Two obits today that made me sigh.

Syd Mead, who defined the optimistic look of the consumer-friendly techno-future. (Blade Runner as well, but that’s another story.) Atom-powered chrome-trimmed hoverers in a perfect California – he reinterpreted the soul of the auto for an era we hoped we’d see.

In some ways, the path of the public narrative assigned to Christopher Carson’s life illustrates how simple truth can be shaded according to a “story tellers” viewpoint or motive. He was, by most worldly standards, uneducated. He spoke at least five languages with ease and simple clarity but didn’t write in any of them. In mid-lif,e he did learn to sign his name with a plain “C. Carson” to be applied to dictated letters and government documents. In real life, he was direct and plain-spoken and modest almost to a fault.

Meeting him for the first time, many who knew of his almost beyond-human exploits (both real and fictional) were taken back by his soft-spoken manner among strangers as well as his mere 5’6″ height. The “Christian” name given him at birth is seldom remembered and for the most part, he is known by the nickname hung on him by the rugged breed he became a part of when in his teens – Kit.

Over more a century and a half, his “mass media” image has flowed from one of an early comparison to Hercules to a more modern politically inspired one of a darker, violent, even racist archvillain. He was, of course, a much more complicated and simple man – as most of us humans are.

In light of the most recent anti-Semitic attack in a suburb of New York City, where a man broke into the home of a prominent rabbi holding a Hanukkah celebration with a machete, I’ve heard from many friends “What can I do to help?”  I wanted to offer some tangible suggestions for those horrified by the slow-moving pogrom happening in New York City and wishing to act:

1. 1. Contact your local Jewish community and ask if they would accept volunteers from outside the community to provide security.
   2. The cost of upgrading security has been enormous for many Jewish institutions across the country. Off-duty police officers are paid to work shifts on holidays and on Shabbat, but many buildings have undergone serious renovations to install new security systems, panic buttons, auto-locking doors, new windows, and more. Consider donating to your local synagogue, Jewish community center, Hillel, schools or Jewish Federation’s security fund.
   3. Another worthwhile organization worth noting is the Community Security Service. You can donate to their efforts to train Jews to protect their community, or contact them to ask how you can get involved in their work.
   4. Shop at Kosher supermarkets and restaurants. It’s a scary time to run a business that is a potential terror target, and it’s encouraging for those working there to have the support of the wider community.
   5. Contact your local representatives and ask them to step up to the plate, especially if you live in a district with a Jewish population.
   6. Lend support and encouragement to officials doing the right thing, like here:

This morning @NYSenatorFelder, Assemblyman @SEichenstein, Councilman @ChaimDeutsch and I sent this letter to @NYGovCuomo.
We're asking for the State Police and NY National Guard to be deployed to our neighborhoods, and for a special prosecutor to prosecute antisemitic violence. pic.twitter.com/EVh8BjwpjT

— Kalman Yeger (@KalmanYeger) December 29, 2019

Since we’re talking about memories, I need to add some context and continuity in this tale of the Welsh invasion of Ireland. I’ve mentioned before that, in this day and age, I feel profoundly grateful for the fact that I’m a man who viewed his father as a personal hero.

During the First Gulf War, well before Desert Shield transitioned to Desert Storm, my Dad had a heart attack. My dad and wee little brother were on the way home from the gym, little brother driving them in his classic (i.e., used, got-it-for-a-good-price) Camaro. The Old Man started feeling some pain in his chest and left arm, and started rotating it in the car as if to relieve a cramp. He made the joke, “Jeez, either I did too much in the gym today, or–HAH!–this is the big one.”

Before we ring out the old year and say goodbye to the holiday season, here’s a treat from one-half of our London Calling crew: The Delingpod Christmas Special 2019.

But what could be more special than an hour with Delingpole? Try two Delingpoles, as James is joined by his brother Dick. (Who, by the way, is a very talented artist.)

Senators in an impeachment are not like jurors. That courtroom analogy is only useful up until the point where it is not useful anymore.

An actual jury selection allows for the rejection of any prospective juror for bias. By that measure, every one of the 100 Senators would be dismissed for cause. But the Constitution doesn’t allow for rejection of any Senators in trying an impeachment. That’s because impeachment is a political process, not a legal one. The analogy that equates the two is flawed and breaks down at this point.

There is that in me—I do not know what it is—but I know it is in me…

I do not know it—it is without name—it is a word unsaid,
It is not in any dictionary, utterance, symbol.

Via Twitter, a list of Trump accomplishments. 

Let me channel the dead-enders: It’s not like he was doing the LBJ routine in the cloakroom, twisting arms. It’s not like he was calling in Congresspeople to request a bill increasing funding for AIDS and Historically Black colleges. He signed what was put before him. A Rubio administration would have done the same.

Is it OK to lie to your boss? To plot against him or her? If so, when? For what reasons?

I’ve been there. I have had had staff working directly against me because they did not think I deserved the job. Making things up, fudging numbers, spreading rumors. They helped sow the seeds of my ultimate “Termination without Cause.” Ugly.