Lest we forget

Here is a visual accounting of the riot at the Capito; on January 6, 2021 from The New York Times ...

Ezra Klein on Venezuela

New York Times columnist Ezra Klein talks to journalist Jonathan Blitzer about what the Trump administration is doing in Venezuela. Really informative.

Shameful

I'm disgusted but not surprised that Trump has invaded Venezuela, a country that can't fight back, and plans to "run" that country.

Why is this happening? Because Venezuela has probably the largest oil deposits anywhere in the world - ripe for plunder. And things aren't going very well politically for Trump at home. So he's doing what he always does .... distracting by throwing his weight around while at the same time enriching himself and his cronies.

BTW, the excuse that invading Venezuela is ok because their leader was a dictator is a facile distraction. Of course he was bad and we have in the past removed other dictators we didn't like. But the idea that Trump invaded and plans to "run" another sovereign country because he cares so deeply about democracy is just a sick joke ... Trump is undermining our own democracy and trying to make himself a dictator here at home.

I can only imagine how Ukraine feels, seeing this. They were counting on Trump to tell Putin that it's wrongt to invade and steal the resources of another sovereign country ... but Trump won't, of course, because that's what he himself wants to do. Is Greenland next?

Venezuela

Congressman and former Marine Seth Moulton opines on the recent US invasion of Venezuela.

The warmth of collectivism

The new mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, says ... We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.

I'm not a fan of rugged individualism as a government policy, but Mamdani really needs to update his vocabulary from the Soviet Bloc script.

In character, on his first day, Mamdani also has done away with the previously existing banning of BDS, synagogue protest bans, and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism.

The warmth of collectivism doesn't extend to Jewish people?

Wishing You Were Here

Wishing You Were Here, 1974, by Chicago. A strange song and I've never really liked it a lot. For years I thought the Beach Boys did it. It was written by Peter Cetera, who usually did the vocals for the band, but this time Terry Kath sang the main song and Cetera only did the bridge. Actually, three of the Beach Boys did sing background harmony on the recording.

Somaliland

So, recently Israel recognized Somaliland, and though Somaliland declared its independence in 1991, Israel is the first country to do that.

Everyone else didn't like it. African, Arab, and European countries decried the move. Britian is against it - how does the fact that the area used to be a British protectorate affect their decision? Makes me think of Britian's refusal to let go of Scotland.

Jack Smith deposition

The full video record of former Special Council Jack Smith's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on December 17, 2025.

In November 2022, attorney general Merrick Garland appointed Smith an independent special counsel, responsible for overseeing two preexisting Justice Department criminal investigations into former president Donald Trump, three days after Trump announced his 2024 presidential campaign: one regarding Trump's role in the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack, and the other into alleged mishandling of government records, including classified documents ... - Wikipedia

An open-air prison?

- Gaza City, 2018 - Wikipedia

If we're going to have any seriousness in this discussion, there has to be some recognition that activists said pre-war Gaza was "an open air prison" and now cast it as an idyll that was inexplicably destroyed after 7 October, where nobody seems to remember what happened. https://t.co/Bf7N7FdJQZ

— Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) December 27, 2025

Before the Oct 7 war, I didn't know really anything about Gaza. My impression was that it was a relatively small squalid area comprised of flimsy tents ... you know, a "fefugee camp".

I didn't realize that Gaza had a border with Egypt, as well as with Israel, and that people could leave through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, though that was sometimes difficult or expensive.

I didn't realize either that the Gaza Strip had farms, sea-side resorts, universities, hospitals, large high-rise buildings in a number of cities, and some luxury residential areas like this one built by Qatar ... Qatari housing project in Gaza concludes first stage

Here are some photos of Gaza before the war, from Wikipedia ...

- a Gza amusement park

- a Gaza seaport

- the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship hospital

- Nehru Library and Cultural Center at Gaza's Al-Azhar University - Wikipedia

- and Gaza City again, 2013 - Wikipedia

Yes, the Gaza Strip is mostly rubble now. But it wasn't an open-air prison before the war. And if Hamas had not started the war with atrocities and hostage-taking, if Hamas had not built a massive tunnel system under homes, hospitals, mosques, and schools, and booby-trapped almost every building, Gaza would not be rubble now.

Let It Rain

It's still raining a lot here. Perhaps a song will cheer me up. Here's Eric Clapton at The Royal Albert Hall in 2015 (when he was 70) ...

Merry Christmas

His day to shine ✨🎅

📸: Film Studio Aves#deer #Christmas #holidayseason pic.twitter.com/MOtM9iaFLz

— Animal Planet (@AnimalPlanet) December 25, 2025

The storm

Scary weather here in CA. Not as bad where I am as down south, but still tonight, for the second night, we have a flooding warning and a high wind warning.

I'm mostly worried about the pop tents on the porch and in the back yard. I have them for the outdoor cats but they are pretty fragile and tend to turn into kites when it's windy and can get big puddles of water in them if it rains a lot. So tonight Yoda and I are sitting by the open front door (screen door closed), watching the pop tent on the porch in case it needs help - maybe Santa will appear :)

Back yard pop tent on a nice weather day ...

And here it is after a bad storm a couple of years ago ...

The 24th

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a… pic.twitter.com/iTQyKoPyh5

— The Wildlife Trusts (@WildlifeTrusts) December 24, 2025

In the Middle East

🎄 Christmas trees in the Middle East

📌 Jaffa, Israel pic.twitter.com/nlHw0QUeLI

— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) December 23, 2025

Black Beauty

Saw this in the news today ...

Cartagena's iconic horse carriages give way to electric buggies

The article gives the perspectives of the cart owners and also animal rights groups who are at odds. The story reminded me of one of the first books I remember reading as a kid, that really had an effect on me ... Black Beauty.



It's because of books like this that I became a vegetarian. How we treat those who are powerless really says a lot about us.

Don Felder

Styx Joins Don Felder on stage in Las Vegas at the Orleans Arena to play 'Hotel California', 2015.

The guitar sound is like the album. Don Felder is the magician behind this music in the Eagles sound. pic.twitter.com/tDY8Y6Ehbp

— 🎸 Rock History 🎸 (@historyrock_) September 16, 2025

As we will remember, Don Felder, once of the Eagles, was really a good guitarist and was the architect of the musical part of the song, Hotel California (Glenn Frey and Don Henley wrote the lyrics). Unfortunately, he and Frey did not get along and he was fired from the (reformed) band in 2001.

Here below you can see him in 1994 with the band after they got back together for a time and recorded the MTV concert Hell Freezes Over. He's so good in this acoustic version of Hotel California (Joe Walsh is the other lead guitarist) ....

Releasing (some of) the Epstein files

I'm not surprised that this DOJ has already reneged on the law Congress passed on the release of the files - they haven't made public all the files today, and they haven't made the files searchable. It seems obvious they are trying to hide something.

"More for me"

Trump tries to take money away from homeless people. ...

20 states sue the Trump administration over cuts to homeless permanent housing funding

US judge blocks Trump administration from altering homelessness funding conditions

Because, you know, he probably needs more gold knick-knacks for the Oval office ...

In the yard

A few days ago, took some photos. It's been icky here - cold and gray and damp. The cats are not amused.

The sun is trying to come out ...

Here's Inky on the leaf pile ...

Lucy, black cat #2 of 3, watching Inky ...

Prince Wendell. Why is the leaf pile so popular? ...

Socks (L) and Gretel in the back yard, snacking ...

Closer snap of Socks ...

Cardinal Dolan replaced

In the news ... Pope names fellow Chicagoan, Bishop Ronald Hicks, as new archbishop of New York

[...] Bishop Ronald Hicks, the current bishop of Joliet, Illinois, replaces the retiring Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a prominent conservative figure in the U.S. Catholic hierarchy. Hicks takes over after Dolan last week finalized a plan to establish a $300 million fund to compensate victims of sexual abuse who had sued the archdiocese.

Hicks addressed the matter during his news conference Thursday.

“As a church, we can never rest in our efforts to prevent abuse, to protect children and to care for survivors,” he said. “While this work is challenging, it’s difficult, it’s painful, I hope it will continue to help in the areas of accountability, transparency and healing.” ...

Sounds nice, doesn't it? Cardinal Dolan and the Church helping sex abuse survivors. Except that isn't exactly what's happening here. Or at least that's as it seemed when the plan was announced - I haven't seen anything about it in the news since then. Here below is the text of a post I did on October 8, 2016 about Dolan and this compensation program for abuse survivors, and the irony of Dolan being in charge of the program. Read on if you are interested ...

* * * *

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 08, 2016

Irony alert: Cardinal Dolan


- Cardinal Dolan

In the news, Cardinal Dolan announces new compensation program for abuse survivors ...

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan said Oct. 6 he hopes a new archdiocesan program to provide compensation to survivors of clergy sexual abuse will "help bring a measure of peace and healing" to those victims .... To cover the cost of compensating victims, the archdiocese said it will take out a long-term loan. It "will not use money given by the people of the archdiocese to support parishes, schools and charitable works," the news release said. None of the funds to be paid to victims will be taken from the annual stewardship appeal, a new capital campaign called Renew and Rebuild or from any money given by a donor "for a specific ministry or apostolate." ...

Strangely, the article fails to mention Cardinal Dolan's past efforts, not to help abuse survivors, but to swindle them: The New York Times wrote an editorial on this - Cardinal Dolan and the Sexual Abuse Scandal ...

Tragic as the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church has been, it is shocking to discover that Cardinal Timothy Dolan, while archbishop of Milwaukee, moved $57 million off the archdiocesan books into a cemetery trust fund six years ago in order to protect the money from damage suits by victims of abuse by priests.

Cardinal Dolan, now the archbishop of New York, has denied shielding the funds as an “old and discredited” allegation and “malarkey.” But newly released court documents make it clear that he sought and received fast approval from the Vatican to transfer the money just as the Wisconsin Supreme Court was about to open the door to damage suits by victims raped and abused as children by Roman Catholic clergy ...

And - Dolan Sought to Protect Church Assets, Files Show ...

Files released by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee on Monday reveal that in 2007, Cardinal Timothy F. Dolan, then the archbishop there, requested permission from the Vatican to move nearly $57 million into a cemetery trust fund to protect the assets from victims of clergy sexual abuse who were demanding compensation ... files contain a 2007 letter to the Vatican in which he explains that by transferring the assets, “I foresee an improved protection of these funds from any legal claim and liability.” The Vatican approved the request in five weeks, the files show.

And it's not just this. While a church sponsored compensation program for victims might sound nice, what that actually means is an end run around the justice system ....

Some advocates for sex abuse victims immediately assailed the program as an attempt to squash cases quickly, before New York's legislature acts on a proposal to make it easier for victims to sue over abuse that happened years ago.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, an independent network of survivors of clergy abuse, said in a statement that compensation needs to be determined by independent sources, such as judges and juries.

The group's executive director, David Clohessy, said that Dolan's announcement is also "short circuiting" legislative reform on the statue of limitations.

"We are not pleased with announcement," Clohessy said.

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, an advocacy group that collects records on abusive priests, said in an email that New York's "restrictive statute of limitations has enabled Dolan to hide the true scope of the clergy abuse crisis in the NY archdiocese."

"His proposed victims' compensation fund is another tactic designed to fend off disclosure," she said.

New York state lawmakers have long debated extending the statute of limitations on suing child sex abusers, or creating a window of opportunity for past victims to file civil suits against abusers. Such proposals have faced strong opposition from the Catholic Church and other institutions.

The leading proposal in the Legislature would eliminate the statute of limitations for several child sexual abuse crimes going forward and create a one-year window for past victims to file civil suits. Victims now have until they turn 23 to file lawsuits, but supporters say it can take years before victims step forward. In May, an attempt by supporters in the state Senate to force a vote on the measure failed.
- Archdiocese of New York to Compensate Clergy Abuse Survivors: Cardinal Dolan

So should we trust Cardinal Dolan and this plan to help survivors? Even ignoring his $57 million switcheroo, his other past dealings with the sex abuse problem have been checkered at best. Myself, I don't believe that he cares at all about sex abuse survivors.

And here's a later story on this from The National Catholic Reporter, October 2016 ... NY cardinal's new compensation program for victims will keep sex abuse hidden

The speech

Trump gave a speech tonight. An example ...

U.S. President Donald Trump:

"Drugs brought in by Ocean and Sea are down 94%. We have broken the grip of sinister woke radicals in our schools... I've restored American Strength, settled 8 wars in 10 months, destroyed the Iran Nuclear Threat, and ended the war in Gaza—bringing,… pic.twitter.com/05YiQYr92H

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) December 18, 2025

Lies.

Here's more on the speech from Lawrence O'Donnell ...

Knesset Menorah

This is the Knesset Menorah... let's check out the Maccabees fighting for independence ✊ #art #arthistory #culture #history #hanukkah #happyhanukkah #chanukah pic.twitter.com/jJvgRXUd7m

— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) December 17, 2025

Read more about the Knesset Menorah and see photos of the artwork at Wikipedia.