"This whole thing has been really surreal and absurd... it’s a relief, but there’s a detachment to that relief of extreme concern for other people and for our country."

Said David Hearn, "the Olympian," quoted in "Judge Dismisses Former Olympian’s Felony Charge in Reflecting Pool Case/The move ends the criminal case for David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, after prosecutors acknowledged that the Trump administration’s claims of vandalism were false" (NYT gift link).

"The episode culminated in a consequential showdown in the Oval Office between [Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney], who appeared to be fighting for her job, and Mr. Trump, with Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, in attendance. Ms. Pirro told Mr. Trump that Mr. Burgum had misled him with a self-serving cover story for his own mistakes. Mr. Trump seemed considerably less angry by day’s end, and Ms. Pirro emerged from the meeting with her job intact, for now."

And here, with a gift link, is "Inside the Oval Office Showdown Between Trump and Jeanine Pirro/Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told President Trump that his interior secretary, Doug Burgum, had misled him with a self-serving cover story for his own mistakes."

That article, from August 4th, says "This account... demonstrated a core truth of Mr. Trump’s second term: Anyone willing to contradict the president is in trouble, even if the dissenter happens to be a family friend who has faithfully executed his prosecutorial agenda over the years."

Yeah? But Pirro got her way, and she's still there. So much for "a core truth."

The pro-algae crowd...

More footage from the liberal ‘Pro-Algae protest” that took place in Washington DC

Liberals cheer for algae growth at The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to spite Donald Trump cleaning the area

Imagine this being your life…. I know what we’re all thinking, what are the… pic.twitter.com/i1Fo6Su8oQ

— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) June 21, 2026

... and the rubber rippers...

🚨 NEW: Fox’s Peter Doocy just asked Jeanine Pirro if ABC’s Jonathan Karl is in trouble after President Trump called him out for ‘sticking his hand in the Reflecting Pool trying to rip the rubber off the surface.’

Doocy: “Judge, is he in trouble?”

Pirro: “If you damage,… pic.twitter.com/zfaK2TJHHz

— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) June 21, 2026

"During the press conference on Thursday, Pirro said the two Guardsmen were sworn in 24 hours prior to being shot."

"A joint task force spokesperson later said the two Guard members were deputized less than 24 hours before the shooting to 'maintain their status to conduct presence patrols,' according to a joint task force spokesperson."

From "What we know about the 2 National Guard members shot near White House/The two soldiers are still in critical condition" (ABC New).

Pirro = Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

"The victims were identified as 20-year-old Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and 24-year-old U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe."

The quoted text gives the impression that Beckstrom and Wolfe were under-prepared but I don't think that impression is correct. I think the swearing in was the activation for this immediate mission. Both had been in the National Guard for years.

UPDATE: I'm just hearing President Trump announce that Sarah Beckstrom has died.

I wonder: Rewrite that headline.

If you puzzle: A command is not a wondering, you see my problem — one of my problems — with the headline "Why hasn't Sam Bankman-Fried already been forced back to the US for FTX fiasco, critics wonder: 'Lock him up'/SBF's father, Joseph Bankman, notably helped Sen. Elizabeth Warren draft tax legislation." (Fox News).

1. Whether you're a "critic" or not, you can't "wonder" "Lock him up." You might wonder why he's not locked up. But you can't wonder an imperative.

2. I guess you could ignore the colon — which indicates that what the critics wonder is "Lock him up." Then you could see the critics as wondering why SBF hasn't been "forced back to the US." That is something that can be wondered. A question mark might help.

3. I find it hard to believe anyone is wondering that. There are no charges against SBF — not yet. I found that article because I was googling to see if SBF was actively fleeing from legal consequences. Isn't that what most of us would expect him to do — what we would do under the circumstances?

4. And that subheadline! What's the point of that if not to insinuate that SBF has political connections that are the reason he's not already extradited and locked up? It's such a weak insinuation. SBF's father is eminent enough to have some connection to drafting a tax bill, and — if you go to the link in the article — you'll see it was just about simplifying tax filing.

5. If you go on to read the article, you'll see it's not really about what "critics," plural, are saying. It's just about what Judge Jeanine Pirro said on Fox News, on "The Five." And Jesse Watters "agreed."

6. Here's something to wonder: Why is Fox News so trashy?