Hasan Minhaj tries to sus out if those “best of the year” lists President Obama puts out are actually made by him or done by his staff. But he does, in fact, read all those books and watch all those shows!

Watch the whole interview. It’s great.

Cal Newport, writing at his site, has a post about work-life balance. He cites an article by Slate write, Dan Kois.

“The very idea that, once work hours were over, no one could get hold of you—via email, text, Slack, whatever—is completely alien to contemporary young people,” Kois explained. But this reality made a huge difference when it came to the perception of busyness and exhaustion. When work was done at work, and there was no chance of continuing your labors at home, your job didn’t seem nearly as all-consuming or onerous.

I can go effortlessly between work and home. When I began working from home, it was pretty easy. I continuously jump from work mode to home mode. Consequently, I’m never stressed about work. I’m also lucky that I don’t have co-workers or a boss constantly sending me work stuff after work hours or on the weekends. Not everyone is so lucky.

Penial Joseph, writing in Texas Monthly, has a story about Juneteenth. It’s fitting as today is Juneteenth.

It is fascinating.

You’re Getting Old! Is a website that reminds you of just how old you are. If you’re in the mood to ponder the fleeting nature of time, enter your birthday and see the results.

The site lets you know how many days you’ve lived, which celebrities’ ages add up to your total age, significant events that have taken place during your lifetime, and more. 

Honestly, all of this is slightly depressing.

David Roth, over at Defector, wrote a couple of paragraphs about David Freese.

It is tempting, and not entirely incorrect, to sum up David Freese’s decision not to accept induction into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame as “some extremely Cardinals shit.” Freese, a St. Louis native who made one All-Star team with the club and had a supernaturally great postseason in 2011 to lead the team to its 11th World Series win, did not otherwise have the sort of career that would ordinarily warrant inclusion in a team’s Hall of Fame. His statement declining induction acknowledges that. “I look at who I was during my tenure, and that weighs heavily on me,” Freese wrote in declining the honor. “I’m especially sorry to the fans that took the time to cast their votes. Cardinal Nation is basically the reason why I’ve unfortunately waited so long for this decision and made it more of a headache for so many people.”

There’s more going on here than a Cardinals player and Cardinals fans having a Reverence For The Cardinals-off, to be fair. By his own account, Freese was an intensely depressed and self-destructive alcoholic during his time with the Cardinals, and the “who I was during my tenure” part of the statement likely refers to that; a 2017 USA Today feature mentions that Freese hadn’t looked at or worn his World Series ring in five years, and that the World Series MVP he earned was still in its box in the basement of his parents’ home. “You win the World Series in your hometown, and you become this guy in a city that loves Cardinal baseball,” Freese said in that story. “And sometimes it’s the last guy you want to be.”

I’m glad Roth did not rake Freese over the coals with his analysis. He clearly sees what’s going on and I’m actually a bit grateful for his research into the real reasons.

Not sure I understand his title, but whatever.

Nicholas Bate –

1. Everyday simple courtesies.

2. Stop & Think.

3. Encouragement.

4. Agree something. And keep to the agreement.

5. Appreciation.

6. Enthusiasm to learn.

7. Healthy debate.

Earth, Kiss, and Fire - “I Was Made for Boogie Wonderland”

Bill McClintock has combined the iconic KISS song “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” with Earth Wind and Fire‘s “Boogie Wonderland.” McClintock also borrowed the guitar solo from the Wild Cherry song “Play That Funky Music.”

It is amazing.

Olivia Nuzzi, writing for New York Magazine, has the story about Trump’s second arraignment. It is a giant spectacle.

On the eve of his 77th birthday, the former president and current 2024 GOP front-runner arrived at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Courthouse as a criminal defendant facing 37 federal charges for mishandling classified materials cribbed from the White House and stashed haphazardly in odd corners of his Palm Beach estate and for the alleged obstruction of the investigation into the matter.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s 44-page indictment detailing the government’s case against Trump and an aide, Walt Nauta, was made public earlier in June, weeks after Trump was first indicted and arraigned in New York on separate charges related to hush-money payments made by his campaign during the 2016 election.

In photos included as evidence, boxes and boxes of documents are stored in the basement, on the ballroom stage, and, most memeably, in a bathroom at Mar-a-Lago. Another shows a box overturned, its highly sensitive contents spilled onto the floor.

The materials “included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack,” according to the indictment. The irony was rich and obvious. This from the “law and order” president, the guy who wanted to “Lock her up!” over emails. The federal charges, including that Trump’s actions violated the Espionage Act, carry with them the threat of serious jail time, which Jonathan Turley, a conservative legal scholar, called “a terminal sentence.”

In the courthouse on Tuesday, Trump’s lawyer told the judge, “Your honor, we most certainly enter a plea of not guilty.” Throughout the proceeding, Trump sat stoically, his arms crossed, as Smith stared him down.

What a circus.

Manuel Moreale –

AI will not replace who you are. It will not replace what you mean for the people around you. It will not replace your importance for the people you love and those who love you. It will not replace your empathy, it will not replace your kindness. This is not something that should be said but it’s probably worth saying anyway. You matter. You have value. AI won’t make that go away. Not now. Not in the future.

Nicholas Bate –

1. You’ve already got a plan. You created it in January. Re-fresh it. Every day refine it, hone it and ensure it’s a winner. 

2. You are going to be SO fit that energy for the plan will be 100% unleashed. How? Hunter-Gatherer 21C.

3. Zero blame. Zero negativity. Zero crap food. 

4. Every single problem commentators list for 2024/25 you will ask: Can I fix this? If yes, do so. If no, execute your plan B. But stay resourceful, walk tall and love planet Earth: consistently voted the greatest planet in the known universe with great coffee, awesome rock ’n roll and mountains, beaches and deserts to make you want to settle here. And books. Oh, man the books….

5. It finally ‘clicks’ that you don’t need much stuff-at all-to be very, very happy. And in fact paradoxically too much stuff makes you unhappy as you worry about what might happen if you lose it. 

6. It finally ‘clicks’ that you can let go of the need to be liked by everybody. And thus stop diluting the best version of you. 

7. You manage your mood perfectly through music, walking and writing/reading.

8. You finally allow some of those fears to surface, to become real and you work on them until they become assets: from fear to jubilation.  Be Bold: the list/the movie/the book.

9. You will learn through courses. Invest 2% of your income in your brain.

10. You will learn through travel. Every city, every language and every culture tips you deeper into understanding yourself.

11. You will learn through the company you keep. Love, listen and laugh not control, control, control. 

12. You will learn through writing in your journal.  Daily: rain or shine. Don’t analyse: just write until the demons are exposed and die through lack of oxygen. 

13. Thinking will return as your greatest asset. Proactive: what do I need to anticipate?

14. Lateral: what do I need to do differently?

15. Critical: what do I need to do better?

16. Prioritisation will be your greatest skill. To follow your Personal Compass*.

17. To automate your trivial many*.

18. To remember a decision is not a decision until you take an action.

19. You will simplify in a world of complexity. Not simplistic, simple.

20. You will minimalise in a world of ‘stress-by-stuff’. Do you love it? Is it useful? Otherwise: it goes.

21. You will make 2023 the year you realise that your communication to yourself will dictate the quality of your goals. Believe in yourself. 

22. Make it the year of more walk, less talk. In both mind and body.

Babylon 5 was one of my favorite shows in the 1990s. It eschewed the stand-alone model of television episodes and instead had a compelling five-year story with evolving characters. The show very much had a beginning, middle, and end. Of course, several decades later it’s coming back as an animated movie.

The trailer has dropped and it at least piqued my interest. It’s too bad so many of the actors have since passed away.

Matthew Yglesias, writing on his Substack Slow Boring, has a tremendous breakdown of Trump, the latest indictment, and what the Republican party needs to do now and in the future. I’m rather partial to how he opens the essay:

The central political fact of our era is that Donald Trump is a total piece of shit and scumbag.

He goes on:

In an earlier iteration of Trump scandals, I would have leapt to the conclusion that his refusal to follow the Pence/Biden model is a clear sign that he’s guilty of something darker and more nefarious.

Which he might be. But having seen a few of these play out now, I’m open to the possibility that he’s just a piece of shit scumbag. He’s stubborn, he doesn’t think the rules apply to him, he doesn’t like other people telling him what to do, and he thinks that being charged helps him stay at the center of attention and neuter his intraparty rivals, so fuck it. Trump simply stands head and shoulders above the average American politician in his willingness to take things to the edge, to flout the law, and to act with reckless disdain for the consequences his actions will have for anyone. The law is important, and the fact that this particular act of scumbaggery is apparently illegal gives it a special significance. 

Yes, yes… Trump is a manchild and a con-man, but what should Republicans do?

Trump is corrupt. He’s incompetent. He acknowledges no responsibilities or laws or anything above his self-interest. And he’s managed to convince the conservative movement in America that this is good and that somehow the “real issue” is some kind of half-imagined petty hypocrisy on the other side. But the only way out of it is for Republicans to wake up and realize that Trump is bad for them, too. Maybe this prosecution will somehow fix everything, but it seems overwhelmingly likely that Trump (especially given a friendly judge) will be able to drag this out through Election Day. And while the specific details we’re learning are hilarious and shocking, nobody is really surprised at this point. He’s a bad person. But it’s Republicans who need to do something about it.

Wake up.

Mary Kate Carr, writing at the AVClub, has the story about The Beatles having a new song in the works thanks to modern technology. Who would’ve guessed that AI was the fifth Beatle all along? Or maybe the walrus?

Before you get visions of a ghostly, semi-robotic John Lennon being resurrected from beyond the grave, this isn’t the kind of wholesale A.I. that invents an entirely new vocal (á la that creepy version of Lennon lauding A.I. that went viral last month). Instead, with technology pioneered by Peter Jackson for his documentary Get Back, Lennon’s voice can be isolated and strengthened from an existing unreleased demo.

“He [Jackson] was able to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette. We had John’s voice and a piano and he could separate them with AI. They tell the machine, ‘That’s the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar,‘” McCartney explained on BBC Radio 4′s Today (via BBC). “So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles’ record, it was a demo that John had [and] we were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this A.I. Then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. So it gives you some sort of leeway.”

Speculation suggests the track will be “Now And Then,” a demo that was considered for the Anthology project. “It didn’t have a very good title, it needed a bit of reworking, but it had a beautiful verse and it had John singing it,” McCartney told Q Magazine in 2006 (via NBC News). “[But] George [Harrison] didn’t like it. The Beatles being a democracy, we didn’t do it.”

Very busy today…but I took some time out to read a few things about Trump’s legal troubles. He sure has a lot of them and I don’t think “You can’t prosecute me because you didn’t prosecute Hillary” is going to make them go away. And I have the feeling that the folks arguing that it’s wrong to bring charges against a political opponent were a lot of the same people shouting “Lock her up! Lock her up!” about Hillary Clinton.

In no particular order, here’s a bunch of what I looked at over the weekend.

Kicking it off, this is probably the best (and most hilarious) plain-language explanation of what’s in Trump’s federal indictment. Twitter user Fooler Initiative has summarized it in the most awesome way ever! You don’t have to read the indictment; just read this explanation and you’re set.

However, if you want it read to you… here’s MSNBC anchor Ali Velshi reading the full indictment.

David Roth, writing at Defector, has a good read on Trump and how he lives his life.

Breaking laws in an oafish, overt, seemingly arbitrary way is absolutely Some Donald Trump Shit. But what Trump was doing with all those secret and confidential documents, the indictment reveals, was also Some Donald Trump Shit. While he is certainly one of the most bribe-able individuals of his generation and unquestionably unbound by any higher or finer concerns whatsoever, and while that would not really be the sort of person you’d want having a bunch of sensitive documents in their possession, it is equally salient that Trump is fundamentally an absolutely whopping bitch whose deepest personal desire and abiding life’s passion has always been showing off in weird ways and pursuing vinegary personal feuds.

A perfect encapsulation of this con man.

Alex Shepherd, writing for the New Republic, calls this whole ordeal a phenomenal “self own.”

The sober, reasonable, and correct take about the allegations contained in the 49-page indictment unsealed by the Department of Justice on Friday is that Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents was stunningly reckless and brazenly criminal. Unlike the case he is facing in New York relating to hush-money payments sent out during the 2016 campaign, this is not especially complicated, legally speaking: Trump knew he had classified material, and he refused to hand it over; not only that, he repeatedly showed it to people without proper clearances and had it stored in places that could charitably be described as “unsecured”—his bedroom, a shower, the Mar-a-Lago ballroom. 

[…]

All of that is correct. But there’s something else that stands out to me about the indictment: It’s really funny. Much of that is in the document’s details, which contain several instances of Trump walking around Mar-a-Lago bragging about all of the classified documents he has stashed around his club or showing said documents to people while also telling them he shouldn’t be doing it. You may never see so many flagrant and stupid violations of the Stringer Bell rule in one place. At one point, Trump literally tells a member of his political action committee not to stand so close to a document he is showing them because they’re not supposed to see it, as if standing, say, six feet away from a document instead of two feet makes any kind of difference at all. There are dozens of anecdotes like this in the indictment.

I knew Trump was stupid, just not this stupid.

David Axlerod, writing for The Atlantic, asks the question whether or not Trump supporters will care about any of this.

Trump has survived until now because, to many of his supporters, his flamboyant defiance and the trail of controversies and allegations that follow him are less a cause for concern than an emblem of authenticity. The scorn of elites and myriad investigations to which he has been subjected are, for his faithful, merely certifications of his potency and independence, a reflection of the threat he poses to a corrupt order.

Maybe in the coming months, the sizable bricks that are piling up will prove too much for Trump to bear. Eventually, during or after this campaign, he presumably will have to reckon with truth and facts and 12 voters in a jury box, in settings in which he won’t get to make or flout the rules. Trump’s appeal to a Republican base that feels culturally besieged is rooted in his indomitability. If that aura crumbles, his appeal might, too.

I doubt the diehards will ever leave.

Rick Beato, on his YouTube channel, talks about all the releases of 1978 and asks if it was the greatest year for rock music ever?

It’s definitely up there. I think the music spanning 1978 — 1983 is pretty amazing.

Nicholas Bate –

Once you have started your novel and written the first few chapters, ensure you write the final chapter. You’ll have noticed from your own reading and viewing how hard it can be to close a story in a satisfactory way.  Ensure you don’t have that problem. Get it written and then you can enjoy the journey. 

John Romita Sr., the groundbreaking comic book artist who co-created some of the most influential characters in Marvel Comics history and drew some of the company’s most celebrated stories, died Tuesday, his son announced. He was 93.

I grew up reading a ton of those 1970s Spider-Man issues that he drew. A monumental loss.

The official trailer for Foundation Season 2 is finally here, and it’s clear the Second Crisis is imminent. I love this adaptation for what it is… names, planets, and psychohistory from Asimov and little else.

I’m still waiting for the Mule.

Cormac McCarthy, a critically acclaimed author, has died. McCarthy was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for The Road.

I tried to read The Road and gave up. Maybe I should try again.

Bernie Miklasz, writing at the Scoops with Danny Mac website, has been, shall we say, critical of the St. Louis Cardinals organization. He leads his latest story thusly:

“We have to be perfect to win right now,” manager Oli Marmol said. “It feels like we can’t make a mistake because the other team has found a way to capitalize on it every time. We can’t give up extra outs or a leadoff walk — we have to execute better than that.”

That’s a pretty good quote from Cards manager Oli Marmol.

But I think what he meant to say was something like this:

Let’s face it. We’re a bad team and the avoidable mistakes really hurt us more than a lot of teams. Our fundamentals have gone to hell, and we need to stop making so many excuses, play with more energy and urgency and compete like a team that’s hungry to win. We need to end the carelessness of walking opposing hitters. We can’t continue to freeze under pressure when up at the plate with runners in scoring position. We need to take smarter at-bats based on the situation at the time. And as the manager of the Cardinals it’s up to me and the coaches to clean up this clutter and get this team going. This season has been beneath our standards and we should all be embarrassed. And I’m the manager so you can point the finger at me. 

Oli could have added this: Listen, I didn’t put this roster together.

Yes. They are a bad team. Something has to be done. Nothing is going to be done.