TGIF 4/15/22

I'm doing only good-week reports today. There'll be plenty of time for the bad-week folks another day. 

Let's start with talking mushrooms. Yep - that's what at least some scientists are saying. It seems that electrical signals sent fungi to fungi via underground filaments are similar to language. Here's a bit from the article.

The split gill fungus formed the most complex “sentence structures,” and Professor Adamatzky suggested that the most likely purpose for this electrical dialogue is to keep integrity between the parts of the mycelium. Mycelia makes up more than 90% of the total biomass of fungi, and the filaments can stretch for hundreds of feet, connecting trees, other plants, and other fungi, so keeping the mycelia integrated, Adamatzky said, could be similar to the way wolves howl to keep all members of the pack integrated.

Other scientists are not so sure; it could be a case of 'seek, and ye shall find' exactly what you're seeking. 

Here's something that's never happened before: On Tuesday, Alyssa Nakken became the first female 0n-field coach in the history of major league baseball. She got her chance when the 1st base coach for the San Francisco Giants, Antoan Richardson, was ejected in the third. Here's how she looked at the historic moment.

Everybody can just see that there are a lot of opportunities in baseball. Sometimes I think we always limit ourselves to thinking what we could do. At least that’s my experience. I never thought that I could do something like this because I never saw it. So, I think, sure, it’s certainly important for people to be able to see that this is an opportunity and they can see somebody that kind of looks like them going out there and coaching in the big leagues.

Seek, and ye shall find opportunities you never thought existed.

Sticking with baseball for just a moment longer, today is Jackie Robinson Day in the majors, where every player on every team wears Robinson's number 42 in honor of his breaking the league's color barrier 75 years ago today.

This year’s celebration marks not just the 75th anniversary of Jackie’s debut but also the 25th anniversary of then-Commissioner Bud Selig’s announcement that Robinson’s No. 42 would be retired across MLB. Ten years after that landmark 1997 decision, Griffey requested and received permission to wear No. 42 on Jackie Robinson Day, and a few other players took part. And in 2009, the practice of every player, coach and manager wearing No. 42 on April 15 became a new tradition.

Seek, and ye shall find a way to change the game.

Moving on, we've got a nine-year-old fashion designer. Kaia Aragon, a third-grader, designs and sews her own clothes, after being taught to sew by her mom when she was five. You can see her designs via a link in the article; she shares them on her mom's TikTok page. 

Now, as a person who had to finish her junior high sewing project during the summer break, in order to avoid taking an incomplete, I can't even comprehend how Kaia does what she does. My project? A denim skirt, in case you were wondering. Which I'm pretty sure I never wore, but at least I finished the darn thing. In August. Ugh.

And speaking of better late than never, 101-year-old Merrill Pittman Cooper of West Virginia was given an honorary diploma recently.

As a high school student, Cooper attended Storer Normal School, taking several college prep courses. While he planned on attending college, life got in the way and he moved to Philadelphia and never graduated. Four years ago, he visited the campus and spoke of regretting not getting a degree. Family members worked with officials to make magic, and Cooper received his degree in March. 

Good for him, and for all involved in making this happen. 

Sticking with making good things happen, there's a new social media platform - and no, I'm not talking about Truth Social, I'm taking about Supernova. 

It is billed as an ethical alternative to Facebook and Instagram, which have been jointly dogged by accusations of ramping up misinformation and damaging mental health. O’Meara wants to test his belief that a growing slice of the population is craving a life- affirming, glass-half-full outlook instead.

What's different about this site? The company puts 60% of its ad revenue in an 'action fund,' and users get to determine how the money is divvied up among several different "causal areas." The target audience for Supernova? Millennials and Gen Z.

And in the end, the likes you give and get mean money for causes you like. Many things could be worse than that.

Speaking of giving and getting likes, I hope you like this one - a doggy tale, with a very happy ending. Duke, a homeless dog, made friends with US Army troops stations in Kosovo. The dog and the troops bonded, with the dog making them feel less homesick, and them making the dog feel loved. 

A sergeant at the base wanted to get Duke off the streets, and worked with Paws of War, charity that helps soldiers bring dogs home. And then, Duke stopped coming by. The soldiers eventually found him, and it was heartbreaking - he had been shot. After emergency surgery and six months of recovery, he's expected to get here this month.

This was a familiar story to me; a coworker went to Florida to pick up a dog that was shipped here from Afghanistan at the request of her future son-in-law, and a friend of mine adopted the mama dog, who also came over. The bonds these kids we send overseas make with these dogs is really something, and so is the love that brings them back together here. 

I'm not a religious person, but today is Good Friday, after all, and so I'll close with the story of the youngest Catholic bishop in the US: Bishop Joseph Espaillat, the 45-year-old 'rapping bishop' from New York City. And why does he rap? 

There was a talent show at this parish, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, and a couple of the young boys wanted to rap, but you know these secular songs and they had a lot of bad words in them," he told Al. "And I said, 'I bet you money, I could come up with a rap song' ... and they were like, 'Oh no, Father, you can’t rap,' and I was like, 'Watch.' I was like, challenge is on, so I took the challenge."

He says he just uses his talents to speak to his community, the same way Jesus did. Which is probably good advice for many 'religious' people these days, and on  this day.

TGIF, everyone. 

Sidebar: Sunday School 4/10/22

One of the things that drives me nuts is how no one challenges the talking heads when they toss stuff unsupported nonsense out into the universe. A perfect case in point? The discussion on Fox News Sunday on "how national security and energy policy go hand-in-hand."

Dana Perino asked Britt Hume if he thought "President Biden will get to a place where he will figure out a way to buck the progressives and move forward to allow us to drill more here at home?"  Here's how his response started (I added the emphasis).

Well, I think he and his party are pretty much enthralled to the Green Movement and his energy policies to date have reflected that, and they have obviously -- are restraining the potential of American energy production, which would be at this point I think it's fair to say -- ... that we need more of everything. 

"More of everything" is the 'all of the above' policy. It acknowledges the need to increase our use of renewables, as well as our continued reliance on fossil fuels including coal, natural gas, and oil - "certainly for now and for the near future," Hume said on Sunday. Here's more of his response.

And I don't think the president is ready to go there, they will blame the oil companies for not producing enough and so on. We've heard that many times before, and they blame the oil companies for higher gas prices and all the rest of it. But the best way to get gas prices down is to throw open the regulatory barriers and let the United States energy industry go, which it certainly can...

If we did that, he said, we could supply countries in Western Europe with energy to make up for what they're not going to be getting anymore from Russia. And that would "cut off the flow of Western funds into Vladimir Putin's war chest." Perino said Hume's answer "makes sense to me. We'll see if it makes sense to them going forward." 

Of course, it makes sense to Perino and Hume: if we're cutting regulations, everything will be fine, right? Well, no; what Hume's selling, the oil industry isn't buying.

Last month there was a gathering in Houston called CERAWeek. I stumbled on it, looking for info on this issue. According to its website,  

For forty years, CERAWeek has been providing an integrated framework for understanding what’s ahead for global energy markets, geopolitics, and technology. Participants include senior executives, government officials, thought leaders, academics, technology innovators and financial leaders.​ 

Among the speakers last month? Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, who did as Hume suggested: she asked for increased production: 

We are on war footing and we have to respond. We have to increase short-term supply...The message right now, and I hope investors are listening, is that we can’t have one element holding back when you see what is happening every night. At this moment, we all have to give.

Here's where it gets interesting; there's this great reporting from Freightwaves.com, which covered CERAWeek (emphasis added).

Even as Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm was using the platform of a major energy industry conference to call on the nation’s oil producers to ramp up production, what was being said during other sessions made clear that was not likely to happen. 

The increasing U.S. industries’ strategy of restrained output and investment was on display last week at two separate panels at CERAWeek. It’s a game plan that has implications not only for the price of oil in the short and medium terms, but also for the transportation industries that serve it.

And it wasn't just one person saying production wouldn't be ramped up - it was several people.

• Scott Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources, one of the largest producers in the shale fields of the U.S., said "We’re not going to chase growth like we all did.” His comments came during a panel discussion on 'balancing growth and investor returns in the North American shale market.' The plan? Keep growth rates at 5%.

Unfortunately, government estimates are for slightly over 7% growth, to help replace the four million barrels of Russian oil a day that's no longer available.

• On the same panel? Tim Leach, an EVP at ConocoPhillips, who said that “accelerating investment in an inflationary environment is never a good idea,” and he added, a “long-term view is 'what creates value for our shareholders'.” 

• On a different panel, Chad Michael, president of an energy-sector investment bank, said that among investors, there's "an expectation of returning significant amounts of cash flow." And he said "the business model is mid-single-digit growth, because that is what investors want."

He said, they can't do much more because of labor and supply chain issues, something Granholm acknowledged in her remarks, too. The article did note that Biden's goal of moving away from fossil fuels has an impact on investing, but everyone knows the industry is not going anywhere anytime soon.

• Raoul LeBlanc, a VP at S&P global, suggested that in the face of calls for more production, the industry needs to ask "just how reasonable is it to step on the accelerator?' The current impact won't last forever." 

Why didn't anyone mention a prohibitive regulatory environment? Here's more on that, again from the Freightwaves.com reporters.

HOUSTON — A key State Department official used an appearance at energy industry event CERAWeek to take on what he said were “myths” about the Biden administration’s energy policy... 

The official was Amos Hochstein, Senior Advisor for Global Energy Security at the State Department. 

Hochstein disputed the view that the administration “is somehow holding back or is responsible for the industry not being able to produce a rising amount of oil.”

Production is up since Biden took office, but in recent weeks it's been holding steady; during that time, pressure on everyone to stop using Russian oil, and on the industry to replace it, increased.

When Hochstein has spoken with oil industry officials, he said he has asked them if the Biden administration had taken steps that are restricting production. “The bizarre thing is they told me it is not true,” Hochstein said. “The industry said there is no bottleneck for added production.” 

Rather, he said, issues outside the federal government's control, including labor shortages and problems with the supply of fracking sand, are hurting production. 

What's that all about? According to a report from Reuters (emphasis added)  

Sand supplies are so tight that it is slowing the pace of work for some oil drillers, and higher costs for sand are eating into the bottom line for others....

Hmm...what on earth is going on here? Well, sand that cost in the low teens at the beginning of the pandemic, and rose to $20-$25 per ton, and now they're at $50-$70 a ton - something industry consultants called "unheard of in the industry's modern history." 

And what's hampering the sand market? Labor and delivery - as in, they're short-handed getting the sand out of the ground, and there are shortages in the trucking industry, too. Which, if you think about it, is pretty much the issue across the board, right? 

So, back to Hume and Perino, and the rest of the talking heads, no matter what side of the oil rig they sit on. I get that they're paid to offer opinions, and that most of them are anti-Biden (for a whole host of reasons). But at some point, someone with a microphone is going to have to stop talking about the politics of everything, and start talking about reality. 

Everyone knows gas prices are high, but most people don't know why; they'll listen to Hume and think that it's a regulatory issue. Or, they'll listen to someone else say it's price-gouging, or extreme profit-taking at the corporate level. And they'll all be at least partly wrong - some more wrong than others. Getting these folks to take time out of their endless discussions on the political implications of this stuff to talk about the real problems and real solutions we need seems a bridge too far.

If the politicians won't be honest with us, and the talking heads won't, and the 'news' people won't, we're going to keep taking one step forward and two steps back. 

Is that really what we want? And if the answer to that is yes, what the hell is wrong with us?

Wondering on Wednesday 4/13/22

Ready... Set... Wonder!

Do you think, if people ever got their heads out of Hunter Biden's laptop, they might wonder how on earth Jared Kushner managed to get his hands on $2,000,000,000 of sovereign money from Saudi Arabia for his new private equity fund, called Affinity Partners?

Do you think wonder how Kushner got the investment, against the better judgment of the panel that screens investment opportunities for the Saudi billions, and why that panel was overruled by Jared's WhatsApp messaging friend, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, given these issues:

the "inexperience of the Affinity Fund management"; the possibility that the kingdom would be responsible for “the bulk of the investment and risk”; due diligence on the fledgling firm’s operations that found them “unsatisfactory in all aspects”; a proposed asset management fee that “seems excessive”; and “public relations risks” from Mr. Kushner’s prior role as a senior adviser to his father-in-law, former President Donald J. Trump...

I wonder if any of them ever think about why they're so quick to find fault with inexperienced, unqualified oh-what-a-jerk-he-is Hunter Biden currying favor with other countries while his father was a senator or even when he was vice president, and don't give a MAGA-hat's worth of crap about what Jared is doing now? And may have done before, in his role as an official representative of the United States? 

I wonder why the jerks who get in fights on airplanes because oh-the-horror-they-have-to-wear-a-mask don't just pack their families and their freedom into the SUV and drive to wherever the heck they want to be, instead of getting on a plane in the first place?

I wonder if Mark Meadows regrets saying his official residence was a rusty trailer on Scaly Mountain? He's been removed from the voter rolls in NC, the state where "his" trailer lives, while an investigation is conducted into potential voter fraud. Or, if he at least regrets the 'Scaly Mountain' part?

Lauren Boebert, who represents a couple of people somewhere, I guess, wondered out loud about the recent election in France.

The socialist nation of France held elections today.

In that election there was no mail-in voting, early voting, or use of voting machines.

There was a mandatory proof of ID to vote.

Why can’t we get that basic election security here?

I wonder if she's figured out yet that we can't do here what they do there, because (a) we're not a socialist nation, (b) we don't have one set of election rules that everyone must follow, (c) we don't have automatic voter registration, and (d) she doesn't want us to be or have any of those things?

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bused illegal immigrants to Fox News in Washington DC so their 'coming to America' moment could be memorialized for eternity. He also set up state inspections of commercial vehicles crossing the Texas/Mexico border through legal checkpoints in another stunt to draw attention to the border, immigration, and how effective he is as governor, or something. 

He's so effective, he's causing his own set of supply chain issues, much to the dismay of truckers, the Customs and Border Protection folks, the Mexican government and, you know, consumers everywhere. 

Oh - did I mention the truckers blocking the Mexican side, in protest of Abbott's initiative? I wonder if Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Cancun) will go visit the truckers and share their 'Freedom from Stupid Texas Mandates' message with right-wing media outlets? Or was that only good for his home country of Canada?

What are you wondering about tonight?

Sunday School 4/10/22: Extra Credit

For your Extra Credit, we'll spend time with the classroom roundtable gangs, starting with What's-his-name on Meet the Press, who had Anna Palmer (Punchbowl News), Josh Lederman (NBC News), Carlos Curbelo, (Florida Man), and Kimberly Atkins Stohr (Boston Globe). 

Stohr talked about the importance of the elevation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court - and not just for Blacks.

It's important for all Americans to see that the default of a Supreme Court Justice is not in the mold of a white male. That it can be anybody, and that it should be reflective of the country. So, this is an incredible, incredible moment.

Curbelo, a former Florida Congressman, said "by today's standards," Jackson's confirmation was pretty smooth, and that it was a "big win for this administration and a big deal for the country." And he pointed to "identity politics in reverse" being what kept 47 Republicans from voting for her

I think Republicans want to make the point that we don't have to emphasize these kinds of issues, even though they are historic.

They talked a lot about the toxicity of politics, and the fact that the Rs have pretty much shut the door on any other Biden SCOTUS nominations, should an opportunity come up, and that no Senate will confirm the other party's nominee, no matter which party is sitting where. 

Probably the most astute point, when the conversation turned to this being 'Biden's last big thing,' came from Stohr, who noted 

...Democrats have shown time and time again, they talk about the problems that need some sort of policy or legislative solutions. Republicans find issues that they can campaign on and win elections on. And that's exactly what's happening right now... Democrats are always two steps behind.

At least two steps, she should have said. 

Let's head down the hall to the right and check in with Dana Perino on Fox News Sunday and her panel: Brit Hume (Fox News), Julie Pace (AP), and former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-TN).

There was lots of talk about Ukraine; Hume thinks we're not doing enough, now that the goal has seemingly shifted away from helping ensure Ukraine gets a good deal in talks with Russia, to the possibility of Ukraine winning this thing.

... I think if Ukraine is going to win, we are going to need to do more. And the question arises whether the Biden administration will be willing to do that or is their fear of a direct conflict with Russia such that we will continue to hold back on some things, certain kinds of large weaponry, airplanes, and so forth.

Ford generally agreed, but instead of asking whether the administration is ready to do more, he wondered

Are the American people ready to escalate? I think the administration probably would be, but are the American people ready to shoulder and accept the consequences, which could be worse than what we are seeing right now, can certainly see American casualties as well. I don't know the answer to that, Dana.

Turning to the economic fallout from the war, Pace pointed to the first round of the French presidential election, saying it could be a test of how folks in the West

are going to respond to a lot of the economic pain that they are feeling, which in some instances -- not all -- but in some instances is a direct result of some of the actions that the US and Western European countries have taken to try to hold Russia to account... how will Western nations, Western citizens, balance their outrage over that with their feeling of economic pain, how much economic pain are they willing to sustain in order to punish Russia for what they are seen. And I think that's a balance that could change in the coming months.

It's likely to be an issue in Europe, and here in November, she thinks. 

Finally, here's what was going on as Jon Karl tried to wrangle the panel on This Week. Hanging out with him were regulars Chris Christie and Donna Brazile, along with Rick Klein (ABC) and Laura Barron-Lopez (Politico).

Part of their discussion related to former president Trump's ability to maintain control of the GOP; they used a clip from Trump's recent rally to kickstart the conversation.

I endorsed another person today, Dr. Oz, in Pennsylvania... (APPLAUSE) Dr. Oz. (APPLAUSE) Great guy, a good man. He's a good man, Harvard-educated, tremendous, tremendous career. And they liked him for a long time. That's like a poll -- you know, when you're in television for 18 years, that's like a poll. That means people like you.

After the laughter subsided, they got down to the nitty gritty: the fact that it seems Trump is endorsing "candidates that don't appear to be on track to win," including Oz. Klein says it's "totally fascinating" that Trump's putting himself on the line, and that, "in a bunch of cases, it could blow up in his face." A notable example? Trump's efforts to get rid of Georgia's governor and secretary of state.

So, this is a big moment, I think, for Donald Trump. I think the conventional wisdom about him is this kingmaker, as the biggest force in the Republican Party. It's going to be tested when you have actual Republican primary voters in a range of states, starting next month.

Barron-Lopez said none of this means he has lost his grip on the party, 

because we see Republicans, time and time again, repeating, whether it's the big lie, or repeating, you know, other claims and attempts to try to change election laws in -- in states, in order to make it so Republicans have a better edge in future elections. So that's continuing. That isn't going anywhere.

Brazile sums it up this way:

This is a battle, again, the establishment of the Republican Party is trying to re-emerge themselves after what I call the four years of a president who is still gone mad. He is still holding people to the 2020 standard that he won the election and what Republican incumbent governors are trying to do is to push away Donald Trump, to push him out of the process. But he is still a big force...

We'll close with Christie taking issue asking Republicans who they're voting for in 2024.

...don't ask me who I'm going to vote for in 2024 because, let me tell you right now, if Bernie Sanders were the Democratic nominee for president in 2024, there is not a chance in the world I could vote for a socialist for the president of the United States. So, since we don't know who the candidates are going to be, why answer the question?

I don't normally agree with Christie, but if Bernie Sanders is the Democratic nominee in '24, I'm not voting for him, either.

See you around campus.

Sunday School 4/10/22

 I spent time in three classrooms today.; let's start with Dana Perino, who hosted Fox News Sunday, and her conversation with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Where The Grim Reaper Lives). 

He feels the administration is doing better on Ukraine, but feels there's a lack of focus on the goal, which he said is for the Ukrainians "to win, to win, to defeat the Russians, the Russians to withdraw from the country."  And, he thinks they're too focused on being green, causing us to ask others to ramp up oil production. He said "we were energy independent as late as 2019. "

We can be energy independent again. The administration needs to take the shackles off domestic production. We can meet our own needs, and we can export and help the Europeans as they wean themselves away from Russian oil and gas, which I think clearly now they realize is the best and safest path forward. 

No one mentioned the ten-to-twenty thousand barrels of Russian crude oil and other products we've imported each month - for the past 20 years or so - or the last president asking OPEC to produce more oil, which he did in 2019. I wonder why?

McConnell says the administration "just can't seem to get their act together on the economy," but that's only part of why "the American people are so down on the president."

The economy, the precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the domestic energy issue we've already been discussing, crime, problems in public education, this administration has really got its hands full and I think they're headed toward a pretty good beating in the fall election.

And if the Rs retake the majorities in the House and Senate, all those issues will be part of the agenda, as will increasing military spending; Biden's current request "doesn't even keep up with inflation." And, McConnell said, "We've got a war going on in Ukraine." 

Well not really: the world has a war going on in Ukraine. All of NATO, all the EU, and most of the UN have skin in this game, too. The Rs complain about domestic spending; if we limit that, we should limit what we spend in Ukraine.

Ultimately, if they win, they'll work to make Biden the moderate he ran as. And even though there's bipartisan polling sentiment that we're headed in the wrong direction, McConnell has faith in us. We've hit rough spots before, he said, and we always figure out how to get back on track.

We are the most important country in the world, the freest country in the world, and let's remember that this Easter. We have a lot to be grateful for and thankful that we are in this wonderful, wonderful country.

Over in the CNN State of the Union classroom, Jake Tapper talked with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. Here's the key piece of their discussion that Tapper carried over to his talk with Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Courage of her Convictions).

Sullivan said what we call the horrific acts the Russians have committed is "less important than the fact that these acts are cruel and criminal and wrong and evil and need to be responded to decisively." He outlined some of how we're doing that, before saying

And we will continue to take every step we possibly can to help the Ukrainians succeed on the battlefield and to improve their position at the negotiating table and to make the Russians pay also through increasing costs of sanctions for what they are doing to the people of Ukraine. (Emphasis added)

Cheney was not satisfied with that. In her view, we shouldn't even be talking about Zelenskyy and negotiations. 

We ought to be moving much faster, much more quickly recognizing that the Ukrainians now, given what they have been able to do and how long they have been able to fight and what they have been able to inflict upon the Russian forces, they need advanced weaponry. 

She thinks we should consider both offensive and defensive military support, we should be ensuring shipping lanes in the Black Sea remain open, and we should be giving Zelenskyy "whatever he said he needs."

Hanging up her hawk wings and turning to the January 6th Committee,  Cheney told Tapper no decision has been made on a referral of president Trump to the DOJ for criminal charges. It is, however

it's absolutely clear that what President Trump was doing, what a number of people around him were doing, that they knew it was unlawful. They did it anyway. 

She called it a "massive and well-organized and well- planned effort," and pointed to the 'statement of offense', part of the plea deal with a leader of the Proud Boys, saying it "lays out in really chilling detail" about the planning, the violence, the rally, and, she said,

 -- and, don't forget, Donald Trump tweeted out that message: Be there. Be wild."

The 'statement of offense' Cheney referenced is something we all should read. I encourage you to do that.

Denying a "dispute" on the committee, she said it's the "single most collaborative committee" she's been on, and expressed confidence that they'll come to agreement on "all of the issues we're facing." And, the mere fact that Ivanka Trump testified, without claiming executive privilege, made it clear how contemptuous Dan Scavino and Peter Navarro were in not cooperating.

Asked about politicians going to Eastern Europe and pledging to support another country's democracy, she said this about supporting our own.

But, if we don't stand for our Constitution, if we don't stand for democracy, if we don't stand for freedom, if we -- if we forget that our oath to our Constitution is an oath to a document, it's not an oath to an individual, we have got to always remember that, or our democracy is in peril.  

And finally, a quick visit to Jon Karl, hosting This Week with George Stephanopoulos. This week's segment from Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight was about Sarah Palin entering the race to replace the late Rep. Don Young, her getting Trump's endorsement, and her chances of winning.

Noting she's "an important figure historically," he said there are "reasons to be skeptical" about her chances. On the one hand, she's got "high name recognition and popularity" in the GOP.

A recent Economist/YouGov poll found 62% of Republicans nationally had a favorable view of Palin, compared to just 23% who had an unfavorable one. But within Alaska, she isn't all that popular. Although Palin was a well-liked governor, her approval rating before she left office was 56%.

Alaskans didn't like that she quit on the job in 2009 before serving out her term. In fact, her favorability rating in a poll last October was only 31%. She's also getting a late start on a race that is chock-full of other candidates, almost 50 of them, in fact.

Silver named several of her key rivals, including one who was in the race before Young's death, a former aide to Young, and an indigenous woman who served in the Trump administration.  And, he said

Palin's polarizing image also won't help her given Alaska's new ranked choice voting system where the top four primary candidates advance and then voters rank order them in the general election. Palin's name recognition may help in the first round, but she could be overtaken later by other candidates,...

I don't know exactly what odds I'd put on Palin. It's safe to say her chances are above zero but below 50 percent. But, overall, I'm not really buying her comeback. 

I'm not buying it either, but we'll have to see what happens in June. 

In the meantime, here are highlights of her endorsing Trump back in 2016. And here's a reminder of how she tried to leverage her endorsement of Trump to raise funds so she could travel around the country in support of other candidates. Or, you know, just blow the money. Fun times - fun times, for sure.

See you around campus.  

In Case You Missed It (v84)

Last week was another busy one. Among other things, we confirmed a Black woman to the Supreme Court; implemented more attacks on women and their bodies, and on LGBTQ people and their bodies; the war rages on in Ukraine...  

I covered some of that, and more; here's a recap of the week in posts, in case you missed anything. 

There was lots of talk about crime in the Sunday School classrooms; that's not surprising, given the Republicans and their relentless beating of the drum about crime, often without nuance or full context, and the failure of the Democrats and their inability to accept that people have real concerns which must be addressed, by acknowledging the issue, talking honestly about it, and making appropriate changes to policing practices or legislation. 

They also have to be prepared to answer this stupid question: why is crime up when (insert city or state name) has such tough gun laws? I gave them the answer; we'll see if anyone uses it. 

Show me a single law that is 100% effective. Laws against voter fraud, DWI, white collar crimes, child abuse, drug possession, motor vehicle laws, rape and murder, insurrection, other violent crimes... no law is 100% effective - but they still work, either as a deterrent to prevent crimes, or to get criminals off the streets. Critics should imagine a world without any of these "ineffective" laws, and tell us how much they'd like living in it.

I'll let more thoughts out of my head on crime in a post this week

My Wondering on Wednesday referenced a new law in Oklahoma that would make it a felony to perform an abortion, absent a medical emergency threatening the pregnant woman. The penalty? A fine of up to $100,000, 10 years in prison, or both. 

I tried to give this approach some context, going back in the archives to when then-candidate Donald Trump said there would "have to be some sort of punishment" for the woman seeking the abortion. 

If the Right wants to be tough on crime, and tough on legal abortion, then they should be standing up in support of Trump's comment, instead of running from it. They should be shouting it from the rooftops, rather than shouting at Trump for saying what he did. They should be castigating him for walking it back, as he did, instead of castigating him for saying it in the first place.

If not, their convictions are without courage, and conversely.

I was right then, and I'm right now, no matter how hard the anti-abortion folks would push back on that unpopular opinion. And while I didn't have an 'official' name for that back then, I do now, and I offered a new chapter in it - The Journal of Unpopular Opinions last week. 

The gist of that post? That it seems we're allowed neither angst nor joy unless it's attached to Ukraine. After sharing examples of other crises, around the world and here at home, here's how that chapter wrapped up.

Should we care about Ukraine? Of course. Should we care only about Ukraine? Of course not. 

We should learn (or remember) how to walk and chew gum at the same time; we can hear about, and care about, more than one thing at a time. Even if the people don't look like us, or don't have great social media skills. 

We should never let our guard down here at home, no matter how compelling the news from elsewhere in the world might be.

And we should allow ourselves a little joy, without feeling guilty and without feeling obligated to anyone else. 

Based on messages I've received, that opinion - or saying it out loud - might not be as unpopular as I thought, which is a good thing.

Given the focus on crime and punishment throughout the week, it seemed reasonable that there'd be a good week/bad week mention on that topic in my TGIF entry. And it was a good one.

The jury in the trial of four men accused of plotting to kidnap and murder Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had an interesting week, which caused a bad week for the government and a good week for the four defendants. Two were acquitted; the jury failed to reach a verdict on charges against the others. It sounds like the jury believed the defense theory that the FBI went off the rails on this one; or, maybe the defendants truly had a jury of their peers?

What do you think: was it a case of a bad prosecution, bad acts by the FBI, or was there never a snowball's chance in hell that there would have been a conviction in this one? Drop a comment if you like.

Also noteworthy last week? The former president is being given a traditional media platform to spew whatever the hell he wants, even as his own social media platform suffers under the weight of a bad rollout, continued tech problems, and a lack of attention from its founder, who prefers holding rallies and insurrections, I guess. 

The Washington Post published an interview with him; from that, I created another OrangeVerse entry. You remember those, right? I turn word salad into poetry using just his words. Here's what he thinks about the stolen election.

I'm the Diamond; Put Me Back

But I believe when you

 see massive election fraud, 

I can’t imagine that somebody 

who won the election based on fraud,

 that something doesn’t happen? 

How has it not happened? 

If you are a bank robber, 

or you’re a jewelry store robber,

 and you go into Tiffany’s and

 you steal their diamonds

 and get caught, 

you have to

give the 

diamonds 

back.

I'd like to give him back, for sure: back to New York City, before that fateful escalator ride. 

See you later for Sunday School.

OrangeVerse LX: The World According to Me

When you're a twice-impeached former president searching for relevance, you can always find willing accomplices in the media. There's your Most Favored Networks, of course and there's the always-willing ears working for other media outlets. 

You know, like the Washington Post, which published a recap of an interview just this week. 

And there's people like me, who transform those boring interviews into something much more, I don't know, literarily significant. Poetry, that is. Purely orange poetic gold, or something.

Here's the latest, from the WaPo interview, starting with his take on the attack on the Capitol.

Too Blind to See

I thought it was a shame, 

and I kept asking 

why isn’t she doing 

something about it? 

Why isn’t Nancy Pelosi 

doing something about it? 

And the mayor of DC also. 

The mayor of DC and Nancy Pelosi

 are in charge. 

I hated seeing it. 

I hated seeing it. 

And I said, it's

got to be taken care of, 

and I assumed they were

taking care of it.

Others were supposed to take care of his mess - and a bigly mess it was.

January 2017 Was Big, But...

The crowd was far bigger 

than I even thought. I believe it was the

 largest crowd I’ve ever spoken to. 

I don’t know what that means

but you see very few pictures.

They don’t want to show pictures, 

the fake news doesn’t want 

to show pictures.

But this was a 

tremendous 

crowd.

About that gap in the White House call logs, when the gals were  in charge?

Phone Calls? Who Cares?

From the standpoint of 

telephone calls, I don’t 

remember getting very 

many. Why would I care 

about  who called me? 

If congressmen were 

calling me, what 

difference did it make? 

There was nothing 

secretive about it. 

There was no secret.

Let's move on to foreign policy stuff...

People, People Thinking NATO

A lot of people 

are a little bit surprised,

I think they’re 

very impressed with Ukraine, 

but they’re not impressed

 with what NATO is doing, 

because a lot of people

 think NATO 

could be doing more.

Volodymyr, My Dear

I liked Zelenskyy 

from the beginning for 

one reason. When we

had the impeachment 

hoax, based on a perfect 

phone call, he totally backed 

me up, and I didn’t ask 

him to do that. They asked him, 

and he said, he absolutely did 

nothing wrong. He said there 

was no quid pro quo. 

He didn’t even know what 

his people were talking about. 

He thought they were crazy...

 So I gained great respect for him there.

And there was the part about the stolen election.

 

I'm the Diamond; Put Me Back

But I believe when you

 see massive election fraud, 

I can’t imagine that somebody 

who won the election based on fraud,

 that something doesn’t happen? 

How has it not happened? 

If you are a bank robber, 

or you’re a jewelry store robber,

 and you go into Tiffany’s and

 you steal their diamonds

 and get caught, 

you have to

give the 

diamonds 

back.

In what I think is a first for a former American president, Trump has expanded his reach to endorsing foreign candidates, including Hungary's Viktor Orban.

All Hail the King

After I endorsed him

he went up like

a rocket ship.

These other leaders

they want endorsements.

I'm the king of endorsements. 
It's more than just this country

It's other countries.

You'll see. 

Finally, what does he see when he looks in his crystal golf ball?

No Doubt

If I ran, 

I can’t imagine 

they’d want to run. 

Some out of loyalty would have 

had a hard time running. 

I think that most of 

those people, 

and almost every 

name you mentioned, 

is there because of me. 

In some cases, 

because I backed 

them and endorsed them. 

You know Ron was at 3 percent, 

and the day I endorsed him, 

he won the race.

As soon as I endorsed 

him, the race was over.

I have a good relationship 

with Ron, I have a good relationship 

with all the names you mentioned. 

Would they run against me? 

I doubt they would run 

against me. I doubt it.

I don't want to comment

on running, but I

think a lot of people

are going to be very

happy with my decision.

Because it's a little boring now.

Nobody likes 'boring,' do they?

TGIF 4/8/22

Who had a week, and what kind of week was had? 

The House of Representatives referred two more Trump flunkies - Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino - to the DOJ for criminal prosecution for contempt of Congress. A bad week for them is a good week for us.

And let's throw another bad week into the mix: Will Smith, who resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences a week ago, has been banned from attending the Oscars or any other Academy event for ten years. The ban includes both in-person and virtual appearances. 

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will become Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson - a good week for her, and for the rest of us. All 50 Senate Democrats and three reasonable Republicans voted for her elevation to the Supreme Court. Jackson, speaking to a Rose Garden gathering, said in part

In my family, it took just one generation to go from segregation to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Sens. Tom Cotton, Lindsey Graham, and Rand Paul had a bad week. Paul, for not being on time to vote against Jackson; everyone had to wait a reported 25 minutes for him to drag himself to the cloakroom, open the door, and toss a thumb's down before slinking away. The cloakroom vote was necessary because he couldn't trouble himself to put on a tie. Neither could Graham, according to reports, although he was wearing on earlier in the day. As for Cotton, he suggested that Jackson might have defended Nazis at Nuremberg, a comment so nasty that even John Roberts of Fox News challenged it. Cotton's a jerk, with or without a tie. 

Tiger Woods is having a good week; he's playing competitive golf again. Against almost all odds, Woods made the cut in the Masters, a tournament he's won five times. A mere mortal might have been killed in a similar accident, or ended up losing their leg. But Tiger Woods is no mere mortal, is he? 

Russia had a bad week; the Senate voted unanimously to strip the most-favored-nation (MFN) trade status from the country, and to ban imports of Russian oil products. The House also passed both bills, although not unanimously. Voting against the MFN removal? Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie, and Matt Gaetz. Let's give them a heartfelt bad week round of applause.

The jury in the trial of four men accused of plotting to kidnap and murder Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had an interesting week, which caused a bad week for the government and a good week for the four defendants. Two were acquitted; the jury failed to reach a verdict on charges against the others. It sounds like the jury believed the defense theory that the FBI went off the rails on this one; or, maybe the defendants truly had a jury of their peers?

In another high-profile case, a Minneapolis police officer who killed Amir Locke in February won't face charges. Body cam video released this week shows Locke, who was not a subject of the no-knock warrant being executed at his cousin's apartment, holding his legal gun in a manner that led to the officer to shoot him three times, within ten seconds of entering the apartment. To me, this deserves a horrible week mention - there are no winners here, that I can see.

Let's end on a good week note, OK? How about dogs being reunited through pet DNA testing? A Texas woman had adopted one of the pups; an Oregon woman adopted the other. The women had the DNA tests don on their dog and a match was made. The women via social media, and a play date was arranged. There's video - and who doesn't like cute pet videos?

TGIF, everyone. 

The Journal of Unpopular Opinions (Chapter 2)

I was reading what I anticipated would be a funny take on 'gender reveal' parties, those often way-over-the-top shindigs with explosions and death and destruction and whatnot. 

The article was moving along, I was chuckling, and then? Then the 'U' word appeared. You know what I'm talking about, right? Here's how it showed up in the article.

 We are fortunate enough to have the resources for almost the ultimate in frivolity: gender reveal parties. Ukraine is the ultimate in seriousness, in a life-and-death battle with all the suffering and horrors of war. Gender reveal parties should be an opportunity for us to be thankful for what we have and to support and fund our fellow humans in Ukraine.

Seriously? Gender reveal parties should be an opportunity for us to send money to Ukraine? As you can tell from the opening of this post, I think gender reveal parties are kind of crazy, but I also think the constant focus on Ukraine, to the exclusion of everything else (other than the price of gas,) is equally crazy.

Like people everywhere, I'm horrified by what I've seen and heard about in Ukraine. I've watched President Zelenskyy's messages to our Congress, to elected officials in other countries, and the UN. I support sanctions on Russia, and I support us giving some military and humanitarian support to Ukraine. 

That said, I think it's ridiculous - and, frankly, grossly unfair - to expect us to turn everything we do, and everything that brings us joy, into an opportunity to help Ukraine. 

Frankly, there are other crises happening in the world, too.? Here are just a handful of them.

• China has committed crimes against humanity by their treatment of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups; over a million are dead, hundreds of thousands imprisoned, and others sent into forced labor over the past several years. 
• In South Sudan, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced or killed; nearly 5,000,000 children are not in school, and some 8,00,000 people are facing hunger or famine. This, too, has been going on for years,
• So has the war in Yemen;  4,000,000 people have been displaced, more than 110,000 have been killed, and over 20 million need humanitarian aid.
• And don't forget Somalia, with a million deaths, and more than a million people displaced in that country's ongoing civil war.
• And, have we already forgotten about Afghanistan and the Taliban?

Why do these get less attention? Other than China, we rarely hear about these conflicts, and when we do, it's well after the Ukrainian news of the day. And would we have heard much about China, absent the Olympics? 

Why is that? Is it because these aren't social-media-savvy countries? Is it because civil wars don't matter? Is it because these people don't look like us? It's hard to ignore that last question.

And, in case you're thinking everything's hunky-dory here at home, think again.

• Politicians from both parties continue to choose their voters, instead of the voters choosing their politicians; it's been going on for decades, and is getting worse instead of better as gerrymandering flourishes.
• Politicians are doing their best to make voting more complicated instead of easier, and while they say they are making voting more secure, we know that what many of them are trying to do is make it easier for them to erase the vote of the people.
• We are pulling books from schools and libraries, because people who have never read them have been told by their churches or their politicians that this is the right thing to do.
• We are (knowingly) underfunding public education (here in New York, for example) and allowing individuals to take taxpayer money out of public schools and give it to private schools - including corporate, profit-driven entities - and religious schools.
• States are codifying vigilante justice to avoid having laws struck down by the courts. So far -- so far -- it's just laws against abortion; who knows where they'll go next with this plan of attack. Texas started this; others are following.
• States are trying to pass laws to prevent citizens from seeking medical are in other states (Missouri and Oklahoma for starters), or threatening to jail parents - potentially with life sentences - for seeking medical treatment for their children (Idaho), and charge providers with felonies for providing treatment (Oklahoma, again).
• And let's not forget the "Don't Say Gay" bills - yes, that's plural now, with Alabama following Florida's lead.
• States are attacking marriage equality, proposing marriage contracts that would only be allowed for opposite-sex couples (Tennessee).
• States have passed laws allowing doctors to pick their patients, instead of having to treat everyone - even people they don't like (Ohio, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas...).

In America, folks - this is all happening, right here in America, to Americans.

Should we care about Ukraine? Of course. Should we care only about Ukraine? Of course not. 

We should learn (or remember) how to walk and chew gum at the same time; we can hear about, and care about, more than one thing at a time. Even if the people don't look like us, or don't have great social media skills.  

We should never let our guard down here at home, no matter how compelling the news from elsewhere in the world might be.

And we should allow ourselves a little joy, without feeling guilty and without feeling obligated to anyone else.