Continued Confessions

they seem to be ubiquitous

The most confessional thing I have for this Thursday is that I have been uber-schadenfreuding (to coin a phrase). In digging a little deeper into the etymology of the word, I find some rather negative causation associated with the feeling. However, one definition stood out as to what most of us are now experiencing, I believe, which is justice-based schadenfreude when someone who has been doing bad things for a long time finally gets his or her comeuppance. Thus it becomes a moral emotion. Anyway, that’s my justification for being grateful for Alvin Bragg and the New York Jury. And let the hits just keep on coming . . .

I don’t usually start my Stack with politics, but I think many of us are consumed with it today because of tonight’s debate. I would love to join one of the many great watch parties, but it’s seriously past my bedtime. And I haven’t mastered the art of daytime napping to compensate for staying up late. I have always been a morning person, but in my prime I could still go dancing on a weeknight (Tuesday night was Reggae night at the El ‘n Gee for anyone else who remembers). I’ll catch up with all the details first thing Friday morning when I awake—anytime between 4 and 6. My body knows best, and I have learned to listen.

Meanwhile, I finished Cheerfulness, and was thrilled to read author Garrison Keillor very pithily describe the presumptive nominee who wanted to grift off the upcoming Convention as an affliction of the nether regions of the human anatomy. Read the whole book for lots of laughter!

And another author I have been talking about is Jim Sciutto. His book The Return of Great Powers is divided into three parts, with ten chapters, and Chapter Nine of Part Three is entitled “Trump Wild Card” and it is even more terrifying than I had previously imagined. The Russian interference in the 2016 election has been established, and we may be faced with even more devious “fixing” this time around. Everyone has become aware of the mob mentality and kissing-the-ring obsequiousness of the so-called Congressional leaders. But my hopes lie in the many public servants who once served the Trump administration and are now speaking out about how awful a repeat would be—without the guardrails provided by some of these more honest and upright people to thwart the dictator’s worst ambitions. And if anyone hasn’t made themselves familiar with Project 2025, ignore it at your peril. The Heritage Foundation, The Federalist Society, et al. have been waiting decades to promote their Christian Nationalist and strongman executive ideas with the appropriate puppet to prop up.

And before I really go off on a rant, I will end for today with some happy thoughts. I started reading Richard B. from Norfolk’s Substack “The Savage Poodle” quite a while ago, and I enjoyed his posts so much that I sent for the collection of his “tales from legal practice.” His work is available on Kindle, which he recommends, and these columns from Solicitors Journal are lovely bedtime reading (especially because he’s in England and I can wax nostalgic about my growing up there).

Onwards and upwards to better days! TTFN