Courage

Looking back on nearly 92 years, what am I proud of? Well, one thing is that I had the courage not use chapstick. I toughed it out.

also on Facebook

Tale from Long Ago

A TALE FROM LONG AGO

After two weeks Adam said he felt lonely in the Garden of Eden. It was like being lost in the woods, he said. Everyone used to fear getting lost in the woods. But you aren't lost if someone is with you. So Adam asked El (that was the Creator's original name) if he could have a companion. 

El enjoyed a negotiation. He liked to argue. "So now you are afraid of trees?"

"Not exactly."

"Of  course I can make you a companion," El said, "but it's expensive. If you want something nimble, amiable and female, that will cost you a leg."

"A leg? You want to take off one of my legs? I have to hunt and gather. You made me that way.  I spend my life walking around looking for food."

"Of course. You need the leg. So what can you afford to give up?"

Adam thought for a few minutes and then said. "What can I get for a toe nail?"

"Pete Hegseth."

"That's not right!"

"If you're asking for certain unalienable rights," the Creator said, "you'll have to throw in rapid tooth decay."

"Fine," Adam said. "Fine. What can I get for a rib?" 

                  

 

Graham Platner

In two days, in a primary, the Democrats in Maine will make Graham Platner their candidate for the Senate. They like him.

If Platner wins in November, the Democrats might take control of the Senate and Supreme Court nominees . But some principled out-of-state Democrats are on TV campaigning against Platner. 

Graham Platner is a high-school graduate and combat veteran. He's currently an oyster farmer, a working-class white man, the sort of voter the Democrats lost touch with under the Clintons. 

So far Republicans and some Democrats have accused Platner of being a Communist, a Fascist and a toxic date. He has admitted that he once made failed attempts to cheat on his wife.  

Maine voters are going to choose in November between Platner and Republican Susan Collins, a Phi Beta Kappa supporter of Donald Trump. 

Like many I find some transgressions unforgivable.  If Platner were guilty of hitting a woman, raping someone or persecuting a Jew, I would not vote for him (if I lived in Maine). But he has not been accused of those crimes. He has been accused of troubling unorthodoxy, dating toxicity, a really bad grasp of symbolism and not being upper middle-class. 

Obama (and FDR) drew support from voters like Platner, men who had not attended Yale, men who ate spaghetti without twirling it on a spoon. 

Often voters who work with their hands decide nominations and elections. If I were a Democrat, I would, like FDR, seek their support. But I belong to no party.

Just saying.

s

Ozymandias

 

Shelley had Trump's number

"And on the pedestal, these words appear:

"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

The Good Country

There are about 195 countries in the world. Each nation is mostly ruled by a small group that controls a large share of the wealth and power. This description fits dictatorships, Marxist or Fascist regimes, kingdoms, Denmark and capitalist democracies in general. 

In the better nations ordinary people have some power, but there is no country where classes of people share wealth or power evenly. 

All countries protect their ruling class, but some counties are easier than others to live in.

Systematic control is baked-in to 195  nations. In America if a late night comic annoys the 1%, a rich man will buy the corporation that owns the corporation that owns the TV network, then fire the comic. If a news show runs the wrong expose, a billionaire will buy the network and hire a woman to fire any woman who disagrees with plutocrats.  

It's all legal in the system we created. So far it's not up for discussion. 

  

Psychotic

 

Donald Trump, now comparing himself to Jesus, Napoleon and Alexander the Great, has lost more of his connection to reality.

If, as expected, the Democrats win the House in the next election, our president will become more frustrated than he is now.  Trump is delusional. His thinking is disorganized. He does not grasp that some of his experiences aren't real. He listens to no advisor. 

Our flimsy media continue to talk politics as usual, speculating about who can flip what seat, when faced with madness and a possible disaster.

Walter

 My father's uncle and aunt, Frank and Peg Dezarn, raised an adopted son, Walter Bligh  (or Bly). In World War II he was shot down by the  Japanese over Borneo. 

I was probably about seven the last time I saw Walter. I don't remember what he was like, but I must be the last person who does remember him. 

Vet

Vet, my great-grandfather, an iron monger I barely remember, believed that a hospital was a place you went to die. 

When he was very old, he began to have trouble breathing. His two daughters and ancient wife from Westmeath decided to drive him over to Las Campanas, a private hospital on Compton Boulevard. Margaret, my mother, had worked there as a receptionist, and I had been born there. 

Vet refused to go, but the three women pushed the old fellow into their car. Vet began pleading through the window, asking my mother to save him. 

My young mother had no say in the matter. Vet ended up in the hospital, where he died. She never forgave herself. As Voltaire put it, each of us is guilty of all the good he did not do. 

I recently tried to learn what had happened to Las Companas hospital, which had included a locally famous drug treatment sanitarium. I used the tools available, including a form of artificial intelligence, but ended up with nothing but a photograph of the place taken in 1940 and a sentence saying the property had been turned into a subdivision.

sizes

  

America's tallest president was Lincoln. At 6'4" He loomed above Lyndon Johnson, our number two. Third tallest is Donald Trump, listed at 6'3".  Compare that to Xi Jinping, leader of China, listed at 5'9" to 5'11".

Last week we saw Trump and Xi side by side on television. They looked about the same.  Xi seemed a hair or two taller than Trump.  Xi must actually be 6'3" or 6'4", not 5'9".  The Chinese have misled us. There's no other explanation.

By the way, Winston Churchill was  5'6" around the waist. 

Xi Jinping

China

175–180 cm (5′9″–5′11″)

Kim Jong Un

North Korea

163–170 cm (5′4″–5′7″)

List the American presidents by height

Here are the U.S. presidents generally ranked by height (tallest to shortest). Heights are based on historical records and may vary slightly by source.

1. Abraham Lincoln — 6'4" (193 cm)
2. Lyndon B. Johnson — 6'3½" (192 cm)
3. Donald Trump — 6'3" (191 cm)
4. Thomas Jefferson — 6'2½" (189 cm)
5. Franklin D. Roosevelt — 6'2" (188 cm)
6. George H. W. Bush — 6'2" (188 cm)
7. Bill Clinton — 6'2" (188 cm)
8. Chester A. Arthur — 6'2" (188 cm)
9. Andrew Jackson — 6'1" (185 cm)
10. George Washington — 6'1" (185 cm)
11. Ronald Reagan — 6'1" (185 cm)
12. Barack Obama — 6'1" (185 cm)
13. George W. Bush — 5'11½" (182 cm)
14. Gerald Ford — 6'0" (183 cm)
15. Joe Biden — 6'0" (183 cm)
16. John F. Kennedy — 6'0" (183 cm)
17. Calvin Coolidge — 5'10" (178 cm)
18. Woodrow Wilson — 5'11" (180 cm)
19. Richard Nixon — 5'11" (180 cm)
20. Jimmy Carter — 5'10½" (179 cm)
21. Harry S. Truman — 5'9" (175 cm)
22. Dwight D. Eisenhower — 5'10½" (179 cm)
23. Theodore Roosevelt — 5'10" (178 cm)
24. Grover Cleveland — 5'11" (180 cm)
25. James Madison — 5'4" (163 cm)

Shortest president:

• James Madison — 5'4" (163 cm)

Tallest president:

• Abraham Lincoln — 6'4" (193 cm)

A commonly noted trend is that modern presidents tend to be taller than average for their era, and taller candidates have often had an advantage in televised elections.

Here’s a list of well-known current and recent world political leaders sorted roughly by height (tallest to shortest). Heights are approximate because official figures sometimes vary by source.

Leader	Country	Height
Aleksandar Vučić	Serbia	198–199 cm (6′6″)
Donald Trump	United States	190 cm (6′3″)
Justin Trudeau	Canada	188 cm (6′2″)
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan	Turkey	185 cm (6′1″)
Barack Obama	United States	185 cm (6′1″)
Joe Biden	United States	182 cm (5′11½″)
Xi Jinping	China	175–180 cm (5′9″–5′11″)
Boris Johnson	United Kingdom	175 cm (5′9″)
Emmanuel Macron	France	173–177 cm (5′8″–5′9½″)
Fumio Kishida	Japan	173 cm (5′8″)
Vladimir Putin	Russia	170 cm (5′7″)
Volodymyr Zelenskyy	Ukraine	170 cm (5′7″)
Narendra Modi	India	170 cm (5′7″)
Rishi Sunak	United Kingdom	170 cm (5′7″)
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva	Brazil	168 cm (5′6″)
Kim Jong Un	North Korea	163–170 cm (5′4″–5′7″)
Michael D. Higgins	Ireland	160 cm (5′3″)

Some famous historical leaders by height:

Historical Leader	Height
Abraham Lincoln	193 cm (6′4″)
Charles de Gaulle	196 cm (6′5″)
Fidel Castro	190 cm (6′3″)
Winston Churchill	168 cm (5′6″)
Napoleon Bonaparte	168–170 cm (5′6″–5′7″)
Benito Juárez	~137–150 cm (4′6″–4′11″, disputed)

Sources compiled from public comparisons and political height databases.