Fig. 1. Robin’s nest perched atop the light by my front door. This is the last photograph I took of the nest before at least one egg hatched. Photograph by author, April 21, 2024.
At least one of the eggs in figure 1 has hatched. Actually, I think all of them have. The robin guarding the nest changed her (?) behavior a few days ago and it was at that point I stopped taking photographs because my mother warned me I might frighten the parent into abandoning the nest.
I try to remember to give the parent a bit of warning as I reach the top of the stairs leading to my front porch and am about to come into view, which always prompts the parent to fly off, sometimes to return to a nearby spot to try to distract me from the nest. I’m of course not a predator anyway—I’m vegan—but I have seen raccoons eyeing the nest. They haven’t a prayer of being able to reach it.
Tonight, when I came home, the parent flew off without protest and I saw one of the babies poking its head up, mouth open, obviously expecting to be fed. I was awfully tempted to take a photograph, but didn’t, for fear of causing the parent to abandon the nest.
Illiberalism
Gilead
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 2. Cartoon by Ben Jennings, January 24, 2024, via the Guardian,[1] fair use.
It appears there will be a delay, perhaps a long enough delay:
[T]he high court’s ruling is likely to require lower courts to separate out [Donald] Trump’s official acts from his private ones, as alleged in the indictment, before proceedings can restart in the election obstruction case. If the D.C. trial is stalled until after the election, and Trump returns to office, he could pressure his attorney general to drop the federal charges against him.[2]
If Donald Trump returns to office, we can blame the Democrats yet again,[3] this time for nominating a war criminal to run against him.
Yes, of course, Trump needs to be held accountable. But, frankly, so do the Democrats.
Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, “Meadows, Giuliani and other Trump allies charged in Arizona 2020 election probe,” Washington Post, April 24, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/24/arizona-2020-election-charges-meadows-giuliani-ellis/
Ann E. Marimow, “Supreme Court seems poised to allow Trump Jan. 6 trial, but not immediately,” Washington Post, April 25, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/25/supreme-court-oral-arguments-trump-immunity/
Imperialism
Israel
Palestine
Fig. 3. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,[4] fair use.
I’m not on a college campus any more to gauge for myself how serious the protests against the war on Gaza have become. It sounds like they’ve become pretty intense,[5] bringing to my mind the Vietnam War protests of my youth (I was much too young to attend).
Alas, it appears the authorities learned absolutely nothing from the protests that occurred during my childhood.
Abby Sewell, “Hamas official says group would lay down its arms if an independent Palestinian state is established,” Associated Press, April 25, 2024, https://apnews.com/article/hamas-khalil-alhayya-qatar-ceasefire-1967-borders-4912532b11a9cec29464eab234045438
- [1]Ben Jennings, “Ben Jennings on Donald Trump’s progress along the Republican nomination trail – cartoon,” Guardian, January 24, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/jan/24/ben-jennings-on-donald-trumps-progress-along-the-republican-nomination-trail-cartoon↩
- [2]Ann E. Marimow, “Supreme Court seems poised to allow Trump Jan. 6 trial, but not immediately,” Washington Post, April 25, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/25/supreme-court-oral-arguments-trump-immunity/↩
- [3]David Benfell, “Democrats must own Donald Trump,” Not Housebroken, November 13, 2016, https://disunitedstates.org/2016/11/13/democrats-must-own-donald-trump/↩
- [4]Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
- [5]Carla Bleiker, &lquo;Pro-Palestinian protests spread at US universities,” Deutsche Welle, April 23, 2024, https://www.dw.com/en/pro-palestinian-protests-spread-at-us-universities/a-68902360↩