“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
― H.L. Mencken, On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe
Okay. *cracks knuckles*
Rex Tillerson was fired by tweet, student walk outs nationwide show that the kids will lead us, Britain expels Russian diplomats in retaliation for what is almost universally believed to be an assassination of a former spy on British soil, Russia has expelled diplomats in response, the deputy head of the FBI was fired two days before his scheduled retirement, and a whole bunch of cabinet secretaries’ jobs and White House appointments are apparently on the chopping block. We can apparently lay to rest the idea that General Kelly is one of the “adults in the room,” after putting a couple of stories in the news this week, one that feels crass, cruel and unnecessary, and the other which seemingly underpins the narrative that he’s not at all in control of anything. Cruelty and pettiness are the defining characteristics of everything about this administration and everyone who touches it either becomes a victim or a perpetrator. As McKay Coppins at The Atlantic suggests, I feel correctly, Mr. Trump is scripting entertainment, not running a government and he likes this narrative about himself.
Woof. Here’s some other news and links to get you through the weekend.
A bit of Mormon news for those of your interested. Five years ago a blog post went sort of (in a Mormon sense) viral in which a couple “came out” about their mixed-orientation marriage that they were committed to making work. Recently, the couple announced they were separating. Both pieces of writing are well worth the read if you want to understand why marriage, sexual orientation, and family are fundamental and critical to the Mormon experience and how hard (I’d say impossible) it is for believers to operate in any kind of queer space. I have no doubt that some people make such relationships work but I have no idea where you have to fall on the Kinsey scale for it to be possible or probable. In any case, if you are interested in deeply thoughtful reads on love, life, loss, and sexuality, this one is pretty poignant.
The New Yorker deep dives into the identity of Christopher Steele.
Mr. de Givenchy has passed away.
Why do I want this overpriced thing so much?!
An update to an old but depressing story.
It’s St. Patrick’s Day and the great and good Marian Keyes is here to talk to you about kelly green!
People really underestimate how much Prohibition affected American public, political, and cultural life. All kinds of delightfully quirky stuff came out of it.
Small Dog Syndrome 