Here is a very brief history of the American flag. There are lots of such histories out there, many of them peppered with myths, but this one seems to be accurate. Marie: I am old enough to remember when the current flag was adopted. I recall our teacher's telling us that it was still legal and proper to fly the older versions of the flag until they wore out. According to the little history linked here, our current flag "is the longest-used rendition of the flag."
On Flag Day, let us reprise this classic (and it really is a classic) tale of George Washington as he so memorably boosted the troops' moral by reminding them of what they were fighting for: ~~~
Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times reflects on celebrations of 1776 anniversaries past. “In each celebration, we see how presidents treat the moment as a chance to exercise national leadership — to lead the American people in a collective appreciation of the nation’s highest values. None of them — not Adams, not Grant, not Coolidge, not Ford — turned the spotlight on themselves.... Sunday’s U.F.C. fight is not just a garish spectacle; it is an expression of the president’s contempt for the ritual and symbolism of American democracy — which is just another way to say, his contempt for democracy itself.”
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David Sanger of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said in an interview on Sunday afternoon that the agreement he reached with Iran would ultimately assure that the Strait of Hormuz is 'permanently toll free' and argued that, despite the objections of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, he had saved Israel from nuclear obliteration. Mr. Trump also insisted that if Iran failed to reach a final nuclear accord with the United States — a process his aides say they expect will begin on Friday in Switzerland — he would restart military attacks on Tehran or make the United States “the guardian of the Middle East” in return for 20 percent of the region’s revenues. In a 28-minute phone conversation that Mr. Trump initiated from the White House residence, and a brief follow-up call, the president asserted that his decision to attack Iran in late February, and his subsequent naval blockade of its ports after Tehran closed the strait, had remade the Middle East in America’s favor.... He praised two authoritarians — Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir V. Putin of Russia — for aiding in the settlement, and excoriated Mr. Netanyahu for mounting attacks that nearly derailed the final agreement.”
Trump's Corruption Is So Multi-faceted & Ubiquitous, It's Perverse. In today's Comments, Patrick mentions in another context, that Trump has no shame. He does not. ~~~
~~~ Aram Roston & Joseph Gedeon of the Guardian: “The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced on Friday that it will pay bonuses to fighters in a form of cryptocurrency issued by Trump family business World Liberty Financial at the heavily publicized White House mixed martial arts event on Sunday. The development connects the Trump family’s financial interests to the high-profile UFC competition being promoted on government property.... The UFC said some fighters will receive bonuses in World Liberty Financial crypto called 'stablecoins', whose value is pegged to the US dollar. World Liberty named the currency 'USD1'. World Liberty is a venture of the Trump family and the family of Steven Witkoff, Trump’s friend and special envoy to the Middle East. The company is now listed as an 'official sponsor' of UFC Freedom 250, the fight scheduled for Sunday. The use of its stablecoin in the fight would appear to boost efforts to have it used more more broadly.... At one point, Trump Sr was publicly listed by the company as its 'Chief Crypto Advocate'. His financial disclosure form lists his holdings in World Liberty Financial as 'over $50m'.” Thanks to RAS for the link.
~~~~~~~~~~
Yesterday Was the Occasion of One More Trump Cover-up:
~~~ Here is the AP's report. Marie: I sure hope the Smithsonian preserves the Great Shroud of Trump, in so many ways a metaphor for his presidency*. ~~~
~~~ Chris Geidner, the Law Dork: “This is what it will mean to win. It will be messy, it will take longer than it should, they’re going to be obnoxious and petty and cause needless harm, and — yeah — it will be a little cringe. The fight over the lawless act of putting Donald Trump’s name atop the memorial to a slain president — The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts — has been unimaginably embarrassing in the run-up to 'America 250.' Everything about the six-month naming fight, though, is a perfect illustration of what the Trump administration does, what fighting back looks like, and how we win.”
From the pinned item (at 4:15 am ET) of a New York Times liveblog: “It was unclear early Sunday when or whether the United States and Iran might sign a peace agreement, after ... [Donald] Trump and Tehran offered conflicting timelines. Mr. Trump said in a social media post on Saturday that a deal was “scheduled to get signed” the next day and that it would immediately open the Strait of Hormuz. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, a key mediator in the negotiations, had said in a post hours earlier that the finalization of an agreement was expected within 24 hours, followed by the 'electronic signing of the peace deal.' But Esmail Baghaei, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said that a deal would not be signed on Sunday, though he left open the possibility that one could be in the coming days, according to the Iranian state news media.” MB: I'm glad the times is not knocking itself out, breathlessly posting a 60-point headline: “Trump Will Ink Peace Deal Today!” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Will the memorandum of understanding be signed with an autopen or with docu-sign or what? And will it pass as a signed document if it doesn't have the real Donald Trump's real squigglies on it?
Powerful Nations, Reckless Leaders. Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: Donald “Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir V. Putin, both resist the idea that ostensibly weaker powers fought them to a stalemate, with the two leaders leaning on negotiations to win the capitulation that they failed to secure in battle. Iran and Ukraine have pushed back robustly against this 'might makes right' mentality, with top officials adopting an even more defiant tone in recent days.... Their recalcitrance reflects the reality of two wars in stasis, with a profound lack of trust all around stymying progress.”
The Old Man at Sea. Katie Rogers of the New York Times: “... even for a president known for imposing his own reality on every situation, Mr. Trump is facing scrutiny over his age that has grown more intense with each passing year. A Reuters/Ipsos poll taken in February showed that nearly six in 10 Americans think Mr. Trump is growing more erratic.... The oldest president ever to be inaugurated and his advisers spend a lot of time hitting back at people who have drawn a different set of conclusions about his health based on what they believe they can plainly see.... His physicians have evaded questions about his health for years, including after a gunman’s bullet grazed his ear in Butler, Pa., and when he was sick with Covid in 2020.” MB: This is essentially a synopsis of what people think rather than an assessment of Trump's mental and physical health. Moreover, Rogers finds apologists and “explainers” for all of Trump's naps and slip-ups.
Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Saturday that he would nominate James M. McDonald to be the next U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, again choosing one of his personal lawyers for one of the nation’s most powerful legal positions. Mr. Trump praised Mr. McDonald, pointing to his extensive credentials. He is 'a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, and served as Director of Enforcement at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission during my First Term,' Mr. Trump wrote. Mr. McDonald was also a law clerk to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. Mr. McDonald would replace Jay Clayton, Mr. Trump’s choice to be the next director of national intelligence after his temporary pick for that role, Bill Pulte — a top federal housing official — set off widespread concerns among Republican senators for his lack of intelligence experience and his zeal in pursuing Mr. Trump’s perceived enemies. Mr. Clayton still requires Senate confirmation.” An ABC News story is here.
A Mass-Murderer AND a Racist. TC Sottek of the Verge: “Elon Musk’s SpaceX IPO will probably make him the richest person to ever walk the planet. And while his mountain of horrible personal conduct could fill multiple books, one fact in particular stands out: A year ago, Musk’s actions directly led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. He did it knowingly. And, worse — gleefully.This is not a serious person, but his abuse of the world is deadly serious. In the first months of ... Donald Trump’s second term, the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) destroyed the US Agency for International Development, whose mission was a boon to public health around the globe. Musk called the lifesaving agency a 'criminal organization' and blithely celebrated spending a weekend 'feeding USAID into the wood chipper.' It was a good reference if you want everyone to think you’re the killer in Fargo. Mission accomplished, Elon.... A tracker co-created by Boston University professor Brooke Nichols projected over 780,000 deaths — mostly of children, many of infants — due to the Trump administration’s early-2025 USAID cuts, caused by malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, and more. These deaths were widely predicted from the beginning, a direct, known, and undeniable consequence of DOGE’s actions.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Read on. There's lots more. This is an excellent & fairly short piece that directly exposes Musk for the bag o'dirt that he is. Nothing we haven't covered before, but a good synthesis of what we know. See related Musk articles linked below.
Ben Casselman of the New York Times: “Two events from the past week help crystallize this strange, contradictory moment for the U.S. economy. On Wednesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the surge in energy prices had wiped out a year and a half of wage gains for the average American worker. On Friday, the public-markets debut of SpaceX made Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire. That stark juxtaposition helps explain why many Americans, in survey after survey, say they no longer believe the U.S. economy is working for them. A few people are getting fabulously, unimaginably wealthy at the same time that entire generations of families worry they will never be able to afford to buy a house, raise children or enjoy a comfortable retirement.... The explosion of wealth at the very top is without precedent in U.S. history. At the height of the Gilded Age at the end of the 19th century, the richest handful of Americans had a net worth equivalent to about 3 percent of the country’s annual economic output.... Today, the fortunes of the same 0.00001 percent — about 20 individuals — make up roughly four times as large a share, equivalent to 12 percent of annual output.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Of course our "concerned," "populist" president* has nothing to do with it. Earlier this week -- as Trump was planning his nap at a Knicks-Spurs game, before leaving early -- a reporter asked him about the cost of tickets to the games, which was far beyond the reach of most Americans. Trump said, "They can watch it on television.... But that’s the way life goes.... That’s the way life is, you know." Of course "life" wouldn't "go" quite that way if Trump and his Congressional captives had adopted a much more progressive income tax system, and closed loopholes so billionaires like him couldn't get away with paying only a tiny percentage of their income in taxes.
Of Course This Was a Shady Deal From the Gitgo. Olivia Salamone of Radar, republished by AOL: "Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner's ambitious luxury resort project in Albania is facing a fresh controversy as villagers claim land tied to the development was wrongfully sold.... [Local] villagers maintain they were recognized as the rightful owners of the land by an Albanian court in 2013, though the ruling was later appealed. The disputed property was sold by Artur Shehu, a businessman who has claimed his family's ownership dates back to the Ottoman Empire. According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Shehu has previously been investigated by Italian authorities over alleged ties to organized crime. Albanian media have also reported that anti-corruption prosecutors are examining allegations of large-scale money laundering. Italian prosecutors reportedly suspected him of drug trafficking at one point but never filed charges, citing insufficient evidence."
Joe Vardon of the New York Times/Athletic: “The Knickerbockers, residents of the world’s most famous arena, an original NBA franchise founded in 1946, named for the city’s Dutch settlers, are champions for the first time since 1973 and for just the third time in team history. They stunned the San Antonio Spurs, again, with another come-from-behind win in Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals, 94-90.”
Yes, we have Flying Potatoes. Or so they say. (New York Times link.)
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| David Hockney, "Mulholland Drive," 1980. |
~~~ Lawrence Weschler in the New York Times on David Hockney and the evolution of his work.
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12 comments:
What are the odds that DiJiT had them remove ALL the words on the KenCen facade, just to spite folks?
Why the curtain, now ... to avoid shame? He doesn't have any, never did.
This is why so many people hate politicians and why they are so desperate for genuine people.
"Michigan Governor caught on hot mic with Oracle CEO Clay Magouyrk, discussing citizen opposition to AI data centers, bragging how she ignores their concerns: “We’re used to people saying 'f*ck no,' & doing it anyway.”"
Sunday Sermon time:
THE GAMBLER
My family didn’t gamble. I don’t remember my father saying much about it, but there was no doubt about my mother’s feelings. She very clearly stated her disapproval of gambling. She thought it wrong.
Our household was on a tight budget, but there were also strong social and moral elements to her disapproval. Others might gamble, but except for fundraisers like church bingo whose proceeds supported a “good cause,” my mother wouldn’t. She wasn’t one of those betting people, she’d have you know, and in the 1950’s there were many like her.
In fact, in 1950 over half of America disapproved of gambling (forbes.com). Then as now, many had the good sense to know the odds were never in their favor, that the house always won, but ethical considerations also weighed heavily against the practice. Ethical arguments against gambling, its aura of criminality and a common belief that gambling is sinful in itself, were associated with concern for those who become addicted to it, as many do (addictionhelp.com), and a perception that gambling victimizes the poor.
Over the last seventy-five years, those considerations haven’t changed, but Americans’ attitudes toward gambling certainly have. Moral objections to gambling eroded. Eyeing the revenue, states sponsored their own Lotto games. And after the Supreme Court overturned the federal prohibition on sports betting in 2018, the dam burst. Today seventy percent of Americans do not see gambling as a moral issue (pew research.org), and more of us are gambling than ever before. Since 2019 and the arrival of on-line wagering, the total dollars Americans have spent on betting has increased by forty-five percent (iredellfreenews.com), the majority from sports betting. Those who tune into sports might get the impression they are watching a stream of gambling ads occasionally interrupted by a game.
So, what happened? Again, I think of my mother. She believed people should work hard and that their work would be rewarded. In her own family that had been true. Her parents, immigrants from the Ukraine area of Russia had come to the United States, worked hard and prospered. They made sure their children took schooling seriously. Some became professionals, some succeeded in business, all valued effort and the rewards that followed. For her and for many others of her generation, the rule was clear. Work hard and material success will be yours.
I suspect the part luck plays in gambling bothered my mother because luck severs the link between effort and reward. Gambling breaks my mother’s rule. Even wagering on card games, where knowledge of the odds and your opponents’ psychology might confer an advantage, the successful player must have the right cards. In Casino Land, luck, not hard work, prevails.
Steve M.
"Democrats Should Try Landing The First Punch
Disgruntled Democrats and independents are normal; people who still support Trump are the weirdos. Democrats should talk about Republican ideas -- never raise the minimum wage, let AI and crypto billionaires do whatever they want, cut needed domestic programs while starting expensive and pointless foreign wars and giving more tax cuts to the rich, attack abortion, ban books -- as if they're obviously wrong. Democrats shouldn't focus on what they should say (or not say) in response to Republican attacks -- they should go on offense, launching attacks of their own, trying to land the first punch.
I think Democrats should attack long-standing Republican policies that are unpopular, specific Trump policies on important issues that are rejected by voters (the war in Iran, the tariffs), while also portraying the Republican Party as weird and ridiculous. Trump gives them many openings -- Greenland! The ballroom! -- and so do Republicans who treat Trump like a demigod."
Part II
In that sense, we all live in Casino Land. In today’s United States hard work is not as well rewarded as it once was. Since the 1970’s, the rewards of wage or salary work have declined as a proportion of the nation’s Gross National Product, while income from ownership has increased (oxfamamerica.org). In 2025 the value of stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments was almost seven times the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, a new record, extending the trend that began in the late 1970’s when today’s massive wealth inequality got its start (binance.com). Being born to wealth takes little effort, and in addition to the many advantages wealth showers on those fortunate enough to be raised in a prosperous home is the expectation of receiving even more through inheritance. According to Oxfam, nearly forty percent of billionaire wealth is inherited and nearly twenty from monopoly power (oxfam.org). In our Casino Land, the deck is stacked against workers.
Maybe because we sense that the compact between individual effort and material success has been broken, that we have less control of our destiny than we once did, we’re turning to luck for our salvation. Certainly, each year more seem to be doing just that. Providing betting platforms and prediction markets to feed that growing appetite for gambling is now one of the nation’s most successful business models.
I’m sure that my mother didn’t notice all those changes as she entered her last years. When dementia struck, some things changed in her as well. She had trouble identifying people, had less sense of time’s passage, and most startling to me, forgot some of the strict rules she had always lived by.
When her Arlington care facility took its residents to Angel of the Winds Casino, I’d meet her there. We’d have lunch, and then she’d happily feed the slots, one nickel or dime at a time.
I will never forget the smile on the face of my mother, the gambler.
Jonathan Pie on the trillioaire
Every day when I read the news, I'm reminded of the movie 'Groundhog Day.'
El Presidente says something stupid, but Republicans in Congress will say
'but this is what he meant to say,' And the paper of record will print what he
meant to say.
Then he will DO something stupid, and Republicans in Congress will say
'but everyone does something stupid once-in-a-while.'
Then he will insult a reporter, female or a minority of course, and the
Republicans in Congress will say 'well, he actually meant to praise her.
but it just came out wrong.'
Who was it that said 'stupid is as stupid does?'
"UFC to pay White House fighters in crypto issued by Trump company
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced on Friday that it will pay bonuses to fighters in a form of cryptocurrency issued by Trump family business World Liberty Financial at the heavily publicized White House mixed martial arts event on Sunday.
World Liberty is a venture of the Trump family and the family of Steven Witkoff, Trump’s friend and special envoy to the Middle East."
@Ken Winkes: Thank you for your essay on gambling. I hold -- in general, anyway -- the same views on gambling as your mother held most of her life, though I would say I have not reasoned out those views as clearly as you do.
I do think state lotteries and their licensing of casinos were a major cause of the change in Americans' attitudes. If it's okay with the government, maybe it's okay, after all. The long association of gambling and criminal activity may have continued, but the various governments' imprimatur seems to have been a very effective mitigation of those negative view.
The end of your essay was, of course, heartbreaking. I'd like to think what it "means" is that gambling is for those who -- sometimes because of no fault of their own -- just don't know any better. And shame on the staff at that assisted living facility for taking its residents to a casino.
Digby has some of the low lights leading up to the hopefully rained out spectacle.
Like using the honor guard for UFC intros and the stumbling drunk weigh-ins.
Also the algae bloom is probably because they got rid of the filtration system that Obama had installed.
Shameless
It's true, the Orange Monster is without shame, but that means that he is also without a conscience. Martha Stout, a former faculty member in the psychiatry department of Harvard Medical School suggests that being without shame, having no conscience, no concern for others, no remorse, no empathy gives sociopathic monsters like Trump a sort of superpower that enables them to go where a well rounded, psychologically sound human wouldn't possibly consider.
“Imagine — if you can — not having a conscience, none at all, no feelings of guilt or remorse no matter what you do, no limiting sense of concern for the well-being of strangers, friends, or even family members. Imagine no struggles with shame, not a single one in your whole life, no matter what kind of selfish, lazy, harmful, or immoral action you had taken … You can do anything at all, and still your strange advantage over the majority of people, who are kept in line by their consciences, will most likely remain undiscovered. How will you live your life? What will you do with your huge and secret advantage?”
Maybe you take the money your daddy gave you, pretend you're the greatest deal maker in history, stiff everyone who helps you, fuck over your wives, steal, cheat, and lie, and maybe one day become president.
The quote above comes from Stout's book "The Sociopath Next Door" and her thesis involves warning those who think of the sociopath as just an odd duck or someone who is just different that they truly are monsters and giving them the benefit of the doubt (as the media continues to do) allows these dangerous, conscienceless ogres to get away with all manner of misanthropic schemes.
Fat Hitler's only concern is now and always has been "What's in it for me?" Superimposing some invented rationale that supposes anything else is a fantasy. And unlike many of these sociopaths, Fatty's lack of conscience is on display every hour of every day. "Mr President, people are hurting, what can you do for them?" "Look at this ballroom I'm building. It's going to be the greatest ballroom in history."
The fact that his shamelessness is well known, that his sociopathy and total lack of human remorse is on the record makes it even more of a crime that those who should know better continue to help him out by pretending his lack of conscience is some kind of clever trick to make America great again.
Maybe those fuckers have no shame as well.
@Marie
Glad you liked it. And yes, of course you got the ending's intent.
When I write these things for the local paper, I try to make everything as explicit as I can, but strayed into the implicit this time for the ending. I liked it better that way and chose to assume the alert reader would nonetheless get the message.
Warren Buffet once said that gambling is a regressive tax on the ignorant, which is one reason I eschew it but still applaud the success of the Indian casinos, of which we have two in our county and at least two in the county to the south. Angel of the Winds is one of those.
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