Equally Convenient

To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.

-- Henri Poincaré (1854 - 1912), French mathematician, theoretical physicist, and philosopher of science, Science and Hypothesis (1901), Preface, Dover abridged edition (1952), p. xxii

What Do We Get For That?

The total actual 2024 budget to run the country was about 7 trillion dollars.  That means the NASA budget was only 0.004 of the national budget -- less than half a percent.  For every hundred dollars the US government spent, it put 40 cents in the bucket for NASA.

And what do we get for that?  The Universe. 

Missions to Mercury, Venus, Jupiter.  Landers on Mars, telescopes that peer through the depths of the cosmos, a fleet of spacecraft monitoring the Sun, the star to which we owe our existence.  The abject awe and wonder of images of a glorious cosmos.  The first A in NASA is for Aeronautics, too; research that makes air travel better, faster, and safer.  NASA science includes observing and monitoring our own planet as well, making satellites that track our water, atmosphere, and land. NASA scientists study climate change, one of the single biggest existential threats to humanity.

NASA employs about 18,000 people across all 50 states (and that doesn't include contractors, of which I was one for many years, and people such as  academics who have NASA grants).  NASA partners with space agencies around the world, a diversified portfolio that guarantees the best scientific research always pushing past the cutting edge and accelerating our understanding of, well, everything. 

-- Philip Plait, Bad Astronomy Newsletter, "Trump threatens to eviscerate NASA" (2 June 2025)

By This Embrace

Love and art do not embrace what is beautiful but what is made beautiful by this embrace.

-- Karl Kraus (1874 - 1936), Austrian journalist, satirist, essayist, aphorist, playwright, and poet, Beim Wort genommen (1955); as translated by Harry Zohn

Destroy The Institutions

The way the Trump administration treats many Americans is as a defeated enemy, not as fellow Americans.  Like, when you conquer a society by force, when you defeat another nation at war, you conquer them, you often will destroy the institutions that undergird it, to ensure pacification, to remain in power.  And then maybe you rebuild them in a form you like.  

I think what has been so confusing for so many people, because I think we tend to think everyone acts in good faith, is that the Trump folks are treating, like the EPA and Harvard, not as fellow Americans and American institutions that are trying to act for the good of America, but as a defeated enemy.  

-- David Plotz, host of Slate's Political Gabfest podcast, on the show's 29 May 2025 episode "Why Destroy Harvard?" @25:50

No Limits

Death is not an event in life: we do not live to experience death.  If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present.  Our life has no end in just the way in which our visual field has no limits.

-- Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889 - 1951), Austrian-born philosopher who spent much of his life in England, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1922) 6.4311

Better And Smarter

I work quite diligently and wish that I were better and smarter.  And these both are one and the same.

-- Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889 - 1951), Austrian-born philosopher who spent much of his life in England, In a letter to Paul Engelmann (1917) as quoted in The Idea of Justice (2010) by Amartya Sen, p. 31

Does Not

Truth does not blush.

-- Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (c. 155 - c. 240), theologian in the early Christian church, known for his powerful denunciations of many influences he considered heretical, "Against the Valentinians" Adversus Valentinianos, 3.2

Is That Money?

Oh! what a frightful business is this modern society; the race for wealth -- wealth.  I am ashamed to write the word.  Wealth means well-being, weal, the opposite of woe.  And is that money? or can money buy it?

-- James Anthony Froude (1818 - 1894), controversial English historian, novelist, biographer, and editor of Fraser's Magazine, The Nemesis of Faith (1849) Letter VII

Very Nearly Allied

To tempt, and to be tempted, are things very nearly allied, and, in spite of the finest maxims of morality impressed upon the mind, whenever feeling has anything to do in the matter, no sooner is it excited than we have already gone vastly farther than we are aware of, and I have yet to learn how it is possible to prevent its being excited.

-- Catherine II of Russia aka Catherine the Great (1729 - 1796), Empress of Russia for more than three decades, Memoirs of the Empress Catherine II (1859)

Habeas Corpus

Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country and suspend their right to -

-- Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, at a Senate hearing, responding when asked, "Secretary Noem, what is habeas corpus?" before being interrupted and corrected, New York Times  (20 May 2025)

Economic Reality

Rarely has an economic policy been repudiated as soundly, and as quickly, as President Trump's Liberation Day tariffs -- and by Mr. Trump's own hand.  Witness the agreement Monday morning to scale back his punitive tariffs on China -- his second major retreat in less than a week.  This is a win for economic reality, and for American prosperity.

One tragedy of Mr. Trump's shoot-America-in-the-foot-first approach is that he's hurt his chances of rallying a united front of countries against Beijing's mercantilism.  By targeting allies with tariffs, Mr. Trump has eroded trust in America's economic and political reliability.

Beijing now also has the benefit of concrete experience to reassure the Communist Party that Washington would struggle to impose economic sanctions in a crisis such as a Chinese blockade or invasion of Taiwan.  

If there's a silver lining to this turmoil, it is that markets have forced Mr. Trump to back down from his fever dream that high tariff walls will usher in a new "golden age."  The age didn't last two months, and it was more leaden than golden.  White House aide Peter Navarro, the main architect with Mr. Trump of the Liberation Day fiasco, has been repudiated.

Mr. Trump will not want to admit it, but he started a trade war with Adam Smith and lost.  He's not the first President to learn that lesson.

-- The Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal, "The Great Trump Tariff Rollback" (12 May 2025)

Neither Knows Nor Tolerates

But in view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens.  There is no caste here.  Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.  In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law.  The humblest is the peer of the most powerful.  The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.  It is, therefore, to be regretted that this high tribunal, the final expositor of the fundamental law of the land, has reached the conclusion that it is competent for a State to regulate the enjoyment by citizens of their civil rights solely upon the basis of race. ...

The sure guarantee of the peace and security of each race is the clear, distinct, unconditional recognition by our governments, National and State, of every right that inheres in civil freedom, and of the equality before the law of all citizens of the United States without regard to race.

-- Justice John Marshall Harlan, dissenting in Plessy v. Ferguson (18 May 1896), which held that the Fourteenth Amendment allowed "separate but equal" accommodations by race; Plessy was overturned in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (17 May 1954), ending racial segregation in public schools [h/t Heather Cox Richardson]

Until He Has Tried

There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till.  The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882), American philosopher, essayist, and poet, Essay "Self-Reliance"

Born Or Naturalized, Redux

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.  No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

-- Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proposed by Congress in 1863 and ratified in 1868

[I see I previously ran this in 2018, but I guess we need periodic reminders.]

Well-Anchored

If the large increases in tariffs that have been announced are sustained, they’re likely to generate a rise in inflation, a slowdown in economic growth, and an increase in unemployment.  The effects on inflation could be short-lived, reflecting a one-time shift in the price level.  It is also possible that the inflationary effects could instead be more persistent.  Avoiding that outcome will depend on the size of the tariff effects, on how long it takes for them to pass through fully into prices, and ultimately on keeping longer-term inflation expectations well-anchored.

-- Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, speaking after the group's most recent meeting at which they held interest rates steady (7 May 2025)

Political Fortunes

Since January, the previously bipartisan U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in which we participate has essentially shut down.  Virtually no new refugees have arrived, hundreds of staff in resettlement agencies around the country have been laid off, and funding for resettling refugees who have already arrived has been uncertain.  Then, just over two weeks ago, the federal government informed Episcopal Migration Ministries that under the terms of our federal grant, we are expected to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa whom the U.S. government has classified as refugees.

In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step.  Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government. ...

It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years.  I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country.  I also grieve that victims of religious persecution, including Christians, have not been granted refuge in recent months.

I have said before that no change in political fortunes alters our commitment to stand with the world’s most vulnerable people, and I want to reaffirm that promise.  While our public-private partnership as a refugee resettlement agency is no longer viable, we are hard at work on a church-wide plan to support migrants and refugees ...

-- The Most Reverend Sean W. Rowe, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, in an open letter, "Letter from Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe on Episcopal Migration Ministries" (12 May 2025)

RIP David Souter

What I worry about is that when problems are not addressed, people will not know who is responsible.  And when the problems get bad enough -- another serious terrorist attack, another financial meltdown -- some one person will come forward and say, "Give me total power, and I will solve this problem."  That is how the Roman republic fell. ...  That is how democracy dies.  And if something is not done to improve the level of civic knowledge, that is what you should worry about at night.

-- David Souter (17 September 1939 - 8 May 2025), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from October 1990 until his retirement in June 2009, With Margaret Warner at "Constitutionally Speaking" in Concord, N.H. (14 September 2012) "David Souter Gets Rock Star Welcome, Offers Constitution Day Warning" PBS NewsHour

Sa Dan

On Saturday April 12th I tested in front of my Taekwondo master instructor, 8th Dan Grandmaster Namsoo Hyong, for the rank of 4th Dan.  Tonight I received my new belt.  

Testing requirements included 20 poomsae (patterns or forms of about 20 movements each), including a creative poomsae of my own design, 40 different kicks, and numerous other combinations, with a few creative combinations of my own.  The testing culminated in sparring against a single opponent, and then sparring against two opponents at once.  

The last time I tested was April 2020, peak pandemic time, 5 years ago.  It took about 18 months to prepare for this test, including about 5 to 10 hours per week since the start of the year.

With this rank I have earned the title 사범 님 Sabeom Nim, meaning one who teaches, and who can perform all of the requirements at a high level.  In our system, you must be 4th Dan to judge Black belt tests, and to award others the rank of Black belt.  Achieving this rank checks off an item on my bucket list.  It will be about 4 years until I am eligible to test for 5th Dan, and from today's perspective, I wonder whether I'll test again.

Glad to have that behind me.

Habemus Papam

Habemus Papam!

-- A Vatican spokesman speaking from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the introduction of newly-elevated Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, of Chicago, the first American-born Pope (8 May 2025)

Check The Excesses

In our Constitution ... the judiciary is a coequal branch of government, separate from the others, with the authority to interpret the Constitution as law and strike down, obviously, acts of Congress or acts of the president.

And that innovation doesn't work if ... the judiciary is not independent.  Its job is to obviously decide cases, but in the course of that, check the excesses of Congress or the executive, and that does require a degree of independence.

-- Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts speaking at the 125th anniversary celebration of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York in Buffalo (7 May 2025)

No American President

No American President has ever before issued executive orders like the one at issue in this lawsuit targeting a prominent law firm with adverse actions to be executed by all Executive branch agencies but, in purpose and effect, this action draws from a playbook as old as Shakespeare, who penned the phrase: "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." [WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, HENRY VI, PART 2, act 4, sc. 2, l. 75.]  When Shakespeare's character, a rebel leader intent on becoming king hears, this suggestion, he promptly incorporates this tactic as part of his plan to assume power, leading in the same scene to the rebel leader demanding "[a]way with him," referring to an educated clerk, who "can make obligations and write court hand."  Eliminating lawyers as the guardians of the rule of law removes a major impediment to the path to more power.  See Walters v. Nat'l Ass'n of Radiation Survivors (1985) (explaining the import of the same Shakespearean statement to be "that disposing of lawyers is a step in the direction of a totalitarian form of government").

The U.S. Constitution affords critical protections against Executive action like that ordered in EO 14230.  Government officials, including the President, may not "subject[] individuals to 'retaliatory actions' after the fact for having engaged in protected speech."  They may neither "use the power of the State to punish or suppress disfavored expression," nor engage in the use of "purely personal and arbitrary power."  In this case, these and other foundational protections were violated by EO 14230.  On that basis, this Court has found that EO 14230 violates the Constitution and is thus null and void.  For the reasons explained, plaintiff is entitled to summary judgment and declaratory and permanent injunctive relief.  The government's motion to dismiss is denied.

-- U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell, ruling in Perkins Coie LLP v U.S. Department of Justice et al, vacating President Trump's executive order that punished the law firm for litigating cases Trump doesn't like (2 May 2025)

Have A Hap

Hey, wish me a happy birthday.  So far I have survived 66 years without accidentally dying.  Happy square root day (5/5/25  5*5=25) and Cinco de Mayo as well!

Limitation Of Authority

When an American thinks about the problem of government-building, he directs himself not to the creation of authority and the accumulation of power but rather to the limitation of authority and the division of power.

-- Samuel P. Huntington (1927 - 2008), American political scientist, adviser, and academic, Political Order in Changing Societies (1968), p. 7

We Must Die

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.

-- Anatole France (1844 - 1924), French poet, journalist, and novelist; 1921 Nobel Laureate in Literature, The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard (1881) Pt. II, ch. 4

Real GDP

Real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annual rate of 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2025 (January, February, and March), according to the advance estimate released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.  In the fourth quarter of 2024, real GDP increased 2.4 percent.

-- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Gross Domestic Product, 1st Quarter 2025 (Advance Estimate), 30 April 2025

The Goal Itself

The value of the goal lies in the goal itself; and therefore the goal cannot be attained unless it is pursued for its own sake.

-- Arnold Joseph Toynbee (1889 - 1975), British historian and the nephew of Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History (1934–1961)

Good Government

It is not by the consolidation or concentration, of powers, but by their distribution that good government is effected.

-- Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), third president of the United States (1801-1809), Memoirs, Correspondence and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson (1829) edited by Thomas Jefferson Randolph, p. 70

Illinois 5K

Today I ran the Illinois 5K as part of the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon 2025 Race Weekend, alongside Mark Trott (one-time /afrotc on CERL PLATO).  Not a lot of preparation ahead of time, so our time was unremarkable, but it was a fun run.  

Inimical

All religions united with government are more or less inimical to liberty.  All, separated from government, are compatible with liberty.

-- Henry Clay (1777 - 1852), American statesman and orator who served in both the House of Representatives and Senate, Speech on the Emancipation of South America, House of Representatives (24 March 1818); The Life and Speeches of the Hon. Henry Clay, vol. I (1857), ed. Daniel Mallory

Nobody Ever Listened

Nobody ever listened to me until they didn't know who I was.

-- Banksy, prolific graffiti artist from Bristol, UK, whose artwork has appeared across the globe, Wall and Piece (2007)

Constructive Engagement

As leaders of America's colleges, universities, and scholarly societies, we speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education.  We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight.  However, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses.  We will always seek effective and fair financial practices, but we must reject the coercive use of public research funding. ...

The price of abridging the defining freedoms of American higher education will be paid by our students and our society.  On behalf of our current and future students, and all who work at and benefit from our institutions, we call for constructive engagement that improves our institutions and serves our republic.

-- American Association of Colleges and Universities, "A Call for Constructive Engagement" (22 April 2025), signed by representatives of more than 200 member institutions

RIP Pope Francis

May the Lord grant the deserved reward to those who have wished me well and will continue to pray for me.  The suffering that marked the final part of my life, I offer to the Lord, for peace in the world and brotherhood among peoples.

-- Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025), head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2013, Funereal Testament (29 June 2022); published by Daily Bulletin of the Holy See Press Office (21 April 2025)

Happy Easter

I'm currently hanging out in a cabin close to Lake Carlyle in southern Illinois. We don't have the whole clan together this year, but I've got a couple of kids and a few grandkids here for the occasion.

I hope you all enjoy the holiday weekend.

A Million Amateurs

Never underestimate the power of a million amateurs with keys to the factory.

-- Chris Anderson (1961 -), editor-in-chief of Wired, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More (2006) Ch. 5, p. 58

The Guise Of Fighting Antisemitism

The rule of law, freedom of inquiry, access to vibrant places of higher education, and strong democratic norms and institutions have allowed American Jewry to thrive for hundreds of years.

Dangerous antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories that over the past decade have already fueled a cycle of hate crimes and violence -- including the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history in Pittsburgh -- have been mainstreamed by too many political leaders, civil society influencers, social media platforms, and others.

In recent weeks, escalating federal actions have used the guise of fighting antisemitism to justify stripping students of due process rights when they face arrest and/or deportation, as well as to threaten billions in academic research and education funding.  Students have been arrested at home and on the street with no transparency as to why they are being held or deported, and in certain cases with the implication that they are being punished for their constitutionally-protected speech.  Universities have an obligation to protect Jewish students, and the federal government has an important role to play in that effort; however, sweeping draconian funding cuts will weaken the free academic inquiry that strengthens democracy and society, rather than productively counter antisemitism on campus.

These actions do not make Jews -- or any community -- safer.  Rather, they only make us less safe.

-- Joint statement from a coalition of 10 US Jewish organizations, released by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, 15 April 2025

No Young Man

No young man believes he shall ever die.

-- William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830), English writer remembered for his humanistic essays and literary criticism, Table Talk: Essays On Men And Manners (1821-1822) "On the Feeling of Immortality in Youth"

It Can Happen To Anyone

The SMART Transportation Division (SMART-TD) stands in unwavering solidarity with Brother Kilmar Abrego Garcia.  He is a first-year apprentice of SMART Local 100, who was mistakenly deported by the U.S. Government, then imprisoned in El Salvador without due process or opportunity for appeal.  If this can happen to Garcia, it can happen to anyone. 

Kilmar fled El Salvador after enduring threats and extortion from the violent Barrio 18 gang.  These threats were so severe that a U.S. immigration judge granted him legal protection in 2019.  Despite this protection, Brother Abrego Garcia was unlawfully detained and forcibly deported by ICE agents on March 12, 2025, while driving home from work with his son. ...

The United States Government has no legal authority to snatch a person who is lawfully present in the United States off the street and remove him from the country without due process.  The Government's contention otherwise, and its argument that the federal courts are powerless to intervene, are unconscionable. 

This egregious violation of our brother's rights has been acknowledged by federal courts and even the U.S. government, which admits his removal was an "administrative error."  However, Kilmar remains in custody overseas, and the federal government has failed to take action to bring him home, even contesting a court order to do so. ...

-- Statement by the Sheet Metal / Air Rail Transportation Union, "SMART-TD Stands With Brother Kilmar Abrego Garcia" (10 April 2025)

No Other President

We're going to have one shot at this and no other president is going to do this, what I'm doing. ...  So it's going to be very interesting.  It's the only chance our country will have to reset the table, because no other president would be willing to do what I'm doing or to even go through it. 

-- President Donald Trump, speaking about tariffs and the US economy in a Q & A alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, 7 April 2025

Follow The Law

The United States Government arrested Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia in Maryland and flew him to a "terrorism confinement center" in El Salvador, where he has been detained for 26 days and counting.  To this day, the Government has cited no basis in law for Abrego Garcia's warrantless arrest, his removal to El Salvador, or his confinement in a Salvadoran prison.  Nor could it.  The Government remains bound by an Immigration Judge's 2019 order expressly prohibiting Abrego Garcia's removal to El Salvador because he faced a "clear probability of future persecution" there and "demonstrated that [El Salvador's] authorities were and would be unable or unwilling to protect him."  The Government has not challenged the validity of that order.

Instead of hastening to correct its egregious error, the Government dismissed it as an "oversight."  The Government now requests an order from this Court permitting it to leave Abrego Garcia, a husband and father without a criminal record, in a Salvadoran prison for no reason recognized by the law.  The only argument the Government offers in support of its request, that United States courts cannot grant relief once a deportee crosses the border, is plainly wrong.  The Government's argument, moreover, implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U. S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene.  That view refutes itself.

In the proceedings on remand, the District Court should continue to ensure that the Government lives up to its obligations to follow the law.

-- Statement of Justice Sotomayor, with whom Justice Kagan and Justice Jackson join, respecting the Court's decision to uphold a lower court's ruling that the U.S. Government must "facilitate and effectuate the return of [Abrego Garcia] to the United States" in Kristi Noem, Secretary, Dept. Of Homeland Security, et al. v. Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, et al. (10 April 2025)

Foundation Of Virtues

Humility is the good and solid foundation of virtues; should it waver, the whole house of virtues collapses.

-- Guigo de Ponte, also known as Guigues du Pont, Carthusian monk of the Grande Chartreuse, De vita contemplativa (13th Century), as translated by Dennis D. Martin, in Carthusian Spirituality: The Writings of Hugh of Balma and Guigo de Ponte, (New York: Paulist Press, 1997), p. 197

Waiting For Baudot

This post is in honor of Mediacom, the internet provider that is currently not providing me internet.

I abruptly lost service for both internet and cable (yes, I still have cable) around noon fifteen. It's now eleven fifteen ish, and the estimated time of repair has changed to stay just beyond reach.

I'm posting from my phone, so I'll leave it at that. 

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)