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The Crisis of Kinship: A Critique of the CNTC and the Erosion of Naga Unity
Responding to “CNTC opposes move to revive Rongmei ST issue in Nagaland” (https://nagalandpost.com/cntc-opposes-move-to-revive-rongmei-st-issue-in-nagaland/)
The persistent and vehement opposition by the Central Nagaland Tribes Council (CNTC) regarding the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status of the Rongmei community in Nagaland represents a profound fracture in the foundational vision of Naga unity. By aggressively revisiting a decision that was ostensibly settled through the 2012 recognition and subsequent 2017 withdrawal, the CNTC’s stance highlights a “Naga factor” characterized more by exclusion, protectionism, and internal dispute than by the brotherhood often preached in the highest echelons of Naga political discourse.¹ This debate is not merely an administrative squabble over certificates; it is a fundamental struggle over the soul of what it means to be “Naga” in the twenty-first century.
The Myth of the “Migrant” Naga
The CNTC’s primary argument rests on the preservation of resources for “indigenous” tribes, claiming that granting ST status to 1,313 Rongmei individuals—who have been integrated into the social and physical fabric of Nagaland for over a century—would deprive the youth of livelihood opportunities.² This zero-sum logic is both statistically questionable and philosophically damaging. It ignores the historical reality that the Naga identity is a multi-layered construct built upon a shared struggle for self-determination that deliberately transcends modern state boundaries.³ To categorize fellow Nagas as “migrants” or “immigrants” simply because their ancestral lands fall across the arbitrary administrative lines created by colonial powers is a historical irony of the highest order.
When the British partitioned the Naga hills, they did so for administrative convenience, not out of respect for ethnic homogeneity. By adopting the same logic today, tribal councils like the CNTC are effectively validating colonial borders that the Naga national movement has spent decades trying to dismantle. If the Rongmei, who were present in Nagaland prior to the state’s formation in 1963, are viewed as “outsiders,” it sets a dangerous precedent for every other Naga sub-tribe that might find itself on the “wrong” side of a political boundary.⁴
The Rhetoric of Dehumanization
Furthermore, the rhetoric used to describe the Rongmei community is deeply regressive and historically insensitive. In its media communications, the CNTC has referred to these individuals as descendants of those brought by the British as “scavengers.”⁵ Such labeling is not only an affront to the dignity of a people who have contributed to the social, cultural, and political life of the state for generations, but it also reeks of a caste-like hierarchy that has no place in a supposedly egalitarian Naga society.
To use a community’s historical socio-economic vulnerability as a weapon to deny them modern political rights is a betrayal of the Christian and democratic values many Naga organizations claim to uphold. Instead of recognizing the resilience of a people who have survived the upheavals of the 20th century, the CNTC chooses to define them by a colonial occupational tag. This rhetoric serves only to further polarize a society that is already grappling with systemic tribalism and political fatigue.⁶
The Failure of Dialogue and the “Naga Factor”
At a time when the Naga people should be consolidating their strength through inclusive dialogue and collective bargaining with the Centre, the current atmosphere is instead defined by “war and dispute.” The “Naga factor,” once a term that inspired hope for a pan-Naga identity, has increasingly become synonymous with internal gatekeeping and “crabs-in-a-bucket” syndrome.⁷ Shame is cast upon a system where dialogue is replaced by warnings, ultimatums, and administrative withdrawals.
The CNTC questions the state government’s long-term plan for “indigenous Nagas,” yet it offers no vision of its own that accounts for the reality of Naga integration. If the tribal bodies cannot find the grace or the political imagination to accommodate a small, historically settled population of their own kin—numbering barely over a thousand individuals—the dream of a “Naga Unity” becomes an empty vessel.⁸ One must ask: if we cannot coexist with 1,313 of our own brothers and sisters in Dimapur and Peren, how do we expect to manage a unified administrative setup for millions of Nagas across the region?
Resource Scarcity vs. Identity Integrity
The CNTC’s concern regarding a “resource-starved” state is a valid socioeconomic observation, but it is a poor excuse for ethnic exclusion. Nagaland’s economic woes—unemployment, lack of industry, and infrastructure deficits—are the result of governance failures and political instability, not the presence of a few hundred Rongmei families.⁹ By scapegoating the Rongmei community, the CNTC diverts attention from the real issues affecting Naga youth. It is easier to attack a vulnerable minority than to demand accountability for the systemic corruption that actually drains the state’s resources.
The council’s warning that this move is a “direct challenge” to the youth of Nagaland is a populistic tactic designed to incite fear. In reality, the true challenge to the youth is a fragmented society where merit is secondary to tribal affiliation and where the definition of “belonging” is constantly shrinking.¹⁰
Conclusion: A Call for Higher Ground
The vision of earlier Naga leaders was one of a broad-based brotherhood. They envisioned a people united by common ancestry and a shared future. By narrowing this vision to “jurisdictional” interests and “ancestral land” exclusion, current tribal hohos are dishonoring that legacy. The “Naga factor” must be reclaimed as a force of elevation and mutual support.
It is time to move beyond the politics of “removing opportunities” and start creating them through unity. The state government’s attempt to rectify the ST status of the Rongmei is not a threat; it is an act of administrative justice that aligns with the historical truth of Naga kinship.¹¹ Failure to recognize this is not just a policy error—it is a moral failure that keeps the Naga people locked in an endless cycle of internal strife. We must ask ourselves: if we continue to devour our own, what will be left of the Naga identity to protect?¹²
Footnotes
- “CNTC opposes move to revive Rongmei ST issue in Nagaland,” Nagaland Post, May 14, 2026, https://nagalandpost.com/cntc-opposes-move-to-revive-rongmei-st-issue-in-nagaland/.
- Nagaland Post, “CNTC opposes move,” May 14, 2026.
- Inato Yekheto Shikhu, A Re-discovery of the Naga Heritage (Guwahati: Spectrum Publications, 2007), 45-50.
- Sajal Nag, Contesting Marginality: Ethnicity, Determinsim and Pathological Politics in North-East India (New Delhi: Manohar Publishers, 2002), 188.
- “CNTC warns against reviving Rongmei ST issue,” The Morung Express, May 14, 2026.
- U. A. Shimray, Naga Population and Integration Issues (New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 2007), 112-115.
- A. Lanunungsang Ao, From Phizo to Muivah: The Naga National Question in North East India (New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 2002), 215.
- “The Rongmei Settlement Issue,” The Morung Express, June 5, 2017, https://morungexpress.com/the-rongmei-settlement-issue.
- Charles Chasie, The Naga Imbroglio: A Personal Perspective (Kohima: Standard Printers and Publishers, 1999), 78.
- N. Venuh, Continuity and Change in the Naga Society (New Delhi: Shipra Publications, 2004), 134.
- “Government’s Recognition of Rongmei as Indigenous Tribe,” Nagaland Page, October 12, 2012.
- Kaka D. Iralu, Nagaland and India: The Blood and the Tears (Kohima: N.V. Press, 2000), 402.
Bibliography
Ao, A. Lanunungsang. From Phizo to Muivah: The Naga National Question in North East India. New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 2002.
Chasie, Charles. The Naga Imbroglio: A Personal Perspective. Kohima: Standard Printers and Publishers, 1999.
“CNTC opposes move to revive Rongmei ST issue in Nagaland.” Nagaland Post, May 14, 2026. https://nagalandpost.com/cntc-opposes-move-to-revive-rongmei-st-issue-in-nagaland/.
Iralu, Kaka D. Nagaland and India: The Blood and the Tears. Kohima: N.V. Press, 2000.
Nag, Sajal. Contesting Marginality: Ethnicity, Determinsim and Pathological Politics in North-East India. New Delhi: Manohar Publishers, 2002.
“The Rongmei Settlement Issue.” The Morung Express, June 5, 2017. https://morungexpress.com/the-rongmei-settlement-issue.
Shikhu, Inato Yekheto. A Re-discovery of the Naga Heritage. Guwahati: Spectrum Publications, 2007.
Shimray, U. A. Naga Population and Integration Issues. New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 2007.
Venuh, N. Continuity and Change in the Naga Society. New Delhi: Shipra Publications, 2004.
#Education #History #India #Naga #Nagaland #News #politics #RongmeiNaga #travel -
The Crisis of Kinship: A Critique of the CNTC and the Erosion of Naga Unity
Responding to “CNTC opposes move to revive Rongmei ST issue in Nagaland” (https://nagalandpost.com/cntc-opposes-move-to-revive-rongmei-st-issue-in-nagaland/)
The persistent and vehement opposition by the Central Nagaland Tribes Council (CNTC) regarding the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status of the Rongmei community in Nagaland represents a profound fracture in the foundational vision of Naga unity. By aggressively revisiting a decision that was ostensibly settled through the 2012 recognition and subsequent 2017 withdrawal, the CNTC’s stance highlights a “Naga factor” characterized more by exclusion, protectionism, and internal dispute than by the brotherhood often preached in the highest echelons of Naga political discourse.¹ This debate is not merely an administrative squabble over certificates; it is a fundamental struggle over the soul of what it means to be “Naga” in the twenty-first century.
The Myth of the “Migrant” Naga
The CNTC’s primary argument rests on the preservation of resources for “indigenous” tribes, claiming that granting ST status to 1,313 Rongmei individuals—who have been integrated into the social and physical fabric of Nagaland for over a century—would deprive the youth of livelihood opportunities.² This zero-sum logic is both statistically questionable and philosophically damaging. It ignores the historical reality that the Naga identity is a multi-layered construct built upon a shared struggle for self-determination that deliberately transcends modern state boundaries.³ To categorize fellow Nagas as “migrants” or “immigrants” simply because their ancestral lands fall across the arbitrary administrative lines created by colonial powers is a historical irony of the highest order.
When the British partitioned the Naga hills, they did so for administrative convenience, not out of respect for ethnic homogeneity. By adopting the same logic today, tribal councils like the CNTC are effectively validating colonial borders that the Naga national movement has spent decades trying to dismantle. If the Rongmei, who were present in Nagaland prior to the state’s formation in 1963, are viewed as “outsiders,” it sets a dangerous precedent for every other Naga sub-tribe that might find itself on the “wrong” side of a political boundary.⁴
The Rhetoric of Dehumanization
Furthermore, the rhetoric used to describe the Rongmei community is deeply regressive and historically insensitive. In its media communications, the CNTC has referred to these individuals as descendants of those brought by the British as “scavengers.”⁵ Such labeling is not only an affront to the dignity of a people who have contributed to the social, cultural, and political life of the state for generations, but it also reeks of a caste-like hierarchy that has no place in a supposedly egalitarian Naga society.
To use a community’s historical socio-economic vulnerability as a weapon to deny them modern political rights is a betrayal of the Christian and democratic values many Naga organizations claim to uphold. Instead of recognizing the resilience of a people who have survived the upheavals of the 20th century, the CNTC chooses to define them by a colonial occupational tag. This rhetoric serves only to further polarize a society that is already grappling with systemic tribalism and political fatigue.⁶
The Failure of Dialogue and the “Naga Factor”
At a time when the Naga people should be consolidating their strength through inclusive dialogue and collective bargaining with the Centre, the current atmosphere is instead defined by “war and dispute.” The “Naga factor,” once a term that inspired hope for a pan-Naga identity, has increasingly become synonymous with internal gatekeeping and “crabs-in-a-bucket” syndrome.⁷ Shame is cast upon a system where dialogue is replaced by warnings, ultimatums, and administrative withdrawals.
The CNTC questions the state government’s long-term plan for “indigenous Nagas,” yet it offers no vision of its own that accounts for the reality of Naga integration. If the tribal bodies cannot find the grace or the political imagination to accommodate a small, historically settled population of their own kin—numbering barely over a thousand individuals—the dream of a “Naga Unity” becomes an empty vessel.⁸ One must ask: if we cannot coexist with 1,313 of our own brothers and sisters in Dimapur and Peren, how do we expect to manage a unified administrative setup for millions of Nagas across the region?
Resource Scarcity vs. Identity Integrity
The CNTC’s concern regarding a “resource-starved” state is a valid socioeconomic observation, but it is a poor excuse for ethnic exclusion. Nagaland’s economic woes—unemployment, lack of industry, and infrastructure deficits—are the result of governance failures and political instability, not the presence of a few hundred Rongmei families.⁹ By scapegoating the Rongmei community, the CNTC diverts attention from the real issues affecting Naga youth. It is easier to attack a vulnerable minority than to demand accountability for the systemic corruption that actually drains the state’s resources.
The council’s warning that this move is a “direct challenge” to the youth of Nagaland is a populistic tactic designed to incite fear. In reality, the true challenge to the youth is a fragmented society where merit is secondary to tribal affiliation and where the definition of “belonging” is constantly shrinking.¹⁰
Conclusion: A Call for Higher Ground
The vision of earlier Naga leaders was one of a broad-based brotherhood. They envisioned a people united by common ancestry and a shared future. By narrowing this vision to “jurisdictional” interests and “ancestral land” exclusion, current tribal hohos are dishonoring that legacy. The “Naga factor” must be reclaimed as a force of elevation and mutual support.
It is time to move beyond the politics of “removing opportunities” and start creating them through unity. The state government’s attempt to rectify the ST status of the Rongmei is not a threat; it is an act of administrative justice that aligns with the historical truth of Naga kinship.¹¹ Failure to recognize this is not just a policy error—it is a moral failure that keeps the Naga people locked in an endless cycle of internal strife. We must ask ourselves: if we continue to devour our own, what will be left of the Naga identity to protect?¹²
Footnotes
- “CNTC opposes move to revive Rongmei ST issue in Nagaland,” Nagaland Post, May 14, 2026, https://nagalandpost.com/cntc-opposes-move-to-revive-rongmei-st-issue-in-nagaland/.
- Nagaland Post, “CNTC opposes move,” May 14, 2026.
- Inato Yekheto Shikhu, A Re-discovery of the Naga Heritage (Guwahati: Spectrum Publications, 2007), 45-50.
- Sajal Nag, Contesting Marginality: Ethnicity, Determinsim and Pathological Politics in North-East India (New Delhi: Manohar Publishers, 2002), 188.
- “CNTC warns against reviving Rongmei ST issue,” The Morung Express, May 14, 2026.
- U. A. Shimray, Naga Population and Integration Issues (New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 2007), 112-115.
- A. Lanunungsang Ao, From Phizo to Muivah: The Naga National Question in North East India (New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 2002), 215.
- “The Rongmei Settlement Issue,” The Morung Express, June 5, 2017, https://morungexpress.com/the-rongmei-settlement-issue.
- Charles Chasie, The Naga Imbroglio: A Personal Perspective (Kohima: Standard Printers and Publishers, 1999), 78.
- N. Venuh, Continuity and Change in the Naga Society (New Delhi: Shipra Publications, 2004), 134.
- “Government’s Recognition of Rongmei as Indigenous Tribe,” Nagaland Page, October 12, 2012.
- Kaka D. Iralu, Nagaland and India: The Blood and the Tears (Kohima: N.V. Press, 2000), 402.
Bibliography
Ao, A. Lanunungsang. From Phizo to Muivah: The Naga National Question in North East India. New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 2002.
Chasie, Charles. The Naga Imbroglio: A Personal Perspective. Kohima: Standard Printers and Publishers, 1999.
“CNTC opposes move to revive Rongmei ST issue in Nagaland.” Nagaland Post, May 14, 2026. https://nagalandpost.com/cntc-opposes-move-to-revive-rongmei-st-issue-in-nagaland/.
Iralu, Kaka D. Nagaland and India: The Blood and the Tears. Kohima: N.V. Press, 2000.
Nag, Sajal. Contesting Marginality: Ethnicity, Determinsim and Pathological Politics in North-East India. New Delhi: Manohar Publishers, 2002.
“The Rongmei Settlement Issue.” The Morung Express, June 5, 2017. https://morungexpress.com/the-rongmei-settlement-issue.
Shikhu, Inato Yekheto. A Re-discovery of the Naga Heritage. Guwahati: Spectrum Publications, 2007.
Shimray, U. A. Naga Population and Integration Issues. New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 2007.
Venuh, N. Continuity and Change in the Naga Society. New Delhi: Shipra Publications, 2004.
#Education #History #India #Naga #Nagaland #News #politics #RongmeiNaga #travel -
The Crisis of Kinship: A Critique of the CNTC and the Erosion of Naga Unity
Responding to “CNTC opposes move to revive Rongmei ST issue in Nagaland” (https://nagalandpost.com/cntc-opposes-move-to-revive-rongmei-st-issue-in-nagaland/)
The persistent and vehement opposition by the Central Nagaland Tribes Council (CNTC) regarding the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status of the Rongmei community in Nagaland represents a profound fracture in the foundational vision of Naga unity. By aggressively revisiting a decision that was ostensibly settled through the 2012 recognition and subsequent 2017 withdrawal, the CNTC’s stance highlights a “Naga factor” characterized more by exclusion, protectionism, and internal dispute than by the brotherhood often preached in the highest echelons of Naga political discourse.¹ This debate is not merely an administrative squabble over certificates; it is a fundamental struggle over the soul of what it means to be “Naga” in the twenty-first century.
The Myth of the “Migrant” Naga
The CNTC’s primary argument rests on the preservation of resources for “indigenous” tribes, claiming that granting ST status to 1,313 Rongmei individuals—who have been integrated into the social and physical fabric of Nagaland for over a century—would deprive the youth of livelihood opportunities.² This zero-sum logic is both statistically questionable and philosophically damaging. It ignores the historical reality that the Naga identity is a multi-layered construct built upon a shared struggle for self-determination that deliberately transcends modern state boundaries.³ To categorize fellow Nagas as “migrants” or “immigrants” simply because their ancestral lands fall across the arbitrary administrative lines created by colonial powers is a historical irony of the highest order.
When the British partitioned the Naga hills, they did so for administrative convenience, not out of respect for ethnic homogeneity. By adopting the same logic today, tribal councils like the CNTC are effectively validating colonial borders that the Naga national movement has spent decades trying to dismantle. If the Rongmei, who were present in Nagaland prior to the state’s formation in 1963, are viewed as “outsiders,” it sets a dangerous precedent for every other Naga sub-tribe that might find itself on the “wrong” side of a political boundary.⁴
The Rhetoric of Dehumanization
Furthermore, the rhetoric used to describe the Rongmei community is deeply regressive and historically insensitive. In its media communications, the CNTC has referred to these individuals as descendants of those brought by the British as “scavengers.”⁵ Such labeling is not only an affront to the dignity of a people who have contributed to the social, cultural, and political life of the state for generations, but it also reeks of a caste-like hierarchy that has no place in a supposedly egalitarian Naga society.
To use a community’s historical socio-economic vulnerability as a weapon to deny them modern political rights is a betrayal of the Christian and democratic values many Naga organizations claim to uphold. Instead of recognizing the resilience of a people who have survived the upheavals of the 20th century, the CNTC chooses to define them by a colonial occupational tag. This rhetoric serves only to further polarize a society that is already grappling with systemic tribalism and political fatigue.⁶
The Failure of Dialogue and the “Naga Factor”
At a time when the Naga people should be consolidating their strength through inclusive dialogue and collective bargaining with the Centre, the current atmosphere is instead defined by “war and dispute.” The “Naga factor,” once a term that inspired hope for a pan-Naga identity, has increasingly become synonymous with internal gatekeeping and “crabs-in-a-bucket” syndrome.⁷ Shame is cast upon a system where dialogue is replaced by warnings, ultimatums, and administrative withdrawals.
The CNTC questions the state government’s long-term plan for “indigenous Nagas,” yet it offers no vision of its own that accounts for the reality of Naga integration. If the tribal bodies cannot find the grace or the political imagination to accommodate a small, historically settled population of their own kin—numbering barely over a thousand individuals—the dream of a “Naga Unity” becomes an empty vessel.⁸ One must ask: if we cannot coexist with 1,313 of our own brothers and sisters in Dimapur and Peren, how do we expect to manage a unified administrative setup for millions of Nagas across the region?
Resource Scarcity vs. Identity Integrity
The CNTC’s concern regarding a “resource-starved” state is a valid socioeconomic observation, but it is a poor excuse for ethnic exclusion. Nagaland’s economic woes—unemployment, lack of industry, and infrastructure deficits—are the result of governance failures and political instability, not the presence of a few hundred Rongmei families.⁹ By scapegoating the Rongmei community, the CNTC diverts attention from the real issues affecting Naga youth. It is easier to attack a vulnerable minority than to demand accountability for the systemic corruption that actually drains the state’s resources.
The council’s warning that this move is a “direct challenge” to the youth of Nagaland is a populistic tactic designed to incite fear. In reality, the true challenge to the youth is a fragmented society where merit is secondary to tribal affiliation and where the definition of “belonging” is constantly shrinking.¹⁰
Conclusion: A Call for Higher Ground
The vision of earlier Naga leaders was one of a broad-based brotherhood. They envisioned a people united by common ancestry and a shared future. By narrowing this vision to “jurisdictional” interests and “ancestral land” exclusion, current tribal hohos are dishonoring that legacy. The “Naga factor” must be reclaimed as a force of elevation and mutual support.
It is time to move beyond the politics of “removing opportunities” and start creating them through unity. The state government’s attempt to rectify the ST status of the Rongmei is not a threat; it is an act of administrative justice that aligns with the historical truth of Naga kinship.¹¹ Failure to recognize this is not just a policy error—it is a moral failure that keeps the Naga people locked in an endless cycle of internal strife. We must ask ourselves: if we continue to devour our own, what will be left of the Naga identity to protect?¹²
Footnotes
- “CNTC opposes move to revive Rongmei ST issue in Nagaland,” Nagaland Post, May 14, 2026, https://nagalandpost.com/cntc-opposes-move-to-revive-rongmei-st-issue-in-nagaland/.
- Nagaland Post, “CNTC opposes move,” May 14, 2026.
- Inato Yekheto Shikhu, A Re-discovery of the Naga Heritage (Guwahati: Spectrum Publications, 2007), 45-50.
- Sajal Nag, Contesting Marginality: Ethnicity, Determinsim and Pathological Politics in North-East India (New Delhi: Manohar Publishers, 2002), 188.
- “CNTC warns against reviving Rongmei ST issue,” The Morung Express, May 14, 2026.
- U. A. Shimray, Naga Population and Integration Issues (New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 2007), 112-115.
- A. Lanunungsang Ao, From Phizo to Muivah: The Naga National Question in North East India (New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 2002), 215.
- “The Rongmei Settlement Issue,” The Morung Express, June 5, 2017, https://morungexpress.com/the-rongmei-settlement-issue.
- Charles Chasie, The Naga Imbroglio: A Personal Perspective (Kohima: Standard Printers and Publishers, 1999), 78.
- N. Venuh, Continuity and Change in the Naga Society (New Delhi: Shipra Publications, 2004), 134.
- “Government’s Recognition of Rongmei as Indigenous Tribe,” Nagaland Page, October 12, 2012.
- Kaka D. Iralu, Nagaland and India: The Blood and the Tears (Kohima: N.V. Press, 2000), 402.
Bibliography
Ao, A. Lanunungsang. From Phizo to Muivah: The Naga National Question in North East India. New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 2002.
Chasie, Charles. The Naga Imbroglio: A Personal Perspective. Kohima: Standard Printers and Publishers, 1999.
“CNTC opposes move to revive Rongmei ST issue in Nagaland.” Nagaland Post, May 14, 2026. https://nagalandpost.com/cntc-opposes-move-to-revive-rongmei-st-issue-in-nagaland/.
Iralu, Kaka D. Nagaland and India: The Blood and the Tears. Kohima: N.V. Press, 2000.
Nag, Sajal. Contesting Marginality: Ethnicity, Determinsim and Pathological Politics in North-East India. New Delhi: Manohar Publishers, 2002.
“The Rongmei Settlement Issue.” The Morung Express, June 5, 2017. https://morungexpress.com/the-rongmei-settlement-issue.
Shikhu, Inato Yekheto. A Re-discovery of the Naga Heritage. Guwahati: Spectrum Publications, 2007.
Shimray, U. A. Naga Population and Integration Issues. New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 2007.
Venuh, N. Continuity and Change in the Naga Society. New Delhi: Shipra Publications, 2004.
#Education #History #India #Naga #Nagaland #News #politics #RongmeiNaga #travel -
There once was a man from Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket
But one terrible day
Someone took it away
So please lend me a few grand until I can get back on my feet -
There once was a man from Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket
But one terrible day
Someone took it away
So please lend me a few grand until I can get back on my feet -
There once was a man from Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket
But one terrible day
Someone took it away
So please lend me a few grand until I can get back on my feet -
There once was a man from Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket
But one terrible day
Someone took it away
So please lend me a few grand until I can get back on my feet -
There once was a man from Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket
But one terrible day
Someone took it away
So please lend me a few grand until I can get back on my feet -
Lazy Caturday Reads: A Mixed Bag of Stories
Good Afternoon!!
Artist unknown
There isn’t a lot of urgent news today, which is kind of nice for a change. I’ve got a mixed bag of interesting stories though.
Before I get to the politics news, I want to share a fun story about a woman who had a small but significant part in the movie “Cool Hand Luke.”
Alex Williams at The New York Times (gift link): Joy Harmon, Car-Washing Temptress in ‘Cool Hand Luke,’ Dies at 87.
Joy Harmon, who needed only three minutes, a bucket of soapy water and a housedress held together with a safety pin to sear herself into Hollywood history as a chain-gang prisoner’s fantasy come to life in the classic 1967 film “Cool Hand Luke,” died on April 14 in Los Angeles. She was 87.
She died in hospice care after contracting pneumonia in recent weeks, her daughter Julie Gourson Matthews said.
Ms. Harmon never achieved leading-lady status. Still, she tallied more than 30 screen and television credits, often popping up in an episode or two of popular 1960s and early ’70s TV shows like “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “The Monkees,” “Batman,” “Bewitched” and “The Odd Couple.”
Onscreen, she was hard to miss, with her pinup figure, platinum hair and ice-blue eyes. “Gosh, you have the bluest eyes!,” she recalled Paul Newman, the star of “Cool Hand Luke,” once saying to her — no small praise coming from an actor known for his own dazzlingly blue eyes….
Ms. Harmon, listed in the credits as the Girl, appears about 23 minutes into the movie and is gone before minute 27. But she makes the most of her screen time.
Emerging from a farmhouse, bucket in hand, she languidly scrubs down a 1941 DeSoto in full view of the sweat-drenched, shirtless prisoners digging a roadside ditch nearby.
“Hey, Lord, whatever I’ve done, don’t strike me blind for another couple of minutes,” Dragline (George Kennedy), the alpha dog of the chain gang, says.
While the prisoners wipe their brows and gawk, the amply endowed Ms. Harmon nearly bursts out of her skintight dress as she bends to scrub hubcaps or sprawls across the hood, occasionally pausing to squeeze her sponge so that the suds cascade down her torso.
“Oh, God, she doesn’t know what she’s doing,” one lustful prisoner says.
“She knows exactly what she’s doing,” Luke responds. “She’s driving us crazy and loving every minute of it.”
A bit about Harmon’s life:
Patricia Joy Harmon was born on May 1, 1938, in Flushing, Queens, the elder of two daughters of Homer Harmon, a promotional director at the Roxy Theater in Manhattan, and Bernice (Hopmann) Harmon. (Many accounts cite her birth year as 1940, but she shaved two years off her age once she was in Hollywood, her daughter said.)
She grew up in Wilton, Conn., and began modeling at an early age. At 17, she was a runner-up in the Miss Connecticut beauty pageant.
By Roxanne Driedger
After graduating in 1956 from Staples High School in Westport, she acted in local theater productions before making her Broadway debut two years later in “Make a Million,” a sendup of TV quiz shows. That led to an appearance on a real quiz show, Groucho Marx’s “You Bet Your Life,” which in turn led to a regular role as Mr. Marx’s on-air assistant on the show’s spinoff, “Tell It to Groucho.”
By the mid-1960s, Ms. Harmon was starting to win big-screen roles in matinee fare like “Village of the Giants,” a sci-fi comedy featuring Beau Bridges, about teenagers who grow to 30 feet tall after consuming a miracle concoction made by a boy genius (Ron Howard).
If nothing else, it was a speaking part. The same could not be said for her role in “Cool Hand Luke,” where the only directive was that she show up for the audition in a bikini, Ms. Harmon recalled in an interview last year with the podcast “Vanguard of Hollywood.”
When she arrived, she was wearing “a coat over a bikini,” she recalled, “and Paul Newman and the director and the producer were there.” She had no lines to read, she added, “so I just talked to them, and then I got the part.”
“Cool Hand Luke” earned four Academy Award nominations, including best actor for Mr. Newman; Mr. Kennedy won the Oscar for best supporting actor.
For Ms. Harmon, the film proved to be a career pinnacle — and she was fine with that.
“I was never one who said, ‘Oh, I’ve got to be a big star,’” she said in a 2017 interview with Entertainment Weekly. “I just took whatever came to me.”
I had fun reading that article. I hope you will too. Use the gift link to read the rest.
On to the less enjoyable news…
It doesn’t look like there will be any Iran war negotiations in Pakistan this weekend.
CNN Live Updates: Status of US-Iran peace talks uncertain as Iranian foreign minister leaves Pakistan.
Peace talks: Sources say Iran’s foreign minister has left Pakistan after talks with mediators about the stalled US-Iran peace effort. The US previously said it was sending envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan this weekend, but Tehran denied any plans to meet directly, further clouding the status of negotiations.
Trump awaits an offer: President Donald Trump said he expected Iran to present new terms in response to US demands for ending the war. He did not provide details, however, and has said uncertainty surrounding Iran’s leadership is complicating talks.
CNN: Araghchi leaves Pakistan, Iranian sources tell CNN.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi departed Islamabad on Saturday evening local time, according to Iranian sources familiar with the discussions, after meetings in the Pakistani capital to discuss a truce with Washington and consult key allies in the region.
It was not initially clear where Araghchi would travel next, but the Iranian Foreign Ministry previously said he would also visit Oman and Russia during the trip.
Lindsay, by Linda Lee Nelson
Some background: Araghchi landed in Islamabad on Friday evening for a flurry of meetings with Pakistan’s top leadership, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the country’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, who has served as a key mediator between Tehran and Washington.
Pakistani ministers are trying to facilitate a second round of talks between US and Iranian officials, after lengthy discussions in early April failed to alleviate the thorniest diplomatic hurdles between the warring parties.
The White House said Friday that a US delegation would travel to Islamabad this weekend, but Iranian media had denied reports that Araghchi would directly negotiate with Washington during his trip, leaving the status of talks uncertain.
Trump has just called off the trip to Pakistan by Witkoff and Kushner.
The New York Times published a fascinating article about Iran’s leaders this week. It appears that the Revolutionary Guards are actually in control of the government, and it’s not clear if the men doing the negotiating actually have the power to make final decisions.
Farnaz Fassihi at The New York Times (gift link): A New Era and New Leadership: The Generals Who Are Running Iran.
When Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled Iran as the supreme leader, he exerted absolute power over all decisions about war, peace and negotiations with the United States. His son and successor does not play the same role.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the son, is an elusive figure who has not been seen and whose voice has not been heard since he was appointed in March. Instead, a battle-hardened collective of commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and those aligned with them are the key decision makers on matters of security, war and diplomacy.
In the Garden, by Thomas Little
“Mojtaba is managing the country as though he is the director of the board,” said Abdolreza Davari, a politician who served as senior adviser to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he was president and knows Mr. Khamenei.
“He relies heavily on the advice and guidance of the board members, and they collectively make all the decisions,” Mr. Davari said in a phone interview from Tehran. “The generals are the board members.” [….]
Mr. Khamenei, who was selected by a council of senior clerics as the new supreme leader, has been in hiding since American and Israeli forces bombed his father’s compound on Feb. 28, where he also lived with his family. His father, wife and son were all killed. Access to him is extremely difficult and limited now. He is surrounded mostly by a team of doctors and medical staff who are treating the injuries he sustained in the airstrikes.
Senior commanders of the Guards and senior government officials do not visit him, fearing that Israel may trace them to him and kill him. President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is also a heart surgeon, and the minister of health have both been involved in his care.
Though Mr. Khamenei was gravely wounded, he is mentally sharp and engaged, according to four senior Iranian officials familiar with his health. One leg was operated on three times, and he is awaiting a prosthetic. He had surgery on one hand and is slowly regaining function. His face and lips have been burned severely, making it difficult for him to speak, the officials said, adding that, eventually, he will need plastic surgery.
Just a bit more:
Mr. Khamenei has not recorded a video or audio message, the officials said, because he does not want to appear vulnerable or sound weak in his first public address. He has issued several written statements that have been posted online and read on state television.
Messages to him are handwritten, sealed in envelopes and relayed via a human chain from one trusted courier to the next, who travel on highways and back roads, in cars and on motorcycles until they reach his hide-out. His guidance on issues snakes back the same way.
The combination of concern for his safety, his injuries and the sheer challenge of reaching him has resulted in Mr. Khamenei’s delegating decision making to the generals, at least for now. Reformist factions, as well as ultra-hard-liners, are still involved in political discussions. But analysts say that Mr. Khamenei’s close ties to the generals, whom he grew up with when he volunteered to fight in the Iran-Iraq war as a teenager, have made them the dominant force.
President Trump has said that the war, along with the killings of layers of Iran’s leaders and security establishment, has ushered in “regime change” and that the new leaders are “much more reasonable.” In reality, the Islamic republic has not been toppled. Power is now in the hands of an entrenched, hard-line military, and the broad influence of the clerics is waning.
“Mojtaba is not yet in full command or control,” said Sanam Vakil, the director of the Middle East and North Africa for Chatham House who has contact with people in Iran. “There is, perhaps, deference to him. He signs off or he is part of the decision-making structure in a formal way. But he is presented with fait accompli presentations right now.”
So it appears that the Generals are actually running things in Iran now. You can use the gift link to read the whole article. It’s very interesting.
Back in the USA, the DOJ has withdrawn the charges against Fed chair Jerome Powell, but the damage is done.
The New York Times: The ‘Lasting Damage’ of Pirro’s Abandoned Fed Investigation.
The Justice Department’s criminal investigation of the Federal Reserve and its chair, Jerome H. Powell, appears to be over. But the ramifications for the central bank are likely to prove much longer lasting.
Nine months after President Trump made a hasty visit to the Fed’s Washington headquarters and promised to “take a look” at a costly renovation, the administration has concluded its inquiry with seemingly nothing to show. Far from the criminal charges that they once pursued, prosecutors left in their wake a dark cloud over the institution and the person Mr. Trump has chosen to next lead the central bank.
The about-face has removed, for now, the immediate threat of a further escalation against the Fed. It has also potentially cleared a path for Mr. Trump’s nominee for Fed chair, Kevin M. Warsh, to succeed Mr. Powell, whose term ends on May 15.
By Richard Williams
What will be far harder to recoup is confidence in the Fed’s ability to operate independently from a White House that has shown little restraint in its efforts to bully the central bank into slashing interest rates.
Even as Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, announced that the investigation was shutting down, she warned that she would “not hesitate” to reopen the inquiry if warranted. Ms. Pirro added that she had asked the Fed’s inspector general to take over the investigation, even though the internal watchdog had been looking into the matter since July….
Kathryn Judge, a Columbia Law School professor who was a Supreme Court law clerk for Justice Stephen G. Breyer, said she feared “lasting damage” from the investigation into Mr. Powell — not only for the Fed but for policymakers across government.
Until now, she said, officials did not have to worry about repercussions from “taking a strong stance on policy issues in ways that are inconsistent with the president’s agenda.” But that was the sort of pressure that Mr. Powell faced as Mr. Trump sought to force rates down.
There’s some news about Trump’s corrupt case against the IRS.
NBC News: Judge questions legal basis for Trump’s $10 billion case against IRS.
A federal judge is asking the Justice Department and President Donald Trump’s private attorneys to explain whether his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, an agency he oversees as president, is the type of dispute federal courts can hear.
In a Friday order, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams questioned whether an actual disagreement exists, writing that a case can only stand if there is “adverseness” between the parties.“Typically, adverseness is found in a situation where one party is asserting its right and the other party is resisting,” Williams wrote. “Consequently, if there is no adverseness, there is no case or controversy.”
The Constitution’s “case or controversy” clause says federal courts may only hear actual “controversies.”
The judge ordered both parties to explain “whether a case and controversy exists” by May 20. Williams set a hearing on the matter for May 27 in Miami.
The order comes as both sides seek to resolve the dispute. Attorneys representing Trump and the IRS asked a federal court in a joint filing last week to pause proceedings for 90 days while the parties hold talks to find a resolution.
How the hell can they resolve a “dispute” when Trump is the boss?
Trump sued the IRS and the Treasury Department in January alleging that the agency was at fault for the unauthorized release of his tax documents by a government contractor who shared them with news outlets. Trump argued that the IRS did not take the necessary steps to prevent the actions of the contractor, Charles Littlejohn, who was sentenced to five years in prison in 2024 following a guilty plea.
In her order, Williams did recognize that Trump sued the IRS in “his personal capacity,” rather than as president, but wrote that “he is the sitting president and his named adversaries are entities whose decisions are subject to his direction.”
The corruption in this administration is beyond belief.
Some good news–it looks like Trump’s “SAVE” act is dead.
Al Weaver at NOTUS: Senate Republicans Bench Trump’s Voting Bill.
Senate Republicans have sidelined the SAVE America Act, arguing that it shouldn’t be anywhere near the top of the party’s priority list, especially amid the Iran war and growing economic woes.
Quiet Day by Yuriy Sultanov
Republican leaders this week were forced to remove the proposal as pending business in the chamber as they shifted gears to pass the budget resolution. That effectively benched the bill — which has been championed by President Donald Trump and considered a top agenda item — after an extensive pressure campaign by conservative members and influencers.
The necessary move, however, was greeted with a sigh of relief by a number of Republicans who, while supportive of the measure, believe it’s time to move on to more pressing matters. They also believe the pro-SAVE America Act blitz, led by Sen. Mike Lee and like-minded conservatives, did little to help the case, and may have backfired. Members are ready to bid it adieu as they near the final six months before the midterms.
“They’ve convinced themselves that the longer it hangs around, the more popular it gets. The reality is — I’m quite certain they haven’t gained a single vote, and may have lost a few with time,” one Senate Republican told NOTUS. “There’s some things that aren’t possible, and this is one of them.”
The member noted that while key parts of the bill — which requires voter ID and proof of citizenship to register to vote — poll well with wide swaths of Americans, including Democrats, it is hardly considered a leading issue for voters.
“When put in a lineup of the top 100 things people are thinking about every day, it doesn’t get very high on the list,” the senator continued. “We’re spending a lot of the precious resource of time and energy on something that’s not top-of-mind awareness to voters.”
I already had to produce a photo ID and prove my citizenship when I registered to vote. Good riddance to this idiotic bill.
A follow-up to The Atlantic story on Kash Patel:
Joe Sommerlad at The Independent: Atlantic writer sued by Kash Patel says she’s been ‘inundated’ with new sources corroborating her reporting.
Sarah Fitzpatrick, The Atlantic investigative journalist behind last week’s bombshell story about FBI Director Kash Patel, has said she has since been “inundated” with messages from new sources corroborating her reporting.
Fitzpatrick’s story alleged that Patel drinks to excess – so much so that, in one instance, breaching equipment was ordered to break into a locked bedroom when he did not respond to inquiries about his well-being. The profile and also characterized him as deeply paranoid about being fired by President Donald Trump.
Patel claimed the stories were false and has filed a ludicrous lawsuit.
Speaking to the Radio Atlantic podcast one week after the article, Fitzpatrick was asked about the director’s retaliatory moves and said she was undaunted.
“My response is that I stand by every single word of this report,” she said. “We were very diligent. We were very careful. It went through multiple levels of editing, review, care.
“And I think one of the things that has been most gratifying, after – immediately after the story published was, I have been inundated by additional sourcing going up to the highest levels of the government, thanking us for doing the work, providing additional corroborating information.”
Fitzpatrick said that she used more than two dozen sources for her original report, characterizing the officials she spoke to as “people who felt that not only was this conduct embarrassing, unbecoming, but that it was a national security vulnerability, and that Americans were perhaps less safe as a result.”
Asked about some of the more shocking details in her report, she said: “I had never heard anything like this as a reporter, and I think I spent a very long time, a very diligent amount of time checking it out because it was so explosive.
“And I think the fact that this was known throughout the FBI, throughout the Justice Department, that it reached the White House is because it was so alarming. And people were really frightened.”
There’s more at the link.
Those are the stories that caught my attention today. What’s on your mind?
#AyatollahMojtabaKhamenei #CoolHandLuke #DonaldTrump #FedChair #IranRevolutionaryGuards #JeromeHPowell #JoyHarmon #KashPatel #Pakistan #PaulNewman #SarahFitzpatrick #SAVEAmericaAct #TheAtlantic #TrumpIRSLawsuit #USIranPeaceTalks -
Lazy Caturday Reads: A Mixed Bag of Stories
Good Afternoon!!
Artist unknown
There isn’t a lot of urgent news today, which is kind of nice for a change. I’ve got a mixed bag of interesting stories though.
Before I get to the politics news, I want to share a fun story about a woman who had a small but significant part in the movie “Cool Hand Luke.”
Alex Williams at The New York Times (gift link): Joy Harmon, Car-Washing Temptress in ‘Cool Hand Luke,’ Dies at 87.
Joy Harmon, who needed only three minutes, a bucket of soapy water and a housedress held together with a safety pin to sear herself into Hollywood history as a chain-gang prisoner’s fantasy come to life in the classic 1967 film “Cool Hand Luke,” died on April 14 in Los Angeles. She was 87.
She died in hospice care after contracting pneumonia in recent weeks, her daughter Julie Gourson Matthews said.
Ms. Harmon never achieved leading-lady status. Still, she tallied more than 30 screen and television credits, often popping up in an episode or two of popular 1960s and early ’70s TV shows like “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “The Monkees,” “Batman,” “Bewitched” and “The Odd Couple.”
Onscreen, she was hard to miss, with her pinup figure, platinum hair and ice-blue eyes. “Gosh, you have the bluest eyes!,” she recalled Paul Newman, the star of “Cool Hand Luke,” once saying to her — no small praise coming from an actor known for his own dazzlingly blue eyes….
Ms. Harmon, listed in the credits as the Girl, appears about 23 minutes into the movie and is gone before minute 27. But she makes the most of her screen time.
Emerging from a farmhouse, bucket in hand, she languidly scrubs down a 1941 DeSoto in full view of the sweat-drenched, shirtless prisoners digging a roadside ditch nearby.
“Hey, Lord, whatever I’ve done, don’t strike me blind for another couple of minutes,” Dragline (George Kennedy), the alpha dog of the chain gang, says.
While the prisoners wipe their brows and gawk, the amply endowed Ms. Harmon nearly bursts out of her skintight dress as she bends to scrub hubcaps or sprawls across the hood, occasionally pausing to squeeze her sponge so that the suds cascade down her torso.
“Oh, God, she doesn’t know what she’s doing,” one lustful prisoner says.
“She knows exactly what she’s doing,” Luke responds. “She’s driving us crazy and loving every minute of it.”
A bit about Harmon’s life:
Patricia Joy Harmon was born on May 1, 1938, in Flushing, Queens, the elder of two daughters of Homer Harmon, a promotional director at the Roxy Theater in Manhattan, and Bernice (Hopmann) Harmon. (Many accounts cite her birth year as 1940, but she shaved two years off her age once she was in Hollywood, her daughter said.)
She grew up in Wilton, Conn., and began modeling at an early age. At 17, she was a runner-up in the Miss Connecticut beauty pageant.
By Roxanne Driedger
After graduating in 1956 from Staples High School in Westport, she acted in local theater productions before making her Broadway debut two years later in “Make a Million,” a sendup of TV quiz shows. That led to an appearance on a real quiz show, Groucho Marx’s “You Bet Your Life,” which in turn led to a regular role as Mr. Marx’s on-air assistant on the show’s spinoff, “Tell It to Groucho.”
By the mid-1960s, Ms. Harmon was starting to win big-screen roles in matinee fare like “Village of the Giants,” a sci-fi comedy featuring Beau Bridges, about teenagers who grow to 30 feet tall after consuming a miracle concoction made by a boy genius (Ron Howard).
If nothing else, it was a speaking part. The same could not be said for her role in “Cool Hand Luke,” where the only directive was that she show up for the audition in a bikini, Ms. Harmon recalled in an interview last year with the podcast “Vanguard of Hollywood.”
When she arrived, she was wearing “a coat over a bikini,” she recalled, “and Paul Newman and the director and the producer were there.” She had no lines to read, she added, “so I just talked to them, and then I got the part.”
“Cool Hand Luke” earned four Academy Award nominations, including best actor for Mr. Newman; Mr. Kennedy won the Oscar for best supporting actor.
For Ms. Harmon, the film proved to be a career pinnacle — and she was fine with that.
“I was never one who said, ‘Oh, I’ve got to be a big star,’” she said in a 2017 interview with Entertainment Weekly. “I just took whatever came to me.”
I had fun reading that article. I hope you will too. Use the gift link to read the rest.
On to the less enjoyable news…
It doesn’t look like there will be any Iran war negotiations in Pakistan this weekend.
CNN Live Updates: Status of US-Iran peace talks uncertain as Iranian foreign minister leaves Pakistan.
Peace talks: Sources say Iran’s foreign minister has left Pakistan after talks with mediators about the stalled US-Iran peace effort. The US previously said it was sending envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan this weekend, but Tehran denied any plans to meet directly, further clouding the status of negotiations.
Trump awaits an offer: President Donald Trump said he expected Iran to present new terms in response to US demands for ending the war. He did not provide details, however, and has said uncertainty surrounding Iran’s leadership is complicating talks.
CNN: Araghchi leaves Pakistan, Iranian sources tell CNN.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi departed Islamabad on Saturday evening local time, according to Iranian sources familiar with the discussions, after meetings in the Pakistani capital to discuss a truce with Washington and consult key allies in the region.
It was not initially clear where Araghchi would travel next, but the Iranian Foreign Ministry previously said he would also visit Oman and Russia during the trip.
Lindsay, by Linda Lee Nelson
Some background: Araghchi landed in Islamabad on Friday evening for a flurry of meetings with Pakistan’s top leadership, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the country’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, who has served as a key mediator between Tehran and Washington.
Pakistani ministers are trying to facilitate a second round of talks between US and Iranian officials, after lengthy discussions in early April failed to alleviate the thorniest diplomatic hurdles between the warring parties.
The White House said Friday that a US delegation would travel to Islamabad this weekend, but Iranian media had denied reports that Araghchi would directly negotiate with Washington during his trip, leaving the status of talks uncertain.
Trump has just called off the trip to Pakistan by Witkoff and Kushner.
The New York Times published a fascinating article about Iran’s leaders this week. It appears that the Revolutionary Guards are actually in control of the government, and it’s not clear if the men doing the negotiating actually have the power to make final decisions.
Farnaz Fassihi at The New York Times (gift link): A New Era and New Leadership: The Generals Who Are Running Iran.
When Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled Iran as the supreme leader, he exerted absolute power over all decisions about war, peace and negotiations with the United States. His son and successor does not play the same role.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the son, is an elusive figure who has not been seen and whose voice has not been heard since he was appointed in March. Instead, a battle-hardened collective of commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and those aligned with them are the key decision makers on matters of security, war and diplomacy.
In the Garden, by Thomas Little
“Mojtaba is managing the country as though he is the director of the board,” said Abdolreza Davari, a politician who served as senior adviser to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he was president and knows Mr. Khamenei.
“He relies heavily on the advice and guidance of the board members, and they collectively make all the decisions,” Mr. Davari said in a phone interview from Tehran. “The generals are the board members.” [….]
Mr. Khamenei, who was selected by a council of senior clerics as the new supreme leader, has been in hiding since American and Israeli forces bombed his father’s compound on Feb. 28, where he also lived with his family. His father, wife and son were all killed. Access to him is extremely difficult and limited now. He is surrounded mostly by a team of doctors and medical staff who are treating the injuries he sustained in the airstrikes.
Senior commanders of the Guards and senior government officials do not visit him, fearing that Israel may trace them to him and kill him. President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is also a heart surgeon, and the minister of health have both been involved in his care.
Though Mr. Khamenei was gravely wounded, he is mentally sharp and engaged, according to four senior Iranian officials familiar with his health. One leg was operated on three times, and he is awaiting a prosthetic. He had surgery on one hand and is slowly regaining function. His face and lips have been burned severely, making it difficult for him to speak, the officials said, adding that, eventually, he will need plastic surgery.
Just a bit more:
Mr. Khamenei has not recorded a video or audio message, the officials said, because he does not want to appear vulnerable or sound weak in his first public address. He has issued several written statements that have been posted online and read on state television.
Messages to him are handwritten, sealed in envelopes and relayed via a human chain from one trusted courier to the next, who travel on highways and back roads, in cars and on motorcycles until they reach his hide-out. His guidance on issues snakes back the same way.
The combination of concern for his safety, his injuries and the sheer challenge of reaching him has resulted in Mr. Khamenei’s delegating decision making to the generals, at least for now. Reformist factions, as well as ultra-hard-liners, are still involved in political discussions. But analysts say that Mr. Khamenei’s close ties to the generals, whom he grew up with when he volunteered to fight in the Iran-Iraq war as a teenager, have made them the dominant force.
President Trump has said that the war, along with the killings of layers of Iran’s leaders and security establishment, has ushered in “regime change” and that the new leaders are “much more reasonable.” In reality, the Islamic republic has not been toppled. Power is now in the hands of an entrenched, hard-line military, and the broad influence of the clerics is waning.
“Mojtaba is not yet in full command or control,” said Sanam Vakil, the director of the Middle East and North Africa for Chatham House who has contact with people in Iran. “There is, perhaps, deference to him. He signs off or he is part of the decision-making structure in a formal way. But he is presented with fait accompli presentations right now.”
So it appears that the Generals are actually running things in Iran now. You can use the gift link to read the whole article. It’s very interesting.
Back in the USA, the DOJ has withdrawn the charges against Fed chair Jerome Powell, but the damage is done.
The New York Times: The ‘Lasting Damage’ of Pirro’s Abandoned Fed Investigation.
The Justice Department’s criminal investigation of the Federal Reserve and its chair, Jerome H. Powell, appears to be over. But the ramifications for the central bank are likely to prove much longer lasting.
Nine months after President Trump made a hasty visit to the Fed’s Washington headquarters and promised to “take a look” at a costly renovation, the administration has concluded its inquiry with seemingly nothing to show. Far from the criminal charges that they once pursued, prosecutors left in their wake a dark cloud over the institution and the person Mr. Trump has chosen to next lead the central bank.
The about-face has removed, for now, the immediate threat of a further escalation against the Fed. It has also potentially cleared a path for Mr. Trump’s nominee for Fed chair, Kevin M. Warsh, to succeed Mr. Powell, whose term ends on May 15.
By Richard Williams
What will be far harder to recoup is confidence in the Fed’s ability to operate independently from a White House that has shown little restraint in its efforts to bully the central bank into slashing interest rates.
Even as Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, announced that the investigation was shutting down, she warned that she would “not hesitate” to reopen the inquiry if warranted. Ms. Pirro added that she had asked the Fed’s inspector general to take over the investigation, even though the internal watchdog had been looking into the matter since July….
Kathryn Judge, a Columbia Law School professor who was a Supreme Court law clerk for Justice Stephen G. Breyer, said she feared “lasting damage” from the investigation into Mr. Powell — not only for the Fed but for policymakers across government.
Until now, she said, officials did not have to worry about repercussions from “taking a strong stance on policy issues in ways that are inconsistent with the president’s agenda.” But that was the sort of pressure that Mr. Powell faced as Mr. Trump sought to force rates down.
There’s some news about Trump’s corrupt case against the IRS.
NBC News: Judge questions legal basis for Trump’s $10 billion case against IRS.
A federal judge is asking the Justice Department and President Donald Trump’s private attorneys to explain whether his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, an agency he oversees as president, is the type of dispute federal courts can hear.
In a Friday order, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams questioned whether an actual disagreement exists, writing that a case can only stand if there is “adverseness” between the parties.“Typically, adverseness is found in a situation where one party is asserting its right and the other party is resisting,” Williams wrote. “Consequently, if there is no adverseness, there is no case or controversy.”
The Constitution’s “case or controversy” clause says federal courts may only hear actual “controversies.”
The judge ordered both parties to explain “whether a case and controversy exists” by May 20. Williams set a hearing on the matter for May 27 in Miami.
The order comes as both sides seek to resolve the dispute. Attorneys representing Trump and the IRS asked a federal court in a joint filing last week to pause proceedings for 90 days while the parties hold talks to find a resolution.
How the hell can they resolve a “dispute” when Trump is the boss?
Trump sued the IRS and the Treasury Department in January alleging that the agency was at fault for the unauthorized release of his tax documents by a government contractor who shared them with news outlets. Trump argued that the IRS did not take the necessary steps to prevent the actions of the contractor, Charles Littlejohn, who was sentenced to five years in prison in 2024 following a guilty plea.
In her order, Williams did recognize that Trump sued the IRS in “his personal capacity,” rather than as president, but wrote that “he is the sitting president and his named adversaries are entities whose decisions are subject to his direction.”
The corruption in this administration is beyond belief.
Some good news–it looks like Trump’s “SAVE” act is dead.
Al Weaver at NOTUS: Senate Republicans Bench Trump’s Voting Bill.
Senate Republicans have sidelined the SAVE America Act, arguing that it shouldn’t be anywhere near the top of the party’s priority list, especially amid the Iran war and growing economic woes.
Quiet Day by Yuriy Sultanov
Republican leaders this week were forced to remove the proposal as pending business in the chamber as they shifted gears to pass the budget resolution. That effectively benched the bill — which has been championed by President Donald Trump and considered a top agenda item — after an extensive pressure campaign by conservative members and influencers.
The necessary move, however, was greeted with a sigh of relief by a number of Republicans who, while supportive of the measure, believe it’s time to move on to more pressing matters. They also believe the pro-SAVE America Act blitz, led by Sen. Mike Lee and like-minded conservatives, did little to help the case, and may have backfired. Members are ready to bid it adieu as they near the final six months before the midterms.
“They’ve convinced themselves that the longer it hangs around, the more popular it gets. The reality is — I’m quite certain they haven’t gained a single vote, and may have lost a few with time,” one Senate Republican told NOTUS. “There’s some things that aren’t possible, and this is one of them.”
The member noted that while key parts of the bill — which requires voter ID and proof of citizenship to register to vote — poll well with wide swaths of Americans, including Democrats, it is hardly considered a leading issue for voters.
“When put in a lineup of the top 100 things people are thinking about every day, it doesn’t get very high on the list,” the senator continued. “We’re spending a lot of the precious resource of time and energy on something that’s not top-of-mind awareness to voters.”
I already had to produce a photo ID and prove my citizenship when I registered to vote. Good riddance to this idiotic bill.
A follow-up to The Atlantic story on Kash Patel:
Joe Sommerlad at The Independent: Atlantic writer sued by Kash Patel says she’s been ‘inundated’ with new sources corroborating her reporting.
Sarah Fitzpatrick, The Atlantic investigative journalist behind last week’s bombshell story about FBI Director Kash Patel, has said she has since been “inundated” with messages from new sources corroborating her reporting.
Fitzpatrick’s story alleged that Patel drinks to excess – so much so that, in one instance, breaching equipment was ordered to break into a locked bedroom when he did not respond to inquiries about his well-being. The profile and also characterized him as deeply paranoid about being fired by President Donald Trump.
Patel claimed the stories were false and has filed a ludicrous lawsuit.
Speaking to the Radio Atlantic podcast one week after the article, Fitzpatrick was asked about the director’s retaliatory moves and said she was undaunted.
“My response is that I stand by every single word of this report,” she said. “We were very diligent. We were very careful. It went through multiple levels of editing, review, care.
“And I think one of the things that has been most gratifying, after – immediately after the story published was, I have been inundated by additional sourcing going up to the highest levels of the government, thanking us for doing the work, providing additional corroborating information.”
Fitzpatrick said that she used more than two dozen sources for her original report, characterizing the officials she spoke to as “people who felt that not only was this conduct embarrassing, unbecoming, but that it was a national security vulnerability, and that Americans were perhaps less safe as a result.”
Asked about some of the more shocking details in her report, she said: “I had never heard anything like this as a reporter, and I think I spent a very long time, a very diligent amount of time checking it out because it was so explosive.
“And I think the fact that this was known throughout the FBI, throughout the Justice Department, that it reached the White House is because it was so alarming. And people were really frightened.”
There’s more at the link.
Those are the stories that caught my attention today. What’s on your mind?
#AyatollahMojtabaKhamenei #CoolHandLuke #DonaldTrump #FedChair #IranRevolutionaryGuards #JeromeHPowell #JoyHarmon #KashPatel #Pakistan #PaulNewman #SarahFitzpatrick #SAVEAmericaAct #TheAtlantic #TrumpIRSLawsuit #USIranPeaceTalks -
Does #Spain have a #fanclub yet? 💌
"The Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket" #diplomacy, #internationallegality, and #peace -
Does #Spain have a #fanclub yet? 💌
"The Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket" #diplomacy, #internationallegality, and #peace -
Does #Spain have a #fanclub yet? 💌
"The Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket" #diplomacy, #internationallegality, and #peace -
Does #Spain have a #fanclub yet? 💌
"The Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket" #diplomacy, #internationallegality, and #peace -
Does #Spain have a #fanclub yet? 💌
"The Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket" #diplomacy, #internationallegality, and #peace -
Good design can improve a humble bucket. Good meeting design can radically improve conferences. Why not add it to your bucket list?
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CW: non-consensual, fiction
You laid out a thin mattress with a latex cover for him to sleep on. You also gave him some food and drink, and a jug of water so he could wash. You also gave him a bucket for him to relieve himself. He accepted it all silently and with resignation.
You took his clothes and made sure you also had his phone and wallet, his handcuffs were locked to his front and the chain kept him securely in the room. You closed the shutters and locked the room from the outside.
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I have a good view of the lake from my office, and I'm wondering what sort of brain damage causes people to drill a hole in the ice and sit on a bucket for a couple of hours in single-digit temperatures.
There's only a couple of things I'd hate doing more than ice-fishing, and they involve plumbing.
#IceFishing -
I have a good view of the lake from my office, and I'm wondering what sort of brain damage causes people to drill a hole in the ice and sit on a bucket for a couple of hours in single-digit temperatures.
There's only a couple of things I'd hate doing more than ice-fishing, and they involve plumbing.
#IceFishing -
I have a good view of the lake from my office, and I'm wondering what sort of brain damage causes people to drill a hole in the ice and sit on a bucket for a couple of hours in single-digit temperatures.
There's only a couple of things I'd hate doing more than ice-fishing, and they involve plumbing.
#IceFishing -
Cleaning feet in a bucket
Season 4 Episode 5 "Sky Rider"
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Retro Movies: A Bucket of Blood
https://www.ga2so.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/a-bucket-of-blood-1.jpgDick Miller’s finest leading man role.
I’m pretty sure plaster doesn’t work like that.
What’s weirder than a 1959 Roger Corman movie about a busboy at a beatnik bar becoming a celebrated artist by murdering people and coating them in plaster? A 1995 nearly shot-for-shot remake starring Anthony Michael Hall and a busload of character actors you’ll recognize. I didn’t watch the remake, but everything in the trailer happened in the original movie (but with less nudity).
Today’s fake poster comes from a different movie that mixes art and murder.
https://www.ga2so.com/blog/2025/12/12/retro-movies-a-bucket-of-blood/
#fakePosters #movies #photoshop #rogerCorman -
Good design can improve a humble bucket. Good meeting design can radically improve conferences. Why not add it to your bucket list?
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Deer free after having a bucket stuck on its head in Baltimore County
A deer in Baltimore County that had a pumpkin bucket stuck on its head is now free, according…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Wildlife #baltimorecounty #Science
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/274344/ -
Deer free after having a bucket stuck on its head in Baltimore County
A deer in Baltimore County that had a pumpkin bucket stuck on its head is now free, according…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Wildlife #baltimorecounty #Science
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/274344/ -
We donated a bucket of apple mash to our local #nonprofit friends at Victoria #Compost #Education Centre 💗
Their compost worms will love it!#SoilGuardians #FoodSecurity #VictoriaBC #CommunityBuilding #CommunitySharing #ReduceFoodWaste #SustainableSoil #YYJ #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #PNW #CommunityPartners
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We donated a bucket of apple mash to our local #nonprofit friends at Victoria #Compost #Education Centre 💗
Their compost worms will love it!#SoilGuardians #FoodSecurity #VictoriaBC #CommunityBuilding #CommunitySharing #ReduceFoodWaste #SustainableSoil #YYJ #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #PNW #CommunityPartners
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We donated a bucket of apple mash to our local #nonprofit friends at Victoria #Compost #Education Centre 💗
Their compost worms will love it!#SoilGuardians #FoodSecurity #VictoriaBC #CommunityBuilding #CommunitySharing #ReduceFoodWaste #SustainableSoil #YYJ #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #PNW #CommunityPartners
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We donated a bucket of apple mash to our local #nonprofit friends at Victoria #Compost #Education Centre 💗
Their compost worms will love it!#SoilGuardians #FoodSecurity #VictoriaBC #CommunityBuilding #CommunitySharing #ReduceFoodWaste #SustainableSoil #YYJ #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #PNW #CommunityPartners
-
We donated a bucket of apple mash to our local #nonprofit friends at Victoria #Compost #Education Centre 💗
Their compost worms will love it!#SoilGuardians #FoodSecurity #VictoriaBC #CommunityBuilding #CommunitySharing #ReduceFoodWaste #SustainableSoil #YYJ #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #PNW #CommunityPartners