Murdered candidate Fernando Villavicencio, from his campaign website.

I meant to post one of these over the weekend, so some of these ideas are a couple of days old. But here you go…

1. The devastation of Lahaina — This broke after my last Open Thread, and I just thought I’d set up a place where we could discuss it. My mind is quite blown — we’ve gotten sadly accustomed to such news coming out of California, and the Canadian wilderness. But this is Maui. It’s not even the Big Island, with its frequent volcanic eruptions. I’m still sort of overwhelmed by this situation, and it keeps getting worse as we learn more…
2. The descent of Ecuador into deadly political violence — This is another shock that involves a place that was once my home, and which I fear I would not recognize today. I refer to the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, a former investigative journalist who was outspoken against government corruption in his country. He was shot and killed last week. You know, we had a lot of political instability in Ecuador when I lived there, but it was gentler. When a junta wanted to take over while I was there in 1963, they waited for the duly elected president to get drunk again (they didn’t have to wait long), put him on a plane, and he woke up in Panama. (Or that’s the way we heard it from people who would know.) Today, it’s a country increasingly torn by violence, with the homicide rate rising by 500 percent in recent years. And now this…
3. Can it be that anyone thinks what is posted on the internet is private? — An email from the NYT today raised the question, which I can’t believe anyone still has in 2023, “Is the internet private? Teens, and the rest of us, aren’t sure.” Wow. It was taking off on an item in the paper headlined, “Teens Don’t Really Understand That the World Can See What They Do Online, but I Do.” Well, the things that kids don’t understand would fill… another Worldwide Web. But it seems kids who have grown up with the internet would understand the utter lack of security online better than their elders. I’ll just repeat my standard advice for anyone, of any age, who is still deluded: If you want something to be private, never, ever put it in writing (or pictures) on a medium that immediately publishes it to the entire planet. If you walk naked down a public street, would you expect not to be seen by anyone? This is like that.
4. David Brooks joins the Grownup Party — Yeah, I know, here’s something else you can’t read without a subscription. Sorry, but that’s where most of the interesting stuff is. Anyway, this column is about tracing “the decline of the American psyche” to “a set of cultural changes that started directly after World War II and built over the next few decades,” regarding “the emergence of what came to be known as the therapeutic culture.” It’s a good piece, but I can’t really explain what it’s about fully without quoting it practically in full, which might upset the NYT. But on a far more superficial level, I’ll just celebrate the headline: “Hey, America, Grow Up!” If you aren’t familiar with my Grownup Party, here’s the manifesto, from 2008. You can read that for free…
5. State Sen. John Scott of Richland County dies. He was 69 — That is, he was slightly younger (like, by a couple of weeks) than I am. The story doesn’t list the cause of death. This is someone I’ve known for many a year (when I see headlines referring to “Sen. Scott,” I tend to assume this is who they mean, since I’ve never met Tim), and I’ve had critical things to say about him. After all, he ran with Marguerite Willis against James and Mandy in the 2018 primary (unsuccessfully). But I see him as a guy who tried hard for his constituents, and I generally got along well with him, and I’m really sorry to hear of his loved ones’ loss.
6. A Woman Was Attacked by a Snake That Fell From the Sky. Then a Hawk Dived In. — That headline is (again) from the NYT, where I read it, but the link is to a CBS story that I hope you can read. When I saw it, my first reaction was “OK, enough with the high-concept movie pitches…” My favorite part of the story was one sentence of startling understatement: “Wendell Jones, her husband, eventually noticed that his wife was screaming, running in a zigzag pattern and flailing her arms.” Observant fellow. What actually happened? It seems a hawk had grabbed a snake and dropped it — and it landed on this lady, and wrapped itself around her arm, and started striking at her face, and leaving apparent venom on her glasses. The hawk, really ticked off that his dinner had been “stolen,” swooped down and launched his own attack, cutting her arm up before he managed to tear the snake loose and fly away with it. And you think you have bad days… Anyway, I’m glad she survived.
7. I hope Josh doesn’t go out to flyover land and get lost again — I delete a lot of political fund-raising emails, but I held onto this one, because it was from Bradley Whitford. You know, Josh Lyman. (So, it’s not just that I feel an affinity for other people named Bradley W.) Of course, he invoked “The West Wing,” then talked about how in real life he’s a member of the striking SAG-AFTRA, and stepped from there to the need to “elect pro-union representatives at every level of government.” Which, he said, was why he was “asking you to join me in supporting one of the union movement’s strongest allies: Sen. Sherrod Brown.” Well, OK then. But if he goes to Ohio to campaign for Sherrod, I hope he doesn’t get lost the way he, Toby and Donna did that time in Indiana. Anyway, to you people who send out these emails: I think you should be ashamed, thinking Americans will back a candidate just because a celebrity does. But on the other hand, I will read the ones from top officials in the Bartlet administration. I also like the notes I get from Carole King…

The time they got lost in flyover land…

The other presidential bookend to what Joe did yesterday…

A few things I’ve focused on in the last day or two:

1. Biden creates Grand Canyon National Monument — That link is to the speech he gave at the site, because the news stories tend to concentrate on the trivial, such as the electoral ramifications. To me, it’s about things of enduring value. It reminds me I need to get back to reading Theodore Rex, which I mostly set aside at the beach last week. I had stopped just after Teddy visited the Grand Canyon for the first time, and said, “”I don’t exactly know what words to use in describing it. It is beautiful and terrible and unearthly. Leave it as it is. You cannot improve upon it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it — keep it for your children, your children’s children, and for all who come after you.”
2. Elon Musk’s Starlink — Here’s one of those cases when it’s truly tragic that not everyone subscribes to The New York Times — because if you don’t, I fear that you can’t hear this installment of The Daily, “Elon Musk’s Quest to Own the Stars.” It’s something you need to know about, and the podcast explains why very clearly. Maybe you already knew, but I didn’t. I learned that 4,500 of the 8,000 satellites orbiting the Earth at this moment belong to Musk. The worldwide satellite access network they serve is interesting enough. But you also learn what a critical role it has played in the Ukraine war, and could play in the future of Taiwan — if Taiwan wasn’t leery of Musk’s business arrangements with China. If you can find a way to get access to the podcast, do so.
3. Why Mark Sanford walked out during Trump’s SC speech — That was the headline on the Post and Courier email drawing me to the story (as I noted a day or two ago, those heds are usually better than the ones in the paper). My response was, “Why was he there in the first place?” Well, we know, don’t we? Because that’s what Republicans do these days — they go to events where Trump might speak. Which is tragic. By the way, walking out isn’t that dramatic a gesture when you’re Mark Sanford. Read about how plain he made his disdain for party gatherings back in 2004, when the GOP was still a normal political party.
4. Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office. — My response to this headline was simply “Duh.” I later came back and elaborated by suggesting that the only alternative would be to make like Lumberg and say, ““Um, Peter… I’m gonna need you to go back to cubicle hell… yeah…” Of course, an office wouldn’t be enough to get me back. I’ve had offices. I didn’t like any of them as much as my home office.
5. Happy Nixon Resignation Day! — The night before Aug. 9, 1974, was possibly the highlight of my time as a copy boy at The Commercial Appeal. That was the night Nixon announced his resignation, which would take effect the next day. The managing editor (pictured here) wrote “Nixon Resigns” on a scrap of paper and send me to the composing room (on the next floor) to get the guys up there to set it in type, then put the type on a camera and shoot a picture, and blow it up to whatever size it took for it to spread all the way across the six columns of the front page. Then it would be converted into a metal “cut” like a photo, and placed at the top of the page atop all the lead type below it. Yeah, something you could do with a couple of keystrokes on your computer today. Anyway, this special assignment made me feel like a big shot. I was just a kid…

As I mentioned, news coverage focused on the political trivia, rather than the thing of lasting value.

Kind of slim pickings today, but I’ll go with what I’ve got…

1. Waterslide of Doom — This is my way of noting that I was at the beach all last week. My daughter urged me to drive by and see the scariest waterslide in the world, which is pictured above. No, it’s not operational — they’re in the midst of tearing it down — but it’s still pretty scary just to look at. Mind you, I find them all a little scary; I don’t love heights. But not Napoleon — he loves them! I offer the clipping at the bottom of this thread in honor of his biopic that’s about to come out.
2. DeSantis Bluntly Acknowledges Trump’s 2020 Defeat: ‘Of Course He Lost’ — This is worth noting because of the horrible, sad fact that it is news for one of his GOP opponents to state this simple, obvious fact so clearly. This is how far the party has fallen nationally.
3. Once the outsider, Trump looks an establishment’s pick — That headline is a little hard to follow, but it’s not actually in a newspaper. It’s the hed on a promotional email I got from the Post and Courier, which pulled my attention to this story. This is about how far the party has fallen here in our state.
4. Donald Trump gloats about USA’s Women’s World Cup elimination — What? Another one about The Creature? No, it’s just something I saw that made me think, two of the saddest things about our country are our exaggeration of the importance of sports, and the fact that politics in America is now about signaling your membership in a tribe. So those two things had to come together, right? How pathetic that people now divide themselves into mutually exclusive cliques by whether they worship or despise a soccer team…
5. Uninformative headline of the day — You’ll note that after years of polite silence, I recently started complaining about the new sort of headline that refuses to tell you the most essential information contained in the story — which is what headlines are supposed to do. (Why? To make you click.) Today’s winner is, “Here’s when a copperhead in SC is more likely to bite you, new research shows.” You may excuse this because maybe the info it touts is complicated, but it isn’t. It’s in the lede: “The hotter it gets, the more likely a copperhead or other venomous snake is likely to bite you, new research shows.” This is today’s winner in this category because what you are being denied is information that might, at least theoretically, save your life.

Today’s Earworm — OK, I don’t actually have one today, but I had one several days back, and didn’t post an Open Thread that day. It was “Son of a Preacher Man.” That was stuck for some time. Here’s a video of Dusty singing it on Ed Sullivan, in case you want to hear it in addition to reading about it. Now, a confession: I had to look it up to remember who sang it. I blame that on the fact that it sounds way more like a Bobbie Gentry song.

Some of us were quite pleased on Feb. 29, 2020. Let’s do it again — but earlier!

Yet another one of these. Here you go…

1. Protests Intensify Across Israel After Measure to Weaken Judiciary Passes — This is a huge deal, and a profoundly serious crisis. An NYT headline before the vote said, “Israel’s Identity Hangs in Balance Ahead of Key Vote on New Law,” in response to which I tweeted that Yes, it does. Our ally is on the ragged verge of throwing away its status as the only liberal democracy in a region that desperately needs such a bastion. The region needs it, the United States needs it, and the world needs it. And Bibi is trying to destroy it. That was before the vote. AFTER, we see a nation hurling toward irrelevance at best. If you can read it, I recommend Tom Friedman’s column on the subject, “Only Biden Can Save Israel Now.” Of course, I would add Israel itself to that equation.
2. Thoughts on SC being the first Democratic presidential primary? — Although it happened a while back, it occurs to me we haven’t talked about this (have we?). Anyway, I was reminded of the subject by an E.J. Dionne column today, which was about how those people up in New Hampshire are still in an uproar about South Carolina getting to hold the first primary — instead of, you know. Tough. I think it’s great. South Carolina Democrats are my favorite Dems, and they should get the spotlight — and the influence. You will say, Aw you just like it because the last time around, black voters in South Carolina saved Joe Biden, and then saved the country by making him president. And you’re almost right. I am very proud that my dear neighbors stepped forward to do that (and I helped). But I don’t just like it for that reason. I think it’s good for the country as well.
3. Welcome to the grievance-packed world of electric vehicle charging — It tells of the mad, dog-eat-dog scramble for a very limited resource: public charging spots. This being from The Boston Globe, it says, “EV drivers are hogging chargers… Think post-snowstorm parking in Southie — only the green version.” Anyway, this points to the biggest reason I wouldn’t buy an electric car — yet. I mean, aside from the cost. If I had money to spend on a new car, I might get a hybrid. But I wouldn’t go the full electric Monty until it’s as easy, and quick, as gassing up. We don’t have the infrastructure now, unless you’re at home. I dunno. Do you have an electric? What’s it like for you?
4. He was an undocumented immigrant. He became ‘your excellency.’ — I hope you can read this, but if you can’t, I’ll just tell you: It’s about Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, the new auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Washington, who finally made it on his third try to get into the United States when he was 19. He got here, and did what most of these folks do — he worked hard at any job he could get, regardless of the way he would be exploited because of his illegal status. Eventually, he got an education and entered the priesthood, and is now a shepherd to nearly 700,000 Catholics in the District and parts of Maryland. An inspiring story. And if you can’t read it in the post, there’s a short bio about him among the other auxiliary bishops on the diocesan website.
5. Finally, a plea for technical advice — Y’all who are not twitter addicts probably won’t care, and therefore won’t know, but if you do, maybe you can help me, or at least tell me whom to blame: What I want to know is, Why can I no longer tweet directly from the NYT and Washington Post apps on my iPad, which I’ve been doing for ages, but can’t now? Is this the fault of an Apple update (I wish they’d stop “improving” things), or the work of Elon Musk? What happens is, I click on the “share” thing in the newspaper app, choose Twitter, write the tweet, and when I try to send, it fails. But then I go to Twitter, and find what I wrote in the drafts, and send it from there. Not the hardest thing in the world, but it takes about an extra minute for each tweet. And it doesn’t have to. I asked about this on Twitter, and I got a like, but no help…

Click on the image to see actual video of Walter Johnson.

It’s just one Open Thread after another around here. No major developments, just some things that grabbed my attention:

1. Report: Graham likely to face GOP challenger amid conservative grumblings — So… basically, he just hasn’t acted crazy and unprincipled ENOUGH for them. Lindsey should take this opportunity to retire. But he won’t. And this challenger will fall like the others. You know how he’ll do it? By turning up the crazy.
2. Why can’t Canada just put the fires out? — A dumb question, I suppose, but most of us don’t know much about fighting forest fires. And I’ll bet a lot of people are asking this. And since this is presented by NPR, you can get the answers for free.
3. 100 years ago, Walter Johnson became the first member of the 3,000 strikeout club — This is a personal thing. Just a chance for me to say again that when he was a young boy, my Dad played catch with the Big Train himself. Dad’s cousin, who lived right behind him, had married Johnson’s son, and his uncle was kind enough to give the little guy a heads-up when her father-in-law was visiting. As I said, personal. Increasingly, I write things like this as a way of passing them on to my kids. As a genealogy fanatic, I enjoy it when I find that people in the past have left little anecdotes like this one. Oh, another link to the legendary Senator: I think my Dad’s grandfather, who was in the construction business there in Kensington, Md., built Walter Johnson High School.
4. Barbie — I don’t have anything to say except it opens today — and as I am typing this, my wife, my youngest daughter and my youngest granddaughter are all at The Nick watching it. From what I’ve read, I expect they’ll enjoy it. I’ll probably wait for it to appear “free” on one of the streaming services I subscribe to. Meanwhile, I might go see “Oppenheimer.” Or “The Flash.”
5. Tony Bennett, Champion of the Great American Songbook, Is Dead at 96 — I can’t say I was a huge fan, but I always liked and respected the guy. And he was pleasant to listen to. He was great when he was young, and he became a model of persistence and excellent work as he aged.

The former Fort Lee has a museum, which is always interesting: the Army Women’s Museum…

Some things that have grabbed my attention today:

1. Russia strikes Odesa for a second day after withdrawing from the grain deal — Putin is aiming to starve not only the Ukrainian people, but the other people who depend on the grain that Ukraine exports. The effect of these latest actions — which include threatening to attack merchant ships coming to get said grain — has of course been to send wheat prices up sharply. Just in case you’re struggling to figure out who the good guys and bad guys are here.
2. ‘Active club’ hate groups are growing in the U.S. — and making themselves seen — Our society continues to slide downward. There is just so much aggressive stupidity out there, and now at the paramilitary stage. And thanks to the Internet, these people are able to get together and reinforce their deviance, making themselves feel “normal.”
3. Army base once named for Lee now named for two black South Carolinians — Which is fine, but I wonder — why South Carolinians, when Fort Lee was in Virginia? These were certainly not the only two non-Confederate soldiers to have distinguished themselves in the Army. Irrelevant digression: It’s too bad there are no Air Force bases named for Confederates (are there?). I’d be advocating to rename one for Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., probably best known for commanding the Tuskegee Airmen. I want to add that “I knew him,” but that would be an exaggeration. My Dad worked for him as part of Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, and I used to walk by his house on the way to catch the bus to school. Also, when I worked at the base golf course, I was once assigned to clean his golf clubs. I guess it’s silly, but I’ve always been kind of proud of having that thin connection to him…
4. Is It Ever Morally Acceptable to Visit a Confederate Historical Site? — Since we’re on kind of a theme here today. I was grabbed by this question in the headline of an email from the NYT’s “Ethicist” today. The simple answer is that of course it is morally acceptable — and even imperative, given the widespread, appalling ignorance about the past in our society — to visit any and all historical sites, to understand history better, or even a little bit. But that question doesn’t fully explain the dilemma posed in the reader’s question. This particular site is operated by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and they charge admission. So no, I wouldn’t go to there. Want to learn about the Confederacy — and the Union, and everything else have to do with that conflict? Go to Gettysburg. I highly recommend it.
5. What we know about Travis King, the U.S. soldier who crossed into North Korea — Well, we know he’s not a candidate for promotion. In fact, he seems to be going out of his way to be creative in demonstrating his unsuitability. Apparently, seeing as how we know he had just gotten out of the stockade for having “punched a South Korean national.” But I was drawn to this because of the “what we know about” language in the headline. That made this hed a close relative of the “what you need to know” headline that is all about getting you to click. Headlines used to TELL you something, rather than urging you to click in order to learn something. (An old school hed would have said, “U.S. soldier who crossed into North Korea, was imprisoned for violent behavior,” or something along those lines.) Anyway, in this case as in so many, “what we know” is not much. Of course, you click wanting to know WHY he did it. How can we ever fully know what’s going on in such a person’s head?

I guess that’s enough, except that I’m thinking about adding this next thing as a regular feature, I’ve been having so many of these lately.

Today’s Earworm — A slight departure from my usual recent obsessing about the Zombies and the Moody Blues, today I woke up trying to remember the tune to Heart of Oak, the anthem of the Royal Navy. The words were in my head from having read a reference to it before going to bed. So I went to YouTube, went “yeah, that’s it!” You’ve probably heard the tune many times, generally as background music in historical movies. Anyway, it’s been stuck since then. England expects that every man will now go listen to some sea shanties.

Just a few quick thoughts:

1. Despite Successes at NATO Summit, Divisions Remain — So yay for Sweden, and yay also for Ukraine, but no membership there. And I’m sorry Ukraine’s not in, but I think I understand the rationale for being cautious.
2. Idle, Anachronistic Thought of the Day, with a SPOILER ALERT — At the end of Catch-22, would Yossarian have taken off with the intention of paddling a rubber raft from Pianosa to Sweden had he known that Sweden wouldn’t always be neutral? I think yes, since he only needed to get through 1945 in a safe location. So, never mind…
3. Convicted murderer back in custody after secret judge order released him 16 years early — I’m still not sure what happened here. Are you? Anyway, the guy was a fugitive for two months after the state Supremes voided his release. But no more.
4. Giant sloth pendants indicate humans settled Americas earlier than thought — This is just a followup on the pre-Clovis post earlier. Now Brazil is weighing in, with prehistoric pendants that supposedly depict critters long extinct during the Clovis era.
5. Will found in Aretha Franklin’s couch is valid, jury says — And yes, I’ve already written to complain to my attorney that he neglected to tell me I could do this. But upon reflection, I agree with him that this is probably not the best strategy for setting the future course of one’s estate. Especially if it has $80 million in it — which mine will not have, but Aretha’s did.
6. Gratuitous baseball post — As one of the world’s least-engaged baseball fans, I went and took a look at the standings for the first time in a while. (I like to look at the big picture.) And my Red Sox are at the bottom of the AL East — but their percentage is better than the best team in the AL Central. And they’d be in third place in the West. So make allowances. Meanwhile, my Braves are dominating over the National League…

Hey, they’re in a tough division…