Law, Power, and Justice

LIFE AND NEWS NOTES FROM AN OVER-EDIUCATED ELDERLY CHILDLESS CAT LADY (AS PER J. D. GOD…. VANCE) BEAVERING AWAY IN ONE OF THE VERY COLD SUB-BASEMENTS OF THE MINISTRY OF SNARK.

Tuesday 28 July 2026

LIFE NOTES

I can’t see the marsh yet, just blackness out the library windows. Cool mustard. An enormous orange Kitty is laying like the. Rock of Gibraltar at my left, down by my legs. Coffee, darkness, computers, laptops, iPads, writing pads, notepads, heating pads. All part of the writer’s equipment. Or perhaps the writers comfort foods. This is my favorite part of the day. 4:30 AM in the morning. The cats had been fed. If I come down before 4:00 they will stir but not get up. Too early on the Kitty schedule for breakfast, even for them. But if my sandaled feet start the journey across the catwalk upstairs, I can almost feel their 18 ears perked up. By the time I get to the bottom of the stairs, they have gathered in a greeting party and a mob bribery show of force. Breakfast. After 4:00 AM, if you come down those stairs, you’re going to feed us breakfast no matter what you have in mind. You might think that I’m the alpha, being the one with determination and two opposable forms, but that’s not how it works. Not with cats. If 9 cats are determined to have breakfast or anything else in the world, they get it one way or the other. In terms of breakfast, it seems that a bribery mob does the trick. When you find yourself surrounded at the bottom of the stairs by 9 little beings swirling around, rubbing against each other and you leaning head butting, it’s hard to say no. If this goes on too long and they begin then the pow tire you are at their breakfast.

It’s a combination of weakness when confronted with a demand, the knowledge that you will never get any work done if you don’t, and sympathy for anybody who wants something to eat. That’s how we ended up with 9 cats not too long ago, 10. Anyway, as our vet said when we swore up and down we were not getting another cat, once a feeder, always a feeder.

After they eat. They either settled down. Seven out of eight of them. Or they look for trouble. While bidding their time. Until Daybreak. When they can go on their morning walk. Sam. Sam Clemens is the youngest of the crew. He’s the one who is bidding his time most of the time. Especially in the morning. Going outside is his very favorite thing to do. Which is strange. Since he was taken in when he was 5 weeks old. Alone. Hungry. And yelling his head off. In the front yard. In the pouring rain. Just having been jumped on. By an older cat. In a dispute. About dinner. She thought it was hers. Which it was. And he thought it might be his. We felt enormously sorry for him.

Nobody feels sorry for him now. Is the cock of the walk. What we usually find is that those who have survived outside alone on their own develop an amazing self-confidence, even if it’s not evident when you first take them in. It’s a sort of I ain’t afraid of nothing or nobody sort of attitude.

NEWS NOTES

· A judge has ordered immigration officials to release key witnesses in ICE shooting. Associated Press.

· Two wars converge in the Caspian Sea as Ukraine hits Iranian supply line to Russia. Wall Street Journal.

· Temporary protected status ends for Haitian and Syrian immigrants. Chicago Sun Times.

· Trump asks Supreme Court to allow new limits on mail ballots. Washington Post.

· Deadly US boat strikes…failed to curb cocaine supply. Washinton Post.

· Pentagon reveals hundreds of new Iran war casualties. Task and Purpose

· Primary schedule angers some progressives. Axios.

· Israel needs a ballot-box revolution…” Haaretz

· Inside Bibi’s mystery Trump meeting. Haaretz

· The clock is now ticking on Netanyahu… Wall Street Journal.

· The four defining failures of Netanyahu’s… Wall Street Journal

· Netanyahu threatens to cancel Likud primary… Haaretz.

· Netanyahu rejects October 7‘treason’ theory… Haaretz.

· Warns top court not to intervene… Haaretz

· With anti-Arab campaign ad, Netanyahu stoops…Forward.

· Netanyahu says ICC prosecutor used Israeli PM’s arrest warrant. Washington Examiner.

· Netanyahu orders new West Bank settler outposts. France 24.

· Opinion: Can a liberal version of Israel survive? The National.

· Netanyahu’s Likud falls to lowest position since June 2025… The Jerusalem Post.

· How Israel kept Biden backing a Gaza war… The Jerusalem Post.

· Netanyahu’s surprising challenger in Israel. The New Yorker