Least Sensitive

When I hear it contended that the least sensitive are, on the whole, the most happy, I recall the Indian proverb: "It's better to sit than to stand, it is better lie down than to sit, but death is best of all."

-- Nicolas Chamfort (1741 - 1794), born Nicolas-Sébastien Roch, French writer, Maxims and Considerations, #155

Nothing Else

I am a showman by profession -- and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me.

-- Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810 - 1891), American showman who is remembered for founding the circus that eventually became Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, as quoted in P. T. Barnum: America's Greatest Showman (1995) by Philip B. Kunhardt Jr. and Philip B. Kunhardt III

Wipe Out

Roughly $2.5 trillion was erased from the S&P 500 Index on Thursday amid worries that President Donald Trump's sweeping new round of tariffs could plunge the economy into a recession.

The damage was heaviest in companies whose supply chains are most dependent on overseas manufacturing.  Apple Inc., which makes the majority of its US-sold devices in China, fell 9.3%.  Lululemon Athletica Inc. and Nike Inc., among companies with manufacturing ties to Vietnam, were both down more than 9%.  Target Corp. and Dollar Tree Inc., retailers whose stores are filled with products sourced outside of the US, dropped more than 10%.

-- Jeran Wittenstein, Carmen Reinicke, and Matthew Griffin writing for Bloomberg, "Trump Tariffs Wipe Out $2.5 Trillion From US Stock Market" (3 April 2025)

As Much As You Can

Find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful.

-- Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, in a letter to his brother Theo van Gogh (January 1874)

Not Normal

I rise tonight with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able. I rise tonight because our nation is in crisis: Bedrock commitments are being broken; Unnecessary hardship is being borne by Americans of all backgrounds; Our institutions are being recklessly and unconstitutionally attacked and even shattered.

In just 71 days, the President has inflicted harm after harm on Americans’ safety; financial stability; the foundations of our democracy; and any sense of common decency. These are not normal times in our nation. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate.

The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent and we all must do more to stand against them. Generations from now will look back at this moment and have a single question -- where were you?

-- U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) on the Senate floor as he began a speech that lasted 25 hours and 4 minutes (31 March - 1 April 2025), surpassing by 46 minutes the record previously held by Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC) when he spoke against the Civil Rights Act in 1957

Makes Up In Height

Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.

-- Robert Frost (1874 - 1963), American poet, winner of four Pulitzer Prizes, Title of poem (1942)

A Plot Afoot

There's a plot afoot all right, and I'll gladly name the forces propelling it -- hysteria, ignorance, malice, stupidity, hatred, and fear.  What a repugnant spectacle our country has become!  Falsehood, cruelty, and madness everywhere, and brute force in the wings waiting to finish us off.

-- Philip Roth (1933 - 2018), American novelist, Pulitzer Prize winner in 1998 for his novel American Pastoral, The Plot Against America (2004) Chapter 8, "Bad Days" p. 315

There's More

There's more to being a human being than having your own way.

-- John Updike (1932 - 2009), American novelist, poet, critic, and short-story writer, Rabbit at Rest (1990)

Clean

We are currently clean on OPSEC

-- Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (15 March 2025), in a chat on the commercial messaging app Signal about upcoming military strikes in Yemen that included the Secretary of State, White House Chief of Staff, National Security Adviser, Director of the CIA, Director of National Intelligence, other administration officials, and Editor in Chief of The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg, as quoted in The Atlantic, "Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal" (26 March 2025)

Vast Conspiracy

America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.

-- John Hoyer Updike (1932 - 2009), American novelist, poet, critic, and short-story writer, "How to Love America and Leave it at the Same Time", Problems and Other Stories (1979)

What Is Right

Our presence here today is remarkable and improbable.  With all the punditry, all of the lobbying, all of the game-playing that passes for governing in Washington, it's been easy at times to doubt our ability to do such a big thing, such a complicated thing; to wonder if there are limits to what we, as a people, can still achieve.  It's easy to succumb to the sense of cynicism about what's possible in this country.

But today, we are affirming that essential truth -- a truth every generation is called to rediscover for itself -- that we are not a nation that scales back its aspirations.  We are not a nation that falls prey to doubt or mistrust.  We don't fall prey to fear.  We are not a nation that does what's easy.  That's not who we are.  That's not how we got here.

We are a nation that faces its challenges and accepts its responsibilities.  We are a nation that does what is hard.  What is necessary.  What is right.  Here, in this country, we shape our own destiny.  That is what we do.  That is who we are.  That is what makes us the United States of America. 

-- Remarks by President Barack Obama on the signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 23 March 2010

RIP George Foreman

I want to keep fighting because it is the only thing that keeps me out of the hamburger joints. If I don't fight, I'll eat this planet.

-- George Foreman (10 January 1949 - 21 March 2025), American two-time World Heavyweight Boxing Champion; nicknamed Big George, he became a successful businessman and an ordained Christian minister who had his own church; referring to his long boxing career, as quoted by George Plimpton in The Guardian "Thriller turned griller" (4 October 2003)

All Powers

The accumulation of all powers, Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.

-- James Madison Jr. (1751 - 1836), American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817, Federalist No. 47 (30 January 1788)

Living Messages

Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.

-- Neil Postman (1931 - 2003), American author, educator, media theorist, and cultural critic, The Disappearance of Childhood (1982) Introduction

Not An Appropriate Response

For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.  The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.

-- US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in a statement in response to President Donald Trump and his allies calling to impeach judges who have ruled against the administration (18 March 2025)

Covid Anniversary

It was on March 11, 2020, when I first described COVID-19 as a "pandemic".  While many media highlight that date as the pandemic's anniversary, the much more significant moment was six weeks earlier, on January 30, 2020, when I declared a public health emergency of international concern -- the highest level of alarm under international health law.  At the time, there were fewer than 100 reported cases outside China, and no reported deaths.

COVID showed the world where our individual and collective weaknesses lay, as organizations and countries alike.  But it also sparked great collaboration, investment and innovation.

We have the knowledge, tools, and experience to prevent the next pandemic.  What we need now is determination, cooperation, and the will to act before disaster strikes again.

History will judge us, not on whether we saw the next pandemic coming, but on how well we were prepared.  We know we cannot sustain a repeat of the losses inflicted by a crisis like COVID.  So I am confident my answer will turn to an unequivocal "yes" when we are asked in the future if we are primed for preventing or containing the next pandemic.  We have no other alternative -- our collective global security demands it.

-- Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization, "After COVID-19, is the world ready for the next pandemic?", on the 5th anniversary of the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic (11 March 2025)

What Comes After

What comes after is not always progress.

-- Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni (1785 - 1873), Italian novelist, poet, dramatist, and critic, "Del romanzo storico" (1850), in Andrea Tagliapietra (ed.) La storia e l'invenzione (Milano: Gallone, 1997) p. 64

An Unbridled View

Here, the Executive has unilaterally deemed that funds Congress appropriated for foreign aid will not be spent.  The Executive not only claims his constitutional authority to determine how to spend appropriated funds, but usurps Congress's exclusive authority to dictate whether the funds should be spent in the first place.  In advancing this position, Defendants offer an unbridled view of Executive power that the Supreme Court has consistently rejected -- a view that flouts multiple statutes whose constitutionality is not in question, as well as the standards of the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA").  Asserting this "vast and generally unreviewable" Executive power and diminution of Congressional power, Defendants do not cite any provision of Article I or Article II of the Constitution. ...

For the reasons above, the Court grants in part and denies in part Plaintiffs' motions for a preliminary injunction.  Consistent with this opinion, it is hereby ORDERED:

* The Restrained Defendants are enjoined from unlawfully impounding congressionally appropriated foreign aid funds and shall make available for obligation the full amount of funds that Congress appropriated for foreign assistance programs in the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024.

-- United States District Judge Amir H. Ali, in his Memorandum Opinion and Order in Aids Vaccine Advocacy Coalition et al, v US Department of State, et al (10 March 2025)

Important Communal Aims

Social equality and economic protection of the individual appeared to me always as the important communal aims of the state.  Although I am a typical loner in daily life, my consciousness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice has preserved me from feeling isolated.

-- Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 - 18 April 1955), German theoretical physicist, in "My Credo", a speech to the German League of Human Rights, Berlin (Autumn 1932), as published in Einstein: A Life in Science (1994) by Michael White and John Gribbin, p. 262

A Different Story

As Donald Trump took the oath of office on Jan. 20, he was flanked by some of the world's wealthiest people.  The billionaires present that day -- including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg -- had never been richer, flush with big gains from frothy stock markets.

Seven weeks later, it's a different story.  The start of Trump's second term has delivered a stunning reversal for many of those billionaires sitting behind Trump in the Capitol Rotunda, with five having lost a combined $209 billion in wealth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

-- Dylan Sloan writing for Bloomberg, "Billionaires at Trump's Swearing-In Have Since Lost $209 Billion" (10 March 2025), written before the Dow Jones and S&P 500 lost another 3% on Monday and Tuesday of this week

Keep Going

Next time we march we may have to keep going when we get to Montgomery.  We may have to on to Washington.

-- John Lewis (1940 - 2020), American politician and civil rights leader, U.S. Representative for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020.  Told to New York Times (7 March 1965) by Lewis, chairman of the Student Non-violent Co-ordinating Committee and organizer of the Selma to Montgomery march, after police stopped the demonstrators with violence

A Deliberate Decision

Never be insolent unless it is a deliberate decision, and only toward a man more powerful than yourself.

-- Émile Auguste Chartier (1868 - 1951), writing under the pseudonym Alain, notable French essayist, philosopher, and journalist, Giving Pleasure (1928)

Portals Of Discovery

A man of genius makes no mistakes.  His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.

-- James Joyce (1882 - 1941), Irish novelist, short-story writer, and poet, Ulysses (1922) Ch. 9: Scylla and Charybdis

Decent People

Everybody continually tries to get away with as much as he can; and society is a marvelous machine which allows decent people to be cruel without realizing it.

-- Émile Auguste Chartier (1868 - 1951), writing under the pseudonym Alain, notable French essayist, philosopher, and journalist, Alain On Happiness (1928) Attitudes Toward Neighbors

Specialized Discipline

It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a "dismal science".  But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.

-- Murray Rothbard (1926 - 1995), American economist of the Austrian School, historian of both economic thought and American history, and political philosopher, The Death Wish of the Anarcho-Communists (1970)

New Bedfellows

Belarus                 Mali

Burkina Faso            Marshall Is.

Burundi                 Nicaragua

Central African Rep.    Niger

Equatorial Guinea       North Korea

Eritrea                 Palau

Haiti                   Russia

Hungary                 Sudan

Israel                  United States

-- Complete list of 18 countries that voted against a UN Resolution titled "Advancing a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine", which passed with 93 votes in favor, on the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine (24 February 2025)

Without All Doubt

Without all doubt, charity to the poor is a direct and obligatory duty upon all Christians.

-- Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797), British and Irish statesman and philosopher, Thoughts and Details on Scarcity (1795)

Difficult To Resume

Nothing is more dangerous than discontinued labor; it is habit lost.  A habit easy to abandon, difficult to resume.

-- Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement, Les Misérables, Volume Four: Saint Denis and Idyl of the Rue Plumet, Book II - Eponine, Chapter I: The Field of the Lark

Does Not Count

To each according to his threat advantage does not count as a principle of justice.

-- John Bordley Rawls (1921 - 2002), American philosopher, and a leading figure in moral and political philosophy, A Theory of Justice (1971) Chapter III, Section 24, pg. 141

Their Servants

Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe.  No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise.  Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time; but there is the broad feeling in our country that the people should rule, continuously rule, and that public opinion, expressed by all constitutional means, should shape, guide, and control the actions of Ministers who are their servants and not their masters.

-- Sir Winston Churchill KG OM CH TD FRS PC (1874 - 1965), British statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955, speech in the House of Commons (11 November 1947), published in 206–07 The Official Report, House of Commons (5th Series), 11 November 1947, vol. 444, cc.

To Feather Their Nests

We must especially beware of that small group of selfish men who would clip the wings of the American Eagle in order to feather their own nests.

-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 - 1945), American statesman and political leader who served as the president of the United States, from 1933, to 1945, Eighth State of the Union Address, known as the Four Freedoms Speech (6 January 1941)

Even More Important

While it is well enough to leave footprints on the sands of time, it is even more important to make sure they point in a commendable direction.

-- James Branch Cabell (1879 - 1958), American author of satirical fantasy works, Beyond Life (1919) Ch. VI : Which Values the Candle, § 2, p. 173

On The Truth

Mr. President, Ukraine did not "start" this war.  Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives.  The Road to Peace must be built on the Truth.🇺🇸🇺🇦

"Russia Invades Ukraine in Largest European Attack Since WWII" @FoxNews (February 24, 2022) https://foxnews.com/world/russian-invades-ukraine-largest-europe-attack-wwii.amp

-- Former Republican Vice President Mike Pence, in a tweet responding to Donald Trump's false claim Wednesday that Ukraine started the current war with Russia (19 February 2025 11:54 AM)

To Provide

The function of the artist is to provide what life does not.

-- Thomas Eugene Robbins (1932 - 2025), American novelist, Another Roadside Attraction (1971)

Strange Alchemy

The strange alchemy of time has somehow converted the Democrats into the truly conservative party of this country -- the party dedicated to conserving all that is best, and building solidly and safely on these foundations.  The Republicans, by contrast, are behaving like the radical party -- the party of the reckless and the embittered, bent on dismantling institutions which have been built solidly into our social fabric.

-- Adlai Stevenson (1900 - 1965), American politician and statesman, statement during his 1952 presidential campaign, quoted in Unadjusted Man in the Age of Overadjustment: Where History and Literature Intersect (1956) by Peter Viereck

Individuals Count

Revolutions are the periods of history when individuals count most.

-- Norman Mailer (1923 - 2007), American novelist, playwright, and film director, Barbary Shore (1951) McLeod, in Ch. 29

Layers

Does President Trump understand money?  Not money as in cash, but the supply of money, the price of money as measured by interest rates, and their impact on inflation?  The answer would appear to be no after Mr. Trump called for lower interest rates on Wednesday -- the same day the Labor Department reported an increase in inflation for the third straight month.

"Interest Rates should be lowered, something which would go hand in hand with upcoming Tariffs!!!" Mr. Trump posted on his social-media site.  The layers of intellectual confusion here are hard to parse, especially since higher tariffs will mean higher prices on the affected goods.  But perhaps the President wants the public to look elsewhere when assigning blame for rising prices.

-- Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, alleging economic blunders by President Trump for the second time in three days, "Trumponomics and Rising Inflation" (12 February 2025)

Without Fear Or Favor

I received a memorandum from acting Deputy AG Emil Bove, directing me to dismiss the indictment against Mayor Eric Adams without prejudice, subject to certain conditions, which would require leave of court.  I do not repeat here the evidence against Adams that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed federal crimes; ... the case team conducted this investigation with integrity and the charges against Adams are serious and supported by fact and law.  Mr. Bove's memo, however, which directs me to dismiss an indictment returned by a duly constituted grand jury for reasons having nothing to do with the strength of the case, raises serious concerns that render the contemplated dismissal inconsistent with my ability and duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor and to advance good-faith arguments before the courts.

When I took my oath of office three weeks ago, I vowed to well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I was about to enter.  In carrying out that responsibility, I am guided by, among other things, the Principles of Federal Prosecution set forth in the Justice Manual and your recent memoranda instructing attorneys for the Department of Justice to make only good-faith arguments and not to use the criminal enforcement authority of the United States to achieve political objectives or other improper aims.  I am also guided by the values that have defined my over ten years of public service. ...  I have always considered it my obligation to pursue justice impartially, without favor to the wealthy or those who occupy important public office, or harsher treatment for the less powerful.

I therefore deem it necessary to the faithful discharge of my duties to raise the concerns expressed in this letter with you and to request an opportunity to meet to discuss them further.  I cannot fulfill my obligations, effectively lead my office in carrying out the Department's priorities, or credibly represent the Government before the courts, if I seek to dismiss the Adams case on this record.

-- Danielle R. Sassoon, Acting Manhattan U.S. attorney, writing to US AG Pam Bondi, refusing to drop the case against Mayor Eric Adams (12 February 2025)

As He Threatens

President Trump gave the economy another jolt of uncertainty on Monday when he signed executive orders imposing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports.  His advisers say these tariffs are economically "strategic" rather than a bargaining chip for some other goal.  Is the strategy to harm U.S. manufacturers and workers?

That's what his first-term tariffs did, and it's worth revisiting the damage of that blunder as he threatens to repeat it. 

-- Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, "The Truth About Trump's Steel Tariffs" (10 February 2025)

I Like Work

I like work: it fascinates me.  I can sit and look at it for hours.

-- Jerome K. Jerome (1859 - 1927), English author, Three Men in a Boat (1889)

The Ideal Strong Person

As I become Strong, Strength gives me Autonomy.  Now that I have Autonomy, I must act with Integrity so that I do not infringe on other individuals acting autonomously and with integrity.  This forbearance from interfering with the autonomy of others is Justice, which I expect from them in return.  In choosing among goals with Integrity, I must willfully embrace Right Prioritization, choosing to choose with Integrity.  A society of individuals acting in this way will be Interdependently Effective.

-- Don Appleman, in my essay "The Ideal Strong Person", submitted with my application to test in April for 4th Dan in Taekwondo (8 February 2025)

First Of All Pleasures

Illusion is the first of all pleasures.

-- François-Marie Arouet (1694 - 1778), most famous under his pen name Voltaire, French writer and philosopher, from the satirical poem "The Maid of Orleans" (1756)

Information Loss

Disintegration of structure equals information loss.

-- Gregory Benford (1941 -), American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine, In the Ocean of Night (1977) The Snark, a member of a machine-intelligence civilization, p. 195

Enshittification

Enshittification, also known as crapification and platform decay, is the term used to describe the pattern in which online products and services decline in quality over time.  Initially, vendors create high-quality offerings to attract users, then they degrade those offerings to better serve business customers, and finally degrade their services to users and business customers to maximize profits for shareholders.

Writer Cory Doctorow coined the neologism enshittification in November 2022, though he was not the first to describe and label the concept.  The American Dialect Society selected it as its 2023 Word of the Year, with Macquarie Dictionary following suit for 2024.

-- WikiPedia entry for Enshittification, describing a process just witnessed at Twitter, after its takeover by Elon Musk, and now being experienced by all in America, after its takeover by Elon Musk, where he seems to believe that he and Donald Trump are the shareholders

Our Closest Friends

Tonight, first, I want to speak directly to Americans, our closest friends and neighbours. 

As I have consistently said, tariffs against Canada will put your jobs at risk, potentially shutting down American auto assembly plants and other manufacturing facilities.  They will raise costs for you, including food at the grocery stores and gas at the pump.  They will impede your access to an affordable supply of vital goods, crucial for U.S. security such as nickel, potash, uranium, steel and aluminum.  They will violate the free trade agreement that the president and I, along with our Mexican partner, negotiated and signed a few years ago.

But it doesn't have to be this way.  As President John F. Kennedy said many years ago, "geography has made us neighbours, history has made us friends, economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies."

That rang true for many decades prior to President Kennedy's time in office and in the decades since.  From the beaches of Normandy, to the mountains of the Korean Peninsula, from the fields of Flanders, to the streets of Kandahar, we have fought and died alongside you.

Together we've built the most successful economic, military and security partnership the world has ever seen, a relationship that has been the envy of the world. Yes, we've had our differences in the past, but we've always found a way to get past them.

Unfortunately the actions taken today by the White House split us apart instead of bringing us together.

Canada is home to bountiful resources, breathtaking beauty and a proud people who've come from every corner of the globe to forge a nation with a unique identity worth embracing and celebrating.  We don't pretend to be perfect but Canada is the best country on Earth.  There's nowhere else that I and our 41 million strong family would rather be, and we will get through this challenge just as we've done countless times before, together.  Thank you.  Merci.  Vive le Canada. 

-- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressing media following the announcement of a raft of tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump against Canada, Mexico, and China (2 February 2025)

Not Young Enough

I'm not young enough to know everything.

-- Sir James Matthew (J. M.) Barrie (1860 - 1937), Scottish novelist and dramatist, The Admirable Crichton, Act I (1903)

Too Much

Danger breeds best on too much confidence.

-- Pierre Corneille (1606 - 1684), French tragedian, Le Cid (1636)

Most Powerful

Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.

-- Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936), English short-story writer, poet, novelist, and journalist, born in India; 1907 Nobel laureate in Literature, the first English language writer to receive it, Speech, quoted in The Times (15 February 1923)

But Once

I expect to pass through this world but once.  Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now.  Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again.

-- Stephen Grellet (1773 - 1855), prominent Quaker missionary, attributed

No Passion Is Stronger

No passion is stronger in the breast of man than the desire to make others believe as he believes.  Nothing so cuts at the root of his happiness and fills him with rage as the sense that another rates low what he prizes high.

-- Virginia Woolf (1882 - 1941), British author, Orlando: A Biography (1928) Chapter 3