Hail and mostly farewell

 "I am without doubt in the entire history of the world the person who has been the most persecuted."

Who said it?  The self-pity of the detestable is so universal it's always hard to be sure.  It could be Trump, of course, whose grievances are numberless.  Or Boris Johnson resigning from Parliament before his suspension could result in a by-election; he actually cited a "witch hunt" to reverse Brexit, his finest hour, and failed to mention his violation of his own pandemic lockdown rules.  Or centenarian Kissinger, who seems to have outlived everyone who wanted to see him in The Hague for war crimes.  Maybe Nicolas Sarcozy, cozy at home serving his corruption sentence under house arrest.  Some African strongman who fled the country with most of the treasury?  It could have been either Putin or Kim Jong-un, holding hands and whispering endearments as Russia's war goes down the drain.  ("I blew up another dam."  "Never mind, hold me close.")

Of course the quotation is from Silvio Berlusconi, perhaps the only thing he said that didn't insult women, LGBTQ people or the intelligence of his listeners.  Robertson, Watt, Berlusconi -- can the universe do Murdoch next?

Anyway.  It's Arraignment Tuesday and the millions of Trump warriors have cunningly spread out all over Dade County so they look like maybe six hundred unemployables enjoying the heat and humidity of south Florida, each carrying a flag of some description.  These events are becoming tedious, with DC and Fulton County yet to come.  Look, completely serious candidate Vivek Ramaswamy even made a speech.  He represents TRUTH.  It says so on his hat.

This guy came in from Lord of the Flies Island:

Never mind.  I found some news to celebrate.

Item:  Raising two fingers to the Moms for Censorship and other hate groups, Illinois passed a law making it illegal for libraries to cave to pressure to ban books or lose state funding.  Utah should consider such a law, since the Bible has been pulled from some libraries for being "one of the most sex-ridden books around."  The story of King David alone will make you sweat.

Item:  Vladimir Putin told a meeting of war correspondents and military bloggers that there is "no reason to introduce some kind of special regime or martial law" in Russia despite escalating Ukrainian attacks.  Well, who said there was?  His generals maybe?  By the way, General Sergey Goryachev was killed by a cruise missile yesterday on the Zaporizhzhia front, so, one less general.

Item:  The Afghan military pilot who was facing deportation from the UK to Rwanda (the British dumping ground for asylum seekers) may be granted asylum in the US.

Item:  In Montana, sixteen people between five and 22 are suing the state because it promotes the use of fossil fuel in violation of its own constitution and to the detriment of their health.  I'm sure Greg Gianforte would love to punch them, especially the one in kindergarten. 

Item:  Tomorrow Trump turns 77.

Many crappy returns.