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Thursday/ the arraignment 👩‍⚖️

Judge Upadhyaya arrived for the hearing 14 minutes late — creating long periods of awkward silence and pen-twiddling as Mr. Trump and his team sat across from equally antsy prosecutors.
– Reported by the New York Times

Trump appeared in federal court in Washington D.C. today for his arraignment.
He pleaded ‘not guilty’ on all four counts of the charges against him.

The magistrate judge said the prosecutors should file recommendations for the trial date and length in seven days, and that the Trump team should respond within seven days after that.
The first hearing before the trial judge, Tanya S. Chutkan, is scheduled for Aug. 28.

This trial with its 4 charges is likely going to take precedence over the other trials (for two indictments with 74 more charges, so far 😱) that Trump also faces.

That’s Special Counsel Jack Smith on the far left (the prosecutor for the United States Government and We The People).
Trump stands in his signature red tie with his lawyer John F. Lauro to his right.
Judge Moxila Upadhyaya (on the far right) oversaw the proceedings. 
[Courtroom sketch by Bill Hennessy for PBS NewsHour]
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Wednesday/ fire truck lights 🚒

It was Seattle Night Out last night— an annual event that encourages neighbors to meet each other, and to increase neighborhood support in anti-crime efforts.

Young admirers (and a few older ones) checking out a fire truck from the Seattle Fire Department that had stopped by in the block next to mine, for Seattle Night Out.
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Tuesday/ a full moon 🌕

Toe Vader slaap, toe Moeder droom,
is ek uit by die hek langs die appelboom.
En ek ry op die spierwit perd se rug
bo-oor die heinings en bo-oor die brug.
En niemand weet dat ek daar was
met elwekinders op die gras.

As Father slept, as Mother dreamed,
I slipped out the gate by the apple tree.
I rode on the back of the snow-white horse
over the hedge and over the gorge.
And on no one ever, will it dawn
that I’d been there with elven children, on the lawn.

– From ‘Die Spree met Foete’, reworkings of Annie M.G. Schmidt’s Dutch verses into Afrikaans, 2002.
Verses by Piet Grobler and artwork by Philip de Vos.
The rough translation into English is my own.

August is here, with a full moon tonight.

There are two full moons this August, both of which are supermoons—
The Sturgeon Moon that reaches its peak today, August 1st;
The Blue Moon that occurs on Wednesday, August 30th.

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Tuesday/ the third indictment 🗽

More history in the making— the indictment for Trump’s crimes (OK, alleged crimes at this point) after the 2020 presidential election, was returned by the grand jury in the District of Columbia today. 

There are four charges in the indictment (see below).
Trump’s co-conspirators are not identified by name in the indictment, or charged for now, but it appears Rudolph W. Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Trump lawyer John Eastman are among them.

Special Counsel Jack Smith is seeking a speedy trial, with just 18 months to go to the 2024 election.
Is all of this still not enough to disqualify Trump with Republican voters?
What will happen if Trump is found guilty in October 2024 .. and then appeals his conviction (as he is sure to do)?
We don’t know— but boy, are we going to find out.

The four charges in the Jan. 6 indictment. Some of these crimes carry prison sentences of up to 20 years: a life sentence for a 77-year old criminal.
Trump’s ‘Fight like hell’ speech on the Ellipse on Jan. 6 is not listed as a specific charge (for say, incitement to violence). The indictment notes that Trump’s lies about the 2020 election outcome are protected by the First Amendment, but that his other actions to conspire and subvert the outcome went way beyond that and constitute crimes.
[Infographic by the New York Times]
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Monday/ music in the park 🎷

There was a small musical ensemble, with a few couples were dancing to their tunes, in Volunteer Park tonight.

The scene at the little public plaza by the Black Sun artwork.
Black Sun is a 1969 sculpture by Isamu Noguchi, located between the Asian Art Museum and the Volunteer Park reservoir.
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Sunday ☀️

All days seem to be sun days this time of year.
These at the end of July are the driest on the calendar— meaning that it almost never rains on these days in the Pacific Northwest.

The mountain is out (Mount Ranier)— seen with a waxing gibbous moon from over Lake Washington on Friday.
Here in the city of Seattle we have had mild and calm weather all along so far this summer, with very little wildfire smoke to deal with. It’s just been very dry, drier than usual.
[Posted by NWSSeattle@ NWSSeattle on X on Fri 7/28]
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Caturday 😼

I found this feline at the West Exit of Shinjuku Station in Tokyo during my recent visit there (stills from a giant video screen).

The entrance to the Studio Alta building right next door is one of world’s famous rendezvous points.
Some 3.6 million people pass through Shinjuku Station every single day.

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Friday/ the week that was 🛸

David Grusch, a former employee of the Pentagon’s UAP task force, even claimed that the government has recovered “non-human” “biologics” at the scene of various crashes. Say what?

Happy Friday after a busy news week.

From the Washington Post:
On Wednesday alone, the hearing for “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAP) by a House Oversight subcommittee had stiff competition for the public’s attention.
A plea deal involving President Biden’s son Hunter fell apart in court, raising questions about the future of the government’s case against him for tax and gun charges.
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was escorted out of a news conference after he appeared momentarily unable to speak, sparking concerns about the Senate minority leader’s health.
Donald Trump was charged with 3 more counts in the documents case, along with a new co-conspirator, the property manager at Mar-a-Lago. (Charges for the Jan.6 events are still expected).
And the ongoing, dramatic heat waves in Europe and the United States and wildfires in Canada and North Africa continued — with rising warnings about how climate change is rapidly altering life on Earth.

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Thursday/ the full package 🌬️

We need a little bit of the rain (and the cold) that is about to hit Cape Town this weekend, up here in the Pacific Northwest.

The headlines on the Friday edition of Die Burger’s front page:
THE CITIZEN
FULL PACKAGE FOR THE WEEKEND
– Strong Wind
– Heavy Rain 
– Snow 
– Heavy Seas
Here comes a monster!
Western Cape
Cold front
.. and all of this followed by Edvard Munch’s The Scream (1893)?
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Wednesday/ another rate hike 📈

The rate hikes have slowed down to 0.25 % increases, and it will take 6 months or more before the full effect of all the hikes are felt by consumers. By some estimates US consumers are burning through $100 billion per month of piled-up pandemic-era savings and government support. (Six months to go, then that’s gone). Also, many people still have home loans and car loans— and debt— taken out at very low 2022 interest rates.

The Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate by a quarter percent today, to a range of 5.0-5.25%.

From the Wall Street Journal:
Powell didn’t rule out another rate rise at the central bank’s September meeting, but he emphasized how much the central bank had already done along with the amount of time it can take for monetary policy to cool inflation.
“We’ve come a long way. Inflation repeatedly has proved stronger than we and other forecasters have expected, and at some point that may change,” Powell said. “We have to be ready to follow the data, and given how far we’ve come, we can afford to be a little patient, as well as resolute, as we let this unfold.”
Fed officials have been concerned that underlying price pressures may prove more persistent as a solid labor market allows workers to bargain for higher pay, making it harder to get inflation down further.

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Tuesday/ on indictment watch— again 💣

The former president may soon receive his third criminal indictment.
It’s been at least 10 days since he had received a target letter from Special Counsel Jack Smith.
(In the classified documents case, the indictment followed 10 days after the target letter.)

A person receives a target letter when a U.S. attorney has substantial evidence linking him or her to the commission of a crime.
This target letter, for attempts to invalidate the 2020 election results and stop the transfer of power to President Joe Biden, reportedly cites three statutes:
—a charge pertaining to deprivation of rights,
—conspiracy to commit an offense against or defraud the United States, and
—tampering with a witness.
Let’s roll.

Just one of several AI-generated pictures of the Republican Party 2024 front-runner and Now Criminally Indicted Threat To Democracy getting taken down by dragnet of officers. Yes, this scene is unlikely to play out in reality, but as a metaphor we can all hope that it is accurate. We need democracy to survive, after all.
[Posted by Eliot Higgins @EliotHiggins on X* under the caption ‘Making pictures of Trump getting arrested while waiting for Trump’s arrest’.]
*Twitter. Twitter is now X, a rebranding effort by owner Elon Musk that many say is doomed to fail.
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Monday/ a little rain ☔

There was a little rain today— the first in 33 days.
The gardens and fields are parched this time of year in the Pacific Northwest, and we will take what we can get.

The hydrangea in my front yard.
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Sunday/ Barbie is a hit 👛

‘Barbie’ defied her critics and enjoyed great success at North American movie theaters this weekend, raking in $155 million in ticket sales.

The ‘Barbie’ billboard (featuring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken) at the West Exit of Shinjuku station in Tokyo. Barbie fans in Japan will have to wait until Aug. 11 for the movie to open there. 
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Saturday/ arrival in Seattle 🏡

On the tarmac at Vancouver International Airport, and ready to fly out to Seattle.
The Air Canada De Havilland Dash 8-400 (twin turboprop) that I am sitting in, looks like the one on the left that is just pulling up to the gate.

Our flight out of Tokyo made it in to Vancouver on time, and it was a breeze to clear passport control.
‘Welcome to the United States’ said the sign— even though I was clearly still in Canada.  (I guess the departure area can be seen as a consular area belonging to the United States. Americans bound for the USA with a connection in Canada, clear passport control and customs in Canada).

For the flight to Seattle, our airplane was running 1½ hours behind schedule, but we got in a little after 7 pm Pacific Time.
Home, sweet home.

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Saturday/ good-bye to Tokyo 😘

I am at Haneda airport— ready for the flight back to Vanouver (9 hours), and then on to Seattle (45 mins). I had a wonderful time, but I am looking forward to the cooler weather that seems to persist this summer in the Pacific Northwest.

Here’s a view from the little driverless train on the Yurikamome Line (it opened in 1995) that runs across Odeiba, an artificial island close to the shoreline in Tokyo Bay. The 6-car train runs on a double track and 600 V 50 Hz 3-phase alternating current.
Look for the little Statue of Liberty in the second picture (on Odeiba). In the background is the Rainbow Bridge that opened in August 1993, so just about 30 years old.

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Friday night in Ginza ⭐️

Happy Friday.
I ran out to Ginza district one more time, to take a few night pictures. The schools are out for the summer break here in Tokyo, and the train stations were even more crowded than they had been all week.
It was already past 8 pm, but the trains were still full of salarymen* in their white shirts and black pants, making their way home.

*A salaryman (サラリーマン, sararīman) is a salaried worker. In Japanese popular culture, this is embodied by a white-collar worker who shows overriding loyalty and commitment to the corporation where he works [Wikipedia]

Pictures:
The Seiko clock tower on the Wako specialty store, a famous Ginza landmark;
Mitsukoshi Ginza department store kitty corner from the Wako building, with the Matsuya Ginza store a little further down;
Uniqlo’s flagship store in Tokyo, on all seven floors (a Japanese casual wear designer, manufacturer and retailer).

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Thursday/ built for speed 🚅

We did a quickie return trip today on the shinkansen from Shinagawa Station to Shin-Yokohama Station, and back.
It took all of 11 minutes to get there.
It would easily take twice that amount of time with the regular train— or by car.

This is the Nozomi N700— the ‘New 700’ series that had gradually replaced the 300, 500 and 700 series sets.
(The N700S entered service in 2020 with plans to eventually replace all N700-series trains).
This train is operated with 8 cars per train set, and it has a maximum speed of 300 km/h (186 mph). The N700 also accelerates more quickly than the older 700 series trains, with a maximum acceleration rate of 2.6 km/h/s.
That means it could attain its top speed of 300 km/h in just under two minutes.

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Wednesday/ bus tour to Kanagawa 🌋

Here are pictures of our round trip bus tour to Mount Hakone and Lake Ashi in Kanagawa prefecture.

We left from Shinjuku Station in Tokyo.
The bus ride to Motohakone Port at the edge of Ashinoko Lake (called ‘Lake Ashi’ for tourists) was about 2 hours.
Here’s our luxury tour bus, parked at Gotemba Outlet Mall.
The Hiratsuka toll gate on the Odawara-Atsugi toll road in Kanagawa prefecture.
Driving up on the winding road to get to the caldera on Mount Hakone.
*A caldera is a large depression formed when a volcano erupts and collapses.
The torii* at the mountainous town of Hakone. Hakone is known for its hot springs resorts (onsen) and views of the iconic volcano Mount Fuji.
*Traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred.
From the bus we headed straight for the ‘pirate ship’ that took us across Ashinoko Lake to the bottom of the cable car way.
On the short (15 mins) cruise across Ashinoko Lake (mean depth 15m/ 49 ft).
The elusive Mount Fuji peak can be seen behind the clouds. Mount Fuji is Japan’s tallest at 3 776 m (12,388 ft).
On the cable way called the Hakone Ropeway that took us to the village of Owakudami on the Mount Hakone caldera.
A view of the inside slopes of Mount Hakone at Owakudani.  There are pure sulfur deposits in the soil (the yellow color on the slopes). The air is heavy with hydrogen sulfide here: the smell of rotten eggs. On the far right edge of the picture, wisps of steam and gas can be seen escaping from the soil.
The Hakone caldera encompasses a much larger area than just that of the lake itself.
The village is famous for its black eggs. We were scaredy-cats and did not try one. I’m blaming our reluctance to try the eggs on the pervasive rotten egg smell in the air.
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Tuesday/ ramen 🍜

Here is a ramen dinner that we had.  The broth & noodles are garnished with shredded salad and spices.  The other toppings are pork, nori (seaweed) and menma (fermented bamboo shoot).

*A Japanese noodle dish made by serving Chinese-style wheat noodles in a broth with several toppings. I believe it is fair to say it is Japanese comfort food.

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Monday/ Ginza 🏬

It was another 36°C (97°F) here in Tokyo, and we ducked into a department store every block or two as we walked around the streets of Ginza— Tokyo’s famous up-market shopping, dining and entertainment district.

Pictures:
Ginza subway station’s fancy decor gives a hint of what’s to come above-ground;
Stylish dressers and parasols, at the Koban (police box) station in Ginza;
Architecture along Matsuya-dori (street);
A misting station offering a little respite from the heat;
Cupid looking to make mischief, at the Vacheron Constantin watch store;
Fancy window display.