Peace, love, politics, history and mental health.

In Odin's mailbox as Northerlies return to Okieland . . .

Instead of showing up to rubberneck the arraignment Tuesday, people should perhaps tend to more exigent problems of democracy, like resoling their pumps and checking the air pressure on their tires. In other words, what if America held a Trump indictment and nobody showed up to fuss about it? That could be proof of something truly awesome. Indeed, it would highlight the awkward reality that Trump’s first indictment is hardly a shocking event; the fact that he thrived in a country with a justice system for many decades without having been indicted until April of 2023 is the real outlier. – Dahila Lithwick

There were far more Trump opponents than supporters in the crowd outside the courthouse, and while Trump-allied representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and George Santos (R-NY) were there, other Republican lawmakers steered clear. – Heather Cox Richardson

Republicans are losing across the country, even in historically red areas—Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin. The abortion bans, climate denial, gun idolatry, anti-democratic behavior and extremism has lost them entire generations of Americans. – Brian Tyler Cohen

Progressives won their first majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 15 years on Tuesday night when Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz won a lopsided victory that will have huge repercussions for voting rights and abortion access.

What the newspaper can’t cover very well is ordinary happiness because there is much too much of it and for us happy people, that is completely proper. You want to be able to eat your eggs and hash browns and sausage in the Chatterbox Café without a man with a pad and pencil interviewing you as to the cause of your good temper. One cause is that you look back at your mistakes and know for a fact that you won’t do anything that dumb again. – Garrison Keillor

The problem with history is that there's too much of it – after Jim Feeney's poem “Irish History.”

Our only truly essential human task . . . is to grow beyond the survival instincts of the animal brain and egoic operating system into the kenotic joy and generosity of full human personhood. . . . Dwell not in WHAT you are, but THAT you are. From divided awareness to expanded awareness, using the modality of sensation – Cynthia Bourgeault

From time to time, it is most worthwhile to just . . . get out of your head.