Rule One

The key to a happy family is learning rule one: 

It is not your turn to use the bathroom. 

s

Vance

The fact that J.D. Vance dislikes women is not enough in itself to make Vance a Republican leader. 

Vance, like many Christian nationalists, believes that human nature is fixed and flawed.  

We can grant him flawed. 

But if human nature is fixed, conservatives should have nothing to worry about. Our nature cannot change, no matter what Darwin says.

Vance seems to fear that western women will adopt new ideas and fail to defer to men. But he's sure that the submissive nature of women is set for all time. Women, he argues, must be kept pregnant, dependent and in line by a firm Supreme Court.  Otherwise the submissive nature of women might change, although that nature, he believes, is fixed forever. 

Zorro

I worked back east for 34 years, so of course I saw the Trump Washington Monument a few times, along with the Trump-Lincoln Memorial.  But my wife and I lived on Trump Island, near New Trump City.  As a consequence I saw the Statue of  Liberty-Trump many times. I once ate Nathan Trump hotdogs on Trump Island, after a scary ride. 

If you are old enough, you might remember Zorro, who used a sword to mark things with a Z. 

Independents Vote

Independents are more than 30% of  the voters in California. Their votes are hard to predict, but  I, an independent, will try to fill that gap. 

In the latest poll, 80% of independents nationwide registered disapproval of the Trump presidency, perhaps because Trump has dementia and wanders sleeplessly. 

15% like what the nut is doing. Who are these voters? What is wrong with them? Trump is murdering people. 

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M

 OLD AT 91

“La vieillesse est un naufrage.”

                     —Charles de Gaulle 

1.

In high school I met M, who grew up to be an innovative sculptor.  We rode the same school bus. He now has advanced Parkinson’s.  

M has always been a truth-teller. 

A few months ago he made it to Santa Cruz, helped by two grandsons. I drove down to meet him—my closest friend for 75 years—and to show him Lang Lang on You Tube playing the adagio in “The Emperor.” 

We talked about art and parents  and Albert Camus, and I reminded M that nearly everyplace he’d ever gone, he’d been well-liked.

M said,  “I couldn’t help it.”