Sunday Serendipity

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Shakuhachi is the Japanese end-blown bamboo flute used by Fuke Zen monks during suizen (“blowing meditation”). The piece “Tsuru no Sugomori” (The Nesting of Cranes) is among the most revered solo shakuhachi honkyoku (original pieces), traditionally performed to invoke the spirit of cranes building a nest, calling, taking flight, and settling again.

Enjoy, Jack

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74 thoughts on “Sunday Serendipity”

  1. Om Mani Padme Hum
    Om Mani Padme Hum
    Om Mani Padme Hum

    Om Mani Padme Hum (Sanskrit: ओं मणि पद्मे हूं) is the most widely recited mantra in Tibetan Buddhism. Translated often as “The jewel is in the lotus,” it is the mantra of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion — and, by extension, the prayer of all who seek to develop compassion in their own minds.

  5. there’re many a political ad in this story
    Red-state residents rage at Trump as they sell blood and burst into tears
    Americans living in Trump country are furious about his luxurious lifestyle as they sell their own blood, hunt for free toilet paper, and try not to break down in tears, according to a New York Times report.
    New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof spoke with multiple red-state Americans who say they have pennies in the bank and struggle to buy basic necessities.
    “You do not know what you’re doing to people who are struggling to live,” Oklahoman Trinity Goodman said in comments directed at Trump. “You got money in the bank. You don’t know how it feels to struggle. Live in my shoes for one day. You wouldn’t be able to handle it.”
    Goodman told Kristof that she had less than $4 in her checking account and a cent in her savings account to keep it open, calling it her full assets. She said that her food stamps can’t go toward buying toilet paper or feminine hygiene products.
    Kristof noted Trump’s cuts to benefits, including to Medicaid, food stamps, and early childhood education, adding the push to cut benefits for struggling Americans is “hard to square with the expense of the Iran war, as well as subsidies for private planes and tax cuts for the wealthiest.”
    The columnist said he was stunned by trip through America and the pressure caused by inflation and social benefit cuts.
    “I talked to so many people who are losing food stamps and other benefits and increasingly desperate — and resentful, understandably, of elites who seem indifferent to their struggles,” Kristoff said.
    Latoya Foster, 31, a single mother raising six children in Arkansas, told Kristoff she was among those to lose food stamps before she broke down and wept.
    “I hit rock bottom daily,” she told Kristoff. “The more I work, the harder stuff gets.”
    Retired Army veteran Glayton Johnson went after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in his comments to Kristof, saying that the ousting of Black senior officers has ruined the military’s reputation as a path of opportunity for people of color.
    “The military is out,” he said, saying it’s no longer an option for Black Americans. “No, we’re not going there.”

  9. I know that predicting the future is much more difficult than predicting the past (except in DumbassCo, which can do neither), but when it comes to the MI senate primary, I want whichever candidate who can beat the Repug candidate. That’s all I care about until the general election is over. Looks like El-Sayed is poised to beat Stevens. Hope he can beat Mike Rogers in November. Otherwise, the corporate Dem/ progressive internecine squabble while interesting wasn’t effective. And folks, gaining control of the Senate is critical. Two words explain why: Todd Blanche.

  10. SILICON TOMATO
    Reviews The News

    • President Trump magnanimously canceled his planned airstrikes on Iran, supposedly because Middle Eastern leaders begged him for time to finalize a deal. It is always comforting when global survival hinges on the rapid execution of a heavily capitalized “DEAL” announced on social media. (Anadolu Ajansı)
    • The Middle East’s perpetual dumpster fire is paying off handsomely for the oil barons, with ExxonMobil reporting a casual 105% surge in second-quarter earnings to $14.5 billion. Nothing says “geopolitical crisis” quite like a massive corporate dividend check built on the back of regional instability. (ExxonMobil)
    • A bomb blew up a Moscow restaurant, killing three and injuring dozens, adding a dash of explosive terror to Russia’s already charming domestic ambiance. Because if there’s one thing a paranoid autocracy needs, it’s more random shrapnel flying through the dining room. (GoLocalProv)
    • The US Women’s Lacrosse team casually bulldozed Canada 16-4 in Tokyo to secure their fifth consecutive gold medal. At least someone is executing a flawless, uninterrupted streak of global dominance without threatening a nuclear winter. (World Lacrosse)

    — Human directed, Machine Drafted (Gemini Pro)

  14. Jack… that was wonderful!

    Pogo… I absolutely agree with your 8:35 post. I could care less about corporate vs non-corporate Dem fight… I just want to win.

  16. From late last night mainly because I’m getting tired of the young whipper snappers saying “boomer” like an insult/. We were trying to fix things a long time ago and it was the same kind of crazy opposing us then.

    Written in 1963 by Bob Dylan. 60+ years later MAGA still hasn’t heard the lyrics.

    He’s only a pawn in their game

    A South politician preaches to the poor white man
    “You got more than the blacks, don’t complain
    You’re better than them, you been born with white skin,” they explain
    And the Negro’s name
    Is used, it is plain
    For the politician’s gain
    As he rises to fame
    And the poor white remains
    On the caboose of the train
    But it ain’t him to blame
    He’s only a pawn in their game.

  17. I think I will skip the socialism argument, I think I might channel my inner Truman use language that would just piss everybody off.

    Thank God for politicians like John Ossoff .

    Here is how a white Jew goes into a black evangelical church and reach them.
    Very interesting.

  19. Craig,

    Poll cited at end of today’s live stream is favoring “Photo ID” to register not for the whole SAVE Act.

    Voter ID: General polling from sources like Gallup and Fox News shows roughly 77% to 84% of Americans favor requiring a photo ID to cast a ballot

  22. Today in the Diner…
    RFK Jr CNN Meltdown & Bernie Sanders

    RFK Jr melts down on CNN with Dana Bash, while Bernie Sanders defends Medicare. Plus, Abdul El-Sayed surges in the Michigan primary.

    We start with the spectacle of RFK Jr completely losing the plot during his CNN interview with Dana Bash, trying to shift blame to Anthony Fauci and dodging questions about vaccines. It is a masterclass in how to talk over a journalist when you do not have the facts to back up your claims. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders took to Meet the Press to remind everyone that Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson were once called socialists for creating Medicare.

    We also look at the tightening Michigan primary where Abdul El-Sayed is pulling ahead of Haley Stevens in recent polls, though he still trails Republican Mike Rogers. Over in Kentucky, Governor Andy Beshear is playing hardball, refusing to call a special election to replace Mitch McConnell and keeping that seat empty to protect key votes.

    Finally, we dive into the Florida governors race, where David Jolly is targeting Byron Donalds for taking campaign cash from data center developers eager to build over the pristine land of the Everglades. Plus, we examine the ridiculous outrage over Minnesota Governor Tim Walz issuing a pardon requested by a victim, especially compared to the fraudsters Donald Trump let off the hook.

    Live Chat: https://trailmix.cc/chat
    Website: https://trailmix.cc
    Alerts: https://trailmix.cc/alerts

    00:00 Intro
    13:08 RFK Jr CNN Meltdown
    22:37 Bernie Sanders on Meet The Press
    28:48 Abdul El-Sayed Michigan Primary
    36:20 Andy Beshear on Mitch McConnell
    38:15 Tim Walz Pardon Controversy
    45:35 Kamala Harris Voter Registration
    51:35 David Jolly vs Byron Donalds

    — Human Prompted and Edited. Machine Drafted. (Gemini Pro)

  23. Family is going off on vax this morning. The cult has been triggered. Another reason for the Dr. Fauci show trial, in addition to appeasing the audience of one in the OO, was to get the MAGAts worked up about vaccines.

  25. gaining control of the Senate is critical

    well sure but that doesn’t make it realistic
    (disadvantaged at best in all 3 headline races, AND Fetterman being courted)

    yeah Big Brother was watching retroactively eh, sturge

  26. it’s not right vs left

    it’s right vs new left vs old left

    the boomers and zeds are too far apart on Gaza and social issues

    every pro-Israel Dem is labeled as a “genocide supporter” by the -30 leftists, can’t say that label is inaccurate

  30. i still have a hard time believing Talarico in his home state can beat that philanderer from California

    😉

  32. that doesn’t mean they’re gonna vote for liberals/leftists or encourage other people to

    And I know “turn out”, we’ll see

    we said that in 2024

    and people did turn out- highest participation rate in years, and we still lost

  33. And they just get some other demon if Blanche leaves DoJ

    It’s not like he’s their only shithead

  34. Acting AG Guy Who Sounds Like Billy Crudup

    Acting AG Alan Dershowitz

    Acting AG Aileen Cannon 😱

  37. https://thehill.com/policy/international/5204968-netanyahu-fetterman-pager-beeper-israel-hezbollah/

    Netanyahu gives Fetterman ‘silver-plated beeper’
    ***
    https://archive.ph/2026.05.21-135459/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/john-fetterman-israel-palestine-david-safier-aipac.html

    The Man Who Explains Israel to John Fetterman
    Safier, a writer of Jewish history and fundraiser for Orthodox causes, has no public background in government or counseling politicians on Capitol Hill. He is not an official staffer or paid outside adviser. A few years ago, he “just kind of appeared” in the senator’s orbit, one former Fetterman staffer remembers. And then, suddenly, he seemed to be everywhere. Staffers would walk into Fetterman’s office, only to find Safier sitting in the room.

  39. Anon – So, Ai or not, the folks in the pic with mtg are all opposed to tRUMPsky, and enough of what the regime is doing that it’s a problem for them. Massie, Joe Kent, Tucker Carlson, mtg & her boyfriend who asked Zelensky where his suit was, and who else?

    Alex Jones is on the anti-war wagon.

    Guys are getting automatically enrolled at age 18, starting in December. Will a draft and/or mandatory service follow?

  44. *Talarico’s newest email; Paxton is a chicken.

    “Ken Paxton has dodged accountability his whole career, and he’s trying to do it again in this campaign.

    Ken Paxton’s billionaire handlers won’t let him answer questions in public. They know their puppet politician is the most unpopular statewide Republican official in Texas, and his corruption on their behalf is a huge liability in November.

    It’s why he hasn’t stepped foot on a debate stage in over a decade.

    He promised things would be different this time — with his campaign telling reporters, “Of course we are going to debate James Talarico.”

    But now that the Texas media hosts have set dates for three televised debates across Texas, he’s refusing to agree.

    James will be on the stage because Texans deserve that when you’re asking for their vote, and we need to put the pressure on Ken Paxton to show up and answer to the public.”

  45. I listened to the Podsavers today and they made a good point. Cornyn and Tillis are fulla shit about all the crap about putting “no slush fund and tax immunity” into writing. Since when do those bastards not ignore every writer thing they want to.
    Putting shit in writing don’t mean shit and cornyn and tillis both know it.

    Snakes.

  48. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/bernie-moreno-former-son-law-max-miller-shouldnt-serve-congress-abuse-rcna590459

    Sen. Bernie Moreno says former son-in-law Max Miller shouldn’t serve in Congress following abuse allegations

    *Enough noise from constituents (and media attention) that Moreno has decided to speak up about Max Miller.
    Why didn’t MBC News mention the child’s broken collarbone? Max Miller has the full-Nazi haircut; the seig high & tight.

  51. Heard that just after SC primary picked to go first in 2028 Newsom shared his donor email list with the Democratic Party in South Carolina, and did a pitch that raised over $300,000 for them. That’s what I call paying attention! A strong second to Kamala there could make him the perceived winner.

  54. Anderson Cooper is doing a 1 hour special on the socialists right now –:”The Left Insurgency”. Donnie O’Sullivan reporting, solid pro who is an expert on the right, interesting to see if he has similar inroads to the other side. Starting with Hasan Piker profile.

  56. The ads for Haley Stevens here have long talked about how she is the most effective Michigan Democratic Senator. How she has stood up to Trump and Ice and helped Obama out with helping the auto industry in Michigan. Her latest ad includes Gretchen Whitmer. John James latest Governor ad declares that there are “Socialists in our house” and they want “Tear down America from the inside”. I think it features clips of drag queens in it as well as the current NYC Mayor. It also proudly displays that he is endorsed by Donald Trump. John Wetzler’s ad here talks about how he will make Ottawa County streets safe again. I didn’t realize that they had become dangerous. Abdul El-Sayed ads are also getting getting airplay here. Talking about Medicare for all etc… Data centers seem to be a hot topic with Perry Johnson’s Governor ads talking about how Jocelyn Benson supports data centers. I saw an attack ad on Perry Johnson this morning. Talking about how he ran against Trump in the Presidential election and attacked him and how he now supports Trump. Perry Johnson recently accepted an endorsement from Dave Agema who is considered a racist by many in Michigan politics.

  58. Thanks for the Michigan report, Corey.

    I noticed Hayley Stevens was campaigning with a cardboard cutout of Obama. I guess if you can’t get an actual endorsement…

  63. https://www.npr.org/2026/08/02/g-s1-136834/capital-one-trump-bank-anti-money-laundering

    Capital One says it closed Trump Organization accounts over money-laundering concerns

    Capital One bank has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit from the Trump Organization over the closure of hundreds of bank accounts back in 2021, arguing in new papers that the shutdowns were the product of a monthslong anti-money-laundering review — not retaliation for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, as the Trump family businesses have claimed.

    In a motion to dismiss the case filed Friday in a Florida federal court, Capital One’s lawyers wrote that the bank’s own filings and the Trump businesses’ allegations “make clear that Capital One closed Plaintiffs’ accounts for anti-money laundering (‘AML’) reasons.”

    The case centers on roughly 385 accounts tied to the Trump Organization, Eric Trump and a collection of affiliated businesses — including a winery, a bottled-water company and a golf course developer — that banked with Capital One for more than a decade before the accounts were shut down in mid-2021.

  65. *Charlie said don’t go to war with Iran.
    Tyler Robinson’s biggest accuser is his partner, and their DNA is all over everything, too. Don’t think they did it, but did the-powers-that-be get to them?

  67. *Ha! That dance floor is hilarious, chanting Yertle’s name. Great clip!
    Aaand it looks like we have two dead (technically) Senators.
    ps – Tomorrow is the August 3rd deadline; Andy Beshear is a wuss.

  69. *Yep, it started about a year ago; Dumbass would go missing for medical treatment end of the month/first of the month. Go back and track it.

  70. https://substack.com/@brcremer/note/c-306357471

    “Today, August 1st, the official account of The Department of Defense posted Isaiah 6:8, which reads
    “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I.
    Send me.'”

    The post was along with images of soldiers and war machines that had the caption “send me” in the middle of them.

    I found it ironic how they conveniently skipped Isaiah 2:4 where he writes about the Lord’s desires for the world: “Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

    If you will recall, the department of Homeland security did a recruitment video for ICE with the same exact passage. It was a video of Shia LaBeouf from the movie Fury quoting this passage from Isaiah.

    It shouldn’t matter our political affiliation, this should disturb every American.”

  71. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-appeals-ruling-finding-he-colluded-with-doj-in-10b-irs-suit/ar-AA29arpr

    The Trump administration on Friday appealed a ruling from a federal judge in Florida who found the president effectively colluded with his own government in bringing a $10 billion suit against the IRS.

    That suit, which the Justice Department pointed to as the basis for creating its $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, was highly criticized by Florida-based U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, who said the case was “brought to manipulate the judicial process.”

    The Department of Justice (DOJ) never needed the litigation to create the fund, and Williams’s ruling did not block it, though she did order the parties to not refer to the fund as a settlement in the case.

    But it nonetheless shows the Trump administration’s appetite for continued battle over the fund and could indicate an effort to revive the president’s suit against the IRS.

    It comes as Trump has faced roadblocks in the Senate to confirming his pick to lead the DOJ, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, as two GOP senators have asked the top attorney to put in writing his pledge to end the anti-weaponization fund.

    The filing from Trump’s legal team contains no legal arguments and instead is a notice of appeal to the 11th Circuit that it will be challenging Williams’s ruling.

    It was highly critical of the Trump team for bringing the suit, saying there was no true conflict in the case, as required for bringing a matter before the courts.

    “In sum, the facts before this Court demonstrate there was never adverseness between the Parties; there was never a case or controversy; and there was never a question as to who would prevail,” Williams wrote in the 56-page filing earlier this month.

    She faulted Trump for waiting until he was in office to bring the case, noting he had the ability to fire everyone else involved in the litigation.

    “The Court determines that Plaintiffs improperly employed this lawsuit to justify a particular award in this matter—access to taxpayer funds and exemption from audits and other investigations—which was accomplished by leveraging control over Defendants,” she wrote later, adding that the suit was “brought to manipulate the judicial process.”

    Some aspects of Williams’s rulings may be little affected by the appeal. She recommended sanctions for several attorneys involved in the case, including for New York authorities to be notified of her ruling as the bar there investigated his conduct.

  72. So let me make sure I understand, if boomers will step aside the millennials and Gen Zers will remake the Dem party into the DS party and beat the Repugs who will be fighting between themselves in the wake of the exit of Dumbass. That how this is to go? Or is it more complicated than that? I mean there is the issue of the Newsomes who might not be so accommodating to the post boomer segments and the small issue of fundraising for campaigns for federal office for House, Senate and President seats.

    Just spitballing here.

  73. Republicans Just Lost A Florida House Seat Without A General-Election Fight

    Republicans Just Lost A Florida House Seat Without A General-Election Fight

    It came down to one required financial-disclosure form that never made it into the right office before the deadline.
    The state page identifies Stark as the Republican incumbent in House District 47 and lists Joel Davis as her campaign treasurer. It shows no qualification date or qualification method for the 2026 race.

    *No Republican on the ballot in November!

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