Peace and happiness to all the land

I spent part of the weekend listening to the great Pharoah Sanders -- I recommend starting with "Karma" from 1969 -- and he was better company than all the wielders and would-be wielders of power.  Also a good way to welcome 5783, and Shanah Tovah to those who do.  But the world is still out there.

Congratulations to Edward Snowden on his new Russian citizenship.  Snowden is one of 72 lucky recipients and he's 39, which puts him right in the middle of the 18-65 group eligible for the draft.  Let's see him whistleblow his way out of this one.

How badly does Russia need new blood?  Well, in Ust-Illimsk Ruslan Zinin walked into an enlistment office and shot a military officer, saying, "We will all go home now."  In Izhevsk Artem Kazantsev, wearing a swastika shirt, entered an elementary school and killed fifteen people, mostly children; many more were wounded.  He appears to have been a fan of our Columbine shooters.  It looks like the freshly "recruited" are being sent directly to the front, but it's all right -- Patriarch Kiril, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, says Russians who die in battle will have all their sins absolved.  Just like Crusaders!

"Love is now the law," tweeted President Miguel Diaz-Canel as Cubans voted 67-33 for a new Family Code which legalizes same-sex marriage and adoption.  If the Christofascists gain power here it's good to know refuge is only ninety miles away.

Speaking of Christofascists, Doug Mastriano is already huffing about what he'll do "on day one" as governor of Pennsylvania, never a good sign.  Christopher Mathias of Huffpost really enjoyed writing about his skimpy little rally in Harrisburg, where the ex-military man promised one unpopular measure after another to a group which could have gathered in his living room:  No critical race theory!  No boys on girls sportsball teams!  Separate bathrooms today, separate bathrooms yesterday, separate bathrooms forever!  "We're going to open up our state lands...and we're going to drill and dig like never before!"  I can't understand why the national GQP isn't shoveling money into this campaign.

Uh oh, we're getting warned again.  The foreign ministry of Iran summoned the ambassadors of Norway and the UK to complain about "interference and hostile media coverage" of the protests which continue to roil the country.  Norwegian media must be lit.  President Raisi reaffirmed Iran's support for free expression by shutting down the internet and killing at least 41 people.  He also summoned the faithful to Tehran to chant, "Sedition is the cause of riots and is directed by America."  It sounds better in Farsi.  They're firing artillery at the Kurdish region of Iraq, too.  In other words, this is not over.

Speaking of sedition, Anton Lunyk was inside the Capitol on January 6 when he got a call from someone in the White House.  The 26-year-old from Brooklyn seems to have been a follower, not a leader, so the content of the nine-minute call is still mysterious.  Giuliani drunk-dialing again?  There was a second call ninety minutes later as he drove home.  Perhaps we will learn more on Wednesday when the Bennie & Liz Show returns to the airwaves.

"My body belongs to Missouri," says Annie England Noblin, who takes methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis.  The drug is also used to treat lupus, psoriasis and Crohn's disease, as well as a variety of cancers.  But it can abort an ectopic pregnancy and Noblin's pharmacist now requires her to get a letter from her doctor every month affirming that she is not pregnant before releasing her prescription.  An ectopic pregnancy has no chance of survival, but Missouri law doesn't care.  If anyone still says that making women suffer was never the intent, they're lying.

It looks like Moms for Liberty -- you know, that woman in Florida -- got the Central York, Pennsylvania, school district to ban the book series Girls Who Code for being -- digital porn?  It's about a group of girls who become friends through their school's coding club, which obviously will ruin them for motherhood and baby-making.  Have they heard about that slut Nancy Drew who solves mysteries?

In Iran, sisters continue doing it for themselves.  With help from brothers.