Beyond A (t)Reasonable Doubt

Senator John McCain released the following press release earlier today. It is worth repeating in its entirety. It is also entirely in the Public Domain:

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement today on President Trump’s meeting and press conference with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki:

“Today’s press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory. The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naiveté, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake.

Bill Rotsler’s Birthday

Today is the late William Rotsler’s birthday. It was often a feature at WESTERCONs, falling, as it did, on July 3.

Portrait of the Artist as an undissolute Man
by Bill Rotsler, drawn on July 3, 1976

I met Bill Rotsler at WESTERCON 29 on his birthday, that interim Bicentennial. (see “The Bison Tenniel — An Origin Story“) between July 2 (actual independence day, when Virginia’s resolution on “independency” was adopted by the Second Continental Congress) and July 4, when the “Declaration” was adopted by that same body.