Apologies for light blogging this week. I’ve been having trouble sleeping, which isn’t helping anything. This morning I was drowsy after three cups of coffee, but still had to go feed Kate’s kitties (short tour for the girls), so I stopped at Starbucks and got the Not Quite Dan Campbell Cappuccino (three shots) and feel somewhat fortified. At least until the next crash. Onward!
As I’m the approximately twelve millionth person to note, the firehose of shit coming out of Washington and the Middle East is nearly impossible for a mortal to keep up with, but one relatively minor story pushed its way into my peripheral vision, and that is the insanely toadying federal arts commission(s), all of whom are hand-picked for maximum ass-kissing, and you probably already heard this, but are you fucking kidding me:
For nearly two centuries, the White House’s main entrance — framed by a row of graceful Ionic columns — has been a signature image of the seat of American power.
Now the Trump-appointed head of a federal arts commission is proposing to replace them with a more ornate style favored by President Donald Trump. Those more decorative columns, a style known as Corinthian, are considered the most luxurious in classical architecture and appear on buildings such as the U.S. Capitol and the Supreme Court. They have long been deployed on Trump’s properties, and the president has handpicked them for his planned White House ballroom, too.
“Corinthian is the highest order [of column], and that’s what our other two branches of government have,” Rodney Mims Cook Jr., the Trump appointee who chairs the Commission of Fine Arts, a federal panel charged with advising the president on design matters, said in an interview last week. “Why the White House didn’t originally use them, at least on the north front, which is considered the front door, is beyond me.”
Really? It’s beyond you? The story goes on to say the president hasn’t asked for this, and Cook hasn’t discussed it with him, but like all good whores, Cook knows how to give the customer what he wants before he asks:
Cook’s proposal to overhaul the front entrance to the White House, known as the North Portico, reflects a common dynamic in Trump’s Washington, where the president’s deputies and allies often anticipate and implement his desires — and frequently upend decades of tradition and norms in the process.
This is Rodney Mims Cook Jr.:
He looks exactly like the kind of guy who’d prefer a Corinthian column to an ionic one. The difference, for those of you who forget your Comp Arts slides, below:
Ionic: 
The ones at the White House are simpler than this, just the scrolled top and no fluting on the uprights.
Corinthian:
As you can see, Corinthian columns just cry out for gold leaf, don’t you think?
Anyway. That wasn’t the only lamprey-level ass-kissing for the week. Here’s what the Commission of Fine Arts committee on coins wants to do:
The proposal calls for a 24-karat gold coin depicting Trump leaning on a desk with clenched fists, based on a photograph taken by his chief White House photographer and now displayed in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Such gold coins from the U.S. Mint typically sell for several thousand dollars.
The proposed design:
Dig those cheekbones on Pigface.
I know that compared to the increasingly probable WW III, this should be minor stuff, but it’s especially grating, and I want these people humiliated and punished, then humiliated and punished again. Etc.
And I want them to leave the White House columns alone. Haven’t they ruined it enough already?
OK, to the TRX straps, then a shower, then a nap. I can feel the fatigue gathering behind my eyeballs already.
Icarus said on March 19, 2026 at 11:28 am
I’ve been having trouble sleeping
That wouldn’t be DST, would it?
For the majority of this month, I’ve not had the heat turned on and no A/C. And a few nights, especially last night, I was able to sleep with the bedroom windows cracked open. Best sleep in a long time. 8-9 straight uninterrupted hours.
Still only a drop in the sleep deficit that is being a parent but I think I’m making good strides in paying that off.
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Deborah said on March 19, 2026 at 11:44 am
I wish he would just leave the White House alone, he doesn’t have good taste, he has no idea. His stupid, wildly over scaled ballroom, his gold leafing the shit out of the oval, the bad typography of gilded hotel signage, the ridiculous paved over former rose garden with cafe tables and totally out of place, beachy umbrellas, demonstrate how much he’s a vulgarian. Just look at the way he presents his own body, elaborately combed over hair, badly applied, burnt ochre makeup, silly ties, ill fitting suits. He’s an embarrassing clown.
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basset said on March 19, 2026 at 1:08 pm
Fun times coming up… knee replacement the first week of May. Any thoughts, advice, guidance for me?
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Sherri said on March 19, 2026 at 1:11 pm
Not all is terrible in the world: the Adams County (OH) sheriff’s department deputies lost their defamation lawsuit against Afroman.
For those of you whose social media feeds didn’t blow up with the story of Afroman, said sheriff’s deputies executed a raid on Afroman’s house a few years ago, looking for evidence of drug trafficking and kidnapping. They found some cash and some weed, but nothing to generate charges against the rapper. He was angry about the raid and the damage to his home, and fought back in his way: he rapped about it, on stage and in videos, making funny and increasingly rude and vulgar videos about the sheriff’s deputies. Oh, and he had an extensive home security system so he had lots of video of the cops to put in his music videos.
“Lemon Pound Cake”, “Will You Help Me Repair My Door”, “Randy Walters is a Son of a Bitch” are just a few of the many videos he made. As these things do, they went viral, and the sheriff’s deputies were embarrassed. So they sued. They testified how terrible it’s been to be the object of derision, and how mean Mr Afroman has been, and won’t he think of their children. Afroman testified that maybe they should have thought harder before busting down his door with guns, and he has a free speech right to say what he’s saying.
The jury agreed with Afroman. I also think Trump should start wearing a suit like the one Afroman wore in court.
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susan said on March 19, 2026 at 1:43 pm
bassett @3 – My thoughts (having had bilateral knee replacement 11 years ago): Be VERY serious about physical therapy. Do it. Do everything they say to do, and then some.
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David C said on March 19, 2026 at 3:13 pm
Thank God, there’s no Rodney Mims Cook in my Cook genealogy book. I think I’d put a hose in the exhaust pipe if we were related.
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FDChief said on March 19, 2026 at 3:51 pm
Basset: first, what Susan said. It’s going to hurt at first, too. You’ve GOT to push through that. You’ll be glad you did.
The one really weird post-op symptom I experienced was insomnia. Horrible, relentless insomnia, night after night, for months. Ambien helped, but not consistently. The orthopod’s people said that it was not uncommon. I hope you dodge that bullet, but if not? Don’t be patient; get help ASAP.
And the bottom line is that while my new knees are better than the ones they replaced, it’s a relative “better”. The operation itself does a lot of damage that just can’t be helped.
Good luck!
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Brandon said on March 19, 2026 at 8:58 pm
Rodney Cook’s CV: http://rodneymimscook.com/curriculum-vitae/
https://www.dezeen.com/2026/03/17/corinthian-columns-white-house-commission-fine-arts-rodney-mims-cook/
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Mark P said on March 20, 2026 at 1:20 am
I had my right knee replaced last summer. For me it was really not bad. I had the quadriceps tendons in the same knee repaired a couple of years earlier, and that was significantly worse in terms of recovery and pain. That still gives me some trouble. But the main thing I notice now is that my right knee no longer hurts when I take a walk. I’ll probably get the left knee done this year.
I have to admit that for several weeks after the surgery I said I would not get the other knee done, but that phase passes. My PCP said if you could actually see what the surgeon does to replace your knee joint you would understand why it hurts for a while.
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Dorothy said on March 20, 2026 at 8:20 am
Basset I had my left knee done in July 2013; hubby just had his done on 12/31 last year. #1 rec is to get a toilet seat add-on that makes the toilet a little taller. You can take it off when you’re done with it. You’ll be glad for the first 10 days to two weeks when you don’t have a lot of bend in the new knee.
#2 rec was already mentioned: do your PT faithfully. Mike had an in home therapist come the first two weeks, and after that he was able to go to a place about 2 miles from our house. I drove him the first week or two and then he was allowed to drive. Those therapists were impressed with his progress and said he was already about two weeks ahead in the recovery process compared to most patients. And I’m sure you know this but you can’t drive until you’re done with prescription pain killers.
ALMOST FORGOT – use ice. Liberally and often. The discharge papers will tell you how and so will the visiting PT people.
My friend Chris had her first knee replacement in February 2025, and about a month ago she had the second knee done. The doctor thought she had operated on the worst knee first, but when she got the second knee done, doc said that one was actually much worse! And finally, my son’s former mother-in-law is finally going to get her knee replacement on 3/31 with my husband’s ortho doc. She had x-rays done about a month ago and the doctor said it was the worst knee x-rays he’d ever seen. We’ve known Deb was in bad shape for a long time – limping and complaining about how much she hurt. I’m glad she finally gained the courage to go through with it. She’s known for years that she needed one, but kept making up one excuse after another. The doc said he’s positive she’ll need to stay overnight at least one night and possibly more because of all the reconstruction work he’s going to have to do.
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Jeff Gill said on March 20, 2026 at 9:16 am
Turns out he’s long had a thing for Corinthian capitals, such as in his apartments in Trump Tower:
https://media.gettyimages.com/id/517242152/photo/donald-trump-forbes-october-10-2005.jpg?s=594×594&w=gi&k=20&c=RC3N1Cg_BPjRk6_zQQ9ns-6hPnZ8xxHw-t7TMPCOfUg=
He also first publicly called for the US to seize Kharg Island in… 1988. Given his Proverbs 26:11 tendencies, it’s pretty clear why he’s rushing a Marine expeditionary unit to the gulf. No new ideas with this guy.
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Icarus said on March 20, 2026 at 9:28 am
On the Book of Faces I shared a post from The Onion about substituting ingredients in a recipe. The first time I try a new recipe, I strive to use all the ingredients and follow directions to the letter.
An exception might be that it calls for an ingredient I don’t have and don’t want to invest in. For instance, earlier this week I made česnečka soup but didn’t have marjoram (actually we did, I just didn’t see it in the cupboard) so I used oregano instead.
last night I made Crock pot shrimp scampi. I made this a few weeks ago but didn’t have any cooking white wine, so i used vinegar wine. BIG mistake. This needs either cooking wine or real white wine.
I did use lime juice instead of lemon juice but otherwise followed the recipe and it was delicious.
https://lowcarbyum.com/crock-pot-shrimp-scampi-slow-cooker-recipe/
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alex said on March 20, 2026 at 11:24 am
Icarus, I didn’t realize you could cook shrimp for that long. Most recipes involving shrimp, at least those that I’ve prepared, tell you not to add the shrimp until the last few minutes lest it turn hard and rubbery.
And then there’s this memory.
I haven’t attempted shrimp in a Crock Pot since I lived in my first apartment forty-some-odd years ago. My mom made it sound so easy — just dump whatever you want into the Crock Pot, leave it on low for 8 hours while you’re at work, come home to a meal. So I thought I’d try shrimp as my first effort. What I came home to smelled like the piss of a thousand tomcats and the odor never completely left that apartment. The shrimp was, of course, cooked beyond recognition. I may not have given it enough liquid, if any at all, naif that I was.
It was years before I could eat shrimp again.
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David C said on March 20, 2026 at 12:06 pm
Chuck Norris croaked. Now he can karate chop Jesus for being woke.
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Deborah said on March 20, 2026 at 12:52 pm
Today is the spring equinox and I have 3 flower arrangements on the table, one was a bouquet of tulips brought by company a couple of evenings ago, one is made up of 5 amaryllis bulbs dipped in a very light colored wax I got at Trader Joes a week or so ago, those should last a long time, when the flowers bloom they’ll be pink. The last arrangement are some tall twigs that have tiny pink flowers that I also got at TJs. TJs always has flowers that are super affordable. I decided I need to have fresh flowers all the time to help with the constant stress from the roiling political situation.
I don’t know if I read this correctly, but supposedly more than one million people have already signed up to go to the No Kings rally in Chicago on Saturday the 28th at 2pm, in Grant Park. I hope that’s the case. There are other protests in surrounding burbs. I hope this is huge. I will use my same sign I used before of Stephen Miller’s face with a rat body, that says “Nazi”. I hope you all are going to a No Kings protest near you. We need at the least 10 or 12 million nationwide to show up rain or shine. Hopefully millions more than that. It’s time.
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Icarus said on March 20, 2026 at 1:08 pm
Alex, I have no idea. Perhaps because the shrimp is frozen, it’s okay? The recipe includes both high and low crock pot settings, and I used low because I was taking my kids to the park.
We tend to have some form of Pasta on Thursdays and Pizza on Fridays so it was the perfect time to do it.
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Julie Robinson said on March 20, 2026 at 2:55 pm
Wow, that’s a lot of new knees. I was told to expect the need for both hips and knees replacements, but so far my work with the trainer and other exercise is keeping me pain free. I do so hate surgery and am hoping to prevent or at least delay.
The once-mighty Columbia Broadcast System announced another round of cuts today, including closing the entire CBS radio network. So much winning! As I read the story I wondered why they aren’t going to try podcasting instead of closure. Then I read they’ve already cut a couple of their streaming news programs. Aren’t those the growth areas? I’m so sad for everyone losing their jobs.
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Brandon said on March 20, 2026 at 3:51 pm
From a 1988 article in The Los Angeles Times:
Norris is one of those celebrities who never would have been pegged for stardom by his grade school teachers.
Slightly built, non-athletic and formerly shy to the point of being neurotic, the 47-year-old actor, who has lived in North Tustin for two years, has not had an easy time of it. Every phase of his life has been an uphill battle, from his birth in Oklahoma as a “blue baby” with an alcoholic father, to his years as a shy and insecure teen-ager in Torrance, to his efforts in becoming a karate champion. His autobiography, published last year by Little, Brown and Co., begins: “Nothing ever came easy for me, not even being born.”
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susan said on March 20, 2026 at 6:46 pm
Deborah @15 – I think the protest in my town will be huge. I bet it will be bigger than the January 2017 Women’s March, when more than 2,000 people showed up during some horrible cold, snowy weather. THAT was amazing to behold in this small town, almost one-tenth the population. I am substituting my usual non-verbal “sign” — a pitchfork — with a large Minnesota flag on a flagpole to wave around. (I’m in Warshington State, not Minnesota. Twin Cities residents deserve a Nobel Peace Prize for what they have done and continue to do.)
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alex said on March 20, 2026 at 10:19 pm
There was something about Chuck Norris that always bugged me and now I think I understand. He wasn’t a toxic male; he just played one. And to good effect, I might add.
I remember long ago having a brief affair with a ginger who was the spittin’ image of Norris, right down to the saggy eye sockets (which he wanted to have cosmetic surgery on, btw) and the auburn beard. He couldn’t handle my eccentricities and I didn’t care for his stick-up-the-butt conformism, so we both agreed to move on.
But, wow. Chuck Norris is someone I hadn’t thought about in 40 years so I didn’t realize he was 87, much less on death’s door.
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