At the Saturday Night Café...

... you can talk all you want.

"It remains unclear whether South Sudan’s government in Juba has detained the men, or what their ultimate fate might be."

"The 13-year-old country is on the brink of a civil war; the State Department has warned against travel there because of the risk of 'crime, kidnapping and armed conflict.' In court on Friday, a Justice Department lawyer read from a diplomatic note that said South Sudan would give the men immigration status to allow them to remain there at least temporarily.... Before coming to the United States, the men came from Vietnam, Mexico, Laos, Cuba and Myanmar. Just one is from South Sudan, a violence-plagued country. All had been convicted of serious crimes in the United States, though many had either finished or were about to finish serving their sentences.... The migrants’ lawyers have contended that if they are sent to South Sudan, they will probably be subjected to torture. The U.S. government has said in its own filings that the South Sudanese government has given diplomatic assurances that this will not happen.... The eight migrants now heading to South Sudan are part of a class-action lawsuit... about the legality of deporting migrants to so-called third countries.... The lawsuit is still continuing...."

From "U.S. Turns Eight Migrants Over to South Sudan, Ending Weeks of Legal Limbo/Courts blocked the handover after lawyers raised concerns of torture. Then the Supreme Court intervened to allow the Trump administration’s plan to move forward" (NYT).

"This Fourth of July, I am taking a moment to reflect. Things are hard right now. They are probably going to get worse before they get better."

"But I love our country — and when you love something, you fight for it. Together, we will continue to fight for the ideals of our nation."

Tweeted Kamala Harris, quoted in "Critics slam Kamala Harris for gloomy July 4 post — with photo that crops out Biden" (NY Post). That reads as though somebody forced her. Come on, you have to write something for the 4th of July.

Speaking of Biden and The New York Post, there's also "Biden struggles to set up beach chair in Malibu during first Fourth of July weekend since leaving office." Malibu! Whatever happened to Delaware? Oh, I see Malibu is Hunter's home. As for the struggling with the chair, he has Stage 4 cancer, and he is no longer attempting to serve as President. 

French police "charged into the water with knives to slash a rigid inflatable boat (rib), which migrants were scrambling to board."

I'm reading "French police use knives to puncture migrant dinghies in the sea/The tactic, used for the first time, is a ‘precursor’ to a change of French maritime law that will allow officers greater powers to prevent Channel crossings" (London Times).

"It’s essential to normalize 'no' and understand that no one should be forced to justify something they simply don’t want to do."

"We live in a society where 'no' is often seen as rude or selfish, but this needs to change. Each person has their own reasons, preferences, and limits, and all of this must be respected without judgment."

Said Jeniffer Castro, who has filed a lawsuit, quoted in "Flyer who went viral after refusing to give seat to crying child sues airline, passenger who filmed her" (NY Post).

It's important to remember that you do not need to articulate your reasons or even understand that you have any reasons. You can say "no" and nothing more. 

"Mr. Guo, who obtained his pilot’s license at 17, was aiming to become the first person to fly solo in a small aircraft to all seven continents...."

"Antarctica was the only continent where he had yet to land, he said. On Saturday at about 5:30 a.m., he took off from Punta Arenas, a city near the southern tip of Chile, with a flight plan indicating that he was going to fly over the city and land again in Punta Arenas, prosecutors said. But without notifying aviation authorities, Mr. Guo flew his Cessna 182Q across the Southern Ocean and landed at a Chilean airstrip on King George Island at about 11:30 a.m., prosecutors said. Prosecutors said that Mr. Guo had submitted 'false flight plan data' and that when he deviated from that plan, aviation officials declared that his Cessna had been 'lost.'..."

From "Teenage Aviator Detained After Landing in Antarctica, Chile Says/Ethan Guo, 19, had been documenting his attempt to fly solo to all seven continents on social media. He is no longer in custody but has no easy way to leave an island off Antarctica’s coast" (NYT).

"Let the parents decide. My daughter was born August 31st. Had she been born September 1 , she could have started 1st grade a year later."

"Why should this bureaucrat date dictate my child’s education?"

So says the top-rated comment at "D.C. banned ‘redshirting’ years ago. Here’s why people are talking about it. The controversial practice of delaying kindergarten enrollment by a year has been allowed to happen at a small number of schools" (WaPo).

I think the answer to her question why is: It's part of the struggle against (what is perceived as) white privilege: "It is difficult to determine exactly how common it is to delay a child’s enrollment in school. Some national data suggest it’s rare — somewhere between 3.5 percent and 5.5 percent of eligible children do it. Most of those students are boys born in the summer months. Academic redshirting is also more common among White children at schools that serve large numbers of wealthy families, who can afford an extra year of preschool or day care, according to an article published by the American Educational Research Association."

ADDED: The Supreme Court's opinion in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which upheld the parents' right to exempt their own children from the school's gender-ideology indoctrination, relied heavily on Wisconsin v. Yoder, which upheld the parents' right to exempt their child a school requirement that had to do with the age of the child. In Yoder, Wisconsin wanted to compel school attendance up to the age of 16, and the parents, Amish parents, sincerely believed that schooling beyond 8th grade impairs religious salvation. They wanted their children to avoid the "worldly educational environment" and sought a different kind of wisdom and way of life, and the Supreme Court viewed their preference as a constitutional right. I'd thought of Yoder as a marginal case until I saw Mahmoud v. Taylor.

The WaPo commenter's slogan "Let the parents decide" resonates.

"Her opinions, sometimes joined by no other justice, have been the subject of scornful criticism from the right and have raised questions about her relationships with her fellow justices, including the other two members of its liberal wing."

Writes Adam Liptak, in The New York Times, about Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“We will not dwell on Justice Jackson’s argument, which is at odds with more than two centuries’ worth of precedent, not to mention the Constitution itself,” Justice Barrett wrote, in an opinion [in Trump v. CASA] signed by all five of the other Republican appointees.

“The principal dissent focuses on conventional legal terrain,” Justice Barrett went on, referring to Justice Sotomayor’s opinion. “Justice Jackson, however, chooses a startling line of attack that is tethered neither to these sources nor, frankly, to any doctrine whatsoever.”...

I think Liptak is trying to build Jackson's reputation. He writes things like: "Justice Jackson has appeared comfortable expressing herself from the start." He compares her to Justice Breyer and Justice Brandeis:

“I was frightened to death for the first three years,” Justice Breyer said in a 2006 interview. Even Justice Louis D. Brandeis, a giant of the law who sat on the court from 1916 to 1939, needed time to find his footing. “So extraordinary an intellect as Brandeis said it took him four or five years to feel that he understood the jurisprudential problems of the court,” Justice Felix Frankfurter wrote of his friend and mentor. 

That does not work as a compliment to Jackson.

ADDED: The Washington Post just published a similar article, "One of the Supreme Court’s sharpest critics sits on it/Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson emerges as a strong voice on an unusually fractious U.S. Supreme Court."

"'There’s nothing beneficial about them,” Ahn Yeon-sik said this week as he hosed down lovebugs from the front of his bar in Incheon...."

"Nearby, a man trying to sit on a bench swatted the bugs with a piece of cardboard. A pedestrian ducked swiftly to dodge a pair bearing down on her. 'I’m told they hate water, but it hasn’t worked,' Mr. Ahn said, pausing to bat one away from his neck. He added that he had also doused them with mosquito spray and soju, a popular spirit, to little effect...."

The NYT reports. 

We're told the bugs tend to look twice their actual size, because they are commonly seen stuck together, mating. 

"Even the fumigation didn’t help, said Nam In, who runs a coffee shop.... 'They’re just trying to appease us psychologically,' he said as lovebugs crawled on his cafe’s windows and tile floor. 'The number of bugs is beyond human control.'... One hiker scraped off lovebugs that were clinging to a railing along a trail and collected them in a small plastic bag. He brought them home and put them in his freezer, then made them into a burger patty that he cooked and ate in a YouTube video...."

"Happy 4th of July!"/"Ew. Wow. I didn't know you were a racist. That's crazy."

"I just wanted to celebrate Independence Day"/"Actually..."

"I think when somebody deserves praise, that praise should be given. And President Trump deserves all the praise..."

"... because without his leadership, without him being re-elected president of the United States, the 2 percent this year and the 5 percent in 2035 — we would never, ever, ever have been able to achieve agreement on this."

It's Mark Rutte, the head of NATO, in an interview at the NYT, with the stunning headline: "The Head of NATO Thinks President Trump 'Deserves All the Praise.'" 

Rutte is the one about whom Trump said: "I think he likes me. 'Daddy, you’re my daddy.' He did it very affectionately."

So, "without him being re-elected president," means: If we had Kamala Harris as president. If we didn't have "daddy," if we had "mommy." If we didn't have Daddy, we would never, ever, ever have been able to get to the 5% deal.

"[P]arents circulated photos of some of the missing girls, and exchanged hopeful stories that they were hearing about dramatic rescues: girls clinging to trees, or floating downriver to a boys camp five miles away."

"Camp Mystic aims 'to provide young girls with a wholesome Christian atmosphere in which they can develop outstanding personal qualities and self-esteem,' its website said. It draws from families around Texas and beyond, with the youngest campers entering third grade in the fall. The camp was established in 1926... and has been run by generations of the same family since the 1930s.... Camp activities include archery, cooking, cheerleading, fishing and a variety of sports. Videos posted to the camp’s Instagram account show large groups of girls participating in group dance performances this summer...."

From "Live Updates: Rescuers Search Through the Night After Texas Floods Kill at Least 24/Two dozen girls were missing from a camp along the Guadalupe River. Flooding continued in some areas on Saturday" (NYT).

At the Fireworks Café...

... you can talk all night.

Live: Trump signing the Big Beautiful Bill.

To celebrate July 4th, I asked Grok to rewrite the Declaration of Independence to fit the social media 280-character limit.

I got:

When a gov fails its ppl, they can break free. King George’s tyranny—taxing w/o consent, ignoring laws, waging war—forces us to declare independence. All men equal, w/ rights to life, liberty. We, free states, pledge to defend this. #USA1776

I said:

Nice. Do another one and make it more elegant, more Jefferson-y

I got:

When a Crown’s despotism denies sacred Rights—Life, Liberty, Consent—we, the People, justly dissolve such bonds. King George’s manifold usurpations compel our Independence. Equal all, we pledge our sacred Honor to free States. #Liberty1776

I said: 

Good. I like the inclusion of "sacred." Do another one and put in more of the rights coming from God

I got: 

When tyranny defies God-given Rights—Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness—we, the People, reject such rule. King George’s oppressions force our sacred Independence. All equal by divine endowment, we vow our Honor to free States. #Freedom1776

"Don’t worry, it’s only fireworks. I hope. Famous last words. My famous last words: Trump said, 'Don’t worry, it’s only fireworks.' You always have to think positive. I didn't like that sound either."

Said Donald Trump, quoted in "5 takeaways from Donald Trump's speech at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines" (Des Moines Register).

Here, I'll cue up the reaction to the sound. Great spontaneous dark comedy: "My famous last words: Trump said, 'Don’t worry, it’s only fireworks.'"

"And now they never meet in grove or green, by fountain clear or spangled starlight sheen, but they do square, that all their elves for fear creep into acorn cups and hide them there."

Last night in Spring Green.

"Acorn" appears a second time in the script: "Get you gone, you dwarf, You minimus of hind’ring knotgrass made, you bead, you acorn—"

Mamdani didn't lie. He is an African American.

I see that among the many attacks on Zohran Mamdani is the charge that he filled out a college application form deceptively. But the fault was in Columbia's form — and, some will say, in its policy of race consciousness:

[A]s a high school senior in 2009 ... [a]sked to identify his race, he checked a box that he was “Asian” but also “Black or African American,” according to internal data derived from a hack of Columbia University that was shared with The New York Times.

I'm reading "Mamdani Identified as Asian and African American on College Application/Zohran Mamdani, the Democrat running for mayor of New York City, was born in Uganda. He doesn’t consider himself Black but said the application didn’t allow for the complexity of his background" (NYT). 

So it depends on what the meaning of "or" is. It could mean "African American" is another way to say "Black," but it could mean check this box if you are either black or African Amercan or both. Mamdani didn't write the form. He filled it out. Now, of course, he knew there was a special advantage to be gained and that "Asian" wasn't much help if any, but he didn't lie. He perceived the potential for selfish advantage and he took it, and now he is offering to bring his advantage-taking skill to the people of New York. Where there is an edge to be gained, Mamdani will grab it for you, the citizens of New York City.

By the way, it is almost surely the case that Columbia wanted applicants to err on the side of claiming to belong to one of the minority groups Columbia gave an advantage to. It may have cared how the class looked when assembled in the auditoriums, and it may have even cared about the much touted educational benefits of a diverse student body. But it's safe to assume that Columbia wanted the racial percentages to look good on paper. If self-advantagers like Mamdani allowed Columbia, back in 2010, to say it had 14.5% "Black or African American" students instead of, say, 10%, Columbia would benefit. What's the problem? Fairness to applicants without the guts to interpret the form in their favor

ADDED: The Times of India explains to its readers:

[I]n America, Blackness is recognised as a political identity born of struggle and oppression. Indian-American identity, by contrast, is often invisible—treated as an immigrant economic niche rather than a racial group needing justice. This is why even Kamala Harris, with a Tamil mother, emphasised her Black identity throughout her rise.

"Judge Block once told a defendant of Asian origin that, if he skipped bail, the judge would 'have egg foo yong on my face.'"

"He told a Black prosecutor in 2015 that it was 'good to see so many dark faces in the courthouse,' and called a discrimination case a 'stupid little trial' within earshot of a juror.... [W]hile presiding over a trial of a drug dealer in 2007... [h]e told prosecutors in the case that seeking the death penalty was 'absurd' and a waste of taxpayer money.... Judge Block stands by his approach, noting that in the case of the Asian defendant, 'everyone in the courtroom laughed,' and that he would 'do the same thing again.' Though he said he regretted the 'dark faces' comment, he said it was taken out of context, and that he meant it as a compliment. 'I’m the least bigoted judge on the bench,' Judge Block said."

From "At 91, an Idiosyncratic Judge Prepares for His Latest Big Case/Judge Frederic Block will oversee the prosecution of Rafael Caro Quintero, a Mexican drug lord, which could end in the death penalty. In the meantime, there’s stand-up comedy to keep him busy" (NYT).

"When Did ‘Shylock’ Become a Slur?... the term was, not too long ago, considered by many to be appropriate for public usage...."

You may have seen that President Trump said that under his Big Beautiful Bill there would be "no death tax, no estate tax, no going to the banks and borrowing from, in some cases, a fine banker, and in some cases shylocks and bad people."

So I'm reading "When Did ‘Shylock’ Become a Slur?" 

This is a Time Magazine article from September 14, 2014:

On Tuesday, Vice President Joseph Biden referred to those who make bad loans to members of the military, to take advantage of them while they’re overseas, as “Shylocks.”...

The word “shylock,” which has been used to refer to loan sharks, is an eponym from a Jewish character in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Jewish Americans have publicly challenged the portrayal as an insult to Jews for more than 50 years, according to a review of TIME’s archive, even as it remained a fixture of the modern lexicon. Today, “shylock” is considered an antisemitic slur and, after being called out by the Anti-Defamation League, Biden apologized for his “poor choice of words.”

But the vice president’s apology has confused some — perhaps because the term was, not too long ago, considered by many to be appropriate for public usage. 

Sunrise, yesterday.

Meade's photo of me taking a photo of the sun and the paddleboarder at 5:57:

Enjoy this open thread on Independence Eve.

"Fame is a two-edged sword. There are a lot of blessings but also a lot of heavy things that come with it. I think it has a lot to do with the characters I’ve played."

"I think I’ve been more believable than I should have been. I think people really fear me. They see me and go, 'Holy shit, there’s that guy!' But I’m not that guy. I’m just an actor. I’m a father, I’ve got seven children."

Said Michael Madsen, who played Mr. Blonde, the "Stuck in the Middle With You" guy, in "Reservoir Dogs," quoted in "Kill Bill star Michael Madsen dies aged 67/The actor, also known for his roles in Reservoir Dogs and The Hateful Eight, suffered a cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu" (London Times).

“House Passes Sweeping Bill to Fulfill President’s Domestic Agenda.”

The New York Times reports.

The final vote, 218 to 214, was mostly along party lines and came after Speaker Mike Johnson spent a frenzied day and night toiling to quell resistance in his own ranks that threatened until the very end to derail the president’s signature measure. With all but two Republicans in favor and Democrats uniformly opposed, the action cleared the bill for Mr. Trump’s signature, meeting the July 4 deadline he had demanded.

And does this review of a review need a review?

I'm reading "Obama’s Trump-Russia collusion report was corrupt from start: CIA review" (NY Post): "A bombshell new CIA review of the Obama administration’s spy agencies’ assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Donald Trump was deliberately corrupted by then-CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who were 'excessively involved' in its drafting, and rushed its completion in a 'chaotic,' 'atypical' and 'markedly unconventional' process that raised questions of a 'potential political motive.' Further, Brennan’s decision to include the discredited Steele dossier, over the objections of the CIA’s most senior Russia experts, 'undermined the credibility' of the assessment."

"But the big picture remains one of surprising resilience — strong job growth, low unemployment and little sign that tariffs and uncertainty have so far derailed the labor market."

That feels like a grudging admission, in "Live Updates: U.S. Hiring Remains Solid, Sign of a Resilient Economy/Employers added 147,000 jobs in June, and the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1 percent, suggesting that tariffs, interest rates and other headwinds are not yet causing employers to pull back significantly" (NYT).

"I was a registered Democrat for 45 years. But two years ago, I registered as independent because of the Democratic Party’s embrace of what I see as a misogynistic, homophobic view of gender..."

"... that has contributed to the loss of lesbian-only and women-only spaces from dating sites, to shelters, to sports — in short, erasing our right to free speech and free association. I am a soft butch lesbian. I came out in 1978 at 18 years old. I was always a tomboy and if I were a teenager today, I would likely be medically transitioned. I strongly believe society must stop medicalizing gender nonconforming youths. As a lawyer in this recent Supreme Court case acknowledged, there is no evidence 'that this treatment reduces completed suicide.' And a major scientific review of this field of medicine described it as 'an area of remarkably weak evidence.' In fact, some research suggests that gender nonconforming youths grow up to be happy lesbian or gay adults. In these cases, medical transition would be a kind of conversion therapy. Further, there is no current way to determine which youths will detransition in the future. We know there are risks associated with puberty blockers and transitioning. One child harmed is one too many. The U.S. v. Skrmetti decision is correct, and it will safeguard children like the teenager I once was."

Says a letter to the editor in The Washington Post. The letter responds to the article "Tennessee can ban gender transition care for minors, Supreme Court says/The court’s decision allows the law in Tennessee and has implications for the 23 other states that have banned similar treatments in recent years."

There is no current way to determine which youths will detransition in the future and there is also no way to count the gay and lesbian Americans, living today, who would have transitioned if they'd faced puberty in the 2020s. 

AND: If we knew who they were, we could ask them if they're happy they did not live the life their teenage self would have chosen for them.

"And so this judge just now denied him bail — on what ground? This guy's not going to run anywhere. It's absurd."

"[Sean Combs] has one of the nicest houses. I pass it by all the time. It's right near, not far from my little tiny condo in in Miami, Florida. He lives on Star Island. His  property is probably worth 40 or 50 million. I think he has two properties on the most expensive island, one of the most expensive islands in in the world. He's one of the most recognizable people. This decision by this judge was just vindictive. He didn't like the verdict. He thought there should be a conviction. And so, he's going to probably sentence him to a little bit of time in prison. He can't sentence him to a lot of time, but he'll probably sentence him to a little bit of time in prison in excess of the year he's already spent for having had bail denied.... He's going to come up with some pretense...."

Said Alan Dershowitz, on his podcast last night. 

"[Combs] was acquitted of anything involving violence, anything involving racketeering, anything involving, you know, sexual trafficking, all of that. He was acquitted!...  People don't go to jail for transactional sex for voluntary consensual sex based on the hope of getting an advantage. There is no such law.... Adult women should not be treated like children.

"For many veteran correspondents at '60 Minutes,' paying even $1 to settle a left-field lawsuit from an aggrieved president seemed too high a price."

"At stake, they believed, was the long-term credibility of the country’s most decorated and most-watched television news program, a journalistic institution since 1968 that prided itself on holding elected leaders to account. Late Tuesday, CBS’s parent company, Paramount, concluded differently. It agreed to pay $16 million so President Trump would drop a lawsuit that essentially boiled down to a politician’s gripe: that '60 Minutes' had edited an interview with his 2024 opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris, in a manner that he did not like. Many legal experts called Mr. Trump’s case frivolous and unwinnable, running counter to long-established First Amendment protections for the American press...."

From "For '60 Minutes,' a Humbling Moment at an Uneasy Time for Press Freedom/After an astonishing concession to a sitting president, the country’s most popular television news program faces the prospect of new ownership and a chilled environment for the First Amendment" (NYT).

Sunrise — 5:29, 5:33, 5:57.

Talk about whatever you like in the comments. And please support the Althouse blog by doing your Amazon shopping going in through the Althouse Amazon link.

The greyhound.

"The Wisconsin Supreme Court invalidated a state abortion ban that was enacted in 1849 and had been dormant for five decades...."

"The court ruled 4-3 to strike down the ban, and while the justices are officially nonpartisan, the decision split them along ideological lines. A new justice who had campaigned on her support for abortion rights, Janet Protasiewicz, joined the majority....Writing for the majority in the case, known as Kaul v. Urmanski, Justice Rebecca Dallet [wrote]... 'Comprehensive legislation enacted over the last 50 years regulating in detail the "who, what, where, when, and how" of abortion so thoroughly covers the entire subject of abortion that it was meant as a substitute for the 19th century near-total ban on abortion'.... The opinion noted that the court had historically set a high bar for such 'implied repeal.' But in this case, the majority of the justices found that the Legislature had met that bar by entirely revising state law on abortion.... In a separate order Wednesday, the court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin that had asked the court to find that the right to equal protection in the state Constitution protects a right to receive an abortion and protects medical professionals who provide one. The court said its ruling in Kaul v. Urmanski effectively settled the issue...."

The NYT reports.

That is, the decision is based on statutory interpretation and not on a state constitutional right. It's up to the legislature to make new law restricting (or permitting) abortion. The 1849 law is gone, but some or all of it could be reenacted. If that were to happen, question about the state constitutional right would need to be answered.

"For the first time, my insides don’t feel like fire. They feel like warm, golden love."

Says Penelope, a child in the book "Born Ready," described by Justice Alito in the new Supreme Court case, Mahmoud v. Taylor:

The book Born Ready...  follows the story of Penelope, an apparently biological female who asserts “ ‘I AM a boy.’ ” Id., at 458a. Not only does the story convey the message that Penelope is a boy simply because that is what she chooses to be, but it slyly conveys a positive message about transgender medical procedures. Penelope says the following to her mother: 

“ ‘I love you, Mama, but I don’t want to be you. I want to be Papa. I don’t want tomorrow to come because tomorrow I’ll look like you. Please help me, Mama. Help me to be a boy.’ ” Id., at 459a.

Penelope’s mother then agrees that Penelope is a boy, and Penelope exclaims: “For the first time, my insides don’t feel like fire. They feel like warm, golden love.” Id., at 462a. To young children, the moral implication of the story is that it is seriously harmful to deny a gender transition and that transitioning is a highly positive experience....

A child's "insides" described as feeling like fire or, alternatively, warm, golden love! Quite aside from the topic of transgenderism, that is — if not blatantly sexual — too closely approximate to sexuality to belong in reading material for children. If I say I'm amazed that school authorities would adopt such a book for classroom instruction, I am sure commenters will scoff at me for being too naive to perceive the deliberate "grooming."

"The jury has found Sean Combs guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution but acquitted him on the most serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering."

"Combs covered his eyes and appeared to exhale in relief as the not-guilty announcement came in. After the verdict was read, he quickly touched hands with his lawyers and turned and smiled at his family...."

WaPo reports.

Defense counsel Marc Agnifilo has asked the court to release Sean Combs back to his home in the millionaire enclave of Star Island in Miami. “This is his first conviction, and it’s a prostitution offense,” Agnifilo said. The attorney noted that the charge he was found guilty of was significantly less serious than the ones that kept him detained in a Brooklyn jail for the past nine months....

ADDED: From the NYT reporting: "Sean Combs is on his knees, his elbows on the chair where he was sitting, his head buried. He appeared to be praying. He started a round of applause, which was echoed by his family, who are jubilant." 

AND: "With a touch of levity, the judge said he assumed that Sean Combs would not want to return to the Brooklyn jail where he has been held. Mr. Combs shook his head vigorously and put his hands together in prayer." It's hard to believe, then, that the judge would send Combs back to the jail. He should go free today. 

"The Dalai Lama has set his millions of followers on a direct collision course with Beijing by announcing plans for his reincarnation and succession that will exclude involvement of the Communist Party...."

"He was identified by senior monks as the 13th Dalai Lama’s reincarnation when he was a baby, and confirmed in his position in 1939. At the time, Tibet had been effectively independent of China since the collapse of the Qing dynasty.... Being based on reincarnation, the matter of the succession of senior lamas has created an ideological problem for the Communist Party.... The party requires members to be officially atheist, even though this is widely ignored. However, it also demands the right to vet the senior figures of all state-sanctioned religions, including Christian bishops. In the case of Tibetan Buddhism, the party demands the right to supervise the reincarnation of lamas. This week, party newspapers have given wide space to historians discussing its preferred 'golden urn lot-drawing' method of identifying lamas. This was a system introduced when its predecessors in the Forbidden City, the Qing emperors, attempted to assert tighter control of Tibet, which they had conquered in 1720. A stern editorial by the state news agency Xinhua, and signed by an approved Chinese Tibetologist, damned in advance any attempt by the Dalai Lama to control his own succession... The Dalai Lama’s own statement was more confrontational than some had expected. He had in the past openly speculated about whether he would reincarnate at all.... Now, he has not only effectively confirmed his reincarnation, but left it open as to when and where it will happen, saying that it will be up to his office, the Gaden Phodrang Trust — and no one else — to find him...."

From "Dalai Lama’s reincarnation plan sets him up for clash with China/The Tibetan Buddhist leader’s decision to ignore Beijing’s demands for control over the succession process enrages the Communist Party" (London Times).

"Restaurants will have to tell the government what their customers order under plans drawn up by Labour to tackle Britain’s obesity epidemic...."

"Under the proposals outlined by Wes Streeting, the health secretary, restaurants employing more than 250 workers are expected to report the average number of calories that diners consume. The government will then set targets to 'increase the healthiness of sales.'... Streeting said:'“Obesity has doubled since the 1990s and costs our NHS £11 billion a year, triple the budget for ambulance services. Unless we curb the rising tide of cost and demand, the NHS risks becoming unsustainable. The good news is that it only takes a small change to make a big difference. If everyone who is overweight reduced their calorie intake by around 200 calories a day — the equivalent of a bottle of fizzy drink — obesity would be halved.'"

From "Restaurants to report diners’ calorie counts in obesity drive/The Department of Health says the data will be used to set targets and increase the ‘healthiness of sales’ — but the industry says it was ‘totally blindsided'" (London Times).

Sméagol-ing.

From "The Best Relationship Advice We’ve Heard So Far This Year/These expert tips on how to argue, communicate and grow closer with the people you love could make for stronger bonds" (NYT):

James Cordova, a professor of psychology at Clark University, has noticed an unhelpful relationship habit among his clients that he has termed “Sméagol-ing,” based on a character in the film “The Lord of the Rings” who changes “from aggressive Gollum into sniveling Sméagol.”

During a conflict, one person will air a grievance, Dr. Cordova said, “and the other person will respond with: ‘I know, I’m the worst. I’m a terrible partner. I don’t even know why you’re with me.’” Rather than dealing with the problem, Dr. Cordova said, “they just fold, like Sméagol.”...

If you find yourself transforming into Sméagol, practice resisting the urge to cower, take the focus off yourself and address your partner’s concern directly, Dr. Cordova said.

Sunrise — 5:24.

Talk about whatever you like in the comments. And please support the Althouse blog by doing your Amazon shopping going in through the Althouse Amazon link.

The NYT stirs up empathy for the man who said "It truly feels we’re on the Titanic and we’re throwing gold bars off the edge."

In "An Offhand Remark About Gold Bars, Secretly Recorded, Upended His Life/Brent Efron’s 'boring' Tinder date wanted to hear all about his work at the Environmental Protection Agency, so Mr. Efron talked. If only he’d seen the hidden camera."

They matched on Tinder shortly after the November presidential election, shared their mutual disappointment about Donald J. Trump’s victory and agreed to meet for a drink. Sitting at a table at Licht Cafe, a bar on Washington’s U Street corridor, Brent Efron and his date, Brady, talked a bit about home and hobbies. But Brady — or at least that’s the name he used — repeatedly steered the conversation back to Mr. Efron’s job at the Environmental Protection Agency.

“It was a boring date,” Mr. Efron, 29, recalled. “He just wanted to talk about work.”...

"Transgender swimming champion Lia Thomas will be stripped of University of Pennsylvania swimming titles after the Ivy League school bowed to pressure from the Trump administration."

"The university will also issue formal apologies to every biological female competitor who lost out to a transgender competitor following an investigation by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The probe found UPenn violated Title IX by 'allowing a male to compete in female athletic programs and occupy female-only intimate facilities.' 'Today’s resolution agreement with UPenn is yet another example of the Trump effect in action...' Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement...."

From "Trans UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas will be stripped of her titles after university bends the knee to Trump admin" (NY Post).

"If anything, it is a very effective form of antifascist economic policy," said Zohran Mamdani, asked to describe "Zohranomics."

Quoted in "The Case for Zohranomics/As some Wall Street billionaires melt down over Zohran Mamdani’s policy platform, a prominent progressive economist argues that it meets the moment."

ZM continues: "We are at a moment where the crisis of economic security, of affordability, that comes with basic questions of dignity and identity are being used by the far right in ways that fuel the return of fascist tendencies. I think that having an agenda that is laser-focussed on the needs of ordinary people is what we need, and that is basically where the Democrats fell flat last year. At the federal level and the global level, we are dealing with the consequences of that lack of vision right now."

I ran to Grok where my second prompt was: "Don't just restate it. I can read it. I can understand it as a series of sentences. But I regard it as empty of meaning. So tell me, quickly, what is there of substance. No bullshit."

I got this: "Anti-fascist economics means policies that ensure economic security—fair wages, affordable housing, healthcare—to prevent the far right from exploiting people's struggles. It’s about meeting basic needs to stop fascism’s appeal. The Democrats failed at this, leading to political consequences. That’s the core."

Even shorter: "Anti-fascist economics: policies ensuring economic security to counter far-right extremism. Democrats failed, causing political fallout." That's Grok. The idea is to give people so much that they won't want to change to anything else. Right now they're so deprived that they do want radical change. 

"I don't give a shit whether the upper middle class and Beverly Hills in Bel Air have got to pay actual American citizens to do their lawn or, you know, clean their gutters."

"And people say, oh, we'll never get American citizens to do it. Well, hey, if you have to pay a decent wage in a competitive market because you don't have millions of illegal aliens that are prepared to work for slave... look, we can't have a country that's based upon servitude. That's what this is."

Said Steve Bannon, quoted in "Steve Bannon’s Battle for the Soul of MAGA," today's episode of the NYT podcast "The Daily" (audio and transcript at Podscribe).

"Through it all, Europeans tried their best to bear up, especially in places where air conditioning is still a luxury, or frowned upon."

"Some people worry about the pollution it causes; some older Italians just believe it’s bad for health."

From "Dangerous Heat Grips Much of Europe, With More to Come/A punishing heat wave broke records in southern Europe and hasn’t peaked yet in some places, prompting warnings to residents, employers and tourists to alter their habits" (London Times).

What is this belief held by older Italians... and could they be right? People love the comfort of air conditioning and at some point feel fiercely attached to it and resistant to hearing that it might be bad. Obviously, it's bad for the environment, but what about our health? 

But first, what exactly to the old Italians think? According to Grok, the idea is that you should keep you body in balance and not move it back and forth between hot and cold. And they speak of "colpo d’aria" or "colpo di freddo" — "blow of air" or "blow of cold" — as a cause of various pains and respiratory ailments. There's a mistrust of modern inventions and a preference for traditional ways, such as opening windows, fanning, and seeking out the shade. Natural seems better than artificial. 

Is there an element of truth in that... truth... or beauty?

I wondered if The London Times had ever talked about "colpo d’aria" in any other article. Answer: Yes, 3 times:

"Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa."

"No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!"

Said Donald Trump, on Truth Social.

ADDED: What Elon had posted shortly before that: "If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day. Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE."

Sunrise — 5:17, 5:37, 5:37.

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"Pride among Democrats tumbles, while independents also hit new low, more than offsetting increase among Republicans."

According to a new Gallup poll, reported at "American Pride Slips to New Low."

"American Pride" is a bit awkward. The question asked was "How proud are you to be an American — extremely proud, very proud, moderately proud, only a little proud or not at all proud?"

Last night at the American Players Theater.

A play from the 90s about a man who spends $200,000 on a painting that's just basically all white and another man who takes umbrage at that and a third man who won't take a position but would dearly like it if they all could just be friends. Could be viewed as a political allegory. Many imprecations to "Read Seneca."

"Then, given that I have no appetite, I don’t find cooking interesting any more. Food has become completely dull..."

"... and I have begun to wonder why I’d liked it in the first place. It’s extraordinary. I used to spend all day thinking about what to buy and what to cook and how much everyone would love it and how much I would love it, and now I can’t even get a flatbread down me. If I were living on my own, that would be fine. I would have virtually nothing in my fridge except a bit of smoked salmon and some vegetables and fruit. But I’m still living with three out of my four children and there has always been this coming together as a family to eat delicious food prepared by me — it has always felt very bonding. So they were rather taken aback when it got to the first Sunday of my weight-loss journey and no roast appeared. 'Oh, are we having a roast today?' my daughter asked, because she loves a Sunday roast...."

Writes Lucy Cavendish, in "Mounjaro transformed me — but it had a huge effect on my family’s life/When Lucy Cavendish started taking a weight-loss drug, she resigned as the family cook. It’s had a profound impact on her relationship with her children" (London Times).

The problem with driverless cars is that they don't make mistakes.

OK, this is an original and good point.

pic.twitter.com/CmAHI9fUnr

— Bojan Tunguz (@tunguz) June 29, 2025

"I am a philosopher, not a physician... Philosophers prize clear language and love unravelling muddled arguments, and the writings of pediatric gender specialists..."

"... serve up plenty of obscurity and confusion.... The review describes how the medicalized 'gender affirming care' approach to treating pediatric gender distress, endorsed by the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, rests on very weak evidence.... [N]o reliable research indicates that these treatments are beneficial to minors’ mental health...."

Writes MIT philosophy professor Alex Byrne, in "I co-wrote the anonymous HHS report on pediatric gender medicine/The hostile reaction to our work shows why we needed to do it in the first place" (WaPo)(free-access link). Byrne is quick to assure readers that she's no Trump fan, never votes Republican, and opposes the "discrimination and prejudice" against trans people.

"A gunman deliberately started a wildfire in a rugged mountain area of Idaho and then shot at the firefighters who responded, killing two and injuring another on Sunday afternoon, in what the local sheriff described as a 'total ambush.'"

"Law enforcement officers exchanged fire with the gunman while the wildfire burned. Officials later found the body of a male suspect on the mountain with a firearm nearby.... The authorities said they believed the suspect had acted alone, but they did not release any information about his identity or motives. 'This was a total ambush,' Sheriff Norris said. 'These firefighters did not have a chance.'... Graham Christensen, a past president of the Lake City Trail Alliance, said the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department regularly performed brush clearing and fire suppression there, and said he did not know of a naturally caused wildfire there in the past two decades. He said the attack was a shock because the area had always felt so safe. 'Everybody feels comfortable up there,' he said...."

From "2 Firefighters Killed in Idaho Sniper Ambush/Firefighters were responding to a blaze in the panhandle of Idaho when the shooting happened, a sheriff said. The body of a suspect was recovered on Sunday evening" (NYT).

Too many goslings.

This morning on Lake Mendota, 5:37 a.m.

"Not so long ago, members of high society were fixated on trying to low-key their way out of the perils of income inequality."

"Minimalism and quiet luxury were in vogue. But in the wake of President Trump’s second election, it’s the luxe life at full volume. He gilded the White House, turning it into a rococo Liberace lair. Swaggy and braggy have replaced stealth wealth. Flaunting it is in. For women, that means sequins, diamonds, tight silhouettes and big hair....  And now there are the Bezos-Sánchez nuptials.... Ms. Sánchez brings to mind another unlikely Vogue subject: Ivana Trump. Ms. Wintour gave her a cover in 1990, shortly before her divorce from Mr. Trump, after worrying, as I reported in a biography of Ms. Wintour, that she was 'too tacky.'... As much as those with more understated taste might turn up their noses at the crassness of the Bezos-Sánchez wedding’s display, tacky is very clearly carrying the day. Maybe hating on tacky oligarchs is itself just elitist...."

Writes Amy Odell, in "The Bezos-Sánchez Wedding and the Triumph of Tacky" (NYT).

Sunrise — 5:06, 5:45, 5:47.

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"Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, announced on Sunday that he would not seek re-election next year, a day after President Trump threatened to back a primary challenger against him..."

"... because Mr. Tillis had said he was opposed to the bill carrying Mr. Trump’s domestic agenda.... The president’s allies celebrated Mr. Tillis’ announcement as more proof of Mr. Trump’s political strength. 'Don’t Cross Trump,' Jason Miller, who served as a top adviser for the president’s re-election campaign, wrote on social media. 'The voters gave him a mandate to implement a specific agenda, and they want everyone to get behind his efforts!'... Mr. Tillis in his statement blamed the lack of any middle ground in Congress on both political parties, pointing to the recent departures of Senators Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, without naming them. 'When people see independent thinking on the other side, they cheer,' he said. 'But when those very same people see independent thinking coming from their side, they scorn, ostracize and even censure them.'"

The NYT reports.

"'Fake flowers are better than real,' my 5-year-old daughter, Jane, asserted as we dined on grilled cheese in a Baltimore restaurant strewn with artificial phlox. 'They don’t get all messed up.'"

From "Finding Beauty in Fake Flowers" (NYT).

***

The little girl is wrong because...

Real is inherently better than fake.

The prospect of decline makes beauty poignant.

Real flowers connect you to the natural world.

Real flowers are better for touching and smelling.

Fake flowers do get messed up — dirty, dusty, and yet you don't throw them away.

The little girl is not wrong.

 

pollcode.com free polls

Breakfast at 0:09.

Just a quick bite.

I see the "Scream" face in the camouflage:

"Several Native influencers, performers, and academics took to social media this week to criticize Beyoncé or decry the shirt’s language as anti-Indigenous."

"'Do you think Beyoncé will apologize (or acknowledge) the shirt?' indigenous.tv, an Indigenous news and culture Instagram account with more than 130,000 followers, asked in a post Thursday. Many of her critics, as well as fans, agree. A flood of social media posts called out the pop star for the historic framing on the shirt...."

From "Fans criticize Beyoncé for shirt calling Native Americans 'the enemies of peace'" (AP).

What shirt? It was a T-shirt depicting the Buffalo Soldiers that stated that "their antagonists were the enemies of peace, order and settlement: warring Indians, bandits, cattle thieves, murderous gunmen, bootleggers, trespassers, and Mexican revolutionaries."

ADDED: The only Indians mentioned by the shirt are "warring Indians," so by definition they are against peace. If there were some Indians who were pro-peace, the shirt has nothing to say about them. I'm not seeing the NRA complaining about "murderous gunmen" or Mexicans complaining about "Mexican revolutionaries."

"Morgan Wallen, baby!"/"From tailgates to patio parties the streets around Camp Randall were buzzing. Downtown Madison transformed into a party well before the gates opened."

"Bars were shoulder-to-shoulder, lines snaked outside of Jimmy John's, and parking spots went for as high as $100...."

Yes, the Morgan Wallen people were out in abundance yesterday, and there's a second concert tonight. This is my neighborhood, where I remember, long ago, listening to Pink Floyd wafting over from Camp Randall.

I hadn't realized it's been 28 years since there's been a concert in the football stadium. Nice. The crowd seems to have included lots of people from out of town. So many women in short shorts and cowboy boots. We talked to a couple who'd come in from Iowa for the big concert. Me, I'd never heard of Morgan Wallen, but what do I know? I found out he's the biggest star. I hope he and everyone else enjoy Madison.

If you watch the video, keep an eye out for the children selling lemonade. The reporter asks each of them what they'll do with the money, and you may be surprised at what they say.

"Fearful of Mamdani, with his calls for free buses, free child care, city-owned grocery stores, and a rent freeze, all paid for by tax increases on corporations and the wealthy, the city’s one percent..."

"... tried to map out how to respond. There may not be much they can do. All the money in the world didn’t save Cuomo from being smoked in the primary by someone who is just a few years away from a nascent career in rap music. If both Cuomo and Adams and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa run, as they all say they will, the anti-Mamdani vote will also be split. Adams has already signaled he is willing to go places Cuomo was not by calling Mamdani an antisemite and mocking his youthful campaign volunteers as outsiders who are gentrifying the neighborhoods of his working-class base. Unsure how to proceed in the general election, the city’s C-suites are bracing for a Mayor Mamdani...."

From "Zohran Mamdani on Why He Won/He beat Andrew Cuomo and the elite by upending how the city’s politics was supposed to work" (NY Magazine).

"There may not be much they can do"... because consider what they've already done. As Ezra Klein says in his new podcast episode, "Mamdani, Trump and the End of the Old Politics" (Podscribe): "Andrew Cuomo ran a [primary] campaign that was based on a tried and true strategy of buying attention. He had this gigantic super PAC with tens of millions of dollars purchasing all the advertising money can buy absolutely dominating airwaves with negative ads about Zoran Mamdan." We hear Cuomo's ad: "His own words, Zoran. Mamdani wants to defund the police. Zoran Mamdani is a 33-year-old dangerously inexperienced legislator who's passed just three bills. Zoran Mamdani, a risk New York can't afford. Paid for by Fix the City."

That didn't work in the primary.