From the  New York Times  this morning: More than half of the major actions Trump has taken appear to violate laws or the Constitution, according to a Times analysis.   Here’s a look at all of them . The abrupt end to $44 billion in aid has been chaotic. And wasteful. Hundreds of millions of dollars of food may soon rot in the ports and warehouses where it is stuck. The battle against deadly disease, too, could suffer. Until last month, the United States   provided medication   for 20 million H.I.V. patients. The secretary of state said that work should continue, but now the program is in disarray. Without the meds, those lives are at risk and so is the effort to stop the spread and mutation of H.I.V.   ...the core of U.S.A.I.D.’s mission has been helping the world’s poor, and it was a means to an end. “You have to understand,” a veteran American diplomat told me, “we didn’t do this work because we’re all a bunch of bleeding-heart liberals. We did it for in...

The Los Angeles County firestorms are now a week old.  While four of the seven fires have been contained, the largest, Pacific Palisades, is still only around 15% contained, and the most deadly in Eaton, with 17 of the 25 deaths, remains two-thirds uncontrolled.  Worse  Santa Ana winds of up to 70 MPH will return later today , with red flag warnings extending for the counties of San Luis Obispo to San Diego.  While other states (including Republican Texas) are pledging assistance to California, looks like the incoming pathologically vengeful  President Donald Trump  will continue to lie and criticize enemies in his second term, for he blamed Governor Gavin Newsom and President Joe Biden for the fire.  Of course they are Democrats, and California did not vote for him.  States like Hawaii will also be in big trouble in the four years to come, for Harris, percentage-wise, got more votes from Hawaii (61%) than California (59%). More about Trump regard...

I was about to start posting with the title:  How Many Strings Does a Zither Have ?  Classic Arts Showcase on TV in the morning sometimes influences me on what to write.  The first video had Anton Karas playing the zither for The Third Man , and I noticed there were a whole lot of strings.  I have problems with just four of them on my ( wife's ) ukulele.  The zither had to be a greater challenge. But my first duty of this day was to exercise my knees, so I switched the station to the '70's.  I do this on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings before breakfast.  It's been just about a year now, and as might be expected, but nevertheless to my astonishment, my knees are not a problem now when I walk on a golf course.  But more than that: My posture is a lot better when walking. My toes are stronger in the bathtub when taking a shower.  I didn't realize before how important they were in maintaining stability. I've gained a quarter inch in heigh...