Friday, April 03, 2026
Haiku Friday: Best Family Photos
There aren't many pictures that include my parents and all three of us kids-- but this one has to be one of the best. We all have go-to images that bring back memories. Let's haiku about that this week! Here, I will go first:
Were we in the dark?
Or the film was old, a gift
We emerge together.
Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 syllable pattern and have some fun....
Thursday, April 02, 2026
PMT: The Address to the Nation
Here's something I've noticed: if President Trump wants to announce something, he usually does it on Truth Social, not in an address to the nation. For example, last night he addressed the nation about the war in Iraq and said almost nothing that wasn't already said, mostly on Truth Social.
-- He said that the war in Iran would end "soon"
-- He said that the goals of that war would be achieved... but did not tell us what those goals are
-- He pretty much said that we aren't going to open the Strait of Hormuz, but he hopes someone else will do that
-- He complained about "Barack Hussein Obama."
Not much there.
I'm shocked, still, that the big news isn't about Congress's complete abrogation of their power to actually declare war. Sure, recent presidents have nudged that aside, usually citing some past approvals granted by Congress-- but this time, even that pretense has been abandoned.
That's a real Constitutional crisis, isn't it?
Wednesday, April 01, 2026
Those who give us hope: Joan Baez
The "No Kings" rally here in Minnesota at the State Capitol last Saturday was really remarkable. There were 100,000-200,000 people there; outside of a University of Michigan football game, it was the most people I have ever seen in one place.
One of the performers was Joan Baez, which is remarkable. She is 85, and has been putting out protest music for over 60 years! Her father was a professor at MIT, and she became a part of the Boston and New York folk scenes in the early 1960's after playing the Newport Folk Festival in 1959. She is often credited with introducing Bob Dylan to the world.
I love these through-lines in our history, and that moment to appreciate it.
