You can't walk on the ground. We were just trying to get back out to the parking lot, and the buffalo was right there. I was scared, but I had to walk past it. There was no other way to go. I am not one of these people who go up to the animals. I'm about photographing the landscapes."
Troy Jackson, a powerful Maine legislator now running for Senate, once angrily threw a water bottle in a meeting after he couldn’t persuade a lawmaker to vote his way. He yelled at another lawmaker, prompting her to post on social media that straight men were “too emotional” to be in politics. And he cursed and shouted in a meeting with the speaker of Maine’s state House, until she kicked him out of her office. During the six years Jackson presided over Maine’s Senate, until he left office in 2024, his temper was a feature of his leadership, and one that Democratic lawmakers discussed among themselves as a problem and even raised with the governor.... [S]ome Democrats fear that Jackson’s history of conflicts with women lawmakers could hurt him in the general election against Republican Sen. Susan Collins, given that she has won past elections in the consistently blue state by appealing to independent and left-leaning women.
"In 2000, John Galliano showed his infamous 'homeless chic' couture collection. Alexander McQueen’s 'Highland Rape' show of torn dresses shocked the industry in 1995. Rei Kawakubo’s spring 1997 line, known as 'lumps and bumps,' remains one of the most significant collections of the century because it rejected traditional sex appeal, distorting and reimagining a woman’s form. It would be impossible to defend 'homeless chic' or 'Highland Rape.' Or Mr. Lagerfeld's disdain for fat bodies, a part of his personal brand, or Mr. Galliano’s antisemitic tirades.... But as fashion becomes more consolidated and homogenized... it hasn’t seemed to figure out how to provoke and shake up aesthetics and culture, creating crazes that people open their wallets to be part of...."
Said Bruce Skaug, an Idaho state representative, "who is sponsoring legislation to bar cities and counties from adopting local nondiscrimination policies that extend protection to sexual orientation or gender identity."
I'll make that a gift link. It's long and hard to find good excerpts, even though many celebrities are quoted. E.g., Dave Chappelle: "I’m so [expletive] tired of his little smug, cracker-ass commentary."
Wow, that's the first gift link I've used this month. The NYT gives 10 per month, and I try to conserve them so I don't run out. Today is the 21st, and I'd conserved them all. Maybe that's some measure of the slowness of this news month, but probably it's me and the way I've set a high threshold for certain continuing subjects.
Why would a composer of symphonies know how to write a 2-minute pop song? People love the visual equivalent of a pop song and, as with pop songs, they'll listen to a lot of them in a row. It's not as though they don't want to spend the time with the material they like. They just like snazzy little works of art that begin and end quickly.
But Greenfeld takes the position that the "attention span is shattered," even if people are spending hours looking at short video.
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That's image that sprang to mind for me as we were discussing 
Mga Post
