I realize I’ve been a little grumpy and nay-saying here of late. It’s understandable, but I want you to know I woke up this morning, swam for an hour and got out of the pool thinking, it ain’t so bad.
The Iran “deal” is a joke. Trump’s G7 performance was a joke. I can’t stop laughing about the Reflecting Pool, which looks like the Chicago River on St. Patrick’s Day — an excellent joke. The Obama Presidential Center is opening with not just the artists who wouldn’t be caught dead at the Great American State Fair, or whoever it’ll end up being called, but by artists 100 times as successful. The World Cup is happening, and it’s delightful to see scenes like this:
And the Knicks victory parade was capped by Barack Obama Jr. giving a great speech:
Of course, there are distant clouds on the horizon; here’s a good piece about the Democratic effort in Ohio that applies to a lot of other places. But for today, this week, we can all look at our mud-streaked joke of a president, and his entire crowd of toadies and have the proper reaction: Derisive laughter.
Have a great weekend, all.
Brandon said on June 18, 2026 at 11:29 pm
The Knicks’ victory was long overdue.
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alex said on June 19, 2026 at 8:37 am
If I had any advice to give Democrats, it would be Quit being so goddamn defensive about bullshit churned by Republicans. Don’t answer to it. People dumb enough to buy it aren’t going to vote for you anyway.
Instead tell people what you intend to do and why. Appeal to their sense of dissatisfaction with this broken system and show them how you intend to fix it. And don’t be afraid to insult Trump voters by telling them just how badly they’ve been had. Put the GOP on the defensive and set the agenda just like they’ve been doing for the last four decades since Reagan. Cheap mudslinging and name-calling? Go for it. We’ve taken the high road long enough and look at where it has led us,
Dumb is dumb, and don’t be afraid to say so. Clinging to guns and God, basket of deplorables — don’t apologize for such language. It made the Republicans howling mad. It worked because it was sincere. Double down on it. Fuck MAGA. Make fringe lunatics fringe again.
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David C said on June 19, 2026 at 10:03 am
We also need to get Jonathon Capehart to shout “Are you fucking crazy?” when David Brooks both-sides anything The Count of Monte Crisco does. If he won’t do it voluntarily, replace his larynx with a Chatty Cathy voicebox programmed with it.
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Deborah said on June 19, 2026 at 11:01 am
Heather Cox Richardson has a good letter today about the Knicks parade and the opening of the Obama center and starts with the bad Iran deal https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-18-2026.
Those Irish (?) guys in the video must be from the boonies because they’ve had big box stores in Europe and the UK for ages. I worked on the signage for a shopping mall in Portugal in the late 90s (ugh a shopping mall in Porto, how embarrassing) and they had a giant store like WalMart in it, called Auchen (I think?) in it. Those places were gargantuan. I love to go to grocery stores when I’m in Europe because they have great stuff.
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nancy said on June 19, 2026 at 11:09 am
Deborah! Those guys are Scottish.
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Jeff Borden said on June 19, 2026 at 12:17 pm
Though I’ll be at the Cubs-Blue Jays game, the U.S. plays Australia in the World Cup this afternoon. I’m wondering if we’ll hear their chant: “We’re Aussie lads on a bender, Donald tRump’s a sex offender.” Unfortunately, the match airs on Fox, which probably will turn down the sound if the Aussies act up.
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Sherri said on June 19, 2026 at 12:22 pm
I’m getting a good laugh at the guy who owns the company who did the reflecting pool work. He looks like a caricature of a mobster, and whaddya know, he is a mobster from Youngstown, convicted of bribing James Traficant.
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Jeff Gill said on June 19, 2026 at 12:26 pm
Or of stealing Traficant’s hairdo.
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Cheez Whiz said on June 19, 2026 at 6:20 pm
I’v seen nothing to change my opinion the best response to Republican invective is derisve mockery. To quote Logan Roy these are not serious people. Taking them seriously grants them unearned respect and legitimacy. Not taking them seriously is very different from not taking the threat they pose seriously. Their crudeness, incompetence, and downright weirdness needs to be pointed out constantly.
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Deborah said on June 19, 2026 at 7:10 pm
LB took one look at that guy’s photo and said it looks like he went to Party City and bought a costume of a stereotypical mobster complete with an oil slick combover toupee and a novelty oversized cigar.
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basset said on June 20, 2026 at 1:11 pm
Nobody asked, but the knee replacement recovery seems to be going well, six weeks in and flex is at 115. Still soooo tired a lot of the time, which I understand is normal and can last up to six months. Anyone want to share your experiences on that, or on TKR in general?
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Julie Robinson said on June 20, 2026 at 3:24 pm
basset, so far I’ve avoided any joint replacements, so the only advice I have is from friends who emphasize how important the PT is. I have done a lot of that and did find it very tiring. The world is exhausting right now, though, isn’t it?
The Strait of Hormuz is closed again. And daily photos and videos of the Orange One are showing marked deterioration. In Europe he had to be guided around frequently and use others for balance. Brigitte Macron fended him off after he tried to move in for a lip kiss. Also, “vandals” are causing the problems with the reflecting pool, not faulty materials/installation. Yep, exhausting.
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susan said on June 20, 2026 at 4:47 pm
Algaefa felled the reflecting pool!
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susan said on June 20, 2026 at 4:56 pm
basset @11 – 115° flex is terrific after six weeks of PT. That means you can go up and down stairs reciprocally. I had bilateral knee arthroplasty — both knees done at the same time. I had to really work at getting that knee range-of-motion, especially since I had scar-tissue problems in both of them, that I had to have “broken up,” twice. “MUA-Manipulation Under Anesthesia.” You don’t want to know about that!
Keep at it! You’ll love being able to walk again without pain.
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Julie Robinson said on June 20, 2026 at 7:36 pm
Was just reading today’s email and lo and behold, an article about joint replacement, gifted here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/19/well/move/exercise-hip-knee-replacement-surgery.html?unlocked_article_code=1.rlA.rHtr.xJWtvbCmuohl&smid=url-share
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Sherri said on June 20, 2026 at 8:00 pm
Now we’ve got National Guard troops and cops in tactical gear protecting the algae in the reflecting pool. My understanding is that there’s more than one kind of algae, and the hydrogen peroxide killed off one kind, while also destroying the newly laid down blue liner, but the other kind of algae is taking off, thanks to the higher temp of the water ( thanks to the new liner) and the destruction of the first kind of algae.
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Mark P said on June 20, 2026 at 8:16 pm
Basset, I had my right knee replaced last summer and am currently scheduled for a left knee replacement at the end of July. I was ambivalent about a second TKR immediately after the first, but the new knee doesn’t hurt when I walk and the original equipment knee does. I found PT relatively easy. I was glad to be done because I was tired of having to go twice a week. The orthopedist talked about having the procedure in the rear view, and that’s kind of the way I look at it. I do not look forward to the process, but I do look forward to having it over and done. I have a camping trip scheduled for October, and it will be nice to be able to go for a walk with my friends.
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ROGirl said on June 21, 2026 at 5:28 am
Ten years of this asshole. My comment from 2016:
He doesn’t want to be president, he wants to be king. He wants the power without having to be accountable to anybody.
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alex said on June 21, 2026 at 7:03 am
I’m coming due for a liver replacement, but unfortunately it’s not quite plug-and-play like knees and hips. So I’ve given up one of my few pleasures in life, and I’m finding it’s not really difficult at all. In fact I’m rather enjoying how clear-headed I feel.
Today journeying home from a week’s vacay in Canada. They pour such stingy drinks here that I didn’t miss much of anything anyway. Instead I’ve been swilling ginger ale and sending my blood sugar into the stratosphere.
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David C said on June 21, 2026 at 9:42 am
What plays did you see, Alex? We used to go to the Shaw Festival every year when we lived in Michigan. I don’t think we saw a stinker in all the years we went. I’ll never forget the Churchill burger at the Prince of Wales Hotel though. I was burping that thing up for what seemed like a week.
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alex said on June 21, 2026 at 8:25 pm
David C, this time we saw “Sleuth,” “Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense,” “Funny Girl” and “Heartbreak House.” All good. The Fanny Brice character in
“Funny Girl” had a singing voice remarkably like that of Barbra Streisand, which I’m sure is why they chose her for the role. And we pigged out at Zee’s, La Regina at the Queen’s Landing Hotel, the Irish Harp, Aura (an Indian place) and a couple of forgettable places on the main drag and I’m sure I’m forgetting something else.
Now that I’ve come home to an overgrown lawn, I’ve decided to treat myself to a zero-turn mower, a John Deere that’s on sale at Home Depot and one of the top picks at Consumer Reports. Gotta ease myself back into life in these disunited states.
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Brandon said on June 22, 2026 at 1:09 am
Shoes are so passe. AI is where it’s at.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/17/allbirds-bird-ai-smartbird-ceo.html?utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_content=main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_id=120253267108080093&utm_term=120253267137420093&fbclid=IwY2xjawSloj5leHRuA2FlbQEwAGFkaWQBqzqlJES_DXNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR5aDgarhsMOSA6uEE1tcze0bQqO6dxAWam66Tvz8dK5hgZz1lEOXlP4lwdlrw_aem_7gr6F-c6sJ2XdUL0x8Y9pw
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alex said on June 22, 2026 at 8:33 am
I suspect that the AI boom is going to end up much like the California Gold Rush; the real prospectors won’t be mining gold but (figuratively) selling pickaxes and bluejeans to a bunch of fools. And then the bubble will burst.
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Jeff Gill said on June 22, 2026 at 8:39 am
And I was fascinated to learn that in fact some gold rush laundry was shipped to Hawaii to be washed; this was the most enjoyable link on the subject (tl;dr is you’d turn in shirts, get clean ones immediately, then the dirty ones went a few weeks west, washed, and a few weeks back east to the Bay Area, swapped back — in other words, you didn’t get your own shirt back in most cases).
https://joysauce.com/442-the-history-behind-the-chinese-laundry/
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