Life in rural Russia six months after sanctions

A Fred Rogers reminder for today

I don’t think we give that gift anymore (the gift of silence). I’m very concerned that our society is much more interested in information than wonder. In noise, rather than silence…How do we encourage reflection?

Oh my, this is a noisy world. I get up every morning at least by 5AM. I have a couple hours of quiet time, reflect about what it is important. What can we do, to encourage people to have more quiet in their lives, more silence? Real revelation comes through silence.

-- Fred Rogers

Trump steals a gripe from a The Onion article about DeSantis stealing a cruelty from Abbot

It's a tug-a-war between gratuitous cruelty and egomaniacal ignorance.

But it's as hilarious as it is infuriating. On Friday the satirical online paper The Onion ran a parody story on Abbot griping that DeSantis stole his idea of trolling blue states by force-shipping migrants for the northeast to deal with.

48 hours later, the big orange buffoon is making the same ridiculous complaint that DeSantis is stealing *his* plan to abuse the innocent refugees by moving them across the country against their will. Republicans aren't only dependably cruel and stupid... they're actually PREDICTABLY cruel and stupid.

The Onion story: https://www.theonion.com/greg-abbott-sends-hundreds-of-migrants-to-desantis-hou-1849545509

The Rolling Stone article on DeSantis being sadistic & Trump being a whiny brat (again): https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/marthas-vineyard-migrants-trump-desantis-mad-1234595332/

I think about this every 9/11 in recent years. It's time to quit commemorating it

When we think about the other days we commemorate as Americans--Christmas, Thanksgiving, 4th of July, Juneteenth, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Martin Luther King day, Easter--they're all about public celebrations or celebrating victories in American history. They're about the progress we've made or the values we hold. Even Memorial and Veterans Day, which ostensibly honor those who served have their roots in VE Day and Armistice Day, the ending of the two World Wars we won last century.

But despite the few efforts to rebrand 9/11 as Remembrance Day or First Responders Day, inevitably it's about celebrating America's false sense of victimhood. It's a day for celebrating xenophobia. It's a day for indulging the right-wing fantasy that the whole world hates against us, which cultivates the maudlin sentiments intended to make you shut up and salute the flag unquestioningly. And I can't think of anything more on American than saluting the flag on questioningly.

We don't celebrate December 7th. We don't commemorate the beginning of the Confederacy or the first arrival of slaves at Jamestown or shoot off fireworks for Zimmerman Telegram Day. Losers might enjoy wallowing in their losses and their setbacks; people who believe the core of our history is behind us rather that being something to build for in the future, people who want to sulk about their lost Glory Days might be attracted to lost causes and the anniversary of when things fell apart.

I think we should choose the future. I think we should recognize the pain of 9/11, take care of the people who suffered serving on 9/11 and in the wars that followed, but constantly revisiting and opening up an old wound doesn't do us any good. I think instead we should celebrate September 17th, Constitution Day, the day we established an imperfect but hopeful form of government that has continually expanded to include more and more people and provide more and more opportunities for everyone who wants to call our portion of this continent home.

So, wait, the painting with the shrubbery wasn't the official portrait?

I'm seeing now that it's this...



instead of this...?



Which I guess was always a bit too close to this



I'm so confused....

In all the top secret document buzz, I forgot about Bret Kavanaugh's debt

or the surprising lack thereof