Monthly Archives: May 2024

This space reserved for witty remarks.

Wicked Little Letters (2023) is a psychological examination of the female human psyche, trapped in a patriarchal system that is populated by those so jealous of position and power that they more resemble mobile and erratic volcanoes rather than rational humans. The powerless, then, desiring nothing more than some light recognition, are forced to engage in behaviors of exceptionally dubious social utility in order to engage the desired attention, which in this case consists of writing profane, insulting letters to various residents of the British town of Littlehampton, and then standing back and enjoying the uproar.

Driving the point home is the lone member of the local police who happens to be female, Police Constable Moss. Disregarded and dismissed by Chief Constable Spedding as worthless, Moss decides to return the sentiment and pursues the case on her own initiative, provoking another volcano in the person of said leader of the police. Eventually, Moss enlists, informally, a gang of women to entrap the perpetrator, while also extinguishing both volcanoes.

Perhaps unexpectedly, in the meantime another woman has been arrested, imprisoned, and is now on trial. Her behavior is certainly not above reproach, but it’s worth noting her lack of repression; the imputed irrationality is unbelievable, and must be disregarded by all the men sitting in judgment, officially or not.

Will justice be done? What is justice, after all? All this and more in this tale that purports to be based on a real historical incident.

I don’t read all, or even half, of Erick Erickson, nor listen to him at all. But yesterday’s article “Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” includes this passage:

The legislation uses an antisemitism standard developed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance that is globally accepted — including already in use by the United States government1. Kirk, Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and others willfully misrepresented an example in the IHRA standard. The example read, “Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.”

That last part is italicized because the grifters went out of their way to downplay it. Saying the Jews killed Jesus is not antisemitism.2 Saying the Jews killed Jesus, therefore Israel or Israelis are bad, is antisemitism. Using the crucifixion to hate the modern nation-state of Israel and its citizens is absolutely antisemitism. That is the point of the example.

TPUSA, which keeps a list of antisemites on its roster, if not its payroll, is being too cute by half on this stuff. The organization has set up a website distancing itself from Candace Owens’ growing antisemitism. If you search the internet for TPUSA’s views on Israel and Owens, your search engine will helpfully direct you to a special website putting distance between Owens and TPUSA. If you aren’t interested, you’ll get directed to the main TPUSA website where their relationship with Owens is highlighted.

It. Is. All. A Grift.

Yes, he’s not talking about Democrats. He’s talking about fellow conservatives and whoever else is trying to pass themselves off as traditionalists, while extracting as much money as possible from the conservative base.

Perhaps Mr. Erickson would be outraged were he to read that, but, then again, maybe not.

So, yes, the Republicans are ripping themselves into pieces, separating along an ideological line at the urging of the Mosquitoes of the Right, predatory creatures who live to extract the base’s wealth, and, incidentally or not, injecting more and more ideological poison into their blood stream: anti-vax, prosperity theology, pick your poison.

Not that the Democrats are doing that much better. Between the Hamas kidnapping, rape, and murder of Israelis on 7 October 2023 and its consequent Israeli defensive or retaliative strike, the economic concerns of a coddled set of voters who find a trifling bit of inflation outrageous, and the external concern of the anti-vax Presidential candidacy of RFK, Jr., the Democrats may have some legitimate concerns of their own.

But, at least as an independent voter, I don’t generally see the grifting on the left that I see on the right.

Still, we may, over the next decade, see a remodeling of the American political landscape as the conservative base realizes that a significant portion of their leadership are grifters and begin drifting back to more traditional and reliable news sources than Fox News, and then the left as that side’s leadership dies of decrepitude, both ideological and physical.

And then the American youth will get to come to grips with problems which may be unresolvable, at least by Americans. Such as the conflict in the Middle East, ‘cuz I have to tell you that, despite the wailing of those protesters on campus, it’s not a simple problem to solve.

Almoner:

1. a person whose function or duty is the distribution of alms on behalf of an institution, a royal personage, a monastery, etc.
2. British.
   1. a hospital official who determines the amount due for a patient’s treatment.
   2. a social worker in a hospital. [Dictionary.com]

New one on me. Noted in “How Pope Francis opened the Vatican to transgender sex workers,” Anthony Faiola and Stefano Pitrelli, WaPo:

But just before her Holy Week meeting with the pope, she felt less certain. Nervously lighting a cigarette at a cafe off St. Peter’s Square, she said Don Andrea and the pope’s almoner, a Polish cardinal, were trying to change her mind. She inhaled the smoke. Let it out. She didn’t want to let them down. Maybe, she mused, she’d go back to Paraguay. Retire.

A reader and parent writes concerning the banning of use of phones in schools:

I am a firm believer in keep your phone in your pocket in class or meetings, but that’s a skill they need to learn. I used to lean more toward no phones at school but it’s such a safety thing now….. Kids need to be able to call 911.

Judging from reports from schools, teachers, already overwhelmed with other tasks, are ineffective at teaching this skill. This, from the article, speaks to the effect of the pandemic as well:

Some educators turned to the pouches out of desperation. When students returned to school full time after learning remotely during the pandemic, their relationship to their phones had changed dramatically, said Carol Kruser, who was then principal at Chicopee High School in Massachusetts.

Instead of checking their phones at lunch, they were watching YouTube videos in class and refusing to put away the devices, Kruser said. Teachers were begging for help.

Insofar as 911 goes,

The school reminded parents that there is at least one landline phone in every classroom — and in many cases two. Teachers also still have their cellphones in case they need to call 911 (the pouches also are not “bank vaults,” Dolphin added, and can be cut open in an emergency).

However, the article did not answer the question, “And how well does that work?” And do you really want the kids carrying knives? Maybe each classroom is, not unreasonably, supplied with a few pairs of scissors.

Another reader and parent writes:

With so many active shooter drills and actual events, it seems like a bad idea to prevent kids from having phones.

I did not grow up with active shooter drills, so I’ve not been exposed to in depth discussions of this particular subtopic – and not the older parents reading this post. From the article:

In the worst-case scenario — a school shooting — students should focus on hiding and staying quiet, Dolphin said. “The whole idea that you want every kid to be taking out a phone and calling parents is the exact opposite of the safety protocols,” he said.

Mr. Dolphin, mentioned herein throughout, is Assistant Principal Raymond Dolphin, who researched and drove the introduction of Yondr pouches.

One of the motivations for the Hamas kidnapping, rape, and murder of Israeli citizens on October 7th was speculated to be an attempt to break up possible rapprochement between the Arab world and Israel. This report suggests a possible partial failure is imminent:

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said on Monday that bilateral agreements with the United States were “very, very close” as Riyadh seeks to secure defense and security pacts with the kingdom in exchange for normalizing relations with Israel.

“On the bilateral agreements between the kingdom and the US, we are very, very close, and most of the work has already been done. We have the broad outlines of what we think needs to happen on the Palestinian front,” the top Saudi diplomat said at a special meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh.

He added that the only way such agreements would work is if there is “truly a pathway to a Palestinian state.”

In similar comments, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said a US-Saudi security pact with Saudi Arabia was near “completion.” [AL-Monitor]

One might argue that the Saudi stipulating of a guarantee of a Palestinian state is a victory for Hamas, but it’d be weak tea; similarly, such an agreement would take the wind out of the sails of the student protests on American campuses, leaving any non-student instigators without foot soldiers, if such instigators do exist, as has been suggested in some newspaper reports.

Solvolysis:

On the horizon is an even more promising method called solvolysis. Again, the term covers a range of technologies, but it essentially involves dissolving plastic in liquid and recovering useful chemicals from it. Solvolysis requires less heat than pyrolysis and gasification, making it greener, and it produces fewer toxic byproducts. [“The incredible new tech that can recycle all plastics, forever,” Graham Lawton, NewScientist (27 April 2024, paywall]

Not all new technology is good for schooling, or so I think. If you, like me, think cellphones should be banned from schools, WaPo has an article for you:

So in December, [Assistant Principal Raymond] Dolphin did something unusual: He banned [cellphones].

The experiment at Illing Middle School sparked objections from students and some parents, but it has already generated profound and unexpected results.

Dolphin likened prohibiting cellphones to curbing consumption of sugary foods. “In a matter of months, you start feeling better,” he said.

What unfolded at the school reflects a broader struggle underway in education as some administrators turn to increasingly drastic measures to limit the reach of a technology that is both ubiquitous and endlessly distracting.

Schools are used not just to teach knowledge, but to teach learning, including the ability to focus. Some might argue that includes ignoring the iguana in the pocket, but I’d argue that first teach focus, as it’s a skill unto itself, and then teach how to ignore the iguana in the pocket. Or let the kids figure it out themselves.

Love it!

A fifth installment? Is this then considered a success? I doubt it.

The Trump Problem

The Republican Party has, as a whole, the problem of the former President Trump on their hands. Convicted of 34 felony counts falsifying business records, he is now a convicted criminal. His allies’, or perhaps more accurately minions‘, support of him is now a potential anchor around their necks.

And many of them added more and more cables to that anchor over the last weeks as they went to New York City and pronounced Trump innocent, thus discrediting themselves when the jury came back with a guilty verdict, and did so with notable speed.

Some Members of Congress don’t care. Representing safe districts or states, they only worry, or worried, about being primaried by challengers more extreme than themselves.

But for others, their alliance with someone who committed crimes in order to be elected seven years ago is a major problem for independent and moderate conservative voters, who will refuse to vote for both Trump and his allies, despite Democratic flaws.

It all depends on Democratic messaging. I expect it’ll be expertly handled.

And if Trump continues to shriek about rigged trials and claim there is evidence of his innocence that was not submitted at the trial, it only gets worse for him. His claim that he was not permitted to bring those witnesses forth is ludicrous to all but the most devoted MAGA-head.

Candidate Quality

Recognition that candidate quality matters to independent voters must be an irritating surprise for some ambitious would-be candidates, but it’s a necessity in today’s world of aggressive national adversaries and nuclear weapons. The Republican Senate Election debacle of 2022 occurred under the leadership of Senator Rick Scott (R-FL), but whether it’s because the Republicans see his leadership as a joke, or because he’s running for reelection this year, he’s been replaced with Senator Steve Daines (R-MT), who appears to be more serious about the job than Senator Scott. The Republican pundit Erick Erickson, despite his desperation to keep the herd together, seems to get it:

And winning the election means picking real candidates who are not going to alienate middle class, independent voters *cough* Kari Lake *cough*. Frankly, in 2022, the GOP nominated clunker candidates who scratched itches, but made independent voters squeamish. In other words, the right’s reaction to the left’s actions was to nominate candidates who could “fight,” but lost all the fights.

To my mind, in 2020 and 2022 the political far-right nominated power and position hungry candidates, ideologues who were ideologues because it gave them social prestige, and theocrats who either passionately believe they were doing God’s will, or were in it for the social prestige thing.

Erickson’s problem is that he’s looking for candidates who keep him happy, keeping in mind he’s a far-right wing extremist, while making independents happy as well, and that’s a really big stretch. Worse, the ideologically pure, right or left, are rarely competent politicians in the American mold. They may fit right in with the murderous cultures of V. Lenin or F. Franco, but being humble rather than ambitious and arrogant as required by many in America? Hard to do for them. After all, God’s on their side.

Here’s a short article on the aforementioned Senator Daines:

An early Trump supporter, Daines worked with the former president to secure his endorsement of [“winsome candidates”]. Trump endorsed Gov. Jim Justice over Rep. Alex Mooney in West Virginia, and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy over Rep. Matt Rosendale in Montana, as well as former representative Mike Rogers in Michigan, David McCormick in Pennsylvania (whom he had passed over for Mehmet Oz in 2022) and businessman Eric Hovde in Wisconsin.

For Daines, a winsome candidate has independent voter appeal, a laudable and important goal. Does Daines have the judgment and drive to push his selections over the finish line? I see some problems.

1. Daines, a former Proctor & Gamble business exec, appears to like fellow business execs (McCormick, Justice, Hovde) and ideologues (Rogers, Sheehy – the latter, a naif, burdened with a scandal already). I expect former Governor Justice to become Senator Justice (R-WV), but I see McCormick losing by two or more points to Senator Casey (D-PA), Senator Tester (D-MT) beating Sheehy by three points or so in Montana, and Hovde to be slapped down, hard, by Senator Baldwin (D-WI). Only Rogers has experience in government at the Congressional level, and even he has a reputation as an ideologue. I don’t know if Rogers can win or not, assuming he even wins his primary. Daines picks appear to fall into two categories becoming increasingly unpopular with independents.
2. Daines may be picking those he’s most comfortable with, and not evaluating them for legislative competence. That’s an amateur mistake.
3. And who interviewed Daines? Marc Thiessen, one of the WaPo conservative opinion writers who doesn’t see his job as being hard-hitting when writing of conservatives. I generally don’t read him because his evaluations are damn silly, such as Trump being the most honest politician out there, and if you do, don’t take his Expecting great things approach to heart. From what little I’ve read, he’s overly optimistic about conservative candidates.

Joan McCarter of Daily Kos believes GOP Senate candidates are, once again, of dubious quality.

Polling Pitfalls

Mercy Ormont on Daily Kos has a meditation on good pollsters and bad pollsters these days.

And In Senate Campaign News

• Apparently the selection of Royce White (no relation) as the GOP endorsee for the GOP’s nomination for the Minnesota Senate seat of Senator Klobuchar (D-MN) has stimulated reports from several outlets on his past behavior as a candidate. If you’re interested, Aldous J Pennyfarthing on Daily Kos has a schadenfreude-filled summary. The primary is still to come.
• Nevada’s Senator Rosen (D-NV) has some more encouragement in what was considered a competitive State as The Tyson Group has given her a startling 14 point lead over leading Republican candidate for nomination Sam Brown (R-NV), 47%-33%. However, this pollster’s rating is only 1.2 out of 3, perhaps due to its use of online participants, so Democrats shouldn’t become too excited. Indeed, perhaps I shouldn’t cite such pollsters.
• NBC News reports that the situation in New Jersey could be a lot more complicated than expected for the Democrats:
  

  Indicted Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., has collected the necessary signatures to run for re-election as an independent, five people familiar with the matter said.

  Menendez needs 800 signatures by Tuesday to gain ballot access in November and hopes to reach closer to 10,000 signatures by then, said three sources with knowledge of his plans.

  One of the sources, who previously worked for Menendez, said Menendez, who is on trial on federal bribery charges, wants the number of signatures to be a “statement” in and of itself, “to show the level of support he still has.”

  Menendez’s pride could be the downfall of the Democrats’ dreams of retaining control of the Senate. New Jersey may suddenly be on the hot list.

• In Maryland the former Governor and Republican candidate for the open Senate seat Larry Hogan (R-MD), does the respectable thing when his Party leader is convicted on all 34 charges of felony business record falsification – he issues a statement reminding folks to act in a sober, serious manner:
  

  Regardless of the result, I urge all Americans to respect the verdict and the legal process. At this dangerously divided moment in our history, all leaders—regardless of party—must not pour fuel on the fire with more toxic partisanship. We must reaffirm what has made this nation great: the rule of law.

  In response, he’s been smacked in the metaphorical teeth by what passes for the Republican Party leadership these days. Hogan is attempting to rally the traditional Republican Party that understood what it meant to be an American political party, but it’s not at all clear that he’ll be successful. In some ways, it would be very healthy for the United States if he were to win. But there’s probably more benefit in Democratic candidate Alsobrooks winning. Maryland may be coming back off the hot list, but Hogan gets to join the list of genuine American political heroes, while most of the rest of the current Republican Party leadership will not be on that list. Only those who testified to the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack would be eligible for the list, in my mind, such as former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson.

• An early May poll that escaped my attention gives incumbent Senator Casey (D-PA) of Pennsylvania an 8 point lead, 49%-41%, over challenger David McCormick (R-PA?). The pollster is GS Strategy Group, with a mediocre rating of 1.5.
• A mid-May poll in Washington gives Senator Cantwell (D-WA) a 9 point lead, 39%-30%, over the guy who they must consider the leading challenger, Raul Garcia (R-WA). Mr. Garcia has little experience in electoral politics. I’m sure Cantwell would like to be closer to the magic number of 50%, but she has a substantial lead. The pollster is Elway Research (1.9). The jungle primary is still to come in August.
• 

  Governor Jim Justice (R-WV). Source: Wikipedia.

  Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) is now (I-WV). Might he be considering rescinding his retirement announcement and take on Republican West Virginia heavyweight Governor Jim Justice (R-WV) and relative unknown Glenn Elliott (D-WV)? In some ways, it feels like West Virginia is a businessman’s political playground, as Manchin, Justice, and Don Blankenship (D-WV) are all businessmen who’ve been involved in this Senate race. Could there be personal animosity animating some of these maneuverings? This is all speculation, but if Manchin does enter the race, the tug of war between the two political titans could allow Elliott to win. West Virginia doesn’t go on the hot list unless Manchin decides he wants to retain his Senate seat.

  By the way, the picture on the right of Governor Justice is just the sort of visage I’d rather not face for a job interview.

• In Wisconsin, GS Strategy Group (1.5) gives Senator Baldwin (D-WI) a 12 point lead, 49%-37%, over Eric Hovde. If a more respectable pollster gives similar numbers, I suspect the Republicans will write Hovde and Wisconsin off.Incidentally, Mr. Hovde is another businessman. Are the Republicans becoming the Party of the Businessman? They have a long association with Big Business, to use the old terminology, but usually as representatives of Big Business, not as what feels like a private club devoted to vanity  political runs. But with Hovde in WI, Scott in FL, Daines in MT, McCormick in PA, Justice, Manchin, and Blankenship (a former and, I suspect, future Republican) in WV, and no doubt a few others that slipped my notice or mind, well, that’s a lot of ridiculously rich businessmen seeking to buy themselves a Senate seat.

  Heck, it feels quite Roman. Buyers beware.

The Arizona Republic’s Laurie Roberts on the latest tom-foolery from the Arizona Republican Party: