Dispatches from Vilnius

Signs of black magic in Ukraine, according to Russian state media Russia so intently clearing Kherson of inhabitants is a very ominous sign.  It lends credence to the theory that Putin wants to render the city and its immediate surrounding uninhabitable so that he can create a buffer zone between Ukraine and Crimea. There's been a lot of talk of a dirty bomb or blowing up the Kakhova dam  in recent weeks.  In both cases, Russia has been making unwarranted claims that Ukraine is plotting such actions, but it would be Moscow not Kjiv that would gain from such a devastating plot.  Nevertheless, Russian defense minister Shoigu has gone out of his way to warn the world of these actions, claiming it is part of a powerful anti-Russian campaign carried out by Ukraine. The narrative is constantly shifting in Moscow as it continues to lose face in this war.  The recent attempt to block the grain ships blew up in Putin's face when he was called on his bluff.  Erdog...

I mailed my ballot to King County Washington yesterday.  Seattle was my last place of residence in the US before settling permanently in Lithuania.  It is kind of hard to sort through all the referendums on the ballot since they don't directly affect me, but I took the time to research them and make what I thought to be an informed vote.  Mostly, I wanted to cast my ballot for Democratic candidates in Congressional and state races. It is similarly hard to figure out what is going in the polls.  I've seen the 538 Senate Forecast go from a 70-30 chance the Democrats would retain the Senate to a 45-55 chance that the Republicans will regain it in little over a month.  Michael Moore and other liberal pundits are dismissing this startling turnaround in voter sentiment, saying that it is all part of a narrative the mainstream media is pitching that economy trumps social issues in the midterms.  You hear almost nothing these days about the infamous Supreme Court ...

Every year there is talk of a reunion but the only thing still continuing from The Office is the merchandising.  Last year I bought my daughter a Funko Pop advent calendar with the characters reduced to minis in various guises including the notorious "Prison Mike."   At her insistence, Daina and I had watched the show from beginning to end a few years ago.  What began as a fun romp became ever more annoying with the arrival of Andy.  I never could figure out what his function was other than to make Michael look good.  What had been easy-going humor with the occasional cringe moment now became very cringy all the time.  Neither of us could figure how anyone could tolerate a guy like this on or off the screen.  You figure this was pretty much Ed Helms' character as he plays the same role in everything he does.  When we started watching it again recently, we quit after the third season.  It just isn't worth it to endure his particular bran...

It is hard to reason with the American football season.  This is my annual football post.  A few years ago I thought about going to a Seahawks game in London but couldn't afford it so let it pass.  This year Russ Wilson was back in London but in a Broncos uniform.  Same story.  However, it was funny to read that he was running sprints down the aisle of the plane during the eight-hour flight.  He was trying to work out a sore hamstring.  Seemed to help as he led Denver to a win over the hapless Jaguars, so his team mates probably forgave him for keeping them up on the long flight. I would have never thought the Seahawks would give up on Russ, but it seems to have worked out well for them.  They got a slough of draft picks in the trade and Geno Smith is greatly exceeding expectations at quarterback.  Seattle actually leads its division eight games into the season, which only the most ardent fan could have imagined.  I'm not one of them....

We feel pretty good about ourselves.  We've just about made it through October without turning on the heat.  Some days have almost been balmy but nights are wet and cold and the house feels like an ice box.  Curling up close together in bed is the best part of the evening. Daina still can't resist checking her phone for the latest news on Ukraine.  I try to stop myself from checking the Congressional forecasts on 538.  I've watched the Democrats chances of holding the Senate slip in the past few weeks, largely because it seems Democrats can't get on the same page. The latest blunder was the  Congressional Progressive Caucus  sending a letter to the White House that urged Biden to seek a negotiated settlement in Ukraine.  I'm not sure where they are coming form.  I hope it is just listening to Chris Hedges , who has been a vocal critic of US involvement in Ukraine.  Otherwise, they just look like Putin's useful idiots. Ever since Hedges l...

My daughter and I have been having a hard time finding anything to watch on Netflix.  We gutted it out through Kajilionaire , tried Dirty John and endured The  Watcher .  All of the new shows or relatively new shows left us with a feeling of meh.  Why not Girlboss , she asked?  Whatever, I said. To our surprise we enjoyed it and we are at the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the viewing audience.  The central characters are fun to watch, great cameos by RuPaul, Norm Macdonald, Dean Norris and Melanie Lynskey.  Some of the jokes sting a little bit, but I'm not one of those Boomers who believe Millennials are the end of civilization as we know it.   The opening scene  sets the tone with Sophia sitting on a bench next to a woman in her 70s.  The twenty-something offers her soliloquy on adulthood as a prison only to get slapped in the face by the older woman, who told her everything she just said was stupid.  From tha...

Misogyny is in these days.  I didn't think much of Liz Truss one way or the other but I can't stand the way she is being treated by her party and in the press.  She proposed a budget like she said she would in the intraparty elections for a new Tory Prime Minister and now is being castigated for it both within and without her political party.  If these guys didn't want these tax cuts and energy subsidies, they should have voted for Rishi Sunak.  Oh wait, he proposed pretty much the same thing . But, now we have Jeremy Hunt as the white knight pledging to raise taxes  to make up for the massive shortfall in the budget.  Which is it, boys? Of course Liz signed onto this.  She would have been wise to learn the lesson Theresa May provided in that you don't try to clean up a mess unruly boys created.  At the heart of this financial debacle is Brexit, a measure neither Liz nor Theresa supported.  Yet, each wanted to be the next Margaret Thatcher an...

I was pretty excited  back in July .  It looked like this was going to be "Roevember" with women turning out in massive numbers after the Supreme Court repealed the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.  New registration definitely favored women but all the state primaries seemed to suck the life out of this movement.  Democratic numbers have been gradually slipping in the 538 election forecasts  with the current forecast giving Democrats a 61% chance to retain the Senate.  It was well over 70 percent at one point this past summer.  Meanwhile, Republicans have built on their chances to retake the House, with 538 giving them a 75 percent advantage. Once again, the Republicans have managed to seize the narrative from the Democrats, as conservatives try to make this election all about the economy.  The mainstream media hasn't helped any by constantly pointing to the dire inflation numbers, rather than note the steady increase in jobs and other factors...

We were watching Exorcist: The Beginning the other night.  There was nothing else to watch on Netflix.  I got curious when a younger Father Merrin stated there were no recorded churches in Africa in the fifth century.  I knew the Coptics had reached Africa long ago.  I wasn't sure when.  Recent archeological discoveries in Ethiopia found the remains of a church that dated back to the 4th century, replete with dark amulets and signet rings.  This was about the time Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire, and so there was a greater free flow of religious fervor.  The legend had long been that a Greek missionary brought Christianity to the Aksumite kingdom but religious scholars wanted something more concrete than an apocryphal story. Ethiopians figure heavily into the Bible so it was hard to understand why the screenwriters set their demonic possessed church in the Turkana region of Kenya, albeit with a border to Ethiopia. Chris...

The roses are blooming into October.  It hasn't been particularly warm but it has been sunny for the most part this first month of autumn.  As we do every year, we try to see how long we can get through October without turning on the gas heating system, keeping the kettle in the basement for hot water only.  This year has added significance as utility prices have soared, and we figure we can hold out like Ukrainians are doing against our ruthless neighbor to the east. So, it is thermal undershirts, thick hoodies and wool booties until the first frost. It has been hard to understand, however, why gas prices should be so expensive when Lithuania long ago cut off its ties to Russia.  Lithuania is still connected to BRELL , an electrical grid that includes Belarus and Russia, although state officials claim they can connect the country to the European grid at anytime.  We remain on this grid primarily to serve Kaliningrad, as the Suwalki corridor between Belarus and ...

Who knows what goes on in the addled mind of Ye?  Not that long ago he was going to turn his houses into churches for the homeless  after he failed to get permits for the yurts he had erected in Los Angeles to help ease the crisis.  It was all part of his 2020 presidential campaign in which he vowed to end homelessness as we know it.  Two years later, he is back to being the same old Ye, venting against Jews who he believed had twisted Diddy's mind against him.  Of course, we really should view him as a performance artist, as these stunts are just ways to grab attention on social media. Nevertheless, the press bit and twitter blocked his account.  Just about every celebrity has piled on Ye.  They are all quoting Pink from 2009, who called him "the biggest piece of sh_t on earth."    Ye has said so many damn fool things it is impossible to keep count.  Up to now most celebrities had supported him.  Even his ex-wife was willing to g...

I was wondering why watching It  the other night felt like deja vu, then I remembered the entire fourth season of Stranger Things followed virtually the same story line.  To be fair, the movie came out after the first season of Stranger Things , and even featured Finn Wolfhard as one of "The Losers." However, the movie was based on a 1980s novel by Stephen King, which in itself was based on Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth .  So, you could say Stranger Things was a copy of a copy, although to their credit the Duffer Brothers did a better job of adapting King's novel. These stories are the staple of dark fantasy and if you go back far enough you can find earlier examples. However, when you lift so many scenes directly from a movie, like Max floating in mid air with her eyes rolled up or copy the dilapidated house right down to the stain glass windows, you are bordering on plagiarism.  I was curious what King thought of the latest season of Stranger Things and...

Now that Elon has been forced to buy twitter , he seems to be making the most of it by using it as a bully pulpit, so to speak.  First, he offered a poll for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine that was decidedly skewed toward Russia.  Then, he tossed out a path for Taiwan that was clearly bent toward China.  This has led many observers to ask whose side is he on? I suppose he is trying to protect his interests.  His Chinese gigafactory has been a boon for him. He is producing a vast amount of cars in China and wants to tap into the ever growing market for high-end electric cars.  Obviously, he has no qualms with the  forced labour  used at his plant, and thinks Taiwan would benefit from a closer relationship to China, oblivious to the events that have occurred in Hong Kong over the last two years.   He has been buying his aluminum from Russia since 2020, which he uses across the board in his industries.  The war has complicated m...

Two things that stood out in seeing Lizzo play a crystal flute . I didn't know she played a flute and I didn't know James Madison had such a flute.  I also didn't know there was a flute vault at the Library of Congress.  To hear some of these conservative pundits spew their hate on Lizzo , you would think they knew all about this flute.  They claimed her performance desecrated history.  Au contraire, it opened our eyes to a whole new aspect of history the vast majority of us were unaware of.  Not to mention, bring this "sacred flute" to life. My daughter had been following the controversy on her favorite podcast , noting some of the pundits who spoke out on her performance.  I suppose if it had been anyone other than Lizzo, there might not have been so much consternation.  There was a high degree of twerk shaming and fat shaming associated with the critiques, as few could argue with her prowess.  She is classically trained after all.  I...