Some Reads for Thursday

 Secretariat's Triple Crown saddle, which had been in the possession of jockey Ron Turcotte's for fifty years before he sold it for around 2 million in 2023, sold again, this time for $1,200,000.

It really belongs  either at the Kentucky Horse Park or the National Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga, not to some rich asshole.

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Equine obituary:  Champion racehorse Serena's Song, 34, has died due to the infirmities of old age.  She won 11 Grade 1 races and was trained by the late trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

Snip:

"Serena had such a profound impact on many people's lives, especially the Lewis family, our family, and the staff who worked with her during her time at Denali," Denali's Conrad Bandoroff said. "We are incredibly blessed and honored that Bob and Beverly, and eventually their son Jeff, chose to keep her with us and trust us with her care for three decades. She is and always will be the Queen of Denali Stud.

"I would like to think that Wayne had a stall ready for her up there, and that he, Bob, and Beverly welcomed her with open arms."

Serena's Song had a long and illustrious life. Bred in Kentucky by Dr. Howard Baker out of the Northfields mare Imagining, she sold as a yearling at the 1993 Keeneland July Sale for $150,000 to the Lewises who were purchasing yearlings to put into training with Lukas.

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A key figure in the Watergate scandal, Alexander Butterfield, who shocked the nation when he disclosed Nixon had recorded conversations in the White House, died the other day at the age of 99.  He would have turned 100 next month.

Without his disclosure, it isn't likely Nixon would have been forced to resign from office.

Snip:

Butterfield started off in the White House as a deputy assistant to the president. He initially did not like the job and wanted to quit. But things got better for Butterfield in the White House at the end of 1969 when his office was moved next to Nixon’s and he was able to keep a close watch on the president. He eventually went on to become one of Nixon’s closest aides.

Nixon nominated Butterfield to be administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration in 1972, a post he was confirmed to by the Senate the following year. He was called to testify before the Senate about the then-suspected White House taping system just four months after he started at the FAA.

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Tuesday Reads

 If  AI were done away with, I wouldn't shed a tear.

If used by students in academia, that is flat-out cheating.

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What the eff is the matter with men regarding Trump?

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Sunday Evening on the Obituary Page

 Musician Country Joe McDonald, one of the featured acts in the original Woodstock festival, has died.  He was 84 years old.

He died yesterday at his home in Berkeley, California.  He had been battling Parkinson's disease.

Snip:

Born in 1942, in Washington, D.C., he grew up in El Monte, Calif., outside Los Angeles, according to a biography on his website. As a young man he served in the U.S. Navy before turning to writing and music during the early 1960s, eventually becoming involved in the political and cultural ferment of the Bay Area.

In 1965 he helped form the band Country Joe and the Fish in Berkeley. The group became part of the emerging San Francisco psychedelic music scene, blending folk traditions with electric rock and pointed political commentary.

The band's best-known song, "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag," captured the growing anti-war sentiment of the Vietnam era. With its ragtime-influenced rhythm and sharply satirical lyrics about war and political leadership, the song quickly became associated with protests against the conflict.

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Actor Eric Dane, 53, lost his battle with ALS.  He was an advocate for research into the disease.

Snip:

"He spent his final days surrounded by dear friends, his devoted wife, and his two beautiful daughters, Billie and Georgia, who were the center of his world," said a statement that requested privacy for his family. "Throughout his journey with ALS, Eric became a passionate advocate for awareness and research, determined to make a difference for others facing the same fight. He will be deeply missed, and lovingly remembered always. Eric adored his fans and is forever grateful for the outpouring of love and support he's received."

Dane developed a devoted fanbase when his big break arrived in the mid-2000s: He was cast as Dr. Mark Sloan, aka McSteamy, on the ABC medical drama "Grey's Anatomy," a role he would play from 2006 until 2012 and reprise in 2021.

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I missed the February death of  James Van Der Beck, who was only 48 when he passed from corlorectal cancer.

Snip:

In early November 2024, Van Der Beek announced he had been diagnosed with Stage 3 colorectal cancer.

“I’ve been dealing with this privately until now, getting treatment and dialing in my overall health with greater focus than ever before,” Van Der Beek said in a Nov. 3, 2024, post on Instagram. “Please know that my family and I deeply appreciate all the love and support.”

He chronicled his experience living with cancer on Instagram, where he frequently paid tribute to his wife and children for their support.

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Actor and acting coach Corey Parker, 60, died Thursday in Memphis, Tennessee, following a cancer diagnosis.

Snip:

Born July 8, 1965 in New York City, son of actress Rochelle ‘Rocky’ Parker and husband John David Haas, Corey Parker began acting in TV commercials at age 4 before attending New York’s High School of Performing Arts.

Making his onscreen debut in a 1983 episode of As the World Turn, Parker became a familiar face on TV, appearing in The New Leave It to Beaver, Thirtysomething, Flying Blind, Touched by an Angel, Love Boat: The Next Wave, Nashville and Will & Grace, in which he had a recurring role as Grace’s boyfriend Josh.

Student Loans and Me

 Today I received this message from Aidvantage, the outfit that has handled my student loans the past couple of years when I consolidated them:

Congratulations! The U.S. Department of Education has forgiven your federal student loan(s) listed below with Aidvantage in full. This forgiveness is effective as of 12/31/25.

Loan Program Disbursement Date Original Principal Balance
DLSUBCONS 04/25/24 $ 7,382.19
DLUSUBCONS 04/25/24 $ 4,750.77

Log in to your account for details at Aidvantage.studentaid.gov.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Here are some important points on this IDR forgiveness: ·

Due to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 the balance of your loans that were forgiven is not considered taxable income for federal income tax purposes. Since state and local tax implications will vary, we recommend you contact a tax advisor for more information. · Not all your federal student loans may be represented in the table above as you may have begun repaying each loan on a different date. If you have federal student loans that are not included in the table, please continue to make payments on them. You can find your personal loan details through your account on our website and your StudentAid.gov account. To find options to help with repayment, visit StudentAid.gov. ·

We have notified, or will notify, all national credit bureaus of your student loan forgiveness. ·

If applicable, we’ll process a refund for any payments made towards the loans listed above after the effective date of this forgiveness.

NOTICE: This letter is NOT an attempt to collect a debt or a demand for any payment.

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I needed that bit of good news.

Here is something I saw on Forbes regarding the latest legal wrangling over student loan debt forgiveness:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamminsky/2026/03/03/student-loan-forgiveness-may-be-about-to-either-stall-out-or-accelerate/

Snip

The Education Department is currently in the process of implementing a surge in student loan forgiveness approvals. This is good news for borrowers, many of whom have been waiting months for a formal determination that they qualify for a discharge. According to recent court filings by the department, student loan forgiveness approvals may have been about to peter out, however, at least temporarily. But a brand new legal development within the last week could actually lead to the opposite outcome – an acceleration in discharges for federal student loans.

The rollercoaster is due to a complex set of legal factors related to the current state of income-driven repayment (or IDR) plans. IDR, which is an umbrella term that refers to multiple separate plans, allow borrowers to make payments on their federal student loans based on a formula applied to their income and family size, with any remaining balance eligible for forgiveness after a fixed repayment term (historically, 20 or 25 years).

The department had halted student loan forgiveness for multiple IDR plans last year, but recently started resuming processing, leading to thousands of approvals. Due to legal issues impacting IDR plans, and in particular the SAVE plan, it’s not entirely clear where discharge processing for federal student loans is currently heading. But it could either slow down significantly, or dramatically expand. Here’s what’s going on, and what borrowers who are waiting for their student loans to be forgiven need to know.

This was a huge load lifted off my shoulders. I would have had to work into my eighties if I didn't have them forgiven.

Some Thursday Reads

 "You're fired, Kristi," was the big news of the day, especially after that horrendous performance she gave yesterday at Capitol Hill.

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Wednesday Follies

 She can't say "no":

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More about this here.

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Tuesday Follies

 This is the video of the day.  Of course, Tillis is retiring:

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Religious batshittery has polluted our military, and all because of a complete misinterpretation of the Book of Revelation.

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Thirty to forty years ago, I worked for this company when it had the Reno branch.  Now it went out of business.

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