Another Pleasant Valley Saturday

I'll be spending my Saturday doing a lot of normal suburban cusp of Summer sorta stuff, and something that's of the moment yet completely out of the ordinary.

My wife is visiting with her recently widowed mother, and my kids don't live here any longer, so I'm on my own. Me and the dog, that is. We'll get up and go to the Farmer's Market, where I'll grab some good cheese, gourmet dog treats, and whatever I feel like making for dinner. Got some yardwork to do. Need to clean out the garage, too.

In the late afternoon, I'll pay my respects at one of my soccer kids' graduation party. Known her since she was 12 and I coached her in club soccer. Passage of time and all that.

Between those comfortable first-world bookends, I'll be at a No Kings rally at the courthouse in town. I expect it to be civilized and incident-free - our burg is far from the epicenter of ICE enforcement, and we're the sort of affluent (and white) folk that the administration seems not interested in punching down on. I kinda think it'd be good for the overall movement if a group like mine gets roughed up a little bit, because it'd show conclusively that the neo-Gestapo will come after anyone and wake up the still-slumbering-into-autocracy masses. 

I don't go to show that I'm some sort of unusually patriotic or political fella. I just go because in the final reckoning, I want people to know which side I'm on, and that I'm willing to do more than blog about it. Even if it's just a little more.

Bringing the spirit of this guy with me, too. This is poetry. Not loud, not braggadocios, just real in a way a big segment of American men used to be. My Dad wasn't a Southern man by any stretch, but I believe he'd see his sense of decency and right and wrong echoed here.

It ain't great right now, our Republic. It may never be the same. But as long as enough of us stand up and say no, it's got a chance to be.

Fuck the Troops

I'm a long-time lefty who happens to also have a soft spot for the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. The Venn Diagram where I fit isn't the most capacious of properties, but there are enough of us. I've banged on for years about the right's cynical and disgusting embrace of The Troops^TM as a useful prop nearly always accompanied by lack of vital funding for mental health, family issues, and post-service support. And so I return once again to the soapbox for your entertainment and edification, and my own cathartic yawping.

Support the Troops? If you're waving the flag at this fucking debacle of a parade through the streets of Washington, DC, a $45m (and counting) monument to raging leadership ego funded by the units themselves, and you're not screaming that the Department of Veterans Affairs be properly funded, you know what you're actually saying?

Fuck the Troops

Support the Troops? If you applaud Pete Hegseth's bullshit performative Omaha Beach PT stunt but don't concern yourself with potential impacts to readiness, you know what you're actually saying?

Fuck the Troops

Support the Troops? If you're cheerleading for a fascistic occupation of on an American city by United States Fucking Marines but not demanding answers about the lack of planning, supplies, food, shelter, and water for the very same Marines, you know what you're actually saying?

Fuck the Troops

It's okay to say "fuck this guy". Preening fascist.

Support the Troops? If you're rattling sabers and jonesing for combat (other people's combat, not your own, you Potemkin tough guy) but you're not willing to stand up while the Defense Department culls women and minorities from its senior leadership ranks, you know what you're actually saying?

Fuck the Troops

Doesn't play as well as a political slogan, but sure feels like a more accurate depiction of the reality on the ground. People are going to die because of this administration and the GOP more broadly care more about wrapping themselves in the flag than they do tackling the hard work of managing a massively complex organization facing real and ongoing challenges related to climate change, asymmetric combat, emerging threats, readiness, and a litany of others. 

Fuck the Troops doesn't have a great beat, and you can't dance to it, though Lee Greenwood's workshopping some new material. But it sure feels like the message being sent from Washington.

Foreign Flags!!

Markwayne Mullin is a US Senator from Oklahoma.  According to Wikipedia:

• Mullin is the first Native American U.S. senator since Ben Nighthorse Campbell retired in 2005.
• His first name is a tribute to two of his paternal uncles, Mark and Wayne; his mother put both names on his birth certificate, intending to later shorten his name to one of the two, but ultimately never did.
• He is the only currently serving senator without at least a bachelor's degree.
• At the end of 2021, Mullin's reported assets increased to a range of $31.6 million to $75.6 million, compared to a range of $7.3 million to $29.9 million at the end of 2020. The increase was from the sale of his plumbing-related companies to HomeTown Services, a multi-state residential heating, air conditioning, plumbing and electrical company.

That's all pretty cool.  Good for him.  Sen. Mullin is also a major Trumpist and not afraid to go on TV to say ridiculous things.  Like this, in support of Trump sending the National Guard to confront the LA protestors:

"A foreign flag, while you're attacking law enforcement?!  It's pretty bad."

Pretty bad indeed!  Who would dare fly a foreign flag while attacking law enforcement?

Oh that's right, MAGA would, like they did on January 6.  We worked through this previously.  In addition to the Canadian flag shown above, the January 6 insurrectionists flew flags of Cuba, Georgia, India, Israel, South Korea, and South Vietnam.  And, of course, the Confederate States of America.

I assume anyone arrested at the LA protests will get pardoned.  Free the 6/9ers!

How You Dune

Orville and Wilbur you know, the Ohio brothers and their flying machine having put a skinny North Carolina barrier island on the map at the beginning of the 20th Century. Seventy years later, a feisty, committed woman and a band of environmental advocates fought to preserve a section of the landscape that’s become a national treasure and signature attraction of the Outer Banks. 

Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Nags Head, N.C., is home to the tallest “living” sand dune on the East Coast, providing ocean-to-sound views and more than 400 acres of hiking areas and natural habitats. Locals this past weekend celebrated the 50th anniversary of the park, which owes its existence largely to a woman named Carolista Baum. 

Baum was a jewelry maker from central North Carolina, and she and her family set up shop on the Outer Banks every summer, her children playing on and exploring the giant dunes and maritime forests daily. One August day in 1973, her kids saw a bulldozer they hadn’t seen previously at work at the north end of their “playground.” They ran to tell Mom, who closed up shop and hustled to the work site. She stood in front of the bulldozer and told the operator and construction crew that she wasn’t moving. After a conversation with the crew, the operator stood down and left for the day. She later went back and removed the distributor cap and other pieces that disabled the ‘dozer. 

Thus began an unrelenting effort to preserve the habitat. Developers had bulldozed and built on portions of the Outer Banks in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, hoping that the sandbar would attract more tourists and visitors. Baum and others wanted to protect the Jockey’s Ridge tract but didn’t have the money to buy it from the owners. After the confrontation with the bulldozer crew, she organized a group to preserve Jockey’s Ridge. A petition drive attracted 25,000 signatures in just seven days, according to a recent piece in the Smithsonian magazine. She solicited nickels and dimes from kids and sold honorary dune space for $5 per square foot, all of which went into a kitty to promote preservation. She routinely traveled to the state capital in Raleigh to lobby legislators, among them then-Lieutenant Gov. and later Gov. Jim Hunt, to set aside funds for the land. Her group produced a documentary that aired statewide and hired a plane to fly over a North Carolina-Duke football game dragging a banner that read “Save Jockey’s Ridge.” She talked to anyone who would listen, and some who wouldn’t, about the value of preserving the land. She and her supporters spread bumper stickers that read "SOS" -- for Save Our Sand Dunes -- all over the island, according to multiple accounts. 

Baum’s efforts led to the U.S. Dept. of the Interior designating Jockey’s Ridge and nearby Nags Head Woods as National Natural Landmarks in 1974. She and fellow advocates persuaded nearby landowners to sell parcels to the Jockey’s Ridge group or to the state. One year later, the state used funds and a matching Federal grant, along with donations from the Nature Conservancy, to buy the land containing the largest dunes, according to the Smithsonian piece. The original park site of 152 acres has since grown to 426 acres, with a recently refurbished visitor center, boardwalk and designated nature trails. 

[If not for Ms. Baum, there's no this:]

Today, Jockey’s Ridge and the big dune are among the most visited parks in the state. Legend has it that the name comes from locals racing Spanish mustangs through the flat area, and dune slopes providing natural seating for spectators. Baum passed away in 1991, but her legacy lives on through her children and hundreds of stewards of the property. From personal experience, I can tell you that a hike to the top and the 360-degree panoramic views are good for the soul. It might not have turned out that way, but for one woman and a group of supporters who decided that sometimes nature should hold sway. Someone just has to draw a line in the sand.

The Big Dumper

It's oft a dangerous game to anoint a new Gheorghie, especially if he's a baseball player, given that demographic's predilection for thinking America needs somehow to be made great again. But we're going to take a few tentative steps in the direction, for reasons that'll soon be obvious.

Cal Raleigh (just a terrific American athlete name) is a catcher for the Seattle Mariners. He grew up rooting for the Boston Red Sox and idolizing Jason Varitek (a plus!) in Cullowhee, North Carolina (hmmm - it's a college town, but it's in the middle of nowhere. could be a push.). Played his college ball at Florida State University (meh, but not disqualifying) and on Cape Cod for the Harwich Mariners (auspicious!).

After being drafted by Seattle in 2018, he made his major league debut in 2021. He's been with the big club ever since. This season, he leads the American League in homeruns with 23. He's second in the circuit in slugging and OPS, behind Aaron Judge's outrageous numbers.

All of this is interesting, even excellent. But we don't bring Cal Raleigh to your attention for his baseballing exploits, at least not entirely. No, we're here to celebrate something else about the M's backstop. You see, Cal Raleigh has a giant rear end. A prodigious posterior. A ridiculous rump.

If you Google "the big dumper", you're directed to Cal Raleigh's smiling mug, because that's the nickname teammate Jerred Kelenic bestowed upon him in 2020. Get a load of the bobblehead Seattle honored him with earlier this season:

Raleigh's Instagram is all baseball and family, and we're not gonna dig any deeper looking for trouble. We'll just celebrate the man and his giant ass, and hope he's not a fan of an entirely different giant ass. 

Husky Gameday, Part the Third

If you'd told me the Huskies would win the district tournament and be eliminated in the first round of the Region 4C playoffs before the season, I'd have signed for it with few regrets. I knew we were in a rebuilding year, and I definitely knew that our coach had a lot to learn. But now that we're actually facing the prospect of going home if we lose tonight at 6:00 pm, I would very much not sign for that outcome any longer. (Technically, we're going home regardless of what happens, but I think you get my point.)

Our opponent this evening brings a gaudy 16-0-2 record to the match (against our 8-6-4, though we're 5-1-1 in our last seven). They've scored 71 goals and allowed 5 (30 and 28 for the Huskies). They have five freshman starters, all of whom play for the same elite club team and have a lot of familiarity. They are fast, technical, and smart, and they're in good form - they won their district tournament final, 5-0.

We played them in the first game of our regular season. Gave up a goal off of a corner kick scramble in the first minute, then an own goal in the 53rd. Held our own, though we didn't exactly threaten them. We had kids playing different positions than we do now, and we know each other better. 

So you're tellin' me there's a chance! Up the Huskies!

zdaughter's Definitive Ranking of All Eight Mission: Impossible Movies

Everyone knows it's hard for me to pass on a request, so zdaughter and I sat down (at Whitney's request) to rank all eight Mission: Impossible movies.  It went like this.

zman: My friend Whitney asked us to do something.

zdaughter: Cool, what does she want?

zman: Whitney is a man.

zdaughter: Oh Whitney, right, he has a bad tattoo doesn't he?

zman: Several of my friends do but yes, he does.  He asked us to rank all eight Mission: Impossibles.

zdaughter: Yes!  I'll get a pencil and paper!

You may recall that she thinks of herself as a Mandalorian but she's also very much Hermione Granger--she's the kid who always raises her hand for every question just to keep the class moving along because she's paying exceedingly close attention and gets bored when things bog down.  She only got one question wrong on a math test so far this year and she's still pissed about it.  This is all her mother.  Outside of class she doesn't take herself too seriously.  She gets this from me.  Here's her spring school photo, for example.

I'm telling you all this to help frame up her approach to the M:I ranking.  She loves cold blooded killers, strong female characters, fast pacing, perfectionism, and a dollop of silliness.  And she's a zperson so she has no time for schmaltz, cheese, or maudlinism.

With that, here are her rankings:

8. Mission: Impossible 2 - Remarkably, an action movie directed by John Woo with Thandie Newton as the leading lady and Dougray Scott as the main villain is a dud.  zdaughter's take: "This is so cheesy.  He has long hair and he's always tossing it around.  The fight scenes are ridiculous, he's always flipping and spinning for no reason.  It's like he's trying to fight like a Jedi but he doesn't have a lightsaber."  I agree with all of this, I'm amazed that the franchise survived this cornball schlock.

7. Mission: Impossible 3 - Remarkably, an action movie directed by J.J. Abrams with Michelle Monaghan as the leading lady and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the main villain is a dud.  I sense a trend.  zdaughter's take: "This one's corny too.  His hair is short but now he's retired?  There's no way Ethan Hunt would retire.  And of course he has to come out of retirement to save his girlfriend.  I wasn't worried when he died, I knew they would bring him back to life.  Tom Cruise isn't going to die."  I agree with all of this too.  Blowing up a Lamborghini added insult to injury.

6. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning - This is the eighth episode, currently in theaters near you.  zdaughter's take: "It's a good movie but it's too long and it's stressful.  It's a long time to be that stressed out.  Gabriel wasn't a great bad guy and it's hard to understand how the Entity works.  But there is lots of action and Grace is cool.  I wish they didn't kill [redacted]."  Grace is a thief, fyi, and zdaughter's favorite character in the franchise.  They could've lopped 45 minutes off this beast and told the exact same story.  At one point Cruise narrowly survives a crazy situation that drags on for half an hour and then he explains all the other stuff they need to do to accomplish the mission and I looked at my watch and exclaimed "Jesus Christ, we've been here for 90 minutes and they have more to do?!"  It's just too long.

5. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation - This is the fifth episode and the first one directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who directed all the subsequent episodes.  I'm surprised she has it this low but her top four are her top four and she isn't budging for anyone.  zdaughter's take: "It's a good movie but it isn't as good as the ones I like better.  I don't like the color filter."  I have to agree on the color issue.  I don't know if we had a streaming problem on Prime but the colors were way over-saturated and muddy.  But it introduces Ilsa Faust, a world-class assassin and zdaughter's second favorite character in the franchise.

4. Mission: Impossible - Fallout - This is the sixth episode and it's also surprisingly low but this is zdaughter's list and I'm not messing with it.  "This one is good.  It has Walker [Henry Cavill] and the White Widow [Vanessa Kirby] and Ethan Hunt is John Lark."  That all makes sense if you've seen the movie.  It's a banger--this would've been in my top two if I wrote the list.

3. Mission: Impossible - This is the one that started it all.  zdaughter's take: "This is the one where he drops down from the ceiling and he can't touch the floor and the rope slips and he stops an inch away from the floor.  And he jumps off a helicopter just as it explodes and it throws him onto a train."  In other words it has iconic scenes that everyone remembers.  It's the OG, the Sean Connery of the franchise.  Number three is where I would place it too.

2. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol - This is the fourth episode, where the franchise turns away from the soft dreck of episodes 2 and 3 into hard espionage stories.  Sort of how the James Bond franchise did a complete tonal change when they moved from Pierce Brosnan's "Die Another Day" to Daniel Craig's "Casino Royale."  zdaughter's take: "Ethan Hunt climbs on the outside of a building like a budget Spider-Man, there's a crazy chase scene in a sandstorm, the Kremlin explodes, Hawkeye is in it too."  The Avengers crossover likely boosted this one in her eyes but I agree that it's a ton of fun.  It would've been in the top two on my list.

1. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning - This is the seventh episode and a bit of a surprise for the top spot.  But it makes sense when you hear zdaughter's take: "It has Agent Carter [Grace is played by Hayley Atwell, who played Agent Carter which I encourage you to watch on Disney+, zdaughter highly endorses it too] but it's weird to see her not in the 1940s.  It also has Ilsa and Paris [Paris is a female killing machine].  The best part is when Agent Carter tries to drive the Fiat but can only go in circles and Paris is just sitting there like what the hell.  It's the funniest of all of them."  This is all true, this is the episode that takes itself the least seriously, that occasionally puts tongue in cheek and humanizes the characters.  For example, there's a scene where Tom Cruise kills a bunch of people (this happens often) and Hayley Atwell (who met him a few hours ago) is comically shocked speechless and Cruise has to convince her that it's all ok.  In another scene, Atwell and Cruise are handcuffed together and hilarity ensues.  Cruise later ends up staggering around Rome, handcuffed to a steering wheel.  It's the only movie where Ethan Hunt gets goofed on and it has three badass female characters who help save the world, so that's why it's zdaughter's #1.