Saturday Reads

 Obituary:  One-time Oregon senator Bob Packwood, 93, who was a good senator for the state but then ruined his career through sexual harassment scandals, has died.  He was in his fifth term when he was forced out.

Snip:

Packwood died in a residential care facility in southern California, where he and his wife rented a vacation home, according to one family friend. His family released an obituary to media outlets Saturday afternoon.

“It is with great sadness that I share the news that Senator Packwood passed away earlier today,” Packwood’s wife, Elaine Franklin, said in a statement from a private Facebook post that was also provided to OPB. “He touched many lives and leaves behind a lasting legacy of public service. He will be deeply missed.”

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As the obituary notes, he was first elected to the US Senate in 1968 when he defeated the legendary Wayne Morse.  Then Packwood, like his advisor at Willamette University, Mark Hatfield, spent decades in the Senate until all the scandals broke loose.

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Belmont Stakes 2026 at Saratoga Results

Another victory for Golden Tempo as he has won this year's Belmont Stakes at Saratoga.   Cherie Devaux has won a second leg of the Triple Crown this year.  She trains for the Phipps family, whose last Triple Crown victory was in 1989 with Easy Goer.  Jose Ortiz was the jockey.  The time was 2:03.49 for the mile and a quarter.

Commandment ran a big race to finish second, Renegade came in third, Chief Wallabee was fourth. 

I am sure there will be lots of second guessing of her and her connections' decision to skip this year's Preakness.

There is an inquiry having to do with the top of the stretch when the horses were bunched.  Apparently, nothing changed. 

The race from NYRA via Fox:

 

Earlier:

Fox is covering the card as it has done all week.

Renegade is the favorite for this race.

Metropolitan Mile:  Nysos easily won the race by four lengths.  He won the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile last year.  His sire is Nyquist, winner of the 2016 Kentucky Derby.  He has never finished worse than second in ten starts.

Some Reads for Wednesday

 More antiabortion nutcase extremist shit was proposed in North Carolina recently.  Although the proposal had no chance of passage, the fact it was proposed at all should make people concerned.  It was a trial balloon.

People need to keep their fucking religion out of other people's business.

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Thanks to that piece of shit Bari Weiss, 60 Minutes is all but dead.

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Monday Whatnot

 It appears Pete Hegseth is employing affirmative action for mediocre white dudes.

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Some Saturday Reads

 I always thought VP Couch Surfer was more her type.

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Some Thursday Reads

 Peter Thiel must be scared shitless over the November elections to consider moving to another country that was once the favorite location of escapee Nazis.  However, Argentina does have an extradition treaty with the US, which has been in effect since 2000.

Anyway, rumors abound as to the reason why this psychopath wants to leave the US.

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A Few Wednesday Reads

 I would argue misogynistic attitudes are way more prevalent than antisemitism or even racism.  It cuts across all demographics.  It has been around much longer.  Worse still is the fact the internet and social media have made these woman haters connect more easily than in the not-so-distant past.

"That section on women uses dehumanizing language that's really popular in the misogynist incel community," DiBranco said, referring to "involuntary celibate" communities, which have evolved into virulently misogynistic online spaces and have even been linked to femicide. "[It's] a term that is intended to indicate that women are actually not human, that they are 'humanoid,' and this has been popular for a number of years."

DiBranco said that the line of thinking expressed in the suspects' writings follows a tired trope: that women are essentially responsible for everything wrong in the world. She has helped to develop a framework for this category of narrative, which she terms "anti-feminist conspiracies." She said that it is important to broaden public understanding of the ties between these narratives and white nationalist violence.

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Tuesday Night at the Obituary Pages

 A few days ago, noted NASCAR driver Kyle Busch died, aged only 41.  His sudden death put the spotlight on the dangers of sepsis.  In his case, it came about as a result of pneumonia.

Snip:

Busch died on May 21. Shortly before, his family announced that he had experienced a "severe illness resulting in hospitalization."

"On behalf of the Busch family, everyone at Richard Childress Racing and all of NASCAR, we are devastated to announce the sudden and tragic passing of Kyle Busch," the joint statement from NASCAR, the Busch family and Richard Childress Racing read.

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Noted jazz musician Sonny Rollins has died at the age of 95:

He died at his home in Woodstock, New York, on Monday afternoon according to a statement from his publicist, who called him "one of the most honored and influential figures in American music".

Rollins had a prolific career that began in the late 1940s. He worked with artists including Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and John Coltrane and released more than 60 albums as a band leader. He won two Grammys before respiratory illness forced him to retire in 2014.

The cause of his death has not been announced.

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