A headline: “Now Syria’s long-ruling Baath party is collapsing, too.” (The story, from the Associated Press, is here.) For more than 60 years, this gang terrorized a population. Who knows what comes after? For now, however, I can’t help thinking of a line from an opera libretto. Strange thing to think of, maybe. But you will perhaps forgive it.

Tosca plunges a knife into the tyrant Scarpia. Over his corpse, she says, “E avanti a lui tremava tutta Roma!” — “And before him, all Rome trembled!”

• Asma was her husband’s partner in crime. But this is a sad story: “Asma al-Assad cannot return to her native UK for cancer treatment.” I have quoted a headline in the Times of London. The subheading reads, “Travel documents for the former despot’s British-born partner have expired — ending any hope she may have had of seeking healthcare here.”

About ten years ago, I wrote a book about dictators and their families. I quoted some of it earlier this month — paragraphs relating to how Bashar happened to succeed his father as dictator. Let me quote some more:

Bashar enjoyed a honeymoon, certainly in the world press. People on several continents were understandably pleased at the prospect of rule by this quiet, polite, diligent young man who had practiced eye surgery in London. He should be a refreshing change from 30 years of his father’s autocracy. The press reported that Bashar liked Phil Collins, the British rock star, and the Electric Light Orchestra, a British group. Cynical types were reminded of the initial word about Yuri Andropov, the Soviet chief who took over from Leonid Brezhnev in 1982: He was supposed to enjoy Glenn Miller and Scotch whisky. That made him rather liberal or at least human, some thought, or hoped.

But hang on, weren’t we talking about Asma?

Adding to Bashar’s political honeymoon, he got married. The bride was Asma Akhras, born in London to Syrian parents: the father a cardiologist, the mother a retired diplomat. Growing up in England, Asma was known as Emma. She went to King’s College London, majoring in computer science. She then went to work in investment banking: Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan. On top of these credentials, Asma was a beauty, a beauty on the Vogue level (literally, as we will see). Bashar met her when she was a teen. He was doing his residency in London. When he took power, she was 24, and moved to her ancestral land to marry him.

A bit more:

It was storybook, really, except for one thing — one fly in the ointment. Bashar’s mother Aniseh objected that Asma was a Sunni, not an Alawite. Or so the reports say. Bashar brushed aside this objection (if it was an objection). He and Asma would have three children — the first of them a son, named after Grandpa Hafez.

In early 2011, Vogue published an article about Asma, “A Rose in the Desert.” The timing was awkward — as Bashar and his gang were murdering unarmed protesters en masse.

Anyway, Asma is now suffering terribly, according to reports. (For the Times article I mentioned, go here.)

• “South Korean families pray for relatives who vanished into North Korean prisons a decade ago.” That is another headline from the Associated Press. The story begins as follows:

In the past year, Choi Jin-young has done everything he can to bring attention to his father, a missionary who’s serving a life sentence in North Korea. He’s met senior U.N., U.S. and other human rights officials, testified at public events, and accepted many media interviews.
But as he marks 10 years since his father’s arrest this week, Choi doesn’t know where his father is, or even if he’s still alive.

To be a missionary in North Korea? To attempt to be one? Amazing.

• This is hard to take — very hard to take:

• “Inside the Gaetz ethics report, a trove of new details alleging payments for sex and drug use.” (Story here.) (Seamy.) Donald Trump nominated Matt Gaetz to be attorney general. Facing headwinds, Gaetz withdrew. Question: Do you think he could have toughed it out? Do you think Republicans would have rallied ’round him, if Trump had demanded so?

Here was Elon Musk, after the nomination:

The tribal instinct is very strong: us ’n’ them; red ’n’ blue. Looks like Pete Hegseth will get through. Kash Patel? Tulsi Gabbard? RFK Jr.? Would Matt Gaetz have gotten through? It’s hard to say.

I know many Republicans, in politics and (especially) the media, who never would have countenanced Matt Gaetz as attorney general, or Kash Patel as FBI director, or Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, or Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, or . . . But as soon as Trump nominated them — they were countenanceable . . .

• For years and years, I have been in favor of voter ID. I have at least been open to it. This news story caught my attention. It begins,

Republicans made claims about illegal voting by noncitizens a centerpiece of their 2024 campaign messaging and plan to push legislation in the new Congress requiring voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. Yet there’s one place with a GOP supermajority where linking voting to citizenship appears to be a nonstarter: Kansas.
That’s because the state has been there, done that, and all but a few Republicans would prefer not to go there again. Kansas imposed a proof-of-citizenship requirement over a decade ago that grew into one of the biggest political fiascos in the state in recent memory.

Interesting. Among the things I like about the American way of politics is experimentation — “50 laboratories of democracy” and all that.

• Like you, I bet, I appreciate other people’s interests. They may not be my interests, or yours — but I like that they are others’ (as long as those interests are wholesome or salutary).

I smiled at this:

What began as a childhood hobby more than six decades ago has led to what might be Africa’s largest butterfly collection in a suburb of Kenya’s capital.
Steve Collins, 74, was born and raised in western Kenya. By the age of 5, he was fascinated by butterflies and started building a collection that has grown to more than 4.2 million, representing hundreds of species.

Marvelous.

• Whoa: “Baby mammoth preserved for 50,000 years is unveiled in Russia’s Siberia.” Here is a sentence from the story: “As permafrost melts, affected by climate change, more and more parts of prehistoric animals are being discovered.”

• Let’s do a little language. In the past, I have mentioned “pace.” Golf announcers will say, “That ball had some pace on it,” or, “It needed a little more pace.” They are talking about putting. When they say “pace,” they are thinking “fast,” or “faster.” “Too much pace on it” — in other words, too fast.

But a pace can be slow, fast, or in between, right? Lento, moderato, or allegro?

I thought of this when reading an obit of Kirsten Simone, the great Danish ballerina. I’ll quote:

“She had a lot of temperament,” the documentarian Marianne Kemp, a friend, said in an interview, referring to Ms. Simone’s strong character and occasional sharp tongue. “And that temperament was reflected in her dancing.”

A temperament can be bland, however, right?

• “Warren Upton, Who Escaped Sinking Battleship at Pearl Harbor, Dies at 105.” That obit is here. There are about 15 of them left now — survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack. The youngest is 100.

• One of our slugging Detroit Tigers, Charlie Maxwell, has died at 97. This obit told me something amazing: “The first three homers of his career — and the only ones of his 1951 season — came as a pinch-hitter facing the future Hall of Famers Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, and Satchel Paige.” Think of it.

(By the way, Charlie Maxwell lived in Paw Paw, Mich. — one of my favorite place-names.)

• I received a press release from the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, as one does. It spoke of a “Holiday Pops” concert. Carl Grapentine would narrate “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” Would you like to know something remarkable? Mr. Grapentine’s bio tells us that he has been “the voice of the Michigan Marching Band since 1970.” That’s longevity, baby.

Happy New Year, y’all! “See you next year,” as we enjoyed saying in school.

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