it seems a bit off to be celebrating indendepence and freedom while simultaneously prepping to usher in a new monarchy, but to paraphrase Rick Pitino, Takeru Kobayashi (above) is not walking thru the door this July 4 to save us from authoritarianism. Nor will Kenta Kobayashi emerge from an open convention (though to be fair, he couldn't be less appealing than the choices on offer). We're gonna need to look out for each other (again) in the coming days, and if you choose to take an afternoon or night to blow off some steam in the midst of democracy's collapse, I only ask that you try to traumatize as few dogs as possible while you're doing it. Thanks.