In The Affirmative

When I was young, I sat on a college admissions committee. There are more than 3,000 colleges and universities in America. I would guess that about 12,000 professors sit on admissions committees today, and nearly every one of them is smarter than John Roberts.  

A Republican program has populated the Extreme Court with a four people dumb enough to still be Republicans. And two malicious vacationers, Alito and Thomas. But remember that the stupid do more harm than the malicious.   

This week the Extreme Court banished considerations of diversity from the college admissions process. But how will six justices, six dopes, go about policing 12,000 people smarter than John Roberts?

Let's say you serve on an admissions committee, now bound by the Court to ignore diversity in your admissions process. 

That already happened in California, and committees are finding ways around it.

You find a stack of student folders on your desk. You open one. The first prospective student is named Noemi Gonzales. She went to grammar school in a part of town called "Little El Salvador." She requires financial aid. No one in her family has ever gone to college. Her father is deceased. She chaired a high school club dedicated to supporting trans-gender rights. She doesn't mention race--that has been forbidden by the Extreme Court.  

You pick up a second file, one about a prospective student named Draymond Jefferson. He's from Compton, California, and he led a Black Lives Matter demonstration. And so on.

People on admissions committees can vote any way they want. 

When we get bad orders from malicious or stupid crackpots, we should rebel. We can free ourselves, find loopholes, do the right thing. 

Are Women Citizens?

Are women citizens of the United States? They are, according to Jack de Selby, except when pregnant. In many Republican states, once an American woman is pregnant, her citizenship automatically transfers to her fetus. The woman becomes a ward of the state. The state may require her to carry the fetus-citizen to term, even if it kills her. 

In Republican states death from pregnancy is more common than in states that allow a woman to choose. Anti-abortion law kills women.

The problem can be addressed, de Selby says, by taking the following pledge: "I will never vote for a Republican as long as I live." 

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Cheating

Katie Porter on corporate practices: "It turns out that cheating people is incredibly profitable."

I'm voting for Porter, who is running for the Senate.  There are three excellent candidates, but Porter seems to me to be the one who will make a difference. She keeps her eye on what is real for ordinary people. 

Honest

 

Nicknames matter in politics. Former VP Pence's nickname, "Weathervane," gives him an edge among undecided voters. And a contributor to the sudden political rise of Abraham Lincoln was his snappy nickname, according to Claude Dukenfield.  

As a young man, studying law in Springfield, Illinois, Lincoln supported himself as a cleaner and server in a small beer hall. One customer there, a man named de Selby, had a glass eye. He came in nightly and ordered a glass of beer. He would take out his artificial eye and drop it into the beer, which he'd then proceed to drink. Next he'd order a refill and so on.

One night de Selby drank a beer too many and staggered out the door without his eye. The next evening he returned and asked the server if he knew where the eye was. Lincoln returned the glass eye to its owner. From then on he was known as "Honest Abe." 

Third

The Japanese have mastered the art of frying things in batter. That's the kind of information I hope to pass on to younger diners. 

Driving east on Third after a gratifying Japanese lunch, Susan and I came across about 25 people demonstrating against pedophilia. I have to say that pedophilia is really unpopular around here.

These people held signs blaming pedophilia on gay people. The demonstrators were misinformed, but I suspect that's how they like it. 

Donald Trump Arrested

DONALD TRUMP ARRESTED!

The arrest seemed inevitable from the moment Trump slid down a moonbeam and ran for president. But newsfolkers like Jake Tapper were shocked to the cockles of their brainflab. 

"This is a sad day for America," Jake cried on CNN.

Compared to what, Jake, VJ Day?

"This is not who we are."

Good to hear, Jake. Who's doing this then?

Covid

Back when covid first waded ashore in California, a friend and I discussed our options. My friend suggested that it might be best to get covid as soon as possible, because then we would be immune (which turned out to be untrue). I suggested that it might be best to avoid getting covid as long as possible, giving science a chance to find medications. 

My plan worked well until about ten days ago when my wife hugged a friend who was innocently infectious. So I finally have covid (and Paxlovid). 

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Pine Flat Road

I like to take visitors up Pine Flat Road. It's unusual scenic, the site of a famous killing, a steep, wild place to walk, etc. I saw a mountain quail there once. A patch belongs to the Audubon Society. But who owns most of the place?

According to a well-written article by Austin Murphy, a reporter for The Corporate Democrat, much of the land in the upper reaches of the road belongs to the Bureau of Land Management, a federal agency. But, according to Murphy, the BLM claims that the area is owned by a mix of private people and the State of California. The county, however, states that the area is federal land. But a BLM specialist argues that the area was given to California in 1853. Maybe.

I don't think of the Bible

From 1 Timothy 2:12: "I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather she is to remain silent."

The Bible is often cited as the source of male chauvinism, but it might be more accurate to think of the Bible as an expression of something deeper, something already there.  When I see the reactions of forced-birth Republicans after a ten-year-old girl is raped and made pregnant, I don't think of the Bible. I think of lizards. These people have the empathy of lizards. It's a minority point of view but not a small minority. Some lizards own media platforms.