Greetings from the Far Left Coast where someone has a birthday coming up. The good thing about birthdays is they are still coming. Last month I was chatting with the the owner of Park Avenue Cafe as he brewed my espresso. He said something about feeling old and I remarked that I have a birthday coming up. He smiled and said, “Sixty?” I would love to be sixty again.
Down in my ancestral family homeland of Irmo, SC, they must be celebrating the Irmo nine’s opening game romp over Baintree (Massachusetts) 13–0 in the US bracket of the Little League World Series. The game was called after four innings because of the mercy rule. I am reminded of my Dutch Fork Little League days, except that we would be on the short end of those blowouts and were not spared greater agony of defeat by any mercy rule. I suppose character was built. Good times though riding to away games in the back of the Bouknight pickup truck.
Lou Bezjak, SC team dominates, wins opener in Little League World Series, The State, August 15, 2025
Summit. Trump is off to Alaska to bond with Putin, betray Ukraine, and pursue the Nobel Peace Prize for which he has been nominated by the celebrated humanitarian Netanyahu.
As Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin meet in Anchorage later today, two things are important to remember.
The first is that Putin heads into this summit with a very clear idea of what he wants: a negotiation in which he and the American president can look like two equal masters of the world deciding the fate of lesser countries and drawing the lines of their spheres of influence. He wants an agreement that goes as far as possible toward reducing Ukraine to his vassal state.
The second is that Trump goes into it with a mindset that a Russian idiom colorfully describes as “seven Fridays in a week.” He’s unreliable, unpredictable, and prone to changing his views depending on who is in the room. No one can predict what he’ll say about Russia and Ukraine on any given day (other than maybe, yet again, that he was a victim of the “Russia hoax” and that “it’s Biden’s war”). Maybe there’ll be “land swapping,” maybe not. Maybe Volodymyr Zelensky is fine, maybe he’s the one who decided to “go into war and kill everybody.” Maybe Putin wants to make a deal, maybe he can’t even be persuaded to stop raining rockets on nursing homes and apartment buildings. And so on. (Cathy Young, Seven Fridays in a Week, The Bulwark, August 15, 2025)
Trump’s occupation of the nation’s capital began this week with deployment of National Guard troops and a bevy of FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and ICE agents. Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Oakland, and Baltimore are other cities in the crosshairs. All have Democratic mayors who happen to be black. Quelle coincidence.
Amna Nawaz, Trump’s D.C. takeover escalates with surge in arrests and homeless encampments cleared, PBS News Hour, August 14, 2025
Trump’s high crimes and misdemeanors are so many in number and vast in scope that they almost overshadow his singularly bad taste. If there were a Nobel Prize for tackiness…
Bernd Debusmann Jr, White House unveils plans for new $200m ballroom, BBC News, July 31, 2025
Talia Lakritz, Before-and-after photos show changes Trump has made to the White House decor, so far, Business Insider, August 4, 2025
The White House Announces White House Ballroom Construction to Begin, The White House, July 31, 2025
My indifference to popular culture extends to much of it, with the notable exception of the mystery novels I read for diversion and their own brand of pleasure. I had never heard of Sydney Sweeney before the commotion about the genes/jeans ad. My first thought was that some PR flack came up with a not particularly clever play on words to complement sexualization of the young woman pitching the product, which it appears Sweeney is fine with as long as she gets paid.
To what should be no one’s surprise the not particularly clever play on words sent blockheads on the left into convulsive screeching about eugenics and white supremacy, whereupon pseudo-conservative blockheads jumped right in drooling and screeching about radical, liberal, Marxist Democrats who need to get a life, or as free-spirited football star John Riggins reportedly said to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor at a DC cocktail party, “Loosen up, Sandy, baby.”
Rob Flaherty summed up the twittery in an article at Politico (The Sydney Sweeney Saga Shows Why Republicans Keep Winning, August 8, 2025).
For the blissfully uninitiated: The actress Sydney Sweeney was the face of a new ad for American Eagle where they say she has “good jeans.” This is obviously a play on “good genes,” which to most people was a reference to how she is good looking, and to a small cadre of extremely online lefty posters and SEO-chasing online media outlets was a reference to Nazism and eugenics. The right made a whole thing about it, accusing Democrats of being out-of-touch scolds, and somehow Democrats have found themselves on the defensive. The episode caused confusion, consternation and a wave of Democrats performatively affirming that yes, they too think Sydney Sweeney is beautiful.
Flaherty’s takeaway was that “No one is going to vote on what Democrats think about Sydney Sweeney. They may well vote on whether or not the broader left is out-of-step with them culturally.”
Meanwhile, in another corner of the internet, a bunch of conservative women started doing what appears to be actual Nazi salutes on Instagram (though some deny it). In many ways, it highlighted how ridiculous the “good genes” controversy was; as we saw during Medhi Hasan’s Jubilee episode, when right-wing influencers want to say they’re Nazi sympathizers, they don’t exactly use invisible ink.
Alexandra Topping, ‘1 Progressive vs 20 Far-Right Conservatives’ – Mehdi Hasan on why he went on Surrounded, The Guardian, August 8, 2025
Hot on the heels of l’affaire Sweeney came South Park’s takedown of Noem the puppy killer in a piece of “brutally mocking,” as headlines put it, satire about new ICE recruits on their first mission. I have heard of South Park and seen snippets here and there but do not recall watching anything in its entirety. The ICE episode appears to be standard fare. Noem reacted like a DEI queen playing the victim card: “It’s so lazy to just constantly make fun of women for how they look.” Reports do not indicate any objection to portrayal of her shooting puppies in the name of immigration enforcement.
Roman Antonio Vargas, Kristi Noem responds to South Park’s crude takedown of her in episode targeting Ice, The Guardian, August 8, 2025
Adventures in ICE. ProPublica documented ICE’s unprecedented and increasing use of aggressive, violent tactics in pursuit of arrest quotas. Smashing car windows is a favorite. Two DHS propaganda secretaries defended the practice while taking the de rigueur swipe at ProPublica.
When we asked the White House detailed questions about the tactic and specific incidents, it stood by officers’ conduct. “ProPublica is a left-wing rag that is shamelessly doing the bidding of criminal illegal aliens,” deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson said in a statement. “ICE Officers are heroically getting these violent illegal aliens off of American streets with the utmost professionalism.”
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin also defended the tactic in response to questions about Border Patrol. Officers “may break vehicle windows” if occupants don’t follow their commands, she said. In June, an ICE spokesperson told ProPublica, “Our officers follow their training to use the minimum amount of force necessary to resolve situations in a manner that ensures the success of the operation and prioritizes safety.” (Nicole Foy, McKenzie Funk, “We’ll Smash the Fucking Window Out and Drag Him Out,” August 1, 2025)
I suppose we all feel safer now that a violent, criminal, six-year-old illegal alien and his mother who live in Washington state are in detention at Dilley immigration processing center in south Texas. The pair were detained when they tried to reenter the country after Sarah Shaw dropped her two oldest sons off at the airport in Vancouver BC for a flight to New Zealand to spend a holiday with their grandparents. Shaw has lived in the US for three years
on what is known as a “combo card” visa—an employment visa, which she obtained through her employment at a maximum security juvenile facility, and an I-360 visa, which can grant immigration status to domestic violence survivors.
Shaw had recently received a letter confirming her visa renewal, not realising that the I-360 element of her visa was still pending approval.
“It wasn’t until she tried to come back across the border that she realised only half of the combination card—because it’s only one physical card—had been fully approved,” said [her friend Victoria] Besancon.
Eva Corlett, New Zealand woman and six-year-old son detained for three weeks by Ice in US enduring ‘terrifying’ ordeal, The Guardian, August 13, 2025
Eva Corlett, Father of New Zealand woman held in US by Ice along with six-year-old son voices hope for release, The Guardian, August 13, 2025
Epstein, Epstein, Epstein.
Yesterday [August 7] we reported that Vice President JD Vance had said his planned meeting with Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to discuss the ongoing coverup of the Epstein files was fake news. Well, it turns out, he was lying: They held the meeting anyway, but at the White House rather than at the VP’s residence. So they lied about their secret meeting about lying about the Epstein files. (Tim Miller, William Kristol Jim Swift, Benjamin Parker, Can We Ever Repair This Moral Rot, The Bulwark, August 8, 2025)
William Kristol, Andrew Egger, Jim Swift, Et Tu, JD?, The Bulwark, August 11, 2025
More journalists murdered in Gaza, Palestinian peace activist murdered in the West Bank.
Sara Qudah, Middle East and North Africa Regional Director, Committee to Protect Journalists: For us, what happened is plain and simple. It's a murder. They targeted Anas and his colleagues and they killed them. They did threaten them before they targeted and killed them. And, for us, this is a war crime.
Nick Schifren: CPJ says 192 journalists have been killed since the October 7 terrorist attacks, making this war the deadliest for journalists in history.
Qudah: The Palestinian journalists in Gaza are the only witnesses and the only journalists on the ground who are able to report on what is happening. There is no international media access inside Gaza to investigate, document, to report to the entire world what is happening. So, by killing them, Israel is sending a very clear message that they want to hide the truth and they want to silence those witnesses. (Nick Schifren, Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif and 4 other journalists killed by Israeli drone strike in Gaza, PBS News Hour, August 11, 2025)
David Cooper, a rabbi, wrote a moving tribute to his friend Awdah Hathaleen, a peace activist murdered by a settler in the West Bank.
David J. Cooper, A beloved peace activist was killed in the West Bank. Can his death finally teach us empathy?, Forward, August 2, 2025
Jeronimo Gonzalez, Israeli strike kills Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza, Semafor, August 11, 2025
Sam Metz, Samy Magdy, Israel targets and kills Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif in Gaza as journalist toll grows, AP, August 11, 2025
Nick Schifrin, State Department drops criticism of Israel and El Salvador in human rights report, PBS News Hour, August 12, 2025
Lorenzo Tondo, Global outrage mounts as funeral held for five journalists killed by Israel, The Guardian, August 11, 2025
Shooting at CDC. Geoff Bennett at the News Hour interviewed Dr. Megan Ranney, dean of the Yale School of Public Health and professor of emergency medicine.
Ranney: Well, I have spent the weekend talking to friends and colleagues within the CDC, within state and local public health departments, as well as within health care across the country.
And I will say the mood is one of both fear and frustration or maybe even anger, fear because folks were shot at. And it is by the grace of God that only one person died on Friday evening. Frustration and anger because it's felt by many that this was almost inevitable, that at some point the violent rhetoric that is experienced online or sometimes that some of us have experienced in person being yelled at us was eventually going to turn into actual physical threats.
Geoff Bennett, CDC shooting highlights increasing rhetoric and hostility against health professionals, PBS News Hour, August 12, 2025
Memo from the Cinema Desk. Taste of Cherry (1997). Dir. Abbas Kiarostami (1940–2016). Trailer.
Abbas Kiarostami and Jafar Panahi are the two Iranian filmmakers with whom I am most familiar. Both have earned international recognition and acclaim. After seeing Life, and Nothing More… (1992), Jean-Luc Godard said, “Film begins with DW Griffith and ends with Abbas Kiarostami.” With due consideration for the source and Godard’s inclination to overblown pronouncements, this stands as testament to Kiarostami’s stature. Panahi worked as an assistant director on Kiarostami’s Through the Olive Trees (1994), and Kiarostami produced his first film, The White Balloon (1995). Both have been awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Panahi this year for It Was Just an Accident, Kiarostami in 1997 for Taste of Cherry.
I will take the easy way out here and turn to Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw for a brief summary:
Kiarostami’s films could be opaque, sometimes baffling and even exasperating; but always captivating, and utterly distinctive. And for me his masterpiece is the haunting Taste of Cherry, from 1997: it is movie possessed of a unique kind of moral beauty. A haggard-looking man in middle age is shown driving around the itinerant labour markets of Tehran, looking for someone to help him: someone who is good with a shovel, who can take orders and not ask questions.
What this man wants is to commit suicide, take an overdose of pills—and then he needs someone to bury him afterwards: a proposal that triggers astonishment and horror, as if he is asking strangers to be an accomplice in a kind of murder and a cover-up. Many try to talk him out of it, trying to persuade him of the simple pleasures of this fallen world—like the taste of a cherry. (Bradshaw, Abbas Kiarostami)
The man orchestrating his suicide, Badii, is played by Homayoun Ershadi in his film debut. Ershadi studied architecture in Italy and worked as an architect for years. While “sitting in his car in traffic in Tehran he was approached by Kiarostami and eventually chosen to play the leading role in the film.”
The setting is Badii’s Range Rover as he drives along winding, unpaved roads in the desolate hills outside Tehran. Along the way he encounters a young Kurd in the army, an Afghan seminarist, and an older Turk, a taxidermist at the Natural History Museum, and gets them to ride with him while he tries to persuade them to do a job for which he offers handsome payment. He takes each to the gravesite, where he is to come at dawn and call his name twice—“Mr. Badii…Mr. Badii…” If Badii answers, help him out. If not, reach for the shovel. The Kurd runs away back to his army base. The seminarist likewise declines. The Turk relates his own attempt to hang himself from a plum tree that was sidetracked by the wonderful taste of a plum. He agrees to take the job in expectation that he will find Badii alive but willing to do as requested if he does not. Badii has second thoughts as he instructs the Turk, adding that he should throw two small stones into the grave if there is no answer in case he is still sleeping. The Turk nods, says, “Better make it three.”
Kiarostami and Panahi sometimes used vehicles and other unconventional settings for films to avoid attracting the attention of the authorities. Kiarostami’s Ten consists of conversations between a woman and riders she picks up as she drives around Tehran. In Taxi Panahi poses as a taxi driver and films encounters with a variety of passengers, some presumably actors working from a script, others not. Panahi filmed This Is Not a Film in his home while under house arrest and banned from making films. “He wasn’t technically making an actual film, Panahi argued—yet he was manifestly making one anyway, as the world saw when the result was smuggled to Cannes on a USB stick hidden in a cake” (Romney, Taxi Tehran).
Taste of Cherry is far more compelling that a literal account of what happens may sound. It is, as Bradshaw wrote, captivating and utterly distinctive. In the best sense of the best art, something in it lies beyond description.
Peter Bradshaw, Abbas Kiarostami: sophisticated, self-possessed master of cinematic poetry, The Guardian, July 4, 2016
Andrew Pulver, Saeed Kamali Dehghan, Abbas Kiarostami, Palme d'Or-winning Iranian film-maker, dies aged 76, The Guardian, July 4, 2016
Jonathan Romney, Taxi Tehran review – Jafar Panahi’s joy ride, The Guardian, November 1, 2015
Chloe Veltman, Iranian director Jafar Panahi's 'It Was Just An Accident' wins Palme d'Or at Cannes, NPR, May 24, 2025
Keep the faith. Hold the line. Stand with Ukraine. yr obdt svt