Ailantha - Blog

Hey, Donald Trump: You Want To Honor The U.S. Army? How About Giving The Troops A Day Off Instead Of Making Them March For You?

6/12/2025

Okay, everybody knows that the gargantuan, $40-to-$50 million taxpayer funded military extravaganza that Donald Trump is throwing this Saturday, June 14 for his birthday is not to honor the soldiers who are going to be made to parade by him either in the hot June Washington D.C. humidity, or else in the rain that is predicted for that day.

The drenched, marching troops will swelter in their combat boots and fatigues and the tanks and other military vehicles will crack the streets as they roll by the birthday boy, who is in reality a vain, self-centered old man with a deep need for excessive attention and admiration and a lack of empathy for others.

That Trump is claiming to honor our soldiers by using them to satisfy his own vainglory is further proof of his narcissism.
If Donald Trump really wanted to honor the United States Army on its 250th anniversary, there are many ways he could do so. He could declare a holiday for all members of the Army. He could provide a special holiday dinner in every mess hall all around the world for the soldiers and their families, as is done on Thanksgiving and Christmas. He could give each soldier an extra week of leave this year. He could give each soldier a bonus. He could arrange a USO-style tour of performers to visit every post to give the troops some entertainment, instead of misusing the troops for his own entertainment. He could declare that this is the year that he would focus on improving veterans' access to health care instead of cutting 80,000 VA doctors, nurses, social workers, staff support and administrators and closing dozens of VA hospitals around the country.
Instead Donald Trump is spending all those tens of millions in one afternoon on one parade for himself. Where's DOGE when we need them?
And speaking of misusing our troops, Trump seizing control of the California National Guard and sending 4,000 Guard troops to Los Angeles to use against people protesting ICE treatment of immigrants is illegal and wrong,

...as is sending 700 U.S. Marines to war against their fellow Americans.

Those Guard members should be sent back home and the marines back to their base. And someone should tell King Donald that our U.S. Military is not a box of toy soldiers for him to play with and parade around as he pleases.

References:
https://apnews.com/article/veterans-affairs-cuts-doge-musk-trump-f587a6bc3db6a460e9c357592e165712

https://nurse.org/news/va-fires-nurses-doctors-trump-federal-cuts/

0 Comments

My 2025 Commencement Speech

6/9/2025

0 Comments

Books by Patti Liszkay available on Amazon:
"Equal And Opposite Reactions"   http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
   "Hail Mary"    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
"Tropical Depression"       https://www.amzn.com/B0BTPN7NYY

My 2025 Commencement Speech

The commencement ceremonies are mostly over, capping what for some students has been a turbulent year.

But graduates from sea to shining sea will nonetheless now be on their way to the next chapters of their lives,

...after having heard from keynote speakers many words of counsel, insight and encouragement to hopefully help them along their way.
And so the time has come for me to add, as I do every year, a few more hopefully helpful words of worldly wisdom and advice that might not have been covered by the keynote speakers.
And so here it is, my 2025 Commencement Speech:

1. If you sprinkle when you tinkle please be sweet and wipe the seat.

2. Remember that you don't always need to have the last word.

3. When adding eggs to a recipe, crack each egg into a separate bowl before adding it to the mix.
That way if you happen to get a rotten egg (and you'll know immediately if it's rotten) you won't lose the whole mixture.

4. If a bit of egg shell falls into your mix, the easiest way to scoop it out is with an egg shell.

5. If you ever intentionally bully, are mean to, or make fun of another person, trust me, some day you'll regret it. Unless you're a Donald Trump. Which I pray you aren't.

6. Just show up for work on time every day, follow instructions as you're told to, be dependable, don't cut corners, and don't cause any drama and you'll be considered an exemplary employee.

7. Don't gift people with a live animal,

...or a live plant.

8. If you're a fan of Magic Shell ice cream topping, it also works on fruit right from the refrigerator.

9. You can never overdo "Thank You," so say it a lot, even for the little things. Especially to the people you're closest to and might fall into taking for granted. But don't take them for granted - take notice of the little, ordinary everyday helpful things they do and always thank them.

10. And put a little sugar on your thank yous, as in: Thank you, you're so kind; Thank you, appreciate you; Thank you, that was so considerate of you, etc.

11. Cut up used balloons and use them for wrapping paper.

12. To cut down on plastic container use, use detergent sheets in your laundry instead of liquid detergent or pods. Believe me, these sheets work fine.

13. To avoid losing track of where you parked your car, after you've parked take a moment to be mindful: look around, pick out some landmarks: a tree, a row number, something nearby to look for. Say these reminders out loud before you leave.

14. Don't grab the conversation ball and refuse to pass it around. Be aware of how long you're talking, and cut your supremely interesting story short if need be.

15. Conversely, when someone else is speaking, don't launch a hostile take-over of the conversation.

16. In short, DON'T TALK TOO MUCH!

16. Being helpful feels good, so be helpful. But let others do for you, too, so they can feel good as well.

17. And now go out and pursue your destiny, whatever it may lead you.

Best wishes, class of 2025!

0 Comments

The University Of Louisville In The Time Of The Trumpish Inquisition

6/6/2025

0 Comments

...Continued from previous post:
During our weekend in Louisville, Kentucky, where Tom and I went to attend the celebration of life service for my college friend Jan,

...we spent some time visiting the University of Louisville, where years ago I worked as an archivist while Tom worked on his graduate degree (see previous post, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/seeing-the-old-louisville-places-then-saying-a-goodbye).
Now, had I entered the campus a year ago I would not have been in the least taken aback to see this banner on a building:

But that was before colleges and universities across the country were being subjected to the Trumpish Inquisition,

...being carried out for him by his Grand Inquisitor of educational persecution, Linda McMahon.

McMahon has been using her position as Secretary of Education to bring heat on any institutions of higher learning suspected of having policies that promote diversity, equity and inclusion, which Donald Trump and his syndicate interpret as racial discrimination against white people.
To this purpose Linda McMahon has drawn up a list of 50 colleges and universities to be put under investigation for suspicion of practicing diversity, equity and inclusion.
Which is why it was for me so eye-popping to see the University of Louisville refusing to lay low, so to speak.
The University still has its Cultural and Equity Center,

...with the tough-looking UofL cardinal logo stuck right there on the building's sign like a guard sending a don't-mess-with-me message.

And there was the banner on the Pan-African Studies Department making sure that anyone who passed by would know that this University has a Pan-African Studies Department and isn’t afraid to show it.

Gottshalk Hall, a beautiful old building which houses classrooms and offices for the history department,

...owns up to the ugliness of its history.

All around the campus one sees artistic expressions of diversity,

...equity,

...and inclusion.

And all around the campus there are banners that could have implicit messages, if one were looking for them.
Messages of resistance,

...and defiance.

And one banner that evoked the anonymous quote "Be the change,"

...which is a degree or two of separation from Barack Obama's quote, "We are the change that we seek."
Finally, there there were a couple of trash cans around that, while they didn't necessarily seek to raise our consciousness to diversity, equity, or inclusion, did seek to raise our consciousness to all the garbage we make.

I salute and admire the University of Louisville, a public university that still openly represents its values for any campus visitor to see.
My prayer for U of L, and for all our American colleges and universities, is that they may stay from beneath the shadow of Trump's Inquisition, and may they never catch Linda McMahon's the evil eye.

Reference:
https://apnews.com/article/trump-dei-universities-investigated-f89dc9ec2a98897577ed0a6c446fae7b

https://www.fox17online.com/news/national-news/gvsu-u-of-m-among-50-colleges-facing-federal-investigations-as-part-of-trumps-anti-dei-campaign

0 Comments

Seeing The Old Louisville Places Then Saying A Goodbye

6/4/2025

0 Comments

...Continued from yesterday:
Jan, my best friend from college,

...and an expert horsewoman,

...died last December a few weeks before Christmas when a freak accident caused her to be thrown from her horse (see post from https://www.ailantha.com/blog/good-bye-dear-friend).
Her family held her celebration of life service on Saturday, May 17, and this sad occasion was what brought us back to Louisville all these years later (see previous post, https://www.ailantha.www.ailantha.com/blog/our-return-to-louisville). Jan lived with her husband Jim in New Albany, Indiana, which was just across the river from Louisville and for all practical purposes a suburb of the city.
Jim with their much-loved dogs.

On Saturday morning we woke up to a view of the coppery morning light over the city,

...and since Jan's service wasn't until 4:30 pm, Tom and I had the day before us. We decided to spend it visiting some of the old places where we used to live, work, and go when we lived in Louisville 48 years ago.
But first, breakfast. The day before we had discovered that across the street from our hotel was what appeared to be a former warehouse renovated into a brunch eatery called Wild Eggs.

The decor was, not illogically, egg-themed.

The food was really good, especially the breakfast potatoes, which had a certain je ne sais quoi about them that made them crispy on the outside and perfect on the inside.

We topped off our eggs and potatoes by splitting the most decadently delicious cream cheese-topped cinnamon roll.

After finishing our sublime cinnamon roll we headed out from downtown,

...to the south end of town,

...to see if our old apartment complex on Utah Street was still there.
Turned out that it was. How it looks now:

How it looked back then (That's my sister and Tom in the courtyard):

And there was our old apartment: 3714 Utah Street, Apartment 2.

How it looked back then (that's me in my grandmother's coat):

I was standing in the courtyard snapping some pictures when a woman came out of one of the units with a pit bull on a leash. I called to her that I used to live here about 50 years ago and just wanted to see how the place looked now.
"Okay, that's cool," she called back then walked on with her dog.
I continued snapping and another woman came out of my old apartment followed by three small children. I likewise called over to her that I used to live in her apartment and just came back to see it again. She gave me what I thought was a glare and didn't answer. I thought mayhaps it was time to cut short my stroll down memory lane.
While I was walking back to the car several boys who looked about middle school aged came out of another unit and passed by me. I explained to them what I'd explained to the two other residents, that I used to live here.
"Must have changed a lot," one boy said as he walked by.
"Oh, yeah," I said.
Actually the apartments looked a lot better now than when we lived in them. Back then the siding was all stained and cracked and the exteriors appeared to be in a state of general disrepair.
Me in front of our apartment with Merhdad and Atal, a couple of Tom's friends from the University of Louisville grad school program who were over here from Iran studying engineering.

We then drove around around the block to Taylor Avenue to see if the A&P that I used to walk to was still there. We found the building, though it was no longer the A&P, but was now the PicPac.

We also passed what used to be a little neighborhood grocery store but was now a day care center.

Churchill Downs was about half a mile from our apartment, and we used to walk there sometimes and, as the public was free to enter, we'd meander around the track when there were no races going on.

We drove over just to see the place again.

I remember the first time I ever saw Churchill Downs I was shocked that it was not set majestically back upon rolling green acres, but rather plunked down in the middle of an urban neighborhood. The neighborhood surrounding Churchill Downs still looked pretty much the same as it did 48 years ago.

Our next stop was the University of Louisville where Tom got his masters degree in criminal justice and I worked as an archivist at the university Archives and Records Center.

We strolled around the still beautiful campus.

Tom in front of the Southern Police Institute where he used to have his classes.

Me in front of what used to be the entrance to the Archives and Records Center, which at that time was located in an old warehouse by the railroad tracks.

But that old building has since been renovated, and what was once the entrance to the Archive and Records Center is now the back entrance to the John Marston Houchens Building, which houses student services.

John M. Houchens taught electrical engineering and later became the university Registrar and was highly regarded and well-loved by both the students and his colleagues. I knew Mr. Houchens. After he retired from the university he was given an alcove in the Archives and Records Center where he would come every day meticulously dressed in a suit and tie to work on his papers.
When I first started working at the archives my 25-year-old self was intimidated by Mr. Houchens' presence, having been made aware of what an important distinguished person he was. But then one day I got up the nerve to go over to his desk - I don't remember why anymore, I think I might have had a question regarding the collection I was organizing and I thought he might know something about it, or something like that.
Rather than coming across as the honorable highbrow, Mr. Houchens was friendly, funny, interesting, and happy to chat even with a lowly young archivist such as myself. I found myself stopping daily at Mr. Houchens' desk for a chat and we became friends. He would invite Tom and me over to his lovely old home and we got to know his gracious wife Mariam, and we eventually struck up a friendship with his son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren.
John Marston Houchens was a good, kind, brilliant, decent man who left the world a better place.
Unlike another Louisvillian we know who doesn't have a building named after him on the University of Louisville Campus,

...even if he and his wife do have their own spot in the lower level of the campus library (See post from 11/30/2016 https://www.ailantha.com/blog/the-grad-student-the-archivist-and-mitch-mcconnells-wife) .

Me in front of the Archives and Records Center, now located on the fourth floor of the library.

After our visit to UofL we returned to our hotel, and when it was time we left for the dénouement of our trip and the reason we'd come to Louisville.
Jan's celebration of life took place at the beautiful old First Unitarian Church in downtown.

The service was simple and heartfelt, with scripture readings and prayers, including St. Francis of Assisi's prayer for peace and a prayer once written by Jan. Jan's pastor, Reverend Alta Burnett, gave a homily on our soul's journeys. A guitarist sang a rendition of "Morning Has Broken" and we listened to the hauntingly beautiful song, "Fields of Gold."
Jan's husband Jim gave a eulogy and showed us a video of Jan riding her beloved horse Highlander on a forest trail and, just to bring us a smile, this video of Jan playing a "symphony" on a dandelion stem:

But the most tearfully heart-touching part of the service was a sharing of our memories, during which time a number of us stood in front of the gathering and recounted some of our happy, funny, fond memories of Jan.

There was a moment of silence for all of us to say our goodbyes to Jan, to bless her and set her spirit free. The service ended with a Prayer for Protection:
The light of God surrounds us;
The love of God enfolds us;
The power of God protects us;
The presence of God watches over us;
Wherever we are, God is.
Wherever you are, Jan, you'll always be alive in our memories and our hearts.

0 Comments

Our Return To Louisville

6/1/2025

0 Comments

Our Return To Louisville

When Tom and I were oh-so-happy newlyweds 48 years ago we lived in Louisville, Kentucky for a year and a half while Tom worked on his masters degree in criminal justice at the University of Louisville and I worked as an archivist at the University Archives and Records Center.
Here we are in front of our first apartment (cheap at $72 a month even for 1977),

...where we had the hot water heater in the kitchen along with a mini-stove,

...and three small rooms full of second hand furniture.

It had been about 45 years since we'd last been there when on Friday, May 16, we made the 5 hour drive from Columbus to Louisville.
We'd booked a room at the Cambria Hotel in downtown Louisville and were quite pleasantly surprised at how very nice the place was for its moderate price.

Louisville being the home of the Kentucky Derby, the charming lobby, which was actually on the second floor of the hotel, had a horse motif.

...as well as a nod to the bourbon and whiskey barrel-making industries that are also native to this part of the state.

On the first floor was the gym and a pool,

...and also a cafe,

...with an outdoor patio.

When we stepped out of the elevator on our floor we were treated to more photos of horses,

...and the hallway had an interesting shape and a pretty color scheme.

Our room,

...with a city view.

Our hotel was in a part of downtown known as Whiskey Row.
Now, back 48 years ago when we lived in Louisville there was no Whiskey Row that we knew of. Back then downtown Louisville was run down, the streets and old buildings empty, and going downtown could be a rather sketchy experience. That is, except for a stretch of riverfront known as The Belvedere that had been recently developed into a pleasant space where visitors could look out on the Ohio River and the bridges and the Indiana shoreline on the other side.
However now, to our surprise, downtown Louisville had been majorly renovated and brought to life since our days here, and many of the historic old buildings had been repurposed as restaurants, music bars, entertainment venues, art spaces, apartments, and offices.

Apparently the town has immersed itself in Kentucky's history as the world capital of the production of bourbon whiskey, which is made mostly in the distilleries around Louisville. And so now downtown Louisville is a tourist destination for those wanting to have the Kentucky bourbon experience.

We found the spotlessly clean streets of downtown Louisville alive with people out on this Friday night, people who were staying in the hotels, eating in the restaurants, listening to the music, patronizing the businesses and, I expect, sampling Kentucky bourbon in the many establishments offering it.
After settling into our hotel Tom and I joined the crowds strolling Whiskey Row and taking in the downtown sights,

...passing on our way the new Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts - that is to say, new since the last time we were here.

(Okay, I looked it up. The Kentucky Center was built in 1983. I guess that makes it not so new). We also passed the likewise not-really-new-but-new-to-us KFC Yum! Center, the city's multi-purpose arena.

We decided to walk over to The Belvedere to see if it, too, had changed over the years.

We found that The Belvedere had also changed. Having gone in the opposite direction of the rest of downtown Louisville, The Belvedere, once a lively, built-up area, was now mostly an empty space.

However it still offered the same riverfront views of the bridges and of Indiana on the other side,

...and, in the opposite direction, a panorama of downtown.

We then walked back towards the hotel in search of somewhere along the way to find dinner. We passed a number of bourbon, beef, and barbecue places and most of them looked pretty crowded. However a couple of blocks from our hotel we came upon a promising-looking pizzeria called Bearnos,

...with a sports-themed dining room,

...and great pizza.

And over our dinner I pondered how much I would be enjoying this evening and our surprising rediscovery of Louisville, now so delightfully different from when we left it all those years ago, if not for the ache in my heart over reason for our return: We were here in Louisville to say our last goodbye to my old friend, Jan.

To be continued...

0 Comments

"The Mount Everest Of Corruption," Part Two

5/27/2025

0 Comments

...Continued from previous post:
This is like the Mount Everest of corruption - Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley on Donald Trump's gala dinner for the top buyers of his $TRUMP meme coin.

So this time around we said, "Hey, we're going to play by the rules but we're not going to go so far as to stymie our business." - Donald Trump Jr. on how the Trump family decided this time not to let ethical concerns over Trump's presidency keep them from making maximum financial profit.

Last Wednesday, May 21, Pete Hegseth, (pictured here showing off some of his white supremacist tattoos prior to his appointment by Donald Trump to the office of Secretary of Defense),

...officially and on behalf of Donald Trump accepted from Qatar the gift of a super luxury jet purportedly for Trump's use while he's President, then to be turned over to him after he leaves the office (see post from 5/25/2025, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/the-mount-everest-of-corruption-part-one).
Trump's jet now sits on an airfield in San Antonio, Texas awaiting a massive 1 billion dollar tax-payer-funded renovation that will take years to finish.
This deal stinks to high heaven of political graft and corruption, and the stink of the deal was still fresh when the night after Donald Trump got his new jet he threw a gala dinner at his Virginia Trump National Golf Club for the 220 customers who spent the most last month on his $TRUMP meme coins.

Now, I don't pretend to altogether understand what a meme coin is (though I've certainly tired). I know it's some kind of digital cryptocurrency, which I also don't pretend to altogether understand (though I've certainly tried). Donald Trump, however, obviously altogether understands that sort of thing, as since he was elected to his second term four months ago his family has raked in billions doing all kinds of crypto deals: there were real estate deals with Qatar and Serbia, a bank deal with the United Arab Emirates, a Saudi-funded tournament at his Miami golf club.
Among these lucrative money-making ventures was his $TRUMP meme coin, which he launched a few days before his inauguration.

As I understand it, this $TRUMP meme coin doesn't physically exist. You can't hold it in your your hand. As I understand it, meme coins are imaginary things that people make up, then they make up a picture for it, post the picture of their pretend coin online and people pay real money for this pretend coin. The more people who buy the pretend coin, the more valuable it becomes. People then buy and sell their pretend coins. Apparently it's possible to make a lot of actual money trading on non-existent meme coins. Or lose a lot of actual money. Which is what happened with the $TRUMP meme coin.
When it was initially launched, the $TRUMP meme coin soared in value, then as soon as its value peaked the savviest investors fast as lightening sold their coins and made a terrific profit. The value of the coin then plummeted to almost nothing and everyone else who'd bought the coins lost their money. Donald Trump, meanwhile, who makes a fee every time a coin changes hands, made hundreds of millions on his $TRUMP meme coin.
Then back in April Trump came up with the idea to boost up the value of his coin. He ran a month-long contest, the prize of which was an invitation to a gala dinner with "Crypto President" Donald Trump. An invitation would be awarded to the top 220 buyers who spent the most on $TRUMP meme coins, as stated on the contest registration form:

Special access to Donald Trump was to be given to the top 25 spenders, with a VIP tour of the White House thrown in.
Contestants from all over the world reportedly spent over $394 million among them to snag a seat at the gala dinner table and, more importantly, the chance to influence the President of the United States and U.S. financial regulations.
And so last Thursday, May 22, the 220 winners of Donald Trump's meme coin contest arrived at his golf club, where they were met by protesters, whom they had to drive by,

...then walk by in the drizzle,

...until they reached the entrance of the golf club, where they then got their wrist bands and raffle tickets to win a gold Trump-branded watch. Donald Trump, meanwhile, arrived at his golf club for his gala meme coin money-making dinner in a U.S. military helicopter,

...and he also had them schlep along a podium bearing the seal of the President of the United States. Probably something along the lines of this one:

And so they came, millionaire and billionaire cryptocurrency investors and executives from around the world who'd dropped what was likely for them a little pocket change to buy $TRUMP meme coins for the opportunity to pedal influence with Donald Trump and maybe win a free watch at the gala dinner raffle. They came from China, they came from Korea, they came from Taiwan, they came from Japan and from other places, including the U.S. Among the American contest winners was Former pro basketball player Lamar Odom,

...who wrote of the Trump Gala on his social media, " Honestly...I'm fired up."
As were the other gala dinner winners. The top $TRUMP meme coin spender, Chinese billionaire and cryptocurrency magnate Justin Sun, who bought more than $40 million worth of the pretend coins, told the New York Times that he was very excited to meet Donald Trump and discuss with him crypto's future.
And enthusiastic Korean crypto executive and contest winner Sangrok Oh said of Donald Trump, "He'll always be good to his sponsors."
Taiwanese gala attendee and purveyor of crypto investments Vincent Liu told the Times, "It's great to see the direction that everything's going."
And that night the winners of the $TRUMP meme coin contest must surely have had a beautiful feeling that everything was going their way, at least while Trump was speaking to them from behind the Presidential podium.
"The past administration made your lives miserable," he said, referring to an executive order by Joe Biden calling for cryptocurrency regulations aimed at protecting consumers and promoting financial stability, and which kept some foreign crypto investors out of the American market. In his speech Trump promised to bring change to the American crypto marketplace. "They were going after everybody. It was a disgrace, frankly," he said of Biden's directive to regulate cryptocurrency. "And we're honored to be working on helping everybody here."
The attendees of this gala bribeathon whooped and applauded Trump's words. (Though mayhaps they were less enthusiastic when Donald Trump, after finishing his 20-minute speech then dancing for them in that embarrassing way he likes dance in public to YMCA,

...he left without staying for the promised Dinner with the President, which, according to those who were left to consume it, was a cheap, overcooked steak accompanying an ensemble comparable to bad airline food).

Meanwhile outside the protesters kept protesting.

"It's like the Mount Everest of Corruption," said Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley.
More like the Mount Olympus of corruption.

References:
https://apnews.com/article/trump-qatar-air-force-one-gift-plane-c4e1d73c3dbe18397c10e3d3d267bcd6

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/us/politics/trump-memecoin-dinner.html

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/peter-schiff-says-president-shouldnt-233050524.html

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-meme-coin-federal-law-2076682

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mike-johnson-dismisses-concern-over-201310115.html

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-holds-swanky-dinner-meme-coin-investors-says-biden-administration-persecuted-crypto-innovators

https://www.theverge.com/cryptocurrency/674327/trump-coin-short-sell-hedge-contest-dinner-winner

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/06/trump-meme-coin-crypto.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-meme-coin-top-220-buyers-spent-140-million-analysis/

0 Comments

"The Mount Everest Of Corruption," Part One

5/25/2025

0 Comments

This is like the Mount Everest of corruption - Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley

It's bad enough that Donald Trump snagged a used extra-super jumbo 747-8 luxury jet from Qatar, a 10-year-old flying palace that the Qataris had been trying to unload for years and that will cost the American taxpayers a billion - I repeat, a billion - dollars to refurbish.

But, see, although two new jets were being built by Boeing to replace the current Air Force One planes, those planes weren't scheduled to be ready until 2027 or 2028, and Donald Trump wanted himself a new plane to fly around in, and he wanted it NOW.
And so, since whatever Donald wants, Donald gets, soon after his inauguration the Pentagon went on a discreet mission to scour the world to find a new prèt-à-porter plane for Donald.
When the Qatar plane was unearthed, discussions began between Qatar and the Pentagon for a possible deal for the U.S. to buy or possibly lease this plane to keep Trump happy until the new Air Force One replacement planes were ready.
In tandem with these negotiations, the Qatari plane was flown to Mar-a-Lago so that Trump could have a look-see. He had a look and fell in love with what he saw: a gargantuan aircraft that dwarfed Air Force One in size and opulence, a stately pleasure-dome fit for a modern day Kublai Khan.

The cost of flying the plane is $35,000 an hour. The trip from Qatar to Mar-a-Lago cost one million dollars.
Nonetheless Donald Trump simply had to have that plane, and so acquiring that plane for him became a front and center Department of Defense objective. Pentagon officials were in negotiations with Qatari officials on a deal to buy or rent the plane when Trump crashed the party, so to speak, by announcing on his social media page that Qatar was giving the United States - by the "United States" meaning himself - a free luxury jet.
But, Qatar, even though they'd up until then had no luck finding a buyer for their $400 million behemoth - or at least that's what it was worth that when it was new and had likely depreciated in value over the years - but still, they weren't intending to gift it to Donald Trump. But then, I guess weighing the pros and cons of disputing The Donald, they decided to go ahead and make him happy, gift it to him, and get something in exchange down the road.

Of course, the President of the United States accepting a $400 (or so) million dollar jet from another country is 100% illegal. The Foreign Emoluments clause of our Constitution forbids any person holding any federal office from accepting any gift or compensation from any foreign government or power without the consent of Congress.
Congress did not consent to Donald Trump receiving that plane from Qatar. But, on the other hand, Congress didn't object, either. Because Republicans hold the majority in Congress and are under Trump's thumb. And so, with nobody who had the power to enforce the law bothering to enforce the law, Donald Trump, as usual, blew off the law and accepted his free jet from Qatar after giving Qatar an offer it couldn't refuse.
Except that the Qatari jet isn't really free, anyway. It's been determined that it will cost the United States a billion dollars to rebuild it to Air Force One specifications. That's far more than it's costing to build the two new Air Force One's that are currently under construction. It's more than twice as much as the Qatari plane is worth. Not only that, it's likely that Trump's new plane won't even be finished before his term of office is over. Unless, of course, he decides not to leave when his term of office is over, an idea he's been bouncing around.
Or, even if Trump does surprise us all and follow the law by peacefully leaving when he's required to, he has directed that his plane won't remain Air Force One, but will be turned over to his Presidential Library. Which basically means turned over to him. He's promised he won't fly it after he's done being President. Which is probably about as true as anything else Donald Trump says.
For some of us this whole Qatar plane business begs the question: Was the free-not-free plane extortion on Trump's part or a bribe on Qatar's part?

I guess it doesn't really matter: six of one flavor of corruption, half a dozen of the other.
But Donald Trump's luxury Qatar plane is corruption; huge, outrageous, criminal mob corruption.
And yet, though it's bad enough, this case of Trumpian corruption isn't even the very worst. That worst corruption - so far - the "Mount Everest of Corruption" - so far - that Senator Merkley refers to took place last Friday night at his Virginia golf club.
To be continued...

References:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/11/us/politics/trump-qatar-jet-gift-air-force-one.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/us/politics/trump-air-force-one-qatar-jet.html

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/19/politics/trump-adminstration-approached-qatar-jet

https://www.newsweek.com/reports-trump-administration-initiated-qatar-boeing-deal-2074527

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/23/nx-s1-5406188/qatar-gift-plane-trump-air-force-one-overhaul-explained

0 Comments

A Sad Aloha, Then A Happy One

5/21/2025

0 Comments

A Sad Aloha, Then A Happy One

...Continued from yesterday:
On our last day in Honolulu, while we were having breakfast at the Hale Koa,

...one of our regular servers, a friendly guy who had been working at the hotel restaurant for all the years that we'd been coming there and who knew how much we loved Hawaii, gave us a box of cookies so that we could bring a little bit of Hawaii home with us.

A few days earlier another of our regular servers had given us this bag of coffee.

Tom had told her that the coffee at the Hale Koa was the best he ever had, so she went out to Costco and bought him a 24-oz. bag of the brand they serve at the hotel. She wouldn't allow us to pay her for the coffee, insisting that it was a gift.
As we were leaving the restaurant several of the servers stopped to hug us and told us to come back again next year. Lord willing we will.
We spent our last day and evening strolling around Waikiki and the Hale Koa grounds while I, as usual, captured more images of all the places and things I wanted to remember.
The view from our hotel room.

The Hale Koa courtyard

The Hale Koa botanical garden

A view on the way to downtown Waikiki

The Bank of Hawaii building

Downtown Waikiki

Hula Dancers at the Royal Hawaiian Center (see post from 5/1/2025, https://www.ailanthwww.ailantha.com/blog/in-search-of-hula-part-2a.com/blog/in-search-of-hula-part-2)

The Hale Koa courtyard at night

The next morning, Wednesday, April 23, in the wee hours, we were back in the lobby saying our final aloha to the Hale Koa,

...and soon after we were at the Honolulu airport.

Sadly, we had to say aloha to Hawaii.
But happily, six hours over the ocean after we left Hawaii we were saying aloha to Los Angeles, where we spent several days in the South Bay area, which I like to call "Hawaii Lite."

There we spent several days trekking up and down the hills,

...enjoying the flora and the architecture along the way.

A couple of times we ate at our favorite Hermosa Beach restaurant, Scotty's.

I also spent considerable time at Ralph's,

...buying provisions to make some dishes for our kind L.A. hosts.

Wherever you are, it always feels good to share the aloha.

0 Comments

The Incomparable Bishop Museum

5/19/2025

0 Comments

Though Tom and I have been to Honolulu over half a dozen times, still every time we go there we feel called to revisit the Bishop Museum, a treasury of the history and culture of Hawaii and the Pacific Islands.
And so on Monday, April 21, we set out from the Hale Koa across town to the Bishop Museum.

Panoramic views of Honolulu from the Bishop Museum.

After crossing through the lobby of the entrance building, which houses the planetarium,

...one enters the courtyard on one side of which is the science center,

...and on the other side of which is our perennial destination, the original Bishop Museum, built in 1889, that houses the world's largest collection of cultural and natural history artifacts of the Hawaiian and Pacific Islands.

I love to spend hours getting lost in the three levels of exhibits.

But among all the exhibits, I do have two favorites.
First is the Kahili Room,

...displaying the kahili, or feather standard staffs of the ali'i nui, or Hawaiian high chiefs,

...along with a history of the Hawaiian monarchs from Kamehameha I, who conquered and united all the islands,

...to Queen Lili'uokalani, the last queen of Hawaii, who in 1893 was forced with much sorrow to surrender Hawaii to the United States,

..and all the kings and queens in between, who I always imagine from their paintings must have been so uncomfortable, all trussed up in their Western clothing in Hawaii's tropical climate.

My other favorite exhibit is Pacific Hall,

…dedicated to the hundreds of Polynesian islands with their hundreds of languages and cultures, and with models of the canoes used by the seafaring islanders of ancient times,

...such as the double-hulled canoe that a thousand years ago carried voyagers from Bora Bora twenty five hundred miles across the Pacific Ocean to where they discovered the string of lovely, verdant islands that they named Hawaii.

Along with the permanent exhibits always on display at the Bishop Museum, there are also temporary special exhibits that offer something new to see each time we visit.
This time the special exhibit was on the ways in which the Kānaka ʻŌiwi - the Hawaiian people - sought to maintain their identity and assert their presence in the early years after their land became an American territory.

Part of the exhibit covered the ali'i - the chiefs, men and women who, since ancient times, were the leaders who carried out all the levels of governance and welfare of the islands.
After Queen Lili'uokalani was overthrown and Hawaii became a U.S. territory, the ali'i likewise lost their governing positions.
However, the ali'i remained leaders by organizing themselves into groups that continued to work for the health, education and welfare of the Hawaiian people. According to the exhibit, "The Ali'i championed philanthropic causes such as education, health, and elder care to provide for the well-being of all citizens of Hawaii."
Here is one of the exhibit photographs taken in 1919 of the Hale o na Ali'i Society wearing cloth replicas of the traditional feather capes formerly worn by the Hawaiian chiefs.

I left the Bishop Museum musing what a better place the world might be if, instead of the leaders we now have, the world were ruled by the ali'i.

0 Comments

The Healing Power Of Indiana Jones

5/16/2025

0 Comments

The Healing Power Of Indiana Jones

...Continued from yesterday:
Friday, April 18, was my visiting family members' last day in Honolulu. They spent the day on the beach for a final day of snorkeling, swimming, and sunning.

They reported that the snorkeling was exceptional that day.

Tom, meanwhile, hiked to the Ala Moana for his daily New York Times fix (see previous post, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/i-maddie-or-maybe-penny), while I meandered around the Hale Koa campus and the beach snapping pictures.

After a little while, though, I headed back to the hotel, energy flagging, throat a bit scratchy, head throbbing ever so slightly, and my only desire being to to sit in the lobby and join the other folks enjoying the breezes and the Hawaiian music that always wafts through the open-air lobby.

View from the lobby of the courtyard below.

View from the lobby entrance.

The artisan merchants who come to the Hale Koa every Friday to sell their island arts, crafts, and jewelry were there in the lobby as well,

...including one vendor who we see there every year who bears a distinct resemblance to a certain iconic movie character.

Late in the afternoon the cold I felt like I might be coming down with officially arrived. And so that evening while the others went out for pizza and to watch fireworks on the beach, I schlepped myself down to the Post Exchange for some provisions. (The Hale Koa being located on the Fort DeRussy Army post, of course there was a PX on the grounds).

These I ate in my room while watching "Leprechaun," a dreadful yet watchable movie in which a very young Jennifer Aniston in her first movie role grapples with a murderous Irish Fairy.

(Technically, "Leprechaun" was not Jennifer Anniston's first movie. She was one of a troupe of dancers in a scene from a truly awful "E.T." rip-off called "Mac and Me."

However, in that particular scene Jennifer Anniston's presence is lost in the crowd).

The next day our visiting relatives left Honolulu, some in the wee hours, our daughters in the afternoon,

...so I pulled myself out of bed and rode along while Tom drove them to the airport.

That evening I once again rolled myself out of bed and we walked next door to the Hilton Hawaiian Village,

...to eat again at the restaurant we'd discovered a few days earlier called Blue Water Shrimp (see post from 5/12/2025, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/kulu-kulu-honolulu-purple-yam-ice-cream-playing-at-konos-and-other-memorable-food-related-experiences).

After our delicious dinner we headed back to the hotel room where I flopped back into bed and turned on the television, roaming through the channels until I came to
AMC which, as good fortune would have it, was running an Indiana Jones Easter Weekend Marathon. By luck we tuned in at the last scene of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," and so we were in time for the start of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."

The next morning, quite miraculously, I woke up feeling ever so much better. I figured it must have been from taking a dose of Indiana Jones before bed. ; )
It was Easter Sunday, and so after breakfast Tom and I walked the mile and a half from the Hale Koa to St. Augustine by the Sea Catholic Church for 10 am Easter Mass.
It was a beautiful morning, and the streets were already full of people,

...as was the beach on the other side of the street.

Though we arrived at St. Augustine's about 15 minutes early, the church was so crowded that we were lucky to find a place to sit on a step at the back of the church near a statue of At. Augustine.
The church was quite beautiful,