A20 THE PROBLEM WITH JARED KUSHNER
Well, Lynn, you're probably right. Like father like son, I guess.
"Stupidity, paranoia, malevolence -- it's hard to distinguish among competing explanations for the behavior of people in this administration."
I suppose when you get right down to it -- I was semi-rooting for Jared to be acquitted of all this simply because he and Ivanka represented the liberal wing of this administration!
"No other White House -- no business, except maybe a wholly owned and rather tawdry and occasionally bankrupt commercial real estate operation -- would be run this way."
A21 TO BE GREAT, AMERICA MUST BE GOOD (Susan E. Rice)
"Four and a half months is not long, but President Trump has accomplished an extraordinary amount in a short time. With shocking speed, he has wreaked havoc: hobbling our core alliances, jettisoning American values and abdicating United States leadership of the world. That's a whole lot of winning -- for Russia and China."
A15 PITTSBURGH? PRESIDENT MAY HAVE USED A RUSTY METAPHOR
"'Trump apparently wants to take Pittsburgh back to this,' said Mr. [Dan B.] Frankel, a democrat who represents part of the city. 'We won't go back'."
"If he [Uber driver] had the president in his car, he'd drive him through the Fort Pitt Tunnel to catch the view of the city ..."
The tunnel opened when I was 7. I made this drive so many hundreds of times, I can't imagine why I ever took it for granted.
Remember to stay in the two right-hand lanes if you want to go to Oakland or Squirrel Hill.
Damn, I miss the Burgh. This is dedicated to my entire family:
"Shashank Laxminarayan Suresh, 28, a native of India who works in the data science department at the health care provider Highmark, said he had found Pittsburgh friendly and welcoming. He lives in the city's Squirrel Hill neighborhood.
'There is so much opportunity in the technology fields here,' he said, 'People want to help you here, and I have never had anyone who was unkind to me because I am an immigrant.' He added, 'It's a very happening place'!"
Let's all go to Mineo's.
A7 VIOLENCE FLARES AT KABUL PROTEST, WITH AFGHAN FORCES FIRING TOWARD CROWD
"'We are still here, although the police shot at people ... we are here, and we will not leave until we reach our goal of getting justice'."
Justice. What a nebulous concept for a society in such 24/7 turmoil.
"Demonstrators began moving toward the presidential palace, some chanting, 'Death to the Taliban! Death to Haqqani!' -- a reference to the wing of the Taliban that the Afghan intelligence agency has said was behind the bombing."
"The protest had been meant to hold the government accountable for a tremendous security failure on Wednesday."
Accountability. What a nebulous concept ...
C6 FROM 1687, EARLY SOUNDS IN ALL THEIR VIBRANCY
When I was a senior at the Interlochen Arts Academy, I had an inspiring Music History teacher by the name of Knight Vernon. The course was pretty extensive and I've been an ongoing student of music history ever since.
Even then, I thought that I knew a lot about Baroque and even pre-Baroque music.
One night, I stumbled into the room of our dorm staff, a guy named Tim Hubert. [Ted, do you remember him, by any chance?] His room was completely stuffed with bookshelves filled with record albums. I started to peruse ...
They were pretty much all Baroque or pre-Baroque music. Names I had never heard of. Albrechtsberger (wrote a neat trombone concerto); Albinoni concerti; and tons of stuff even more obscure. Tim could tell you every detail about every piece on every record!
Thus, I didn't feel too bad when I read this wonderful review of Bonaventura Aliotti's (Wikipedia, 2 lines) 1687 oratorio 'Santa Rosalia.'
"Aliotti's style recalls the operatic Monteverdi at times, without ever reaching a similar level of sustained inspiration."
Then why not perform some Monteverdi? Just kidding. By that reasoning, we'd never hear any Haydn!
"Ezra Seltzer, a stalwart cellist in New York's new old-music scene, was superb in his solos."
C3 KATHY GRIFFIN IS UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR PHOTO
"'I don't think I will have a career after this,' she said tearfully. 'I'm going to be honest. He broke me'."
It's so darned hard to feel sorry for her -- but this is way out there. I'm sure the Secret Service could make better use of their time.
A14 GIRL, 12, WINS SPELLING BEE, BUT EVEN SHE IS STUMPED BY THE PRESIDENT'S NONSENSE
"In an interview on 'New Day' on CNN, she was asked by hosts Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota to spell 'covfefe,' the bewildering nonword President Trump used in a tweet early on Wednesday morning that set off a stampede of speculation and joking on social media.
When she hesitated after asking its pronunciation and language of origin, Mr. Cuomo ribbed her: 'Stop stalling! Do you know how to spell this word?'
When she spelled it 'cofefe,' Mr. Cuomo pronounced it 'good enough' and Ms. Camerota said: 'Close. You win'."
CNN does a terrible disservice to this young woman by bringing Trump's nonsense to the forefront of the interview. She's studied for years to reach this level, and all the haircuts want to talk about is gesundzheit ...
And no -- "close enough; you win" is not what happens in Spelling Bees, as well as Scrabble®.
By the way, of all the words mentioned in the article, the winning word -- marocain -- is the only one that is good in North American Scrabble® ... it also has two anagrams:
armonica, which takes a front-hook of "H" -- and macaroni, which takes the normal "S" back-hook, as well as the "C" (macaronic) ...
A1 NO ONE WILL SAY IF TRUMP DENIES CLIMATE SCIENCE
"As a businessman, President Trump was a frequent and scornful critic of the concept of climate change. In the years before running for president, he called it 'nonexistent,' 'mythical' and a 'a total con job.' Whenever snow fell in New York, it seemed, he would mock the idea of global warming."
So what's his view today as the leader of the Free World?
"'I have not had an opportunity to have that discussion,' [said Melissa McCar ... I mean], Sean Spicer."
"'I do not speak for the president,' said Ryan Zinke, the interior secretary."
"'You should ask him that,' said Kellyanne Conway, the White House counselor."
I watched Scott Pruitt's press conference yesterday in awesome horror. He said "the question of what Mr. Trump believed about the science never came up during the administration's deliberations over the Paris agreement."
"Spicer said twice this week that he had not had the chance to ask the president. Asked if he would find time to take the question to Mr. Trump, he said, 'If I can, I will'."
God help us all.
A12 FROM SAVING KETCHUP PACKETS TO SETTING THE BUDGET
"When you grew up in a household where mom would keep the extra ketchup packets from McDonald's and keep them in a drawer just in case there came a day when you couldn't afford to buy ketchup anymore ..."
And the Depression-era parents passed this ethic down to their children.
Peek into our disorganized pantry. That's it -- right behind the extra-virgin olive oil -- 37 packets of McDonald's ketchup.
It's not even Heinz, who now offer the stuff with no high fructose corn syrup!
Well, Lynn, you're probably right. Like father like son, I guess.
"Stupidity, paranoia, malevolence -- it's hard to distinguish among competing explanations for the behavior of people in this administration."
I suppose when you get right down to it -- I was semi-rooting for Jared to be acquitted of all this simply because he and Ivanka represented the liberal wing of this administration!
"No other White House -- no business, except maybe a wholly owned and rather tawdry and occasionally bankrupt commercial real estate operation -- would be run this way."
A21 TO BE GREAT, AMERICA MUST BE GOOD (Susan E. Rice)
"Four and a half months is not long, but President Trump has accomplished an extraordinary amount in a short time. With shocking speed, he has wreaked havoc: hobbling our core alliances, jettisoning American values and abdicating United States leadership of the world. That's a whole lot of winning -- for Russia and China."
"How consequential is this choice [pulling out of Paris agreement]? The network of alliances that distinguishes America from other powers and has kept our nation safe and strong for decades is now in jeopardy. We will see the cost when next we need the world to rally to our side."
"So the real question is not whether some jobs involving fossil fuels will go away if greenhouse gases are regulated more stringently; what matters is whether the jobs that emerge to replace them will pay better or worse."
It's time.
"'Trump apparently wants to take Pittsburgh back to this,' said Mr. [Dan B.] Frankel, a democrat who represents part of the city. 'We won't go back'."
"If he [Uber driver] had the president in his car, he'd drive him through the Fort Pitt Tunnel to catch the view of the city ..."
The tunnel opened when I was 7. I made this drive so many hundreds of times, I can't imagine why I ever took it for granted.
Remember to stay in the two right-hand lanes if you want to go to Oakland or Squirrel Hill.
Damn, I miss the Burgh. This is dedicated to my entire family:
"Shashank Laxminarayan Suresh, 28, a native of India who works in the data science department at the health care provider Highmark, said he had found Pittsburgh friendly and welcoming. He lives in the city's Squirrel Hill neighborhood.
'There is so much opportunity in the technology fields here,' he said, 'People want to help you here, and I have never had anyone who was unkind to me because I am an immigrant.' He added, 'It's a very happening place'!"
Let's all go to Mineo's.
A7 VIOLENCE FLARES AT KABUL PROTEST, WITH AFGHAN FORCES FIRING TOWARD CROWD
"'We are still here, although the police shot at people ... we are here, and we will not leave until we reach our goal of getting justice'."
Justice. What a nebulous concept for a society in such 24/7 turmoil.
"Demonstrators began moving toward the presidential palace, some chanting, 'Death to the Taliban! Death to Haqqani!' -- a reference to the wing of the Taliban that the Afghan intelligence agency has said was behind the bombing."
"The protest had been meant to hold the government accountable for a tremendous security failure on Wednesday."
Accountability. What a nebulous concept ...
C6 FROM 1687, EARLY SOUNDS IN ALL THEIR VIBRANCY
When I was a senior at the Interlochen Arts Academy, I had an inspiring Music History teacher by the name of Knight Vernon. The course was pretty extensive and I've been an ongoing student of music history ever since.
Even then, I thought that I knew a lot about Baroque and even pre-Baroque music.
One night, I stumbled into the room of our dorm staff, a guy named Tim Hubert. [Ted, do you remember him, by any chance?] His room was completely stuffed with bookshelves filled with record albums. I started to peruse ...
They were pretty much all Baroque or pre-Baroque music. Names I had never heard of. Albrechtsberger (wrote a neat trombone concerto); Albinoni concerti; and tons of stuff even more obscure. Tim could tell you every detail about every piece on every record!
Thus, I didn't feel too bad when I read this wonderful review of Bonaventura Aliotti's (Wikipedia, 2 lines) 1687 oratorio 'Santa Rosalia.'
"Aliotti's style recalls the operatic Monteverdi at times, without ever reaching a similar level of sustained inspiration."
Then why not perform some Monteverdi? Just kidding. By that reasoning, we'd never hear any Haydn!
"Ezra Seltzer, a stalwart cellist in New York's new old-music scene, was superb in his solos."
C3 KATHY GRIFFIN IS UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR PHOTO
"'I don't think I will have a career after this,' she said tearfully. 'I'm going to be honest. He broke me'."
It's so darned hard to feel sorry for her -- but this is way out there. I'm sure the Secret Service could make better use of their time.
A14 GIRL, 12, WINS SPELLING BEE, BUT EVEN SHE IS STUMPED BY THE PRESIDENT'S NONSENSE
"In an interview on 'New Day' on CNN, she was asked by hosts Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota to spell 'covfefe,' the bewildering nonword President Trump used in a tweet early on Wednesday morning that set off a stampede of speculation and joking on social media.
When she hesitated after asking its pronunciation and language of origin, Mr. Cuomo ribbed her: 'Stop stalling! Do you know how to spell this word?'
When she spelled it 'cofefe,' Mr. Cuomo pronounced it 'good enough' and Ms. Camerota said: 'Close. You win'."
CNN does a terrible disservice to this young woman by bringing Trump's nonsense to the forefront of the interview. She's studied for years to reach this level, and all the haircuts want to talk about is gesundzheit ...
And no -- "close enough; you win" is not what happens in Spelling Bees, as well as Scrabble®.
By the way, of all the words mentioned in the article, the winning word -- marocain -- is the only one that is good in North American Scrabble® ... it also has two anagrams:
armonica, which takes a front-hook of "H" -- and macaroni, which takes the normal "S" back-hook, as well as the "C" (macaronic) ...
A1 NO ONE WILL SAY IF TRUMP DENIES CLIMATE SCIENCE
"As a businessman, President Trump was a frequent and scornful critic of the concept of climate change. In the years before running for president, he called it 'nonexistent,' 'mythical' and a 'a total con job.' Whenever snow fell in New York, it seemed, he would mock the idea of global warming."
So what's his view today as the leader of the Free World?
"'I have not had an opportunity to have that discussion,' [said Melissa McCar ... I mean], Sean Spicer."
"'I do not speak for the president,' said Ryan Zinke, the interior secretary."
"'You should ask him that,' said Kellyanne Conway, the White House counselor."
I watched Scott Pruitt's press conference yesterday in awesome horror. He said "the question of what Mr. Trump believed about the science never came up during the administration's deliberations over the Paris agreement."
"Spicer said twice this week that he had not had the chance to ask the president. Asked if he would find time to take the question to Mr. Trump, he said, 'If I can, I will'."
God help us all.
A12 FROM SAVING KETCHUP PACKETS TO SETTING THE BUDGET
"When you grew up in a household where mom would keep the extra ketchup packets from McDonald's and keep them in a drawer just in case there came a day when you couldn't afford to buy ketchup anymore ..."
And the Depression-era parents passed this ethic down to their children.
Peek into our disorganized pantry. That's it -- right behind the extra-virgin olive oil -- 37 packets of McDonald's ketchup.
It's not even Heinz, who now offer the stuff with no high fructose corn syrup!
TIME MACHINE
June 3, 1950
67 years ago
"Senator McCarthy said today that sales of Russian furs in this country were a major source of income to finance Soviet espionage."
But first he made sure that his wife carefully hid all her Russian mink coats.
"All said they had taken advantage of police preoccupation with the rally to slip away and hide along the sector borders or with friends and relatives."
"Some of the 270 are looked upon as simply adventurers. A group of teen-agers have told the authorities that they want to join the French Foreign Legion."
"One 10-year-old said his parents were dead and that he might as well stay where there were oranges, bananas, ice cream and cake."
Life was no picnic anywhere in Berlin at this time -- but to escape to the West must have a glorious dream for most East Germans.
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