Dispatches from Vilnius

Aaron and Tucker provide a "history lesson" The only thing more funny than Aaron Rodgers telling Tucker Carlson how unfairly Putin is being maligned in the media is a previously unknown placekicker telling graduating women at Benedectine College that they shouldn't feel ashamed to be homemakers.  Needless to say both are feeling the heat from their controversial messages, but Harrison Butker moreso, as the nuns of the college have spoken out against him  for so badly politicizing a commencement address.  Yet, the Kansas City placekicker went from a virtual nobody to viral sensation and hero of the right wing.  His football jersey is now one of the hottest selling jerseys in the NFL. The NFL has been a slow motion trainwreck for decades long before black players chose to kneel for the national anthem in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.  FTR, Rodgers supported his teammates at the time.  He was widely lauded as one of the few white players to show any so...

It is safe to say Donald has a Nikki problem .  Even in the ruby red state of West Virginia, Nikki Haley polled 10 percent without so much as stepping a foot in the state.  She won 16 percent of the vote in the Charleston area.  She did much better in Maryland and Nebraska, where she polled 20 percent.  Yet, the Donald hasn't made any attempt to reach out to her.  Instead, he was holding a rally on the Jersey shore, imagining himself as Bruce Almighty. I suppose Wildwood Beach is an easy reach from Manhattan, where Trump was getting a day off from court.  His team claimed he drew a mega-sized crowd, yet the flock of worshippers couldn't have been more than 20,000 as the mayor of the beachside community said that is all the beach holds.  That didn't stop Roger Stone from posting a picture of a Rod Stewart concert from the 1990s and exclaiming "Could Biden draw a crowd like this?"  Other Trump supporters posted pictures of Rio and other crowded bea...

Lessons learned from this year's Eurovision.  It is best not to be overtly gay.  Don't drown yourself out with visuals,  Don't touch the camerawoman.  And, of course, don't take any of this too seriously. Eurovision is essentially a gay pride rally but even gay performances can be a little too over the top as was the case with British "bad boy" Olly Alexander , who received zero points from the audience.  The Lithuanian singer Sylvester Belt put in a good performance but he was virtually hidden among the bold graphics so that it was hard to see what was going on during his song.  Lastly, the "Dutch artist" Joost Klein got a little too friendly with a camerawoman and was booted from the finals.  Not that it really mattered as his song sucked, even if it was considered one of the favorites. Honestly, I don't know why we continue watching this crazy thing.  The kids are long gone, but here we were staying up till two in the morning hoping that Nem...

While Jon Stewart keeps harping on Biden's age, the NYTimes dropped the bombshell that Robert Kennedy Jr. claimed in his 2012 divorce proceedings that a parasitic worm had eaten part of his brain and that he had lost some of his cognitive ability.  Either that or mercury poisoning from eating too many tuna fish sandwiches.  Take your pick. While Stewart's schtick has grown old, the campaign keeps revealing numerous surprises from its field of septua- and octogenarians vying for the highest office in the country.  Bobby Jr. is not a young man himself.  He may look spry doing push-ups in front of the camera, but the man is 70 and if we are to believe his story still might have a few parasitic worms eating away at his brain.  Meanwhile, a 77-year old Trump continues to doze off in front of the sketch artists in court.  We hardly hear a word from 70-year old Cornell West, whom I assume is still running for president .  Or 73-year old Jill Stein, who ha...

It's hard to make sense of these student protests spreading throughout the country.  Palestine has never really been foremost on American minds, even young minds, but here we see thousands of students closing down buildings on college campuses, waving Palestinian flags and calling for the end of military aid to Israel. In part, I can sympathize with them.  I've long thought the US has given far too much military aid to Israel when it uses it mostly to repress Palestine, which it has occupied for close to 60 years.  Jimmy Carter once likened the situation in Israel to Apartheid South Africa.  He was roundly chastised for doing so, but it does bear a lot of resemblance.  The protests echo those against South Africa in the 1980s, demanding that universities divest in Israel.  However, many of the grievances being expressed don't make any sense.  The US is trying to negotiate a ceasefire and has used its political sway in the region to bring all sides to ...

On an entirely different topic, it has been interesting following the NBA playoffs.  Many of the teams have Eastern European players, the most prominent being Nikola Jokic and Luka Dončic.  It has changed the face of the league with some of the NBA old guard not too happy about it.  Gilbert Arenas has been one of the most vocals critics, saying that these players get entirely too much credit.  He has taken a particular dislike to Jokic, who won MVP two years in a row before leading Denver to an NBA championship last year.  Arenas called Jokic " the worst MVP ever ." The frustration was compounded when the US failed to medal in the FIBA World Championships last year.  Team USA lost not once but three times, starting with Lithuania in the first round of bracket play.  It wasn't like the American team lacked for star power.  It was led by Anthony Edwards, Jalen Brunson and Tyrese Haliburton, but lacking a big man they proved no match for the bigger ...

I was running along the river yesterday and the pathway was still flooded under the Žverynas bridge.  The Neris River has been running high the past two weeks, which seems a bit odd since we haven't had any rain.  Meteorologists say the unusual flooding is due to a severe storm that passed through Belarus a couple weeks ago but that doesn't really explain why the river is still so high.   I told Daina about it and she wondered if Lukashenko was releasing a dam somewhere upstream as the Neris emanates from the Northeastern marshlands of Belarus.  Sure enough, there is a large reservoir upstream.  Could the wily Belarusian president be playing games with us? Six days ago, Belarus' top security officer claimed his vaunted air force shot down Lithuanian drones , which he says Lithuania and Poland are producing for a coordinated attack on their country.  He didn't produce any evidence but it was enough just to say it to have Lukashenko foaming at the mou...