Works in Progress

At last, someone has truly nailed the ethics mess at the U.S. Supreme Court. And it’s a judge who does it, for god’s sake. In Sunday’s NYTimes, that stout fellow published a piece entitled:

A Federal Judge Asks: Does the Supreme Court Realize How Bad It Smells?

It makes awfully good reading, a little on the depressing side, but well worth the time put in. To find this immensely powerful group of people who have been so corrupted by the privilege they have been given that they can no longer see for themselves how rancid their behavior is. So far not all nine of them have been outed, but where is the outrage of those members who have not? We are way past the stage when you could ask the question with a straight face: Do I trust that I could obtain justice if I came before this court?

The operative word here is trust. That is the precious commodity that this court has squandered. It is not the fault of the citizenry that the reputation of the Supremes has suffered, they have brought this upon themselves. And it is not a good thing for anyone, this diminished trust. The Supreme Court has no army, no police force, no mechanism to compel us that we do not grant them.

I think we should start their return to reality by moving them to less palatial offices. Something like the space left behind by a defunct Anytime Fitness franchise.

Give them a tin desk, one four-drawer file cabinet, and ask them to provide their own robes. Let them know that the only ones who believe them to be princes of the realm are themselves.

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Warning to viewers. By the end of the video you may find that you have fallen in love with Brittany Howard. Even if you don’t like kick-ass electric blues at all. This is something special.

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One of the quaint things about the Santa Fe Opera is, believe it or not, the tailgating in the patron’s parking lot before the performances.

Yes, tailgating, although it is not beer, BBQ, and a large gang variety as it would be, say, at a Vikings game.

No, in these cases it is a couple who are wearing clothing that did not come off a rack anywhere, and who are sitting at a card table and chairs behind the open back door of their Land Rover Defender.

Out comes a linen tablecloth, candles, crystal glasses, and full table service. There are wines and delicacies, and an attitude of “Try to ignore those peasants passing by, dear, now would you please pass the champignons?”

It all did seem competitive and very show-offy, but we liked it as performance art. The only element missing was the servants, who presumably set everything up and then were told to vanish until it was time to clear it away.

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Relationship Tip

If you have a significant other who at times becomes enraptured with their own thinking and the sound of their own voice, you might consider a technique that Robin has found very effective.

Whenever I enter such an “emote” mode, she looks me in the eye, and when I pause to take an in-breath will say quietly in that tiny space of silence : Pedant! Pedant!.

Works every time.

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Sometimes in the rush of day to day activities, I forget to pause and hit the gratitude button. To say thank you to the people who have affected my life. I’m going to try to catch up a bit this morning.

I would like to offer thanks to the climate change deniers for their foot-dragging and/or outright obstructionism which has hindered efforts to make the progress needed to address the serious problems that now hit us in the face at every turn. They have made a magnificent contribution to the fact that each year we now set new records for high temperatures around the world.

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• Some of them are deliberately ignorant, and worked as hard as they could to stay that way
• Some of them were in too deep to those who profited by the suffering, like the fossil fuel industry
• Some of them are lunatics and thus might actually be forgiven for the pain they are causing
• Some of them are just plain dumb as a rock

Did I leave anybody out? Would hate to do that, because you do deserve recognition for your important part in this slow-motion disaster movie we are all in. You are the headliners.

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