28 thoughts on “Sunday Serendipity”

  1. wiki:

    The Lark Ascending” is a poem of 122 lines by the English poet George Meredith about the song of the skylark. Siegfried Sassoon called it matchless of its kind, “a sustained lyric which never for a moment falls short of the effect aimed at, soars up and up with the song it imitates, and unites inspired spontaneity with a demonstration of effortless technical ingenuity… one has only to read the poem a few times to become aware of its perfection”.
    The poem inspired the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams to write a musical work of the same name, which is now more widely known than the poem.

    The Lark Ascending by George Meredith – Famous poems, famous poets. – All Poetry

    He rises and begins to round,
    He drops the silver chain of sound
    Of many links without a break,
    In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake,
    All intervolv’d and spreading wide,
    Like water-dimples down a tide
    Where ripple ripple overcurls
    And eddy into eddy whirls;
    A press of hurried notes that run
    So fleet they scarce are more than one,
    Yet changingly the trills repeat
    And linger ringing while they fleet,
    Sweet to the quick o’ the ear, and dear
    To her beyond the handmaid ear,
    Who sits beside our inner springs,
    Too often dry for this he brings,
    Which seems the very jet of earth
    At sight of sun, her music’s mirth,
    As up he wings the spiral stair,
    A song of light, and pierces air
    With fountain ardor, fountain play,
    To reach the shining tops of day,
     

    [continues]

  3. “We’re not imperial”: Elena Kagan contradicts Alito, says “of course Congress can regulate” SCOTUS | Salon.com

    […]
    “It just can’t be that the court is the only institution that somehow is not subject to checks and balances from anybody else. We’re not imperial,” Kagan told the audience of judges and lawyers. “Can Congress do various things to regulate the Supreme Court? I think the answer is: yes.”
    She clarified that she was not responding to Justice Samuel Alito’s remarks in an interview last month that Congress would be violating the separation of powers if legislators sought to create ethics and recusal policies for the high court.
    […]
    Kagan said she was unsure precisely what question Alito was asked and suggested that his statement could not have been as far-reaching as it seemed because the Constitution allows Congress to determine the kinds of cases the Supreme Court can hear.
    “Of course, Congress can regulate various aspects of what the Supreme Court does,” said Kagan, who joined the court in 2010 after being nominated by President Barack Obama. “Congress funds the Supreme Court. Congress historically has made changes to the court’s structure and composition. Congress has made changes to the court’s appellate jurisdiction.”
    She also quickly added that this provision does not mean Congress could work to dictate the outcome of specific cases.
    “Can Congress do anything it wants? Well, no,” she said. “There are limits here, no doubt.”
    Kagan expressed reluctance to elaborate on her stance on grounds that the court could someday take on a case in which it is asked to assess those limits. She added that she didn’t want to “jawbone it” while Congress is considering legislation although the bill appears to have almost no chance of clearing the full Senate or being taken up by the House.
    However, Kagan explained she would prefer to see the Supreme Court work to defuse the current controversies surrounding it by taking its own steps to address ethics concerns. She became the first justice to publicly confirm the widely held suspicions that the justices are at odds on the matter.
    “It’s not a secret for me to say that we have been discussing this issue, and it won’t be a surprise to know that the nine of us have a diversity about this and most things. We’re nine freethinking individuals,” she said.
    “Regardless of what Congress does, the court can do stuff, you know?” Kagan said. “We could decide to adopt a code of conduct of our own that either follows or decides in certain instances not to follow the standard codes of conduct … that would remove this question of what Congress can do. … I hope that we will make some progress in this area.”
    [continues]

  4. Alito is the primary male dancer in the Bullshit Ballet (aka SCOTUS) and Kagan is emerging as the Prima Ballerina. At some point they may be performing the same ballet, but for now they’re not dancing to the same work. 

  6. the guardian: O-O but sweden wins 5-4 on penalties

    07.45 EDT
    SWEDEN ARE THROUGH! US ARE OUT!
    Hurtig’s pen was saved but Naeher loses control and it’s over! VAR decides it. The holders are out.

  7. a ray, slim ray, of hope on the horizon also from the guardian this morning:

    China is said to be in support of a third round of talks to find a framework for peace in Ukraine after a meeting of senior officials from about 40 countries in Saudi Arabia over the weekend.
    The two-day summit in Jeddah was the second of its kind following a similar forum in Copenhagen earlier this summer and aims to draft key principles on how to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
    Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he hoped the initiative would lead to a “peace summit” of world leaders this autumn to endorse the principles, based on his own 10-point formula for a settlement.
    The talks, which excluded Russia, were attended by the US, India, the EU and China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui. “We have many disagreements and we have heard different positions, but it is important that our principles are shared,” Li was reported by Reuters as saying before the meeting.

  10. Watching Trump lawyer John Lauro’s many Sunday show appearances today here are his defense buckets (with scoops) I heard:

    2020 election fraud

       — Trump believed he won

       — Fraud claims not fully litigated

       — Right to petition States & Congress for remedies

    Protected Freedom of Speech To:

       — Express belief he won

       — Ask state legislatures to name alternate electors

       — Ask Pence to postpone certification

    Advice of Counsel

       — Following legal advice disproves required criminal or corrupt intent

    Presidential immunity

       — Acts while president not subject to prosecution

     

     

     

  11. Here we go, just now went after the judge:

    Donald J. Trump

    @realDonaldTrump

    THERE IS NO WAY I CAN GET A FAIR TRIAL WITH THE JUDGE “ASSIGNED” TO THE RIDICULOUS FREEDOM OF SPEECH/FAIR ELECTIONS CASE. EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS, AND SO DOES SHE! WE WILL BE IMMEDIATELY ASKING FOR RECUSAL OF THIS JUDGE ON VERY POWERFUL GROUNDS, AND LIKEWISE FOR VENUE CHANGE, OUT IF D.C.

  12. Sthupid bathturd.  With Lauro as his lead spokesliar he’s not likely to get any traction with his VERY POWERFUL GROUNDS.  First appearance I saw Lauro on was his interview with Laura Ingraham and I thought (a) it didn’t sound like he had even read the indictment and (b) she was going to swallow her tongue about half a dozen times. Apparently no one has told him that his notion of fairness is not grounds for recusal of a judge.  I suppose it never has occurred to him that there actually are colorable grounds to request a judge reassignment in his other pending criminal case and that he’s facing the same prosecutor in both cases who does not seem a bit inclined to let Dumbass have a gimme.

  13. Well . . . I have not mentioned the problem I am having as I was hoping it was allergies or a bad dream, alas, no.  It appears I have the respiratory syncytial virus, RSV.  It started like a cold be has gotten worse, so bad I might head to triage tomorrow morning.  The coughing and general “run over by a herd of horses” feeling is bad.  It is serious bad for infants and the above retirement age people.  Apparently it does a good job of making pneumonia.  If you get something starting as a cold it might be worth  calling the practitioner of medical arts for checkup.

  14. a new opportunity for loser guy to get help paying his lawyers and court costs for being (according to him) “unfairly” treated by his former employer the USA?

    “If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill,” Musksaid in a post on X late on Saturday, adding that there will be no limits to funding the bills.

    quote from: 

    Musk offers to pay legal bills of people ‘unfairly treated’ for posting on platform | Elon Musk | The Guardian

  15. That’s actually Musk trying to intimidate common users of social media like you and i to shut up or risk getting sued, fuck that guy

  17. I heard someone say  what if there was no coverage of SFB for two weeks ..none a complete blackout
    There would be fox of course and the other cable clowns  but no networks etc.

    ps Blue
    that is a bad thing for the young and the old…
    I am visualizing you better

  18. He’s in full venom mode today…

    Donald J. Trump

    @realDonaldTrump

    I purposely didn’t comment on Nancy Pelosi’s very weird story concerning her husband, but now I can because she said something about me, with glee, that was really quite vicious. “I saw a scared puppy,” she said, as she watched me on television, like millions of others,  that didn’t see that. I wasn’t “scared.” Nevertheless, how mean a thing to say! She is a Wicked Witch whose husbands journey from hell starts and finishes with her. She is a sick & demented psycho who will someday live in HELL!

  19. Perhaps SFB is annoyed because Paul Pelosi’s community service involved taking down Trump campaign
    signs posted illegally on county property.

  20. Blue

    Sorry you are ill.  I had a bout with it awhile back, but it never got as bad as you sound just coughing and wheezing for several months.  

    Hope the condition improves soon.

     

     

  21. BlueBronc: sorry to hear about your sickness, good idea to get tested if you haven’t already to make sure that’s what it is. Hubs caught what he was sure was Covid but the test came back positive for RSV. He was a sick pup for three weeks at least. Apparently you don’t have to be around babies to catch it. Take care and be well soon. 

  22. “I saw Lauro on was his interview with Laura Ingraham and I thought…she was going to swallow her tongue about half a dozen times.”

     
    Poor Laura, I thought she must be catching flies in there the way her jaw was hanging open.

  24. BB – Hope you get some good medical help and lick this thing.  

    SFB sounds like he’s completely losing his tiny mind.  There is a saying that all orange cats share a single brain cell, and it seems like he doesn’t have custody of it today.  (Apologies to orange cats.)  

    Did his attorney just admit to some things he shouldn’t have done? 
     

  26. Thanks all!  Right now I think of that little three year old fighting a nasty cold and there is nothing to do about it.  “Mommy, I feel sick.”  Hug and hold and rock in the rocking chair until you drop.  Only now I have two cats and a dog which wake me occasionally to remind me they are hungry.
     
     
    A difficult part of life and avoiding shopping is I run out of essentials, cocktail olives at the moment.  I am reduced to taking my ONE remaining olive and tossing it back into the jar to soak up some of the olive stuff.  Then I take it out, put it in the next one, return to jar . . . you get the idea.  Costco has the best olives.  If I go to the VA it is on the way home.  Sterilize a cold, sterilize a viral attack.  You use sterilizer on your hands, sink and counter tops.  Might as well go after the blasted things making you miserable.

  27. BlueB… please take care of yourself.
     
    Craig… that tweet… or whatever it was… about Nancy Pelosi was tooooo funny!

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