3 hours after the rained-out sunrise, the post-rain sun looked quite white.

Write about whatever you want in the comments.

"Maybe such freaks should come to power — those who aren’t afraid of anything, who just do things — at least there are visible changes."

Said Svetlana Popova-Znamenskaya, who "stayed in Vologda to establish an architecture practice where she restores wooden houses and builds furniture" and has "a showroom with a specialty coffee shop opposite the local Kremlin and the new monument to Ivan the Terrible."

Quoted in "He Shut Liquor Stores and Banned Abortion, All for the Glory of Russia/A firebrand governor aims to transform his region into a laboratory for the Kremlin’s reactionary ideals" (NYT)(gift like).

"He" = Georgy Y. Filimonov, "the governor of the northern region of Vologda," who has "vigorously embraced the sort of 'traditional Russian values' espoused by the Kremlin, asserting Vologda as an undistilled bastion of 'Russianness.'"

And here's a quote from Misha Priyemyshev, "a designer who worked on branding for the city before Mr. Filimonov’s arrival": "Everything is very slow here, like in a true swamp. That swamp has a lot of power — the more you move in it, the more it sucks you in."

"Our investigators lost critical hours tracking down today’s shooting suspects because Austin’s City Council chose politics over public safety...."

Our investigators lost critical hours tracking down today’s shooting suspects because Austin’s City Council chose politics over public safety and prevented APD from using license plate readers and other crime-fighting technology.

Those cameras could have helped identify suspect… https://t.co/yp4ZKdLc1a

— Michael Bullock (@MBullockATX) May 18, 2026

Here's an AP report from half an hour ago: "3 young people arrested in series of random shootings across Austin that left 4 injured." I wonder how do they know its random? They're calling it a "series." It might have been coordinated.

Equality? Ridiculous!

There's no way in the world that 7 of the top 14 novels here were written by women.

In fact, there's only one really great novel written by a woman in the past 200 years and that's Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchel.

I'd rate it as the greatest American novel of all time. https://t.co/6OJWFjTDk9

— Ted Joy (@TedJoy71) May 16, 2026

Here's the Guardian's explanation, "Who’s in, who’s out, and how many have you read? The story behind our 100 best novels list":

The women-empowering-women genre of political ad.

This new Spencer Pratt ad may be somewhat innovative in its forthright use of AI:

“You are not alone.” Yoga moms, silent majority, and a preference cascade all in one. Whether or not Angelenos elect @spencerpratt as LA mayor, he and his team are revolutionizing politics. pic.twitter.com/l4pwOSmNUH

— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) May 17, 2026

But it reminded me of something else that got plenty of attention not too long ago. I'll bet you remember this Kamala Harris ad:

Both ads depict women as inhibited in expressing their personal political preference but speaking woman-to-woman and conquering that inhibition. 

Sunrise in the rain.

Write about whatever you want in the comments.

The flowers are Golden Alexander. 

"[T]he foundation of Mr. Colbert’s success was something new to late night: hard-core, point-of-view political comedy."

"He had developed it while contributing to 'The Daily Show' on Comedy Central. A broadcast network, steeped in the traditional 'both sides' style of Johnny Carson, was going to expect him to drop that as well as the character. CBS did; Mr. Colbert tried. It didn’t work.... The network says it decided to end 'The Late Show' because it was losing at least $40 million a year. Sounds credible, doesn’t it? Maybe not.... In forcing Mr. Colbert out and shutting down a 33-year late-night franchise — while selling that post-local-news hour of airtime to a syndicated show instead of replacing him with an original program of its own creation — CBS is assenting to its own diminishment. The biggest loss is to core America values, such as the right to speak freely, even in brutally mocking terms, about those in power. Then there is the opportunity, shared by everyone, to find and be entertained by voices like that on a free national platform, or to turn them off and watch something else."

Writes Bill Carter, author of “The Late Shift” and “The War for Late Night,” in "CBS Cancels Itself, Not Just Colbert" (NYT).

The biggest criticism I'm seeing there is the failure to put something new — "an original program of its own creation" — in that slot. But maybe they know that slot is doomed. People don't watch TV the way we used to. Staying up/getting into bed early to spend that last waking hour with Johnny lest you miss the whole thing forever — there's no going back to that. 

Who jumps out of bed to answer the doorbell?

I'm reading this interview, in The London Times, with Tori Amos:

What do you wear to bed?

A slip. If I’m alone, I’ll also have, on the floor, a pair of cut-off blue jeans shorts, a Rick Owens bomber (above) and a pair of white Roxy sneakers just in case somebody rings the doorbell.

Fear of blue and desperate clinging to "character-defining grey."

"The resurfacing will dramatically and permanently transform the character-defining grey, achromatic appearance of the reflecting pool basin. The new colouration will cause the pool to resemble a large swimming pool rather than the reflective civic landscape it was designed to be, distorting the experience of the site for the millions of visitors who come to it each year."

So said the Cultural Landscape Foundation, a Washington society, quoted in The London Times, which looks like this, going all in on AI imagery:

I was going to ding the the Cultural Landscape Foundation for writing "grey" instead of "gray," but when I saw "colouration," I had to assume that The London Times imposes its British spellings on quoted material.

It's funny how people are getting cranked up over the color blue. The Foundation associates blue with backyard summer fun incompatible with what the reflective pool is supposed to be.

"His disloyalty to the man who got him elected is now a part of legend, and it’s nice to see that his political career is OVER."

Said Trump, in social media, quoted in "Trump Gets Revenge Against Republican Who Voted to Convict Him" (Bloomburg).

In a 3-candidate primary, Cassidy came in third, the other 2 advance to a runoff. Trump's candidate, Julia Letlow, came in first.

Conceding, Cassidy said "I find that people of character and integrity don’t spend their time attacking people on the internet."

"They know that American society is going to turn against them in big ways because they are the greatest and most illegitimate pirates who ever lived."

"Tech is the single most powerful force that was ever arrayed against the humanities. There is a huge difference between knowledge and information, and these asinine people have taught our population that all of knowledge can be reduced to the status of information. Press a button, you got your answer. So the whole humanistic mentality of mystery, obscurity, patience, beauty — it’s the opposite of what this technology has inculcated."

Said Leon Wieseltier, Maureen Dowd, in "What A.I. Kant Do" (NYT). Wieseltier is identified only as "editor of the journal Liberties," but I needed more context, so:

Yes, tell me about the the whole humanistic mentality of mystery, obscurity, patience, beauty under siege by the greatest and most illegitimate pirates who ever lived.

I wondered why Dowd — or whoever wrote the headline — went with the stale pun "Kant" when they could have used "Oh, the humanities!" But though I came up with that on my own and was going to use it as a kicker at the end of this post, a quick google showed it's been used and used and used.

It was even famously used, 15 years ago, as a punchline on "The Big Bang Theory":

"Well, then, prepare to be terrified. If your friends are unconvincing, this year's donations might go to say the geology department... or worse it could go to the liberal arts. Millions of dollars being showered on poets literary theorists and students of gender studies"/"Oh, the humanities!"

Sunrise.

Write about whatever you like in the comments.

"Contrast the way UFO belief operates with historical celestial apparitions, such as the aerial phenomena associated with the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal..."

"... on October, 13, 1917. On that day, approximately 70,000 people reported witnessing a variety of celestial phenomena. The people ranged from devout Catholics to atheists and skeptics who were there to disprove the testimonies of witnesses. But the institutional church influenced the interpretation of that event, and the devout welcomed their interpretation. The UFO community is not as trusting. It is characterized by suspicion of conventional authority, be that the Catholic Church or the U.S. government. Rather than being defined by a hierarchy, UFO belief has been shaped by pop culture. For decades, films and television series such as 'Star Trek' and 'Star Wars' offered cosmologies populated with advanced intelligences. These stories did not create belief in UFOs, but they helped establish a cultural vocabulary through which anomalous experiences could be understood. Most significantly, 'The X Files' popularized the idea that governments conceal knowledge about nonhuman intelligence.... Each new file release, leaked testimony or declassified video generates further interpretation rather than closure. The two most famous catchphrases from 'The X Files' — 'I want to believe' and 'the truth is out there' — express this perfectly...."

From "The UFO files reveal a hidden truth about a growing religion/Belief in alien life is on the rise — fueled by declining trust in institutions" (WaPo).

"The Girlbossification of AI/Reese Witherspoon, Mel Robbins, and Sheryl Sandberg are telling women to use ChatGPT or get left behind."

That's a headline at The Cut.

I haven't read the article (yet). I just went to AI, asked it to read the article for me, and added the prompt: "I thought 'girlboss' was a dying framework." Grok agreed with me about "girlboss."

You're spot on— "girlboss" has been widely declared dead (or at least on life support) for years. By the mid-2020s, the term had become a punchline for toxic hustle culture, burnout aesthetics, exclusionary corporate feminism, and the "rise and grind" era that promised women could "have it all" if they just leaned in harder. Cultural commentary shifted toward "soft life," "snail girl" vibes, quiet quitting, slow living, and backlash against the idea that ambition equals endless optimization under capitalism. The May 11, 2026, The Cut article you linked ("The Girlbossification of AI") essentially argues that this supposedly dying framework isn't gone—it's just been updated for the AI era. Author frames it as a revival (or mutation) where high-profile women like Reese Witherspoon, Mel Robbins, and Sheryl Sandberg are repackaging AI tools (ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, etc.) as the new essential for women's career survival and empowerment. It's no longer purely aspirational "have it all" optimism; it's more defensive: don't get left behind, don't backslide, automate the drudgery so you can cling to what you've got.

You're spot on— "girlboss" has been widely declared dead (or at least on life support) for years. By the mid-2020s, the term had become a punchline for toxic hustle culture, burnout aesthetics, exclusionary corporate feminism, and the "rise and grind" era that promised women could "have it all" if they just leaned in harder. Cultural commentary shifted toward "soft life," "snail girl" vibes, quiet quitting, slow living, and backlash against the idea that ambition equals endless optimization under capitalism. The May 11, 2026, The Cut article you linked ("The Girlbossification of AI") essentially argues that this supposedly dying framework isn't gone—it's just been updated for the AI era. Author frames it as a revival (or mutation) where high-profile women like Reese Witherspoon, Mel Robbins, and Sheryl Sandberg are repackaging AI tools (ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, etc.) as the new essential for women's career survival and empowerment. It's no longer purely aspirational "have it all" optimism; it's more defensive: don't get left behind, don't backslide, automate the drudgery so you can cling to what you've got.

But — I'm reading the article now —  The Cut isn't promoting "girlbossification." It's sick of these girlboss celebs:

"Texas Children’s Hospital will create the nation’s first 'detransition clinic,' fire five physicians and pay the state $10 million..."

"... under an unusual settlement announced Friday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). The clinic would focus on providing [free] medical care to patients who had undergone gender-affirming healthcare and work toward reversing its effects, Paxton said.... The move follows an investigation that began in 2023 after Texas passed a law banning health providers from facilitating gender-affirming medical care for minors.... In a statement, representatives from the hospital system insisted they had been compliant with all laws but were settling to 'protect our resources from endless and costly litigation.'"

The Hill reports.

I'm also reading the Axios report of this story. There's this quote from Paxton:

Sunrise.

Write about whatever you want in the comments.

"A judge in Manhattan declared a mistrial on Friday after the jury in Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial was unable to reach a verdict..."

"... on the charge that the disgraced Hollywood producer raped an aspiring actress in a hotel room in 2013. It’s the second time a jury has not been able to reach a verdict on this charge."

The NYT reports.

Screen grab from the NYT:

The typo has now been corrected, but I honestly thought for a second that "juros" might be some new slang for "jurors." You know how there's all this cutesy millennial slang like "doggo" and "kiddo." 

"What I find funny is when people play things straight. I don’t like comedy that winks at you."

Said Joe Sedelmaier, quoted in "Joe Sedelmaier Dies at 92; Ad Auteur Behind ‘Where’s the Beef?’/He directed nearly 1,000 comedic commercials, including a much-quoted spot for Wendy’s and one for FedEx featuring a manic speed talker" (NYT).

"Around 1980, mainstream psychiatry adopted a medical model."

"A new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, U.S. psychiatry’s bible of diagnoses, published that year, enshrined the change. Ever since, troubles of the mind have been viewed mostly as physiological diseases of the brain, with treatments focused largely on pharmaceuticals. The medical model was partly a reaction against psychiatry’s decades-long dominance by psychoanalysis and its offshoots.... The discipline, meanwhile, was under attack in popular culture; the antipsychiatry movie 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest' won five Oscars in 1976. The field wanted to be viewed as a true science. Then Prozac, an S.S.R.I., was released in the United States in 1987.... The idea of Prozac — and, soon, its close S.S.R.I. cousins — as an unmitigated medical advance was spread by a flood of pharmaceutical advertising. The ads presented readily comprehensible brain science: Mental illness boils down to an imbalance of chemicals.... The chemical imbalance theory has never been substantiated and has been supplanted by other hypotheses that are equally elusive to proof...."

From "The Strange Alliance Trying to Remake American Psychiatry" (NYT). By Daniel Bergner, author of "The Mind and the Moon: My Brother’s Story, the Science of Our Brains and the Search for Our Psyches."

"President Donald Trump is expected to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service in exchange for the creation of a $1.7 billion fund to compensate..."

"... allies who claim they were wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. The commission overseeing the compensation fund would have the total authority to hand out approximately $1.7 billion in taxpayer funds to settle claims brought by anyone who alleges they were harmed by the Biden administration's 'weaponization' of the legal system, including the nearly 1,600 individuals charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol attack as well as potentially entities associated with President Trump himself."

ABC News reports.

It's mid-May, the 15th, and we see deep red columbine.

Back home, it's time once again to move the avocado tree back out onto the deck. That's a big production, and I played only a small role in the process, but it was a bit more than just taking this picture:

Xi is pulling the old chair-rigging power trip.

沙发肯定是特制的，习近平座的沙发明显高过川普的沙发，而川普比习近平身高10厘米，中共在这些细节上处处用尽心机。 pic.twitter.com/qP4ifU8im7

— David Tsai/蔡慎坤 (@cskun1989) May 15, 2026

Reminds me of the time Trump confronted David Letterman. It was December 2, 1987:

"How come this seat is at such a low level? You know, I'm looking at him. He's got this stage rigged, folks.... That seat is a good six inches higher than my seat."

Even better, the dictators cranking up barber chairs in "The Great Dictator" — here.

"In one scene, a military police officer asks Jesus to produce his identification. 'I don’t have one!' Jesus says. 'I don’t have anything!' In another scene, Jesus walks on water by becoming a duck."

From "Frank Stack, Painter Who Secretly Drew 'The Adventures of Jesus,' Dies at 88 For 20 years, he hid his identity behind the nom de plume Foolbert Sturgeon as he chronicled Christ’s encounters with modern-day hypocrites in comic-book form" (NYT)(gift link, so you can read more, including some of the comics).

“I’ve always loved to see my stuff in print, but I was on the horns of a dilemma,” he wrote. “Did I dare to publish the cartoons under my own name when my job was at risk if the university ever noticed that I worked in the most disgraceful of all media — the awful COMIC BOOK?” 

Entertaining... or a dire warning against high-speed chasing?

Footage released by authorities in Wisconsin shows a suspect's car go flying over another vehicle as they attempted to flee.

The suspect, who is being held on multiple charges, was eventually arrested after a short foot chase, officials said. https://t.co/k49wKvl3pK pic.twitter.com/vkphFcC8s2

— ABC News (@ABC) May 15, 2026

There are other ways to catch a fleeing person.

Musk, re-enjoying what the camera caught, his supreme coolness.

pic.twitter.com/QMgqquoGkS

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 15, 2026

"Honestly, before this, I had never heard of Spencer Pratt. The thing I am concerned [about] and feel about him is that I feel like..."

"... he’s exploiting the grief of people in the Palisades, and I just think that’s just reprehensible."

Said L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, fighting for reelection and surprised by this upstart, quoted in "Karen Bass is terrible at this" (Washington Examiner).

The feeling I get:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by lulu (@retrofilmglow)

Sunrise (and 5.2% moon).

Talk about whatever you want in the comments.

"Speaking just ahead of Trump, Xi... said a major question for the two countries was whether they could avoid the 'Thucydides Trap'...."

I'm reading "Xi asks Trump if U.S. and China can avoid 'Thucydides Trap' at high-stakes summit" (CNBC). (That's the original headline. The headline was rewritten, perhaps to avoid mystification, as "Xi warns Trump: Mishandling Taiwan will put U.S.-China relationship in 'great jeopardy.'")

You probably know Thucydides was a historian in ancient Greece, but is "Thucydides trap" a common term? It's pretty recent, according to Wikipedia, coined and popularized in the last 10 years, and used specifically in the context of the U.S. and China. 

"Applicants are not entitled to a stay of an adverse court order based on lost profits from their criminal enterprise."

"They cannot, in any legally relevant sense, be irreparably harmed by a court order that makes it more difficult for them to commit crimes."

Writes Justice Thomas, dissenting from the Supreme Court's grant of a stay in Danco Laboratories v. Louisiana, pending its disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari. The stay permits Danco to continue to ship its abortion drug mifepristone, undercutting Louisiana's law criminalizing abortion.

There's also an Alito dissent. Excerpt: "What is at stake is the perpetration of a scheme to undermine our decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 597 U. S. 215 (2022), which restored the right of each State to decide how to regulate abortions within its borders. Some States responded to Dobbs by making it even easier to obtain an abortion than it was before, and that is their prerogative.... [M]ifepristone shipped to Louisiana... causes nearly 1,000 abortions per month...."

"Reviving a political dynasty is best not left to chance.... But just hours into his Day 1 launch, the candidate abruptly announced a change of plans..."

"... according to three people familiar with the events. Forget dialing for dollars — Mr. Schlossberg said he needed a nap. He then effectively disappeared for the day, leaving his team reeling.... [A] group of fellow Democrats, family friends, union leaders and others with direct knowledge of the campaign described an operation so erratic and plagued by turnover that it raises questions about how he might handle himself as a member of Congress. Especially early on, Mr. Schlossberg would regularly blow off weekly strategy meetings called for his benefit, and made a habit of disappearing for long stretches with little notice or explanation. (He did carve out time to swim or paddleboard in the Hudson most days.)...." 

That's the NYT in "Inside Jack Schlossberg’s Chaotic Campaign to Revive Camelot/Erratic behavior and staff turnover have colored Mr. Schlossberg’s bid for a House seat in New York, raising questions about his readiness for office." 

Sounds like a lot of Democrats want to be rid of Schlossberg and the NYT is there to help. 

What did he do that's so bad — sleep and swim? I'd say let Schlossberg be Schlossberg.

And the Dems look desperate. Another NYT tab I have open in my browser right now is "Democrats Can’t Let This Antisemitic Sex Therapist Win Her Runoff." 

"Right now they’re eating a lot of sedges, which are a plant with high moisture content in it, because they’re trying to get their stomachs working again."

"It’s not like they’re ferociously hungry and are looking to eat the first person that comes by."

Said Andy McMullen, founder of Bearwise, "an organization specializing in bear safety training," quoted in "Black Bear Fatally Mauls Uranium Contractor in Northern Canada/The attack, at a remote uranium mining site in northern Saskatchewan, was only the fourth fatal black bear encounter in the province’s recorded history, officials said" (NYT).

Another McMullen quote: "Here in Canada, unless you’re in downtown Toronto, you’re in bear country."

"I understand that the job market is rough, but what is it with this lemming-like behavior where so many young people feel they need to be in NYC?"

"It shows a real lack of imagination. NYC is not that great; there are alternatives."

"Move. Go elsewhere. Find meaning and joy in your life outside of NYC. It exists. This is a big country."

"I must be the one confused …. it seems. Average student debt of $38k but move to the most expensive city without a job and complain about the affordability of hip-hop dance classes?"

Those are the top 3 highest-rated comments on the NYT article "In a City of Big Dreams, Many Young Adults See a Cloudy Future/A bleak job market. Rising rents. Huge debt. In New York and other cities, traditional milestones of adulthood feel further away for some 20- and 30-year-olds."

Right under the headline, there's a photograph of a 24-year-old man, lying flat on his back in bed and clutching a pillow. He looks despondent. We're told he "feels guilty telling friends he can’t join them for dinner. He wants to start a family one day, but worries. 'I can’t even afford myself, so how am I going to afford someone else?' he said. And he laments that he can’t pursue some of the hobbies that have always brought him joy, such as hip-hop dance. Classes are too expensive: about $25."

Well, by all means, cater to their sensitive feelings.

"N.Y.U. Students Object to Speaker Who Calls Their Generation Coddled."

That's a NYT headline, and of course, I suspect it of being intended to provoke the kind of sarcasm I put up there in the post title.

The person the students "object to" is Jonathan Haidt, who's been selected as the speaker at their graduation. As the NYT puts it: "the choice reflects a dismissal of their values at a moment they should cherish." He's getting the platform of their graduation ceremony.

In his breakout book, “The Coddling of the American Mind,” he and his co-author, Greg Lukianoff, argued that schools cultivated a mentality of fragility, making personal safety paramount, while de-emphasizing problem-solving skills. Students, they concluded, were insulated from encountering uncomfortable situations and upsetting ideas, leaving them ill-prepared to handle difficulty as adults....

“Many students have reported feelings of disappointment, disgust, unenthusiasm, defeat, and embarrassment,” the letter went on, expressing regret that their celebratory moment had instead “become another instance of being misunderstood.”

The students' letter noted that a recent NYU graduating class got Taylor Swift as their speaker. Another got Sonia Sotomayor. Haidt is a professor at N.Y.U. Maybe the students wanted more of an exciting personality, but certainly not a scold! You can understand the disappointment, disgust, unenthusiasm, defeat, and embarrassment. You're asking your family to come to this big event for you, one where students 4 years ahead of you got Taylor Swift, and you have to tell them it's a business school professor who writes about how Americans are too fragile these days. Yeah, I see how "embarrassment" got on that list of feelings. 

"Bitching about a season of TV that's not even written yet....gotta love the internet."

Says one comment in a Reddit thread about the HBO series "Rooster," after a line of dialogue in the first season finale episode that suggested a new narrative for one of the secondary characters.

Somebody else says: "Wouldn’t be the first time a studio monitored fan reactions on Reddit and took them into consideration while working on future seasons."

What were the other times? Well, back in 2017, there was "Reddit users correctly guess ‘Westworld’ season 2 plot twist/Westworld creator Jonathan Nolan says he's had to re-write the script" (NME). Nolan said: "It’s annoying sometimes when people guess the twists and then blog about it, but the engagement is gratifying, on one level, because if someone guesses your twist, it means you’ve done an adequate job.... You can’t complain when people are that engaged. It’s very gratifying — but stop doing it, please."

Stop doing it? Ridiculous! If there's one thing people instinctively do with any new material that comes their way, it's try to predict the future. If we weren't designed to do that, we wouldn't be drawn into stories with plots in the first place. 

Here's a neuroscientist talking to Joe Rogan about her study of the capacity of the human mind to predict the future, which she seems to believe in:

"The US and China 'should be partners and not rivals,' President Xi has said, as he and President Trump exchanged warm words during bilateral talks in Beijing."

"Trump praised his host as a 'great leader' and 'friend,' predicting that their countries would have 'a fantastic future together.' However, Xi warned the two nations could come into conflict if the Taiwan question is 'mishandled.' He told his US counterpart that 'the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,' according to remarks published by Chinese state media shortly after talks began.
'If mishandled, the two nations could collide or even come into conflict, pushing the entire China-US relationship into a highly perilous situation,' Xi added."

The London Times reports.

I'm quoting the UK newspaper, but I did note the Washington Post and New York Times headlines for this story. Both use the same verb: 

The Washington Post: "Xi warns Trump that mishandling Taiwan could spark 'conflicts.'"

The New York Times: "Xi Warns Trump on Taiwan at Beijing Summit."

Warns. 

That puts Xi in the dominant position. Trump is on the receiving end.

By contrast, the London Times headline is "Xi tells Trump: China and US should be partners, not rivals."

Tells. That makes a difference. I chose the UK newspaper because I'm put off by our own newspapers' endless antagonism toward Trump and seeming desire to cause anxiety to Americans.

Sunrise.

Write about whatever you want in the comments.

"A group of Miami residents sued President Donald Trump, Florida officials and trustees of Miami Dade College on Tuesday over Trump’s planned presidential library..."

"... claiming that the college’s decision to hand over a coveted parcel of land for the project constitutes an illegal benefit for the president. The litigants — who include a current Miami Dade College student — allege that the land transfer violates the Constitution’s domestic emoluments clause, which bars states from attempting to influence a president by giving him gifts. They argue that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his handpicked board of trustees at the state-operated college were wrong to give a nearly three-acre parcel in downtown Miami to Trump’s library foundation last year in exchange for $10. The county’s property appraiser had said the land was worth more than $67 million...."

From "Trump’s plan to use his library as a hotel sparks lawsuit/Litigants allege Florida officials violated the Constitution’s bar on attempts to influence the president through gifts, by handing over a valuable parcel of land" (WaPo).

Trump in China.

Wheels down in Beijing!

President Donald J. Trump lands for a landmark summit with China, greeted by Vice President Han Zheng during a welcome ceremony. pic.twitter.com/4q2mATZrn4

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 13, 2026

Thrusting.

Giants were asked not to do the thrusting celebration anymore so instead they were as polite as possible https://t.co/lesg7G6iVl pic.twitter.com/NKjHORMPVo

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 13, 2026

Oh! I found the "ratbag" video!

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A post shared by ITV News (@itvnews)

We discussed the Rod Stewart quote based on the text alone, yesterday, here.

"Once the domain of mellow Gen X-ers in the ’80s and ’90s, the hacky sack is experiencing a renaissance at the hands — well, the feet — of Gen Z."

"High school students around the country are freshly enthusiastic about the toys, crocheted bean bags that once hung in the air like the scent of marijuana. Parents and teachers mostly seem glad to watch young people be entranced by something other than their phones...."

From "Hacky Sack Mounts a Comeback With Gen Z/Teenagers are booting the game out of the 1990s. 'It’s kind of bringing everybody together,' one said" (NYT).

"Along Colombia’s main river, fishing nets once filled with catfish are coming up emptier — replaced by the wake of churning beasts that shouldn’t be there."

"Fishermen are terrified to cast their hooks at night. 'They’ve changed our lifestyle,' said Giovanny Contreras, a fisherman, as he navigated his boat past the bulbous eyes of a male hippo peering at him.... It began as a drug lord’s whim: four hippos that Pablo Escobar brought as exotic pets for his sprawling estate in the 1980s. Now an unruly herd has bedeviled Colombia for decades...."

From "The Fight to Euthanize Pablo Escobar’s Hippos in Colombia/Colombia is planning to cull a population of wild hippos, the offspring of the drug lord’s pets, dividing a town where hippos are the main draw" (NYT).

It sounds easy. Kill them all. It's an invasive species — dangerous and damaging — and huge.

But no: "The hippos have long lent a touch of magical realism to daily life in Doradal. Visitors are greeted by kitschy hippo statues, locals offer hippo-watching tours and some residents have reportedly stolen baby hippos to try to breed them as pets. Many residents regard the beasts with a mix of pride, pity and prudence...."

Magical realism? The literary style? Is this related to "One Hundred Years of Solitude"? Would that be about attracting tourists to Colombia — readers who romanticize the destination and can be drawn into thinking they can see something dreamlike here — or is it about some kind of genuine culture of incorporating amazing new things into the traditional world?