Lots of good news lately about the economy and crime

But if Biden falters in next week's debate, look for a full-on Democratic panic

6-20-2024 (issue No. 146)

This week:

• Last week’s winning tweet

• Good economic and crime news abounds — Can President Joe Biden bring it home in next week’s high-stakes debate?

• News and Views — Hot takes, fully baked on the Republican embrace of the Confederacy and more

• Land of Linkin’ — Where I tell readers where to go

• Squaring up the news — Where Charlie Meyerson tells readers where to go

• The dialogue in “Hacks” about aging

• Mary Schmich — Fun conversations with strangers

• Who’s on “The Mincing Rascals” podcast this week? — Not me! I’m traveling

• Meet Marj Halperin, Mincing Rascals panelist

• Quotables — A collection of compelling, sometimes appalling passages I’ve encountered lately

• Re:Tweets — The winning visual tweet and this week’s contest finalists

• Good Sports — Why we’re not debating Caitlin Clark again this week; an update on the No No Sox

• Tune of the Week — “Strike the Bells” by Rayna Gellert

Eric Zorn is a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Find a longer bio and contact information here. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise.

Last week’s winning tweet

If my wife doesn't win anything on this $2 scratch ticket, it's going to go down as one of the worst birthday presents ever. — @RodLacroix

Here are this week’s nominees and the winner of the Tuesday visual-tweets poll. Here is the direct link to the new poll.

Gas and grocery prices are down, as are violent crime, unemployment and the rate of inflation. The stock market is soaring, wage growth is up …

And yet it is mourning in America for Republicans and tens of millions of voters who would furiously be blaming Democratic President Joe Biden were any of these indicators pointing the other direction.

Rather than ignore these data points, Trump and his surrogates prefer simply to lie about them — insisting, for instance, that crime is up and that inflation is out of control.

One week from today — Thursday, June 27 — Biden will face off with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for a debate. I’m sure many of these data points will come up, and I hope moderators and fact-checkers call out Trump in the highly likely event he misrepresents them.

It’s been interesting to see Trump and his followers lowering expectations for Biden, all but calling him addled and demented in the run-up to the debate. Biden has the chance to put these rumors/concerns to rest by going the full 90 minutes without a noticeable “senior moment.” Yes, he was strong during the State of the Union speech — so strong that flummoxed Republicans accused him of being on stimulants — but he will be off the teleprompter this time, as will Trump.

If Biden falters badly, look for a full-scale panic from Democrats, who may attempt to persuade Biden to step aside and open up the August convention for another nominee.

If Trump falters badly, look for a full -cale shrug from Republicans and a raft of excuses and denials.

News & Views

News: “192 House Republicans voted for an amendment which would have required a controversial Confederate monument to be reinstated at Arlington National Cemetery.”

View: It’s either opacity or racism that inspires this retrograde party to want to show admiration for traitorous, racist secessionists of the 19th century. The monument in question “includes depictions of Black slaves, one looking after a white soldier's baby, another appearing to follow his master into battle.”

“What Confederate tradition are you upholding?” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries asked at a news conference. “Is it slavery? Rape? Kidnap(ping)? Jim Crow? Lynching? Racial oppression? Or all of the above?”

Good questions for Donald Trump, who on Tuesday told a rally audience in Wisconsin that it was “horrible” that the names have been changed on U.S. military bases named for Confederate leaders.

News: “Unionized journalists at WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times voted overwhelmingly to seek outgoing Chicago Public Media CEO Matt Moog’s immediate removal, expressing a lack of confidence in his leadership.”

View: If Moog wants to begin repairing his fractured relationship with the staff at Chicago Public Media, he could start by returning the 19% pay hike he recently received that boosted his annual compensation to $633,000, which included a bonus of nearly $150,000. It would be a show of good faith that might also allay concerns of many small-dollar donors who wonder just where their money to support the radio station’s programming is actually going.

Moog has announced he will step down when a new CEO is named, and released a statement saying “it saddens me to be personally attacked for taking the necessary and responsible steps to reduce expenses to offset the financial impact of declining broadcast and print audiences.”

Yes. We all understand that these are tough days indeed for traditional broadcast and print outlets. The venerable Washington Post lost $77 million last year. But taking a huge bonus and accepting a substantial raise while laying off staff and cutting programming are a terrible look. “Responsible steps to reduce expenses” begin at home.

News: “School board in Florida bans book about book bans”

View: It’s a mobius strip of censorship and irony! The “Indian River County School Board members said they disliked how (‘Ban This Book’ by Alan Gratz) referenced other books that already had been removed from schools and accused it of ‘teaching rebellion of school board authority.’”

The movement to ban the book was led by … wait for it … Moms for Liberty.

News: “New law requires all Louisiana public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.”

View: Not long ago I would have shrugged off this brazen attempt to force religion on public school children as so brazenly unconstitutional that the U.S. Supreme Court would slap it down unanimously. Now, with the court packed with social conservatives, I’m not so sure.

Clearly they do not belong in a public school classroom. Taken as a whole, the Ten Commandments are explicitly based upon and reflect a particular — and, I might add, not very widely practiced — religious belief.

Just three of the Ten Commandments reflect actual laws: You shall not steal. You shall not murder. You shall not bear false witness.

Another four — honor your folks, stay faithful to your spouse, don’t be covetous and refrain from profanity — are simply good ideas, not generally matters of law anymore.

The remaining three — keep the Sabbath holy, make no graven images, and have no other God before the Judeo-Christian God — are religious decrees, plain and simple.

Making graven images may or may not be a good idea, but unless I misread my Constitution, we’re all free to do so and risk the consequences. Any sign in any courtroom or public school classroom that implies otherwise is in serious error.

I would add to this that making graven images, or at least the freedom to do so, is precisely, exactly what America is all about: Freedom of conscience.

Land of Linkin’

• Chicagoan Andrew Nadeau, comedy writer and former winner of my annual Funniest Person on Twitter award, is host Tim Barnes’ guest on the latest episode of “You Are the Genre.”

• Chalkbeat New York: “As Gov. Kathy Hochul mulls a statewide ban of cell phones in schools, the reality on the ground in New York City illustrates the complexities of such a large-scale effort. … Educators say they spend a great deal of time seizing, monitoring, safeguarding, and returning phones. … Hochul’s call for a ban comes as a groundswell of experts and educators are speaking out that the current state of phone access in school isn’t working. Several other states are considering school cell phone bans, following such policies in Florida and Indiana.”

• “The Secret Code of Pickup Basketball,” by Ross Andersen in The Atlantic. He writes, “I’ve known several guys who played into their 60s.” Hey! One of the guys in my regular game just turned 70, and several of us aren’t all that far behind.

• Mark Jacob takes a very skeptical look at Donald Trump’s potential vice presidential picks. “The politicians mentioned in speculation about Trump’s running mate are all icky options.”

• Steve Chapman: “Trump’s Plan to Enslave the Fed Will Decimate the Economy.”

• In Tuesday’s Picayune Plus: “Another reason to detest the Chicago Skyway.”

• Steve Rosen of Evanston, original and still stalwart member of the Songs of Good Cheer band, is the featured guest on the new episode of the “Get Up in the Cool” podcast. Rosen tells the story behind the title of “Nail that Catfish to a Tree,” a fiddle tune he wrote that has entered the international old-time music canon.

• Tribune op-ed: “What it’s like to lose a father to Alzheimer’s.”

• Gallup: “Record Share of U.S. Electorate Is Pro-Choice and Voting on It.”

  

  Squaring up the news

This is a bonus supplement to the Land of Linkin’ from veteran radio, internet and newspaper journalist Charlie Meyerson. Each week, he offers a selection of intriguing links from his daily email news briefing Chicago Public Square:

■ “May God damn and curse your life and infest your family.” USA Today columnist—and Tribune alumnus—Rex Huppke reviews the email he receives daily from Donald Trump fans.

■ Politico’s Shia Kapos: Gov. Pritzker’s getting under Trump’s skin (middle of this column).

■ “Outrageous and offensive.” That’s regressive and Trumpophiliac local TV conglomerate Sinclair Broadcast Group firing back against reporting by Popular Information and Public Notice on Sinclair’s insistence that its stations broadcast, word for word, flawed reporting on President Biden’s mental acuity.

■ A supercut of those broadcasts may make you cringe.

■ Former Chicago TV news executive Jennifer Schulze: “Fox, Sinclair and the RNC are working together to meddle in the election.”

■ CNN: “Ticketmaster is linking arms with right-wing extremists.”

■ The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols: “Trump World seems worried.”

■ The Daily Beast explains “how Trump’s rich pal is keeping his biopic out of theaters.”

■ “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart turned Republicans’ condemnation of big-city crime back on … Republicans.

■ Waitlisting may still be possible for Stewart’s and Stephen Colbert’s Chicago shows during the Democratic National Convention.

■ “The Summer of Royko”: Chicago magazine’s Robert Chiarito surveys a bunch of events around town celebrating iconic columnist Mike Royko—heard in this never-broadcast audio being debriefed by WXRT News on the outcome of the March 18, 1980, Illinois primary.

You can (and should) subscribe to Chicago Public Square free here.

Hannah Einbinder and Jean Smart

The worst part of getting older

If you’re not watching “Hacks” on Max, you’re missing out on some very fine writing.

The following dialogue occurs in the fifth episode of the third and most recent season between the character of Ava Daniels — a comedy writer played by 29-year-old Hannah Einbinder — and Deborah Vance — a veteran stand-up comedian played by 72-year-old Jean Smart.

Deborah has just twisted her ankle during a walk in the forest.

Ava: I know it hurts right now, but it's gonna be okay. You know, it's maybe a sprain. Worst case, you'll have to wear, like, a boot or something.

Deborah: A boot? Clomp around like I lost a ski? Fantastic.

Ava: A boot is not that bad.

Deborah: Yeah, well, me wearing a boot is different than you wearing a boot.

Ava: Because of the paparazzi?

Deborah: No, me wearing a boot, I look old and frail. Same as wearing a hearing aid or whatever. I'm not gonna do that.

Ava: Well, yeah, but it's okay if you need those things, though, right? It's perfectly natural for you not to be able to do all the things you used to.

Deborah: But that's the thing. I still feel like I can do everything. I don't feel my age. When I look in a mirror, I don't recognize myself.

Ava: Well, you do redo your face a lot.

Deborah: I don't redo. I refresh. The whole goal is to keep it the same, because I feel the same. I feel like a 30-year-old. Who can't read the menu without a flashlight. .... I shouldn't (be) so hard on you. It's not your fault my stupid body broke down.

Ava: Come on! You're in great shape!

Deborah: Say it! "For a woman your age." You know, your whole life you say, "One day.” “One day I'll do this." ”One day I'll accomplish that." And the magic of "one day" is that it's all ahead of you. But for me, “one day” is now. Anything I want to do, I have to do now. Or else I'll never do it. That's the worst part of getting older.

Ava: I believe you told me that the worst part about getting older is the collagen loss.

Deborah: That too. The best part of being young is that you don't have to savor everything. You don't have to consider it. You know. Eat that candy bar! And sleep in on Saturday morning. Or have a breakup. It's not the end of the world. It's just the beginning. That's the ultimate luxury. Not having to suck the marrow out of every day. Just toss the bones. Not even make a soup.

Einbinder — the daughter of original “Saturday Night Live” cast member Laraine Newman (best remembered as a Conehead) — has a new stand-up special on Max.

Mary Schmich: Fun conversations with strangers

My former colleague Mary Schmich posts occasional column-like entries on Facebook. Here, reprinted with permission, is a recent offering:

Two encounters from the past week.

One:

I was checking out laptops in a computer store when a sales person approached and asked if I needed help. She was late 20s, wearing jeans, a T-shirt and bold red lipstick.

"What do you use your computer for?" she asked.

"Writing mostly," I said.

"Writing!" she said. "I love to write."

I asked what she wrote.

"Fan fiction," she said, and I didn't admit I wasn't sure what that meant.

"Do you show other people what you write?" I asked.

She shrugged and smiled.

"I have a blog," she said, "but nobody reads it and I'm fine with that."

"So you don't care if there's an audience for what you write?" I said.

"No," she said. "I just do it for myself. I'm sick of social media but I don't want to give up my screens so I write."

I was intrigued by that approach to life in an online world: writing as a way to stay on the screen but off social media, and I wondered if that's true for a lot of people.

Two:

One afternoon I walked past a gaggle of boys--7 years oldish--sitting on the grass in a park near my house. They were dressed for baseball. I overheard one of them say, "Guys! Do you know who Richard Nixon was?"

I slowed my pace to listen.

The boys looked at each other.

"Richard who?" said one. A couple of them giggled.

I walked over to them and said, "Hi. I'm curious. Do any of you know who Richard Nixon was?"

Their heads swiveled to look at the crazy lady who'd butted into their conversation. Silence. Then one of them said, "He was the fourth president!"

I said, "Well..."

Another boy interrupted, "He was the hundred and eighth president!"

I said, "Well..."

Then the boy who'd asked the question said, "He was a president who broke the law!"

I laughed, gave him a thumbs up, then walked off, wondering if Nixon actually broke laws (I think so, though he was never charged).

And as I left I heard one of the boys ask the lead boy with horror, "Is that your mom??"

Minced Words

I’m traveling this week and not on “The Mincing Rascals” podcast panel. Host John Williams welcomed Brandon Pope, Cate Plys, Austin Berg and Marj Halperin (see just below for an autobiographical essay about Halperin). Topics included reparations for slavery, open bargaining sessions between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools, bump stocks and legal protections granted to undocumented spouses and children of American citizens.

Subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. Or bookmark this page. If you’re not a podcast listener, you can hear an edited version of the show at 8 p.m. most Saturday evenings on WGN-AM 720.

Read the background bios of some regular panelists here.

Meet Marj Halperin

Veteran Chicago journalist, pundit and activist Marj Halperin is the newest regular member of the rotating “Mincing Rascals” podcast panel. This autobiographical essay is based on an interview I conducted recently with her.

My first real media job was at WKAR, Michigan State University’s public radio station. I started as weekend news anchor, expanding to host public affairs and even music programs.

The more I did at WKAR, the more I knew that's what I wanted to do with my life. I sent resumes to public radio stations all over the country and landed as the public affairs director at WNIU-FM in DeKalb. 

Within a year, I was blanketing Chicago radio stations with resumes. I talked my way into an informational meeting with the news director at WXRT-FM. The meeting went so well he fired his current news reporter and hired me. I was a general assignment reporter based in City Hall. I actually had to take a pay cut moving to Chicago, but it sure was a great career move, and XRT gave me many lifelong friends. 

We’d never had much money when I was growing up in what was then-rural Famington, Michigan, outside of Detroit. I’m one of eight kids in a twice-blended family.

My father was a lawyer but didn’t work steadily ,so my mother, sisters and I took on a lot of part-time jobs – right through high school and college. My first political cause came in high school. I helped lead the fight for girls to wear both miniskirts and maxiskirts, because neither was allowed. And we won!

At the University of Michigan, I joined a monthlong strike in support of underpaid graduate teaching assistants. I was a communications major there but transferred to Michigan State for a broader, more contemporary curriculum. That’s where I met my husband, Alan Robinson, through an early form of (pre-internet) computer dating.

He was studying sociology and went on to become a writer and then a teacher with Chicago Public Schools.

I had six great years at WXRT. I won a few awards and had become a very solid reporter, but the pay was crummy, and a 40% raise drew me to Q101 (WKQX-FM). I focused on restaurant reviews and feature reporting. 

That included a news conference where I managed to enrage Paul McCartney. He came to town in 1985 to promote his semi-autobiographical movie, “Give My Regards to Broad Street.” 

He went off on an emotional tirade because Michael Jackson had just purchased the publishing rights to the majority of the Beatles’ catalog. He moaned, “These are my babies!” 

I noted he owned a catalog that included the rights to “On, Wisconsin” and the University of Wisconsin had to pay him royalties. Seemed like the same thing to me, so I pushed the point. Somewhere, I have a photo of Paul glaring at me with one of those eyebrows up. Finally, he said, “Speak to me later, darling.”

I was on maternity leave from Q-101 after the birth of our second daughter when the station fired me. That’s how it was in radio. 

I turned to freelancing, reporting for NPR, Crain’s Chicago Business, and the Chicago Sun-Times. I continued my activism as a co-founder of the parents’ rights group Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE), where I was one of the drafters of the bill creating Local School Councils. 

I was recruited to be deputy press secretary for Richard M. Daley’s 1989 mayoral campaign, persuaded that I’d have more influence working on the inside than reporting from the outside.

After Daley won, I was his deputy press secretary for about a year, leaving City Hall for a series of communications jobs focused on government reform at Chicago Public Schools; with then-State Treasurer Pat Quinn; and at the Park District, where I developed the “Come Out and Play” campaign and supervised all neighborhood and citywide arts programs. 

I left government to run the League of Chicago Theatres for nearly 10 years, combining my marketing skills with a love of the arts and interest in politics. From there, I set up shop as a communications consultant, with my favorite project being The 606 rails-to-trails development. 

More recently, I’ve been ramping up on political work, including grassroots campaigning, commentary and punditry. For nearly 10 years, Republican operative Chris Robling and I did a point-counterpoint segment on WGN-TV. During the early Trump years, I started doing commentary for Canadian TV, which is still an occasional gig.

I think I was drawn to progressive politics because of my family’s struggles growing up. I know what that's like. And as a reporter, I was exposed to a lot of causes, had a front-row seat to so much of the race-based injustice in this city. As a longtime Chicagoan — first in Ravenswood and most recently in the South Loop — I’m committed to making Chicago a more equitable and just place. 

I was an early organizer with Indivisible Chicago, part of a national network of progressive activists, and I’m founder of One Community Near South, a grassroots organization that aims to give residents a voice on major municipal projects and policies that impact our community. 

I’m proud that our children share this commitment. Older daughter Madeline is a communications specialist like her mom. She’s in Washington, D.C., with her husband and our three grandchildren, working for an NGO that provides access to women’s reproductive health care, mainly in Africa and Asia. 

Abby is a certified pastry cook who switched careers to follow her dad into Chicago Public Schools. She’s a bilingual preschool teacher at Jahn Elementary.

I fill my spare time with family and friends, music, theater, travel and crafting cocktails. You really should try my refreshing Bitter End Malort cocktail!

Quotables

A collection of compelling, sometimes appalling passages I’ve encountered lately

You just know if they just introduced seatbelts now, conservatives would be so mad. — Skyler_Higley

One guy is 81, has stiff gait and has done a great job as president considering the disaster he inherited. The other guy is 78, created said disaster, wants to implement fascism on minority groups and has already failed once as president and attempted a coup. Let’s get a goddamn grip. — Aaron Rupar

Sloppy J.B. Pritzker, the Rotund Governor from the once great State of Illinois, who makes Chris Christie look like a male model, and whose family wanted him out of the business because he was so pathetic at helping them run it, has presided over the destruction and disintegration of Illinois at levels never seen before in any State. Crime is rampant and people are, sadly, fleeing Illinois. Unless a change is made at the Governor’s level, Illinois can never be Great Again.” — Donald Trump, fine physical specimen

Why has the GOP embraced authoritarianism? Losing seven of the last eight presidential popular votes makes democracy seem threatening. Christian right admires strongman crackdown on cultural change they can't stop. — John Harwood

If Republicans cared about crime, they’d focus on Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, the three states with the highest homicide rates. But all three are red states, so Republicans bash places like New York City, which has a homicide rate way lower than all three of those states. Mississippi's homicide rate is 20.7 per 100,000. Louisiana's is 19.8. Alabama's is 14.9. New York City's is 6.3. — Mark Jacob

Al Gore is too boring and condescending! I'm not excited about John Kerry! Hillary Clinton isn't likable! That's how you got five hard-right Supreme Court justices, the Iraq War, the Great Recession, a deepened climate crisis, an awful response to COVID-19, loss of abortion and voting rights, and an insurrection at the Capitol. But sure, if Joe Biden isn't for you, I'm sure there won't be bad consequences. —JLCauvin

Re: Tweets

In Tuesday’s paid-subscriber editions, I present my favorite tweets that rely on visual humor. Subscribers vote for their favorite, and I post the winner here every Thursday:

I have seen several variations of this alleged exchange; for some reason I find the “Pink Floyd” version the funniest.

The new nominees for Tweet of the Week:

• Call me woke but the most offensive name in the kitchen is the Lazy Susan. Susan was not lazy, Susan was smart. Susan is a hero. — @TheBoydP

• Attention YouTube commenters: Every five minutes is five minutes of your life you will never get back again. That's how life works. — @MatthewBaldwin

• "I want my inheritance now," Little Red Riding Hood tells her lover. "But your grandmother?" asks The Wolf. Red smiles. She has a plan. — @wildethingy

• Secular responses to a sneeze: ​“Ew​! ​That’s gross​!” “What the hell?” “Get your life together!”​ -- @mxmclain

•  The nurse said she needed some urine to test for potassium. "K," I said. Silence. "I bet everyone makes that joke," I say. She's like "In 15 years of nursing not one person has made that joke." — @sarahradz_

• There’s no “borrowing” among friends. If my pal needs a few bucks to see him through the end of the month, I simply end the friendship. — @kipconlon

• Gen Z makes fun of millennials for being cringe, meanwhile it’s normal for them to upload videos making sexy faces into a ring light with 14 seconds of the worst rap song you’ve ever heard in the background and a caption like “just rizzing nonchalantly this evening” — @_pem_pem

• Sorry I said, “It’s probably burning him” as your baby cried during his christening. — @IHPower

• I wish there were a complement to the MacArthur genius grants, where a foundation would come and take away your money for being an idiot. — @baconmeteor

• My wife and I decided to tell each other one thing about the other that bothered them. Everything was going great until it was my turn. — @a_simpl_man

Vote here and check the current results in the poll.

Usage note: To me, “tweet” has become a generic term for a short post on social media. And I will continue to call the platform Twitter if only to spite Elon Musk:

For instructions and guidelines regarding the poll, click here.

Good Sports

Three reasons why we’re not still talking about Angel Reese’s flagrant foul against Caitlin Clark on Sunday

So this happened in Sunday’s WNBA game between the Chicago Sky and the Indiana Fever:

It recalled the incident in the previous meeting between the two teams on June 2 in which a flagrant foul was committed against Clark, yet the nation has not exploded with indignant commentary and racial recriminations all around as it did then. Why? Three reasons:

1. Reese’s whack across Clark’s head as she drove for a layup Sunday was “a basketball play,” an infraction committed during the course of the game. It’s fair to take Reese at her word that she was trying to block Clark’s shot and instead swiped her across the head while swinging her arm.

In contrast, Chennedy Carter’s hard shove of Clark that touched off a thousand arguments earlier this month was not in any way “a basketball play” because it was committed when the ball was out of bounds. Many observers don’t seem to grasp the difference, and I’m afraid I just can’t help them.

2. The referees assessed a flagrant 1 foul against Reese on the spot. (In a flagrant 1, the refs deem the contact “unnecessary.” The harsher flagrant 2 foul requires that the refs deem the contact “unnecessary and excessive.”) In contrast, the refs simply called a common foul against Carter, and it wasn’t until the next day that the WNBA retrospectively changed it to a flagrant 1.

3. Reese addressed the situation in the post-game news conference whereas Carter churlishly brushed off reporters’ inquiries with a grumpy “Next question” and, when pressed, added, “I ain’t answering no Caitlin Clark questions.”

“It was a basketball play,” Reese told reporters Sunday. Then, “I can’t control the refs, they affected the game obviously a lot tonight. … I see a lot of calls that weren’t made. I guess some people got a special whistle.”

Reese’s suggestion that her inadvertently clotheslining Clark wasn’t a flagrant 1 foul was ridiculous, as was the implication that the refs were responsible for the Sky’s eight-point loss. But at least she answered the question.

I heard some earnest liberals on a podcast recently referring to the NBA as the MNBA — Men’s NBA. Fact is, though, the NBA is open to players of any and all gender identities. Two women have in fact been selected in the NBA draft, and one other was granted a tryout.

The No-No Sox

As long as the race remains close — which it may not — I will offer you comparison standings of the 2024 White Sox with the 2003 Detroit Tigers and the 1962 New York Mets, teams that have defined futility for more than 80 years, and the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics, the worst team in baseball’s modern era (20th century on).

After 75 games:

The 1916 Philadelphia A’s played a 153-game season and finished 36-117. Out to another decimal place, that’s a winning percentage of .2353. The Sox play in a 162-game era. If they go 38-124, that will be a winning percentage of .2346. So the magic number of victories needed for the Sox to end up with a better winning percentage than the 1916 A’s is now 19, with 87 games remaining.

I like their chances. From late June to early August of 1916,, the A’s were 2-41, including a 20-game losing streak.

If and when the Sox have at least a three-game lead over this ignominious field, I’ll discontinue this weekly feature, which, to judge from the click poll result below, will be a popular move:

Tune of the Week

I’ve been opening up Tune of the Week nominations in an effort to bring some newer sounds to the mix. I’m asking readers to use the comments area for paid subscribers or to email me to leave nominations (post-2000 releases, please!) along with YouTube links and at least a few sentences explaining why the nominated song is meaningful or delightful to you. This week, however, I’m posting a new favorite song of mine, “Strike the Bells,” a 2017 release by Rayna Gellert.

The music that I hear before the darkness is your voice
And if this is a dream that I haven't any choice 
But to sing along while you are near 
And joy is the only reason 
That I'll shed a tear
I hear the sound of violins
 But the sound is growing thin
 Oh, strike the bells. Oh, strike the bells

Gellert, 48, grew up in Elkhart, Indiana, the daughter of traditional music legend Dan Gellert. She’s a renowned fiddler, singer and songwriter who now lives in Nashville. She has a Substack, The Squealemite, focused on her work, and she shares the KKRG News Substack with her music and life partner Kieran Kane.

“Strike the Bells” was No. 17 on Roots Music Report's Top Contemporary Folk Song Chart for 2017, but deserves wider recognition.

I emailed Gellert to ask her about the song. She replied that she began writing it “after reading ‘Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain’ by Oliver Sacks.”

It was one of many memory-related songs I piled up for my album “Old Light: Songs from my Childhood & Other Gone Worlds” but then it didn't get used for that project. I was glad to find a place for it on “Workin's Too Hard,” and I love the sounds we ended up with.

Given the prominence of violins and bells in the lyrics, why do we not hear violins or bells on the track?

One answer would be that the narrator is the only one who can hear them. The other answer would be that even if I had wanted those sounds, there's no way Kieran (as co-producer) would have allowed such an on-the-nose treatment!

The Picayune Sentinel is a reader-supported publication. Browse and search back issues here. Simply subscribe to receive new posts each Thursday. To support my work, receive bonus issues on Tuesdays and join the zesty commenting community, become a paid subscriber. Thanks for reading

Mistakes were made

When I become aware of errors in the Picayune Sentinel, I quickly correct them in the online version, but since many of you read just the email version, which I can’t correct after the fact, I will use this space periodically to alert you to meaningful mistakes I’ve made. (Not typos, in other words.)

A link in last week’s Squaring Up The News inaccurately summarized the sequence of events in “Lawyer was handcuffed to chair after Cook County judge ordered him removed from courtroom, sparking state inquiry.” The judge was not responsible for the handcuffing.

Contact

You can email me here:

I read all the messages that come in, but I do most of my interacting with readers in the comments section beneath each issue.

Some of those letters I reprint and respond to in the Z-mail section of Tuesday’s Picayune Plus, which is delivered to paid subscribers and available to all readers later Tuesday. Check there for responses.

If you don’t want me to use the full name on your email or your comments, let me know how you’d like to be identified.

If you’re having troubles with Substack — delivery, billing and so forth — I’m happy to help but you first might want to check out my special help page where I address the most frequent problems.