Punctuation. Heather Cox Richardson: “... Mothers’ Day' — with the apostrophe not in the singular spot, but in the plural — ... started in the 1870s, when the sheer enormity of the death caused by the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War convinced writer and reformer Julia Ward Howe that women must take control of politics from the men who had permitted such carnage. Mothers’ Day was not designed to encourage people to be nice to their mothers. It was part of women’s effort to gain power to change society. The Civil War years taught naïve Americans what mass death meant in the modern era. Soldiers who had marched off to war with fantasies of heroism discovered that newly invented long-range weapons turned death into tortured anonymity. Men were trampled into blood-soaked mud, piled like cordwood in ditches, or withered into emaciated corpses after dysentery drained their lives away. The women who had watched their hale and healthy men march off to war were haunted by its results. They lost fathers, husbands, sons, and brothers. The men who did come home were scarred in both body and mind.” Read on. ~~~
~~~ AND There's This: ~~~
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| I have two mommies. I know where the apostrophe goes. |
It's 4:00 am here on the East Coast, and there's not a lick of news. IOW, my kind of day.
Marie: If I were a person who had an obsessive-compulsive need to stay up all night scrolling social media for violent AI clips that excited me, I'm sure I would try to hide these pathological impulses.
Matt Moret & Hugh Kellenberger of the New York Times Athletic: Donald “Trump's plan to turn East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, D.C., into a 'championship-level course' took a step forward Friday after half a dozen private and public entities reached a deal to overhaul the site. In a Friday night statement, the National Park Service said it will partner with National Links Trust, Fazio Design, First Tee of Greater Washington, D.C., Western Golf Association and the Evans Scholars Foundation to begin 'immediate renovations' of East Potomac, as well as Langston Golf Course and Rock Creek Park Golf. It said the group will turn them 'into the country’s premier public golf courses, while keeping them affordable and accessible for all.'... Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum will oversee the project.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Despite the fact that I have a NYT subscription, I can't normally access Athletic articles that are linked on the Times' online front page. But this article, I could access, after dumping a pitch to subscribe to the Athletic.
Ha Ha. Obama Derangement Syndrome Is Fun to Watch. Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: President Barack “Obama is one of many prominent leaders trekking to Toronto for the 2026 Global Progress Action Summit. On Friday, [Canadian Prime Minister Mark] Carney posted a message welcoming the former president, writing: 'Welcome back to Canada, President @BarackObama. Thank you for joining us in Toronto for important conversations on how we can build a better and more just future — and empower more people to build with us.'... [Loomer responded in a social media post,] 'Why is Barack Hussein Obama meeting with world leaders while President Trump is in office? This is a coup.' MB: I wish.
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Colorado. AP: “A Frontier Airlines plane hit and killed a pedestrian on the runway of the Denver International Airport during takeoff, airport authorities said, sparking an engine fire and forcing passengers to evacuate. The plane, on route from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport, 'reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday,' the airport’s official X account wrote. A spokesperson for the airport said the pedestrian, who jumped a perimeter fence, has died. They said the unidentified person was hit two minutes after entering the airport. The person is not believed to be an airport employee.” According to the pilot, the individual was “walking across the runway.” (Also linked yesterday.)
⭐Virginia. Here. Is. The. Answer. Jamelle Bouie on the Virginia supreme court's decision to throw out the redistricting election. (If you don't have time to listen to all of Bouie's remarks, start at about 8 minutes in. But really.) Marie: Bouie's solution is kind of exciting -- AND he's right:
~~~ Bouie makes the same points in his New York Times column but not with the same step-by-step logical argument he makes in the video. (Also linked yesterday.)
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Russia. Paul Sonne of the New York Times: “About 352,000 Russian soldiers had died in the war against Ukraine through the end of 2025, according to a new estimate, underscoring the high cost that President Vladimir V. Putin is willing to bear to pursue his battlefield aims.The figure was released on Saturday — the day of Russia’s annual May 9 parade celebrating victory over Germany in World War II — by the exiled Russian media outlets Meduza and Mediazona. The number raises the prospect that about half a million soldiers in total have died on the Russian and Ukrainian sides.... The war has become Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.” (Also linked yesterday.)
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