Somewhere in Angkor
In front of another doorway
Thursday, September 1, 2022
But before we get to that, I was thinking about Ryan Zinke the other day. Remember him? He was Trump’s original Secretary of The Interior. His first day in office he rode a horse to work. Then it came out that whenever he was at work he wanted his flag raised on the building. I got to thinking, “What must it have been like to get those requests?” Imagine you’ve been working at the Interior Department for years and you get the request for a horse on the first day of the new boss’ tenure? Okay, there are police horses around so they could round one up. Actually several, because he had some other in the saddle with him. (Well, in other saddles. They weren’t all in the same saddle.) But then can you imagine? “The boss wants this flag raised whenever he’s in the building.” “Yeah? Who is going to do that?” “You?” “No, you!” “Rock, paper, scissors?” “Paper” “Rock, dammit.”
Not sure why I thought of that, but it points to the kind of self important hubris his folks had.
Then we get to the latest from the DOJ. All his most ardent supporters were strangely silent yesterday. Today, even the most conservative media outlets were admitting, maybe tangentially, that he had broken the law. Some went so far as to say he would be indicted.
The former #2 in intelligence was interviewed yesterday. What she made clear was that it was not only that those documents were in a place that they might have been seen by our adversaries, but that those adversaries are smart and probing for weaknesses. Those documents might have been revealed, wittingly or unwittingly. She also said that in her interactions with Trump, he never seemed to understand or appreciate the importance or significance of classified material.
Let’s also point out a few facts, which are unassailable:
1 – Trump stole classified documents.
2 – Trump did not keep them securely.
3 – Trump hid the fact that he had these documents. ie He lied.
These are all crimes.
This is a situation completely of his own making.
The legal team’s defense for Trump is that the FBI made a mess of his office. Wow. That’s a heck of a defense. As Morning Joe pointed out, it’s as if they think that the murderer puts the yellow tape down around where the victim was killed.
But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about today. I wanted to talk about Serena. Everybody who was anybody was there. I just wish that when the cameras panned on someone they would have put up the name of that person so I wouldn’t have to say, “Who is that?” Tiger was there, and H.E.R., and Lindsay, and Spike, and what’s her name and “Is that person famous?”, and Billie Jean, and … and … Venus, of course.
The woman she was playing was 26. and #2 in the world. That lady never seemed to sweat. Serena looked tired. I mean she’s 40, a mother of two. Serena was not hustling after every ball. She seemed to be conserving her energy. I didn’t think she was going to pull it off.
At one point her competitor hit a ball that was barely in. I mean the electronic replay showed it touching the white line by the slimmest of margins, like maybe by the fuss on the ball it was in. The crowd began to boo or otherwise show their displeasure with the call.
Serena lifted her hand and fore-finger. She shook that finger, along with her head. As if to say, “Uh uh, no.”
And just like that the crowd fell silent.
What an amazing display of sportsmanship and class.
For me that was the highlight the match.
Serena won the first set on breakpoint.
Lost the second set big time, and then stomped in the third.
It was as if she was saving her strength for that third set.
Or as Muhammed Ali used to say to Billie Jean when they were on the speaking circuit, “Billie Jean, you’re the queen.”
Billie Jean has of course given way to the reigning queen.
Many think this will be Serena’s swan song. We’ll see.
Stay tuned.
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