Slept in today in the aftermath of a full weekend.  Sunday afternoon I had a rare opportunity to attend a live performance of show tunes, by the Fox Valley Festival Chorus.  As you’d imagine the work of Stephen Sondheim was a feature of the concert.  These lines from perhaps the best known of Sondheim’s songs echo in my mind:

Don’t you love farce?
My fault, I fear
I thought that you’d want what I want
Sorry, my dear!
But where are the clowns
Send in the clowns

Don’t bother, they’re here

—Send In the Clowns by Stephen Sondheim

There’s no doubt about the cause(s), of this ricochet in my subconscious of the Sondheim lyric lines.

Trump will be arraigned for the second time in less than three months on Tuesday. 

The defiant former president and 2024 presidential candidate is looking to consolidate support among Republican primary voters by claiming he is being unfairly targeted by the Justice Department.

—The Early 202 Washington Post, June 12, 2023 by Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer

In one of the country’s first climate change lawsuits, a group of 16 young people in Montana alleges that the state has violated their constitutional right to “a clean and healthful environment.” The plaintiffs are arguing that the state government’s ongoing support of the fossil fuel industry in Montana is disproportionately harming them. Depending on the ruling, this could set an example for similar suits across the country.

Montana is a major coal exporter and has the largest coal reserves in the United States. One of the plaintiffs, Grace Gibson-Snyder, remembers when she first noticed the impact of climate change in her hometown. It was during one of her summer soccer practices in August, when wildfire smoke blew into the Missoula Valley, where she lives. “The smoke was so dense that the kids on the team with asthma could not play at all,” she said. “And then for the rest of us, it was uncomfortable. It feels like it’s scratching your throat and your lungs.”

Vox, June 12, 2023 by Jonquilyn Hill

To read the entire Vox article, CLICK HERE.