Scott Cory

@jscottcory.bsky.social

2002 Followers 1272 Following

Sometimes funny, sometimes thoughtful, makes mistakes. Husband, father, animal friend. Grumpy, old, gay, and many other things: proud of all of 'em. Like and follow, 'k? @jscottcory in the Meta ecosystem. scory.blogspot.com

An image from the Weather Underground website showing the actual and apparent temperatures in the Brookland neighborhood in Washington, DC. The temperature is 110°F/44°C or 131°F/55°C.
An image from weather radar showing a thunderstorm approaching the White House on Sunday 14 June 2026.
An image from Weather Underground showing the current temperature in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington DC to be 103 degrees Fahrenheit, with a "feels like" temperature of 121 degrees Fahrenheit.
Another question puzzled the newsroom: Why did Bezos, surely as savvy a businessman as any alive, stick with Lewis for so long? People who know Lewis note that his career has advanced with the trust and approval of powerful men—Bezos, Murdoch, and Boris Johnson. The former London mayor and British prime minister, Johnson was a longtime correspondent and columnist for the Telegraph and an old colleague and friend of Lewis’s. Lewis served as one of Johnson’s political consultants after leaving the Journal in 2020, advising him in the aftermath of “Partygate,” a scandal involving social events held at 10 Downing Street while Britain was under strict pandemic lockdown orders. Johnson rewarded Lewis’s loyalty by submitting his name for a knighthood in honor of “political and public service” in 2022. Glenn Kessler, who wrote the Post’s Fact Checker column, says that Lewis—now officially Sir William—“is really good at managing up.” As for Bezos’s loyalty to him in the face of enduring failure, Kessler speculates: “No one wants to admit he made a mistake, especially a billionaire.”
Image including the following text: Long after Iran runs out of Shahed drones, there will be inflamed Shia Muslims across the globe. Worse still, there are religious extremists on both sides of this conflict. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has already fielded 110 complaints from service members being instructed that they are fighting Armageddon.
Image with the following text: An official from the European Union’s naval mission Aspides said that vessels have been receiving VHF transmission from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards saying “no ship is allowed to pass the Strait of Hormuz,” Reuters has reported. The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency also said that it received multiple reports from vessels operating in the Gulf saying they had received messages on the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The strait is the world’s most vital oil export route, which connects the biggest Gulf oil producers, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. The official said Iran had not formally confirmed any such order. Tehran has for years threatened to block the narrow waterway in retaliation for any attack on the Islamic Republic.
An image of Good Luck grocery store at Eden Center in Arlington VA.
An image of a reuben sandwich with potato chips and pickles, on a cutting board with a piece of pastrami in the background.
A middle aged man with glasses and a cap in a well-lit room.
Eight pieces of tape with the words and dates "chicken stock" and "13 Nov 2025" written on them.
An image of Scott Cory and Graham Gunn, two white middle aged men with glasses in business casual dress sitting in the Berlin Philharmonic Concert Hall.
Text included in the image: A number of morning-after reviews I’ve seen say that the Democrats had had a great night but still hadn’t addressed their “civil war” — the battle over whether to run “moderates” or “progressives.” Is it a future of Spanbergers or Mamdanis? That doesn’t seem quite right to me. They have a pretty good model: find candidates suited to their constituencies and focus on cost of living issues and opposition to Donald Trump’s autocracy. Full stop. It’s not more complicated than that. That’s your opposition message. To the extent there are big operative questions, they turn on how to use political power to battle encroaching autocracy.
An image of six posters affixed to a wall in Washington, DC, with images and words encouraging people to resist and oppose authoritarian forces.
An image of a leg press machine at a gym with 10 45 lbs plates and a pair of legs pushing against the machine.
An image of a sheet tray of figs, cut in half, in an oven to preserve them by drying.
An image showing people in tactical clothing with weapons in front of a neighborhood fire station in Washington DC.
An image showing the temperature near our house as 101 degrees Fahrenheit/38 degrees Celsius, with an apparent temperature of 118 degrees Fahrenheit/48 degrees Celsius.
Image showing the election results of the 2024 Presidential Election in Washington DC. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, 90.28% of the vote, 294,185 votes; Donald Trump and JD Vance, 6.47% and 21,076; Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Nicole Shanahan, 0.85% and 2,778, Write-in, 2.4% and 7,830.
An image of a peach cobbler in a oval. The pastry topping is rough and caramel brown.
Text from the image file: Distractified – the real-life equivalent of being distracted by list, meme, or viral websites. Embarking on a series of often-unrelated tasks resulting from engaging an immediate issue, pressing or not. Examples include “I was about to do yoga in the basement, but I noticed pooled water on the floor in front of the dryer after a rainstorm. I moved the dryer, picked up all the things that had fallen behind it, vacuumed the floor, moved the washer and vacuumed around it, spilled and cleaned up coffee, repaired a non-functioning soap dispenser, and wrote this explainer. “ Not directly related to the website “Distractify.” (https://www.distractify.com)
An image of a tornado warning that included NE DC,Takoma Park, and Chillum.
A screenshot of a post from the Washington Post reporter Amber Phillips, about a scene near the courthouse where Sean "P Diddy" Combs is being sentenced. The text reads "A 10-minute walk from the courthouse, the Bar at Lawn Club was playing Sean Combs’s 2001 song “Bad Boys for Life” as people sipped drinks. Three male staffers were dancing along."
A screenshot from Weather Underground showing the dry and wet bulb temperatures of 102 and 120 degrees in our neighborhood in Washington DC.
A pair of walking shoes on an old, central Asian rug.
Here's hoping all our work and hopes and love come to fruition soon.
Image including the following text: Data Standards Human services – the provision of which are at the core of ACL’s mission – lack common definitions and standards, making integration with the standards being implemented throughout the ecosystem of providers and payers in health services much more difficult. HHS has begun work towards establishing taxonomies for human services, examples of which include CMS’ Home and Community Based Service Taxonomy, ACF’s National Information Exchange Model, and ONC’s Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement. There is an opportunity to establish a Collaborative Data Initiative driven by ACL’s Centers for Policy and Evaluation, Management and Budget, and Integrated Programs that would build on these efforts, and would include and engage partners and stakeholders from other federal agencies (including the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services), state and local governments, and home and community based and long term supports and services providers and advocates. The goal of this long-term initiative is to develop person-centered frameworks and standards by which the provision of human services and collection of information about individuals may be easily integrated with information created in the provision of health services, resulting in greater independence and quality of life for older adults, persons with disabilities, and their caregivers, lower costs of providing health care, and increased quality of health care services. This is strongly aligned with the ReImagine HHS initiatives Putting People at the Center of HHS Programs -- Aim for Independence and Leveraging the Power of Data – Getting Better Insights from Better Data, and ACL’s current Business Acumen efforts.
A very large dandelion plant pulled out of the ground and placed on a concrete path. The leaves are 3 feet across and the tap root a foot long.
Screenshot from emptywheel.com including the following text: t’s not just that Russ Vought and Stephen Miller are cutting AIDS prevention and cancer research. They’re doing so to pay for Miller’s gulag. Miller is cutting your access to health care and cancer cures to pay to deport your nurse assistant and cancer researchers (and, given the unnecessary bump in DOD spending, to invade Canada to take their health care away too).
A black dog and a black cat, lying down, looking at each other and touching each other's rear paws.
Image including the following text: Trump says he's open to deporting US citizens who commit violent crimes Asked if he’s open to deporting naturalized US citizens to El Salvador, Trump says yes, “if they’re criminals”. That includes them, they’re as bad as anybody. I’m all for it. He adds the US can do it via El Salvador “for less money and have great security”. There are “others” the administration is negotiating with too, Trump adds.
Image of an algorithmically generated Apple Music playlist that features many of my favorite artists and songs, including Bostich, Mocean Worker, Everything But The Girl, Aimee Mann, Macy Gray, and DJ Cam.
Image of an older man with glasses (Scott Cory) and a large black cat (Prince Tick Tock bin Trouble) sitting on his chest. Both of them are looking at the camera.
An image of an older Shepherd dog, whose black fur on her muzzle and eyes has turned white, resting on a pillow.
Image of an bald adult man with a beard holding a large, older black Shepherd-type dog, both of them looking at something near them.
An image of the following text from the "Doomsday Scenario" Substack by Garrett Graff: "As some have darkly joked, the idea that a king can ignore parliament isn’t even American Revolution-level governmental theory—it’s even more fundamental than that, it’s English Revolution-level. This idea has been settled for a half-millennium—and yet … here we are with a House and Senate that doesn’t seem to care or, at least, is too scared and cowed to act."
Screenshot from Tidal Music's "Updates" algorithm, including new music recommend for me from Neil Young, Yo-Yo Ma, Ella Fitzgerald, Stephane Grappelli, Air, Buddy Guy, and Vijay Iyer.
Image including this text: The three elephants in the room: 1. The tax code is broken and needs to be fixed to reduce inequality and increase collections, particularly from wealthy individuals and business. 2. Good governance requires good administration and oversight, and governments at all levels need to be funded to attract and retain capable, committed people and operated accountably and transparently. 3. We have to reduce and redeploy defense spending, and change US military strategy and tactics from "imperial" to "strategic and sustainable."
Image of a positive COVID-19 test.
An image from Talking Points Memo with the following text: Schumer Will Reportedly Vote To Invoke Cloture Several outlets are now reporting that Schumer told his caucus during the closed-door meeting today that he will be voting to invoke cloture tomorrow morning.
An image of Doctor Angela Davis on a votive candle with the caption "Saint Angela Davis."
An image from Paul Krugman's Substack, including a link to his musical coda, "Losing My Mind" from the play by Stephen Sondheim, Follies. How did the highest levels of U.S. government become infected by madness? Well, this is what you get when you give flawed people — people prone to grandiosity, vindictiveness and paranoia — so much power that nobody dares tell them when they’re going too far. Cowed Republicans and timid Democrats have effectively given Trump and Musk the freedom to become the worst versions of themselves. And the whole world will pay the price. MUSICAL CODA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OvlKjT9D8Y&t=1s
Image that includes this text from Talking Points Memo and Josh Marshall: The reality here is that this isn’t Democrats shutting down anything. Republicans intentionally crafted a bill that ignores literally every Democratic demand. They’re forcing Democrats to either say no or make an abject surrender.
Image of a web page with the following text: Call Script for DC Residents OPENING “Hello there. I’m a resident of the District of Columbia and I’m calling to ask your Representative to vote NO on The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025. They will tell you that you are not a constituent. Do not accept this. WHY THIS MATTERS “The Continuing Resolution would block DC from spending over $1 billion of our own local tax dollars. This money belongs to DC. Restricting it will not save the federal government any money — but it would have a devastating impact on programs serving local DC communities.”
Image from The Guardian media showing the results of the German Election by constituency and which of six political parties won a plurality of votes. Most of the constiuencies in the former East Germany voted for the AfD party. Most of the constituencies in the former West Germany and in Austria voted for the CDU/CSU. The most urban and industrial areas including Berlin, Köln, Hamburg, and the Ruhr Valley voted for the SPD, the Green Party, and Die Linke, a new left party.
A screenshot of an editorial from Josh Marshall, editor of Talking Points Memo. The text in the screenshot reads: Now, no elected official ever acts uninfluenced by others. No person does. But Donald Trump controls Adams’ freedom. That’s totally different. As I said yesterday, there might as well be a hostage taker holed up in Gracie Mansion with a gun to the mayor’s head. This is no longer about Mayor Adams or what he might have done in the past or what crimes he might be guilty of. The injured party is the people of New York City. The people of New York elected and are entitled to a mayor who controls his own will, who is free to make his own decisions. They currently do not have one. New Yorkers didn’t elect Donald Trump to be mayor. But under the current arrangement, he is the mayor. The governor has a responsibility to restore democratic governance to the city by removing the mayor from office.
An image of a newsletter from Paul Krugman, Nobel Laureate economist and public intellectual. The text of the newsletter reads: The unifying theme here, I guess, is that the federal government has been taken over by bad people who also are also stunningly ignorant.
Screen shot from https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/what-are-democrats-supposed-to-do that includes the following text: So what should can someone individually do? If Democrats are starting to ask, why should we help, I would want to send the message you absolutely shouldn’t. This isn’t a hard message. Get your hands of my parents Social Security checks and stop looking at their financial data? No help on anything until the law breaking stops. Period. No debt ceiling help. No budget help. And remember Democrats can grind the Senate to a halt at anytime by refusing unanimous consent to new business. No help on anything until the law breaking stops and hands off the ‘rents Social Security checks. Or yours. That’s a strong message.
An image showing that the US Agency for International Development's web site contact page is not available, and the agency cannot be contacted.
Screenshot from Kate Riga with the following headline and text: Patel Says He Wants FBI More Dispersed Across The Country He’s spinning his comments about shutting down the FBI headquarters in DC and making it a “museum of the deep state.”
The text of the posted image, from Page 44 of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 plan. The great challenge confronting a conservative President is the existential need for aggressive use of the vast powers of the executive branch to return power— including power currently held by the executive branch—to the American people. Success in meeting that challenge will require a rare combination of boldness and self-denial: boldness to bend or break the bureaucracy to the presidential will and self-denial to use the bureaucratic machine to send power away from Washington and back to America’s families, faith communities, local governments, and states.
An image from The Nation's website including the following text: There was another big disconnect with women voters. Ai-jen Poo is president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, which colaunched Care Can’t Wait Action with dozens of other groups, including unions and women’s groups, to do voter outreach. She and others involved in that effort told me they kept hearing something surprising from phone-bankers and door-knockers, and some pollsters heard it too: Working-class and middle-class voters told them about the difference that Covid-era relief had made in their lives, and how they struggled when it disappeared. These voters got Covid relief checks, generous unemployment benefits, an expanded child tax credit, and an eviction moratorium. More became eligible for Medicaid and SNAP, along with childcare subsidies. Childcare centers got funding, too, for a while. But at various points in 2021 and 2022, those programs went away. And when Democrats tried to restore some of them through the Build Back Better Act, they were thwarted by Republicans, and two of their own: Senators Joe Manchin and Kristen Sinema, both of whom opposed the “care agenda” elements of the bill.
An image of a man using a leg press press machine to lift weights.
Image of a camelia, a white flower with golden pistles and stamens. The flower is in bloom in late December.
Image with the following text: Which fact then in turn, the short but highly respected CBS cameraman says, helps explain why, even though our elected representatives are always wringing their hands and making concerned noises about low voter turnouts, nothing substantive ever gets done to make politics less ugly or depressing or to actually induce more people to vote: our elected representatives are incumbents, and low turnouts favor incumbents for the same reason soft money does. If you are bored and disgusted by politics and don’t bother to vote, you are in effect voting for the entrenched Establishments of the two major parties