"Restitution, if only in the form of honest contrition and perhaps even a public apology, is in order."

"Restitution, for instance, for Stan Wischnowski, the top editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, who in 2020 had to resign from his job and issue a groveling apology for the sin of running an article by the paper’s architecture critic with the headline 'Buildings Matter, Too.' Restitution for Mike Pesca, the host of a popular podcast, 'The Gist,' who was suspended indefinitely from his job at Slate for making a case, in an interoffice back and forth, that it may sometimes be permissible for a non-Black person to quote a racial slur in narrow contexts. Restitution, yes, for James Bennet, a former editor of The Times’s Opinion section, who was forced from his job after the publication of a controversial guest essay by Tom Cotton, a Republican senator...."

Writes Bret Stephens, in "Yes, Woke 1.0 Was Crazy. Now Where’s the Accountability?" (NYT gift link).

"The most gratifying loss last night was that of a real treasonous creep, Alexander Vindman, to a Radical Left Lunatic, who can’t speak or think properly..."

"... and who will go down to certain defeat at the hands of Ashley Moody, a truly Fantastic Senator, from the Great State Florida. Vindman, if you remember, was the one who lied about my 'Perfect Call' with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, only to find out that the conversation was routinely recorded and proved that I was 100% in the right (Completely Innocent!). It was, indeed, a Perfect Call, and the Dumocrats Fake Impeachment effort massively failed. Vindman should be prosecuted for what he did! President Donald J. TRUMP."

That's Trump, obviously, at Truth Social just now. 

Here's the NYT article about Vindman's defeat: "The Left Notches Another Win With This Secret Weapon: Old-Fashioned Organizing/State Representative Angie Nixon scored a stunning upset on Tuesday in Florida’s Democratic Senate primary. Her victory will test the strength of a democratic socialist in a red state" (gift link)("The flip side to Ms. Nixon’s victory is that it may turn what was widely seen as a long-shot goal for Democrats — defeating a sitting Republican senator in comfortably red Florida — into an even longer shot. The Cook Political Report has consistently rated the race this year as 'solid R'").

"She is a platinum blonde geyser of positivity, there to buck him up when the going gets rough."

I'm reading "'With All My Heart, Natalie.' Trump’s Most Devoted Aide Emerges. President Trump’s White House aide Natalie Harp is always by his side. What, exactly, does she do?" by Shawn McCreesh and Maggie Haberman, in the NYT (gift link).

They're talking about Natalie Harp because"she was chosen to join the president on the secret food-delivery-truck rescue gambit" and because Senator Jon Ossoff, a potential Democratic Party nominee for President, observed, "[Trump] doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.'"

The Times article also refers to Harp as a "sylphlike woman."

The quote "With all my heart, Natalie" — seen in the article headline is the sign-off of a letter Harp wrote to Trump in which she apologized for attracting press coverage as she walked a golf course as Trump played golf and, naturally, used a golf cart. I guess that looked foolish to some observers looking for one more thing to revile. I haven't read about the incident, but I suspect she wanted the exercise. I've walked golf courses as a spectator. It's normal for spectators to walk.

"The letter goes on to say: 'I want things to always be right between us. I also know I’ve been distracted all week (forgetting to eat throughout the days, and even forgetting to sleep, and only catching a couple hours at a time).'"

"[T]he house has a 'liquid layout,' with arcing walls and long curtains that soften the effect of the glass and shiny new resin floors."

"You hear visitors in the entry vestibule before you see them and when friends come for dinner, they meet for cocktails in a lounge with low gray furniture — the ceilings are just under seven feet high — until they eventually wander past an enclosed, terrariumlike indoor garden to the magenta dining room beyond. Nearby, there’s a purple-carpeted, textured-concrete closet, intended only for playing chess, accessible via a secret door."

From "In Mexico City, a Futuristic House With a Secret Chess Room/The architect Fernando Romero has pushed what was once a generic midcentury home as far as it can go" (NYT gift link)(with lots of photos of very unusual rooms).

Seems like the set for a horror movie, but to each his own.

"As far back as 2018, Lodge had been stealing body parts — including 'heads, faces, brains, skin and hands' — which he’d then bring to his home..."

"... in New Hampshire and sell with his wife, prosecutors said, shipping them to buyers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. In one horrifying example heard during his trial, Lodge provided skin to a buyer so it could be tanned into leather and bound into a book.... 'In another, Cedric and Denise Lodge sold a man’s face — perhaps to be kept on a shelf, perhaps to be used for something even more disturbing'...."

From "Harvard to pay $53M in suit over selling donated corpses on black market" (NY Post).

In baseball, there's no such thing as running up the score.

The offensive players come up to the plate and must pursue the end of scoring runs. It is for the defensive team to record outs, and it is only through the achievement of outs that the game can ever end. There is no mercy, nothing that can be done about the humiliation.

MLB HISTORY 🤯

The Brewers' 22-0 win tied the largest shutout victory since the start of 1888! pic.twitter.com/frLpYbI4h0

— MLB (@MLB) August 19, 2026

Sit back, relax and enjoy all 22 runs 🍿#ThisIsMyCrew x @MillerLite pic.twitter.com/fYjvllh1iZ

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) August 19, 2026

But then there is the utter humiliation that a player brings upon himself:

The Mariners were losing 19-0. Somehow the worst play of the game came after that with Julio Rodriguez simply not paying attention.

Unreal. https://t.co/jVNfJOlGLJ #Mariners #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/Vjg6QZuUrQ

— Dusty Baker (@DustyBakerTV) August 19, 2026

Sunrise.

The old "so bad it's good" phenomenon works in China.

The BBC reports, in "Movie that went viral for terrible animation becomes China box office hit."

Niu Lai, a low-budget animation film about a cow in a dream sequence has seen a huge jump in ticket sales after going viral for its confusing plot and terrible graphics. It grossed just 7,705 yuan ($1,140; £843) in the first 10 days after its release, but has now made more than 11.4 million yuan, according to movie tracking site Mao Yan. That means it is holding ground against Hollywood blockbusters like The Odyssey and Spider Man: Brand New Day. 

"You may regret for 80 minutes if you watch it, but if you don't, you'll regret it for life," one popular social media post about the film said.

Give Rosie O'Donnell credit for a nice comeback, telling 2 charming stories of her life in Ireland.

She barely gestures at Trump. I think she wants to be "Queen of Nice" again. Give her a chance and watch with charity:

The news from Sicily.

1. "American Hiker Dies After Lightning Strike on Mount Etna in Italy/Rescuers found a 29-year-old man in serious condition on the volcano’s eastern slope on Sunday. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital in Catania" (NYT gift link)("On Monday, Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology reported that another volcanic vent had opened in the valley, with fresh lava flowing overnight.... During a volcanic eruption, tiny collisions among the rising particles of ash can create static electricity, which may in turn produce volcanic lightning").

2. "Thieves Steal 4 Renaissance Paintings From Italian Museum in Brazen Heist/The works, by Antonello da Messina, were taken as the Sicilian city of Messina held a religious celebration" (NYT gift link)("The celebration, the Procession of the Vara, is a religious ritual that takes places every Aug. 15. Some 100,000 people attended the celebration and the city’s law enforcement officials were focused on maintaining order there, city officials said....The theft is a blow to the city.... [F]or the past few years the city has focused on the 'Messina, City of Antonello' brand...).

3. The Procession of the Vara:

Comedian strategies.

Link.

I want to know more. Was this a prank of a sort that some people will admire and think of as what the supposedly legitimate polling business deserves?

ADDED: What else did Median Strategies do? My first thought was Spencer Pratt.

It doesn't take much these days to be considered "formal."

I'm reading "Think It’s Cool to Wear Fancy Sneakers to Work? You Might Be Old. After years of office casual, young people are embracing loafers, derbies and oxfords" (NYT gift link).

Earlier this year, Esquire described the trend as the loafer’s “big generational shift,” describing how younger consumers “were bypassing sneakers in growing numbers.” And in January, The Times UK deemed 2026 “the year of the loafer.”...

The surging interest in formal footwear fashions has simultaneously been a boon for both high-end luxury retailers and heritage brands with classic shoe offerings, like Allen Edmonds, the Wisconsin-based retailer. Nick Wooster, the brand’s consulting creative director, said that they have “absolutely” seen a recent increase in interest in their handmade leather loafers and derbies among younger customers. 

Even sneaker brands are trying to be more dressy.

"Being a good teacher requires being sort of odd, even a bit immature."

"Some of my favorite professors married scholarly expertise with considerable eccentricity. My dissertation adviser insisted her students take up social dance like polka, line dancing and zydeco; another of my former professors would alight at 4 a.m. to teach himself Japanese before undertaking woodworking projects like making a life-size chess set. The passions are nonconformist. To be moved is to be a little bit weird."

Writes Matt Dinan, the director of the great books program at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick, in "I Let My Students Watch Me Struggle With a Masterpiece. It Changed Everything" (NYT gift link).

"What I discovered anew in my encounter with 'The Brothers Karamazov' last term was that if you want students to be passionately engaged, not worried about the future, grasping, careerist or disengaged, you must transmit the spark of passion in your deeds, your mien — let’s face it, in your own soul. If you expect your students to choose books, ideas and genuine learning over shortcuts and distraction, you must be a bit courageous, too.... As [the Karamazov brother] Alyosha memorably notes, all capable people 'are awfully afraid of looking ridiculous, and it makes them unhappy.'"

"They were going to build an F.B.I. headquarters three hours away in Maryland, a liberal state. We’re going to stop it."

Said Trump, last year, quoted in "Judge Rules Trump Administration Can’t Scrap F.B.I. Move to Maryland/The ruling is almost certainly not the end of the lengthy fight over the F.B.I.’s future headquarters, which has lasted for years" (NYT gift link).

In a 47-page ruling, Judge Theodore Chuang of the Federal District Court in Maryland wrote that “the F.B.I. erroneously concluded” that it could select a new headquarters for itself without consulting Congress. In reality, Judge Chuang wrote, Congress had already approved the Biden administration plan for the F.B.I. to move to Maryland.... Maryland state officials cheered the ruling, which blocked the Trump administration from diverting about $1 billion to be spent on a sprawling campus near the Greenbelt Metro station in Prince George’s County....

Sunrise reprise.

Write about whatever you want in the comments.

Sunrise.