Seen on X and confirmed during my run today: the Trump banner has been removed from the Department of Labor. Good. It never belonged there.

After being away for almost two months, this is my impression of our little corner of DC: fewer people, more police cars, scattered groups of youngsters in camouflage uniforms looking like they’re just happy to be here although not really sure what they were supposed to do, the usual smattering of disheveled people sleeping on the ground and/or park benches, but with fewer belongings packed around them, all of us under the watchful eyes of Dear Leader.

The last 8 or so months have been a series of catastrophes small and large, most of which with delayed effect so that the true consequences won’t be recognized until years from now — if at al, seeing how the crack American news media have TikTok attention spans. Just look at research: grants not being paid out, many more not even being submitted because what’s the use, then people deciding to leave the country, others being kicked out, even more choosing to do their studies elsewhere. None of it will have consequences tomorrow, next year, or even what remains of this decade, but consequences it will have and they will not be positive.

But this is just high-level catastrophizing. The situation on the ground resembles ever more an Armando Iannucci satire that reveals everyone to be an idiot even the so-called serious people in the room. Of course as Kohen brothers have taught us, the stupidest people are also the most vicious.

What I would love to know is whether any American who supports the turn their country has taken for any idealistic reason and not for personal enrichment or opportunism? If this describes you please email me or leave a comment below. This immigrant needs an explanation for why copying petty dictators and making Little Pyongyang out of DC is good for anyone whose office is not in Kremlin.

Never have I ever seen a civilian car racing down the National Mall like it’s their own back yard… until now. Summer heat makes people do crazy things.

🎭 The Frankenstein adaptation now showing at the Shakespeare Theatre Company was a well-executed retelling of some of Marry Shelley’s book from the perspective of Drs. unfortunate wife Elizabeth, and boy did the actress portraying her do a masterful job. The only nit to pick was just how whiney Victor Frankenstein was — the play could easily have been 20 minutes shorter if they had cut down on his vacillations — but then it would have been a slightly different play.

It takes a special kind of negligence to accumulate $200,000 in traffic tickets over 7 years. To post about it on Reddit while whining about your car being impounded is the chef’s kiss. Many thanks to the ANC Commissioner who immortalized the now-deleted posts and to DC Councilmember Charles Allan for making it happen.

Six times out of 10 someone who tells me they “live in DC” are actually from Northern Virginia. The other four times they do live in DC proper. On the other hand, no one from Maryland ever says they are “from DC”, even if they live inside the beltway. Even the tiny sliver of Chevy Chase inside the district considers itself Chevy Chase, not DC.

Why are people territorial about Bethesda, Silver Spring and PG county, but not Clarendon, Vienna and Fairfax?

A quick Ranking of DC restaurants I’ve eaten at within the past 6 months of so:

Moon Rabbit > Rumi’s Kitchen > Chloe > Blue Duck Tavern > Rasika > Albi > The Dabney

For all his good work, Jose Andres’s restaurants are lackluster. Oyamel was just OK. Jaleo and China Chilcano stank. Haven’t been to Zaytinya but I doubt it could be better than Rumi’s Kitchen and Chloe.

Facts about the District’s budget from DC council member Charles Allen:

Like any other state, DC’s budget is mostly funded through local tax revenue and fees. About 25% of our budget is from federal programs, largely Medicaid and Medicare, in line with or lower than most US states.

The DC Council and Mayor have collaborated to pass 28 consecutive balanced budgets.

DC continues to have one of the strongest bond ratings of any municipality in the country and has fully funded its pensions.

DC is the only jurisdiction in the nation that budgets out four years on the operations side and six on the capital side to ensure responsible spending.

So if you are reading the history of the 20th century, and come to the 1930s, and you ask yourself “how could people have allowed this to happen”, well, this is how. IYIs too smart for their own good, accepting a guaranteed disaster to prevent an inconvenience.

There is also the small matter of DC city government not being allowed to spend $1.1B of its own money — which it had already collected! — because who needs police and public schools? The colonies revolted for less.

I have a rarely-updated list of articles I look at once a week, and randomly pick one to re-read. This week it was time for the first one on the list, which is Paul Graham’s Life is Short. I have obviously been ignoring it, likely because of its position, because I haven’t been following the sage advice:

The usual way to avoid being taken by surprise by something is to be consciously aware of it. Back when life was more precarious, people used to be aware of death to a degree that would now seem a bit morbid. I’m not sure why, but it doesn’t seem the right answer to be constantly reminding oneself of the grim reaper hovering at everyone’s shoulder. Perhaps a better solution is to look at the problem from the other end. Cultivate a habit of impatience about the things you most want to do. Don’t wait before climbing that mountain or writing that book or visiting your mother. You don’t need to be constantly reminding yourself why you shouldn’t wait. Just don’t wait.

In 2023 there was an exhibit of Leonardo DaVinci’s sketches in D.C., three blocks away from me. But I didn’t see it, because one thing or other kept getting in the way until the very last day, which was so packed with meetings that the work ended after the last admission time.

Lesson learned, right? Well, no, because just recently there was another big show close by (I won’t tell how close lest I allow your, reader, to triangulate my home address). This time we did go, only to balk at the overly long lines and go see something else at the National Art Gallery (incidentally, a work of Leonardo’s). Which was good! But then picking the time when we wouldn’t need to wait was impossible, and we never got to see that exhibit either.

So yes don’t wait, and also when you read and re-read an essay try to at least remember the highlights. This is a memo to self not advice, but could serve as one.