Let's sum up Lindsey Graham

The descent of Senator Lindsey Graham from a decent man (though a conservative Republican senator) into a blabbering fool serving the whims of POTUS Trump has been both fascinating and appalling to watch.  Fascinating, because it's almost inexplicable for him to act this way; appalling because of the depths to which he has sunk.

So this Tom Toles cartoon sums it up pretty neatly.

WTA Finals - Barty takes it

I first noticed that the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) finals were taking place when I read about a back-and-forth match between Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova to get into the semi-finals.  I would have liked to see this 6-0, 2-6, 6-4 match, but probably won't get the chance.  So Halep's highlight this year was obviously the Wimbledon championship.

Pliskova was the winner of the WTA match, but she didn't make it to the final, where Ashleigh Barty defeated Elena Svitolina in fairly routine fashion, 6-4, 6-3.   The match had some good points, and Barty had never defeated Svitolina before.

Barty also garnered the No. 1 spot in the world rankings, too.  That's a heck of a first year.

Lighthouse of the Week, November 3-9, 2019: Cap Camarat, St. Tropez, France

Well, I hope you've heard of St.Tropez, France.  Just down the beach from Cannes - yachts, wealthy people, babes in bikinis, really wealthy people, movie stars, expensive cars, fancy restaurants, outrageously wealthy people, topless wealthy babes in cars, etc.

St. Tropez is also located on the Mediterranean Sea coast, and it has lighthouses.  The town of St. Tropez is on the peninsula of St. Tropez, which has  a couple of lighthouses. One is the "Phare Rouge" (Red Lighthouse), on a jetty right next to the town of St. Tropez.  There's one further down the coast at Cap Bénat. There's a couple of other smaller lights, too, and some out in the gulf. But this one is in the center of the peninsula, named Cap Camarat.

There's a Web site about it.  The funny thing about the Web site is that the first picture on it is NOT the Cap Camarat lighthouse!  (It's actually the Cap Ferrat lighthouse.)

So let's use the Lighthouse Directory to get the basics:

"1837. Active; focal plane 130 m (427 ft); four white flashes every 15 s. 25 m (82 ft) square cylindrical stone tower with lantern and gallery, rising from the center of a square 1-story stone block keeper's house. Tower painted white, lantern black; the keeper's house is painted buff with white trim. ... It is the second highest light in France (after the Phare de Vallauris near Cannes), and it marks a major change in the direction of the coastline south of St.-Tropez. It was strafed by Allied aircraft in 1944 but not seriously damaged."

Click here to see the location.

Here are the pictures;  I couldn't find a video, surprisingly.

A new battle for me

Up until today, I had never heard of the Battle of Vitoria.  (Make sure you spell that right, because there was never a battle of Victoria.)

It took place about 25 miles south of Bilbao, in northern Spain, during the Peninsular War, which actually I hadn't ever heard of either.   I guess I should have been paying more attention during the early 1800s portion of World History.  The battle was fought by the Duke of Wellington, who I have heard of, against Joseph Bonaparte and allies. Joseph Bonaparte was Napoleon Bonaparte's brother, and I've heard of Napoleon too -- quite a bit, in fact.  But I didn't know that Napoleon had put his brother on the Spanish throne, which was the main reason a war was being fought there -- because the British and their allies supported the Spanish rebellion against Joseph Bonaparte.

In short, during the Battle of Vitoria, Wellington's forces defeated Bonaparte's forces decisively, pretty much amounting to the end of this particular war.

If you want details, go here:  The Battle of Vitoria, 21st June 1813

OK, Tiger, that's impressive

It would seem, at this point in time, that Tiger Woods' pursuit of 18 major golf championships -- tying him with Jack Nicklaus -- might seem a bit far beyond possibility.   Now, given the number of great golfers in the world now compared to when Nicklaus was playing, and the fact that when Nicklaus showed up his combination of distance off the tee and skill on the greens gave him a BIG advantage that took the rest of the world awhile to catch up, I don't think it's fair to compare what Nicklaus did to what Tiger has done to determine the "greatest golfer ever".  So much has changed -- and remember that just generally, because equipment made it possible to hit the ball further, many golf courses had to lengthen their holes just to keep up -- that comparisons are quite difficult.  Suffice it to say that Tiger has been the best of the post-Nicklaus era, by far.

But still, Tiger would probably like to be the number one golfer for something, and this week he got closer to being number one in terms of the number of PGA events won in a career.  That number is 82, and he tied that number, held solely by Sam Snead until then.  And considering again how many great golfers there are now, compared to when Snead was playing, it's an amazing accomplishment, both in terms of winning and longevity (and Tiger had to take a break for his extramarital adventures and his injuries both).

Tiger accomplished this feat, tying him with Slammin' Sammy, at PGA tour event in Japan. And though not everybody on the tour made the trip, it's not like he beat a group consisting entirely of no-names;  Hideki Matsuyama was second and Rory McIlroy was a couple of strokes back, too.

So, though you might not need the additional recognition that tying the PGA win mark brings, and I know you don't need the money, congratulations on hitting that mark anyway.  And now I wish for you to win at least one more, so you'll be all alone on the pinnacle.  This particular pinnacle, at least.


EIGHTY TWO WINS! Tiger Woods seals another incredible comeback and pulls level with Sam Snead's all-time record of PGA Tour victories by claiming Zozo Championship in Japan... and he's come a long way since meeting 'The Slammer' as a kid!

Where is Igbo spoken?

While looking to translate a foreign language caption to an Instagram picture, I happened to see a language named Igbo in the list of options.

Having not heard of it before, I did a quick investigation.  So ... here's Igbo:

• Principal and native language of the Igbo people, who live in southeast Nigeria.

• About 27 million speakers worldwide, including some Caribbean islands and other African countries.

Here's a lot more about it, if you're interested:

Igbo (Ásụ̀sụ̀ Ìgbò)

Rubin on the poll

I always like reading Jennifer Rubin's columns in the Washington Post (and she's pretty prolific).  This time, she comments on the most recent Washington Post/ABC News poll.


Poll warning for Trump and Republicans: Danger ahead.

Quoting:

First, unless you are a Senate Republican from a state with a whole lot of white evangelicals, association with Trump may be injurious to your political survival. That should leave lawmakers such as Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) from states with less than 26 percent white evangelicals looking to separate themselves from Trump (and consider breaking with him on impeachment).

Second, this is not a 50-50 country, but rather a country approaching 40-60 as Trump alienates just about every cross-section outside his base. Trump’s base is a dwindling minority of the population, and as isolated as his supporters are in the right-wing media bubble, that bubble has not tainted the majority of the country.

How will this play out with public testimony about Trump's abuse of power on TV?  I don't know, but I can hope.