News that got my attention today
Mitch McConnell is retiring. We’re losing a moderating force on right-wing extremism — and that’s a statement on the dire condition the US is in.
Trump is dismantling the government fight against foreign influence operations. Makes sense; foreign influence helped get him elected.
Trump cut protections for Haitians, putting them on track for deportation.
Hamas turned four hostages over to Israel in a display a senior UN official called “abhorrent and cruel.” Israel later said only three bodies belonged to captives.
The SS United States, a historic 990-foot ocean liner and the largest passenger ship built in America, is steaming from Philadelphia to its final fate as the world’s largest artificial reef. It will finish about 180 feet underwater and 20 miles off the coast of Okalosa County, off the Florida Gulf Coast. The ship carried four US presidents, Marylin Monroe, Marlon Brando and Grace Kely, set transatlatic speed records and completed about 800 crossings until it retired in 1969.
Amazon passed Walmart revenue for the first time. I would have thought Amazon did that years ago.
New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, decided against removing NYC Mayor Eric Adams from office.
Wild fish can tell humans apart when we dress differently.
Cheetohs launched the Flamin' Hot Dill Pickle flavor.
On this day: The Communist Manifesto was published (1848), NASCAR was founded (1948) — a friend told me recently that NASCAR was based on evasion techniques invented by bootletters; he said his family were bootleggers 100 years ago, which is way more interesting than my family history — Malcolm X was assassinated (1965), Billy Graham died (2018).
Sources: 1440, The New York Times: Today’s Headlines
News that got my attention today
Trump wants to abolish the IRS and fund government through tariffs. (How about you try your hair-brained experiments on someone else’s country?)
He called Zelensky a “dictator.”
The French prime minister, François Bayrou, said on Thursday that “the risk of war has never been so high since 1945”. Denmark said it would rapidly increase defense spending.
Trump called himself a king and the White House shared an image of him wearing a crown.
Archeologists found the first pharoah’s tomb in more than a century — that of Thutmose II (I read a lot of Egyptology in the 1990s and I actually remember that name, though I couldn’t tell you what he was kown for).
Germany’s far right AfD party doubled its support since 2021.
Brazilian authorities charged former President Jair Bolsonaro and 33 others yesterday with orchestrating a coup after the 2022 presidential election, among other crimes. (Brazil knows how to handle an autogolpe. Nobody should be surprised that Trump is seeking retribution against the people he perceives as enemies. If you aim to take out powerful people, you had best not miss.)
Former Vice President Kamala Harris signs with talent firm Creative Artists Agency; CAA signed former President Joe Biden to a similar deal two weeks ago. (That’s all good; it’s not like the US is facing a crisis for which we require Democratic Party leadership. You just keep bringing in the money, guys; it’s what you’re good at.)
A judge ordered a Mississippi newsletter to remove an editorial criticizing city officials.
Kennedy issued guidance recognizing only two sexes, citing “biological truth.” (Bullshit.)
Doctors love the Noah Wylie TV series “The Pitt.”” (We do too.)
Sources: The Guardian: First Thing, The New York Times: Today’s Headlines, 1440
We watched an episode of Rockford Files tonight. It was the second part of a two parter, and though it had a lot of padding – plenty of scenes of Jim Rockford driving around Los Angeles – I enjoyed it anyway, just seeing the streets of Los Angeles in the 70s and all those 70s cars.
Joseph Cotten and Sharon Gless were guest stars.
Jim Rockford wears high-waisted slacks, hard shoes and a button-front sport shirt even when he’s hanging around the house trailer. He adds a snappy sport coat when he’s out on business.
Protecting our immigrant neighbors in La Mesa, California
La Mesa, California, and the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District are implementing measures to protect immigrants.
It’s not just at restaurants that the dress code has become more relaxed; it’s pretty much everywhere. People don’t dress up for the theater, the opera, work or travel. Sometimes airports look more like giant sleepover parties than transportation hubs.
“American Beauty” was one of the most acclaimed movies of the 90s. But since then it’s been memory holed. Why? Oscars Rewind: How ‘American Beauty’ Lost Its Luster. At the 2000 Academy Awards, the film won five Oscars, including best picture. Then came 9/11, a tanking economy and Kevin Spacey.
Kevin Kelly shares a meaty and fascinating list of travel tips learned from wandering the world for 50 years:
Organize your travel around passions instead of destinations. An itinerary based on obscure cheeses, or naval history, or dinosaur digs, or jazz joints will lead to far more adventures, and memorable times than a grand tour of famous places. It doesn’t even have to be your passions; it could be a friend’s, family member’s, or even one you’ve read about. The point is to get away from the expected into the unexpected.
If you hire a driver, or use a taxi, offer to pay the driver to take you to visit their mother. They will ordinarily jump at the chance. They fulfill their filial duty and you will get easy entry into a local’s home, and a very high chance to taste some home cooking. Mother, driver, and you leave happy. This trick rarely fails.
…
Crash a wedding. You are not a nuisance; you are the celebrity guest! The easiest way to do this is to find the local wedding hall where weddings happen on schedule and approach a wedding party with a request to attend. They will usually feel honored. You can offer the newlyweds a small token gift of cash if you want. You will be obliged to dance. Take photos of them; they will take photos of you. It will make your day and theirs. (I’ve crashed a wedding in most of the countries I have visited.)
ProPublica: What is a pig butchering scam, and how to avoid falling victim to one.
At Taco Bell, a Romance Is Born. Bettina Makalinta and her husband went to Taco Bell on their first date. “Taco Bell isn’t ‘real’ Mexican food, but it has always, at least in my lifetime, been knowing about this: A Cheez-It tostada lands at Taco Bell, because its audience is stoners and silly people.”
Business school professors trained an AI to judge workers' personalities based on their faces. “The purpose of this automated eugenics is the same as every ‘rational’ account of hierarchy in human history: to retroactively justify winners, and to condemn losers before the game even starts.” — Cory Doctorow
Cory suggests a possible explanation, almost in passing: Assuming the test has any accuracy — a big “if” — it is simply detecting people with money and social status to make themselves look conventionally attractive.
I love this article by Joel Stein, about his fashion makeover. I laughed out loud at the headline and description alone — “A sartorial remaking, inspired by Ted Danson’s character on ‘A Man on the Inside’” — because I had the same impulse after watching the show.
My resolve to become natty only lasted a couple of days. I bought a cardigan sweater for about $110. I got away with spending much, much less money than Stein did.
I do at least want to wear nicer T-shirts. My T-shirts get stretched at the collar after I repeatedly push my massive Charlie Brown head through the neck hole.
Last night, we watched the movie “The Man From Earth.” I liked how the main character dressed: Cargo pants, a crew neck sweater and a corduroy sports jacket.
I love RSS but find all RSS clients annoying. I’m trying bazqux now and I like it.
Until a week or two ago, was sure I wanted an RSS reader that also supported email newsletters, but now I think you know what’s great for reading email? Email is great for that.
I’m looking at a 15-hour flight in about two weeks and then another one a week later. I need to try this to get an upgrade.
A big reason I enjoy reading /r/AITA is so I can say, “Yes, often I’m TA but at least I’m not that guy." I suspect this is a common motivation.
NTA. The commenters are saying she needs to leave him and they’re right. Is “Cat’s in the Cradle phase” a common name for the evolution of abusive Dads, or is it just something they’re saying here?
NTA. A person has a right to politely decline offered food for any reason or no reason at all. Good grief, people, stop being jerks.