(1) I am sitting here thinking about Hannah Beech. That is highly extraordinary because until about a half hour ago, I don’t know that I had ever heard of Hannah Beech, and I still don’t really know much about her. She is a New York Times reporter, and she has an article on Page 1 of today’s newspaper, titled “Drumbeat of Death Surrounds Myanmar Rebels”. It is a story of the ongoing rebellion in Anyar Province, which she and a Times photographer visited, where an undersupplied rebel army was hanging out and “where the rebels say no foreign journalists had gone since the military had toppled the civilian government.” That was 5 years ago, in 2021. She also quotes a young rebel soldier (a “boy”, she says he is), who “had been told that an armed drone was prowling” and where the rebel leader said that “over the previous three days…..his men had evaded drones, fighter jets, attack helicopters and even paraglider pilots intent on chucking hand held bombs…..”

I looked up Hannah Beech in Wikipedia. I see she is American, born in Hong Kong, married with two children. She has been reporting for about 20 years, so although her age was not given in the article, I would assume she is in her late 40s or early 50s. Her husband’s name is Brook Larmer. He is also a reporter and for a long time was an Asian bureau chief for Newsweek. Her father was also a reporter, a war reporter who won a Pulitzer, and who reported on at least three wars – World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

So, maybe it is in her genes, but the concept of a mother of two going into the jungle of Myanmar where no western reporter had dared go for five years strikes me as hard to understand, and I don’t know whether she should be lauded, shamed, or both. Probably both. Maybe only lauded. I just don’t know.

(2) I am sitting here thinking about Donald Trump. That is much less unusual, as you would guess.I do that a lot. I understand the frustration that Donald has as he tries to run the United States. Not that his ideas are ever permanently quashed, but sometimes there are bumps in the road, such as ……. (okay, I don’t remember any bumps recently; thank you, Supreme Court).

But this is not what I am thinking about this morning. I am thinking about Venezuela, and its one-two earthquake punch, and all the destruction in that already much-destroyed country. Several months ago, after kidnapping the political leader of that country, Donald announced that “we run Venezuela”. Of course, “we”, did not mean Donald and you or me, it meant the royal Donald. And he made no bones about it. He was in charge of their political leadership and he was in charge of their massive oil deposits which were, after all, never really theirs, but have really always been ours.

So now that Venezuela has suffered two earthquakes with over 1000 reported dead, many thousands injured and 50,000 or so (those are the figures that I saw) missing, what is the royal Donald going to do about the country we run/he runs? So far…..not that much. But that isn’t really surprising, is it? How much has he done in the 18 months or so that he has been president this term about the lingering problems in the remote mountains of North Carolina? If a big earthquake occurs in the United States (and I guarantee you that we are moving closer to, not further from, the day such a tragedy will occur), what will his response be? I hope we never find out. After all (although there has been reporting that he is being fired), Donald’s head of response and recovery at FEMA was once (maybe more that once? maybe whenever he gets hungry?) spontaneously teleported 50 miles from his home to a Waffle House. I submit that you really can’t give your all to a recovery effort if, at all times, you are subject to immediate teleportation.

(3) I am sitting here thinking about the 250th anniversary of the United States and how celebratory it could have been. I have long decided that I will not celebrate it under current circumstances. But is that wrong? Should I go down to the Fair on the Mall? (I understand from a few people who have gone that it is not at all worthwhile going to, but should I see for myself?) Or should I go back and see the green algae on the Reflecting Pool? Or maybe try to get a glimpse of the damage to the Ellipse caused by the UFC fight, or the damage caused on the White House grounds by the $400 trillion dollar ballroom construction? Should we go and see the tarp now covering the front wall of the Kennedy Center before it comes down? Or should we just drive down Constitution Avenue to see all the bigger than life size photos of Donald on the exterior walls of all of the federal buildings?

Yes, there are still ways to celebrate and we would have to do that now, because we are not going to be in town on July 4, when the biggest fireworks show in the history of the universe (barring a few supernovas, but they don’t really count) comes off near the Washington Monument. At least that will be fun, right? Bring the kids……

Well, don’t. The kids aren’t really going to be welcome, because the fireworks this year are not going to start until 10:30 p.m., so if you bring the kids, you have to assume that they won’t get to sleep at all that night. And, it’s going to be a bit tight. You won’t be able to see the fireworks from the Mall as usual – it is, after all, junked up for the Fair, and you can’t see it from the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial or the Reflecting Pool (gotta keep that algae clean). So unless you can get on the Monument Grounds, or know somebody with a tall roof, you are just plumb outta luck, as they say. (Oh, and if you do come, of course no alcohol, but this year, also no balls or frisbees, and nothing in a bag, unless it is a diaper bag or a clear plastic bag. Just like going to the ball park.)

(4) I am here thinking about the ball park………but that’s another story and, today, not a good one.

(People ask how much time I spent writing these blog posts. I started this one at 10:27. It is now 11:08. 31 minutes, with a few interruptions to answer questions from my better half.)