Sunrise — 4:53, 5:28.

"People should be ebullient and happy.... you have to sit back and enjoy this particular period in our history...."

"A senile man refuses to abdicate the presidency. He's being encouraged to stay in the race by his wife, a woman who at 55 years old got a doctorate of education and makes people call her doctor. She's not a doctor. She's no more of a doctor than I'm a doctor. His son, a crack addict... is encouraging him to stay in the race. His wife is saying stay in the race. Everybody else is pulling out... and he still refuses to leave. The senile president refuses to leave. You must enjoy it. You must sit back and enjoy it.... The media has been covering for Biden... and the campaign just dribbled him out for a press conference here a state of the union there — very scripted, very tightly controlled appearances.... They juiced him for the state of the union and it worked and drugs don't always work... so whatever they shot him up with,  whatever... Pulp Fiction adrenaline shot they gave him through the... breast plate.... I'm not a doctor — Jill is — but whatever — that didn't work here...."

In case you want to sit back and enjoy the Biden debacle, there's no better companion than Tim Dillon....

Fungus of the Day.

"A lengthy manifesto written by Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale won’t be released to the public because its copyright now belongs to her victims’ loved ones..."

"... a judge has ruled. Families of the three children and three staffers gunned down last year by Hale, 28, at the private Christian Covenant School can block media outlets’ access to the writings, Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles ruled Thursday night. 'The original writings, journals, art, photos and videos created by Hale are subject to an exception to the [Tennessee Public Records Act ] created by the federal Copyright Act,' Myles wrote in court documents.... Interest in Hales’ writings stem from the assertion by police that she was 'assigned female at birth' but may have identified as a transgender man...."

The NY Post reports.

Deborah Fisher, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, criticized the judge's opinion: "To say that evidence collected by police can be copyrighted by the criminal, or the surviving parent or spouse of the criminal, does not bode well for the transparency of the police or the judicial system."

But the article says the judge said the victims' families own the copyright. 

At the Vampire Café...

... drink some conversation.

("Munch himself always claimed it showed nothing more than 'just a woman kissing a man on the neck.'")

"In 1988, Mr. Enger... slipped through a window at the Munch Museum in Oslo to steal a version of 'The Scream.'"

"But a hitch in their plan led them instead to snatch another Munch masterwork, 'Love and Pain,' also known as 'Vampire.' 'The disappointment lasted days,' Mr. Enger later recalled, 'but then it started to become fun.' In part, that was because he kept the painting hidden in the ceiling of a pool hall he owned that was frequented by off-duty police officers. 'They don’t know it’s hanging just one meter from them,' he added. 'That was the best feeling. We let them play for free just to have them there.'... Mr. Enger spent four years in prison for the theft.... He turned his sights back to his muse and quarry.... He and an accomplice clambered up a ladder outside the National Gallery in Oslo, smashed a window and... slipped out with the museum’s version of 'The Scream'.... The thieves left behind the ladder, their wire cutters and a note: 'A thousand thanks for your poor security.'... ... Mr. Enger was sentenced to six years and three months in prison, where he took up painting.... After his release, he established an art career of his own... In 2015, he was charged with stealing 17 paintings from an Oslo gallery."

From "Paal Enger, Who Stole Munch’s 'The Scream,' Is Dead at 57/A promising player for a storied Norwegian soccer club, he instead found infamy for stealing one of the world’s most famous artworks" (NYT).

Performance art?

"The Scream" is — I think — the only work of art for which I have a tag. My normal practice is to use the name of the artist, but I don't have an Edvard Munch tag. Only a "Scream" tag. It's useful! E.g.:

"You saw it today. How many-- how many people draw crowds like I did today? Find me more enthusiastic than today? Huh?"

Said Joe Biden, in his interview with George Stephanoulos, and Stephanoulos had to push him back:

"I don't think you wanna play the crowd game. Donald Trump can draw big crowds. There's no question about that."

Biden briefly tried to change the subject to the kind of people Donald Trump draws:

"He can draw a big crowd, but what does he say? Who-- who does he have?"

Yeah, who are those people who go to Trump rallies? At least he caught himself before making some sort of miserable "deplorables" remark.

Meanwhile, here's a view of Biden's audience yesterday (on TikTok).

Nate Silver's ladder.

You could debate the exact order, but right now we're about half way up this ladder. pic.twitter.com/k4wo9rDIB7

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) July 6, 2024

"Have you had the specific cognitive tests, and have you had a neurologist, a specialist, do an examination?"

George Stephanopoulos pushed Joe Biden, in the big ABC interview that aired last night.

Biden had just wafted the theory that the job of being president is itself, inherently, "a full neurological test every day." As if we can just watch him. But we can't watch him. He's been hiding, and he's insulated by others who can cover for all his shortcomings.

Pushed — about "specific cognitive tests" by "a neurologist, a specialist" — Biden said "No. No one said I had to. No one said. They said I'm good."

Well, then, Stephanopoulos asked again, "Would you be willing to undergo an independent medical evaluation that included neurological and cognitive tests and release the results to the American people?"

And Biden repeated the theory that the job itself is the neurological test: "Look. I have a cognitive test every single day." He elaborated, wordily: "Every day I have that test. Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, but I'm running the world" — running the world! — "not-- and that's not hy- — sounds like hyperbole, but we are the essential nation of the world.... I'm workin' on what we were doin' with regard to-- in Europe with regard to expansion of NATO and whether it's gonna stick. I'm takin' on Putin...."

In short, he adamantly refuses to take the specific tests from a specialist and show us the results. Because he's in the difficult job and attempting to do it, shielded from public view, we're supposed to feel assured that he's capable of doing it. I don't feel reassured. But at the same time, I wouldn't trust medical specialists to perform this task of testing the mental competence of political candidates. The specialists are human beings with preferences, who may deploy their expertise to mystify. I actually believe Biden's theory that the test is in the performance of the job. But the big problem is that we haven't been allowed to observe him doing the job. He has not exposed himself in action and his hiding gives rise to an inference that he lacks competence. 

Sunrise — 5:07.

"Yes, Trump is a terrible person and was a terrible president. I, like many of you, believe he is unfit to hold any office. But around half the country does not feel this way..."

"... and even many people who do not much like him are wondering if he is really a worse bet than a president who at any given moment might come across like your shellshocked papaw after a few snorts of schnapps."

Writes Michelle Cottle in "One by One, the Reasons to Stick With Biden Are Failing" (NYT).

I've been looking for Trump-haters to begin to show respect for their fellow citizens who support Trump, and when I saw "around half the country does not feel this way," I thought I was about to see it, but then I ran headlong into "your shellshocked papaw after a few snorts of schnapps."

Is that how we talk? Ironic that someone who purports to be appalled at the rough-spoken Trump came out with "your shellshocked papaw after a few snorts of schnapps." I guess it's funny/clever because you're mocking an old man using old-time-y words like "papaw," "snorts," "schnapps," and the endlessly hilarious "shellshocked"...

Anyway, as for the reasons to stick with Biden... what's plain is that a key Democratic Party issue has been something about democracy, and Biden won a huge victory in the primaries. You're going to overthrow the results of that duly conducted democratic process and proceed to keep crying out about Trump's supposed disregard for democracy? Another irony.

But it's too late not to pitch the old man overboard. They've let it show that they've been lying miserably for years about this presidency. And yet there is no way to begin to tell the truth. Old lies are better lies... usually. I would think.

Fungus of the Day.

I believe this is Trichaptum biforme...

... commonly known as the violet-pored bracket fungus, purple tooth, or violet toothed polypore, is a species of poroid fungus in the order Hymenochaetales. It is a saprobe that decomposes hardwood stumps and logs. It has a violet colored edge that fades with age. It is inedible....

"You always hear writers complain about the hellish difficulty of writing, but it’s a dishonest complaint...."

"The only difficulty is its necessity for solitude. Writing is not compatible with anything — its utter self-absorption is generally destructive to family life and friendships — and yet I find it joyous. All creativity is uplifting; I finish a book in a mood approaching rapture.... Growing up, needing privacy in a large family — I was the third of seven children — I became a fugitive, finding solace in libraries and in long hikes and in solitude, as well as in many menial jobs — anything to escape the conflicting demands and the scrutiny of my family. From childhood, I had always written stories in a secret way, offloading my thoughts on paper.... When someone confides to me that they think they might have an ambition to write, I suggest they leave home — go away, get a job. Never enter a 'writing program.'... Writing is neither dreary nor a job. I see it as a process of life...."

Says Paul Theroux, in "Paul Theroux on Necessary Solitude, Risks and the Joy of Writing/After 60 years and almost as many books, the novelist and travel writer, 83, will stop when he falls out of his chair" (NYT).

"I have the answer to the Crooked Joe Biden Incompetence Puzzle — Let’s do another Debate, but this time, no holds barred."

"An all on discussion, with just the two of us on stage, talking about the future of our Country. The ratings were massive for the First Debate, record setting, in fact, but this one, because of the format, would blow everything away! Let Joe explain why he wants Open Borders, with millions of people, and many violent criminals from parts unknown, pouring into our once great Nation, or why he wants Men Playing in Women’s Sports, or demand ALL ELECTRIC VEHICLES within five years, or why he allowed INFLATION TO RUN RAMPANT, destroying the people of our Country, and so much more. It would also, under great pressure, prove his 'competence,' or lack thereof. Likewise it would be yet another test for me. What a great evening it would be, just the two of us, one on one, in a good, old fashioned Debate, the way they used to be. ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE!!!"

That's Donald Trump at Truth Social.

"President Biden arrives Friday in Madison, Wis., for what will be a critical few hours as he holds a rally attempting to inject new life..."

"... into a flagging campaign and sits for an ABC News interview as part of an effort to demonstrate his verbal and mental ability...."

I'm reading "Biden faces critical day to push back against calls to withdraw/With a rally in Wisconsin and an interview on ABC, Biden hopes to begin turning the tide after days of criticism of his recent debate performance" (WaPo).

Where is this "rally"? When is it? This is happening in my city, and I can't find anything in the local press about how a person could actually attend this event. Might I stumble into it if I go traipsing about? Will George Stephanopoulos and Biden do their interview in a room with an audience? It's disturbing that Biden has been hidden away throughout his campaign, so if the idea is now finally to emerge into view, why is he so hard to see?

Biden is scheduled to arrive in Wisconsin early Friday afternoon, with plans to be in the state for a few hours....

Does that sound like they want us to see him?

"Whoever wins—Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Vice President Harris, or anyone else—would be more coherent and more persuasive than Trump."

That's my favorite sentence in "Time to Roll the Dice/Biden’s party doesn’t need to sleepwalk into a catastrophe," by Anne Applebaum in The Atlantic.

Until now, I had not seen the name of our Governor in any of the replace-Biden discussions. Why not? He's a very low key calming presence. Example: