37 thoughts on “Sunday Serendipity”

  1. Jack, just what I needed this morning. thank you… and thanks, joe h, good music.

  2. renee, what pogo said about the ginger ale, saltines getting thru and over goosey guts. glad you’re better. you sure the birds ate up all the seed and not that bear family that use to visit?

    BTW condolences to pogo and ivy.  guess one can only go so far with the mudita joy thingy. at least they got to the final four unlike KY wildcats to say nothing of my ‘Noles.

  3. speaking of the madness

    Charles Barkley (Kenan Thompson), Ernie Johnson (James Austin Johnson) and Kenny Smith (Devon Walker) discuss March Madness 2024.

  4. Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week’s biggest news, like the women’s NCAA Final Four matchup of Iowa vs. UConn becoming the most-viewed women’s basketball game with 14.2 million viewers

  5. as others see us

     

    Attribution: Times of darkness. by Arcadio Esquivel, Costa Rica

  6. Thanks, Pat. We got back to our hotel in time to see the end. Disappointing, as you say, but they made it farther than expected. 

    SNL was funny last night or maybe we just needed a good laugh.
     

  7. If the eclipse is invisible tomorrow as predicted, it will be because God is punishing Texas for its sins. 

  9. Donald Trump’s Insatiable Bloodlust

    As Stephen Greenblatt writes in “Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics,” usurpers don’t ascend to the throne without complicity. Republican enablers do all they can to cozy up to their would-be dictator, even introducing a bill to rename Dulles airport for Trump. Democrats responded by introducing a bill to name a prison in Florida for Trump.
    “Why, in some circumstances, does evidence of mendacity, crudeness or cruelty serve not as a fatal disadvantage but as an allure, attracting ardent followers?” Greenblatt asked. “Why do otherwise proud and self-respecting people submit to the sheer effrontery of the tyrant, his sense that he can get away with saying and doing anything he likes, his spectacular indecency?”

     
    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/06/opinion/trump-election-blood-bath.html?campaign_id=191&emc=edit_ntmd_20240406&instance_id=119497&nl=maureen-dowd&regi_id=72667539&segment_id=162765&te=1&user_id=87003e1eb754f9d40574ce526134d300
     
     

  10. This was my first read this morning. I am just astonished the once fiercely anti-communist party of Ronald Reagan is doing everything it can to help Putin.

    NYT Editorial: “Ukraine is still ready and has the capacity to defend its democracy and territory against Russia. But it cannot do so without American military assistance. It is distressing that the fate of Ukraine has fallen prey to internecine Republican politicking. … House Speaker Mike Johnson should allow an aid package for Ukraine to come to a vote. — Free link

  11. ivy, some expert psych doc opined the other day that the attraction for the average joe is the vicarious pleasure he senses for himself that as greenblatt said “he can get away with saying and doing anything he likes” (and i would add the fantasying of being rich without worry of next bill, meal, termination, put-down etc) when joe six-pack watches beelzeeBLOB.

  12. I sure hope this becomes a campaign issue. People need to know a vote for Trump is a vote for Putin, and if that’s what they want, so be it.

    Washington Post: “Trump has privately said he could end Russia’s war in Ukraine by pressuring Ukraine to give up some territory, according to people familiar with the plan. Some foreign policy experts said Trump’s idea would reward Russian President Vladimir Putin and condone the violation of internationally recognized borders by force.”

    free link..
    https://wapo.st/3vxRcuh

  14. Also from Maureen Dowd’s NYT article

    Trump’s obsession with bloodlines was instilled by his father, the son of a German immigrant. He thinks there is good blood and bad blood, superior blood and inferior blood. Fred Trump taught his son that their family’s success was genetic, reminiscent of Hitler’s creepy faith in eugenics.

  16. I sure hope swing voters can save us from this madness, they’ve been doing a good job the last couple of election cycles:

    “A majority of Republicans believe the country needs a leader to break some rules to get it back on track, and some 3 in 10 Republicans go so far as to say Americans may have to resort to violence in order to set things straight. Six in 10 Republicans falsely maintain that Joe Biden did not win the election in 2020.” (NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist)

  17. Trump post this morning: “How many Judges do I have to endure before somebody steps in?”

    Henry II to his knights when he wanted Thomas Becket killed: “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?”

  22. The other day, the MSM was fawning over Barron’s height.  They need to stop being so silky.  Let’s get serious about who tRUMPsky is, who is helping him, and what he would do if unfettered.  

    Fetter the hell out of him at polls in November!  Give POTUS Joe a second term and a Dem-heavy Congress. 

    What happens if Biden can’t get on the ballot in Ohio?
     

    What happens if RFKJ gets on enough ballots, and lies to enough voters that he’s a serious candidate (he can’t win), to take delegates away from Biden?
     

    Chef Jose Andres gave an amazing interview this morning.  These are the clear-minded, good-hearted folks we need in the world.  
    John Kirby’s response was, well, politician-y.  
    Very concerned about what Iran will do, and Russia and China will bode their time.  

    It’s a bright, shiny day here.  Hoping tomorrow is at least somewhat the same.  Right now, the severe weather is supposedly going to hold off until sunset.

  23. https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/06/politics/biden-ohio-ballot-election-conflict/index.html

    “President Joe Biden may face complications getting on Ohio’s 2024 general election ballot unless Democrats make changes or the state legislature takes action, according to a letter issued by the office of Ohio’s secretary of state, Frank LaRose.”

    “According to Ohio law, there is an August 7 deadline “to certify a presidential candidate to this office.” But this year’s Democratic National Convention — where delegates officially select the party’s nominees for president and vice president — starts August 19.”

    How does one write in a candidate on a voting machine? I’ve never seen a way. Maybe there’s an “other” option and it takes you to another page?

  24. It’s a bright, shiny day here.  Hoping tomorrow is at least somewhat the same.  Right now, the severe weather is supposedly going to hold off until sunset.

     
    Praise be, blue. I’m praying the Lord will take mercy on Texas for one more day. 

  26. It’s not inflation it’s CEO GREED.    

    Republicans are Putin’s servants.

    No health insurance? Blame Republicans.

    Ask the CEO’s, “What’s in YOUR wallet?”

    The billionaires want YOUR money too!

    Republicans are nest-egg suckin’ dogs.

  27. Why is the Democratic convention more than a month after the GOP?  They must have known the Ohio law or did that change just come this year?

     

  28. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/biden-ohio-ballot-technicality

    “President Joe Biden may face eligibility issues on the Ohio ballot in November. At least that’s according to a letter from the Ohio Secretary of State’s office, which informed the state’s leading Democrats that this summer’s Democratic National Convention may take place too late for Biden to appear on the ballot on Election Day.”

    “The letter, first obtained by ABC News and made public Friday night, was sent to Ohio Democratic Party Chairwoman Liz Waltersand other top Democrats in the state. Penned by Paul Disantis, the chief legal counsel for Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State, Frank LaRose, it raised “an apparent conflict” in state law that could cause headaches for the Biden campaign.”
     
     
    Still looking for why the cutoff is August 7th/when that date was implemented.

  29. https://boe.cuyahogacounty.gov/voters/2023-ohio-voting-law-changes
     
    “On January 6, 2023, the Governor signed Ohio House Bill 458 that made several changes to election laws. We’ve highlighted the changes that impact Ohio voters below.”
     
    Wow, January 6th is a banner day for Repugz.
     And a very Rage-y MAGAt Day to you, DuhWine.
     
    I’ve only found Ohio’s voter suppression laws, but don’t see anything about when they set the name-on-the-ballot to August 7th.  
    Craig, Any ideas? 
     
     
     

  32. “Ain’t No Sunshine” 🎶

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/clouds-storms-may-obscure-mondays-solar-eclipse-view-states-path-rcna146770

    “Around 20 million in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma are at risk for severe weather at the start of the week, where multiple rounds of storms are forecast to start Monday afternoon. Very large hail will be the primary threat heading into Monday, with the threat shifting Tuesday across East Texas and Louisiana. Texas will see the most impact, with major cities including Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio in the path of the storms.”

  33. https://www.4029tv.com/article/navajo-eclipse-traditions/60344204
    “The Navajo tribe views the eclipse as a taboo, seeing the sun as a father figure and an eclipse as its death, according to the Museum of Native American History in Bentonville.”
    “Eclipses are looked at as taboo in our culture,” Littlefeather said.
    “I’m not allowed to look at any videos, photos, or really anything that has to do with the eclipse,” Littlefeather said. 
    “He is, you know, the reason that we have harvesting, crops, and so when that moment happens, and he is suddenly eclipsed by something else, we are kind of going into a phase where we are acknowledging his passing, and we are supposed to be extremely dormant during these times and periods,” Littlefeather said. 
    “Following the eclipse, Navajo tribe members ingest corn pollen, a ritual Littlefeather describes as a way to reconnect them to a path of beauty.”
    “Littlefeather also noted that some people on social media are becoming aware that not everyone celebrates the eclipse.”
    “A lot of people put like a black hole or a black screen, letting people know, any people in the nation, just letting you know in the next slide we’re going to be showing you videos and pictures of the eclipse, so please don’t look at this post, or look at this video. I think that sensitivity is super awesome,” Littlefeather said.
     

  34. https://dpi.wi.gov/news/dpi-connected/learn-about-solar-eclipses-anishinaabe-perspective
    “People belonging to the Anishinaabe (also known Chippewa or Ojibwe) nations of Wisconsin and Great Lakes region have various stories and legends about eclipses. These stories are not just stories – they are representations of a worldview where celestial bodies (the planets, moon, sun, and stars) interact with the world, human lives, and even in concepts of afterlife and rebirth.”
     
    “The following story being shared and told comes from multiple communities in Canada from the east coast and central Canada including the Inu, the Ojibwe, and the Cree and others. It goes:
    In the old days, people were not the chiefs and did not hunt animals. Animals were the chiefs and hunted people. They killed everyone except for one girl and her little brother. The boy learned to hunt snowbirds and squirrels with a bow and arrow. He became such a good hunter that he started catching bigger prey.
    One day, he felt like something was following him. His skin became heated, and it felt like he was burned. His sister helped him fashion a snare and he set it along a melted path in the snow to catch whatever had burned him. It was the sun’s path. The next day, as the sun rose, it got caught in the snare and darkness followed.
    The animals were afraid but amazed by the void. They sent the biggest and most fearsome animal to try to free the sun. The caribou and the moose went first, but it was too hot. The hunting birds flew, but the fire burned their feathers.
    A tiny mouse (who in those days was as big as a mountain) was the one that chewed through the snare, freeing the sun. But meanwhile, the intense heat of the sun shrunk him down to his present day size we know today.
    Since that time, the people have been hunting on the land and the sun and the moon follow their cycles. The little boy is Tcikabis, and he’s known as the man on the moon.”

    “For the Ojibwe people and nations of the Great Lakes, the onset of total eclipse represented an extinguished sun. To prevent permanent darkness, they proceeded to fire flaming arrows at the darkened sun in an attempt to rekindle it.

    Some stories say the sun was like a campfire that had gone out. Instead of hiding or banging drums (like in other Indigenous traditions), the Ojibwe fired arrows aimed at the sun.

    Eventually, one of the arrows would launch high enough to reignite the sun. Human intervention was required to return the sun to its regular strength.”

  35. Author of the Day

    Thomas B. Costain

    Delved deeply into The Plantagenets among other areas. 

    THE TONTINE, for instance.

    Costain was born in Brantford, Ontario to John Herbert Costain and Mary Schultz.[citation needed] He attended high school there at the Brantford Collegiate Institute.[citation needed] Before graduating from high school, he had written four novels, one of which was a 70,000 word romance about Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange. These early novels were rejected by publishers.

  36. https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/07/europe/russian-controlled-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-reactor-damaged-following-drone-attack/index.html
    “The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine was damaged Sunday in a drone attack, the International Atomic Energy Agency said, calling the strike “a serious incident (with) potential to undermine integrity of the reactor’s containment system.”
    In a statement posted to X, the IAEA stressed that the damage at the Russian-controlled facility “has not compromised nuclear safety.”

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