Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

The GOP Nominee for President Donald Trump Guilty On 34 Counts.

Donald Trump, the GOP nominee for the office of President of the United States is guilty on all 34 counts in his New York trial. He is now a convicted felon. Certainly he will appeal. Certainly he will wail. But he is now a convicted felon, that under Florida law can’t vote for himself as President.

CleanShot 2024-05-30 at 16.40.41@2x.

This isn’t over. Sentencing will be July 11th. But this is a big day in American hisotry and the history of bunkum artists and conmen. May they all rot in hell.

The image is from the front page of The Drudge Report.

Jamie Raskin Offers Some Hope For SCOTUS Failings But He’ll Have To Check With The Wives First

SCOTUS wives rule the roost while their hen-pecked husbands stumble instead of strutting like the cocks of the walk they pretend to be.

I appreciate and admire Jamie Raskin. I really do. In a NY Times guest essay he offers a glimmer of hope for those of us who think Sam Alito and Clarence Thomas should recuse themselves from decision making over whether or not Trump (or any president) should have any sort of immunity for his/her actions. What he offfers makes sense in a world of honor, in which the rule of law is adhered to, and in most corners of the world not inhabited by MAGA conmen, rapists, and thieves.

Here’s an excerpt:

Of course, Justices Alito and Thomas could choose to recuse themselves — wouldn’t that be nice? But begging them to do the right thing misses a far more effective course of action.

The U.S. Department of Justice — including the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, an appointed U.S. special counsel and the solicitor general, all of whom were involved in different ways in the criminal prosecutions underlying these cases and are opposing Mr. Trump’s constitutional and statutory claims — can petition the other seven justices to require Justices Alito and Thomas to recuse themselves not as a matter of grace but as a matter of law.

The Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland can invoke two powerful textual authorities for this motion: the Constitution of the United States, specifically the due process clause, and the federal statute mandating judicial disqualification for questionable impartiality, 28 U.S.C. Section 455.

It’s a good, principled, and rational proposal. But even if the levers of government can be oiled up enough to work the way he’s proposing, these two guys aren’t going anywhere until Ginny Thomas and Martha-Ann Alito give their obviously hen-pecked spouses the go ahead.

Again, much respect to Mr. Raskin, he deserves it. But we’re well past laws, rules, honor, and traditions on this matter. Unless you count the tradition of wives ruling the roost, while their husbands strut about pretending they do.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

A Must Watch: Ken Burns’ Keynote Address to Brandeis University

Words have meaning. Whether we use them well or not. Here they’re used very well.

Words are being spilled in torrents these days from those who see what’s happening to America as they try to wrestle against the peril we face in our current moment. As acute as the danger is, they often blend together to make noise more than sentences with meaning. That’s not the case here.

Famed documentarian Ken Burns delivered the commencement address to the 2024 graduating class of Brandeis University and, like the work in many of his documentaries, his words cut to the bone with a surgical precision.

There’s lots of talk from the talking heads trying to make the news that Burns’ admitted departure from his position of neutraility is the news here, but I personally don’t find it much of a departure from the stories he’s gifted us with previously. I mean that as high praise.

It’s a terrific address. It’s a serious summation of the moment. It’s worth your time to watch and listen. It’s worth more to heed them.

If you prefer to read it you can find the transcript here.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Sunday Morning Reading

Sunday Morning Reading is back while we continue to unpack. The environs are different, but everything remains the same.

Everything changes and everything remains the same. We’ve completed the Big Move and are now in our new abode. Heads sleep on the same pillows, coffee is sipped from the same mugs, but we’re still living out of boxes and unpack others. That’ll be the state of things for a bit still. That’s life on the home front as everything has changed but remains the same. That seems to be the case in the world in this week’s Sunday Morning Reading.

Kicking things off is an excellent series of articles from The New Republic. What American Fascism Would Look LIke is a collection of essays by a collection of writers, each one worth your time. Start with Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s The Permanent Counterrevolution, but check them each out.

The Roberts Supreme Court continues to show its true colors witih all sorts of flag flyiing controversy from Samuel Alito. Blaming your wife is becoming a thing also. Check out Alitio and Thomas Aren’t Really Jurists. They’re Theocratic Leninists by Michael Tomasky.

There was lots of big news on the Artificial Intelliegence front. There was also not much new in much of that news. LLMs still bung things up. Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI pushed their newest in a race that feels very much like the runners keep tripping over themselves. Nico Grant in the New York Times points to the ongoing snafu in Google’s A.I. Search Errors Cause a Furor Online. At some point this is all going to end up like the streaming entertainment wars. Once all the players are on the field there will be consolidation. There will still be problems. Those new subscription prices will rise. And everyone will complain.

Even so, Steven Levy says It’s Time to Believe The AI Hype.

Naveen Kumar takes a quick look at how AI might be worming its way into live performance in AI Is Getting Theatrical.

David Todd McCarty takes on the contradictions of believing that more than one thing can be true at the same time in An Angel With An Incredible Capacity for Beer.

NatashaMH pens a nifty piece about how the act of writing gives a teacher a window into the mind of her student in Writing The Unpretentious Prose.

And while we were busy moving, Apple released new iPads. Not surprisingly everything changed and everything remained the same. The new software that may or may not yield potential changes is due to roll out in a few weeks, but until it does, those iPads remain behind the software curve while setting the hardware pace. Or at least that’s the accepted line in Apple circles. Federico Viticci penned an excellent summary of what he feels iPads are still missing in Not an iPad Review: Why iPadOS Still Doesn’t Get the Basics Right and Steve Troughton-Smith also put out The iPad Pro Manifesto (2024 Edition ).

Closing things out this weekend as I try to get these old bones moving again to unpack some more boxes, check out Margaret Dean’s A Mutiny of Bones about recalcitrant bones and aging and how it’s not just the joints that stop bending. The one constant as everything changes around and within you, some things just don’t work the same as they once did.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

But the Demos Aren’t Lying

Steven Levy has seen enough AI demos to think we should believe the hype. I’m still in wait and see mode.

Call me curious. Call me skeptical. Two sides of the same coin. The tech industry is dancing on the edge of a coin called Artificial Intelligence waiting to see which side lands face up. As they dance, we also dance, because the promise/hope/hype/hyperbole is that the technology will make lives better, fill lots of coffers, and set us all free (except for that sure to increase every year subscription price) to enjoy more of life.

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Steven Levy has apparently seen enough demos that he has penned a piece telling us that It’s Time to Believe the AI Hype. It’s a well reasoned piece, as usual from Levy, and worth a read if you’re trying to follow what all of this means. But the moment that caught me was this quote:

Skeptics might try to claim that this is an industry-wide delusion, fueled by the prospect of massive profits. But the demos aren’t lying.

“But the demos aren’t lying.” They may not be. It all might come true. Or some of it. Or enough of it to matter. Even so, I’ve been around enough blocks too many times to stake anything on any demo for any product. Some do pan out. Too many do not. Given the pace of things in tech these days, I’m guessing that once the inevitable explosion yields to the equally inevitable contraction, there’s a better than average chance that we’ll be eyeing some other piece of universe altering tech within a year or two.

The reality is what’s coming in AI is coming. We’ll all get a taste. The proof wil be in how we digest whatever tech related nutrional value it offers.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Marking Time in Political Quciksand

We’re stuck in political quicksand and there’s nothing to do but wait it out. But what’s the “it?”

If you’re stuck in quicksand they tell you not to move, not to struggle, or you’ll hasten your demise. The United States is stuck in a political quagmire. We’re stuck marking time as we sink. Struggling seems futile, yet necessary. Nevertheless instinct takes over and we do so thinking we can prevent whatever will happen this fall. No one knows what the result will be. No one knows what’s going to happen day to day until then. Unchartered waters? Flying blind? Stuck in the middle with you? Pick your metaphor. We’re there.

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It certainly makes for uncertainty. It also yields what in essence is a trivial approach to most of what’s happening in the run up. Each thing that happens that looks like it might be news is, in reality, just confirmation of things most of us already know. Doesn’t matter if you’re voting one way or the other or not at all. Doesn’t matter whether you favor the assholes with an authoritarian bent or the buttheads trying to retain some semblance of the country’s foundations. We don’t know the result, but by and large we know that each step along the way is going to reinforce where we stand, what we think, and what we fear as we sink a bit deeper.

Pundits like to toss out the trope that most folks don’t pay attention to poltical campaigns until after Labor Day. That’s another myth that’s been busted in this myth-busting century we’re currently stumbling through. Most aren’t paying attention because most of what’s happening feels like endlessly watching the same Cars for Kids or Jardiance commercials. By the time we reach the Fall, it will be more insufferable.

Whether it’s issues of race, greed, or just screwing over those you don’t like, the sides are well drawn. Yet there’s this pretense in the media that there’s enough voters out there who haven’t made up their minds. It all seems a bit silly. Sure, some may change their minds depending on whether or not the decaying orange turd gets convicted. Heck, some might even change their mind if either of the two candidates kicks the bucket between now and the election. Although I’m sure we would have a debate if it was Trump who bit the bullet as to whether or not a dead man could still be elected to office.

We’ve seen the 2025 plan. We know what that means. We certainly know enough of what Biden is going to do. The Supreme Court, the supposed referees, have already declared their preference. The only surprises left are just how ugly the fight over the trivial will become.

Meanwhile the clock ticks.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Sunday Morning Reading

We’re in the final throes of packing our lives into boxes as we await the furniture movers tomorrow so Sunday Morning Reading remains on hiatus this weekend, hopefully to resume next weekend. Thanks to the friends and family who helped move more boxes than anyone hoped to count yesterday. That went as smooth as anyone could have hoped for.

Today is final pack up day. The kitchen has been moved, as has the most of the rest of the stuff from other rooms, but of course breaking down the office and computers to move is the last thing on the punch list.

Finding Her Voice with an iPad

A great story about how technology can help give voice to the voiceless.

This is a terrific story. Jordyn Zimmerman is autistic and nonspeaking. She uses an iPad and Apple’s Assistive Touch and Live Speech accessibilty features to give voice to her thoughts.

She’s accomplished quite a bit since she began using the technology. It’s an amazing story and one you should watch. Here’s the video.

Hat tip to my friend Sumocat for alerting me to this.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Sunday Morning Reading

We’re in the process of packing our lives into boxes preparing to move so Sunday Morning Reading is on hiatus this weekend and next.

Happy Mother’s Day and catch you back here in a couple of weeks.

Treasures You Discover When Packing to Move

Buried Treasure? My wife discovered her iPod Nano and iPod touch while packing to move.

When you’re packing to move you discover all sorts of things when you start rummaging through closets and under beds. Last night, my wife dug up these treasures.

An iPod Nano and an iPod Touch, her first forays into Apple devices. We no longer even have a charger in the house anymore to plug in the iPod Nano. Unless we uncover more treasures. Memories.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.