What broke this week? My Toto and my Peugeot. My bathroom has a Toto toilet, a masterpiece of Japanese design and engineering, except for the flush handle. The plastic flange that holds it to the tank, failed for the second time since I have lived here. It is easy to change, and Amazon stocks parts. A few years ago I was in Sur Le Table and found a Peugeot pepper mill on clearance sale. Before Peugeot made cars, they made the world's finest pepper grinders. A few days ago, I twisted it and the grinder didn't turn. I ordered a new one from Uncle Jeff, when it arrived I dumped the peppercorns out of the old one, thinking I could put them in the new one, a half a dozen plastic and metal parts came out. It was truly broken. Why did I replace it, the adjustable grind on it is a work of art.
Who have a talked to this week? Not much of anyone. My Sweet bear.
What am I watching / listening to? The greatest bike race in the World, the Tour de France is on for the next three weeks.
What have I been pickling? I have a half gallon of dill pickles and two pints of pickled golden beets working away in the kitchen.
HoW is my sister doing? She had a minor stroke at work, and surgery to remove a blockage from an artery in her neck. The incision starts just below one ear, and ends in her cleavage. She is home, doing well, healing, no apparent long term damage. She looks like the winner in a knife fight in the back parking lot at McDonalds.
What do I think of the Supreme Court Ruling on immunity? Don't get me wrong, I loath HeWhoShallNotBeNamed, he a vile human being and totally unfit to be in charge of anything. The opinion follows hundreds of years of legal tradition, that government officials are immune for acts in the performance of their official duties. This goes back to the English Common Law, of sovereign immunity, and has been the law of the United States since before we were a country. The immunity does not extend to acts outside the performance of duties, ah- like running for office. Reading the opinion, this controversy is a result of careless charging and overzealous defense arguments. Both sides should have paid attention to the concept of immunity during the first year of law school. The chorus of scorched cats and those celebrating are making the same error of reading individual sentences out of the opinion, and not the conclusions in the opinion (linked above, and fairly well written.)
You would know about the law far better than I would and I accept what you say, but as we say here, the ruling does not pass the pub test. The mantra, no man is above the law at least holds morally true.
ReplyDeleteAnd sorry to hear about your sister. How awful. She will be well soon.
DeleteQueen Elizabeth set a long example of being worthly of immunity. I worry about my dear sister.
DeleteI'm not as secure with this and think Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown express well the dangers. So sorry about your sister but am so glad things are going well. Wishing her a full and speedy recovery.
ReplyDeleteI can't say I like the opinion, but I understand it
DeleteBeets are such a beautiful vegetable. I wish I liked them more than I do. For the umpteenth time I'm trying to appreciate them after taking a bite of a beet appetizer that had some horseradish on it. It didn't have that distinct dirt taste!
ReplyDeletePickled sometimes helps.
DeleteI had no idea Peugeot made pepper grinders one time. I hope they look better then their cars; they were ugly. Do they even make the cars anymore? Havn't seen one on the road in almost 20 years now.
ReplyDeletePeugeot has not sold cars in the US in decades, they are a major manufacturer in Europe.
DeleteYes, I think some fears about the presidential immunity ruling are very overblown, and by people who ought to know better. The crucial distinction to be made is between "official acts" and those outside that parameter. I believe that in practice and future court decisions, the ruling will be "read down" as narrowly as possible. And while I'm no fan of the current US Supreme Court, it did the right thing to send the case back to a trial court to determine the facts. There is currently no evidence before a court about Trump's role on Jan 6th. The Supreme Court is an appellate court and does not (nor should not) receive evidence at first instance.
ReplyDeleteThere is a little text that starts to cross the line of deciding fact, not law. Not the best editing of the opinion.
DeleteI worry about this radical, lying SCOTUS that okays bump stocks but criminalizes homelessness.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to father up that Gang of 6 and run them through an industrial-sized pepper grinder.
Time to appoint a dozen more justices?
DeleteThere are some great looking fruits and veges behind you in that photo. I have never heard of the pepper grinder. I'll look that up. I have a power grinder that I love.
ReplyDeleteI had an electric at one time. I thought about one this time.
DeleteRegarding the last item, I couldn't help thinking that it's always nice to have a lawyer around to explain things. Unless, of course, his first name is Rudy.
ReplyDeleteI hope I know when to stop talking, some lawyers don't know when
DeleteIt's confusing to me but you helped explain it. I'm wondering who will decide what is "official", though...
ReplyDeleteBest wishes to your sister for a quick recovery!