Tuesday

 

Am I the only one creeped out by this image?  Google is recognizing Justine Siegemund, a Silesian midwife who wrote a book about obstetrics in the 17th century.  Which is fine but in the present climate, as I said, creepy.  Though childless (prolapsed uterus) she delivered more than six thousand babies.  I hope Google will remember Margaret Sanger when the time comes.

This could be something:  Ivana Trump was under FBI investigation for two years in the late 1980s, apparently about ties to her native Czechoslovakia.  My suspicious mind immediately goes to her "fall" down the stairs and mysterious burial on a golf course.  Of course, the Bureau under Hoover compiled huge dossiers on harmless liberals like Leonard Bernstein and Groucho Marx, not to mention the agent-hours devoted to analyzing the lyrics of "Louie Louie" (Dave Marsh's book is indispensable).  We'll know more when Bloomberg reveals the rest of her file.

Her ex-husband continues to reveal his Archie Bunker-like obsession with ethnicity, declaring that Ron DeSantis would be "working in a pizza parlor" without his help.  His endorsement did the trick when those of George Washington and "the great, great Abraham Lincoln" would have failed.  It must be exhausting to be so sublime.  He has also begun calling him "Ron Dukakis" but that should subside when it becomes clear that no Trumpanzees can remember the 1988 presidential candidate.

An aide to Rand Paul was stabbed on Saturday afternoon in Washington.  Police have already arrested a suspect who got out of jail the previous day, but the nation is bracing for a wave of QAnon theories about how Hillary Clinton is behind it.

This painting of six-year-old Ruby Bridges being escorted to school in New Orleans by four US Marshals is one of the indelible images of the 1960s but kids in Florida public schools can only be confused by it.  A made-for-television movie about Bridges (by Disney, of course) has now been deemed too "controversial" for them.  Norman Rockwell called the painting "The Problem We All Live With," but 59 years later it hasn't been solved.

An Amsterdam court says a sex film of Michel Houellebecq and some young girls may be released despite his protests, and assuming anyone wants to see it.

Quote of the day from Rep. Dan Burchett (R-TN) asked about the Nashville shooting:  "We're not gonna fix it."  Five points for honesty.  Should be pulled out after every mass murder like The Onion's "'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens."

French people are demonstrating against presidential overreach in using executive authority to raise the retirement age.  Israelis are angry about the prime minister's attempt to weaken the justice system.  What would it take to get Americans riled up?  The cancellation of the Final Four?  We're inured to everything else.