Monday, March 18, 2024

CA on Trump's Naughty List

Doyle McManus has been writing for the LA Times since 1978. Today he writes about Trump's post-election plans for California.

California richly deserves the sort of ramrodding Trump promises. Even if he only gets 50% of it done, it will be a yuuuge improvement. 

Along the way McManus shares a new Trump nickname for its Governor: "Gavin NewScum." Of course true-blue McManus is horrified at the prospect of Trump's threatened CA policies, which I view as a delightful bonus.

Pay and College Major, an Update

Regular COTTonLINE readers know one of the themes followed in this blog is the importance of occcupational choice/college major in life outcomes. Today’s “brick in the wall” comes from CNBC, the business arm of NBC, its topic: which college majors pay worst and best both at graduation and in mid-career.

Taking the booby prize for worst pay, both immediately and later, is early childhood education. Others not doing at all well include History, Psychology, Recreation, Nutrition, Fine Arts, Social Services, Theology and Education. Who does especially well: engineers, both immediately and later.

Education majors tend to be paid less, as well. While teachers have good job security, summers off and pensions, they’re usually paid by state governments, which have lagged in keeping wages commensurate with inflation. In recent years, the “teacher pay penalty” has gotten worse, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Unfortunately for teachers, they don’t fare much better later in their careers. When looking at “mid-career” graduates — those ages 35 to 45 — education majors are the worst paid among all majors.

I was happy not to see B-school majors listed among the poorly paid. While it is always best to see a clear path between degree major and meaningful career employment, this nostrum isn’t helping education majors in today’s market.

Political Ridicule

Writer Michael Kruse doesn't much like Trump and he writes for Politico which holds a similar view of Trump. In spite of the setting and the author's bias, Kruse writes perceptively about Donald J. Trump's highly successful manner of connecting with audiences.

“Donald Trump has an ability to bring you in with his humor,” former Trump White House principal deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley told me, “and it really is kind of one of his best characteristics. It humanizes him in a way that I think a lot of politicians are scared of, wouldn’t do, or can’t do.”

It explains why Trump can get away with saying off the wall things like he'd invite Russia to invade any NATO country which failed to spend its promised share on defense. His supporters read it, accurately, as exaggeration to make a point. 

The excellent Salena Zito summarized it as his followers taking him "seriously but not literally," which is exactly how you'd react to someone doing political humor. No wonder he can fill stadiums, he is an excellent entertainer. Stylistically, Trump's delivery is a mixture of Bob Hope, Don Rickles and Mort Sahl.

I date myself with that comparison. I'm sure there are modern equivalents but I stopped watching standup perhaps three decades back. I changed, they stopped being funny, or quite possibly both.

Sunday, March 17, 2024

POC Vote Up for Grabs


The above chart I sourced from Nate Silver's Silver Bulletin, although it has appeared elsewhere. It shows what the polls have been telling us, that more and more POC voters are seeing their future lies with the GOP.

It turns out that a party which demonstrates concern for the economics of working class life can lure many voters from their former home with the Democrats, who can't stop talking about abortion and the civil rights of violent felons.

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Doing Dune Justice

Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Two hit the theaters a couple of weeks ago. I haven't seen it yet, but probably will eventually. I just read a review that appeared in Tablet, following a link from RealClearPolitics

Reviewer Liel Leibovitz wasn't impressed with the Villeneuve treatment of the second half. He liked the first half by Villeneuve, after not much liking the David Lynch version from 1984. 

I found Villeneuve's treatment of the first half inferior to the David Lynch version, and am prepared to be disappointed by the second half when I see it. 

There are those who believe it is impossible to do justice to the Frank Herbert book in film, and in some senses they are probably correct. Understanding much had to be left out, I still find the Lynch version does a good job of putting pictures to the story if you've read the book

Leibovitz doesn't even mention the made-for-TV version (2000, 2003) that's available on CD. It has some strong performances but lacks English subtitles and is thus difficult for those of us with age-impaired hearing.

The TV version has Ian McNeice playing Baron Harkonnen in a more nuanced-but-evil way than the diseased sicko of Lynch's film. You know McNeice from PBS's Doc Martin where he played Bert Large. Alec Newman played Paul Atreides in the TV mini series.

The spice must flow.

Saturday Snark









I keep telling you this.

I want one of these.






Images courtesy of Power Line's The Week in Pictures
and its Comments section.

A Flock of Robins

 I’m seeing evidence the whole woke-berserker craziness has finally jumped the shark, gone too far for even good-hearted softies to stand. Below, as bullet points, without the usual links to proof, are some of the signs I’ve noted that we may be experiencing a correction to the right.

  • Voters in true-blue San Francisco voting to require drug testing for welfare.
  • Florida banning DEI in universities and government.
  • Georgia passing a law to crack down on district attorneys who won’t prosecute criminals.
  • Virginia vetoing a bill requiring businesses to report their DEI statistics.
  • The Supremes reexamining the loophole that permits camping on the sidewalks and parks.
  • Cities backing away from open-ended “sanctuary” status.
  • Democrat mayors asking for border enforcement.
  • Top universities renewing requirement to submit SAT/ACT scores for admission.
  • Florida closing a loophole that allowed squatters to stay in property they neither owned nor rented.
  • Polling that has Trump ahead by several percentage points.

I’m the first to say one robin doesn’t mean spring has arrived, but the above looks suspiciously like a flock of robins. Fingers crossed time.

Review: Life in Geezerville

Dear Readers, if you haven’t already seen it, the other DrC is doing a series of Geezerville posts at her website, CruzTalking Two. You might want to give it a look.

Her overarching topic is life for the retired set, and her “take” on it is semi-whimsical and slightly autobiographical. Her emphasis is on us seniors (geezers) living in a 55+ adult community, a Geezerville.

This series began in January and the most recent is today. It isn’t a continuing story, each post is free-standing and they can be read in any order which pleases you. Her tag line sets the tone, 

We’re all in this together.

Friday, March 15, 2024

Friday Snark






Images courtesy of Politico's Nation's Cartoonists on the Week in Politics.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Oscar Viewing Down

Breitbart Entertainment reports this year's Academy Awards show had the fourth lowest ratings in Oscar history. It drew 19.5 million viewers.

Facts are facts, and a mere ten years ago, in 2014, the Oscar telecast drew 43.7 million viewers. Hell, five years ago, in 2019, 30 million tuned in.

Making their product "woke" has had the anticipated negative effect on the popularity of recent films. 

Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Poll: SOTU No Help

Democrats have tried to argue that Joe Biden's yelling during the SOTU speech improved his image with voters. Here comes a Harris/Forbes poll done 3 days after the SOTU, with findings that point to his approval rating declining further. In bullet points, here are the main Harris findings.

  • Approval of Biden's performance as President: Net approve: 37%, Net disapprove: 58%.
  • If you voted today and the choices were Biden and Trump, for whom would you vote?  Trump: 46%, Biden: 41%.
  • Do you think ____ should run for president again? Biden: Run 36%, Not Run 64%; Trump: Run 46%, Not Run 54%.
Plus Yahoo News reports the results of a YouGov poll they commissioned after the speech which found this.
A new Yahoo News/YouGov survey of 1,482 U.S. adults, conducted in the days immediately following Biden’s big speech, shows zero improvement in perceptions of the president — or in his standing against former President Donald Trump.

Don’t you think virtually everyone who will vote in November already knows now for whom they will vote then? I know I do. 

It's Semi-Official

With the primaries today in GA, MS, and WA plus the Marianas Islands, both Biden and Trump now have won enough delegates to ensure their nomination at this summer's party conventions. 

Will they be the nominees? Probably, unless something cataclysmic happens to one or both. Neither man is young. Both are at ages where death or disability is more likely than for younger persons. And there is lawfare to contend with.

Tuesday Snark


Image courtesy of Scott Johnson posting at Power Line.

Monday, March 11, 2024

Suppressing Evidence

There is quite a bit being written about a reappraisal of the original Jan. 6 committee established and staffed by Nancy Pelosi and cochaired by Liz Cheney. They heard testimony that Trump offered National Guard troops to reinforce security at the capitol which offer was turned down. This we already knew.

What we didn't know was that the committee reported nothing about hearing this testimony. They gave Trump no credit for anticipating a possible disruption and offering help to forestall it. 

Obviously the testimony discredited the narrative line they were selling, so they suppressed it. Their entire process was a political hit job all the way down; the committee members and Pelosi are scum.

Three Milestones

Saturday night we shifted to Daylight Savings Time, and revisited the controversy that attends it. I don’t experience it as problematic, possibly because for the past 3 decades we have hopped among time zones as a result of our travels. 

Jet lag I do get to varying degrees of severity. A shift of one hour no es un problema.

Friday will be the infamous Ides of March. Let’s hope our leaders have better luck than did poor Julius Caesar on this fateful day. 

Two days later is St. Patrick’s Day when we celebrate all things Irish. Prominent among these is drinking to excess.

—————

I’m reminded of the way my former university reacted to St. Paddy’s Day. Our students would drink all day-and-night and, as is sometimes the case, have negative consequences including the occasional case of alcohol poisoning.

Parents seemed to think the U should keep this from happening, which we were unable to do. Eventually it was decided to always schedule our spring break, formerly associated with Easter, so it included St. Patrick’s Day in the 7+2=9 days when the U wasn’t “in session.”

This did actually reduce drinking as many of the students scattered - went home or to Cabo. Whatever they experienced wasn’t our responsibility. 

Problem solved or, more accurately, shifted to others’ shoulders. Local bar owners weren’t best pleased.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Right the First Time

During his SOTU speech President Biden committed another of his trademark gaffes, calling the illegal alien accused of murdering nursing student Laken Riley "an illegal." Biden has subsequently apologized repeatedly for calling this perp what he in fact is, a person here illegally, in contravention of our laws. 

On the most important issue of this election Joe Biden is on one side, while you, me and most of our neighbors are on the other. If you believe, as I do, that Joe was right the first time, and wrong to apologize, don't vote for him this November. 

Trump, the 2024 Moderate

RealClearPolitics has a column by Ben Shapiro, who makes an interesting point concerning President Biden's problems with voters, as reflected in nearly every poll done this year. The following quotes summarize his insight.

Joe Biden is losing to Donald Trump because of a dirty little secret: Donald Trump is actually the moderate in this race. On nearly every issue, Trump is closer to the median voter than Biden.

Meanwhile, Trump is winning over more and more vote-switchers. That's because his positions are moderate.

Shapiro adds Trump's positions on abortion, immigration, spending and inflation are more mainstream. Biden's too often reflect the extreme views of The Squad.

Saturday Snark, a Little Late














Images courtesy of Power Line's The Week in Pictures
and its Comments section.

Saturday, March 9, 2024

UFOs, We Just Don’t Know

The federal government reissued a statement to the effect they have no evidence that any UFOs are from off-planet. The headlines reporting this disclaimer say the feds believe UFOs are not alien based. 

Those headlines are wrong. “No evidence” doesn’t equal “evidence there are no ETs.” It is merely a fancy way of saying “We don’t know what UFOs are.” And if you believe they are telling the truth, they further mean we have no ET evidence we cannot explain some other way. 

Friday, March 8, 2024

Review: Damsel

This evening the other DrC and I watched the newly released Millie Bobby Brown film Damsel on Netflix. While it was a pleasant way to spend an evening, it was not up to her previous work for Netflix: Stranger Things, and Enola Holmes 1 & 2.

We both noted a couple of strands of wokeness in the film, which didn’t help. Without indulging in too many spoilers, Ms Brown needs to spend much of the film dirty and disheveled and this she does with gusto. Robin Wright does her customary fine job as a villain. The special effects are well done too.

I’ll look forward to another episode of Enola Holmes and the fifth season of Stranger Things. I don’t expect follow-ons featuring Elodie, Ms. Brown’s character in Damsel.