Amusements

 So, Jim Christian is out at BC.  This amuses me, because 1) They fired Al Skinner years ago for merely being...well, I would say "overachieving," if not competent, at coaching in a tough conference; and 2) They hired Christian (I think it was after the Elite Eight run at KSU) to replace Skinner, and it has been suckitude ever since. So I have to chuckle at the revenge of the basketball gods.

https://theathletic.com/2390482/2021/02/15/jalen-johnson-duke-college-basketball-nba-draft/

Thank God!  This whole season has been a shitstorm, and my own sense is that 1) All of this could have been avoided and 2) I think Coach K is doing this on purpose; have a young team with talent, but needs time, so, in a mucked up season...you can do that.  Much as UVA has been forgiven for losing to UMBC, I think the approach here is to develop the young guys and then have a killer team for next year.  I realize this is somewhat heretical here, but...

https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2021/02/ohio-turned-red-for-a-reason-including-democrats-failure-to-address-factory-job-loss-thomas-suddes.html

I have often mentioned Vern Riffe as an example of politics done correctly; I mean, the genius of the system he created was that you could always blame other Democrats for not getting everything...  but these Democrats were untouchable in their own districts, so...it was just smoke and not fire.  Now, of course, when there can be no dissent from the party line... there is nowhere to hide, if you will, and then people can consider Plan B, even if it that involves, say, voting Republican.