In DC, it is “one day or one trial”. In other words, if I am selected for a jury, I am there for the trial, no matter how long the trial lasts. If I am not selected, I am only on duty for one day. Once you are dismissed, you can not be called for two years. There are no formal exemptions, except for medical exemptions where you have a note from your doctor.

So I have been called for jury duty many times, but never selected. Sometimes you just sit around all day and never even get called for a panel. Sometimes, you get called for a panel, and a panel can be 50 people, with the lawyers looking to whittle it down to 12 jurors and 2 alternates. I have been on several panels, but because I am a lawyer, or because I look too shifty, I have never sat on a jury. Edie, on the other hand, has been on several.

The times in DC are undoubtedly strange, as Donald seems intent on punishing us for voting against him. So far, the biggest effect seems to be on restaurants downtown since potential customers are afraid to be caught in a crossfire, and area residents with Spanish accents, who are being rounded up and shipped off in great secrecy. Terrible times here, and it will only get worse.

Don is now threatening other cities as well (pity the poor Guardsmen and women whose lives are being disrupted), including neighboring Baltimore. As you may recall the Key Bridge on the Baltimore Beltway was damaged by a commercial ship a year or two ago. Our wonderful leader has told Gov. Moore of Maryland that, if Baltimore and the State doesn’t do everything that he orders them to do, he just not pay for the federal share of the cost of a new bridge.

Did I ever tell you that Donald Trump is a terribly evil and bad person, and that if you have Trump Derangement Syndrome, you should not be ashamed, but proud?

Over the weekend, we went to the Smithsonian National African Art Museum on the mall. It is such a delight (the museum itself as well as the art work) that I always feel sad that it never seems to draw a crowd. It appears to draw fewer than 150,000 visitors a year and in 2024 drew only about 130,000, or an average of about 350 a day. That compares to 750,000 at the Hirshhorn down the street, for example.

Part of the problem is that most of us don’t have sufficient context to fully appreciate what is on display in this three story museum, and part is ……. I think there are many reasons.

It is located on Independence Avenue SW, and the entrance is one of three in the Enid Haupt Garden.

I took a few photos of work I especially liked. What do you think of these?

Or these?

I did take some brief notes on the origin of these pieces, some of which are hundreds of years old and some of which are not. But let’s just appreciate them for how they look today.