Benster and D Pick Your Games---Vikings Last Stand? Edition

 Old dude, it might be the last stand for the Vikings already. Can they get it done at home against a good Titans squad?

They kinda have to. If they go 0-3 and either the Packers or da Bearz win, they are buried already. And the schedule doesn't get any easier.

We shall see. In the meantime, the Packers are down on the Bayou to face the Saints in a game that I believe will be consequential down the line. 

No question. A win in New Orleans would be huge. 

I am feeling the HYYYYYYYPPPPEEE!, and it is time to watch me work.

Tennessee Tuxedos (-3) vs. Minnesota Vikings Last week was a terrible game for the Vikings, and they are up the creek without a paddle already. Lots of theories have been thrown around as to why this is, but I honestly think that the Vikings might need to adapt to a changing NFL world. Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman have had success during their run together, but quite honestly it seems like they have failed to adapt to the speed based NFL style that we see a lot of on Sundays as well as Fridays and Saturdays. The Purple can win this game, but they need to stop Derrick Henry. I think they can, and start to save their season. Vikings 21, Titans 10.

First, a word from our sponsor:

I think the Vikings win tomorrow as well. It's not going to be easy, but the desperate team at home rule is very much in effect. And I think Dalvin Cook can get it going against a good, but not great Titan defense. The key is not to fall behind early. Vikings 24, Titans 21.

Glorious Green Bay Packers (+3) vs. New Orleans Who Dat Saints. This game is going to be very difficult for the Packers to win. I know that there are going to be no fans in the Dome, but the Packers have been run out of the building the last two trips they made. The Saints didn't look good out in Vegas last week, and both teams are down their best receiver. The key for the Packers is going to be starting better than they did the last two weeks, and make Drew Brees have to run for his life. If the Packers win this game, they will have a 3-0 mark and have won 2 of their toughest road games this season. I think they can. If the Saints lose, will their fans keep blaming the refs? I hear that is the secret ingredient in the gumbo down there. Packers 63, Ref Voodoo 40.

Has Drew Brees lost his edge? It looked that way in Vegas. I suspect he'll be better tomorrow night, but he doesn't seem to move as well and I think the lack of Michael Thomas will hurt the Saints more than the lack of Davante Adams will hurt the Packers. The Saints are talented, but there's little talent gap between the two teams. And at this point, I would take Aaron Rodgers over Drew Brees. So my Kool-Aid is chilling in the fridge. Packers 34, Saints 27.

Enjoy your football this weekend, and good on the MAC, Pac 12, and Mountain West for playing. Ben out. 

Neighbors

 My next door neighbor died last weekend. He was a successful general contractor who had built over 50 homes and remodeled countless others, including the house across the street. His lawn is smoother than the 18th fairway at Augusta National. He had every power tool known to man and knew how to use them. He owned a boat that might be worth more than my house. He had friends and companionship. He was muscular and looked the picture of health. And yet, his heart gave out, apparently after a period of despair following some business and personal reversals that weren't immediately evident. And he was young. He died at the age of 44.

There’s no sense in any of it. I didn’t know my neighbor well; we would chat from time to time, but mostly he went his way and I went mine. One of his coworkers knocked on my door earlier this week and asked me what happened. And I really couldn’t tell him much more than what we saw out our window; the police cars, the ambulance that left empty, the hearse that left with his body. His co-worker was distraught. I knew what happened, but I could not tell him why, so I wasn't much help.

It’s been a weird time on my street. Beyond the imposed social distancing from the pandemic, our street has been under construction for months. Only in the past month have we been free to move about without dodging bulldozers and steamrollers. Lately, in this period of weirdness, some of my other neighbors have been putting on impromptu concerts in the cul-de-sac on the end of my street. The family at the end of the block has a number of talented musicians and one of their adult sons has a college roommate who has moved to Minnesota; the roommate is a talented guitarist and can play pretty much anything. Beyond that, we have several other guitarists in the neighborhood. It’s turned into a bit of a jam session with a socially distanced audience of neighbors, putting out their lawn chairs and sipping a few beers. I’ve taken the microphone a few times to sing along. It’s been a nice thing, a source of joy. We always intended to invite my next door neighbor, but it never happened. 

We seek a tidy summation, a suitable framework for what we experience. Generally, such things aren't available. I pray for many reasons, but most often for understanding. In a year riddled with conundrums, my neighbor's demise tops the list. I continue to pray for his soul, for his family, and for understanding.

As seen on social media

 Technique is important.

Benster and D Pick Your Games: Will Vikings Rebound Edition

 Old dude, some say that Davante Adams is still getting wide open against the Viking secondary at the People's Stadium to this day.

He was not challenged. That much is certain.

Oh, and I also have been grinding an axe about something. That means that someone is going to get reamed. 

An axe is probably a poor choice for reaming, but whatever.

I'm feeling the HYYYYYYYYPPPEEE!, and it is time to watch me work.

Minnesota Vikings (+3.5) vs. Indianapolis Colts. The Vikings fanbase is already blaming Kirk Cousins for the loss last week, but it wasn't his fault. The defense was horrible, and they ran into a GOAT who is disrespected. But don't worry, it is somehow all Kirk Cousins's fault. The Colts are an interesting team. Philip Rivers is now the quarterback, and they have JT at running back. I think that the Vikings are going to be in trouble if they don't win this game. Quite honestly, I think Vikings fans are already getting in on the phone lines to KFAN to complain about the team. If the Purple loses, pray for Corey Cove and Ron Johnson at about 3:30 on Sunday. Colts 50, Vikings 14.

I am curious about how this one will go. The Colts are not as intimidating without their fans (all dome teams are like that), but they have talent on offense. If I am the Vikings, and I am glad I am not, I get Irv Smith involved. Vikings 23, Colts 21.

Detroit LOLions (+6) vs. Glorious Green Bay Packers The Packers looked really good last week, and it honestly makes me excited about this year. Aaron looks like he is going on a revenge tour, other wideouts stepped up, and Adams was Adams. Even with Kenny Clark being out this week, I think that the team still has a chance to win. The LOLions outdid themselves last week with blowing a lead against Da Bearz and literally dropping an easy W. The LOLions have talent, and they aren't scared of the Packers. But these are the LOLions, and they will always choke when it matters. Packers 35, LOLions 10.

I agree. The Lions always find a way to lose. Could be a shootout. Packers 35, Lions 27.

Enjoy your football weekend, and now it is time for a Very Special Comment. So, the Big Ten is coming back and have announced a schedule and a plan. I'm not giving Kevin Warren and the Big Ten presidents any credit, however. Part of what being a leader is to understand who your customers and workers are. Kevin Warren may have had success with the Vikings, but so far has stained the proud legacy of the Big Ten by postponing the start of the season after releasing a schedule. The players wanted to play, and the coaches were in support of them. It hasn't been perfect in the SEC, ACC, and Big XII, but they have played games and have been managing any outbreaks. I expect Warren to resign, and please go back to the NFL. He knows nothing about the culture of the Big Ten, and clearly doesn't understand how passionate the fanbases of the league are. Jim Delaney did a couple of things I disagreed with, but his worst crime in my eyes was moving the basketball tournament away from Chicago and Indy in 2018 and getting the tournament off Selection Sunday for a year. Warren in less than a year cancelled a football season without informing ESPN and Fox after revising the schedule and costing both outlets valuable content for weeks. To make matters worse, those networks might not forgive him in the next round of media rights deals that will happen in the next couple of years. Warren makes Manfred and Goodell look like competent heads of leagues. Do you know how hard that is to do? Just leave already and go back to the Vikings. Then, we can replace him with Congressmen Anthony Gonzalez. The Congressman played football in the Big Ten, is a smart man, and more importantly understands the culture as a native of Ohio. 

However, we can't let the presidents off the hook for this either. It had to take a lawsuit to figure out who voted to cancel, and they then allowed sports to be cut at Iowa and Minnesota. Those athletes may not be revenue producing, but they agreed to represent their schools and are generally speaking very good in the classroom. Will they get their teams back with the money that Fox and ESPN will be paying? When noted Big Ten critics such as Clay Travis and Paul Finebaum are right for calling these "leaders" out and I agree with those two, it's a sad day. When you release a schedule, at least try to honor it. And for the love of God, don't be upset when the college kids try and get around the rules. They are college kids. It's like sometimes they forget they were those college kids back in the day. Plus, the virus is not prevalent that much on college campuses, and you guys freaked out after testing numbers came in. How can you be so surprised that people are going to be sick when you test them? It's like buying your kid McDonalds for weeks and being surprised that they've gained weight. I will not congratulate the Big Ten for doing what they should have done in the first place. Thank the lord that the football parents sued the league. I have defended the league in this space for over a decade, but I won't defend you guys on this one. 

Sorry about that, but it ticks me off when the oldest and greatest conference in the land looks this bad. Ben out. 

Math is hard

 My hometown newspaper, the Post-Crescent of Appleton, Wisconsin, has an alarming headline:

Some. What's going on in Wisconsin? The article reports:

Eight Wisconsin metro areas have landed on the New York Times' list of places across the country where new cases of COVID-19 are rising the fastest. 

La Crosse is number one on the New York Times' list, which was updated Thursday afternoon. In third is Whitewater, and the Oshkosh-Neenah area is in eighth. Stevens Point, Appleton, Platteville, Madison and Green Bay take up the 15th through 19th spots of the list, respectively. 

With the exception of Appleton, all the Wisconsin cities on the list are home to a University of Wisconsin System campus. 

Appleton, in the crosshairs, even without a UW campus! And then we get the numbers:

According to the New York Times' analysis, comparing the number of cases from a week ago to now, adjusting for population, the following Wisconsin metro areas have seen an increase of:

La Crosse: 436 new cases per 100,000 people

Whitewater: 228 new cases per 100,000 people 

Oshkosh-Neenah: 157 new cases per 100,000 people 

Stevens Point: 106 new cases per 100,000 people

Appleton: 105 new cases per 100,000 people 

Platteville: 101 new cases per 100,000 people 

Madison: 98.4 new cases per 100,000 people 

Green Bay: 97.9 new cases per 100,000 people

105 cases per 100,000 people! But let's do the math -- that's 1/10th of 1%. That means 1 out of 1000. This is a crisis?

The Post Crescent used to be an interesting newspaper, but like most daily newspapers in Wisconsin it is now a Gannett property. Those are the same simps who run USA Today. And the dumbed-down version of journalism they've been pumping for 40 years is now what you get in my hometown. This is not progress.

RBG RIP

 

No matter what you may believe about Ruth Bader Ginsburg's jurisprudence, one thing must be said -- she was a hugely consequential figure in American law for much of the past half-century. May she rest in peace. 

Benster and D Pick Your Games: Covid Won't Cancel Us Edition

 Old dude, this year has been a freaking train wreck. Kinda like some of these predictions I have made in the past. 

It's true.

The good news is that the Big Ten presidents didn't cancel these picks. I am feeling the HYYYYYYYPPPEEEE! for this year, and am ready to dish out some knowledge. Watch me work.

Before we do that, a word from our sponsor:

Sponsor? A 40-year old used magazine with David Whitehurst on the cover?

Times are hard, Seabiscuit.

Not that hard, old dude. As I was saying, watch me work!

Glorious Green Bay Packers (+2.5) vs. Minnesota Vikings Well, the Vikings wanted the Packers to open the season, and it is too bad that the People's Stadium is closed off to fans. I'll stop right there as it's too early for me to grind my ax in preparation for some rage. The Vikings come into this year without Diggs, and having extended Kirk Cousins and Dalvin Cook. This is a home game for them, but there will be no fans. As for the Packers, it's been an entire year of people freaking out about the Packers drafting Jordan Love instead of addressing holes defensively and at wideout. This game is going to be close, as the Packers and Vikings do match up well with each other, and this could go either way. The key for me is can Kirk Cousins be protected against the pass rush, and if the Packers learned their lesson about closing out teams when they have the chance. Packers 24, Vikings 16.

I have no idea. We haven't seen either of these teams play since January. This is gonna be a crap shoot. I'm going to agree with you, but I don't feel strongly about it. Packers 21, Vikings 13.

Bear Down Chicago Da Bearz Still Suck (+2.5) vs. Detroit LOLions This game is probably going to be a complete dumpster fire, and a hard pass unless you have a rooting interest or you got stuck with skill guys in fantasy football. Da Bearz fans told us all that they ran the division last year. That wasn't their first mistake. Their first mistake was trying to say that with Mitch Trubisky as your starting quarterback. Gino would like to forget that Da Bearz passed up both Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson for Trubisky. For some strange reason, Trubisky is starting over Nick Foles, who was the big trade acquisition for the team in the offseason. I guess Rick Mirer wasn't an interesting replacement. The LOLions are continuing their obsession with trying to clone the Patriots in every single way, but not having Darth Hoodie, Brady the Deflator, and Robert Kraft around. Da Bearz will win, but a fair warning. If this year has been any indication, the Super Bowl will be Browns-Lions. If that is the case, we're screwed. Da Bearz Still Suck 10, LOLions 0.

The apocalypse looks like this:

It's been 63 seasons since those magic moments. I would rule out nothing, but I don't think Tobin Rote is coming through that door. Bears 14, Lions 13.

Enjoy your football and we will be back assuming Kevin Warren doesn't shut us down. Ben out.

Something I don't get

 Why does any Republican sit down for an interview with Bob Woodward? Under any circumstances? I don't think Woodward's latest broadside against Trump is going to make much of a difference, but seriously, Woodward has been in the business of screwing Republicans for nearly 50 years, and yet Trump and the rest of the politicians take his calls and sit for interviews with the guy.

Don't understand it.

Airbrushing

 Don't know whether to laugh or cry about this one. For reasons that are difficult to fathom, someone at CNN decided it was imperative to airbrush the Redskins logo from a stocking cap worn by one of Joe Biden's sons, in a picture that I would guess goes back to the 1970s. Unless someone is afraid the cap will offend the Eagles fans back in Scranton, or something.

Talking Football with Brad Carlson

 It's that time of year again. I will be joining the inimitable Brad Carlson for his radio show tomorrow at 2 p.m. Central. We will be talking NFC North football, with segments devoted to each team in the division. I've been working on my Lions jokes all week in preparation; Bears jokes are always committed to memory. It's always a lot of fun, so join us! But if you really want to do things correctly, tune in at 1 p.m. for the first hour of Brad's show. It's pretty much appointment radio, truth be told.

The particulars:

You can listen live in the Twin Cities at AM 1280 or, if you're near downtown Minneapolis/West Metro area, 107.5 FM on your radio dial. In and out of the Minneapolis-St Paul area you can listen to the program on the Internet by clicking this link, or check us out via iheart radio as well as Amazon Alexa (just say "Alexa, play The Patriot Minneapolis"). If you're unable to tune in live, please check out Brad's podcast page for the latest show post.

And if you're so inclined, follow along on Twitter at #NARNShow or "Like" the Patriot Facebook page.

Almost cut my hair

 We've put up with a lot in the various lockdowns, but patience is growing thin. And behavior of this sort makes continued restrictions seem, well, arbitrary:

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited a hair salon in San Francisco on Monday, her spokesperson confirmed, despite the city's current guidelines intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

San Francisco's coronavirus guidelines allowed personal service providers including hair salons to reopen their businesses for outdoor services starting Tuesday, with clients seen one at a time. Haircuts are permitted, according to the guidance, but shampooing and hair coloring services are not.

Pelosi's spokesperson Drew Hammill said in a statement that Pelosi, D-Calif., was following guidelines as given to her by the salon itself. 

“The Speaker always wears a mask and complies with local COVID requirements. This business offered for the Speaker to come in on Monday and told her they were allowed by the city to have one customer at a time in the business. The Speaker complied with the rules as presented to her by this establishment," Hammill said.

Fox News first published security camera footage of Pelosi walking through part of eSalon with a stylist in tow, in which she can be seen with wet hair and what appears to be a face mask around her neck, not covering her mouth or nose. The stylist wore a black face mask.

Hammill noted that Pelosi's mask was not on for only a short period of time while her hair was being washed.

Erica Kious, who owns the salon, told Fox News that a stylist who rents a chair in the salon took the appointment with Pelosi. Kious called it a "slap in the face" for Pelosi to get her hair done in the salon while others could not.

Fox News did not publish an explanation by Kious about why the stylist took the appointment or why she "can’t control" what the stylists do, as she told the outlet. USA TODAY has reached out to Kious.

Pelosi is royalty. That's the truth. And given the whiff of French Revolution in the air, she had best be careful.

The world would go on without the NBA playoffs. . .

 . . . which is why the players are going to call off their boycott and play.

After holding a meeting Thursday morning, NBA players have reportedly agreed to resuming the 2020 playoffs, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The three playoff games on Thursday are expected to be postponed, and discussions are underway on when games will be resumed. The meeting came after the postponement of three playoff games on Wednesday, including the Bucks-Magic game in which Milwaukee players staged a walk-out before the start of Game 5. The league's Board of Governors were also expected to have a call this morning to address Wednesday night's walkouts in addition to what needs to happen next. 

Several leaders on the Lakers roster, along with some players from other teams, reportedly stayed up into the early morning hours to hash out their issues inside the bubble. As a result of those talks, all players were able to agree to resume the season, per Wojnarowski.

During a meeting Wednesday evening that consisted of players and coaches, the Lakers and Clippers were among the minority of teams that pushed to end the season, according to Sham Charania of The Athletic. LeBron James said in the meeting he wants the team owners to be more involved and take action. 

LeBron James can call off his season; he's got his pile. His teammates? Maybe not so much. More importantly, the NBA is an multi-billion dollar business that could disappear tomorrow without a lasting impact on our social fabric.

I don't care about LeBron's thoughts on social justice any more than I care about Ted Cruz's basketball prowess. If they both disappeared tomorrow, it would be a tragedy for their families, but life without them wouldn't require much adjustment. 

It's tiring, frankly. I feel like this guy:

We Want Justice/We Want Barabbas

I am a Milwaukee Bucks fan. They assert they want justice, so tonight they scuppered their scheduled game with the Orlando Magic:

The Milwaukee Bucks appear to have boycotted Game 5 of their playoff series against the Orlando Magic due to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, according to social media reports.

TMJ4's Lance Allan reported that neither team was on the floor as the pregame countdown clock hit zero.

So what does justice mean to you? Does it mean cops should stand down in a domestic dispute, with a guy who has a felony warrant out for his arrest? 

Jacob Blake had a long history of entanglement with law enforcement when he lived in Lake County.  

Blake's shooting by police in Kenosha on Sunday sparked destructive riots in the Wisconsin city not far from the state border. 

Records reveal Blake was arrested in 2013 in Round Lake Beach and criminal trespass to a vehicle and arrested in 2012 in Zion, Ill. for domestic battery, endangering the life and health of a child and driving under the influence. 

Blake is currently facing a rape charge in Kenosha.

A warrant was issued for Blake’s arrest on July 7 on felony 3rd degree sexual assault, disorderly conduct and criminal trespass, all related to domestic abuse.

Well, he was unarmed, we're told. Or was he? I've seen this image multiple times:

I don't know what he's holding there. It could be a weapon. But we don't know.

We have reason to be skeptical of cops, all of us. Every profession has its bad apples, but most people's jobs do not include the use of deadly force. But do we romanticize bad guys? In this moment, I think we do. There's a reason we learn of Barabbas in all four Gospels. 

Friends and neighbors

On the streets of Minneapolis last night:

In the end, at about 4:22, the Alpha News reporter gets a face full of temporary bollard and her phone is stolen. The phone was apparently found in a fountain the next day, destroyed, but the footage was retrievable. And this video is the footage in question.

You can argue that protest movements are about justice, but this isn't justice. These are not people seeking justice. Larceny and aggravated battery are not justice. There is a fundamental emptiness in their lives, which you can hear in the desperation of their F-bomb laden screeching. And all the SJW cant and street violence cannot fill the void. These are fundamentally broken people. And in their rage, they are intent on dragging others into their void. Don't let them.

Revelations

 At this point we learn more about Trump’s detractors than we do about Trump. The story making the rounds now details how Trump’s older sister, a retired federal judge, apparently shared some uncharitable views of her brother. We know this because Trump’s niece, who is currently marketing a critical book about Trump, had made this known. Trump’s niece apparently recorded 15 hours of conversations with her aunt without disclosing to her aunt that she was recording the conversations. Does that behavior strike you as crappy? It strikes me that way. 

And some of the stories seem, well, off. One states that Trump cheated on the SAT to get into Penn. Since Trump entered Penn as a transfer student from Fordham, it’s preposterous — transfer students don’t retake the SAT to transfer; the college has a transcript to evaluate. That’s a tell.

Trump hate porn is a lucrative industry; my social media feed is replete with lefty college friends who buy all the latest dirt; they have shelves full of books. But these books never move public opinion, because everyone already knows who the Bad Orange Man is. And we should not hesitate to call the industry what it is — an unimaginative circle jerk. 

The Headlines Write Themselves

 It's right there for you:

When you use Urban Dictionary as a style guide

There's a lot more to say about Harris -- her cynicism, her willingness to say damn near anything to get elected, her lazy campaigning -- and we will amplify that as the campaign rolls on. But truth be told, the choice of Harris is puzzling. She doesn't really give Biden what he needs electorally, because California is already in the bag. She's not popular with the various minorities she supposedly represents. She had myriad advantages when she began her campaign, but she pissed all of them away. All you have to do is roll the Tulsi Gabbard critiques to eviscerate Harris's record. 

I don't suppose Biden had any better choice -- if he'd nominated Susan Rice, it would have guaranteed an indictment. He couldn't pick Stacey Abrams, or Karen Bass, or Val Demings. He ruled out anyone with Y chromosomes months ago. 

We'll see what happens, but on balance I think having Harris on the ticket does not help the Democrats in any way.

Delusions

 Seen on social media, from a college friend who runs a successful public relations agency:

We are in a very bad place right now. It feels like much of what makes Chicago so great is slipping away, at least for awhile.

There are a lot of people I respect making statements on all sides of the issue. I am having a difficult time disagreeing with any of them. There is too much to comprehend right now.

I will just add this point-of-view. While the officer-involved shooting was the impetus for the vandalism and looting downtown, the people protesting the shooting are not the people conducting the vandalism and rioting. These are two different groups of people with different motivations. Social justice and criminal behavior live in different worlds. While it's easy to combine the two, it's a trap that emboldens criminals and hinders social justice.

Also, this is not an organized Antifa movement, because Antifa doesn't exist. Buying into the Antifa myth has really dire consequences for all of us.

Antifa doesn't exist? Seriously? And, more importantly, the idea that social justice and criminal behavior live in different worlds is even a larger delusion. We have seen it repeatedly; organizations that purport to fight for social justice are, in the main, rackets. 

Of all the disheartening things I've seen or read in this year of unrelenting awfulness, these statements are the most disheartening. We're never going to get better if we celebrate lies.

Love Lies Bleeding

Since the official start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been to one funeral. The person who died was Mrs. D's cousin, who died of advanced Alzheimer's at the remarkably young age of 55. She did not have COVID-19.

The funeral was small and surreal; maybe 20 people at most. Everyone had to wear a mask and outward displays of affection were not in evidence -- no hugs for the survivors, muffled conversations throughout. The minister who presided noted that this was the first funeral she had done in months.

At least there was a funeral. Many people who have died in the last six months have not had a funeral at all, or much support as they approached the end of their lives.

It wasn't that way for John Lewis, the civil rights leader turned congressman who died last month. Lewis was an important figure in our recent history and no one disputes that he deserved the honors he received, but still, it rankled. Writing for the Spectator USA, Amber Athey noticed:

Funerals are important: they acknowledge the sanctity of life and allow friends and family to come together to grieve their loss. This reality doesn’t change based on how famous or revered an individual was to the general public: it doesn’t hurt any less to say goodbye to someone who was just a dad or just someone’s child or just a dear friend. Their lives aren’t any less significant. Yet politicians have decided that celebrity affords them the right to override the onerous restrictions on funerals that so many average Americans have been forced to accept.

Yes, Georgia is unique in that it allows anyone to have a funeral. However, the governor’s executive order prohibits gatherings of more than 50 people if social distancing cannot be maintained. Photos of Lewis’s funeral in Atlanta showed that many more than 50 people attended and that social distancing was not maintained in parts of the church, nor during the burial outside.

Emphasis in original. Beyond that, other rules don't seem to apply:

At the same. time, a significant number of attendees traveled from out of state to attend the funeral. 50 members of Congress, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, attended. Mayor Muriel Bowser issued a mandatory two-week quarantine for anyone who travels to Washington, DC from a coronavirus ‘hotspot’. Georgia was one of the states designated as a ‘hotspot’ on a list released by the DC government on Monday. Nevertheless, Pelosi (an essential worker) flitted around the Capitol all day Friday, almost gloating about her freedom from the rules. 

This is a dangerous game. People are noticing. Back to Athey:

How could any person who has lost a loved one during the pandemic see this blatant hypocrisy and not be incensed? You had to decide which family member could enter the hospital and be the last to see their father alive. You had to have last rites read over the phone. You could not touch the casket before it’s lowered into the ground. You could not embrace each other as the dirt was shoveled. All the while, the same politicians who lectured you about making sacrifices to stop the spread traveled with impunity, attended large funerals without proper social distancing and avoided quarantines upon their return.

We are told, incessantly, that this crisis will not end unless people mask up and get with the program. We are sitting on a powder keg. Many of us have reasons to grieve, but those reasons don't seem to matter unless you are a politician with the proper credentials, or some other A-lister or grandee. Meanwhile, the march of restrictions rolls on. You and I have to wear masks. It would seem masks are not necessary where the air is rarefied. Know your place and breathe deeply.

This Masquerade

Our benevolent governor finally pulled the trigger on his latest power grab:

Gov. Tim Walz has issued an executive order mandating mask use for indoor public spaces.

The mandate will take effect early Saturday morning, and requires Minnesotans to wear masks in public indoor gathering areas like stores and restaurants, as well as while using public transportation.

Exemptions are in place for people with medical or mental health conditions that make it "unreasonable for the individual to maintain a face covering."

Children under the age of five are also exempt from the order, though masks are still encouraged for children between the ages of two and five. The order states that "those who are under two years old should never wear a face covering due to the risk of suffocation."

A few thoughts:

• The whole thing is unreasonable. But you knew that.
• We hear incessantly that the "science" says wearing a mask works. But we don't know, really. We're still in the middle of this experience and most of what's proffered as evidence are really assertions. I suspect there are scientists galore who are actually studying these mandates and we'll eventually get the truth about mask efficacy. But we don't have it yet. 
• I don't believe mask mandates are about thought control or whatnot, but I do know the news media are still awfully good at thought control. People are scared to death of COVID and while certain populations have reason to be cautious, most people who actually encounter the virus will not be at serious risk. Wearing a mask will make no real difference either way.
• I struggle with wearing a mask myself, but I doubt my discomfort would constitute a condition that would exempt me from the order. In my mask-wearing experience thus far, my glasses are constantly fogged and I become quite conscious of my breathing, which causes me a significant amount of anxiety. I don't know how my discomfort benefits others, but my social media feed is full of people who believe it does. And you cannot convince them otherwise. And, for that matter, complaining reveals your selfishness.
• You will note, as with all Walz depredations, there is no end date or sunset provision. Walz will require you to modify your behavior for as long as he chooses, whether his requirements are necessary or proper, and he does not need to provide you with a rationale. While I don't imagine he will mandate all Minnesotans wear a ball gag by October, you can't necessarily rule that out.
• I have mentioned it before, but it's worth saying again. When we finally get past all this, the real damage will be to our ability to be neighbors. Fear is corrosive as hell and the notion that your fear justifies the use of force against your neighbors to assuage your fear is poison, flat out. And any mandate is force.

By the way, if the masks don't work, this may be next:

It's for your own good, and we've heard quite enough from you anyway

Tommies Go to D1

So the Tommies are going to the big-time, at least in athletics:

The University of St. Thomas is heading to Division I.

The university announced the NCAA's Division I Council approved a motion on Wednesday to allow St. Thomas to make the jump from Division III to Division I -- the first program in the NCAA's modern era to make the direct leap.

“Our St. Thomas community is excited to embark on this journey of building Minnesota’s first private D-I collegiate athletics program and the second D-I program in the state,” said University of St. Thomas President Julie Sullivan in a news release. “St. Thomas has a long history of academic and athletic excellence and embracing change with an entrepreneurial spirit. This move continues that trajectory.”

According to the release, the Tommies have officially accepted invitations to join the Summit League, the Pioneer Football League and the Women's Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). A conference decision for men's hockey is still pending.

Yes, the Tommies have been dominant in sports at the D3 level. As a practical matter, they outgrew the MIAC a number of years ago. They didn't necessarily dominate in football, but in all the other sports they were crushing the other conference schools on a regular basis. This particular event probably the signal it was time to move on:



You have to understand -- St. Olaf is not a doormat. They haven't contended for the top spot in the MIAC, but they are usually respectable. From the linked recap in the Sporting News:

You would think that in such a mismatched game, St. Thomas would acknowledge how much better it was and take things a bit easy. Nope. St. Thomas went for a two-point conversion three times, and was 5-of-5 on fourth down. St. Thomas knew it was better, and wanted to prove it.

And that, at bottom, is the real point. St. Thomas is an ambitious school and St. Thomas has something to prove. With an undergraduate enrollment over 6000 and a variety of graduate programs, they aren't really competing for students with Hamline and Gustavus. Their actual competitors are other midwestern metropolitan Catholic universities -- think Marquette, or Loyola-Chicago, or Creighton, or SLU. Being a D1 school will guarantee St. Thomas gets its name on the newscasts more often, even if they lose games initially. The games on the field or the courts are more about alumni pride and marketing. You can go anywhere in the country and find people who have heard of Marquette. Most people outside of the Midwest have no idea about St. Thomas. If the Tommies make the leap to D1 successfully, people will.

Suggested new nicknames for the NFL team in Washington

Redskins is out, or likely will be. So what should replace it? Herewith, a baker's dozen suggestions:

Washington Gridlocks (per Benster)
Washington Red Tape
Washington Assistant Deputy Undersecretaries
Washington Orange Man Bads
Washington Weasels
Washington Ivy League Masturbation Society
Washington Deep States
Washington J. Edgars
Washington Swamp Thangs
Washington Strzoks
Washington Fanne Foxes
Washington Dirty Painted Whores*
Washington Fighting Hasterts

Vote for your favorite choice in the comments, or certainly suggest your own.

*per a certain former colleague of mine

That would be a shame

Sean Spicier laments:

Faith matters

Remarkably scandal free, they'll have you know.

You had to know it was crap

In this racially fraught moment, the notion that someone would put a noose in the vicinity of the only black driver competing in NASCAR seemed, well, dubious. There are security cameras everywhere and by all accounts the driver, Bubba Wallace, is a popular figure in the racing community. And, sure enough, the incident wasn't what it seemed:

The FBI has determined that NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace was not the victim of a hate crime and that a pull rope fashioned like a noose had been on a garage door at Talladega Superspeedway since as early as October, NASCAR said Tuesday.

"The FBI report concludes, and photographic evidence confirms, that the garage door pull rope fashioned like a noose had been positioned there since as early as last fall," NASCAR said in its statement. "This was obviously well before the 43 team's arrival and garage assignment.

"We appreciate the FBI's quick and thorough investigation and are thankful to learn that this was not an intentional, racist act against Bubba. We remain steadfast in our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all who love racing."

The 43 car is iconic in the world of stock car racing, mostly because Richard Petty drove it. I've never been much of a racing fan, but everyone knew the 43 car:

King Richard

Petty hasn't been racing for decades, but he remains a major figure in the sport and his racing team has kept the number 43. Wallace drives for Petty, so having that number means something. It's always been the stereotype that because NASCAR came out of the South, it had an undercurrent of racism. Perhaps there's some truth to that, but in the main the modern racing fan doesn't care about that. You aren't likely to hear much about this story in a few more days -- the people who were riding the hobby horse would rather you pay attention to something else now. But racing fans will remember. NASCAR is pursuing a full-on social justice model these days, as are most sporting organizations. They are free to do so, but the point of spectator sports is to provide a diversion from the dreary architecture of modern life. The audience doesn't watch sports for moral instruction. There's plenty of that going around anyway.

I haven't been blogging much, as you've noticed. . .

We are living through one of the more momentous years of our lifetimes, and yet I have found it difficult to face the blank screen to write. It's not surprising, I suppose, because we are in a time of great tribalism and primitivism. Our fellow citizens cover public monuments with expletives, when they aren't topping statues from plinths. A typical conversation seems to go like this:

Or like this:

I'm a Catholic boy and I can sling the rhythmic Anglo-Saxon terms with the best of them, but it gets wearying. I have to get better, but man, it's tough to engage when the world is mad.

Just a question

So the Twins decided to take down a statue of their longtime owner, Calvin Griffith, because he apparently said racist things back in the day.

So, I'm curious -- in the greater scheme of things, who (and what) do you suppose hurt black people more. Is it Calvin Griffith and his racist musings, or is it Carl Pohlad and his lending practices?

Bonus question -- do you suppose Pohlad's offspring, who inherited and currently own the team, would be willing to take a serious look at that question?

Today

Do the lives of blacks matter? Of course.

Does that mean the goals of Black Lives Matter are sacrosanct? Not really.

Can you affirm one notion and dispute another? At this moment, no.

Again, just to be clear

Ahem.

Whatever you think of the George Floyd revels, and I don't think much of them because people who claim to love him have turned a human being's corpse into a prop, one thing needs to be said -- it's spectacularly dumb to say George Floyd is getting special treatment. Four cops killed him. The funerals were wretched excess, but wretched excess does not special treatment for Mr. Floyd. He's dead. He derives no benefit from what has happened after his demise.

Make smart arguments, please.

What's worse than an out-of-control police department?

Armed social workers, that's what.

I'm all for making changes to policing, especially using cops as agents of revenue collection. But given the predilections of the therapeutic state, you'd soon see tyranny far more cruel than whatever we have now.

With all due respect

Given the way the George Floyd Revels essentially ignored all protocols, I would say Tim Walz can take his dials and place them in a location where the sun fails to reach.

One thing to watch

If what we've been told for the past three months is accurate, we should expect a huge ramp up in COVID-19 cases in the next two weeks. Let's see how that plays out.

Minneapolis is burning

I don't know anyone who isn't sickened by what the Minneapolis police did to George Floyd. There should be righteous anger about it. However, this isn't righteous. Images from the Daily Mail:

Burn baby burn

Nor is torching an apartment building under construction:

No way to live

Nor is grabbing smokes:

The pause that refreshes

At least the looters are wearing masks, right? That should please Mayor Frey.

Biden in Quintessence

The Scranton WTF Machine strikes again:

Former Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday emphatically defended his ties to the African American community — telling a popular black radio personality that he “ain’t black” if he was still weighing whether to support Biden or President Donald Trump in November’s general election.

The remarks from the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee came during an at-times contentious interview on “The Breakfast Club” that aired Friday morning, during which co-host Charlamagne tha God challenged Biden over his decadeslong record on racial issues and current contemplation of a black, female running mate.

I'm sure the co-host appreciated the tutorial. There's more:

“I’m not acknowledging anybody who is being considered, but I guarantee you, there are multiple black women being considered. Multiple,” Biden said of his search process for a vice presidential nominee.

It was then that an aide to the Biden campaign could be heard interjecting into the conversation, attempting to cut short the interview. “Thank you so much. That’s really our time. I apologize,” the aide said.

“You can't do that to black media!” Charlamagne retored.

“I do that to white media and black media because my wife has to go on at 6 o’clock,” Biden shot back, apparently referring to a subsequent media appearance by Jill Biden, before adding: “Uh oh. I’m in trouble.”

Trouble, trouble that's the name/of Biden's pop-off-a-matic game. He wasn't through:

“Listen, you’ve got to come see us when you come to New York, VP Biden,” Charlamagne said. “It’s a long way until November. We've got more questions.”

“You’ve got more questions?” Biden replied. “Well, I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”

A photo of Charlamagne tha God:

Ain't saying

Another step on the road to Torricelliville.

Walz Between Church and State

Our overlords say no Church services with more than 10 people, even in a building as huge as the Cathedral. The bishops say "nuts":

The bishops’ decision to contravene a statewide executive order is the first made by U.S. bishops since the coronavirus pandemic began.

But Minnesota’s bishops said the state’s prohibitions on religious gatherings of more than 10 people does not respect the right to the free exercise of religion.

“It is now permissible for an unspecified number of people to go to shopping malls and enter stores, so long as no more than 50 percent of the occupancy capacity is reached. Big-box stores have hundreds of people inside at any one time, and the number of goods that are being handled and distributed in one store by many people—stock staff, customers, cashiers—is astounding. Workers are present for many hours per day, often in close proximity. There is no state mandate that customers wear masks in those malls or stores, wash their hands consistently, or follow any specific cleaning protocol,” the bishops wrote.

“In these circumstances, and given the well-researched protocols that we have proposed (and that are being followed successfully elsewhere in our nation) how can reason require us any longer to keep our faithful from the Eucharist?”

In response, Governor Walz said the following:

It's on. And it needs to be.

Mr. Lotter, he gone

After four months in position, former New Brighton honcho Dean Lotter gets the pipe in Eureka, CA:

The Eureka City Council at a special meeting Tuesday will accept the resignation of outgoing Eureka City Manger Dean Lotter, who was placed on administrative leave on May 1, after holding the position for just over four months.

Following a national search and rigorous interview process, Lotter was selected to replace retiring City Manager Greg Sparks. In December of last year Lotter and his wife moved to Eureka from New Brighton, Minnesota, where Lotter served as city manager for 13 years.

We aren't likely to get the "why" in this case, at least right away, but his act probably didn't go well out there. He was able to get by with a lot of nonsense because of the Keystone Kop nature of New Brighton politicians, but that act doesn't work everywhere.

This should be obvious, but. . . .

Via Instapundit, the unreliable narrator Peggy Noonan makes the salient point:

It’s not that those in red states don’t think there’s a pandemic. They’ve heard all about it! They realize it will continue, they know they may get sick themselves. But they also figure this way: Hundreds of thousands could die and the American economy taken down, which would mean millions of other casualties, economic ones. Or, hundreds of thousands could die and the American economy is damaged but still stands, in which case there will be fewer economic casualties—fewer bankruptcies and foreclosures, fewer unemployed and ruined.

They’ll take the latter. It’s a loss either way but one loss is worse than the other. They know the politicians and scientists can’t really weigh all this on a scale with any precision because life is a messy thing that doesn’t want to be quantified.

Here’s a generalization based on a lifetime of experience and observation. The working-class people who are pushing back have had harder lives than those now determining their fate. They haven’t had familial or economic ease. No one sent them to Yale. They often come from considerable family dysfunction. This has left them tougher or harder, you choose the word.

It's easy to write checks on other people's accounts. As for the politicians:

Meanwhile some governors are playing into every stereotype of “the overclass.” On Tuesday Pennsylvania’s Tom Wolf said in a press briefing that those pushing against the shutdown are cowards. Local officials who “cave in to this coronavirus” will pay a price in state funding. “These folks are choosing to desert in the face of the enemy. In the middle of a war.” He said he’ll pull state certificates such as liquor licenses for any businesses that open. He must have thought he sounded uncompromising, like Gen. George Patton. He seemed more like Patton slapping the soldier. No sympathy, no respect, only judgment.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called anti-lockdown demonstrations “racist and misogynistic.” She called the entire movement “political.” It was, in part—there have been plenty of Trump signs, and she’s a possible Democratic vice presidential nominee. But the clamor in her state is real, and serious. People are in economic distress and worry that the foundations of their lives are being swept away. How does name-calling help? She might as well have called them “deplorables.” She said the protests may only make the lockdowns last longer, which sounded less like irony than a threat.

Those deplorables elected the Bad Orange Man. And there's an excellent chance they will do it again. Why is that?

When you are reasonable with people and show them respect, they will want to respond in kind. But when they feel those calling the shots are being disrespectful, they will push back hard and rebel even in ways that hurt them.

As a rule, we aren't comfortable talking about class in this country, but the stratification of class is stronger today than it has been a very long time. And our Betters aren't particularly magnanimous.

I am an older fat dude with a horrible family history for heart disease -- if I get the 'rona, it could be very bad for me. But having a third of the country on the dole is going to be a lot worse for all of us. And those who would deign to protect me aren't doing me, or anyone else, any favors. But self-affirmation is a helluva drug.

Unmasking

We are all supposed to wear masks now. But there is also some unmasking going on. Consider this example from a local political favorite:

Sure, that must be it

You might remember Strub, who served one term on the corrupt New Brighton City Council, adding a veneer of sanctimony to the usual money-grubbing that goes on there. Turns out ol' Strub figured out it's more lucrative to work for Gov. Walz, as the linked article informs us:

Not everybody supports the efforts of small businesses to oppose Walz’s months long shutdown. Brian Strub, a member of the governor’s staff, says that efforts by churches to reopen are motivated by greed and will endanger lives.

“Beware of any church suing to reopen, as they may be showing their true colors of caring more about the collection plate than about human life. This [the closures] is #prolife in 2020,” he wrote in a now deleted tweet.

I have been attending Mass online since the clampdown began. I have also been giving online to my parish for years now. As a congregation, we are greatly saddened that we cannot gather together for Mass. My parish is not wealthy, but it's not the money that matters. Except to Strub, who doesn't appear to have the courage of his convictions. You can delete your tweets, sir, but we sensed who you are long ago. Thank you for dropping your mask.

Just a reminder

No matter the emergency or the pretext, the moment a government determines that the life and livelihood or any citizen is "non-essential," tyranny has arrived. And tyranny does not cease until it is forced to cease.

Former Imperious City Employees in the News

Remember Dean Lotter? He was the longtime City Manager for New Brighton, best known for his imperious manner and copious self-regard. He left New Brighton last November for a new job in Eureka, California. Apparently he didn't last long:

A major announcement was made Friday for the city of Eureka.

Eureka City Council said City Manager Dean Lotter is on Administrative Leave.

Effective immediately, City Clerk Pam Powell will assume the role and responsibilities of Acting City Manager, the city said in a press release.

I don't know anything about the current situation or the cultural mores of Eureka, California, but Lotter was much beloved among certain politicos in New Brighton because he was always good for backstopping whatever antics they were undertaking. Maybe Lotter wasn't playing ball, or maybe he played ball too well in Eureka, but he got the pipe from there in a hurry. That's interesting. And with the recent resignation of Mary Burg, there's a fair measure of skulduggery afoot in Lotter's old redoubt, as usual. We're watching the situation and I will have more to say about all that in the coming days.

Evers says, "Balls to ya, Bob Burns"

There is a price to pay for the various lockdowns. Back in my hometown of Appleton, Wisconsin, Bob Burns is paying it:

Bob Burns enters his golf shop on a mobility scooter, his dog Hogan padding ahead of him. The door locks behind him. The lights are off. The parking lot is empty. There’s not a soul on the driving range. The police, in fact, have swung by a few times to make sure Burns is complying with Gov. Tony Evers’ order closing non-essential businesses, extended now to May 26.

Normally, April and May are busy months at Bob Burns Golf. People are itching to hit balls on the range, to get their clubs re-gripped, to purchase the newest equipment, to sign up for lessons.

This year, as we all know, is not normal. Burns owns a stand-alone driving range, one of thousands of businesses statewide shuttered by the coronavirus pandemic. Golf courses opened Friday and motorized carts are allowed starting Wednesday, but driving ranges must remain closed.

His competitors are also open:

Scheels, a huge sporting goods store in Appleton, is open. So are Menards and Walmart and Costco, all of which sell golf equipment.

But the police are checking the doors at Bob Burns Golf, just in case a golfer or two has sneaked onto the range to hit a few balls, not only socially distanced but practically isolated.

“Why pick on me?” Burns says, with more incredulity than anger in his voice. “Who does more for this community and golf? Why pick on me?”

There's more, lots more, at the link, including what Bob Burns has done for golf, in Appleton and beyond. Tony Evers doesn't care about any of that.

Tim Walz could decide to take a different path than Tony Evers. He will announce his decision shortly. There are businesses in Minnesota like the one Bob Burns runs in Wisconsin that will be out of business soon.

Just a reminder

Fear is a selfish emotion, especially when it leads you to demand others make sacrifices on your behalf.

Are You Team Joe?

Join us!

Never mind

I know all about the Borgias

Chill-dren!

Here's Johnny!

You have no idea

You can be, too! Just go to the link and make yer own!

This Is Not America

At the moment, it is. Behold the efforts of local law enforcement in Brighton, Colorado:

While I share skepticism about the overall utility of social distancing, I have made a point of doing so; other than daily walks around the neighborhood and getting a morning cup of coffee at the gas station a few blocks away (which is more about keeping them in business than anything else), I have not been leaving my house much at all. But there are people who cheering this sort of behavior right now -- I see it on my social media feed every damned day.

When we begin the reckoning of this moment, we are going to need to demand answers about behavior like this. But more importantly, we need to consult a mirror to see why we were willing to use the Constitution as we would use a 48-roll jumbo pack of Kirkland toilet paper.

Spreading?

I'm watching where COVID-19 cases are happening. The maps show where we were last week and where we are now:

Next, Wisconsin:

Then, Iowa:

Finally, Illinois:

So, it's spreading. But is it spreading in such a way that commerce should be curtailed and even halted? And remember -- the state shown here with the hardest crackdown is Illinois.

One request

Sure, stay at home, social distance, all that.  But don't be a fucking Stasi about it, mkay? Talk to your neighbors, don't rat them out. If we're going to have a world worth living in once this is over, and it will be over, we are going to have to be decent to one another and calling Tim Walz's hotline is not how you do it.

That is all.

Good news, bad news

The good news? After 14 days my daughter, recently returned from Spain, is out of quarantine with no sign of coronavirus.

The bad news? The state is shut down.

For the record, here is a county-by-county map of cases in Minnesota:

Metro? Yes. Western Minnesota? Not so much

Here's Wisconsin, which is operating under similar, if slightly more strict clampdown rules:

Stay on Highway 8 and you're good

Only 3 counties have a real problem at the moment -- Milwaukee, Dane, and to a much lesser extent Waukesha.

How about our neighbors in Iowa? They aren't currently doing a clampdown.

Not so good in Iowa City and Des Moines, but otherwise?

Then consider our friends in Illinois, now under a far more draconian clampdown thanks to their governor:

Lotta clear spaces here, especially in the southeast

So my question is this -- why are governors imposing one-size-fits-all solutions on their states? I'm assuming we can still ask the question for now in this forum -- not too many blue-check thought police read this feature. When this is all over, I will be curious to see if some of these counties are still free of the virus. If you believe the narrative, a plague is spreading across the land and it's everywhere. And perhaps it is. But I wonder, just a little bit.

A lesson learned, or suspicion confirmed

We'll have time to sort all this out eventually, but one thing has become quite clear -- a lot of people are quite willing to become cheerleaders for the heavy hand of government if they have any fear at all. Mencken said it this way:

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”

No, COVID-19 (or the Wuhan coronavirus, if you'd prefer) is not imaginary in the least. But there's no lack of people who are clamoring to be led to safety at the moment. Would that I had more confidence in those who are supposed to be doing the leading. And no, that's not a shot at Trump -- as always, the people you really need to watch are closer to home.

When will this end?

When people get tired of it. Spring is coming and people will want to get out and about. And at some point you're going to start getting less obedience and more questioning of the powers that be, especially about shelter-in-place rules and whatnot.

Might be time for a pool. Take a guess on when the clamps come off and put your guess in the comments.

Back in Business

Career opportunities

We were able to get our daughter out of Spain. Good thing, too, because the crackdown is on:

The Spanish government is poised to declare a 15-day national lockdown on Monday to battle coronavirus.

Under the decree being finalised, people would be allowed out only for emergencies, to buy food, or for work.

With 191 deaths and 6,046 infections, Spain is the worst-hit country in Europe after Italy, which declared a nationwide lockdown on Monday.

I understand the impulse. It may turn out to be right thing to do. But the eagerness of officials throughout the world to crack down, and the cheering they are receiving, should get your antennae up.

Maybe not as dead as we thought, though.

It would have been nice if. . .

. . . the Leader of the Free World had said at the outset of his remarks tonight that his likely useless European travel ban didn’t apply to U.S. citizens. We ended up spending a small fortune on a one-way ticket via London to get our daughter a flight home on the weekend, routing her through England to avoid restrictions that didn’t actually apply to her, so she wouldn’t be stuck in Europe. Sneaking a clarification out an hour after his presentation was, well, horseshit.

I can’t even pretend to defend this. Meanwhile, the trip to Spain I have been waiting to take for 36 freaking years is now likely a sunk cost.

Grrrr.

Wash yer hands

This was going around social media yesterday. You can go to the website and create your own, but this seems like the right choice:

Australian schoolboy outfit optional

In two weeks. . .

. . . we are supposed to go to Spain to visit Fearless Maria, currently studying in Madrid. Will it happen, or will the urge to quarantine the entire freaking world prevail? We're about to find out.

Events are in the saddle.

Ordinarily, I'm not a fan of schadenfreude, but. . .

. . . in this case I'll make an exception:

Too little, too late

Michael Bloomberg has amassed a fortune of over $60 billion. He could buy and sell me a thousand times out of petty cash. I stipulate he's a brilliant businessman and an impressive figure. But he is a terrible politician and a malevolent human being. He's now forced to admit that a time serving hack with a rictus grin has a better chance of being president than he does. If you can't get your schadenfreude on for that, you're missing out.

Feel the Bern? I don't feel much of anything

Don't fall in love, fall in line

So Joe Biden, fugitive from Madame Tussauds, is now back to being the frontrunner in the 2020 Dem circus. Is there a deeper meaning to Sooooooooper Tuesday (borrowing a little Benster HYYYYPE here)? Not really. Whatever the party apparat wants, it ultimately gets. And Bernie Sanders isn't what they want.

I was able to get exclusive video of the discussions before Super Tuesday among top Dem officials:

And just as William Holden portrayed it, Joe gets to empty the ashtrays.

It's Klo-ver

Our Amy gets the pipe:

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar ended her campaign for president Monday afternoon and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden, as the party’s moderate wing has started to unite in a bid to stop Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders from building an insurmountable lead in the race for the Democratic nomination.

Klobuchar made the announcement official at a Biden rally in Dallas, where former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg also made a separate endorsement of the former vice president at a restaurant before the event. Former presidential contender Beto O’Rourke also was expected to announce his backing of Biden.

Don't fall in love, fall in line

I almost feel sorry for Klobuchar. She didn't even get the chance to take a victory lap in her home state before they came for her, and you know they did come for her. This was not a free will decision, any more than the decision Pete Buttigieg made the day before. And her reward for the past year of her life, for visiting every county in Iowa and all the other silly rituals she chose to undertake, is to endorse a malaprop factory who seems to be about one heckler away from a total mental breakdown.

Still, she had to know this day was coming. She wasn't going to get the nomination. She probably won't even get the Veep nod from Vice President Kinnock; about the best she can hope for, in the highly unlikely event Biden were somehow to win the nomination and then the presidency, would be something like HUD director. When 2024 rolls around, she'll be yesterday's news. Perhaps it's appropriate she knelt before Zod in Texas; at least she won't have far to go to check into her berth in the Cindy Sheehan ditch.

1000 Words

Signs, signs everywhere signs