Goodness, there is a lot to cover this week! Some of it is sort of fun. Other parts are weird. Some of that seem to be part of madness. There is word the new Department of Defense Budget will be proposed on Friday, and it contains lots of fun items. That is in parallel to the other separate streams of public hilarity, which stand apart but actually seem to be in a strange sort of harmony. We have already agreed not to mess with the idea that wind and solar power will take care of everything if we divest ourselves of fossil fuels like they did in Texas. No one knows the electricity to charge our Teslas will continue to come from burning coal, or natural gas, since there is no proposed alternative. It is like complaining about the weather and expecting something to happen. There is good news, too, in that the Population Bomb we have been threatened with the last half century has fizzled across the West into a sort of moist “pop.” Most folks are not having at least 2.1 children, though the last digit in that has always been problematic.

A couple of the interns were indoctrinated at fine insitutiitions in the Big Ten conference. Since that has traditionally been mostly about college athletics rather the study of the classics, the determination of the University of Michigan to consider re-naming the Fielding H. Yost ice facility to something else was an emotional issue. Yost bounced between being football coach and Athletic Director over a 40-year career at the University. When coach, his teams had an impressive 83% winning record, something pretty remarkable for his or any other time. Apparently someone found something in 1934 that is so momentous that it will cause his name to be ripped down from the ice arena.

Chairman Socotra banged his shoe at his end of the LGT and said he would consider renaming the parking lot down by the loading dock if the kids didn’t stop fooling around with history they didn’t understand. The grumbling was covered by sounds of the maintenance crew banging on the metal sides of the garage and barn. Whether they were in favor or not was also a matter of controversy, and the volume threatened to increase the regular number of slides, from the usual one to two. That would amount to a doubling of the usual lunacy, and increased production requirements, driving the Socotra minimum wage ever upward against a fixed revenue base. Compliance conferred and suggested it may relate to Ms Psaki’s recent attribution from the podium at the White House on the matter of increasing crime being committed across the nation. She said it was because more guns are being sold.

Three-of-five departments think there is a case to be made for that view. The Editorial Board cut them all out, elevating the matter to the senior staff and argued about it for a while. A faction from HR re-injected themselves, pointing out that the sudden release of the nation from pandemic restrictions would naturally be reflected in some acting-out behavior, and like inflation, would be purely transitional. Others (from Legal) said that legally purchased weapons are rarely the problem in gang-related shooting incidents. Others from Compliance opined that a lot of people are scared by reductions in police forces and the subsequent demoralization of officers and are bulking up in the false concept of safety.

The Editorial Board nodded and said there was some strange stuff going on. It made the senior ones who still have hair to comb over recall the thrills of the 1970s, and said we could stand by for a lot more excitement. They refused to put their bi-lines on anything and recommended a feature piece on the uplifting and amusing aspects of the Westminster Dog Show.

The effort of the older folks seemed to have a fair amount of merit. The entire Green Table barked in agreement.

Copyright 2021 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com