Friday

Mann is describing the Egyptian summer during the great drought in "Joseph and His Brothers": "The sun fell like fire from heaven." ... ... We haven't heard from evangelic Pat Robertson in a long time. A couple of days ago, he said, 'I think, somehow, the Lord’s plan is being put in place for America and these people are not only revolting against Trump, they’re revolting against what God’s plan is for America. These other people have been trying to destroy America. These left-wingers and so-called progressives are trying to destroy the country that we love and take away the freedoms they love. They want collectivism. They want socialism. What we’re looking at is free markets and freedom from this terrible, overarching bureaucracy. They want to fight as much as they can but I think the good news is the Bible says, “He that sits in the heavens will laugh them to scorn,” and I think that Trump’s got something on his side that’s a lot more powerful than the media.' [Snopes] ... ... Will Durant: "Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty and dies with chaos." ... ... In Lincoln's young frontier days, the men could be a little rough. As one of the tough guys said, "We had hard knuckles and hot blood." [Burlingame] ... ... Sugar is doing a hotel curling chat. She looks very good. Staying fit and slender, with a nice rack, helps. However, she really has moved into middle-age now. I can still feel this ache remembering her when she was 22, 23, when she still had a bit of that little-girl bounciness and bright-eyedness, still hungry to learn, and was more 'look at me, like me!'. She was always bright and cocky, but she was not quite overbearing yet, more wonderfully girly. It's sweet to still see traces of that in her. I suppose you don't lose that completely until your late middle-age, your upper forties. ... ... Donald Trump: "My entire life, I've watched politicians bragging about how poor they are, how they came from nothing, how poor their parents and grandparents were. And I said to myself, if they can stay so poor for so many generations, maybe this isn't the kind of person we want to be electing to higher office. How smart can they be? They're morons. There's a perception that voters like poverty. I don't like poverty. Usually, there's a reason for poverty. Do you want someone who gets to be president and that's literally the highest-paying job he's ever Had?" [Dowd, "Year of Voting Dangerously"]