"Head-bangingly stupid"

That quotation (from Professor David Jacques, head of the Blick Mead archeological project, caught my attention this sunny Saturday.  All will become clear as we continue.

Professor Jacques was talking about a scheme to build a road tunnel beneath Stonehenge, approved last fall by the Johnson government and poised to cost the monument its status as a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Liverpool has already been removed for failing to maintain its historic waterfront and other places are being reviewed including, ironically, the Palace of Westminster.  I thought the British were all about heritage.  Who else spends so much money on royal pageantry in the 21st century?

If you're watching the Olympics on MBC in South Korea, I'm sorry.  The network had to apologize for introducing each nation with stereotypical images -- pizza for Italy, salmon for Norway, a "photo of Dracula" for Romania (Lugosi?  Lee?  Langella?).  Then it got weird.  Haiti was represented by footage of rioting after the president's assassination, while Ukraine was evoked by Chernobyl.  I wonder if they showed the January 6 coup attempt for the US.  You expect this kind of thing from North Korea.

What the hell is 3x3 basketball?  Are we just making sports up now?  Will there be ringolevio, or do we need to wait for Brooklyn to win the games?  I recently tuned in to an ESPN broadcast promising "Cornhole," which, somewhat disappointingly, turned out to be beanbag.  What time is the Twister final?  I heard there's a three-sewer stickball player on the Borneo team, but fans exaggerate.

Maybe all the mass shootings have made Colorado police jumpier than usual.  In Idaho Springs, a 73-year-old man wearing only underpants answered their knock holding a "sword-like weapon" which he placed on a high shelf, as instructed.  Michael Clark declined to lie on the floor, however, and continued to try to explain the situation.  They tased him and he suffered a stroke and a burst appendix.  If even white privilege won't protect you, could be it's time to defund...

Arizona Republican state senator -- but why go on?  Enraged by the Cleveland baseball team's retreat from hate, Wendy Rogers came up with this beauty:  "I like Indians and I like Redskins.  I like Aunt Jemima and I like Uncle Ben.  I like Robert E. Lee and I like Stonewall Jackson.  I don't like traitors who hate America.  Stand up for our culture!"  I think you meant "racist culture," Senator.  As for Lee and Jackson, I'll send you a sixth-grade history book before your party burns them all.

Gotta run, Olympic chess semifinals starting.