State of the Discussion

The Roman magistrate song
Tune: The Major General's Song (Gilbert&Sullivan: The Pirates of Penzance)

Chorus: |: His name is Marcus Tullius Cicero :|
Cicero: My name is/Indeed I'm Marcus Tullius Cicero

1.
I am the very model of a proper Roman magistrate
although of origin a poor provincial legal advocate
I came to Rome with country drawl, behaved and clothed/dressed still/quite prissily
Then came to fame defending the oppressed poor folks of Sicily.
I beat that Asianic fop, illustrious Hortensius
The greatest advocate till then, an omen so portentious
That gave my standing quite a boost. I moved to better neighbourhood
[neighbourhood! maidenhood? hazelwood? Oh, of course!]
I can/could afford now finally some furniture of citrus wood
I ran the course of honors through and "suo anno" at each stage
An akin meteoric rise you'll seek in vain on his'try's page
See, does/did not turn my origin as studied legal advocate
me into a fine model for a proper Roman magistrate?

2.
I love the lengthy period with con- and subjunctives galore
I best each verbal labyrinth as Theseus did the minotaur
I know my ornaments and tropes from zeugma to apostrophy
I practice hypotyposis that leads to eucatastrophe
I shun the tmesis like the plague, don't mix en- with hypallage
Against non-cretic clausulae I have an aching allergy
Occasions for anacoluth or sentence aposiopese...
[mayonaise? Calliopese? Alcibiades?... Eureka/I've got it/Ah, but of course!]
And don't insinuate insinuations are just lies - oh, please.
I can explain the difference twixt alleg'ry and metaphor
and can provide for evr'y term the context that it matters for
This stanza has too many lines, I humbly do apologise
[eulogize?...extemporize? Nobel prize?... Something more epic!]
But with this topic dear to me the words swell like Apollo's rise
No one can yet convict me of abuse of inconcinnity
My subtle sense of tone does truly verge on pure divinity
So I from modest origins, a mere provincial advocate,
became the very model of a brilliant Roman magistrate

3.
I dabble in philosophy, in dreams I talk to Socrates
Of rivals I am as devoid as medicine's Hippocrates
A challenger compared to me sounds Numid or Iberian
I'd win a dispute easily no matter what criterion.
I can force words to do my will, of Latin mine is mastery
Comparable my aptitude to expert sculptor's plastery
I keep my gestures dignified, at least when on the senate floor
[senate floor...janitor?...penny whore?...Ah! Of course!]
Avoid the roll-of-eyes and row-of-arms, I'm not a semaphor.
A homo novus though I am, by birth a mere equestrian
I soared through toil and eloquence past nobles more pedestrian
So out of plainest origins a paltry legal advocate
arose as very model of a palmy Roman magistrate

4.
I have a slave named Tiro who brought forth the art stenography
And who, if fates permit, one day will publish my biography
He notes down ev'ry word that in the public or at home I've said
And of course in the most august assembly here in Rome, senate!
Although with voters common I will be at times gregarious
I find the populares faction utterly nefarious
So without doubt I throw my lot in with the noble optimates
[optimates! obstinates? pots and plates?... I've got it!]
For what they're always aiming at "best for the state" approximates
I love the toga candida and the elections annual
My brother Quintus was so kind to write the winner's manual
With this assistance I was spared a certain loser's tragic fate
Became with vote unanimous of Rome the highest magistrate

5.
I can declaim in Greek like born in Athens or in Miletos
I showed that rascal Catiline who really is in Rome the boss
Some say his motivation was just violated vanity
But then to start a coup attempt was madness and insanity
He clearly was a bolshevik, although I don't know what that means,
and right against the mos maiorum but that's normal for such fiends
I then got hailed as savior of our sacred fatherland
[fatherland...rather bent?...leather scent?...EUREKA]
but squinting sods did disagree and planned my triumphs there to end.
Thus afterwards you exiled me through that tribune so odious
Who had exchanged his honest name for that of vulgar Clodius
With fire denied (and water too) exiled to places desolate
I fell down from the lofty peak of supreme Roman magistrate

6.
It's said the perfect orator a good man is well versed in speech
And for him who has mastered this no thing to aim for 's out of reach
I climbed through efforts tireless the heights of Attic oratory
I penned some self-promoting but unsuccessful epic poetry
The way I use the language shall one day be made canonical
Which given no bum talks like this should be seen as ironical
Categorise my style as neither Asian nor atticist
[pacifist, can't resist? Oh, me stupid!]
I walk the golden middle course, am not baroque but classicist
I made the Latin language shine and stay for all eternity
To form with Persian, Greek, Sanskrit forever a fraternity
And thus despite my origin as country bumpkin advocate
my eloquence made me the model of a Roman magistrate

7.
Indeed it was an/the orator who first united as a group
the cultureless humanity fed up with bitter acorn soup
He taught them all there was to know and how to found a/the city state
He was the natural candidate to serve as its first magistrate
We know that our first Roman king - Quirinus Romulus - could wield
The word as well as any sword. The eloquence served as his shield
Then Numa his more peaceful heir could do away with sagum red
[garum fed?...Boba Fett?... Ouch! It' s so obvious]
Inspired by Camena's source/spring he governed in the toga clad
And this tradition it holds true while seven centuries have passed
If to my precepts/teachings you will hold, for many more it's going to last
To Rome despite my origins as rural legal advocate
The gods called me as model both as orator and magistrate

8.
The orator before all things must never ever be a bore
And even on the dullest topic find his mark and hit full score
But this be done/he does with dignity, avoiding all cheap stage effects
And with quick wit the heckling claque's intrusions craftily deflects
An orator worth of the name of ev'rything has ample gist
And, if he hasn't, he can still make use of an exempla/example list
But I digress - I often do - but this is not the lecture hall
Please don't take it as flattery me saying that I love you all
What is this world, if not a stage, for each of us a part to play?
[part to play...hard to pay...start to say?...I got it.]
And I was given billings prime to take the lead and save the day
For not by chance for Roma's sake in time mine was the consulate
The vilest plot I could unveil and just before it was too late.
The gods send forth as champion me, an unknown rusty advocate
In time of need to take the role of lucid Roman magistrate

9.
The Parthians do not fear me yet for my strategic genius
No blade I bathed in human blood for I am rather squeamish, yes
Of British cooking I stay clear, a parcel one calls them of rogues
The Gauls I hate for drinking beer (exception made for Allobroges)
No sword is worn within Rome's walls, the sanctified pomerium
Removed from fasces is the axe, no soldier holds imperium
And though I lack the clever stratagems of Quintus Fabius
[fabulous, platypus? Ah, that's it!]
And cannot tell apart, ye gods, a spatha from a gladius
I am no blood-stained warrior. The tongue is mighty, not the sword
I have steered through the roughest seas the ship of state to safest port
Therefore, despite of origin a humble legal advocate
I am the very model of a glorious Roman magistrate

10.
Republican I am at heart, I hate all things tyrannical
Despite nice news of victories both Gallic and Britannical
I would not take - if offered one - a seat in a triumvirate
Political shenanigans of "great men" get me quite irate
My idol is Demosthenes the great Athenian orator
I do philippics just like him and give Rome's fetid foes what for
I hate that guy Marc Anthony and call him many nasty name
[lasting shame?...ghastly maim? Misplaced my head again...Duh!]
A scoundrel very wanton he, too fond of wine, whore, slut and dame
Not worthy of his noble birth, a moral stain on Roma's face
Defiler of all honest things, in short a total gross disgrace!
Compare that to my humble self, this Arpinate and advocate
Possessing moral stamina, apt for a Roman magistrate

Here's a big one.

https://www.war.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/4354916/the-war-department-unleashes-ai-on-new-genaimil-platform/

"We are pushing all of our chips in on artificial intelligence as a fighting force. The Department is tapping into America's commercial genius, and we're embedding generative AI into our daily battle rhythm." Secretary of War Pete Hegseth remarked, "AI tools present boundless opportunities to increase efficiency, and we are thrilled to witness AI's future positive impact across the War Department."

...

GenAI.mil is another building block in America's AI revolution. The War Department is unleashing a new era of operational dominance, where every warfighter wields frontier AI as a force multiplier. The release of GenAI.mil is an indispensable strategic imperative for our fighting force, further establishing the United States as the global leader in AI.

All things 2025 are 2005 again. This is Rumsfeld's Revolution in Military Affairs v2.0. Find "Networked" and replace with "AI." Find "Iraq," and replace with "Venezuela." They will bring the Shock And Awe again, and then falter on the lack of HUMINT and any plan for what comes after that might bring stability and hope to a population that no one in the administration gives a single damn about.

Complete Charlie Foxtrot in the making once again, but the techbros are ready at the trough.

Teddy the Treehugger? No thanks. Before this ends all National Parks will likely be privatized (to private = to plunder); to be logged and mined into moonscapes.

...having oil not under US control...

Regarding today's seizure of a loaded oil tanker, reportedly in transit from Venezuela to Cuba... As I understand how these things are done, ownership of the oil transferred FOB some oil terminal in Venezuela. The owner is almost certainly not the company that owns the tanker. Trump has said regarding the oil, "Well, we keep it, I guess." Part of me wishes that there's some back room paper shuffling going on and tomorrow China issues a statement asking, "Did we just hear you say that you're keeping a million barrels of our oil?"

A bigger part of me fears irrationality, and a back channel message being sent that says, "Nice AI bubble you've blown there. Be a shame if anything happened to TSMC's ability to deliver chips to American companies."

Open thread, so: I'm sick at heart about what seems to be happening with regard to Trump and Ukraine. None of it is even that unexpected, but I guess I was still hoping beyond hope that, to quote Grace Paley, there would be Enormous Changes at the Last Minute. I suppose it could still happen, but you'd be a fool to put any money at all on it.

I do realise that many or most of you have concerns that are a great deal closer to home, and with that in mind I am posting a gift link to a podcast and its transcript from the Atlantic, with David Frum interviewing Michael Waldman, the president of the Brennan Center at NYU. The main part is about the threats to the coming elections (2026 and 2028), and what can be done to thwart them:

https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2025/12/david-frum-show-michael-waldman-2026-elections/685219/?gift=cx0iluuWx4Cg7JjlT8ugCUa60y1nrf54jxaP3FioTT8&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

I get regularly woken up by the inner censor who will not allow any sex to happen (at least not involving me).
The most recurring dream is of me looking for a toilet but only finding ones that for one reason or other can't be used (clogged, full of water, built in a way one cannot sit upon them, extremly dirty etc.). The problem is usually very detailed and in high resolution. What I do not understand is that the locations are usually completely unknown to me but have a degree of detail that to me would seem to require great familiarity with the source the dream screenwriter used to create the images.
The (written) exam dream is also quite familiar but it is usually so that I know the stuff but once I have finished most of it, all the paper gets confused and I can't find the correct pages to finish and to hand in, resulting in a panic.
Someone is also constantly meddling with the public transport system. I get stranded at an unknown (and often confusedly constructed*) station (often rural or semi-rural) and can't find my way to the correct one since for some reason the whole net and the timetables have changed. Occasionally on the underground lines but more often on a railroad above ground. Well, at least some effort is usually put into scenic landscapes and the weather tends to be pleasant.

*which has some basis in reality around here

This discussion has me realize that my panic based dreams have come in distinct phases/periods. The first was when I was a kid and I dreamed I would swim in air, but would be hopelessly slower than other people. It was just like pushing off from the bottom of a pool and doing a dog stroke in air. I'd love to go back and see if I could do that with lucid dreaming, i

The second era, corresponding to hs and uni, was the relatively common one of being in some place with no clothes and everyone else was dressed. Of course, I now realize that no one else noticed and I couldn't tell anyone. Would have been nice to have figured that out then

The last stage, though it hasn't happened recently, I would have sleep paralysis, which would happen when I was totally knackered. I had the impression that someone was in the room and I couldn't move and I couldn't say anything. It wasn't someone like an ax murderer, it was just someone I knew, but it would really be stressful to have them in the room and I couldn't acknowledge them, so I would force myself awake, and in waking up, I felt like I pulled every muscle in my body. Not fun. I had a theory that I was dropping into REM sleep to quickly (I could feel my eyes doing REM even though I just laid my head on the pillow)

I still get very tired, but I feel like my slight ability to lucid dream is actually related to that, because I'm lying in bed and I don't try to move, but I can see everything in the room. On the other hand, it might be because I don't really care if someone comes in the room and I can't talk to them, because I've reached an age where I don't give a shit...

I’ve always known that most people can remember at least some of their dreams. But I’ve never done that.

I can remember the last dream immediately upon awakening, but have to review it a couple of times to get it into somewhat more permanent storage. I did that this morning. The dream setting was a hilly suburban neighborhood. The guy down the street was a sword smith who produced "good" magical swords. The guy across the street made "bad" magical swords. The wife of the guy across the street was a serial killer using one of the bad swords. They were framing the guy who made good swords for the killings. When I figured out what was going on, the good smith gave me a sword so I could take on the bad smith. Swashbuckling across streets and yards ensued. One of the backyards was filled with rabbits, we literally had to wade through them. Each rabbit had been dyed a bright color: red, blue, green, yellow.

Sometimes I wake up from the weird ones because, in the dream, I get to the point of "I'd like to speak with the screenwriter, please."

or a time after my father died I regularly had dreams where I would see him at a distance, sometimes across a large room full of people or on the street driving by. As I would get closer to him, his appearance would change and I’d realize it wasn’t him."

I have dreams like this only about cats. In the dream I see one of my long ago deceased cats and I am overwhelmed with guilt, thinking that I just forgot about the cat and have been ignoring it. Then I get into a fuss about whether or not it's my cat or just one that looks like my cat. I never raised a cat from a kitten. All of my cats were old when I got them and died within five or six years, so I have a lot of dead cats to remember--but I do remember all of them.

I still have the occasional "forgot to go to class the whole semester and can't find my final-exam location" dream.

Every once in a while I have a dream where some law was changed and I have to go back to high school for a class or two for my graduation to remain valid. The dreams start off without anything seeming silly, but as the dream goes on, I begin to realize how stupid of a situation it is and the dream kind of trails off.

I was looking at results, which is what counts for managers. And while Brown was clumsy, at least he didn't cause any major disasters like the other ones.

I could easily draw you up a list of prime ministers in my living memory, i.e. Thatcher onwards, that proves how each one of them was incompetent, with the exception of Gordon Brown maybe...

That's unexpected. I'd say that from Thatcher to Cameron inclusive, Brown was clearly the worst prime minister in terms of managerial competence.

There’s a test, originating in the Labour party in the late 19th century – is he competent to run a whelk stall?

Though the bulk of the attacks iirc were that he was a far left looney. Similar to the way that they went after Mamdani. Which makes me wonder if the problem is that politically, you can't get much traction by complaining how shitty someone might be as a manager, you have to pound them on ideological grounds.

He shares this disability [the inability to run a whelk stand] with BoJo, Dubya, Trump, and sundry other politicians.

I think Dubya might have managed it. Certainly he would have been far happier trying to run a whelk stand than he was being President.

Of course, the job he actually wanted was Commissioner of Baseball. Pity he didn't manage to get it instead.

that said...

I had a friend, father of another friend of mine and my wife's. He was a tank guy in WWII. Killed a number of people. Had a cool and complicated shotgun he took off a guy - a German civilian - who tried to shoot him, and who missed. But he - my friend - did not miss.

In his late 80's and into his 90's, he had really bad dreams where he relived his time in Europe. Unsettling, violent dreams, which would cause him to thrash and kick and punch in his sleep.

He went back to Europe in much later life to see if he could lay his ghosts to rest. He could not.

This was not the advent of mental or neurological decline, he was sharp as a tack right up until the end.

It was the legacy of what he was required to do as a young man.

Some folks think that sleep, and dreaming, is another bardo. Another form of consciousness, distinct from waking awareness. I don't really know, one way of the other.

But my own thought is that sleep and dreaming is the time when your mind and consciousness tries to repair itself. Tries to come to terms with and resolve all the crap you don't have the time or attention or capacity to resolve in your waking life.

It's kind of a gift. Not always welcome, but essential nonetheless.

I try to remember and pay attention to dreams. I don't think of them as some kind of messages from the great beyond. They just seem like messages from myself, to myself. Or maybe not even messages, just ruminations.

But helpful, and occasionally useful. Sometimes amusing, sometimes disturbing. More or less your own mind, without the filters. But speaking in images, not prose.

I used to get frantically worried in the dream but one night I thought, “Fuck it. This isn’t my fault. I’m not going to feel bad. I am going to get mad instead.”
So now that dream has a different story arc.

I'm delighted by this!

I have been trapped asleep but unable to awake multiple times, starting at elementary school age. I have taught myself to wake myself up by moving one of my arms. It can be very difficult, frustrating, and frightening.

I always had an image of Prokofiev as a dilettante, probably stemming from Peter and the Wolf

Same applies to me, though I'm on top of many other mainstream composers. I'll have to make an effort now, thanks.