We're getting a new car this morning.

Trading in the Honda CRV.

UPDATE: New baby delivered:

Razor ad that's "a celebration of body hair."

For more than 100 years, women’s razor brands haven’t shown women’s body hair... until now. Introducing Project Body Hair. A celebration of body hair, wherever it is or isn’t. See more: https://t.co/UdKKQApFoF. pic.twitter.com/Aj4CNTtdHQ

— Billie (@billiebody) June 26, 2018

Via The Guardian, which says:

Billie co-founder Georgina Gooley said: “Only showing smooth, hairless legs seemed like an archaic way of representing women. We have always said shaving is a choice. It’s your hair and no one should tell you what to do with it. We’re excited to launch a campaign that will help normalise body hair and change the one-dimensional way in which women are portrayed.”

But there's still some reticence:

As well as showing women shaving their legs, the Billie ad shows women combing and blow-drying underarm hair and addresses the prickly subject – via images of a cactus – of shaving pubic hair.

Cactus!!

"On the one hand, he insists that the writer’s life is 'almost unapproachable, full of ambiguities.'"

"On the other, he defaults to the writer’s highest calling, his obligation 'to be vigilant and unsparing'. Spend time with a writer, he declares, and what do you get? 'Wool-gathering, silences, rants, evasions, the contents of a cracker barrel.' But then... in fewer than 500 words, he tells us all we need to know and it’s almost banal in its simplicity. His divided self derives from his parents. On his maternal side, he comes from upwardly mobile, highly successful Italian-American late-Victorian immigrants whose 'competitiveness', he declares, made the Dittami family 'insufferably pretentious'. On his paternal side, his 'dear old dad’s' people were 'country folk, a kindly, laconic, unpretentious and uneducated family' who called him 'Paulie'. As the smoke clears and the mirrors cease to dazzle, we encounter the 'Paulie' who loves his dad and finds his mother 'demanding, thin-skinned and impatient'. Her legacy to her son is 'a horror of weak and vain, nagging and castrating women'. When Paulie hears the 'snarl of the she-wolf', he heads for the hills, driven by a determination never to become 'the person my father became in his old age, reduced to dependency on an unhappy woman.':

From a review in The Guardian of a new collection of essays by Paul Theroux. Here's the book, "Figures in a Landscape: People and Places."

"#TrumpDerangementSyndrome can be career ending."

BEWARE! #TrumpDerangementSyndrome can be career ending. https://t.co/qm86ya6PlJ

— Larry Elder (@larryelder) July 1, 2018

From the linked Hill article:

A newspaper reporter in Massachusetts resigned on Friday after falsely claiming in a tweet that the gunman who opened fire on a newsroom in Maryland a day earlier was wearing a hat bearing President Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."...

"Folks, My 21-year career as a 'journalist,' a fancy term that makes my skin crawl, frankly, came to a screeching halt yesterday with one stupid, regrettable tweet," [wrote Conor Berry, a reporter at The Republican in Springfield, Mass.] "Can't take it back; wish I could. My sincere apologies to all good, hardworking reporters and to POTUS supporters."

Does he say where he got the false information? Did he make it up? Did he have a source who lied?

3 Daily Beast headlines.

1. "Michelle Wolf Compares Ivanka Trump to Herpes: ‘You Always Show Up When We’re About to Get F*cked.'"

2. "Anthony Kennedy, You Are a Total Disgrace to America." "And now we learn that on top of everything else, Kennedy may just be corrupt. So his son Justin, if last week’s New York Times account is correct, in essence kept Donald Trump in business for the better part of a decade, overseeing $1 billion worth of loans to the Trump Organization via Deutsche Bank, where he worked. Justin and the Trump kids are buddies, it seems. Justin and Trump himself are palsy-walsy."

3. "John Oliver Is Devastated Over SCOTUS: ‘Everything Is Terrible Now.'" (Oliver was a lot better than the Beast's headline makes him seem. He was mocking the Donald Trump Jr. tweet that said, "OMG! Just when you thought this week couldn't get more lit... I give you Anthony Kennedy's retirement from #SCOTUS," which clearly deserves the mockery Oliver deftly delivered: "I’m afraid I’m going to have to disagree with Mister Junior on this, because I don’t think this is ‘lit’ at all. I mean, it’s obvs crayAF, no one is denying that fam, but I would argue that this week’s news was neither lit nor on fleek nor was it three fire emojis. Now, granted, I’m still a little shook jsyk, but I personally believe Kennedy’s retirement is super werpt. And I’m happy to announce that in saying that, all of the slang words I just used are now officially dead forever—and that includes ‘werpt,’ a term that doesn’t even exist for which I preemptively ruined just in case.")

"Indiana police say they seized 'Trump-shaped ecstasy pills.'"

The Daily News reports.

They are orange and stamped with a face. On the back are the words "great again," an apparent reference to Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."

"López Obrador’s win comes after widespread disillusionment with outgoing Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s ruling PRI party, which was in power from 1929 to 2000..."

"... and regained the presidency in 2012. Mexico’s other establishment party, the conservative National Action Party (PAN), has also had a hard time shaking off criticism for not handling the country’s widespread violence and official corruption. PRI's José Antonio Meade and candidate Ricardo Anaya, a former president of the PAN party who represented a coalition of left- and right-wing parties, both conceded the election to López Obrador on Sunday night."

Love that name, Meade.

That's from the Politico article on the Mexican election. The winner, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, founded a new political party only 4 years ago.

López Obrador’s victory leaves the two traditional parties reeling, as candidates from his Morena party were also poised to gain a stronger foothold in local, state and congressional elections....

“It conceptually makes sense — Mexican voters say, ‘We’ve tried the PRI, we’ve tried the PAN, let’s try something new,'” Carlos Gutierrez, former Commerce secretary during George W. Bush’s administration, told POLITICO. “It’s the allure of change, because people are fed up.”

From the Wikipedia article about the Morena party:

The National Regeneration Movement (Spanish: Movimiento Regeneración Nacional, MORENA) is a left-wing political party in Mexico...

The 2018 Mexican general election will be the first presidential election where MORENA will participate. MORENA is in a coalition with left-wing Labor Party (PT) and right-wing Social Encounter Party (PES) under the name "Juntos Haremos Historia."

"Juntos Haremos Historia" means "Together We'll Make History." How does it work to have a right-wing party in a coalition with a left-wing party? "Social Encounter Party (Spanish: Partido Encuentro Social, PES) is a Mexican conservative political party established on the national level in 2014":

The Social Encounter Party was founded in 2006 by Dr. Hugo Eric Flores Cervantes, a pastor of a Neo-Pentecostal church that supported Felipe Calderón in the 2006 presidential election.... The party is primarily composed of evangelical Christians, though it has declared itself as "not religious" in character.... The PES tends to include many strands of Christian humanist thinking and is generally socially conservative, though Flores has stated that it is a "family" party....It opposes same-sex marriage and was responsible for reforms to the Baja California constitution in 2008 that established marriage as "between one man and one woman".... Likewise, it opposes abortion and pornographic magazines....

ADDED: From the NYT article about the election results:

Mr. López Obrador will inherit an economy that has seen only modest growth over the last few decades, and one of his biggest challenges will be to convince foreign investors that Mexico will remain open for business....

Though political rivals have painted him as a radical on par with Hugo Chavez, the former socialist leader of Venezuela, Mexico’s president-elect has vowed not to raise the national debt and to maintain close relations with the United States.

Mr. López Obrador, who is commonly referred to by his initials, AMLO, has a history of working with the private sector, and has appointed a respected representative to handle negotiations the North American Free Trade Agreement.

“Today AMLO is a much more moderate, centrist politician who will govern the business community with the right hand, and the social sectors and programs with the left,” said Antonio Sola, who created the effective fear campaign that branded Mr. López Obrador as a danger to Mexico in the 2006 election he lost. “The great difference between then and now is that the dominant emotion among voters is fury,” Mr. Sola said. “And anger is much stronger than fear.”

At the Self-Portrait Café...

... take a look at yourself.

"The other crux of my discontent with The Simpsons comes from the way Marge is continually treated like a doormat. "

"Obviously, The Simpsons started in the 1989, before 'political correctness'—otherwise known as being tolerant and conscientious towards people—was a concern for a lot of folks. I didn’t go in expecting it to be free of prejudice, but the fact that people still love the show and considered it progressive for its time gave me a kernel of hope. Not so, at least not when it came to the abuse heaped on Marge. I don’t understand why she doesn’t just divorce Homer’s dumb ass."

From a Vice article I read because of this:

The Simpsons is horrible and problematic and not funny and Lisa is the only good part and stop laughing at it, explains Vice's expert millennial garbage babyhttps://t.co/cvs2OcX5oM

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) July 1, 2018

Imagine all the sitcoms you'd have to reject if you were distracted by thinking: Why don't these people get a divorce?

And maybe a better question is: Why don't married people quit thinking that divorce is a solution to their difficulties? Stick it out people! Like Roseanne and Dan! Or will the new Roseanneless "Roseanne" give us the Conner household after Dan has divorced the angry, incorrigible Roseanne?

"The Picture of Dorian Gray."

At the Art Institute of Chicago, a man stops to look at "The Picture of Dorian Gray," a painting by Ivan Albright that was used in the 1945 movie version of the Oscar Wilde book.

Here's the fantastic scene in the movie when the portrait is revealed. The pacing, the music, and the sudden use of color in a black and white movie make the revelation surprisingly visceral, even though you know what you are going to see.

From the book:

“Years ago, when I was a boy,” said Dorian Gray, crushing the flower in his hand, “you met me, flattered me, and taught me to be vain of my good looks. One day you introduced me to a friend of yours, who explained to me the wonder of youth, and you finished the portrait of me that revealed to me the wonder of beauty. In a mad moment, that, even now, I don’t know whether I regret or not, I made a wish, perhaps you would call it a prayer.... It has destroyed me.”

“I don’t believe it is my picture.”

“Can’t you see your ideal in it?” said Dorian, bitterly.

“My ideal, as you call it....”

“As you called it.”

“There was nothing evil in it, nothing shameful. You were to me such an ideal as I shall never meet again. This is the face of a satyr.”

“It is the face of my soul.”

“Christ! what a thing I must have worshipped! It has the eyes of a devil.”

“Each of us has Heaven and Hell in him, Basil,” cried Dorian, with a wild gesture of despair.

ADDED: The painting is not properly viewed as a "movie prop," as one commenter puts it. At the Art Institute there was a special exhibit devoted to Albright (titled "Flesh"). Here's one of the most striking paintings (from 1930/1931), "And God Created Man in His Own Image":



There was also a collection of self-portraits, including this one from 1982:

"Is he a doofus or is he an evil genius? You've got to pick one."

"Shark drags woman into crocodile-infested waters in Australia."

Headline at Fox News. The woman is okay now, so you are free to joke about sharks and crocodiles working together. Also the woman did something very stupid (and she admits it was stupid — “completely my fault... just a blonde doing a stupid thing"):

[Melissa] Brunning told the West Australian that she didn't realize she shouldn’t hand feed a shark, until the animal became "like a Hoover," sucking her right index finger into its mouth full of rows of razor-sharp teeth.

“I think the shark was in shock as much as I was ... the only way I can describe it is this immense pressure and it felt like it was shredding it off the bone,” she told the paper. “I came up and I was like, ‘I’ve lost my finger, my finger’s gone.’”

The shark also pulled her into the water of Dugong Bay, which is inhabited by saltwater crocodiles that can grow up to 23 feet long and weigh more than a ton, according to Sky News.

"It’s not the shark’s fault at all, but it could have been a lot worse,” she told the paper, adding, "I’m not a shark victim .. I have full respect for sharks, I think they’re incredible. I’ve always had the opinion that when you’re in the water, they’re top of the food chain, it’s their domain."

Respect... and keep your distance. Don't hand-feed a shark.

By the way, there is video of the attack at the link, but I won't watch it.

Also, the shark was a tawny nurse shark, which does sound rather sweet. But don't try to nurse one!

"Holliday identifies as a fat woman; we chose to give her a platform because she has insightful things to say about thriving in a world that devalues bodies of size."

We’re thrilled to share our first ever digital cover, featuring model, author, and fat-positivity activist Tess Holliday (@tessholliday). From editor-in-chief @carolynkylstra’s editor’s letter: “Holliday identifies as a fat woman; we chose to give her a platform because she has insightful things to say about thriving in a world that devalues bodies of size. We also chose to feature her because size representation is necessary, especially for a national health media brand that can help guide the conversation about what it means to be healthy and how to make health accessible. You don’t know how healthy or unhealthy a person is just by looking at them, you don’t know what their health goals and priorities are, and you don’t know what they’ve already done or are planning to do for their health going forward. And moreover, you should know that concern trolling—using a person’s perceived health to justify making them feel bad about themselves—isn’t just counterproductive, it’s abusive.” Tap the link in bio to read the rest of the letter. — Photographer: @catherineservel, Wardrobe Styling: @marpeidro, Hair: @christianmarc at @forwardartists using @randco, Makeup: @kristinhilton at @thewallgroup, Manicure: @nailsbyemikudo at @opusbeauty | #TeamSELF

A post shared by SELF (@selfmagazine) on Jun 26, 2018 at 7:01am PDT

I like that Tess Holliday's fat positivity gives support to a choice I made many years ago: to use the word "fat" as my tag for the topic of being fat. I've been criticized for using the word as if the word itself is an insult. "Thin" isn't considered an insult. Likewise, "skinny." Say "fat" for fat.

Misread headline that puzzled me: "Ambassador says Trump wrong, quits."

I was all: So how did he say it? Troohmp? Tahrump? Tramp? Tromp? And why quit over that? Yes, it's embarrassing, but man up, ambassador. 

It is a man. It's James D. Melville, the ambassador to Estonia. And he didn't mispronounce the President's name. He expressed the opinion that Trump is doing the wrong things, The Journal Gazette reports:

“For the President to say EU was 'set up to take advantage of the United States, to attack our piggy bank,' or that 'NATO is as bad as NAFTA' is not only factually wrong, but proves to me that it's time to go.”...

Melville is a senior U.S. career diplomat who has served as the American ambassador in the Baltic nation and NATO member of Estonia since 2015....

That is, an Obama appointee.

I like the way this Journal Gazette article just rambles on to other topics: "Merkel reworking asylum procedures... Campus hopes to save some ash trees... Deaf puppy rescued from crevice..."

Volunteers erupted in cheers as the pup – named Toffee – was pulled out of the narrow hole around midnight Saturday with the help of a snare and some food. Toffee fell into the inches-wide space around 5 p.m. Thursday. Firefighters, cave rescue crews and plumbers joined the rescue effort, lowering nets, snares and food to try to retrieve Toffee.

Toffee!!



That happened in Huntsville, Alabama, not Estonia, and the food used (I read elsewhere) was sardines. The puppy is an Australian Shepherd mix, so again, not Estonia-related. So here's a picture of an Estonian hound:



According to Wikipedia,

The Estonian Hound’s development was announced by an ultimatum issued by the Soviet Union’s Ministry of Agriculture and Economy in 1947, which ordered every Soviet Republic to establish a local breed of hunting dogs to replace the large breeds of hunting dogs bred at that moment. These large dogs were blamed for the rapid decline of Estonia’s wildlife population; it was established that only dogs with a maximum height of 17 inches were allowed to hunt. The result was a very agile and hard driven breed that has enjoyed tremendous popularity since then: the modern Estonian Hound. After Estonia regained its independence, the Estonian Hound was proclaimed the country’s national dog.

Shattering the already fragile architecture of the Democratic Party...

This NYT article by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns — "As Trump Consolidates Power, Democrats Confront a Rebellion in Their Ranks" — begins with a very big mouthful of a sentence:

The pitched battle looming over the Supreme Court, along with a jolt to the Democratic leadership at the ballot box last Tuesday, is threatening to shatter the already fragile architecture of the Democratic Party, as an activist rebellion on the left and a lurch to the right in Washington propels the party toward a moment of extraordinary conflict and forced reinvention.

This is why I have the tag "Democratic Party in Trumpland."

My main question would be: Is the Democratic Party capable of reinvention? It can only be "forced" to try to reinvent itself. What's it supposed to do? It could crumble apart and die or shrivel into impotence.

More of the article:

And as the Democratic National Committee moves to eliminate superdelegates — the elected officials and party elites who help determine presidential nominees — there is widespread expectation that traditional power brokers should cede more authority to the activists on social media, often millennials and people of color, who are increasingly steering the party’s agenda....

The turmoil on the left mirrors that of Republicans in the first two years of Mr. Obama’s administration, when Democrats controlled all the levers of government and left the Tea Party-inflected Republican Party to thrash around in impotent protest, raging with an energy that eventually propelled it back to power....

Tea-Party-inflected, not Tea-Party-infected. Mustn't refer to people as disease. Add the "l" and speak of them in terms of a vocal intonation expressing a change of mood.

I read the whole article in the hope of answering my question, but I really didn't find anything I could quote on the subject. Really, that first sentence, despite its crazy length, pithily sums up everything the authors can find to say.

"Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez name-dropped her lipstick brand and it sold out."

Reports CBS News, breathlessly, with tweet appended...

I have been getting many inquiries about my debate lip color in the last two days.

I GOT YOU.

It’s Stila “Stay All Day” Liquid in Beso. 💄 pic.twitter.com/xhkxSXZXCO

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) June 17, 2018

... and Democratic Party upended.