Bret: Maybe now that the administration isn’t going forward with its $1.8 billion slush fund for Jan. 6 rioters and other allies, we can restore that N.S.F. funding?
Mindless optimism is the only antidote I know to rational despair.
Frank: In your despair you have indeed identified the big problem — Trump’s repudiation of expertise — and the administration’s inarticulate defense of abandoning ocean research is a tell.
That’s why I shared it. It’s the semantic sewage you pump out when you have no legitimate argument for your actions and nothing real to say.
The Trump administration destroys for the sake of destroying, to erase what its predecessors have done.
Nihilism is too grand a term for its approach, which is more like that of a schoolyard bully who steps on your Fluffernutter sandwich because he can and because he likes the sound of the smooshing and the gloss of your tears.
I really should have worked on this to get Fluffernutter sandwich into the haiku …
Maybe tomorrow.
Aside from that, I am not sure there has been a better summing up of current presidential situation.
The Trump administration destroys for the sake of destroying, to erase what its predecessors have done.
Nihilism is too grand a term for its approach, which is more like that of a schoolyard bully who steps on your Fluffernutter sandwich because he can and because he likes the sound of the smooshing and the gloss of your tears.
It is for that reason that I have to feel that this is all a hybrid hot house environment that cannot either sustain itself or recreate itself once that current man in office no longer is in office.
I have to think this.
Mindless optimism is the only antidote I know to rational despair.
how did this painting end up on the art market? Elliott sold it …
Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque by Winston Churchill
I was intrigued to read this morning, the article, Was Churchill a Serious Artist? This Exhibition Says, ‘Yes.’, slugged, ‘In the first major British retrospective for over 60 years, a London museum seeks to recast the wartime leader as a painter with emotional depth.’ by Leo Sands in the New York Times for several reasons.
The first thing that struck me was that an article that discussed whether Mr. Churchill was serious painter did not include the famous exchange between Mr. Churchill and his body guard, Sergeant Edmund Murray, who also painted.
Mr. Churchill reviewed Sergeant Murray’s work and according to Sergeant Murray, “He looked at the first. ‘Very good.’ He looked at the second. ‘Very, very good.’ He looked at the third. ‘Excellent. You know, they are much better ‘than mine’ — then he sort of giggled with his eyes squeezed up and shining impishly ‘but yours are judged on their merit …'” (from Churchill’s Bodyguard by Edmund Murrary,(W.H. Allen: London, 1987).
How Mr. Sands could ignore this is beyond me but then I am not writing for the New York Times.
The second item that intrigued me was the the auction of the above piece, Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque, sold at auction for a record $11.5 million dollars.
The painting is famous as it reported to be only painting painted by Churchill during World War 2.
Mr. Churchill painted it after a the summit meetings with Franklin Roosevelt in Casablanca and he convinced FDR, that he had to come with Churchill to Marrakesh to see the sun set over the Atlas Mountains from a specific tower in a specific villa.
FDR went along and even allowed himself to be hand carried by two Secret Service agents to the top of the tower where he sat in a wicker chair while he and Churchill watched the sunset.
After FDR left, Churchill called for his paints and painted this painting that he later presented to FDR.
And that is where I got intrigued.
The NYT article stated, that when the painting was sold in 2021, the seller was Angelina Jolie, who had received the painting as a gift from Brad Pitt.
Huh, wah?
How did Brad Pitt find the Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque by Winston Churchill?
Luckily there is Wikipedia and it says: The painting was inherited by Roosevelt’s son Elliot who sold it to George W. Woodward of Nebraska in 1950. It was purchased by Norman G. Hickman of New York in 1964. Hickman was a financier, collector and film producer, who had worked on The Finest Hours, a documentary on Churchill’s life. During Hickman’s ownership, the painting was exhibited at the National Churchill Museum at Fulton, Missouri. It remained in his family’s ownership until it was placed with M.S. Rau Antiques of New Orleans in 2011. It was then bought by the actress Angelina Jolie.
Ahhhhhhhhhhh
Elliot sold it.
FDR and Eleanor had 5 children.
The accounted for 19 marriages.
And were often in need of funds.
So was Eleanor, as FDR had spent most of his inheritance on Warm Springs as a polio center.
A friend of the family suggested to Eleanor that maybe she could sell off FDR’s famous stamp collection.
She had hoped for a single buyer but it turned out that so many folks wanted something of FDR’s that piece was stamped THE FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT COLLECTION and sold bit by bit and rescued Eleanor.
I know this because I have something from the collection that my wife got me for a birthday years ago.
I am reminded of another FDR and his boys story.
FDR had a copy made of the famous George Washington Desk that is used by the Mayor of New York that is supposed to have been the desk George Washington used as President when the Capitol was in New York.
This was the desk that is in FDR’s office in the FDR Library at Hyde Park.
During the Clinton Administration someone had the great idea that Bill should deliver a speech from the Roosevelt Library and so it was set up.
When the time came, Bill walked into the office and sat at the desk with a mug of coffee and he caught one of the museum curators glaring at him.
He looked at her and looked at his coffee and looked at desk.
He mimed to her that he understood and had it under control, sat at the desk and set the coffee on a rug on the floor.
According to legend the curator fainted.
See the desk WAS a copy of FDR’s copy of Washington’s desk as his son, James, wanted his Dad’s desk and made the swap.
It was the rug that was original and originally the rug was a handmade Persian rug that had been gifted to FDR by the King of Saudi Arabia and reportedly worth 100s of thousands of dollars.
Anyway, how did Brad Pitt get Churchill’s painting?
afforded the most spacious ample life that has ever been witnessed
Adapted from the passage in the essay, “Roosevelt from Afar” in the book, Great Contemporaries by Winston Churchill, (Thornton Butterworth Ltd.: London, 1937) where Mr. Churchill writes.
It is a very open question, which any household may argue to the small hours, whether it is better to have equality at the price of poverty, or well-being at the price of inequality.
Life will be pretty rough, anyhow.
Whether we are ruled by tyrannical bureaucrats or self-seeking capitalists, the ordinary man who has to earn his living, and tries to make provision for old age and for his dear ones when his powers are exhausted, will have a hard pilgrimage through this dusty world.
The United States was built upon property, liberty and enterprise, and certainly it has afforded the most spacious and ample life to the scores of millions that has ever yet been witnessed.
This was in 1937.
Pretty much the world was still the grip of a global depression with Nazi Germany picking up speed.
And Mr. Churchill wrote of the United States of America that it:
was built upon property,
liberty
and enterprise,
and certainly it has afforded the most spacious and ample life to the scores of millions that has ever yet been witnessed.
Mr. Churchill writes, Life will be pretty rough, anyhow.
Mr. Churchill writes, the ordinary man who has to earn his living, and tries to make provision for old age and for his dear ones when his powers are exhausted, will have a hard pilgrimage through this dusty world.
And still Mr. Churchill writes, built upon property, liberty and enterprise, and certainly it has afforded the most spacious and ample life to the scores of millions that has ever yet been witnessed.
How did we do this?
Mr. Jefferson said, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
All are created equal.
Accepting that and somehow, it afforded the most spacious and ample life to the scores of millions that has ever yet been witnessed.
purple – marine pests jellyfish, stingrays … others … are in the water
According to the United States Lifesaving Association website, for decades, lifeguard agencies in the U.S. and around the world have employed flags to notify swimmers of conditions, to warn of hazards, to identify safer areas for swimming, and to notify beach users about regulated areas. To help ensure global consistency, in 2004 the International Life Saving Federation developed international guidelines for warning flags.
Red – High hazard. Rough conditions such as strong surf and/or currents are present. All swimmers are discouraged from entering the water. Those entering the water should take great care.
Yellow – Medium hazard. Moderate surf and/or currents are present. Weak swimmers are discouraged from entering the water. For others, enhanced care and caution should be exercised.
Purple – Marine pests, such as jellyfish, stingrays, or other marine life which can cause minor injuries are present in the water. This flag is not intended to indicate the presence of sharks.
These guidelines have been adopted, in part, by the International Standards Organization and are endorsed by the United States Lifesaving Association. By consistently following these warning flag guidelines, lifeguard agencies can help ensure a universal understanding of their meaning and thus improve their effectiveness.
These flags are only approved for use on beaches where lifeguards trained to USLA standards are on duty. Flags are not an acceptable substitute for properly trained and equipped rescuers, but rather a tool for their use.
To be fully effective, the use of warning flags to notify the public of current hazard levels should be consistent, based on objective, measurable criteria that can be logged and tracked, and then changed as conditions change. They should be accompanied by good public education efforts to explain the meaning of the flags flown.
In the photo above, you see BOTH the yellow flag for moderate surf as well as the purple flag for marine pests.
The last line under the Purple Flag is the best.
This flag is not intended to indicate the presence of sharks.
I learned that there is a test down here for the prence of sharks.
Put your finger in the water and then put your finger in your mouth.
If it tastes salty, there are sharks nearby.
Growing up on Lake Michigan we had neither sharks nor marine pests.
I did experience the Alewife Explosion on the Great Lakes in the late 1960’s which took place because, according to the US Geological Survey, these invasive, saltwater fish are poorly adapted to the lake’s fresh water and struggle to handle sudden water temperature changes. When they undergo the stress of spring spawning or face dropping temperatures, their weakened bodies succumb to “osmotic shock” and they die by the millions.
I can attest to the dying by the millions as every morning the beach was cover with dead fish and our morning chore was to rake the beach and bury the fish.
There are no tides on the Great Lakes and the fact that twice each day the beaches here in South Carolina are stripped and power washed and resurfaced appeals seems to be worth the purple flags, stinging marine life and risk of sharks.
is no way one can anticipate accurately such wreathing vapors
The clouds were swift-moving, and I made a series of exposures.
There is no way one can anticipate accurately the positions of such wreathing vapors;
one situation appears worthy of an exposure —
and then appears another situation that seems even better.
From El Capitan, Winter Sunrise in Examples : the making of 40 photographs by Ansel Adams (Little, Brown: Boston, 1983).
This are images of a storm front over Port Royal Sound as viewed from Fish Haul Beach on the northern most edge Hilton Head Island on Saturday, May 30, 2026.
The clouds were swift-moving, and I made a series of exposures.
One situation appeared worthy of an exposure.
And then appeared another situation that seemed even better.
There is no way one can anticipate accurately the positions of such wreathing vapors.
And let me saw (and I have said this before) in NO WAY can I or DO I compare or imagine that my shots with an iPhone could be included in any honest discussion of the work of Mr. Adams … but, be that as it may, I am also the guy who edits Shakespeare into my definition of Haiku … so there you are.
But I get the girl in the end so all’s well that ends well.
For some reason, I just discovered the simple majesty of that phrase.
