The House Managers

The House Managers: it’s a great team, each member bringing an individual history and individual strengths to the moment. But I think they must have all agreed on a crucial point: “Give the ball to Adam.”


[January 23, 2020.]

“If right doesn’t matter, we’re lost. If the truth doesn’t matter, we’re lost.”

[The words that might be chopped off by the ad: “The American people deserve a president.”]

Jim Lehrer (1934–2020)

Jim Lehrer believed that news is “not a commodity.” From the New York Times obituary:

“News is information that’s required in a democratic society, and Thomas Jefferson said a democracy is dependent on an informed citizenry. That sounds corny, but I don’t care whether it sounds corny or not. It’s the truth.”

Lehrer died today at the age of eighty-five.

Related posts
Jim Lehrer’s journalistic guidelines
Jim Lehrer’s Post-it Notes

A Mongol sighting

[Tamu Blackwell, James Earl Jones, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs. Claudine (dir. John Berry, 1974). Click either image for a larger view.]

Elaine spotted it first: Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs is holding a Mongol pencil. The ferrule gives it away.

Related reading
All OCA Mongol posts (Pinboard)

Subtitle, about language

The World in Words podcast hasn’t had a new episode in ten months. But I opened my iTunes the other day to discover that a new podcast has taken its place: Subtitle. This podcast, too, is all about language. Hosted by Patrick Cox (from TWiW) and Kavita Pillay, Subtitle is smart, well-edited, and worth any listener’s time.

[Can iTunes just switch you over from one podcast to another? I do not recall adding Subtitle, or even knowing about it before it showed up in my subscriptions.]

Steve Martin Caro (1948–2020)

Steve Martin Caro, lead singer with The Left Banke, has died at the age of seventy-one. Rolling Stone has a brief obituary.

The Left Banke’s extraordinary musical potential yielded just three LPs and a handful of non-album 45s. Here is the group’s “other” hit: “Pretty Ballerina.” The one everyone knows: “Walk Away Renée.”

Related posts
George Cameron (1947–2018)
What I hear in “Walk Away Renée”

Not milkness but phoneless

Senators: not milkless, but phoneless.

Thanks, Ben.

[Post title with apologies to Stevie Smith.]

Being 97

Herbert Fingarette, philosopher: “Much as I think our life in this world is often a pretty messy affair, I still would like to hang around.”



Being 97 is a short film by Andrew Hasse, Herbert Fingarette’s grandson.

Vocative comma, no comma

“Hey, Good Lookin’”	“Hey Joe”
Hello, Dolly!	“Hello Stranger”
Good Morning, Vietnam	“Good Morning Starshine”
“Goodnight, Irene”	Goodnight Moon
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road	Goodbye, Columbus

A related post
Stan Carey on the vocative comma

[Not only does the title Goodnight Moon have no comma. The text of the book has no commas.]

Biggie Smalls and Hamilton

I liked this moment from impeachment manager Hakeem Jeffies (D, New York-8):

“The question was asked by Mr. Sekulow as he opened before this distinguished body: ‘Why, why, why are we here?’ Let me see if I can just posit an answer to that question. We are here, sir, because President Trump pressured a foreign government to target an American citizen for political and personal gain. We are here, sir, because President Trump solicited foreign interference in the 2020 election and corrupted our democracy. We are here, sir, because President Trump withheld three hundred and ninety-one million dollars in military aid from a vulnerable Ukraine without justification, in a manner that has been deemed unlawful. We are here, sir, because President Donald Trump elevated his personal political interests and subordinated the national security interests of the United States of America. We are here, sir, because President Trump corruptly abused his power, and then he tried to cover it up. And we are here, sir, to follow the facts, apply the law, be guided by the Constitution, and present the truth to the American people. That is why we are here, Mr. Sekulow. And if you don't know, now you know.”

And now that I know the source(s) for the final sentence, I like this oration even more.

[My transcription.]

Rostrum

The magnificent marble rostrum in the United States Senate chamber dates from 1949–1950. Watching the impeachment trial today, I thought that someone, somewhere, must be watching and thinking, “Yeah, Grandpa worked on that.”

As a tileman’s son, I think about these things.