Random Notes from a Crank

Apparently the NFL is moving the Pro Bowl to become a flag football game. It was already that way in the past because like the NBA All-Star game, defense is optional in those silly games. Now the NFL is simply being truthful, which is a rare occurrence. 

"How Kansas Kept Abortion Legal" by Amy Littlefield in The Nation is worth a read. I hope it's a bellwether for the upcoming mid-term elections. 

I'm searching for a professional way of saying "bitch, please" without having to actually say "bitch, please." Here are suggestions from my friends on FB:

• Your opinion is duly noted, but I respectfully disagree.
• Bless your heart.
• Per my previous email
• Thank you for your interest.
• Please send me these concerns in an email.
• I'm sure that makes sense to you given your level of experience. 
• I'll take it from here.
• I appreciate your input, but we will be going in a different direction.
• Thank you very much, but I'm going to pass on that idea/opportunity at this time. 
• Thank you for the information.
• Perhaps.
• I've got you covered. 
• Ok, great. 

While I cannot find it online yet, you should pick up the most recent issue of The Nation and read Stephen Berry's "Confederates Take the Capitol." Berry is the Gregory Professor of the Civil War Era at the University of Georgia. He penned a trenchant essay about the January 6th insurrection and its historical context. 

Here's one of my favorite statements in the article: "At the base of most contemporary American conspiracy theories is the white male fantasy that indulges the feeling of being aggrieved, abused, dominated, or violated, precisely to justify the legitimacy of the ensuing white male vengeance and demonstrations of power and control." 

A few ¶s before, he makes this important statement: "...they [students of history and politics] assume that a majority of people act in their material self interest. Especially in the American context, they often don't. They act in their cultural self-interest. Any government program that benefits everyone (whether Obamacare, mask mandates, or vaccines) benefits out-groups relatively more--and America's traditionally dominant class (white male Christians and their allies) like winning less than they like watching other people lose. They not actually cynical about government; they know it works, but they want it to work for them particularly, perhaps exclusively, as it usually has--or they want it to not to work at all."