"They’re required to work without being paid — that is the essence of involuntary servitude. The government has absolutely violated famous constitutional rights."

Said Michael Kator, an attorney for the plaintiffs who are working without pay during the shutdown, quoted in "'The essence of involuntary servitude': Federal unions sue the Trump administration to get paid for shutdown work" (WaPo).

The judge just ruled from the bench, denying a temporary restraining order:

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon said it would be “profoundly irresponsible" to issue an order that would result in thousands of employees staying home from work. "At best it would create chaos and confusion,” Leon said. “At worst it could be catastrophic . . . I’m not going to put people’s lives at risk.”...

The union was seeking a temporary restraining order against the federal government for allegedly violating controllers’ constitutional rights under the Fifth Amendment. Those working without pay must show up because their positions are considered vital for “life and safety.” More than 17,000 others are furloughed....

"There is no doubt that real hardship is being felt,” Leon said. But “the judiciary is not and cannot be another source of leverage” in resolving political “squabbles."

There also doesn't seem to be any doubt that the workers will all in the end be paid for the work they are doing now.

"I am not a drug smuggler. I came to China as a tourist."

Said Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, quoted in "Canadian's death sentence in China 'horrific', family says" (BBC).

Following Schellenberg's death sentence, Canada has updated its travel advice for China, urging citizens to "exercise a high degree of caution due to the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws"....

"It is of extreme concern to us as a government, as it should be to all our international friends and allies, that China has chosen to begin to arbitrarily apply the death penalty," [said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau]....

The Canadian, who is believed to be 36, was arrested in 2014 and accused of planning to smuggle almost 500lb (227kg) of methamphetamine from China to Australia.

So that's enough meth to kill — what? — close to a million human beings. I'm just trying to understand the proportionality (if he, in fact, committed the crime).

"garbage food served by a garbage president. this is not funny, its just pathetic"/"A junk food feast from a junk president. How fitting is that? Talk about a nothing burger."

Highly rated comments on the WaPo article "President Trump’s extravagant, $3,000, 300-sandwich celebration of Clemson University" (by Philip Bump).

Here's Trump talking about the food — which he paid for himself because of the shutdown — just before the champion football team comes in.

Here’s a video I shot of President Trump showing off his 300 hamburgers. pic.twitter.com/P06S6I5w07

— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) January 14, 2019

ADDED: The Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence declares, "It was awesome... We had McDonalds and everything. It was good!"

Another fan asked Lawrence how many times he plans on returning to the White House -- to which he replied, "Hopefully, a few more!"

"The Extraction of the Stone of Madness."

That's a painting by Hieronymus Bosch (c.1488–1516). I'm seeing it this morning because I'm hearing about a friend's surgery and thinking about how (and when) human beings got the idea that cutting (or drilling) into the interior of the human body might improve person's medical condition. You'd think the idea "first, do no harm" is so strong and obvious that no one would dare intrude into a living human body.

The title of Bosch's painting suggests that the daring arises out of the belief that something alien has already broken in and is causing damage and needs extracting. I found the painting at the Wikipedia page "Trepanning." I knew that drilling into the human cranium is a very old practice, seen in prehistoric skulls, and I knew the distinctive term:

Trepanning... or making a burr hole... is a surgical intervention in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the human skull... At one burial site in France dated to 6500 BCE, 40 out of 120 prehistoric skulls found had trepanation holes... Hippocrates gave specific directions on the procedure.... During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, trepanation was practiced as a cure for various ailments...

The practice of trepanning also continues today....  One of the most prominent advocates of trepanning was Dutch librarian Bart Huges. In 1965, Huges drilled a hole in his own head with a dentist drill.... Huges contend[ed] that children have a higher state of consciousness and since children's skulls are not fully closed, one can return to an earlier, childlike state of consciousness by self-trepanation....

[In] a book called Bore Hole... Joey Mellen.... describes his third attempt at self-trepanation:

After some time there was an ominous sounding schlurp and the sound of bubbling. I drew the trepan out and the gurgling continued. It sounded like air bubbles running under the skull as they were pressed out. I looked at the trepan and there was a bit of bone in it. At last!

Not just slurp... schlurp.

"When she was forced to hide under the bed, Jayme told detectives, Mr. Patterson would box her in with totes and laundry bins that he secured with barbell weights."

"He would turn on music to prevent guests from hearing any noise she made. And one time, when Mr. Patterson believed she had tried to escape, Jayme said he struck her and threatened worse consequences if she tried again. But last Thursday, after Mr. Patterson told Jayme he was leaving for a few hours, she managed to force her way out from under the bed, she said. She grabbed a pair of men’s shoes — apparently Mr. Patterson’s — and ran to a nearby road, shoes ill fitting and on the wrong feet, crying out for help.... Mr. Patterson, who had apparently been out looking for Jayme, told the deputies he knew why they had stopped him, investigators said. 'I did it,' he said."

From "Jayme Closs, Kidnapped by a Stranger, Endured Horror, Police Say" (NYT).

Goodbye, Dolly.

Carol Channing has died. The exuberant star of "Hello, Dolly!" lived to the grand age of 97.

From the NYT obit:

“Performing is the only excuse for my existence,” she said during her last Broadway appearance, in the 1995 revival of “Hello, Dolly!” “What can be better than this?”

AND: Channing had a style that invited impersonation, and here you can see her personally thank Bob the Drag Queen:

"House Republican leaders removed Representative Steve King of Iowa from the Judiciary and Agriculture Committees on Monday night as party officials scrambled to appear tough on racism and..."

"... contain damage from comments Mr. King made to The New York Times questioning why white supremacy is considered offensive. The punishment came on a day when Mr. King was denounced by an array of Republican leaders, though not President Trump. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, suggested Mr. King find 'another line of work' and Senator Mitt Romney said he should quit. And the House Republicans, in an attempt to be proactive, stripped him of the committee seats in the face of multiple Democratic resolutions to censure Mr. King that are being introduced this week.... Mr. King, who has been an ally of President Trump on the border wall and other issues, has a long history of making racist remarks and insults about immigrants.... [I]n an interview with The Times published last week, Mr. King said: 'White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?'... 'This is not the first time we’ve heard these comments,' [said the minority leader Kevin McCarthy]. 'That is not the party of Lincoln and it’s definitely not American.'"

The NYT reports.

Trump should say something.

Keep your chin up.

This brother wins 2019

Love THIS ❤️

Everyone needs this reminder. Everyone needs this type of support.

chin UP pic.twitter.com/5kpRerrFdc

— StanceGrounded (@_SJPeace_) January 15, 2019

"They got caught spying on my campaign and then called it an investigation" is a great line.

The rank and file of the FBI are great people who are disgusted with what they are learning about Lyin’ James Comey and the so-called “leaders” of the FBI. Twelve have been fired or forced to leave. They got caught spying on my campaign and then called it an investigation. Bad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2019

Does Wisconsin law require a "wedding barn" to have a license if it serves liquor?

The Cap Times reports on a new lawsuit brought by The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, which we're told in the first line of the article is a conservative legal group. That's convenient for most Cap Times readers — they can know right off the bat that they want those wedding barns to get liquor licenses. Me, I'm still wondering, what are wedding barns?

The lawsuit, filed in Dunn County Circuit Court, is the latest development in a longstanding dispute between conservative advocacy groups, Republican legislators and alcohol businesses over how the state's alcohol laws should be interpreted and applied. Most lawmakers and business owners agree that the state's alcohol laws are unclear and disjointed but disagree on what to do about it.

It's like the state alcohol laws have been drinking and are staggering around and mumbling "Where am I?"

Lucas Vebber, an attorney for the Wisconsin Institute for Law Liberty, who is working on the lawsuit, said it was prompted by an opinion issued by former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel. Just before leaving office after he lost his re-election bid, Schimel in December wrote in a letter to a legislator that he considers wedding barns to be public spaces under the law....

Schimel's interpretation was a departure from how the state has understood the law in the past and caused an uproar among conservative groups and wedding barn owners, who say that they could be forced out of business if required to get liquor licenses.

So it's a conservative group that's bringing the lawsuit, but it's challenging an interpretation made by a Republican (the former attorney general).

Some wedding barns have opted to get a state liquor license, but many others say they should not have to because they do not sell, manufacture or distribute liquor on their premises.

I don't like the way that sentence is written. There's a legal argument that the licensing law doesn't apply because there is no sale, manufacture, or distribution of liquor. Taking the precaution of getting the license doesn't mean you don't agree with the argument.

The Tavern League of Wisconsin has advocated for licensing wedding barns in Wisconsin, arguing that because alcohol is consumed at the venues, which draw large numbers of people, it constitutes a public space and should be regulated like other public places where people consume alcohol....

The suit alleges that both businesses will be "significantly and negatively impacted by the continued uncertainty in the law," according to the suit. It is also calling for clarity in existing laws and a commitment to how the state will interpret them to "bring an end to the back-and-forth that has cast a dark shadow over the future of the plaintiffs' business." Both venues have contracts in place for events into 2020, according to the suit.

Let the legislature amend the law — if it can — and specifically cover wedding barns. Otherwise leave these people alone. Don't bully them into submission by threatening them with the possibility that an unclear law will be applied. The new Democratic Attorney General, Josh Kaul, has an opportunity to distinguish himself from the bad old Republican.

I had to independently research what a wedding barn is. Here: "The Best Barn Wedding Venues Madison, Wisconsin Has to Offer" ("There are plenty of barn wedding venues near Madison, Wisconsin that evoke a charming aesthetic for Midwestern weddings"). Lots of photographs to show you what these venues are like. The Octagon Barn looks pretty cool.

At the Fading Fast Cafe...

... hang on just a few moments more.

"All in all... I prefer a campfire-roasted porcupine that I killed and butchered... slathered with highbush cranberry ketchup..."

"... foraged chickweed salad with mushrooms on the side, a hot cup of stinging nettle tea to wash it down and a handful of wild blueberries for dessert. Bugs, sticks, sand and assorted forest floor debris sometimes makes it into my vittles but... 'It’s clean dirt.'.... My toilet is a hollow cottonwood stump and I bathe with a kettle of hot creek water. Some places along the highway offer showers but they cost money and contribute to ecocide, so I clean my crotch in the creek occasionally. But personal hygiene is not a priority.... Instead of washing my clothing – layers come cheap from thrift shops – I air it out, hanging it on a tree branch for a snowstorm or two, then turn it inside out and put it back into rotation.....  My presence on this planet leaves little trace, which is how I feel it should be. While that’s pleasing to me, I also understand my withdrawal is meaningless in the grand scheme. The world needs systemic change. In my solitude and self-imposed isolation on the side of a mountain in an undisclosed location, I find it all mildly amusing."

From "Houseless in Alaska: why I opted for mountain views and porcupine dinners/Homeless implies a moral failure while being houseless – lacking a permanent three-dimensional structure – is less stress on the planet and on my brain." Just something I noticed in The Guardian this morning. It feels like something Brits want to read about America. And for some reason it makes me want to embed this video I happened to watch yesterday:



I can see that this is a whole genre. Women go on camera and list 50 things they don't buy anymore. I'm interested in frugality as an active avocation.

A Gillette ad, titled “We Believe,” speaks of #MeToo movement,"toxic masculinity," and question whether "boys will be boys" is "the best a man can get."

The Wall Street Journal reports (in "P&G Challenges Men to Shave Their ‘Toxic Masculinity’ in Gillette Ad"):

“This is an important conversation happening, and as a company that encourages men to be their best, we feel compelled to both address it and take action of our own,” said Pankaj Bhalla, Gillette brand director for North America in an emailed statement....

Gillette needs to appeal to millennials who care about what companies stand for, he said. “There’s a demand for this, for purpose, for brands to be tackling tough issues in the moment.”

But the ad could backfire and alienate Gillette’s base, [said said Dean Crutchfield, CEO of branding firm Crutchfield + Partners]. “Does the customer want to be told they’re a naughty boy? Are you asking too much of your consumer to be having this conversation with them?”

Here's the ad:



Full disclosure: The shots of the little boys in the end made me cry.

By the way, women buy a lot of Gillette products too.

"'Well, well, well,' went the general line in the Russian media, 'look what we have here.'"

I guess that's a pretty rough translation, printed in "Fake News as ‘Moral Imperative’? Democrats’ Alabama Move Hints at Ugly 2020" by Jim Rutenberg in the NYT.  The Russian media, we're told, "were downright gleeful over new reports that a group of Democrats had used online disinformation in the campaign against Roy Moore, the Republican candidate for Senate in Alabama in 2017."

Their reaction was understandable, given the news that American political operatives had tried the same kind of troll operations that United States intelligence officials believe the Russian government used in an attempt to swing the 2016 presidential election to Donald J. Trump.

The Russian news outlet Sputnik jumped on the news, saying last week that the Alabama operation “seems to cast Democrats’ Russiagate accusations into further doubt.”

Okay. Let me know when you find credible evidence.

"Everybody has beliefs about how men should behave... We found incredible evidence that the extent to which men strongly endorse those beliefs, it’s strongly associated with negative outcomes."

Said Ronald Levant, former president of the American Psychological Association, quoted in "How ‘traditional masculinity’ hurts the men who believe in it most" (by Monica Hesse in WaPo).

"The president of the United States has many faults, but let’s not ignore this one: He cannot write sentences."

"If a tree falls in a forrest and no one is there to hear it … wait: Pretty much all of you noticed that mistake, right? Yet Wednesday morning, the president did not; he released a tweet referring to 'forrest fires' twice, as if these fires were set by Mr. Gump. Trump’s serial misuse of public language is one of many shortcomings that betray his lack of fitness for the presidency. Trump’s writing suggests not just inadequate manners or polish—not all of us need be dainty—but inadequate thought. Nearly every time he puts thumb to keypad, he exposes that he has never progressed beyond the mentality of the precollegiate, trash-talking teen."

Writes John McWhorter in "Trump’s Typos Reveal His Lack of Fitness for the Presidency/They suggest not just inadequate manners or polish, but inadequate thought."

I got there via "A Letter to Professor John McWhorter" by Seth Barrett Tillman, who writes:

We (Americans) have had many talented wordsmiths in the White House. I see no connection between such talents, and adopting & putting into effect substantively sound policies. Woodrow Wilson—a university academic—comes to mind. But very few can explain precisely why the U.S. entered WWI or offer any justification for Wilson's allowing the federal civil service to be (re)segregated by race. He was good with words.

Your article amounts to a non-instrumental claim that elites who share your specific skill set should have power and those who do not share that skill set should not.... It is certainly better for the President to spell "forest" with a single R rather than two Rs. But ... it is probably more important that better policies be put in place to stop similar future disasters....

That was linked by Glenn Reynolds, who writes:

Good writing, like good shooting, is a valuable skill. Neither has a moral component. The Supreme Court’s best writer was Oliver Wendell Holmes, who told us — eloquently — that it was okay to sterilize people society didn’t like.

Let me add that there's a big difference between good writing and good spelling! Some great writers have had bad spelling — notably William Faulkner:

One of Faulkner's editors at Random House, Albert Erskine, said, "I know that he did not wish to have carried through from typescript to printed book his typing mistakes, misspellings (as opposed to coinages), faulty punctuation and accidental repetition. He depended on my predecessors, and later on me, to point out such errors and correct them; and though we never achieved anything like a perfect performance, we tried."...

And Ernest Hemingway:

Whenever his newspaper editors complained about it, he'd retort, "Well, that's what you're hired to correct!"

And John Keats:

In a letter to his great love Fanny Brawne, Keats spelled the color purple, purplue. This generated a longer conversation between the two, as Keats tried to save face by suggesting he'd meant to coin a new portmanteaux [sic] - a cross between purple and blue.

And Jane Austen:

She once misspelled one of her teenage works as "Love and Freindship" and is infamously known to have spelt scissors as scissars.

And F. Scott Fitzgerald:

The original draft of The Great Gatsby contained literally hundreds of spelling mistakes, some of which are still confounding editors. These include “yatch” (instead of “yacht”) and “apon” (instead of “upon”). One of his most famous gaffes, which occurs toward the end of the novel, inspires debate to this day.

Here's that gaffe:

After Fitzgerald’s death, Edmund Wilson changed the spelling from “orgastic” to “orgiastic” in the famous closing line: “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.”

So many great writers were bad spellers that I've got to wonder whether bad spelling goes along with great writing. Maybe there's something about the brain of a bad speller. Have many Spelling Bee winners gone on to write great books?

John McWhorter thinks bad spelling is evidence of "inadequate thought," but — ironically — he needs to give that thought a little more thought.

ADDED: John Irving, the author of "The World According to Garp," was called "stupid" and "lazy" when he was a child and later found out he had dyslexia. I'm reading his "How to Spell." Excerpt:

You must remember that it is permissible for spelling to drive you crazy. Spelling had this effect on Andrew Jackson, who once blew his stack while trying to write a Presidential paper. “It’s a damn poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word!” the President cried.

When you have trouble, think of poor Andrew Jackson and know that you’re not alone.

And remember what’s really important about good writing is not good spelling. If you spell badly but write well, you should hold your head up. As the poet T.S. Eliot recommended, “Write for as large and miscellaneous an audience as possible”--and don’t be overly concerned if you can’t spell “miscellaneous.” Also remember that you can spell correctly and write well and still be misunderstood. Hold your head up about that, too.