Youth have had enough

From a teenage girl (CNN):

We are organizing the Youth Climate Weekend in Washington DC this July that you won't be able to ignore.

On July 19, for the Youth Climate Lobby Day we are going to your offices on Capitol Hill to remind you who you are working for.

On July 20, through art builds and artful activism, youth will remind you of the beauty of the planet you should be fighting to protect.

On July 21, for the Youth Climate March we will be flooding the streets because #ThisIsZeroHour and if you won't pay attention to Mother Nature's cries for help, maybe you'll pay attention to the cries of your children.

And if you don't listen to us this summer, we will keep escalating action.

Prepare to see us in your offices more and more often. Prepare to be voted out.

Leaders, I want you to know that the youth are watching.

Read it all. 

Bagel Sunday

A new habit, drive ten minutes to Harry Higgins Boiled Bagels on Sunday morning, early, to get a week's worth. Harriet says they are the real thing, rare in Portland. Very chewy, which I am told is the east coast key. Gives me a nice 6 a.m. drive on a Sunday morning. Sometimes Sketch comes with me but he was asleep today and I didn't want to wake him.

Ready to watch the WC final. No fav. Tie and penalty kicks would be fun.

Man, part two of my novel is very tough. This is a damn hard book to write because my characters are real and dealing with one's own death/suicide can be stressful and challenging indeed.

I still don't know my ending. I am going to plow ahead. I want some kind of a draft by the end of summer. I want to get this out in the fall. A ton of work but what else do I have to do, except play the ukulele? Which is going well, by the way. Soon I will have some songs to record.

Hot weather continues. I used to love hot weather. I don't any more. 80 is about right.

Sketch is doing well, after a bad spell a month or so ago. Now and again he runs around with a toy like a puppy. Not bad for a 16 y/o rat terrier. I have a hard time keeping up with him.

We need to get out on the river this summer. Looking into a kayak tour.

Dear President Trump

Dear President Trump,

It is both shocking and irresponsible -- but sadly not surprising -- that your administration is spending over a billion dollars to continue the immoral and un-American policy of detaining immigrant children. The detention of immigrant children does nothing to improve security and could have a devastating and lasting impact on these children.

Moreover it is the height of hypocrisy that you are spending nearly a billion dollars detaining children while trying to slash funding for programs and services on which millions of Americans rely. 

Instead of wasting taxpayer dollars on policies that compromise our American values and put young people at risk, how about instead using these funds to make a real difference in the lives of the American people?  

Here are just a few ways to better spend the $1 billion in taxpayer money: 

• Increase the award size of Pell Grants to help Americans pay for college, instead of freezing grant levels as you have proposed.  The purchasing power of Pell Grants for low- and moderate-income college students stands at its lowest level in more than 40 years, with the maximum grant covering just 29 percent of the cost of attending a four-year public university or college. These grants support the progress New York is making with initiatives like the nation-leading Excelsior Scholarship to ensure everyone has the opportunity to go to college.

• Expand the Community Development Block Grants program to $4.2 billion, back to 2001 levels, instead of eliminating the program as you have proposed. This is one of the most critical programs for states and localities to use to redevelop neighborhoods and tackle public infrastructure projects.

• Restore funding for employment and job training to 2010 levels. While 53 percent of all jobs in today's labor market are middle skill, only 43 percent of U.S workers are trained at this level, meaning that key industries are losing out on economic opportunities.

• Increase the Social Services Block Grant by nearly 60 percent instead of eliminating the program as you have proposed. The current $1.7 billion program provides critical flexible funding to states for services such as child care, child protective services, day programs for seniors and people with disabilities, services for homeless individuals and families, and others.

• Invest in the Gateway Tunnel. Your administration has talked a lot about the need to improve our nation's infrastructure.  While $1 billion is only a fraction of what the federal government has previously promised, this would be the first contribution to the project. The new tunnel is essential to the economic future and long-term vitality of the entire Northeast Corridor, which represents 20 percent of the national economy.

In New York, we stand with our immigrant community and we will continue to fight against your administration's disgraceful treatment of immigrant families, including the ongoing detention of children. If neither your conscience nor the voice of the American people compels you to put an end to this injustice, then I hope money will.

Sincerely,

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

Press those strings

Falling behind on time spent on ukulele. Make some up this weekend.

Of course, watch third place Belgium v England at WC. Haven't missed a game!

One foot, then the other

Old age marches on, and I hobble along with it. Book Two is damn hard, plan to plow forward, doing it the best I can, and worry about getting it right later. Right now I need a full draft so I can see this story whole. I need to be more secure about my destination, that is, the ending. So plowing forward is my mantra.

Success

Added turnips to my country breakfast potatoes. Very good.

A noble audience

Rise and shine

Baking bread before it gets hot today.

Changes

In my old age, I don't like hot weather as much as I used to. 95 forecast today, which is enough.

A funky day yesterday. But ready to write this morning, so we'll hope today goes better.

Inspiration

World Cup

Some are calling the semi today, France v Belgium, the real final. Great to have diversion back ha ha.

Rough going

I have a draft of Book One of the novel, The Water Is Rising.

Book Two, Death, Thy Rhythmic Lover, in progress, very difficult material.

Book Three, unnamed. Perhaps a Book Four or Coda as well.

Two, I think, will be a rougher draft than one. I just need to move on and get a whole draft so I can really see what I have. Onward.

Music ahead

If I have a good week, I should be ready to record two new songs on ukulele by Friday. Will work hard on it.

Wow

A ton of writing done, and it's only 9 a.m. Shades of the good old days.

A linguist studies Trump

Semis

Down to four teams. Winner of France, Belgium will play winner of England, Croatia.

Russia lost on penalty kicks. Too bad for the home team.

Belgium looks strongest to me, but I know nothing ha ha.

Hey, a great writing session this morning, pages really sizzling now.

Book One

My novel is structured into three books, and I finished the draft of the first one. An accomplishment! I like it very much and my important minor character, who sure sounds a lot like me, even more than CJ does, is developing nicely. Excited! Onward.

0-2

I had Uruguay and Brazil in the quarter finals. France and Belgium won. What do I know? Little ha ha.

Scientists care

Stefan Rahmstorf‏ @rahmstorf 18h18 hours ago

A new study based on evidence from past warm periods suggests global warming may be double what is .

Program of study

I created a program of jazz ukulele study that is ending its first week and looks good. It goes like this:

Monday, online class with James Hill
Tuesday, learn song at Ukulele Underground
Wednesday, learn song from James Hill book
Thursday, online class with James Hill
Friday, study theory and chord substitutions
Saturday, study chord progressions
Sunday, open practice

Many styles

As I study jazz ukulele, I don't want to get rusty with clawhammer style, which is what I presently play best. My drop thumb is rusty, I discovered, so I need to practice clawhammer as well as learn jazz.

Drooling over a Martin Concert that sells for $500. No justification is buying it, alas. However, two ukuleles,, with high and low G strings, does make some sense.

Cordoba 20CM, my instrument

Cooking

In my old age, breakfast is about the only meal I consistently get excited about EATING. The rest I can do with a bowl of cereal or a bagel and cream cheese or something simple. Harriet, on the other hand, likes complete dinners, and so I make them for her. To help me along in this rather unnatural endeavor, ha ha, I've engaged the NY Times cooking pages for assistance. The help is great! Being digital, the pages can be searched by ingredients and I can find recipes easily, make my own variations, and find something I can enjoy cooking, even if I only taste a bit myself. Hence tonight's brussel sprouts dish, which she'll love and I'll pass on..

I enjoy browsing recipes.

Immigrants to the rescue

America's labor shortage is reaching a critical point claims a headline today. All the more reason for my earlier proposal of forming a WPA clone of immigrant workers to get action rolling on repairs of infrastructure and other emergencies. An aggressive plan, urging immigrants to come and work, creating WPA-style camps, could change much that needs changing. Where is the vision of an FDR when we need it?

Busy, busy

A lot done already this morning. Wrote, practiced ukulele, prepared Korean marinade for turkey, bought what I needed for Spring Rolls for lunch, walked the dog. Not too shabby for an old coot.

Thursday morning quarterback

Sketch made it through the fireworks. He used to hide under the bed in our house. But fireworks were banned in our apartment complex, and he is getting deaf, so he just slept through it all.

Watching fireworks on TV, I felt a certain melancholy and sadness. The object of the celebration, it seems to me, doesn't actually exist, and this failure, which we might call the failure of the American Dream, holds particular pain since time has run out, it's too late to do much about it, Nature wins. The climate crisis remains ignored, and all of us on the planet will pay for the neglect, though I expect to be dead before the worst happens.

In the meantime, I do what I can to enjoy my life on a sinking ship. And there's a hell of a lot I enjoy, despite everything. I am close to writing a challenging section of my novel that deals with this very dilemma and emotion.

The novel is really going well again, a good writing session this morning. I'd like to finish a draft this summer. Pass it on to my publisher and see what he thinks.

Useful tools

Some apps are worth their weight in gold, as the cliche goes. One is Pocket Ukulele Chords. Name a chord and get numerous fingering variations up and down the neck. Very useful!

Reading in celebration of July 4th

The NY Times recommends ...

How Did I Celebrate Becoming American? Protesting Trump by Yascha Mounk.

Forget the Parades. Protest This Fourth of July by Holly Jackson.

Marian Anderson sings “My Country ’Tis of Thee” at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939, after being denied the right to perform the song at a Washington auditorium because of her skin color. 

What Does the United States Stand For? Compiled by Kathleen O'Brien.

I celebrate the intellectuals (and their ideas) who founded this country

Tonight when the fireworks go off, in a VA hospital somewhere, a vet is diving to the floor, yelling, "Incoming!" I know, I spent a Fourth in a VA hospital witnessing this.

Better busy than not

The more I have to do, the busier I am, the more I get done on the novel. With nothing going, and all day to write, I seem to vegetate instead. With lots on my agenda -- ukulele, cooking, chores -- I fit in writing and make more progress. Old age rhythm, because I didn't used to be this way. I wrote every day without a problem. Now I can very easily vegetate all day unless something gets me going.

Waiting for the end ha ha.

When America is great

Smoother sailing?

Got through a difficult transition in the novel this morning. Maybe smoother sailing ahead. Hope so.

Yep

Opinion column by Charles M. Blow:

 It is truly a confounding time to be alive, to be an American. 

We are watching as a president of the United States openly lies, fabricates and exaggerates while two-fifths of the population cheers him for it.
He spurns our allies and embraces our adversaries and people shrug.
He, his congressional allies and his propaganda arm are waging open warfare on the Federal Bureau of Investigation in an effort to tarnish it before its inquiry into connections between the Trump campaign, family and associates and Russia can be made public.
He is a racist who disparages black and brown people, whether they be immigrants, Muslims, people from Haiti and Africa, Barack Obama, the mayor of San Juan or Maxine Waters. People equivocate about it and excuse it.
He is attacking the press in the most aggressive of terms so that what they reveal about him will be viewed with skepticism.

Read more. 

Mexico

A good and bad day for our neighbor to the south. They were clearly outclassed by Brazil in the WC and are headed home. But by a landslide they elected a new progressive leftist president, the perfect neighbor for Trump. I wish him well.

And again

Second game of day also determined by penalty kicks, Croatia beating Denmark. Too bad.

Keeps getting better

Host Russia beat favored Spain on penalty kicks. The Russian goalie blocked two, the clincher with his foot while horizontally in the air. Not too shabby.

Let's not forget

It is important to remember that our country was founded by INTELLECTUALS! (We've gone downhill.)

The mind / obsessions / dreams

I've written here before about how my dreams were part of my writer's toolbox during my half century as a 24/7 obsessive writer. When I retired -- not from writing but from the obsessive element -- I began dreaming like normal folks, surreal and crazy and disturbing film clips in my mind. They sucked, actually.

So I am happy to report that today this changed because I was obsessing about Autumn Leaves, the ukulele song I am working on, and my dream was about variations of arranging the song. This was more fun than finding myself the umpire in a ball game of nudists, or some such.

I am using the version at Ukulele Underground as a template but adding bits to it. It is going reasonably well for an old fart with arthritic hands. 

S.O.S.

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

On the other hand, Adrian Romero, who identifies as a queer immigrant originally from Mexico, called the Trump administration’s actions “the beginning stage of a modern-day Holocaust. … This is not patriotism, this is white nationalism.”

Read article. 

What a world cup!

The excitement is building relentlessly. Puts the American football playoff to shame. Only sporting event this extraordinary is the Olympics.

Two great games this morning, France beat Argentina and Messi 4-3 and Uruguay beat Portugal and Renaldo 2-1. So two superstars are going home.

Uruguay could go all the way.

I still don't understand penalties. A crash is not called, a relative nudge is called. It seems so arbitrary and if committed close to the goal, with a penalty kick, it can determine the game. An aspect of the game I don't like. Or probably I just don't understand it.

Knockout round

Teams that have reached the last 16

• Uruguay (winners of Group A)
• Russia (runners-up in Group A)
• Spain (winners of Group B)
• Portugal (runners-up in Group B)
• France (winners of Group C)
• Denmark (runners-up in Group C)
• Croatia (winners of Group D)
• Argentina (runners-up in Group D)
• Brazil (winners in Group E)
• Switzerland (runners-up in Group E)
• Sweden (winners in Group F)
• Mexico (runners-up in Group F)
• Belgium (winners in Group G)
• England (runners-up in Group G)
• Colombia (winners in Group H)
• Japan (runners-up in Group H)

Senegal tied with Japan but lost because of getting more yellow cards. Close but. I think Mexico is my sentimental favorite, because of you know who. I like Sweden. Impressive are Uruguay and Colombia. Some are calling this one of best World Cups ever because of the close competition.

Cooking

Joined NY Times cooking club, very inexpensive, adding some structure to my cooking responsibilities, which are making sure Harriet eats. I'd just wing in more myself, sandwiches and breakfast twice a day ha ha. But Harriet has higher standards.

Jazz workshop

The ukulele workshop last night was good. Good instructors, a couple, Chee and Maisel. Turnout was large, I thought, about 40 ... 25 women, mainly old ladies, and 5 men, mainly old men. Very interesting! Apparently about the same number attend Thursday morning jam sessions, and I may check them out. In fact, much going on at the Milwaukie Center that we'd likely enjoy. Need to get more plugged in.

Lots of ukulele to catch up on and learn new, and my hands are "usable" so far.

Journalists in the Trump era

From WBUR:

But when someone guns down your peers in cold blood and the far right cheers, something inside you breaks. You realize that the stories you sought to amplify as a journalist — stories that question unchecked power, from the streets all the way to the White House — are stories that a lot of people in America not only don’t want to hear, but want to kill. And when the president of the United States encourages his followers to antagonize journalists by painting targets on our backs, you start to wonder how much longer you can keep doing this.

Read the article. 

Journalism is an honorable profession that is not the villain of the American people, as Trump maintains. I've done a bit, mostly freelance features, not investigative. You don't get rich. You can get considerable satisfaction. Once you knew you were important to the culture, and you still are, despite recent challenges, as the hate-monger poisons minds.

Cordoba Ukulele

My hands are hanging in, and I am having a blast playing again. Learning some solos at Ukulele Underground. Take a jazz class tomorrow. This is good for my attitude, which sucks lately.

Poor Arkansas

Arkansas has never won a college world series. Tonight looked like it would happen. 9th inning, 2 outs, a one run lead, Oregon State has the tying run on third. And a foul pop up along the first base line. Catch it and be a champion. Three go after it: first baseman, second baseman, right fielder. No one calls for it. The ball drops. Not an out, a strike. Batter still alive. Naturally he drives in the tying run.

But there's more to this game that should have been over. Two pitches later, a 2 run home run! And Oregon State wins 5-3.

3rd and deciding game tomorrow. And Arkansas can weep tonight about turning an easy foul out into the 3 stooges on the ball field. Amazing.

Great games

An exciting morning. Sweden upset Mexico, South Korea upset Germany, so Sweden is in the 16 and Germany goes home. Maybe Mexico will go all the way, as in Fuck You, Trump!

World Cup

Germany and Sweden are fighting for the second spot behind Mexico in their group, both playing this morning. Will be fun.

Dusted off the Cordoba. Going to play as much as I can when the arthritis isn't too bad, and I did sign up for the workshop tomorrow. Also going to revisit Underground and learn something new.

The novel back in focus, progress. Are things looking up? Heavens!

What empathy?

Beachgoers enjoy a Zumba class in Pozzallo, Sicily, as the Maersk migrant ship sits in the background.

Back in the day

Arthritis and the ukulele

I stopped playing because of arthritis in my hands. But it comes and goes in severity. Not too bad today so I took out the Cordoba for the first time in weeks. Not too bad. I wanted to see because there is a local jazz uke workshop Thursday. So I signed up, hoping hands won't be bad that day.

Maybe I can get back to it. Anything to get me off my inactive ass.

The light

Out of sync

 I don’t wish a serious writer’s life on anyone. I agree with screenwriter Paul Schrader, who said the only reason to be an artist is that you’re incapable of being anything else. The meshing of the work and the life into a quilt of whole cloth is full of complications for every step of “a normal life,” from relationships to employment.             
 In America, it’s not clear what the purpose of literature is other than to be swept into a marketplace driven by star and money worship. If literature mattered, wouldn’t Graham Greene’s novel The Quiet American have made the Vietnam War impossible? Philip Glass has suggested that all works of art should be anonymous to rid the field of hero worship. I agree with him.

Deemer, Charles. Whole Cloth: the Quilt of Literature

A teacher speaks out

This caught my eye at Daily Kos:

I have taught government for many years.  When I am not teaching government, I am usually teaching American History.   I am well aware that our history is full of problematic actions by our government.  We have too many examples of separating children from parents — in slavery, in te use of Indian Boarding Schools. In the past we taught explicitly Protestant religion in public schools, one reason Catholics founded their own system of schools.  We have a history of religious bigotry even in place where we pretend we were celebrating religious freedom. Maryland’s Act of Toleration prescribed death to anyone who denied the Holy Trinity and Jews were denied the right to hold public office in the state until the Jew Bill in 1826 gave them (but no one else) that right. We still had established religions in states, supported by tax dollars of ALL residents, until Massachusetts finally disestablished in 1833  (New Hampshire moved in that direction in 1819, but I believe that technically the law was not fully changed until 1877).  We put American citizens in concentration (not extermination) camps because of their race and heritage.  We regularly see those who proposed denying rights to those who oppose them politically (gerrymandering is only one method:  voter id laws is now the more common method, combined with making it more difficult to vote; and strip away rights of appeals, of access to counsel, use of high bail to incarcerate before conviction, etc.).

I am aware of the historic failings of American society. Yet what I see now scares me.

Many people have commented on the recent Trump tweet about denying due process to “illegal” immigrants, but missed a key part of that tweet, where Trump talked about an “invasion.”  As a teacher of government and as a student of American history that word caught my attention.  Allow me to offer the relevant portion of the Constitution, the 2nd Clause of Article I, Section 9:The

 privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

This is a restriction on Congress.  There have been cases dealing with how far a President can go going back to the Civil War period.  In Ex Parte Merryman then Chief Justice Taney ruled that Lincoln could not suspend habeas in Maryland (done to prevent secessionists whom Lincoln had arrested to prevent them from going to Annapolis to vote to secede) but it is not clear if Taney did so in his capacity as Chief Justice or as a serving judge in Maryland- in any case, Lincoln ignored the order.  Also tangentially relevant is Ex Parte Milligan, in which SCOTUS ruled (but not until 1866) that a person could not be tried in military courts/commissions when civilian courts were open and functioning.  It is worth noting that in 2006, SCOTUS ruled in Boumediene v Bush that prisoners at Guantanamo could not be denied habeas.

In the Civil War era cases, it should be clear that Congress had the right to suspend habeas because there was an insurrection.

I know that most people argue that Trump’s tweets show a total ignorance of constitutional principal, but the use of the word “invasion” troubles me -I have no trouble believing that Trump may have been told (?by White House Counsel?) of the limits of suspending habeas and by using this word he is establishing the predicate to ask Congress to suspend habeas.  But would it be just for those coming across the border?  Is it too far fetched to consider that were Trump looking at the possibility of losing control of both House and Senate he might move for such power now?  After all, does not he admire Erdogan in Turkey, who took a very similar approach to guarantee his control of power.  And remember, a recent poll showed a majority of self-identified Republicans willing to suspend the 2020 election to keep Trump in power.

And later:

 I have lived 72 years.

I do not know how much longer I may have.  I hope to teach for at least five more years.  I want to continue to think and write and reflect and engage with others and try to make a difference.
I knew men who were imprisoned because they refused to violate their consciences.  I knew others, from WW II and from Vietnam, who because they chose alternative service rather than going into the military were forced into doing work intended to be humiliating and demeaning, although for them they fulfilled those responsibilities with humility and dignity.
I am going to attempt to follow my conscience.
I do not know what the costs may be for me.  That is inconsequential.
What matters is the cost to me if I do not follow this path, if I do not do what I can in my actions, words, and living, to try to “preserve and protect” the Constitution of the United States, and some sense of a nation that actually cares for all of humanity. 

Peace.

I, too, fear Trump will act in panic as he loses power, declaring martial law. It's in the man's unfortunate character.  

Bedrooms & Bars

Bedrooms & Bars

a play in two acts

by Charles Deemer

First performed at the Raindog Playwrights' Project in Portland, Oregon, on February 13, 1998. Directed by Charles Deemer.

Finalist for the 1998 Oregon Book Award.

THE CAST:

Quinn, a barfly, ex-teacher, 30s

Deadra, a barfly, 30s

Megan, Deadra's twin sister (played by same actress)

THE SETTING:

Table in a bar. Quinn's small studio apartment. A hospital bed. A ferry deck.

THE TIME:

The 1980s.

ACT ONE

1/ The Bar, Saturday Night. Early 1980's.

(AT RISE: QUINN and DEADRA sit at a table. Each has a fresh drink.)

QUINN: Thanks for the drink.

DEADRA: You're very welcome.

QUINN: I'm Quinn.

DEADRA: I know. Deadra

QUINN: I know. Cheers.

DEADRA: Cheers.

(They drink.)

QUINN: Where's what's-his-name?

DEADRA: I'm not sure who you mean.

QUINN: The guy I always see you with.

DEADRA: You'd think someone like that would ring a bell, wouldn't you? I have no idea who you mean.

QUINN: The guy you go with.

DEADRA: I don't go with anyone.

QUINN: You're in here a lot together. He's always betting on games.

DEADRA: George?

QUINN: George, right.

 DEADRA: He left town last week. He got a new job.

QUINN: You two aren't an item?

DEADRA: Heavens, no. We're just buddies.

QUINN: That's encouraging.

DEADRA: In what way?

QUINN: When you make your move on me, I can say yes without a guilty conscience.

DEADRA: You don't beat around the bush.

QUINN: Bullshit's not part of my nature.

DEADRA: Sorry to disappoint you, Quinn, but I won't be making a move on you.

QUINN: Win a few, lose a few.

DEADRA: Are you always so direct?

QUINN: Always.

DEADRA: At least you're not "a secretive Scorpio." I have this thing about meeting Scorpio men. It always gets me in trouble.

QUINN: Bingo.

DEADRA: No.

QUINN: November 1st.

DEADRA: Please tell me you're kidding.

QUINN: Would I kid about being the sign of the genitals? What about you?

DEADRA: Guess.

QUINN: Actually, I've never asked anyone their sign before.

DEADRA: Don't ask — guess.

QUINN: Not a clue.

DEADRA: You've seen me in here a lot. You should have some impression about me.

QUINN: We've never talked before.

DEADRA: Why is that? Are you shy?

QUINN: You're usually in here with George. And now suddenly you're foot loose and fancy free.

DEADRA: I've always been that. The question is, how come you never talked to me before?

QUINN: We never ended up on adjacent barstools.

DEADRA: Which is surprising since whenever I walk in the door, you're here.

QUINN: Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?

DEADRA: I see you have a great affection for clichés.

QUINN: Only great writing becomes a cliché. Otherwise we forget it as soon as we hear it.

DEADRA: And you're a student of great writing.

QUINN: I'm a writer of bad verse, which gives me great appreciation for the good stuff.

DEADRA: Do you publish?

QUINN: I don't even send anything out.

DEADRA: That sounds like fear of rejection.

QUINN: I write for myself. It's a very noble tradition.

DEADRA: But you deprive the public of enjoying your work.

QUINN: If you'd read my stuff, you wouldn't say that. I write for an audience of one.

DEADRA: Too bad. If you had a book out, I could take it home to bed.

QUINN: Why take the poetry when you can take the poet?

DEADRA: I'm not picking you up, Quinn.

QUINN: The night's still young.

Read the play.

Germany

Hearing the German anthem played  before the match with Sweden, I am reminded of an obscene version sung with gusto by a comrade in the Army Security Agency, early 1960s. He aspired to be an opera singer and always brought down the barracks with his naughty rendition.

Baumholder 1961 tells the context, which amazingly enough is accurate.

Football = soccer

Fewer than ever Americans are watching the World Cup with no team in it but I have gone overboard, missing only a few games live and recording everything. I understand more and more why this is the most popular sport in the world. That American football is the "real" football is another myth to add to the long list of national hallucinations. The rest of the world is right.

At the same time, there are a couple of things my novice eyes don't appreciate. I don't like games decided by penalty kicks, when it happens. The game is so rough that penalties strike me as arbitrary, giving refs a lot of power to determine outcomes. I also don't like the histrionics of injury, even as rough as the game is. Too much trying to persuade a ref to call a foul.

But otherwise, what intense constant excitement! What conditioning the players are in! A remarkable sport indeed.

I'm still rooting for Jamaica and Senegal. I wouldn't mind Mexico taking it all. Might get a tweet out of that ha ha.

Andrew Sullivan on Trump

From New York Magazine:

There are times when I genuinely wonder whether I can hold up psychologically in our current politics and culture. My shrink tells me I am far from alone in this, and that everyone she listens to is consumed with a depression that swings from despair to rage to what can only be called learned helplessness. There are moments when everything I have come to believe in — reasoned deliberation, mutual toleration, liberal democracy, free speech, honesty, decency, and moderation — seem as if they are in eclipse. Emotionalism, tribalism, intolerance, lies, cruelty, and extremism surround us (and I have not been immune in this climate to their temptations either). Trump has turned the right into a foul, spit-flecked froth of racist reactionism, and he has evoked a radical response on the left that, while completely understandable, alienates me and many others more profoundly with every passing day. Hell, there have been many moments in the past couple of years when I have alienated the better part of myself. There is something about the current toxicity that has seeped into everyone.

Read the article. 

Krugman on Trump

From Alternet:

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman argued Thursday evening that President Donald Trump's rhetoric and policies toward immigrants mirror some of the darkest elements of historical anti-Semitism.

"What’s almost equally remarkable about this plunge into barbarism is that it’s not a response to any actual problem," he writes in a column titled "Return of the Blood Libel." "The mass influx of murderers and rapists that Trump talks about, the wave of crime committed by immigrants here (and, in his mind, refugees in Germany), are things that simply aren’t happening. They’re just sick fantasies being used to justify real atrocities."

He continued: "And you know what this reminds me of? The history of anti-Semitism, a tale of prejudice fueled by myths and hoaxes that ended in genocide."

Headline

From att.net:

George Will Leaves Republican Party, Urges Conservatives To Vote Against Donald Trump

No insignificant development. Gets more interesting every day.

When this momentum grows and comes to a head, either Trump will quit or he will fight, the latter very ugly.

World Cup

To my eye, no powerhouse or favorite has emerged. I'll root for sentimental favorites like Senegal and Jamaica, which easily eliminated Iceland. Russia, the host, is looking as strong as anyone at this point. Home team fans love it.

Say what?

From The Daily Beast:

President Donald Trump told Congress in a letter on Friday that North Korea’s “provocative, destabilizing, and repressive actions...continue to constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States. The letter, which notes the country’s “pursuit of nuclear and missile programs,” comes just over a week after Trump boasted on Twitter that there “is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.” “Everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office,” he said. 

The man doesn't have a consistent bone in his body. This would be an hilarious farce if he didn't have nukes at hand.

Charging the battery

Been brooding a lot about the transition point in the novel in progress, close to getting back to it with renewed enthusiasm. My first fifty pages are fine. But they set up some complicated options. Key, it turns out, is a minor character, CJ's former student, a fringe writer/artist, whom CJ finds in the retirement center after the man had a stroke. He will join the suicide/protest expedition and frame it in a challenging way.

About ready to roll again.

Goal now, finish a showable draft by end of summer, get feedback from my publisher, and rewrite for publication before end of year, maybe even on my birthday in late October.

LAST RIGHTS is the perfect title.

The genius of Tom Lehrer

Appalling ineptitude

From The Washington Post:

Even though the Trump administration has halted its policy of separating illegal border crossers from their children, many of the over 2,300 youths removed from migrant parents since May 5 remain in shelters and foster homes across the country. The U.S. government has done little to help with the reunifications, attorneys say, prompting them to launch a frantic, improvised effort to find the children — some of them toddlers.

One legal aid organization, the Texas Civil Rights Project, is representing more than 300 parents and has been able to track down only two children.

“Either the government wasn’t thinking at all about how they were going to put these families back together, or they decided they just didn’t care,” said Natalia Cornelio, with the organization.

Trump is a showman. He has no executive skill. He can't lead folks unless they kiss his ass, he can't run a government, he can't deal with details, he can only strut and pontificate his fantasy reality. Just incredible. More incredible, so many buy into his con job.

A play of mine has the curtain line, "What the people expect, they get. What they get, they deserve. Always." Not quite as good as what Mencken said in 1920 but maybe close. 

Wishful thinking?

Business Insider headline:

'This dude has all the tapes': Tom Arnold says he and Michael Cohen are teaming up to take down Trump

Golden opportunity, lost

I woke up this morning thinking about what a unique, challenging time this is in American history. With creative leadership able to lead a significant national will, amazing progress could be made on urgent issues, such as repairing infrastructure and preparing for climate disaster. America has done this before. In a war against superior forces in WWII, we created ship building and weapons communities. We created a scientific community to build an atomic bomb. During the depression, we created any number of communities to build and fix and even to put on plays and write state guides. In a crisis, we don't have to sit around with a thumb up our ass. We acted during times of crisis in the past.

We don't have the leadership to do this, of course, and I don't see any on the horizon. I see only more conflict, more violence and, finally, before our Moron In Chief leaves office, an over-reaction against dissent, including martial law. That's the future I see in the U.S.

But how different it could be! First, realize that immigrants are an asset, not a threat. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." True in the depression, true today. The Moron In Chief's greatest skill is creating fear to get his way. But communities of immigrants could earn citizenship with important work screaming to be done. This doesn't take away jobs, it creates new jobs. We can fix things, we can feed people, we can teach immigrants English, we can do all number of constructive things, like a WPA and Peace corps (and Diggers and Black Panthers!) rolled into one.

What a fantasy! The Great America that supporters of the Moron In Chief want to return to never existed, of course. But problems visible today were invisible in the past because the media didn't report them, we weren't bombarded with news, most of it bad. America's greatness was an ostrich. When a book about poverty in America was published in the 1950s, it shocked everyone! What? Poverty in America?

Michael Harrington

Man, I am so glad I am an old man. I should be dead before the worst of impending shit happens. I think the gods daily for my old age.

First meeting

Merle

Doc

Una Furtiva Lagrima

A divided America

Quote of the day

About the man in the White House:

"It's extraordinary how he is completely indifferent to truth. There's just no relationship between his statements - anything he utters - and the actual truth of the matter," said Thomas Murray, president emeritus of the Hastings Center, the founding institution in the field of bioethics. "As far as I can tell, the best way to understand anything he says is what will best serve his interests in the moment. It's irrespective to any version of the truth."

British bangers

Picked up some British bangers from Otto's Sausage. Breakfast, with scrambled eggs, outstanding.

Last night had Swedish potato sausage, also from Otto's. Eating well is a great distraction.

Bold creative action

How about using the WPA model to create a community work force of immigrants and tackle our huge and growing infrastructure repair issues? Manage it with recent college graduates, working off their student debts. These communities include schooling, especially English. Another job for recent graduates.

Welcome immigrants instead of rejecting them. We need them!

The huge numbers, climate refugees, are yet to come.

Of course, none of this will happen. Seems to me we are doomed, taken down with the crashing white racist sexist folks who can't accept an inevitable future.

Prediction: before he's gone, Trump will declare martial law. Then the shit will really hit the fan.

A proper canvas

Ha ha! Projected on SF Federal Building (but for how long?):