Emoluments

Senator Dan Sullivan and Trump

The emoluments clauses of the constitution are under attack is an understatement. The context is one in which almost all the protections inherent in legislative government have either been ignored or diminished. What about the separation of the executive and the judiciary. Todd Blanche recently described himself as Trump's lawyer. What's even more upsetting however is the willingness of the administration (under the Unitary Executive Theory) to openly defy courts. This has been demonstrated in numerous immigration cases as only one example. The ideologizing of The Supreme Court is perhaps the most disconcerting of all the abrogations, with Justices Alito and Thomas providing a rubber stamp on nearly every Trump filing. Notions like due process and a bill of rights, central to the democratic ideal are laid by the wayside on an almost daily basis. The Iran War, the Cuba embargo, the Venezuela coup, even the  renaming of the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario, humorous sallies with a barely concealed threat, all make one fearful of how a possible Democratic victory in the midterms will  be treated. The DOJ has already filed a preemptive suit in Alaska perpetrating the. bizarre idea that the election results will only be bona fide if the Republican, Dan Sullivan, wins.

Grantchester!!!!!!!!!!

 Grantchester is the best thing you will ever seen on TV.  It may be the best piece of art you'll ever encounter, comparable to say "The Night Watch" or Jackson Pollock's Autumn Rhythm Number #2 (the centerpiece of the current Krasner/Pollock show at the Met). Who the fuck is writing these scripts? Based on the James Runcie mystery novels, they are, indeed, Dickensian in quality. Like Great Expectations and David Copperfield, they're tear jerkers. But so what? As someone once said about brainwashing, sometimes your brain needs to be washed. Al Weaver is the gay student priest, James Norton, Sidney Chambers, the jazz loving Vicar and Robson Green, Geordie, the local gendarme.  In one episode, there's a new high-up in the church, an African intellectual,  who's taken the place of a disgraced pederast. He's all for tending to the gay, as if they were the wretched of the earth, but the clergy must be powers of example. It's a shocking scene, not particularly due to content. Nothing new, but simply the lines and how it's played out. It's hard to believe that it wasn't until l967 that homosexuality was decriminalized in England, but there's lots more, including a powerful scene where Amanda's (Morven Christie's) borish husband unexpectedly shows sentimentality and contrition--a mea culpa that further complicates Sidney's already guilt ridden existence. Then of course there's the matter of the church's sanctions about a priest marrying a divorced woman and Georgie's s affair. Just when you think all the strands have been neatly tied up in a homogenized misery, you're caught off guard. You may feel drained, say in the way you felt after experiencing Olivier playing James Tyrone in Long Day's Journey. What comes next. What happens next? Back in the day the chapters would appear in All Year Round, Dickens' weekly literary journal.

Basis Points

Sahara ultramarathon

There are very few basis points to describe that portion of the demographic which is about to change their habits at 80.  If you have always been a free diver who makes his catches with a knife, you're not suddenly going to enroll at in the aqualung class at the Y.  On the other hand, if you were an ultramarathoner at 40, you're more likely to sign up for the equivalent competition in a rocker or hammock. Picasso and Pacino are the kinds of males who are sexually active late in life. Who knows what's really the truth, since there are few focus groups which render such demographics. Anomalies are themselves  statistically significant, depending on which way you look at them. No matter what, accommodation, in fact, does not come easily.

Read "The Great Bonac Footrace of '83" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star

Counting

Buddha preaching first sermon from Sarnath 

Counting breaths are one way to get to sleep. You can also use sheep. How many days until Election Day, at this crucial moment. At the same time, are you someone who wants to get everything over with--even the good things? How long has it been since you have not wanted something to end? The Endless Summer (1966) is the famous surfing movie. The reverse of waiting for progression is getting lost in the present. The latter, being in the now, is Zen. "Do" means path in Eastern philosophy. Essentially it's a path into the self, rather than a form of displacement in space/time.

Perseverance Rover

 

Perseverance Rover

Eternal life is a Malthusian problem Where to put everyone? Of course, the invention of a magic elixir will undoubtedly be accompanied by the kind of vehicles that can negotiate cracks in time. Kepler planets 1200 light years from earth will no longer be out of the reach for the average space traveler, The title of Alfred Bester's classic, The Stars My Destination says it all.  On October 11th, NASA's Perseverance Rover set a record by traversing 28.1 miles through the Martian Jezero Crater. Puny stuff when you look at dark matter and dark energy, on which some space cowboys are likely to hitch a ride. But will immortality bring back the dead? It would pose another real estate issue, if it weren't for the fact there are billions of galaxies. Getting to the Hamptons on 4th of July weekend takes forever, but who cares when you have all the time in the world?

Narcissusmissus

Dobie Gray

Have you ever been with an extremely intelligent enjoyable person who is talking affably and informatively, but then, in the middle of the conversation, have the startling realization that they have been conversing  all evening, while managing to keep the conversation only to themselves. It demonstrates that if you're kindly, intelligent about love (even if it only is of oneself),  you can get away with anything. Did Queen Victoria talk only about herself or Madame de Maintenon? On the male side, Trump as everyone knows puts his name on everything. In the guise of discussing the world order (and how the Ukrainians are responsible for high diesel prices) his conversation is only about him.  Maybe it was his parents fault. Maybe they didn't send him to the Queens branch of Toastmasters when he was a kid. Remember "I'm In With the In Crowd?" When you run into a guy or a gal who only talks about themselves, you can console yourself with Dobie Gray's l965 hit.

Read "The Great Bonac Footrace of '83" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star

To Serve Man

You comment "the service is good."  You may not necessarily enjoy the food. It's the atmosphere that draws you. Of course the famous Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man" illustrates what can happen when you put too much importance on service. The manifesto turns out to be a cook book. So watch out. However, going for the food alone, is tantamount to loving someone for their money. The relationship is bound to burn out. Imagine a meteor disintegrating in the atmosphere or the huge blast of radiance that emanates from a supernova  before turning it turns into a black hole. Cosmology may seem a bridge too far if you simply are talking about Emily Post. After all, service is actually a form of gardening in which perennials, the old favorites, vie with annuals, the new kids on the block, when you're trying to build a clientele.