What to watch with the family? Ideally, we can find a film that is entertaining for everyone, adults, older kids, and the littles. This doesn’t always happen, of course. But I am compiling a list of films that can pull this off, and here are three for consideration.

The General (1926)

Directed by Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman

We just watched this for the first time and it will be a recurring favorite, I am sure. Buster Keaton plays an engineer attempting to rescue a locomotive stolen by Union forces during the Civil War. The story is outlandish and yet based on a real event known as the “Great Locomotive Chase” from 1862. A silent film with a jaunty piano soundtrack, the film has the look and feel of its period, including awkward frame rates and title cards for the (limited) dialogue. Plan to assign a designated dialogue reader for the family viewing. It will only take a few minutes for everyone to be fully invested in the world of Johnny Gray and his quest to recover his true loves, Annabelle Lee and his train, The General. Delightful physical comedy including dramatic stunts (performed by Keaton on actual moving trains) and impressive set pieces. Two standouts include an amazing sequence with a train water tower and a train bridge explosion worthy of Bridge on The River Kwai which involved the destruction of an actual train (that remained demolished in the river until it was salvaged for scrap metal during World War II). It all makes this a terrific whole family selection. Be warned, however, as the family may demand more and more Buster Keaton films after this one.

Content Warnings: None

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

This is classic, mysterious, beautiful, and delightful Miyazaki. If you aren’t familiar with his films, this is a great place to start. Do not file this film under whatever you may think of “Anime”. This is not that. This is a story of a family facing situations that would be potentially terrifying, the critical illness of a parent and the appearance of a larger than life otherworldly creature. In Miyazaki’s hands, these are both handled with gentleness, care, and wonder. This film is a marvel to look at as well as a fun story for all ages.

Content Warnings: None

The Adventures of Tin Tin (2011)

Directed by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson

Ripped not from the headlines but from old time comic books (1920’s era) and an animated series (1990’s era), Steven Spielberg (and Peter Jackson!) have created a world of adventure that is thrilling from the start to finish. A young reporter is pulled into an international adventure that traverses oceans, deserts, cities, and mansions. It’s got amazing action movie set pieces, swashbuckling sea antics, genuinely comic moment and a heart. It is intense at times—it has its exciting moments—so the younger viewers need to be on the tougher side for this one. Everyone will delight in the recurring bumbling—yet surprisingly competent—twin brother detectives, however.

Content Warnings: Lots of cartoon violence and peril: fist-fights, gunfights, and even ship-to-shore crane fights. There is also a depiction of alcoholism and drunkenness that is presented with care and comedy.

Feel free to add your suggestions for this list of films worthy of viewing for the whole family in the comments. More to come . . .

As you will recall, the term “Avignon Papacy” refers to the period of 1309-77 during which seven popes established their court in France rather than Rome. It was the result in part of French influence over the papacy, legitimate fear of the German emperors invading Rome, and the very involved politics of the period. (Just to give a taste, the Crusades were still going on, the Hundred Years War between France and England was beginning, and Dante was writing his Divine Comedy.) St. Catherine of Sienna was influential in personally convincing the pope to return to Rome.

Probably unfairly to the seven popes, the period was also characterized as the “Babylonian Captivity” and it was assumed that the popes were the puppets of the French kings. That didn’t really happen until after the popes returned to Rome and “pretender popes” were elected in Avignon. And this doesn’t even give you a hint of how complicated it all was.

Anyway, the reference was certainly intended to suggest that the Church could be controlled by the most powerful government on the planet. Wow! And given that the Renaissance started during this period, it could be a good time for artists. (Pres. Trump’s heavy-on-the-gold renovations of the Oval Office are now looking really on point.)

Well, it didn’t happen. The Avignon Papacy did happen, but the Vatican confirmed that there was no such heated conversation and certainly no threat about moving the Pope to Florida. (Although his brother does live there and is a big supporter of the President. So don’t count it out.)

Everything smoothed over and cooler heads prevailed.

BUT NO!

You guessed it, Pres. Trump took to Truth Social.

Rather than go through it all on my own, I’ll leave it to two of my friends who are much more qualified to deal with the details.

Phil Lawler's Substack

Who started the Trump 'feud' with the Pope?

Responding to my analysis of confrontation between Pentagon officials and Cardinal Pierre, @MarkSimonHK wrote on X that “Lawler is more open than I am about the role of @Pontifex…” (This was before Trump’s personal assault on the Pope on Truth Social.) Actually I…

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4 days ago · 24 likes · Phil Lawler

and

The Sayable

Behind The Headlines

Pope Leo’s comment on the plane today, “I have no fear of the Trump administration,” stuck out at me because it is unusual for a Pope to call out a politician by name…

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4 days ago · 2 likes · Delia Buckley Gallagher

In short, Pope Leo expressed his (not surprising) position that the war in Iran is wrong and that diplomacy and discussion should have continued. Responding with the presence of mind and self-control of a honey badger that had been dropped into a nest of fire ants, Donald Trump took to Truth Social and has doubled-down in subsequent statements to the press. (The Pope’s side has also been out with an interview on 60 Minutes with three, shall we say, controversial Cardinals. And Pres. Clinton’s political advisor met with the Pope just before all this began.)

Trump’s lack of equanimity surprised everyone, everyone, that is, who has been living under a rock for the past ten years. At this point had he responded in a statesmanlike manner the world would have stopped on its axis.

Statesmanship

From the moment he descended the golden escalator to declare his intention to run for office, The Donald’s seeming indifference to the words he uses has caused nothing but confusion. Is he really that crazy? Half the country says he is, and the other half says he isn’t. (The rest of the world, by the way, is certain that he is.) He seems intent on driving people mad.

To make the contrast more clear between his words and his deeds, let’s sum up a number of events that, in hindsight, start to make sense:

1. In April 2025, the Trump administration formed a security agreement with Panama after threatening to take it over by force. This effectively removed Chinese influence from this important waterway, an influence that was growing quickly.

2. On January 3, 2026 American forces captured the Venezuelan (not recognized by most countries) president and his wife to face trial in New York. The surviving government is now working very closely with the US. This after China was getting oil from Venezuela at below market prices because the country was sanctioned and could not sell on the open market. Venezuela is estimated to have the largest oil reserves in the entire world. China was able to buy this oil in its own currency and not US dollars.

3. Subsequent pressure and blockade of Cuba has led to negotiations and the release of several thousand political prisoners by the Communists.

4. The February 28 attack on Iran and now blockade of its ports has shut down oil exports from the Gulf, which China relies on. China was also able to buy this oil at below market rates and in its own currency rather than in US dollars.

5. Both the operations in Venezuela and Iran have shown the hollowness of Chinese defense systems, resulting in the demotion, disappearance, and death of many top military officials and defense engineers in China. This significantly reduces the potential of an attack on Taiwan.

6. An agreement between the US and Indonesia was announced this week (although signed in February, interestingly) that strengthens trade and military ties between the two countries.

Here’s a map that might start to make sense of the moves above:

The Trump administration has secured for itself or rendered impassible almost all the major trading chokepoints in the world (Panama, Hormuz, Malacca, Mindoro, Makassar, and Lombok), and certainly the most important ones for China. It has undone the efforts at “de-dolarization” of the oil markets, securing the US dollar as the sole means for trading the most important commodity in the world. (There are some significant economic advantages to this that I won’t get into.)

I could just be reading into these events, but they do seem intentional. They do seem coordinated. But I’ll agree that they don’t seem compatible with posting AI generated memes of oneself as Jesus and then saying, no, I just thought it was a picture of me as a doctor working for the Red Cross. (No, really. This happened.)

Trump at Canossa?

In 1077, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV knelt in the snow at the castle of Canossa in northern Italy, begging for pardon from Pope Gregory VII. Their dispute was over who was allowed to appoint bishops. (A secret agreement with China—yes, them again—was made under Pope Francis regarding this very issue.) Gregory had excommunicated Henry, which brought him to repent.

Again, only those living under a rock could imagine Donald Trump asking forgiveness from anyone. By all measures he should, however. His words were intemperate and unbefitting a man of his position. But it won’t happen.

Perhaps this is another job for Marco Rubio.

Until last Friday everything has more or less been on the same trajectory as the last few weeks. But then the pilot and weapons office of an American F-15E were forced to eject deep in Iran. (Details of why are largely restricted because revealing how it was shot, if it was shot, would or could help other countries learn of its vulnerabilities. That’s why I’m being vague. [Not that Chinese spies are reading DNN. I don’t know what happened.])

The pilot was rescued quickly, but the other airman was not. His parachute took him further away. The process of getting him back was immense. They flew two cargo planes onto a disused Iranian airstrip. Secured the area. Unloaded helicopters from the planes. Flew them to rescue the officer. He, meanwhile, followed his training and scrambled several miles from his landing site, climbed steep terrain, and contacted help. All this while being hunted by Iranians.

So his rescue was a real achievement.

Meanwhile, Pres. Trump was on Truth Social. I wish I could stop there, but duty requires that I press on.

The President truthed (?) several threats to the Iranians using the kind of language I can’t reproduce here. It was vulgar in the extreme. He also threated to “bomb Iran back to the stone age” and destroy their civilization, promising that it would never recover. He even wrote, “Praise Allah” in one of the threats. Huh?

Our friend Phil Lawler has been writing about just war principles. You don’t need to do a deep dive into Vittoria to know that what Pres. Trump was threatening crosses the line.

While some have pointed out that these threats are the kind that Iran has thrown at the US and Israel for years, it does sound different coming from the one country in the world that could actually do it. [Apologies to the Chinese spies, but the performance of their weapons systems in Venezuela and Iran suggest they remain a few steps behind the US.]

Others suggest that this is all part of his “madman” approach to negotiations. There is a lot of evidence that because no one knows how far he will actually go, foreign leaders take his threats very seriously. So he set an 8:00pm Tuesday deadline for the Iranians, after which he would destroy every bridge and power station in the country.

We now have a two week ceasefire.

Perhaps years from now we will know if his public threats worked to broker the agreement. But we don’t know if the Iranians even have access to the internet at this point. They might not have known about the Truth Social threats. We have no idea.

Nevertheless, the ceasefire is going to allow the two sides to negotiate a more permanent solution and, very importantly, tankers will be able to sail through the Strait. There is still a lot to be worked out, but this is a very positive development.

One question in all of this is whether the Iranians doing the negotiations (brokered through Pakistan) have control of the military. Can they keep their men from firing missiles? Do they have a way to even get orders to the guys hidden in bunkers? We hope.

The other question is whether our allies agree. Not just Israel, but several of the Gulf states are now at war with Iran. I read this morning that the United Arab Emirates bombed positions in Iran. Does that break the ceasefire?

Let’s hope the ceasefire holds and a solution can be reached. The latest “truth” from the President says the Iranians have agreed to allow the US to extract all their nuclear weapons materials from the country. Big if true, as the kids say.

Let’s say a real Hail Mary for this one.

First impressions: This is a terrific title. Three simple words that evoke a range of profound associations and reactions. Let’s consider them. We will deal with “Project” last. First we consider, “Hail Mary.” This powerful choice hits home. It is a phrase with grand cultural and spiritual significance. Here in deeply Catholic Massachusetts, when people hear those words in that order, “Hail Mary,” they immediately elevate their minds to reflect on…Doug Flutie.

In 1984, with less than ten seconds to go in their football game, the Boston College Eagles were down 45 to 41 to the Miami Hurricanes. Facing swirling winds and positioned just past midfield, diminutive Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie, dropped back another 15 yards and launched the ball 60 plus yards through the air where it fell into a crowd and ended in the hands of his roommate, Gerard Phelan, who—fortunately for the Flutie—was also on the Boston College Eagles football team, resulting in an improbable victory for BC and an enduring memory for many of what may be the most iconic “Hail Mary” pass in college football history.

The concept is simple. This situation is so bad, and a good outcome so improbable—perhaps even impossible—that your only option is to turn to God for help. Years of elite athletic training, countless hours of practice, coaches’ agonizing study of game film are all worthless at this moment and you must turn to—Gasp!—Prayer. “Hail Mary” has come to mean attempting to overcome a hopeless situation. The phrase was often deployed when describing these plays at Catholic colleges, like Notre Dame and Boston College.

But it is not simply throwing up “a prayer” but specifically a “Hail Mary.” Wouldn’t throwing a prayer be enough? Asking for the intercession of St. Jude, Patron saint of lost causes, for instance, would also be appropriate in these situations, so the desperation pass play could be called the “St. Jude,” but we have the “Hail Mary.”

There is no better model for participating in the impossible than Mary. The first two lines of the Hail Mary describe the most impossible thing that has ever happened, God becoming Man:

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee

Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Ripped from the headlines of the year zero as reported in the Gospels, this singular fact of life, that God came to dwell on earth as a baby Mary’s womb, is the most profound and singularly inexplicable thing to have ever happened. One could charge that applying it to a football game walks the fine line between homage and blasphemy, but I think we can embrace the enduring power and cultural relevance of this distinctively Christian (Catholic) prayer. Long embraced by football fans, the term “Hail Mary” now has cultural relevance outside of football, often used to describe any desperate attempt to accomplish something with a low chance of success.

This brings us back to the title of the new film directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who are known for their previous work on the surprisingly terrific Spider Man Into the Spiderverse, the bafflingly good product placement film The Lego Movie, and the inexplicably amazing adaptation of the nonsense children’s book, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Here they are adapting a novel by the same name, Project Hail Mary, written by Andy Weir (who also worked on the screenplay for the film). I do not know if there is an explicit reference to the actual prayer in the film (as I have not seen it). While I suspect a character will say the words “Hail Mary” in the movie, I highly doubt that there is a moment when a character gives voice to the subsequent words “full of grace” or “fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” There is an even slimmer chance that anyone says the second half of the prayer, “Holy Mary Mother of God, Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.” The title, nonetheless, stands as a cultural marker of the enduring importance of this most powerful of prayers. This film could have been “Project Long Shot,” “Project No Chance,” or a cringey “Project Dream Big,” or “Project Never Give Up.” Weir could be accused of having conceived of the title by trying to think of synonyms for “Mission Impossible.” Weir landed on “Hail Mary.” The filmmakers doubled down on that, and I am grateful for that. Since the Angel Gabriel uttered those words and ever since Christ performed his first miracle at the request of Our Lady at Cana, there has been great power and mystery carried by those words, “Hail Mary.” This major motion picture is both reminding us of (and capitalizing on) that power and mystery. We could take a cynical read on that decision, but I’m going the other way. Three cheers for continuing and expanding the presence of the Hail Mary in the popular consciousness. The producers are leaning into this association with the latest movie poster in fact, which has made “Believe in the Hail Mary” the tagline for the film. Adding “believe” to the mix further suggests a genuine connection to the prayer.

What about the first word of the title: “Project”? As a word, it is a loser. Few like a project. It invokes work, long effort, and . . . planning. No thank you. “Project” also contradicts our typical expectations for a situation requiring a “Hail Mary” on or off the football field. Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary was an emergency. No time for planning and preparation, just drop, pray, and chuck. A “project” that requires the Hail Mary is something else, a kind of contradiction—so bonus points for mystery. Finally, we should note that “project” also means to send out far and wide, as in “project” your voice to the audience. Perhaps the double meaning was intended? Is the film here, in part, to “project” the Hail Mary further into our popular imagination, memory, and practice? That would be a long shot, I know. Some might even call it a Hail Mary.

Birthright Citizenship

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today on the case of Trump v. Barbara. The Court has had written arguments from both sides and from amici curiae (literally friends of the court, legal opinions from people not directly involved in the case). Today is the one chance for both sides to present their arguments in person and for the justices to ask questions. It can (sometimes) give an indication of what the members of the court are thinking.

For the first time in history a sitting president will also be there to listen. There is, of course, no reason for him not to do so. The justices are not the kind of people to be intimidated.

We have discussed the issue of birthright citizenship before and its relation to the Fourteenth Amendment. What is interesting is just how far the argument has moved from only a year ago.

Almost no one would have thought this issue was up for debate. But now it is a tossup. The Court really could rule either way. It is an astonishing development.

DHS Funding

It looks like there is a deal to completely fund the Department of Homeland Security. Large parts of it (ICE has been funded separately) have been without funding for six weeks. Travelers needing to go through TSA at airports should be very happy.

Politicians on both sides, Republicans and Democrats, will claim victory and their party members will probably claim defeat. It is a victory insofar as something actually got done. The Democrats didn’t get ICE defunded or abolished, so large parts of their party will be upset. The Republicans didn’t get the country to blame the Democrats for the shutdown, so their party will complain that it was a missed opportunity to cause them pain.

Moon Shot

Tonight NASA launched a rocket to take American astronauts further into space than ever before. They won’t land on the moon. That will come later. But they will go around it and prepare for the next few missions that will eventually land back on the moon.

For anyone born after 1972, this will be the first time in your lives that anyone will have made this trip. The last mission was Apollo 17 on Dec. 7, 1972.

There should be some amazing pictures. Here is a visual of their ten day (10 day!) mission:

Iran

OK, so this is the big one. Everyone is wondering what is going on there. As before, more of the same.

Israel is racking up a long list of Iranian officials they have killed. We really haven’t seen anything like this before, where the military and political leadership has been eliminated in such numbers.

The only other historical analogy, and it is imperfect, is from the Anabasis of Xenophon. This tells the story of 10,000 Greek mercenaries stranded behind enemy lines after their employer, Cyrus the Younger, is killed in battle. Their generals were called to a treaty with the Persians where they were all killed. Leaderless, the 10,000 had to fight their was back to Greece.

OK, I said it was an imperfect analogy, but you have to like the fact that I get to mention Xenophon and that all this took place in the same location as the war right now.

Some ships are getting through the Strait of Homuz, which suggests there are no mines. Some ships are paying Iran $2 million for safe passage. This suggests that there are Iranians in control of the military forces stationed to shut the Strait. Someone is asking for the money. Someone is getting the money. And someone has enough control to make sure nothing happens to the ships that paid the money.

All this brings us to the reports, claims, counter-claims, and denials about talks between the US and Iran. There might, or might not, be conversations about either ending the war, opening the Strait, neither, or something else entirely.

The President is scheduled to speak to the nation at 9:00pm Eastern time tonight. I’m going to try to post this before the address so I don’t have to change everything I’ve written. Then I’ll probably post again tomorrow when we know what he said.

Iran Implications

Since I can’t report on what the President is going to say, I may as well bring you up to speed on the implications of the Iran bombing. And all we’ve done so far is drop bombs, fire missiles, and use drones. That is significant.

Here at home the President’s approval has been dropping like a stone. There has not been a “rally ‘round the flag” effect. MAGA still loves him. Democrats are tearing their (pink) hair out. And lots of people in the middle are frustrated with rising gas prices.

Countries in Asia are desperate for oil. None of the major countries in Asia have oil or natural gas, so almost every bit is imported from the Middle East. Australia does have both but has stopped all extraction for environmental reasons. They even shut their one refinery, which means they have to import even more expensive refined oil. They have enough left in the country for only a few weeks, if that.

Europe is in a similar situation. France has a lot of nuclear power, so it can at least produce electricity. This is not true of much of the rest of the continent. There are calls for people to reduce their driving, stay home, and even work from home. Rationing and enforced closure of businesses is likely if things continue.

Europe is not happy, and they are not keeping that a secret. Spain has refused to allow American military planes to use its airspace. Italy has refused to allow them to use bases there.

In response, Pres. Trump has threatened to withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which has bound the nations of the West together since the beginning of the Cold War. Its purpose has been described as keeping the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down. It doesn’t seem to be doing any of those things at the moment. But the President can’t do anything about this. Congress passed a law expressly forbidding presidents from removing the country from NATO.

With all this going on the speech tonight is going to be interesting. If there is some sort of quick resolution the economy could get back on track quickly. If, on the other hand, the President will announce further escalation and maybe the landing of ground troops on Iranian soil, it is hard to think of many people who will be happy with that. But if it works…

Everyone loves a winner. And depending on the way it is resolved, if it is resolved, one of the largest oil producers in the world and most strategic sites on the planet (between China and the Mediterranean) will be taken out of the Chinese and Russian orbit and placed firmly in the American.

High risk. High reward. And let’s not forget that this is all in the context of a midterm election this year.

Washington Hogwallop is a loaded name that signals political elements of this film are about to unfold. “Washington” calls to mind George Washington as we observe a slice of America in the midst of the depression. The set design of Wash’s house is modeled on the 1941 photograph by Eudora Welty, “House with Bottle Trees,” part of her collection of photographs depicting the Southern poverty.

Welty’s Photo:

Wash’s House in O Brother:

Wash’s wife, Cora (“heart”), has left him. Remember the title, O Brother Where Art Thou? Is taken from Preston Sturges film Sullivan’s Travels about a filmmaker attempting to make a film about the plight of the poor. Washington Hogwallop presents America as the poor, bereft of heart (“good riddance” he says of Cora) and reduced to physical and moral degradation, eating his horses and betraying his kin.

Like “Po Lazarus,” and “Big Rock Candy Mountain, “You Are My Sunshine” tells another version of the story we are watching, here it is the tale of a lover who has been left behind. The full lyrics could apply to Wash, as his wife up and “R-U-N-N-O-F-T.” Everett knows why she left, “She must have been looking for answers.” Perhaps this is projection, however. The story of “You Are My Sunshine” could be Everett’s as well. We will soon learn he is trying to reunite with his wife before she marries another:

The other night dear, as I lay sleeping

I dreamed I held you in my arms

When I awoke I was mistaken

I hung my head and I cried . . .

You told me once dear you really loved me

And no one could come between

But now you’ve left me to love another

You have shattered all my dreams . . .

In all my dreams dear, you seem to leave me

When I awake my poor heart pangs

So won’t you come back and make me happy

I’ll forgive dear, I’ll take all the blame

Despite the sad tale, the familiar chorus repeats the persistent feeling that this love is still treasured and eternal:

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are grey

You never know dear how much I love you

Please don’t take my sunshine away.

These lines provide a glimpse inside Everett’s head, but we don’t hear them in the film—only on the soundtrack album. While watching the film, we only get the chorus once from Wash’s radio before the song concludes and we hear the voice of Pappy O’Daniel, host of the “Pappy O’Daniel Flour Hour,” the owner of Pappy O’Daniel Flour, and—we later learn—the current sitting Governor of Mississippi. We also later learn that his first name is Menelaus, a name pulled from The Iliad and The Odyssey—the man who launches the Trojan War. In the film he is part of a great conflict between political factions in the form of his campaign for re-election. The “civil” political war that serves as the backdrop of Everett’s adventure brings the stakes of the film out of the spiritual and strictly personal, and into the political as the future of Mississippi is at stake.

Earlier, we were alerted to watch for names when the trio got a ride from the blind “seer” on the railroad pump car.

Delmar: “Work for the railroad old timer?

Blind Seer: “I work for no man.”

Delmar: “Got a name do ya?”

Blind Seer: “I have no name.”

Everett: “Well, that right there might be the reason you’ve had trouble finding gainful employment. You see in the mart of competitive commerce–”

Everett knows that names matter. He will later have to fight to preserve the name of his daughters and his wife who are about to become “Warvey gals.” What of the other names in O Brother?

Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney), our main character, gets the unlikely name Ulysses, pulled from the world of The Odyssey even as he stomps around Mississippi. “Ulysses” is the Latinized version of the name Odysseus used in England and Ireland. It was adopted by James Joyce as the title for his twentieth century adaptation of The Odyssey set in Ireland. Clooney’s character is not called Ulysses, however, only “Everett,” with Old English roots meaning “Wild Boar,” capturing something of the madcap persistence and courage required for his journey. “McGill” is perhaps the most interesting. From either English or Irish, the name means either, “son of a stranger” or “son of a servant.” He will later sing that he is just a “stranger” in “Man of Constant Sorrow,” and he is a man of several disguises like Odysseus himself.

Peter Hogwollop (John Turturro) and Delmar O’Donnel (Tim Blake Nelson) form the pair with whom Everett must navigate this adventure. Rough (very rough) stand ins for Scylla and Charabidis, Peter—like Scylla–means “The Rock” and Delmar (Del = “of the,” Mar = “Sea”) references Charibyds, the deadly whirlpools. But there is nothing deadly about Delmar. In fact, he seems pure and innocent (except for that PigglyWiggly he knocked over). “Of the sea” calls to mind Mary, the star of the Sea, and Delmar’s demeanor is much more like Our Lady than that of a deadly whirlpool. Similarly, Peter “The Rock” is not like a sea monster set out to destroy Ulysses, but he is a devoted, loyal follower, like Peter from the Gospels, and one who—like Peter from the Gospels—will betray his promises before the film is over. It seems Everett, then, is not threatened by a sea monster and a whirlpool, but aided by Mary (Delmar) and a Disciple (Pete). Everett is on a personal quest that places him in the center of a political conflict and it all seems to carry cosmic weight.

“You Are My Sunshine” is a sentimental, personal song, but it appears in the film as the stage is being set for a more-than-personal story. The song itself had political associations in real life. “You Are My Sunshine” was first published by Jimmy Davies who became “The singing” Governor of Mississippi in 1944. There was also a real life flour-selling “Pappy” O’Daniel who was governor (and later Senator) of Texas in 1939.

At this point in the film, our trio has been freed from their chains, fed, cleaned up, and ready for a night’s rest. Their slumber will be disturbed however, after Washington turns them in to the “thora-TAYS!”

“They got this depression on. I got to do for me and mine!” Wash justifies himself. Everett and crew—now in a “tight spot”— must go on the run again, from the law and from an otherworldly pursuer without a name, a menacing figure with fire in his eyes—and a mean old hound dog.

Next up, “Down to the River to Pray”

But in plain shock and even play of battle,
Was ever known so great and little loss
On one part and on th’ other? (Henry V, IV.8 113-15)

But this is not over and terrible things can still happen.

What We Know

As I’ve already said, the military campaign is very lopsided. Iran seems to be running our of missiles while American and Israeli planes and drones can do whatever they want.

The tactic of decapitation, that is to say, killing the entire Iranian leadership in targeted strikes, is unprecedented. Usually, the top political and military ranks are not in direct danger. This is reflected in the concluding lesson of John McCutcheon’s song about the Christmas Truce in WWI, “Christmas in the Trenches”: “That the ones who call the shots won’t be among the dead and lame/ And on each end of the rifle we’re the same.”

Pres. Trump has even pointed out one of the ironies of this policy, namely, that there is no one left to negotiate with. Each time someone is appointed to a leadership role, he dies in an Israeli attack. What does this mean? We really don’t know because we haven’t seen anything like this in military history. [This point probably shouldn’t be in the “What We Know” section, obviously.]

A Wall Street Journal piece this week revealed another feature of Israeli penetration into the Iranian regime. The paper reproduced a transcript from a telephone call where Mossad (the Israeli military intelligence agency) called the personal cell phone of a mid to low level Iranian soldier and spoke to him in Farsi. Apparently, they have the numbers (literally and figuratively) of almost everyone in the country. They are also getting targeting information from Iranian civilians. This is also unprecedented.

That’s the good news. There’s also bad news about what we now know.

Iran fired two missiles at the American base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Remember this island? It is part of the Chagos Islands that Prime Minister Starmer of the United Kingdom was going to pay Mauritius to take off his hands. Everything is connected!

The thing about the missiles targeting Diego Garcia (one of which crashed into the ocean on its own and the other destroyed by the US Navy) is that Iran wasn’t supposed to have missiles that could reach a target that is 2,631 miles from Tehran. Everyone thought that they didn’t have the capacity for that.

A missile that can go that far is known as an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM). If it can reach Diego Garcia, it could reach Berlin (2,200 miles or 3,540KM away), Paris (2,610 miles or 4,200KM) and almost London (2,750 miles or 4,400KM). And Tehran isn’t the closest part of Iran to Europe. European countries do not have anti missile systems that can protect them from IRBMs which can reach descent speeds of up to Mach 10 (that’s ten times the speed of sound!).

Knowing that Iran has missiles of this capacity puts the decision to attack them three weeks ago in a new light, but doesn’t resolve the issue. Some might say that it justifies the operation because they were certainly trying to develop missiles that could threaten Europe. Others might say the operation is even more reckless because they have those capabilities already and might, therefore, have other things we thought they didn’t have, such as nuclear weapons.

New light tends to make opposing interpretations only more clear to the beholder. It comes down to how one feels about being held hostage by apocalyptic fanatics with a death wish, by which I mean the Islamic Republic not, in this case, European environmentalists.

What We Don’t Know

The big unknown is when the Strait of Hormuz will open to tanker traffic and get the oil flowing. A lot depends on this, and not just the price we pay to fill our cars.

The Americas are pretty shielded from the blockage of Hormuz, at least directly. Canada, Venezuela and the US have more oil than they use and other byproducts, such as fertilizer, are sourced from within the hemisphere, too. (California, however, does get gas from across the Pacific because shipping it from the Middle East is somehow more environmentally friendly than producing it locally, which they could and did do.)

Europe and Asia are in trouble, but what can they do? Japan, for instance, has no sources of oil within its territory. This lack of oil was, I’m afraid to point out, one of the reasons it expanded into its “Co-prosperity Zone” prior to WWII. Not really days of blessed memory. Japan and South Korea apparently have several months of reserved oil, but others like India certainly do not.

Most European countries have shut down their domestic supplies of oil and gas for environmental reasons. Much like California, they’d prefer to ship it half way around the world and through some very tricky bottlenecks than pull it out of the ground beneath their feet. (What was I saying about fanatics?) A closed Strait of Hormuz makes them even more dependent on Russian sources. And this is especially true for fertilizer, which they will need very soon as planting season begins.

Oil isn’t just for cars, although that’s were we see most of it. Somehow it is also involved in the production of helium, which is used in the making of computer chips. Don’t ask me how. And the Middle East provided most of Taiwan’s helium. Taiwan is where most of the chips are made for the whole world.

Other News

The Department of Homeland Security remains unfunded. Some airports are seeing five hour waiting times to get through security because TSA officers are not showing up to work if they aren’t getting paid.

Two solutions have been suggested (apart from the obvious one of enough Democrats voting to release the funds). First, Elon Musk has offered to pay the employees, himself. While he has he money, he couldn’t actually do this. He could give as much to the Treasury as he wants, but Congress would still have to pass a bill or continuing resolution to allow DHS to draw money to pay its employees.

The other suggestion, which Pres. Trump seems likely to do, is help staff TSA with ICE officers, who are getting paid. Whether or not that solves the problem, it might be enough to get the Democrats to concede and do what is necessary to fund the rest of DHS. The question is how the part of the party that is fanatically opposed to deporting illegals will respond to this suggestion. Is funding DHS worse than ICE agents in airports?

In other news, the Trump Administration has submitted its petition in the birthright citizenship case. Their argument is that “under the jurisdiction” does not apply to aliens, whether legal or illegal.

Remember that this all hinges on an interpretation of one clause in the 14th Amendment. So there is a lot of work going on to build arguments around how “under the jurisdiction” would have been understood at the time of passing the 14th Amendment. But because no one really wrote down what they thought it meant, probably because they assumed everyone understood, we are trying to trace the history of the concept.

As if the news is conspiring to let me tie everything back to Henry V, one of the arguments used in this case goes all the way back to the Salic Law.

The New Digest

The Salic Law of Our Republic

“In surveying the general structure of the constitution of the United States, we are naturally led to an examination of the fundamental principles, on which it is organized, for the purpose of carrying into effect the objects disclosed in the preamble…

Read more

a month ago · 24 likes · 12 comments · Adrian Vermeule

You will remember that Henry’s claim to the throne of France rested on the Salic Law’s understanding of who is eligible to inherit sovereignty. Well, in a republic, citizens inherit sovereignty. So we have a well-developed history on this very issue. Of course, the fact that the last time we had to turn to the Salic Law was the middle of the Hundred Years War isn’t a great source of comfort.

This question is rarely asked in the War Room.

That hasn’t stopped them from weighing in through the years. Their guidance is usually straightforward, “War is bad, please avoid.”

Why do they keep saying this? After all, who thinks war is good? Is an anti-war song just a predictable refrain, not saying anything particularly relevant?

General Robert E. Lee, while watching his Confederate lines repeatedly repel Union advances (resulting in some 12,000 casualties on the Union side to 5,000 on Lee’s) at the battle of Fredericksburg, turned to General James Longstreet and said: “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.” He had seen it all, and yet he was aware of the grim attraction of the whole enterprise, smoke, fire, sound, fury, life, and death.

There is a risk of forgetting the stakes of a military operation. The fact is that the results—at the micro-personal level—are always bad. And not only bad for those who are injured, killed, lost, and left behind during the events. Even when you are safe and victorious, as Lee was at Fredericksburg, there is a mortal risk—at the soul-u-lar level—of taking delight in the process.

These songs are not about the present operation and they are not protest songs, exactly, but they offer a reminder, in their own way, of what is at stake. They are also terrific songs that find their way back into my listening rotation regularly.

Life During Wartime

Talking Heads on the 1984 Album Stop Making Sense (Live) and 1979 album Fear of Music

This energetic and deceptively upbeat song documents the trials of life under siege and on the run during a war. The lyrics read like moments from a spy thriller. “I got three passports, couple visas, don’t even know my real name.” It paints a desperate portrait of life after the bombs while fighting for survival. There is excitement and even hopefulness in this adventure (“we make a pretty good team”), but what is lost grows more profound, as we go from “no party,” “no disco,” “no speakers, no headphones, no records to play,” to “can’t write a letter” and “can’t write nothin’ at all.” David Byrne’s vocals grow in their manic anxiety until all that is left is the drive for survival:

Burned all my notebooks

What good are notebooks?

They won’t help me survive

My chest is aching

Burns like a furnace

This burning keeps me alive

16 Military Wives

The Decemberists on the 2005 album Picaresque

“16 Military Wives” is a zany, searing, critique of the role of propaganda in wartime and begins with the cost up front—military widows and the children left behind. Likely written to target the Bush administration specifically, they have written a song that pushes the problem of war mongering to an absurdist breaking point, and created something more timeless than an topical opinion-piece as a result. By zeroing in on the military wives, the ones who will be left behind, the song grabs a hard moral center. Through and a series of increasingly bizarre number plays, (16 military wives, 32 softly focused eyes, 32 gently clutching wrinkled little hands, 15 celebrity minds, 14 cannibal kings [an homage to Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”?]), the song sets its sights on the media (and others) who choose to see no evil like “The anchor person on TV who goes ‘Laa dee-da dee-da dee-da-dee-da-de-daaaaAh!’” A great horn section and improbable drum fills complete the arrangement of an all time great track.

Us and Them

Pink Floyd on the 1973 Album Dark Side of the Moon

We talked about Dark Side of the Moon and Pink Floyd and Parenting earlier. In the song “Us and Them,” Roger Waters, Pink Floyd’s chief lyricist and creative powerhouse, has written a reflection on war from many perspectives through a series of simple word pairings, “Us and Them, Me and You, Black and Blue, Up and Down, etc.” No Dr. Seuss rhyme here, however, Waters has his sights set on bigger game, “Down and Out, it can’t be helped, but there’s a lot of it about. And who’ll deny its what the fighting’s all about.” OK, maybe not that profound, but it’s a great song with a terrific organ intro, soaring backing vocals, and a terrific saxophone solo.

Goodnight Saigon

Billy Joel on the 1982 album The Nylon Curtain

After an erie introduction featuring the sound of an approaching Huey helicopter, Billy Joel unfurls a tale from the Vietnam war, from training, to deployment, to seeing friends fall in the fight. Through a series of brief vignettes, “Goodnight Saigon” manages to bring home the struggle and remember the cost. No anti-war screed here, Joel’s song is a tribute to the men who fought (Joel did not) and a lament for those who did not come home, culminating in the stirring chorus that brings home the pull of camaraderie, “We said we’d all go down together.”

Fort Hood

Mike Doughty on the 2008 Album Golden Delicious

Mike Doughty’s irresistibly funky reflection on wartime is named for the Army base in Texas, although “Fort Hood” does not appear in the lyrics of the song itself. Doughty’s song is an uncomprehending look at those who have chosen to fight—the soldiers themselves. He just doesn’t get it: “I’d rather clank on the bass in a cold basement. I’d rather keep the fire and the frenzy out of my mind.” But he fears for the veterans he sees traumatized upon return, “I see them coming back, motionless in an airport lounge.” He wants these young men to be out with “a prom dress girl” and to “still believe in an endless world” and ultimately appeals—in his hard-to-believe-this-is-a-professional-singer tone—in desperation (and in reference to a Vietnam Era 5th Dimension song) to “Let the sunshine in.”

Are there any pro-war rock songs out there? None come to mind. Vince Vance and the Valiants famously parodied the Beach Boy’s “Barbara Ann” with “Bomb Iran” amid the 1980 Iran hostage crisis, but that was just that, a parody. This seems right, too. There would be something grim about popular music celebrating the reality of war. Rockers are not statesmen, and they are not sources of wisdom when it comes to foreign policy or military strategy, but they may have something to offer. I share these songs not as a position on the current conflict, but as a reminder—one that even Robert E. Lee might have found worthwhile.

Here’s the link to the playlist.

We can use stasis in both meanings to describe the world around us. The military action in Iran is continuing, but we are seeing very few changes. The US and Israel continue to bomb various sites and, last I heard, five Americans were injured and one died [in the last 24 hours — ed.] . Things are changing and yet nothing is changing since last I wrote. Is this “stasis” or “stasis”?

Here at home the meaning is less ambiguous, unfortunately. On the same day, two different acts of Islamic terrorism occurred in the country. In one, a Lebanese man drove a car filled with explosives into a synagogue and Jewish school in Michigan. He was shot and killed by the armed guards that are, alas, all too necessary at Jewish centers around the world. The second involved a Muslim man from Sierra Leone, a naturalized American citizen, who was previously convicted for aiding ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a terrorist group that has killed Americans and other around the world). He attacked an ROTC class at Old Dominion University in Virginia where he shot and killed Lt. Col. Brandon Shah. Students fought back, unarmed, and killed the terrorist.

All of this comes just days after two Muslim Americans threw bombs into a demonstration in New York City. A small group was demonstrating against Muslim influence in the city in front of Gracie Mansion, the official home of the mayor of NYC who is a Muslim. A larger group formed to protest the demonstrators, calling them fascists and white supremacists. As one of the (white, liberal) demonstrators was chanting on his bullhorn, a young Muslim man climbed over his back and threw an improvised explosive device (a small bomb filled with nails) into the demonstration. Fortunately, it and another similar bomb did not detonate.

There was also an attack on a bar in Austin, TX on March 1 where four people were killed and fifteen wounded. The terrorist was, again, Muslim. And, like all the above cases, was a US citizen. The two young men from New Jersey who had their pleasant trip to the City disrupted (see below) were born here to immigrant parents. The others were all immigrants who became citizens. Is there a part of the government that should be looking into this?

You might remember that the Department of Homeland Security is currently going unfunded by the government. DHS is a counter terrorism office as well as the home of TSA, the airport security division. There is pressure on Democrats to resume funding it during this time of increased terrorism, but bills to do so have failed in the Senate as recently as yesterday. This means that everyone checking your bags at the airport is not getting paid, nor are those looking for terrorist networks. Some are quitting so they can find jobs that will pay their rent.

We can hope that those charged with oversight do not overlook this.

Suicidal Empathy

The term “suicidal empathy” is gaining traction and is popping up in discussions throughout the English speaking world. It was coined by Gad Saad, a Canadian evolutionary psychologist who has moved to the United States because, being Jewish, he is no longer safe in Montreal.

The term captures the idea that some people feel so empathetic that they are driven to actions that will bring about their own demise. The photo above of a liberal American demonstrating in support of increased immigration of Muslims, only to be used as a launch pad by a Muslim terrorist is almost too perfect an example of suicidal empathy. Had the bomb detonated, there is a good chance Mr. Launchpad would have been injured or died. Since the incident, he has publicly stated that he still supports mass immigration and does not think that Muslim terrorism is a real danger. You can’t make this up.

Speaking of making things up, CNN’s initial story (since deleted) cast the softest light on the NYC terrorists:

“Two Pennsylvania teenagers crossed into New York City Saturday morning for what could’ve been a normal day enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather. But in less than an hour, their lives would drastically change as the pair would be arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest outside of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home.”

This CNN article was written after it was already known that the suspects told authorities that they wanted to cause more damage than the Boston Marathon bombers and wrote out statements pledging their loyalty to ISIS (yes, the same organization as the Old Dominion terrorist joined). If this isn’t suicidal empathy, I don’t know what is.

The House and Senate introduced bills earlier this week to order the President to remove all forces from unauthorized hostilities in Iran. (Notice they avoid the word “war.”) It failed in both houses along mostly party lines, 47-53 in the Senate and 212-219 in the House. Even if it had passed the President could have vetoed it and neither vote was anywhere near the 2/3 majority required to override a veto.

What this means is the use of military force in Iran is legally ambiguous. It could be authorized under the Authorized Use of Military Force act from 2001. It might be compliant with the War Powers Resolution of 1973 (passed by 2/3rd majority over Pres. Nixon’s veto, by the way). But now that both houses of Congress have refused to stop the military activity when given the chance to vote on the issue, there really isn’t much of a legal or Constitutional issue against it.

This isn’t really the way the Article I branch (the legislative) and the Article II branch (the executive) are supposed to operate, but we’ve been doing it this way for decades.

What’s Been Happening?

The good news is that the American military has been demonstrating an astounding level of proficiency, as has the Israeli. On the attack side, they have had amazing success taking out all defensive systems in Iran and degrading the offensive systems. They are also systematically eliminating the leadership of the Islamic Republic. On the defense side, the interceptors have shot down an astounding number of missiles and drones.

The bad news is that the Islamic Republic is even crazier than we thought. The whole reason for the war military operation was that the Iranian apocalyptic fanatics would not be restrained by the principles of self-preservation and rational calculation. They’ve proven that theory correct.

At last count, the Iranians have attacked 14 different countries with combinations of ballistic missiles and drones. They are attacking their erstwhile allies, such as Qatar, and all other Arab nations. Normally, these countries will at least publicly object to anything Israel does against any Muslim country. Now they are joining the US and Israel. Saudi Arabia may even use its air force to bomb Iran. One ballistic missile was shot down over Turkey. We don’t know if it went astray or was intentional, but technically it would draw all of NATO into the war because Turkey is a member. It is also on Iran’s border so a land invasion would be possible from there if Turkey got involved.

Not only is Iran alienating every surrounding country, it is not able to rely on allies further away. China has supplied Iran with a significant part of its military technology including, in the last thing I read, supersonic anti-ship missiles. Iran fired them off and not one of them hit their target. Oops. Now China has signaled that it will provide only “moral support” for Iran, but nothing more.

What Are Some of the Consequences?

We can’t say what is going to happen, but we can see what is happening. Here are some things we can say:

1. American Military: American military dominance is clear. Chinese and Russian weapons systems are no match for what the US has. They supplied Venezuela, too, and that didn’t work out well for them. Who will want to be their allies now?

2. Allied Militaries: Israel is at the top of its game. Don’t mess with Israel. We are also learning that Europe is hollow (except for France). The UK can barely set forth a few ships. The navy that once ruled the seas is stuck in port. Meanwhile, countries like the United Arab Emirates have larger and more sophisticated air forces than once world-leading forces like Canada. Power is shifting.

3. Economic Impact: Everyone is looking at the price of oil and natural gas. A huge amount of the oil and gas that comes out of the Middle East passes through the narrow Strait of Hormuz. Iran is trying to close that waterway; the US is trying to keep it open. (There are some fascinating but complicated things going on with maritime insurance, but I won’t get into that here.) With the war in Ukraine most of Europe has shifted its imports from Russia to the Middle East. Now that is being strangled. (Europe actually has lots of oil and gas in the ground. They just won’t extract it for political reasons.) But the longer this goes on the higher prices will go, and that’s not good for anyone’s economy.

   

4. China: China is in a bind. It needs oil and gas and something like 80% of it comes from the Middle East and through the Strait of Hormuz. Their erstwhile ally is trying to strangle that passage. Hmm. Maybe that accounts for the lukewarm support. Reports are coming in that Chinese military planes are not currently harassing Taiwan, something they’ve been doing for years. Are they trying to save gas? Maybe. It does give us an indication of just how sensitive China is to interruptions in their energy supply.

What To Watch For

The sooner this comes to an end the better for everyone. No one is going to benefit from a long, protracted war operation. Human casualties are the first concern, of course. Then comes the infrastructure in the Middle East and economic consequences elsewhere.

The Strait of Hormuz will continue to be the main thing to watch. Currently it is closed because Lloyd’s of London will not insure any ships, not because Iran has physically closed the strait. The US has stepped in to act as an alternative insurance company. One theory is that the US cut out the UK’s intelligence community on the attack on Iran because Prime Minister Starmer could not be trusted. It has long been suspected that Lloyd’s got secret information from MI6 about foreign affairs which allowed them to maintain their place at the center of insurance. (OK, I couldn’t help talking about insurance.) If a US version replaces Lloyd’s the world insurance markets would change dramatically and the UK would lose a massive economic mainstay.

The midterm elections are coming soon and gas prices are rising. More Americans are going to vote according to their economic interests rather than a war halfway around the world. If the economy sours, look for a very bad result for Pres. Trump. A Democrat majority in the House will start impeachment proceedings immediately and a Democrat majority in the Senate would schedule a trail in the most painful way possible for the President. On the other hand, a quick victory would be something to celebrate in the same year as the 250 anniversary of the country. Oil and gas prices would drop, patriotism would be up, and Democratic complaints that Trump doesn’t know what he’s doing would land like a lead balloon. Not much middle ground between those two options.

The US is an oil and gas exporter now, which means we use less than we produce. And now that Venezuela is working with us rather than against us, its oil reserves (calculated to be the largest in the world) could help keep prices reasonable. The rest of the world is not so lucky. Europe is stuck with limited imports, but Japan has only something like 9 months of reserves, China has 4-5 months, and India apparently has only one month worth of oil and gas in the country. These countries are going to be desperate for anything that trickles out of the Gulf of Arabia or via some other route. Short supply and high demand will drive prices through the roof.

The Coen Brothers title, then, calls to mind Sullivan’s project from that film, to make a serious movie about the plight of the poor. “Po Lazarus” let us know this is going to be a story about the poor (in body and spirit), and “Big Rock Candy Mountain” builds on that theme. Have the Coens completed Sullivan’s project? Have they made a serious picture about the plight of the poor?

Well . . . No.

But . . . Yes.

That title panel is the first of several panels with simple lettering that appear before short snippets of action—silent film style—showing our still unnamed characters chained together in their prison stripes as they attempt to run from the chain gang. If “Po Lazarus” and the chain gang revealed the seriousness of purpose behind this movie, and if the title set us up to think we were watching a “serious film about the plight of the poor,” seeing our trio jumping up from the field—improbably unnoticed by the trio of sheriffs behind them—and gallumphing erratically and diving through the grass offers a punchline—this is going to be ridiculous. The song leans into the silliness and tells part of the story:

One Evening as the sun went down and the jungle fires were burning

Down the track came a hobo hiking and he said boys I’m not turning

I’m heading to a land that’s far away beyond that crystal fountain

So come with me we’ll go and see, the big rock candy mountain

These words foreshadow elements of the plot as Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney), has enlisted Delmar O’Donnel (Tim Blake Nelson), and Pete Hogwallop (John Turtorro) in a jail break with the promise of a hidden treasure. Like the hobo, Everett has promised a bright future over the horizon, one that sounds too good to be true. The remainder of the song details the joys of life at the Big Rock Candy Mountain, including cigarette trees, lemonade springs, a lake of stew (one of Whiskey too), where the hens lay soft-boiled eggs, and the “little streams of alcohol come trickling down the rocks,” the litany of glories to be found continues like that in each verse—a picture of paradise from the dreams of a “hobo.” Yet, the promise of the hobo (and, we will learn, of Everett) has some substance behind it. Odysseus was on an epic journey for home. “Big Rock Candy Mountain” captures the longing for a true home in heaven.

As the second verse begins, a title card appears with actors’ names. In the corners of the card are four small images, little line drawings—top left, a Cross (yes, a cross!); top right, a Key (What? like . . . Peter, but only one?); bottom right, the Star of David (Um, Old Testament anyone?!), and the bottom left, a layer cake (your guess is as good as mine!). Should we draw any conclusions about those images? Probably not, just small details randomly pulled from the movie to come.

The trio continues to lurch, inexplicably unnoticed, across the field. Our escapees have made their way toward a farmhouse where they can grab some supplies, including a live chicken. As they escape with it, Everett holds the bird upside down (an inverted chicken is a calm chicken). Its wings splay out to each side, making the silhouette of a bird in descent.

Can I be faulted for noticing that that bird resembles depictions of the Holy Spirit?

Are these travelers accompanied by God—the Holy Spirit—on their journey (like Odysseus was assisted by the Athena)? Maybe, although they do subsequently eat that chicken in the woods. We hear the last verse as they make a final chaotic dash for a passing train.

In the big rock candy mountain the jails are made of tin.

You can walk right out of them as soon as you are in.

There’s aint no short handled shovels no axes saws or picks.

I’m going to stay where the sleep all day

where they hung the jerk that invented work

In the big rock candy mountain

This final verse returns to the dream of a prisoner, longing for a place with jails that are just a home–a place where you can come and go as you please. The last plea is a bit jarring, however, seeking where they “hung the jerk that invented work.” Who invented work? Adam did. In The Fall. God punishes Adam with the need to work, “with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life.” (Genesis 3:17). Due to disobedience, man must work . . . for his entire life. But what could it even mean to “hang” Adam? That seems impossible and nonsensical—until we realize we’ve done it. We placed Christ—the “New Adam” upon the cross. So making it to the Big Rock Candy Mountain, getting to paradise, getting right with God, might mean returning to the place where they tried to kill him, to Calvary. And in order to make sure we haven’t missed the reference, the song ends with a line drawing attention to the story from Genesis:

I’ll see you all this comin’ Fall in the big rock candy mountain.

Hold on, you may say. First, “Po Lazarus” meant that the movie is about law, the possibility of salvation, and reconciliation with God, and now we are supposed to see this silly song announcing that the film is about a quest for heaven, and even a return to Christ? Am I saying the Coen Brothers are “secret Catholics” again [I did think we were done with that. Ed.]? Could I be seeing things that aren’t really there, or at least, weren’t really intended by the filmmakers? Of course I could.

But to quote Vizzini from The Princess Bride: “Wait ‘till I get going!”

Our trio are now free to embark on their adventure. They chase a train and Everett climbs aboard, hoping to find a “Smithy or someone otherwise skilled in the metallurgic arts.”

Next Up. “You Are My Sunshine”.

The United States and Israel bombed various military and government installations early this morning. The division of labor seems to have the American forces destroy military assets and the Israelis target the political and military leaders. We already have credible reports that the Ayatollah Khamenei, the religious leader and real power in the country, has been killed. Everything is provisional at this point, but wow!

It is too early to make any grand assessments, but this could be one of the most positive events in the quarter century since 9/11. The terrorist attack on New York City and the Pentagon was the logical conclusion of Islamic attacks on the West, starting not so much with the Munich Olympics, but the taking of hostage the American Embassy during the Iranian Revolution. If this is successful in overturning the Islamic Republic, we could see a reversal of the trajectory of politics in the region.

Fascinatingly, Saudi Arabia has declared that it will join the US and Israel in their attacks on Iran. This is because Iran’s response to the assault this morning was to send missiles to seven countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia. The Saudis do not have diplomatic relations with Israel but they will engage in joint military actions? Strange days, indeed.

The Decision

The decision to go to war is not to be taken lightly. That’s why the Constitution puts the power to do so in the hands of the Senate. Oh. What were they doing this week? They held a “Bipawtisan Doggi Gras Pawrade” for their pets. I guess everyone’s lucky Trump isn’t a horse guy. (Caligula reference there for those in the know.)

Was what Trump did (is doing) illegal? That’s tricky. First, we’ve been “at war” several times in the last eighty years without a declaration of war from the Senate. For those of us who would like to see the Constitution followed closely by elected representatives, this is troubling. But in this case it might be less so.

The Senate issued an “Authorized Use of Military Force” AUMF on Sept. 18, 2001. It has not been repealed. There was a separate one issued specifically in regards to Iraq which has been repealed. Does the AUMF apply to the events today? Maybe. Probably.

The Constitution also gives the President broad powers in regards to international relations in Article II. Although it does not use the phrase, the strong implication is that salus populi, suprema lex (the safety of the people is the highest law). Presidents have used this implied meaning of their powers from the beginning. Given that there was almost no pushback in Congress to the massive movement of military assets into the Middle East in preparation for this morning’s attacks, one might see tacit agreement there among legislators.

The Outcome

No one knows what will come of today’s attack. There are three broad possibilities:

1. The regime leaders are all killed and the Revolutionary Guard is crushed. People rise up and are supported by the non-radicalized military. As a result Raza Pahlavi, the son of the last Shaw, can step in to set up some sort of constitutional monarchy.

2. Remnants of the regime survive and a civil war ensues. Israel does not have the ground forces to intervene and the Americans are still wary of a war of this sort since the Iraq War (many of the problems and casualties in which were caused by Iranian soldiers). Other countries (see below) could be drawn in.

3. Airstrikes alone cannot take out the leaders or new leaders emerge. The Islamic Republic essentially survives, inflicts further reprisals on its people, and not much is different from yesterday.

The three possibilities depend on the efficacy of the military operation and whether the emerging coalition of what seems at this point to be the entire Middle East can actually hold. This all depends, in turn, on the intelligence operations in Iran. Are the Americans hitting the right military sites and are the Israelis hitting the actual leaders of the regime? Large scale civilian casualties and ineffective decapitation of the regime would point towards the less favorable outcomes.

Concurrent Events

Pakistan and Afghanistan are now at war. Just to put this in context, Pakistan has nuclear weapons (developed to counter India) and both countries border Iran. This could get messy. A civil war in Iran could easily pull in one or both countries. Even a very weakened Iran would open up the use of its territory for military purposes for either of these countries. Better to fight on Iranian soil than your own. That would not help.

Prior to this morning’s attacks, the United Kingdom refused to allow the US to use any of its military bases for any actions against Iran. The Labour Party of the UK, currently in power with Kier Starmer as Prime Minister, is beholden to Muslim voters and cannot support any action against Islamic countries, no matter what. There are demonstrations by Iranians throughout the world currently in support of the actions by the US and Israel. These will be important to follow.

However, Starmer and his Labour Party rely on a coalition of Muslims and leftist. Well, they did. There was a bi-election in a safe Labour seat just the other day which was won by a member of the Green Party, which is a real coalition of Islamic/Environmental radicals. If Labour loses the Muslims they lose power. This is why he is doing everything he can to appease them, even to the extent of proposing blasphemy laws that would protect only Islam. There is a good deal of speculation that the UK was not informed of today’s plans because they could not be trusted for this very reason.

Russia and China have been silent so far. Both have been allies of Iran. Russia gets drones from them for the war in Ukraine and China gets a lot of its oil from Iran. But Russia is overextended at the moment and cannot help anyone. Meanwhile, Xi Jinping has removed (from office and/or from life) most of the top Chinese military in the wake of the successful Venezuela operation. This should send a signal to the world that they are not reliable allies. Collapse of the Islamic Republic would also have profound effects on the Ukraine War and on the Chinese economy.

I’ll try to keep you updated. In the meantime, it might be a good idea to go and listen to that O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.

The songs were selected by T. Bone Burnett and recorded before the Coen brothers began shooting the movie. While the script was based (very loosely) on The Odyssey and while it won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, the Coens claim to have never read the epic. In important ways, the soundtrack came first. Each of the songs plays a critical role in the film and merits consideration. With Nineteen songs on the soundtrack, I am not going to attempt to address them all now, only the first—“Po Lazarus.”

The soundtrack version of the song “Po Lazarus” was performed in 1959 by James Carter and his fellow inmates, actual prisoners from Camp B in the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Lambert and recorded by Alan Lomax as part of a project documenting the music of the rural South. After the O Brother soundtrack became a commercial success, Lomax’s daughter helped find Carter (who did not recall the performance), paying him royalties and inviting him to attend the Grammy awards where the album won Album of the year.

Before anything happens in O Brother Where Art Thou, before we even see the title, while the screen is still spinning the “Universal” globe, we hear the first dull thud of hammers on rocks, the sound of a chain gang at work. The rhythmic pounding continues as a the screen goes black and few credits appear followed by this quote from The Odyssey:

O Muse!

Sing in me and tell the story

Of that man skilled in all the ways of contending,

A wanderer, harried for years on end . . .

Under this epigraph, a voice calls out “Po Lazarus!” and it is repeated by other voices down the line (still not shown on screen), “Po Lazarus!,” “Po Lazarus!” Finally the sepia toned landscape comes into view as the voices of the now visible chain gang rise up, singing as they continue swinging their hammers and axes:

Well the high sheriff

He told the Deputy

Won’t you go out and bring me Lazarus

Bring him dead or alive, Lord, Lord

Bring him dead or alive

Well the Deputy, he told the high Sheriff

I ain’t gonna mess with Lazarus

He’s a dangerous man, Lord, Lord

He’s a dangerous man

Their voices interplay with changing emphasis and slightly varied timing, the dull thuds rolling down the line and different voices climbing to the fore. The song is earnest and we see the prisoners on screen drawing inspiration from the words as they work. Under the singing there is some banter emphasizing the subservient position of prisoners, “pick up that hammer, boy.” “Yessir.” This is a grim situation despite the beautiful song.

What does this song tell us about the story that is about to unfold?

It sets up a few of the big themes to come—the relationship between man, the law, and God. In the song, the Sheriff and the Deputy Sheriff fear Lazarus because he is a “dangerous man.” Isn’t that the Sheriff’s job, to deal with dangerous men? What kind of danger does Lazarus represent?

Lazarus is a weighty name. It calls to mind first the “poor Lazarus” of Jesus’ parable, the poor man who lays at the rich man’s gate, full of sores, and who will receive his reward while the rich man will be punished (Luke 16: 20-31). One important reading of this parable is to see the cosmic burden of the rich and the poor, but there is another profound lesson in it. This parable ends not only with a warning about the eternal risks of inordinate attachments to things of the world, but with direction about how to care for our brothers and where we should go to find answers. The rich man, suffering in hell, pleads to “father Abraham” to go warn his (oh?) brothers so that they may choose a better path. But he is rebuked, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe, if one rise again from the dead.”

The end of this parable—one rising from the dead—points of course to Jesus’ resurrection, but it also points to the other Lazarus, the real Lazarus, Jesus’ friend. Martha and Mary did not believe he could be brought back from the dead, knowing Lazarus had been dead for three days, yet Jesus says, “Come out” and Lazarus emerges from the tomb (John 11:43). Who can be saved? If Lazarus can come back from the dead, then all things are possible with God.

What kind of danger does Lazarus represent in the song “Po Lazarus”? The risk of true justice, transformation, faith, and redemption, all profound ideas for a group of prisoners and themes that remerges throughout the movie.

At about two minutes in, we haven’t seen the main characters. We haven’t even seen the title of the movie yet, and already, “Po Lazarus” has placed these stories and their weighty themes into the atmosphere of the film—gravity for the madcap comedy that is about to unfold. In the following hour and forty-five minutes, we will get to know three prisoners who have escaped from a chain gang as they seek a “treasure,” transformation, reunion with family, and redemption from God. We will also meet the “high” Sheriff in pursuit, who may be the devil himself. The implications of “Po Lazarus” may be just what these characters need as the adventure begins.

Next up: “Big Rock Candy Mountain” begins to play as we finally see the title of the movie on screen.

The Case

The dispute centers around the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) from 1977. This gives a president wide ranging authority to “regulate, direct and compel, nullify, void, prevent or prohibit, any acquisition, holding, withholding, use, transfer, withdrawal, transportation, importation or exportation of, or dealing in, or exercising any right, power, or privilege with respect to, or transactions involving, any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States” (50 U.S.C. § 1702(a)(1)). There are a few other details, but this gives you the idea.

The Court did not rule on the question of whether there is, in fact, an emergency taking place. They seem to have left that decision to the president to decide, as the IEEPA suggests.

The question is over whether or not the list above—which does not use the word “tariff”—could also include the imposition of tariffs. The decision written by Chief Justice Roberts rules that because tariffs are not mentioned, tariffs cannot be used under this law. He thinks it is pretty straightforward.

Then things gets complicated.

Concurring

A tradition in the Court that developed early in its history is that all other justices can write their reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with the decision. In this case, of the 6 justices that agreed that tariffs are not a part of the law, 5 wrote their own opinions: Roberts, Barrett, Brown, Gorsuch, and Kagan. So we have five different explanations for why they agree.

Justice Gorsuch wrote a concurrence of 48 pages in which he not only argued his case, he took aim at the other concurrences! He is especially hard on the liberal justices (Brown, Kagan, and Sotomayor) who thought President Biden had this kind of wide-ranging authority to forgive student loans, but don’t think so now that a Republican is in the White House. The other three were much shorter and didn’t get into the fight quite so much, but there is clearly a lot of disagreement about their agreement.

Their disagreement arises from the “major questions doctrine,” an idea in the law that only Congress can resolve issues of vast economic and political importance. For example, if Congress passes a law that says we need to reduce the number of traffic accidents, the President can’t decide that the best way to do so is to ban people from driving at night. So in regards to the case at issue, the President can’t just decide that tariffs are the best way to do what IEEPA wanted, even though they are never mentioned. The major questions doctrine arises because a lot of legislation is ambiguous and a lot of presidents (and their administrative agencies) have used those ambiguities to take on a lot of power to themselves.

Dissenting

There are two dissenting opinions, one from all three of the dissenters (written by Kavanaugh and agreed to by Alito and Thomas) and one from Thomas. Kavanaugh argues that regulations of the sort listed above in IEEPA have always included tariffs and he offers (over 68 pages) a list of times when this has occurred. Like Roberts, but drawing the opposite conclusion, Kavanaugh thinks this is pretty obvious. He argues that the Roberts decision would allow the President to impose an embargo or cut off all trade, just not regulate through tariffs (under IEEPA).

Thomas, like the concurrences, argues that this is really about the major questions doctrine and argues that the President can make a lot of these decisions, especially when it comes to questions about how to relate to foreign governments. In keeping with his long history on the bench, he maintains a clear distinction between domestic and foreign powers.

Implications

As a court of law not of fact, the Supreme Court decides only if something is constitutional or not. So the question of what to do with the tariff money received by the government is still open. That has been sent down to a lower court to work out.

In the meantime, President Trump has (after a vituperative rant about the traitorous actions of the justices) simply used other statutes to impose the same or higher tariffs. The only problem with these other laws, from his point of view, is that they require Congressional approval within a set period of time. Given how deadlocked Congress is, that seems unlikely.

Deadlocked Congress

Update on that: yes, DHS is still unfunded. This might get a little more attention in light of recent events south of us. The Mexican military (with assistance from the United States) tried to capture one of the leading drug cartel leaders. He died in the attempt. His cartel has now gone on a spree of violence. Some American tourists in popular tourist areas like Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta have been taken hostage, according to the State Department. Shelter in place orders have been issued in much of the country.

The Department of Homeland Security is supposed to monitor and arrest cartel members in the US. Many entered the country while it was so easy to get in under President Biden. An unfunded DHS could be severely impeded in its abilities at a time of cartel reprisals.

No doubt the President will mention this tomorrow evening (Tuesday) at the State of the Union Address. We have talked about the politics of immigration and border enforcement in past posts. The Democrats have been very vocal in their support of any and all illegals, including even MS13 gang members. We pray that nothing horrible happens, but a few incidents could completely change public attitudes going into the midterm elections.

When Congress kicked the can down the road with yet another continuing resolution, they carved out funding the Department of Homeland Security as a separate item. This was long before the surge of ICE agents to Minneapolis and the death of two American civilians as they tried to impede deportation efforts. The politics surrounding DHS have changed significantly.

The country is still split on the deportation of illegal immigrants. A majority still reports support for deportations. But the scenes of protest coming out of Minneapolis and the deaths of two protestors have hardened the position of those who object to the Trump Administration’s mass deportation efforts. The Democrats are being pressured by their base to make changes to ICE procedures and are using the DHS funding issue to do so.

The Democrats are proposing a list of 10 changes and have refused to approve continued DHS funding until they are met. Ironically, ICE is fully funded throughout this period despite being a part of DHS. It was funded in a separate line of the Big Beautiful Bill last year. Other elements of DHS, such as the Coast Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), are suspended. Most of the members of those agencies will keep working with the hope that they will receive back pay later.

One demand from the Democrats is the use of body cameras for ICE officers. The Administration has already accepted and has started to implement this policy. Body cams were a demand of the Black Lives Matter movement based on the idea that they would prove that police often act unjustly. The opposite happened. Footage has overwhelmingly exonerated police officers in cases where they have shot suspects. This is so much the case that anti-police advocates now protest body cams because they think they are too advantageous to the police. So this was an easy concession for the Administration.

Other demands, such as prohibiting ICE agents from wearing masks, are more contentious. The “masks” agents wear are usually cloths around their necks that they can pull up over the lower half of their faces. With the ubiquitous sunglasses they wear, the agents become unidentifiable.

Masked police is not a good look and it is certainly disturbing to think that there are agents of the Federal government going around carrying out armed engagements while intentionally hiding their identities. Why do they do this? They hide their faces because there is a very well organized and well funded group of protestors who use photos of these agents to track them down, identify their home addresses, and threaten them and their families. They post this information on the internet with the express purpose of encouraging people to harass them. This is known as “doxing” because it is the posting of identifying documents on the internet. It is very dangerous.

In order to keep agents and their families safe, ICE and the DHS have refused to ban masking. This has proven to be an impasse on DHS funding.

Another issue is the type of warrant used to apprehend illegals. ICE currently relies on “Administrative Warrants.” (A warrant provides officials the right to enter a property and detail the individual in question.) These are issued within the department as a result of finding that the person in question is eligible for deportation because of illegal entry or overstaying a visa. This has been the process for decades.

Democrats object that administrative warrants are a denial of due process (our old friend the 14th Amendment again). They want a judicial warrant, that is, a warrant issued by a judge in a new process for each individual with the idea that due process requires that each person have “their day in court.”

Republicans object to the judicial warrants for two reasons. First, due process has already been served because the condition of being in the country on a visa includes being removed by administrative warrant, as do the laws regarding illegal entry. The second objection is that the judicial warrants will grind the process to a halt because there are not enough judges in the system to process all these warrants. The real reason Democrats insist on judicial warrants has nothing to do with procedure, they argue. Democrats just want to stop the whole process and this would do it.

There has certainly been a pattern of liberal organizations suing the Trump administration and succeeding in lower courts (especially in DC) and then having the decision overturned in higher courts, including the Supreme Court. But each one of these cases slows down the process and delays the implementation of Trump’s policy.

These are the main issues preventing the funding of DHS. The Senate is also not in session this week, so not much can be done. But the politics of this goes beyond the specific issues.

While a majority of Americans remain pretty consistent in wanting illegal aliens deported, including non-violent illegals, they have turned against the current practice of doing so. Seeing two Americans die can do that. It has also led to a change in policy at ICE.

The Secretary of Homeland Security, Krisi Noem, has had a policy of maximum visibility. She likes ICE to be very visible and she likes to have lots of video to put on social media showing people detained and deported. She likes a spectacle. She also likes to be in front of the cameras, herself, usually with a lot of military gear and a tight shirt. She’s become known as “ICE Barbie” for a reason.

Tom Homan has taken over operations in Minnesota and toned down the rhetoric a lot. The numbers of deportations has not diminished, but the publicity over them has. He has become the public face of immigration enforcement and Noem has more or less disappeared. (A very negative NYT article on her hasn’t helped.)

So the question is whether nor not a more subtle approach will swing the American people back to supporting Trump’s immigration policies. Immigration was the issue that got him elected the first time and the second. With enough support it could keep his party in control of the House of Representatives in the midterm election this year. He will need that if he wants to get anything at all passed in the Legislature and, more importantly, keep from getting impeached (again) every other week.

The next few weeks will tell us what the two parties see in their internal polls. Which side thinks its current policies are a political liability? The Coast Guard and FEMA, as well as TSA, can’t go unfunded indefinitely. One side is going to have to give.

It is interesting to note that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both recently made comments about the dangers of mass immigration and the importance of enforcement. This could be a sign that their party is nervous. We’ll see.

Before we look at the use of the harpsichord in modern—even rock—music, it is important to observe the harpsichord in its natural environment, baroque chamber music. The best place to go for this is the first movement of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5. The Brandenburg Concertos are concerto grosso (Italian for “music so difficult that the musicians may throw up”). Actually, it means there will be multiple featured soloists. At the beginning of this piece, you have to listen hard (and maybe crank the volume) to find the harpsichord because it is just There, providing the pulse and sonic background. There is a chord under nearly every beat of the music, a layer of sound with a subtle percussive plucks to add a pulse to the music. The harpsichord lays the sonic carpet on which the other instruments proceed to cut their rugs. Later, however the harpsichord moves toward the foreground, pushes the other instruments out of the way, assumes a wide athletic stance, throws its mane of ornate gold-leaf hair over its shoulder and waits for the fireworks to begin launching in rhythm before beginning a world historical cadenza (italian for “ripping it up on your instrument so definitively that you would not be blamed for smashing it to bits afterward because no one could top that. No One.”). During this cadenza, the timbre of the instrument is on display and its technical possibilities pushed to the max. The other place to go to explore the harpsichord in its preferred habitat would be Bach’s “Goldberg variations,” solo harpsichord works plumb the depths of the capacity of the instrument. The first answer to the question, “can the harpsichord rock out?” is yes, it has been rocking out at least since Bach got at it, and here is a playlist link for those works:

With that background, let’s dive into five tunes that attempt to see what happens when the harpsichord appears in modern rock and jazz music.

Fixing a Hole

The Beatles on the 1967 Album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band

Most prominent in the opening moments, the harpsichord is lurking throughout this Beatles classic. Paul McCartney played this originally, but they also had another musician do parts of the studio recording. Sgt. Pepper’s has a lot of sonic surprises, and dropping the harpsichord in the mix is not disorienting as a result but adds to the somewhat dream-like quality of the record. A rhythmic foundation from the harpsichord has something in common with simple guitar strumming and does not feel out of place.

Cypress Avenue

Van Morrison on the 1968 Album Astral Weeks

Troubadour, storyteller, soul singer, and poet are some of the titles thrown at this diminutive nerdy Irishman turned icon of soul music. Cypress avenue has delicate instrumentation all around, supported by a harpsichord that makes it presence known occasionally, along with other baroque instruments, including a violin standing in where you might expect lead guitar licks. While meditative and introspective, this track is no mopey slog, and the harpsichord gives it a pulse that keeps it moving.

For Your love

The Yardbirds on the 1965 Album For Your Love

The Yardbirds were a band called home by two members of the grand royal family of guitar greats, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck (not at the same time). Clapton was still in the band for this track. A session musician (Brian Auger) had been hired to play an organ part for this track but was informed the studio they were using only had a harpsichord and he should use that instead. The harpsichord seems to fit here in this two minute pop song that doesn’t need to be any longer. Supposedly, the track was the tipping point for Clapton to leave the band and seek less pop and more blues in his music. One could imagine Clapton in his best Andy from the Office voice saying, “Hey guys, um, Eric Clapton here. I got this guitar. Might want to let me play it. Just sayin’”

Pikes Place

Soulive on the 2026 album Flowers

This track kicked off the idea for this post. Soulive is a groove-centric jazz-funk outfit, and this track centers the groove around the harpsichord part. The bouncing, rhythm carries a hint of middle-eastern vibe. The unusual keyboard sound is featured throughout, adding flourishes and mini-solo highlights. While likely a sampled/synthesized version of a harpsichord and not the acoustic instrument, it is an impressive exhibition of the baroque era instrument’s sound in a contemporary funk music setting.

M79

Vampire Weekend on the 2008 Album Vampire Weekend

No synthesizer here, Vampire Weekend drops a real harpsichord (and other chamber instruments) into their recording of M79. With a drumset in the mix, the harpsichord isn’t responsible for the momentum on this track, but it helps. In addition to the harpsichord, several other baroque instruments and styles are brought into this track, bringing depth and interest to a song that seems to be full of near nonsense lyrics.

There are others out there. The Beach Boys (“You Still Believe in Me”), Jimi Hendrix (“Burning of the Midnight Lamp”, REM “Half a World Away,” and others have all experimented with the harpsichord. It rocks best in its baroque home, but can hold its own brought into the rock and roll fray. Here's a playlist for this week:

When creating the ultimate war time music therapy piano, however, Rhodes missed an opportunity, as he could have named this new instrument a “Pipe Hammer,” or The “Hammer Tine,” or maybe, if he was a dad, the “Key-17 Bomber,” but no. He opted for the “Xylette” (officially the “Army Air Corp Piano”).

Despite the name, the instrument was a success. After the war, he would expand on this invention, eventually creating a full size keyboard where hammers would strike tines connected to tone bars that resonate like a tuning fork. Electric pick ups placed near each bar transmit the acoustic resonance to an amplifier.

The distinctive instrument would become a favorite of jazz and rock musicians and known as the Rhodes Piano (or the “Fender Rhodes”). It is still used today. Of course, like most acoustic instruments (including pipe organs!) the distinctive sound of the Rhodes can now be reproduced digitally via synthesizers (sigh).

Here are five songs for the Rhodes, an intro to the instrument and some of my favorite iconic tracks that have used it.

Angela (Theme to Taxi)

Bob James on the 1977 album Touchdown

I have no idea why this album was called Touchdown or featured a football and the NFL logo on the cover, but it’s a perfect track to kick off this intro to the Rhodes piano as we head in to Super Bowl weekend. “Angela” puts the Rhodes front and center, showing off its distinctive timbre. The tune is catchy and memorable which made it a perfect fit for the late 70’s TV Show, Taxi.

As

Stevie Wonder on the 1976 Album Songs in the Key of Life

What could be an over-sentimental love song erupts into an irresistibly groovy Rhodes driven piece. Here we hear how the Rhodes can fit as part of a much larger production. An all time great.

Fat Mama

Herbie Hancock on the 1969 Album Fat Albert Rotunda

Composed for the 1969 animated special, Hey, Hey, Hey, It’s Fat Albert, Herbie Hancock employs the Rhodes Piano in this infectious and pretty instrumental. Here the song introduces the rhythm through the horn section, setting the stage for the Rhodes to make an entrance with the melody. This track highlights how well the Rhodes can fit in an ensemble setting, trading, leading, and backing the other instruments at various times. Watch for the various figures and flourishes beginning around the 2:30 mark as the horns build in behind the piano, a great moment and an example Herbie Hancock at his playful best.

Riders on the Storm

The Doors on the 1971 Album L.A. Woman

I don’t spin The Doors that often, but to roll out an introduction to the Rhodes without “Riders on the Storm” could create a rift in the space time continuum and violate several state and Federal regulations at the same time. It is a terrific, ominous, and atmospheric—actual thunderstorm atmospheric—track worth adding to the rotation.

Red Baron

Billy Cobham on the 1973 album Spectrum

The Rhodes sound became a favorite of Jazz fusion artists, jazz that incorporated electronic instruments and amplification (“fusing” rock and jazz). The Rhodes amplification options made it a perfect fit for this emerging genre. Jan Hammer is the keyboardist on “Red Baron” (Cobham is the drummer), and he would also take advantage of the Rhodes ability to be modified by effects. Jazz fusion is known for getting a bit, um, “out there.” This track lives up to that reputation in places but has a subtle, lolling, groove that is catchy and accessible . . . most of the time.

Here’s the list for this week. Considering spinning these when you are looking for an alternative to the to the Super Bowl halftime show.

Nice. That was fast. Welcome back.

Hail Caesar! is a fun, fast-paced, interestingly shot, delightfully acted, brilliantly edited, and persistently funny dramatization of a day in the life of Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), a 1950’s Hollywood film producer, a “fixer”, who must solve problems to keep production on track for several films at once. There’s an “aquatic picture,” a synchronized swimming mermaid film where the lead actress (Scarlett Johannson) needs a husband in real life to cover for a scandal. There’s a drawing room drama, “Merrily We Dance,” with transplanted popular cowboy actor, the horse-riding, roping tricking, stunt man, Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich), who is still getting used to “talkin’ . . . with all those cameras lookin’” while working for stuffy director Lawrence Laurenz (Ralph Feinnes). There’s a musical dancing sailor film with a scheming lead actor (Channing Tatum). Then there is the most important of the projects—the grand biblical epic, “Hail Caesar! A Tale of The Christ”—where the lead actor, Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) has been kidnapped by actual Hollywood communists (including the “philosopher” Herbert Marcuse). All these problems and more develop and must be resolved in one day in the life of Hollywood fixer Mannix who is himself in the midst of a crisis of faith. Mannix has been offered a job, one that would take him out of Hollywood, away from the “circus” and into the “serious” work of the military industrial complex. The unfolding of all of these stories in a short period of time is fodder for dozens of brilliantly executed, genuinely comic scenes. The rapid-fire movement of this film through these productions and storylines creates a nonstop pace that brings a must-keep-watching tension rarely found in a comedy. Yet there are serious themes lurking under the madness that unfolds in Hail Caesar!

The biblical epic under production in the film is called “Hail Caesar: A Tale of the Christ,” and it tells the story of a Roman centurion’s conversion to Christianity. Hail Caesar!, The Coen Brothers movie we are watching, places the audience at the foot of the cross as the film begins. After gazing upon the crucifix, we are then placed inside a confessional where Eddie Mannix is holding his rosary and making his confession–a daily practice for him. He returns to the confessional at the end of the day (and the end of the film) as he faces a crisis of faith, not in God, but in the movie business. He has a competing job offer from Lockheed, a company that could use a problem solver like Mannix. The job would have better hours, better pay, and would put him in proximity to the further development of the atomic bomb. He brings this crisis to the priest in the confessional at the end of the film, seeking and receiving the direction he needs.

A central–and hysterical–scene shows a rabbi, a protestant pastor, an eastern orthodox prelate, and a Catholic priest giving Mannix notes on the Christ-centered film. Mannix needs to know if the film will offend “any reasonable American” while the leaders end up squabbling over theological points, and the Orthodox priest seems most concerned about the believability of the stunts. While Mannix is not an expert and gets confused during the theological discussion, in the script he chimes in on the important point when the priest is describing the Trinity: “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,” Mannix fills in the blank [this was apparently left on the editing room floor, however].

Near the conclusion of the movie, Clooney’s (Whitlock’s) character, the Roman centurion, appears at the foot of a cross. He gives an impassioned speech at the moment of his conversion. The power of his speech converts not just the other character actors on set, but the director, and the cameraman, and the gaffer, and a guy with a clipboard, and probably the key grip. The actor’s words carry off the set and into reality. Whitlock himself, however, is so divorced from the meaning of his speech that he can’t remember the final word, “faith.” His lapse ruins the shot and the moment is played for laughs. Yet the moment, for Mannix, is the result of his work day. He has literally ransomed Whitlock back from the communists and then set him straight regarding his faith in film:

You are gonna give that speech at the feet of the penitent thief and you’re gonna believe every word you say. . . You’re gonna do it because the picture has worth and you have worth if you serve the picture and you’re never gonna forget that again.

If the movie is about faith in moviemaking, then what is it saying–is it saying anything?–about faith in God? “The picture has worth and you have worth if you serve the picture.” Are we asked to rephrase those lines: “Christ has worth and you have worth if you serve Christ”? No one lives up to the standard of Christ. In that we are all like the actors who fail to live up to the lives expected of them. It is interesting that Whitlock’s character is described as at the foot of the “penitent thief” not at the foot of Christ Himself. The penitent thief is like us in that he was a real criminal, not an innocent man. Whitlock’s character is converted by the example of a convert, the act of faith made by the penitent thief. Hail Caesar!, the Coen brothers film, is also showing a conversion of sorts through a recommitment of an imperfect man, Mannix, to his faith . . . in film. Could the Coen brothers have made a film here that genuinely celebrates returning to faith, not just in film, but in God—and in Jesus Christ?

It sounds like a stretch when I say it like that.

The Coen brothers are the filmmakers who placed this disclaimer before the beginning of Fargo: “This is a true story. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occured.” That wasn’t true, but it established additional dramatic gravity for the film. The opening shot of Hail Caesar! is that of a Crucifix. No context. No titles. Just a large shot of a crucifix. The next shot is of rosary beads. Are the Catholic elements in Hail Caesar! Just another device like that intro to Fargo? Or is there something more to it?

A friend recently lamented that we Catholics are so starved for recognition or positive portrayal in mainstream entertainment that we tend to over-celebrate any crumbs that fall our way. Could that be the case here?

In The Simpsons episode “Homerpalooza,” Homer joins a touring rock festival as part of the opening act “freakshow” where he takes a cannonball into his stomach on stage without sustaining an injury.

Two teens are watching and one says, “There’s Homer, he’s cool.” The other says, “are you being sarcastic or not?” The first winces, looks stressed, and responds, “I don’t even know anymore.”

That bit is a version of the harshest critique I could level at the Coen Brothers in general and this film in particular (if I were trying to think up a harsh critique). Are they serious or not? Do they even know?

Yes, I think they do. The Catholic faith is central to this film because it carries dramatic weight—for a reason. Are the Coen brothers secret Catholics who have made an overtly Catholic movie? No, I won’t go that far, but they are not mocking the Church—or faith in general—in this film.

There’s much more to love about this film that I haven’t mentioned. The communist writers group that meets in a luxury seaside mansion (and can’t consider sharing the ransom with their hostage). The blurring of lines between the filmmaking in the film and the filmmaking of the film we are watching—the use of 1950’s style special effects and the fact that the narrator of the film-within-the-film narrates the movie we are watching as well. The competing twin sister gossip columnists (both played by the same actress, Tilda Swinton). The bizarre near-tragic cameo by Frances McDormand as the editing room reel operator. Hobie Doyle’s unlikely role as off-screen sleuth and hero. There’s more, and all of which is why I will watch this movie again (and again), sometimes to ponder those “big questions” but just as often, just to enjoy the ride.

Government Shutdown

We have another government shutdown, ladies and gentlemen. This one is partial, not complete, so no need to get excited. But it is a little exciting in that it brings together a lot of regular stories.

When the shutdown was resolved in November of last year the solution was to kick the can down the road on several issues. This is now the end of the road. Some of those issues involve funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of War (or Defense, if you prefer). So we get to combine anxieties over immigration enforcement and a possible attack on Iran all in one post.

(I won’t get into the Iran issue other than to say the US has directed A LOT of firepower into the Middle East. Pres. Trump’s credibility is on the line here. He said he would help the protesters and told them to keep protesting. Since doing so somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 Iranians have been killed by the government.)

The House of Representatives passed a bill to continue funding these agencies (again, as a stopgap) last month and the Senate was supposed to approve it last week. However, a few things happened in Minnesota in the meantime. Funding DHS wasn’t such a big controversy before the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. So now Democratic senators are trying to hold up the process of funding the government so that they can get changes inserted into bill. They want restrictions on ICE enforcement procedures, among other things. The irony is that ICE funding was not one of the things punted to this bill, so it’s funding isn’t delayed by the shutdown.

When the Senate changes the content of a bill it has to return to the House for another debate and vote, greatly slowing down the process and further holding up funding. But as in October the Democrats think they have support to do this.

SAVE Act

Adding to the complexity, several Republicans are willing to keep the government (partially) shut down until the Senate passes the SAVE Act. The “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility” Act would, among other things, require proof of citizenship when registering to vote and photo ID when one votes. The House passed an earlier version so the Senate has to decide what to do.

Democrats have long opposed voter ID laws, even though it is an issue the public tends to support at over 80%. Almost all the provisions in the bill are standard fare in other democracies, so people often wonder why the Democrats oppose these measures.

The easiest answer, if somewhat cynical, is that Democrats benefit from voter fraud. Investigations into the daycare fraud by Somalians in Minnesota (yes, the eternal return of Minneapolis) are certainly going to connect that fraud to voting “irregularities.” But a more generous interpretation would acknowledge that a lot of voting laws in the South were instituted to restrict blacks from voting after the Civil War. Provisions that required proof of a father or grandfather voting, for instance, were clearly designed for one purpose only. However, black Americans tend to support voter ID laws at the same levels as everyone else.

Pillows and Ballots

Drawing all things together in a tight bow, we have an ongoing investigation into the 2020 election and the alleged abuse of ballots in Georgia. Things seem to be coming out supporting the idea that there was some shady business, especially having to do with the voting machines.

The United States is one of the only countries that needs a complicated machine to count votes. I explain that here: “High Capacity Ballots.”

One of the main advocates for the idea that the Dominion voting machines were used to steal the election from Donald Trump was the owner and founder of “My Pillow,” Mike Lindell. He is now running in the Republican primary to be a candidate for governor of Minnesota. Yes, Minnesota, again.

As if things couldn’t get more confusing, one of the theories propounded about the voting machines was that they used software developed by a company that helped Nicholas Maduro steal the election in Venezuela. As soon as Maduro was seized by American agents, these theories resurfaced.

I am in no position to pass judgment on voting fraud theories or anything to do with software. I would just recommend not getting out over your skis on any of these issues, but also remember that over the past decade the main difference between conspiracy theories and the news is about six months.

Again, most of the facts of the case are not in dispute, but the interpretations vary. They certainly did shortly after the moment. (More on that below.)

What We Know

Alex Pretti was part of a group of people making noise and filming Border Patrol agents as they they detained a targeted individual in Minneapolis. “Targeted” means BP knew who he was, where he was, and what he had done. So officers went to a very specific location to arrest a specific person. His name has since been released and he is a very bad man.

How did Mr. Pretti get involved?

There is a coordinated group of people in Minneapolis who track ICE and BP (yes there are two different agencies operating in the same city with largely the same task; it’s the government). They send people to locations where officers are attempting to arrest someone and usually blow whistles, put their cars in the way of official vehicles, and generally try to make the task more difficult for the officers. They also film the entire interaction.

Mr. Pretti seems to have been a member of one of these groups, although no one knew that at the time. We now also know he received an injury during an altercation with ICE or BP just weeks ago. While filming officers he stepped between an officer and a protestor who had been shoved by the officer. The officer then tried to detain him.

Several other officers assisted the original officer. A gun was spotted on Mr. Pretti. One officer cried “Gun!” as is standard procedure. He then grabbed Mr. Pretti’s gun. At this point it seems the gun discharged by itself, which is apparently not uncommon with this model (Sig Sauer P320 AXG Combat). At the sound of gunfire, other officers shot Mr. Pretti.

Reactions

As seems inevitable now, both of the usual sides took opposite positions. Gov. Walz and Mayor Frey claimed that Mr. Pretti was assassinated, which would require a level of intention on the part of the officers that is completely unlikely. Not to be outdone, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Noem described Mr. Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” and that the was “brandishing a gun.” Sigh. At the time there was not the slightest evidence of the former and, from every camera angle, absolutely no evidence of the latter.

In Minneapolis the riots got worse. Hotels where ICE and BP agents were thought to be staying were attacked Saturday night. According to city policy, the police did not respond to an ICE-related incident. Some people have set up an “autonomous zone” in the location where Mr. Pretti died. On the model of the George Floyd riots, these are areas protestors take over and control, allowing only approved people to enter. The irony that they set up a border and then patrol it seems to be lost on these people.

The most significant reaction came from President Trump. He seems to be very displeased with Sec. Noem and her handling of the situation. He has sent his “Border Czar,” Tom Homan, to Minneapolis to sort things out.

The Czar position is a very strange post. First, “Czar” is Russian for “Caesar,” so having someone in a republican form of government referred to as a Caesar is a little unsettling. As with so many unsettling features of the American government, this one started under President Woodrow Wilson with the appointment of Bernard Baruch as industry czar during WWI. It is an informal position that does not require Senate confirmation, so it really means “a guy I want to have on staff in the White House and I’ll give him a lot of responsibility but no power.” Czars don’t actually run any agencies or direct any departments.

Tom Homan

Tom Homan has worked for decades in immigration enforcement. Pres. Obama awarded him the 2015 Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Service. Homan worked at the time as Obama’s Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations at ICE.

Homan is also a favorite of Trump’s, both in this administration and his first four years in office. How many people have been respected by these two presidents? There can’t be many. But his intervention may actually signal continuity rather than change.

One thing we do know is that Homan’s priority has always been to remove any illegal alien with a record of crime. Sen. Noem, however, has been focused on absolute numbers of deportations. This has been a tension inside the Trump administration. But because Noem is a Senate-confirmed cabinet secretary, she has had significantly more direct authority and power than Homan. If this has changed it can only be informally unless Homan is given her job and confirmed by the Senate. Again, the czar role is really only advisory.

Changes

Tom Homan has already arrived in Minneapolis and spoken with both the Governor and Mayor and things are changing.

On Monday night another hotel was attacked but Minneapolis police responded immediately and arrested several people. This is a big change. And it seems that police are now working with ICE and BP throughout the city, reducing a lot of the conflict that was almost unique to Minneapolis. ICE and BP are deporting illegals all over the country, but riots are ensuing only in one city. (This happened briefly in Chicago over the summer but stopped as soon as the Chicago police department stepped in to assist the federal agents.)

Did Homan work some magic on Walz and Frey? Probably not. More likely they both got spooked by the work of a few online sleuths. Remember the organized protestors I mentioned at the beginning of this post? Someone got into their Signal account (which now seems completely useless as an encrypted communication service) and not only got a list of all the people working to disrupt ICE agents, they also found all the funding sources.

Not only are several government officials involved in impeding arrests (an illegal offense), the money coming in to support their efforts in doing so is now attached to names. Some of these names are aligned with China. The information has been posted on the internet and it does not look good. The protests look a lot more like a coordinated foreign operation than most would have suspected.

Just a few weeks ago, although it feels like a year, the Somali daycare fraud scandal forced Tim Walz to drop out of the race for governor. The ICE raids and deaths seemed to wash all that away and he again became the Democrat’s standard bearer for masculinity. Although some people pointed out that his encouraging people to put their bodies on the line against ICE (while he stood behind the locked gate of the governor’s mansion) looked a bit like Lord Farquaad from Shrek, he was riding a wave.

Now he’s humbly sitting on a beach blanket and working with the czar. Unfortunately, he already whipped people up into a frenzy. Today his offices were overrun by protestors protesting that he is working with the Trump administration. Poor Tim can’t win.

Where this goes next is impossible to tell. Polls continue to show very high support for deporting illegal aliens, regardless of their criminal status. But a lot of people find the scenes recorded by protestors to be just too much to watch and would like things to be toned down. The nation has the same internal tensions as the Trump administration.

Some people have compared the deaths in Minneapolis to the shootings at Kent State in 1970 where four students protesting the Vietnam War were killed by National Guardsmen. That might be a good analogy. But don’t forget that two years after that event Richard Nixon won 250 electoral college votes to George McGovern’s seventeen. Distance can sometimes exaggerate the importance of an event. Sometimes distance can also obscure. It’s hard to tell.

With the midterms in November the President is going to need every vote he can get. But as news comes at us so fast, will voters remember the headlines from January when they vote in November? As I write this we are all waiting to hear about a strike on Iran and the collapse of the Islamic Republic. What else could happen?