Tell that to Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, The Weavers, etc. during the Red Scare. More recently, the worst I can recall is "what the world needs now is another folksinger, like I need a hole in my head"
The song by Cracker dabs on folk singers for being so out of fashion. It does not suggest they are a threat. For a time dabbing on folk music was in, but we are decades past that. btw, I like that song and Cracker generally.
Let’s also not forget that folk purists have been known to harbor their own senses of elitism and perceived threats. Witness their condemnation of Dylan for his act of apostasy at Newport in ‘65, and general disdain for any form of music that involves drums or amplifiers.
I’ve always liked the Cracker song too, even after having heard it several thousand times. Note how the lyrics, while dismissing folk as old and out of fashion, still hold Sinatra as the all time standard bearer for pop star priapism.
Ok, I'll start. I feel zero sympathy for Ms. Jacobson. Would Zorn still defend her were she a teacher? I doubt it. Anyone in a position to supervise students, classroom or sporting activity which probably includes children with some form of a disability, shouldn't be cheerleading this kind of degradation.
I think this is about context. If it’s that easy for her to make fun of a kid, is she the best person to be a coach for a group of kids? High school sports need a strong supportive culture and her mistake seems to be indicative of her attitude toward kids. The parents may have had prior issues with similar bearings because they seemed to respond very quickly to request her outing.
High school students do indeed need support and good role models. But since it is impossible to hire a flawless (no mistakes ever) role model -- and how would fallible kids even identify with such a paragon? -- the next best choice might well be a coach who has egregiously messed up, OWNS UP that she did so, and as Eric suggested, can "explain why it’s wrong to make fun of people with differences and why it’s important to stand up to those who do. And then they should have asked her to spend an hour listening to students who live with cognitive disabilities so they could tell her first hand how painful it is to be teased and othered."
Not all education is the result of classroom lectures. What better lesson than for students to witness a role model humbling herself to make right what she made wrong? Maybe they'll learn to clean up after their own inevitable life mistakes.
True -- so far. Now it may or may not be too late. But Eric proposed that "Amundsen administrators should have asked her to stay on as coach on the condition that she speak to the student body — not just to her teams — to explain why it’s wrong [...]," and my hypothetical scenario agrees that would have been a more useful solution than simply having Ms. Jacobson resign.
false. did you read or listen to her entire apology? [BTW, i haven't]. otherwise, you're basing your opinion on EZ's edited quote of jacobsen's apology.
she did own up, even in the edited quote. you're welcome to your own opinion - you're just not welcome to your own facts.
And based on this reliable source: the fact is that she only apologized when she found out he has a diagnosis. She did NOT say she was wrong to make fun of a 17 year old kid for being so proud of his dad. What fact is missing? And PS my opinion is that I would not want a coach who thinks making fun of a kid in a public interview (or any other time) is ok.
A class person would not need to apologize. They wouldn't have done it. How often do you see the Trump family mocked in this forum other than an occasional jab at one of the adults also in the administration?
She wasn't "canceled." She was fired - "with cause," as we'd say in the school world. You don't get to keep a job where you work with kids, some with disabilities, if you publicly mock those kids.
Sorry, Ken, not buying. I'm a retired teacher. We have always been held responsible for our actions away from school. Furthermore, her actions were reprehensible toward a member of a protected class. Your view could be seen as just as poltical as what happened to her. What if you one day came on this forum and found the youngsters and non political members of the family being mocked? Tell us you wouldn't raise a fuss.
Okay, I see your point. Not to defend Jacobsen's actions, but if she's had a clean record as a coach until this, I'd prefer some and remediation and discipline. Employment termination in labor is the ultimate punishment, it's final.
"Zero-tolerance" locks every one into maximal positions, both sides. And then the 'left" will have to again cancel someone like Al Franken.
That sounds fair. As a school speech therapist, I can't imagine remaining employed if I went on the radio and made fun of kids who stutter, especially if the parents were outraged as these parents were. It's up to the district board in the end, I suppose.
Eric seems to be a good guy. I think he goes out of his way to be fair toward MAGAs, despite their failure to be fair to anyone that dare disagree with them. In my view, Jaconson deserves no such consideration. She was happy to join in with Proft and we all know what he is. She made no attempt to stop or disagree with him. Suppose the young man did not have special needs? Would that have made her actions less objectionable? I'm with you, Wendy. No sympathy!
I certainly agree that children should never be mocked or belittled regardless of presence/absence of special needs, but I would postulate that politics play a bigger role in this matter than many here would like to admit. As a test, imagine Trump giving a speech (or, let’s say, pumping his fist in the air after eluding an assassination attempt) and a camera cuts to a shot of Barron choking back tears and mouthing the words “That’s my dad! That’s my dad!”. Or maybe it catches a shot of Tristan or Spencer or Arabella with tears streaming down their cheeks whilst blurting out “That’s Grandpa! That’s Grandpa!”. How many of the people posting here today would be moved by this? My guess is that most would not be shy about proclaiming how much these images would make them want to vomit.
A very, very small part of me wants to feel sorry for Amy Jacobson, but in reality, she manages to step into shit more than most people.
First she gets herself fired for wearing a bikini in a swimming pool with a criminal she's supposed to be reporting on, which then spirals into her getting divorced & also losing her house to foreclosure, because without the job or husband, she couldn't pay the mortgage.
She's made a fool of herself a few times on the radio & this time she had to quit a job because of that.
All in all, she's very self destructive.
Once again, the Lincoln Project hits it out of the park! They are geniuses at this & once again prove that Michelle Obama was a true delusional fool to say "When the go low, we go high", which every other political pro knows is a recipe on how to lose elections! The lower you go, the more votes you get, as that's been proven over & over again. In politics, you fight fire with even more fire!
Junior Kennedy is so very obviously brain damaged. The brain worm was bad, the dead bear was worse & cutting off a whale head is even worse than that, but to top it off by endorsing a guy he attacked only months ago as utterly unfit for any office, let alone president, shows that he definitely belongs in a padded cell in a locked mental hospital!
RFKjr just wants a spot in Trump's cabinet, maybe AG like his father. He wants to stay relevant and would have endorsed whoever offered him a moment more in the spotlight.
Actually he wants to be the head of either Health & Human Services, which controls the FDA, so he could outlaw all vaccines, barring that he'd like to run the EPA, so he could outlaw everything he hates!
There is no "Gus Walz debate." There is just the continuing spectacle of MAGA cruelty, punching down, and cretinous attempts at humor involving mocking the defenceless, the poor, and the weak. And we are supposed to "understand" these people and their "concerns." I understand them, having met their type often in the past 80 years.
A stone-cold douche bag. To my unending shame, I actually supported him when he ran for governor in IL, back when I lived there. I actually donated money. I regret that error every single time I see his name.
It should go without saying that you shouldn’t mock underage children, whether they have mental challenges or not. But that’s just par for the course with the Grand OLD Party. From calling young teens Amy Carter and Chelsea Clinton “dogs” to the downright racist comments leveled at Sasha and Malia Obama, they seem incapable of keeping their vile thoughts to themselves. So the fact that far too many of them piled on in mocking Gus Walz is not really a surprise, and their apologies after the fact ring hollow.
I recall Democrats/liberals being pretty ugly to the Bush twins ... I think those are the most recent "young" -- and they were in their late teens/early 20s when W was elected -- kids of a GOP prez. in decades. There's mockery on both sides.
You first note that Proft's "apology" contained no recognition that it is wrong to mock ANY child, regardless of ability status. Yet you then suggest that Jacobson should have been allowed to remain as coach if she "explain [ed to the students ] why it’s wrong to make fun of PEOPLE WITH DIFFERENCES". (emphasis added)
I agree—Proft offered very little in the way of “I was wrong under any circumstances”and Amy Jacobson should not get a pass for the same offense. And she had no bikini business at that guy’s house either. How Bizarre!
I wouldn't have thought that Quip of the Week would be the instrument to deflate my post-DNC relief. Nonetheless, while I usually find four quips that I can vote for, and often need to eliminate good ones to reach my self-imposed limit of four, this week I found only two. And those two are hovering near the bottom of the standings as I write. The others seem dully self-deprecating, mean, or simply pointless. Maybe the recent hot spell sapped lighter humor, and I can hope for a better crop as temperatures moderate a bit. I hope so!
Surprised Danny and Amy were watching the Democratic Convention. Could they be closet Democrats? Amy apologized so I think she should keep the Volleyball Coaching Gig. They can't be easy to find and anyone who opens their mouth, especially someone who makes a living with it is going to say something stupid sometimes. I see it with other people they say something stupid then all the people that disagree demand they're resignation. Use it as a teaching moment and move on. But now the Folk Singer insult, I think the gloves need to come off here. This is below the belt and deserves action. Eric and Danny, mano to mano.....hit him over the head with your mandelion, wash his face with your washboard, and hit him in the ass with your wash tub bass. Don't take it. Folk Singer? Just what the world needs is another Folk Singer.
In order for anyone to SAY those cruel things about a kid, they have to THINK those cruel things. - And no apology that doesn't include an admission of absolute shame for these thoughts is not an apology!! These trolls tried to justify their cruelty by saying that they didn't know he was neurodivergent!! AS IF that made a difference.
I truly wish that I believed in Hell! Because that is where these cruel people belong.
I clicked "yes" on the Amy Jacobson poll, but only because there was no option for "yes with conditions". I think a public speech to all students expressing sincere regret and and denouncing any sort of bullying would have been a minimum requirement, possibly paired with a temporary leave of absence. This is also me assuming there was no prior history of displaying this kind of attitude, which it sounds like there must have been and certainly no one like that should be around groups of children. So my answer yes was really just tipped off the middle and possibly influenced by your comment that "cancelling" is often rash and counterproductive.
Regarding the Lincoln Project video ad with the state trooper stopping a father and daughter from traveling across state lines to obtain an abortion. According to your stance that "all laws should be followed and enforced until overturned by proper procedure or higher court", that trooper is not doing anything wrong and the young woman should be suffering the consequences for breaking it until the law is officially stricken through proper procedure? I'm sorry to keep harping on this, I am just baffled by this view, I promise this is the last time I'm bringing it up.
Finally, "I gave my love a cherry that had no stone, motherfucker. " I literally laughed out loud! Chef's kiss. Perfect. No notes.
I understand that. My point is that unjust immoral laws depend on officials enforcing them and on people blindly submitting to them and that civil disobedience is a valid and sometimes necessary backstop to these laws. This is in response to EZ's mention in an earlier column that all laws have to be followed until properly overturned.
I'm on your side, I strongly believe in civil disobedience, it's EZ's view that I've been trying to refute. This is a direct quote from him: "But rules need to be followed until they’re officially changed or overturned through the normal review process." It's in this column: https://ericzorn.substack.com/p/zorn-dnc-protesters-lost-the-expectations It was related to the gymnastics bronze medal controversy, but he doubled down on it later
I’m going to nominate for the best regrettables column already written Ed Sherman’s piece that followed his 1997 column about why Tiger Woods would not win The Masters that year.
“Last Thursday, I had the amazing clairvoyance to write that Woods would not win this year's Masters, his first major as a pro. Now I feel like Roberto DeVicenzo, the golfer from Argentina who signed an incorrect scorecard in the 1968 Masters, costing him a chance to play in a playoff.
DeVicenzo uttered the immortal phase: ``What a stupid I am.'”
I do happen to know Ed personally because his kids were in preschool with mine many years ago. He would sometimes write a piece in the school newsletter which would result in my husband being perplexed when he would ask me what I reading that was causing me to laugh repeatedly and I’d say the preschool newsletter.
As a parent to an autistic, developmentally different young adult, I was gutted to see people going after Gus Walz. Gus' reactions to his dad tell me everything I need to know about their relationship and the cruel reactions of others tell me all I need to know about them.
My son hates Trump because he is unkind (mocking a disabled reporter) and was delighted to cast his first Presidential vote for Biden in 2020. He is very excited to vote for Harris in November.
I enjoy Willie Wilson’s columns, and find his simple, common sense reasoning and encouragement to strive to become better citizens to have a slightly Capra-esque flavor.
That said, EZ’s addendum in today’s feature on Wilson’s coda technique made me laugh louder than any Tweet of the Week candidate that I’ve seen in a while.
Did y'all realize that Donald Harris is still alive? Kamala Harris' father is alive but barely rated a mention at the convention, much less an invitation. Interesting. I realize trotting out her Marxist-influenced economist father would just bring out the Trump Trolls but it is still a little curious.
I get that it raises an eyebrow why he wasn't mentioned or present. But if they do not have a good, or any relationship (which may be the case for her sister as well), then not including him where his presence would impose on her sister, nieces, and entire family extreme awkwardness at a once-in-a-lifetime occasion they should be free to celebrate, makes perfect sense. Plus, bringing him into the spotlight exposes Kamala and her family to millions of press questions of "Why don't you have a good relationship with your Marxist father?" I completely understand the desire to not go there.
Hi Melinda - I have read that, Harris is estranged from her father because he took offense to a remark she made when she began her presidential campaign in 2019, something to the effect that of course she smoked dope because she is Jamaican and he took offense that she stereotyped Jamaican people in that way. I also read that he lives in Washington DC, but has never visited her at the White House.
This is the first time that I have heard we should be fearful of folksingers.
Chorus:
Be afraid... be very afraid!
Bluto in Animal House knew how to handle folksingers.
Tell that to Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, The Weavers, etc. during the Red Scare. More recently, the worst I can recall is "what the world needs now is another folksinger, like I need a hole in my head"
The song by Cracker dabs on folk singers for being so out of fashion. It does not suggest they are a threat. For a time dabbing on folk music was in, but we are decades past that. btw, I like that song and Cracker generally.
Good point on the guys from the 50's though.
Let’s also not forget that folk purists have been known to harbor their own senses of elitism and perceived threats. Witness their condemnation of Dylan for his act of apostasy at Newport in ‘65, and general disdain for any form of music that involves drums or amplifiers.
I’ve always liked the Cracker song too, even after having heard it several thousand times. Note how the lyrics, while dismissing folk as old and out of fashion, still hold Sinatra as the all time standard bearer for pop star priapism.
Ok, I'll start. I feel zero sympathy for Ms. Jacobson. Would Zorn still defend her were she a teacher? I doubt it. Anyone in a position to supervise students, classroom or sporting activity which probably includes children with some form of a disability, shouldn't be cheerleading this kind of degradation.
I agree. Making fun of someone’s CHILD whether or not they have a disability is disgusting.
i disagree. she made a mistake. do you cancel everyone in your life who makes a mistake?
part of your reply will be something along the lines of: it was an egregious mistake.
maybe, maybe not. she was an accomplice [granted, a willing accomplcie] to proft's egregious mistake.
i'm fed up with canceling, from both the left and the right. 'let him [or her] who has not sinned cast the first stone.'
I think this is about context. If it’s that easy for her to make fun of a kid, is she the best person to be a coach for a group of kids? High school sports need a strong supportive culture and her mistake seems to be indicative of her attitude toward kids. The parents may have had prior issues with similar bearings because they seemed to respond very quickly to request her outing.
High school students do indeed need support and good role models. But since it is impossible to hire a flawless (no mistakes ever) role model -- and how would fallible kids even identify with such a paragon? -- the next best choice might well be a coach who has egregiously messed up, OWNS UP that she did so, and as Eric suggested, can "explain why it’s wrong to make fun of people with differences and why it’s important to stand up to those who do. And then they should have asked her to spend an hour listening to students who live with cognitive disabilities so they could tell her first hand how painful it is to be teased and othered."
Not all education is the result of classroom lectures. What better lesson than for students to witness a role model humbling herself to make right what she made wrong? Maybe they'll learn to clean up after their own inevitable life mistakes.
But she didn't own up. It's wrong to mock ANY child, not just "people with differences", and she utterly failed to acknowledge that.
True -- so far. Now it may or may not be too late. But Eric proposed that "Amundsen administrators should have asked her to stay on as coach on the condition that she speak to the student body — not just to her teams — to explain why it’s wrong [...]," and my hypothetical scenario agrees that would have been a more useful solution than simply having Ms. Jacobson resign.
false. did you read or listen to her entire apology? [BTW, i haven't]. otherwise, you're basing your opinion on EZ's edited quote of jacobsen's apology.
she did own up, even in the edited quote. you're welcome to your own opinion - you're just not welcome to your own facts.
It's not all THAT edited. I removed nothing important or contextual.
And based on this reliable source: the fact is that she only apologized when she found out he has a diagnosis. She did NOT say she was wrong to make fun of a 17 year old kid for being so proud of his dad. What fact is missing? And PS my opinion is that I would not want a coach who thinks making fun of a kid in a public interview (or any other time) is ok.
A class person would not need to apologize. They wouldn't have done it. How often do you see the Trump family mocked in this forum other than an occasional jab at one of the adults also in the administration?
She wasn't "canceled." She was fired - "with cause," as we'd say in the school world. You don't get to keep a job where you work with kids, some with disabilities, if you publicly mock those kids.
She was canceled. The incident was outside the workplace (school).
Not true if the school employed her. After school activities count as "school."
was she employed, or a volunteer?
not saying she can't be fired, regardless. but it does make a difference.
Sorry, Ken, not buying. I'm a retired teacher. We have always been held responsible for our actions away from school. Furthermore, her actions were reprehensible toward a member of a protected class. Your view could be seen as just as poltical as what happened to her. What if you one day came on this forum and found the youngsters and non political members of the family being mocked? Tell us you wouldn't raise a fuss.
I thought she resigned, probably under pressure. But that's different than being discharged for cause.
You're right - my mistake! Still, you don't get to keep a job working with kids when you publicly mock them, however the job loss is defined.
Okay, I see your point. Not to defend Jacobsen's actions, but if she's had a clean record as a coach until this, I'd prefer some and remediation and discipline. Employment termination in labor is the ultimate punishment, it's final.
"Zero-tolerance" locks every one into maximal positions, both sides. And then the 'left" will have to again cancel someone like Al Franken.
That sounds fair. As a school speech therapist, I can't imagine remaining employed if I went on the radio and made fun of kids who stutter, especially if the parents were outraged as these parents were. It's up to the district board in the end, I suppose.
BobE, do me a favor and use conventional capital letters? Makes life easier on me when I want to use your comments in the Picayune Plus. Thanks.
Eric seems to be a good guy. I think he goes out of his way to be fair toward MAGAs, despite their failure to be fair to anyone that dare disagree with them. In my view, Jaconson deserves no such consideration. She was happy to join in with Proft and we all know what he is. She made no attempt to stop or disagree with him. Suppose the young man did not have special needs? Would that have made her actions less objectionable? I'm with you, Wendy. No sympathy!
I certainly agree that children should never be mocked or belittled regardless of presence/absence of special needs, but I would postulate that politics play a bigger role in this matter than many here would like to admit. As a test, imagine Trump giving a speech (or, let’s say, pumping his fist in the air after eluding an assassination attempt) and a camera cuts to a shot of Barron choking back tears and mouthing the words “That’s my dad! That’s my dad!”. Or maybe it catches a shot of Tristan or Spencer or Arabella with tears streaming down their cheeks whilst blurting out “That’s Grandpa! That’s Grandpa!”. How many of the people posting here today would be moved by this? My guess is that most would not be shy about proclaiming how much these images would make them want to vomit.
A very, very small part of me wants to feel sorry for Amy Jacobson, but in reality, she manages to step into shit more than most people.
First she gets herself fired for wearing a bikini in a swimming pool with a criminal she's supposed to be reporting on, which then spirals into her getting divorced & also losing her house to foreclosure, because without the job or husband, she couldn't pay the mortgage.
She's made a fool of herself a few times on the radio & this time she had to quit a job because of that.
All in all, she's very self destructive.
Once again, the Lincoln Project hits it out of the park! They are geniuses at this & once again prove that Michelle Obama was a true delusional fool to say "When the go low, we go high", which every other political pro knows is a recipe on how to lose elections! The lower you go, the more votes you get, as that's been proven over & over again. In politics, you fight fire with even more fire!
Junior Kennedy is so very obviously brain damaged. The brain worm was bad, the dead bear was worse & cutting off a whale head is even worse than that, but to top it off by endorsing a guy he attacked only months ago as utterly unfit for any office, let alone president, shows that he definitely belongs in a padded cell in a locked mental hospital!
RFKjr just wants a spot in Trump's cabinet, maybe AG like his father. He wants to stay relevant and would have endorsed whoever offered him a moment more in the spotlight.
Actually he wants to be the head of either Health & Human Services, which controls the FDA, so he could outlaw all vaccines, barring that he'd like to run the EPA, so he could outlaw everything he hates!
He's utterly insane!
There is no "Gus Walz debate." There is just the continuing spectacle of MAGA cruelty, punching down, and cretinous attempts at humor involving mocking the defenceless, the poor, and the weak. And we are supposed to "understand" these people and their "concerns." I understand them, having met their type often in the past 80 years.
This! ( Let us also not forget the vile Steven Cheung who ridiculed an official for doing her job by saying she has mental health problems. )
Stephen Cheung is the fat traitor's paid liar & has never told the truth once, since he went to work for him.
So the fat traitor's unending lying is now what he also does.
Yeah, good riddance.
I don't live in Chicago any more, I have no affiliation with Amundsen HS and I don't play volleyball and never have.
But I'm not going to lose any sleep because some lame bikini reporter lost her job for being a troll to a 17 year old neurodivergent kid.
Good for the school, ridding itself if that loser troll.
Also, Dan Profit?
A stone-cold douche bag. To my unending shame, I actually supported him when he ran for governor in IL, back when I lived there. I actually donated money. I regret that error every single time I see his name.
It should go without saying that you shouldn’t mock underage children, whether they have mental challenges or not. But that’s just par for the course with the Grand OLD Party. From calling young teens Amy Carter and Chelsea Clinton “dogs” to the downright racist comments leveled at Sasha and Malia Obama, they seem incapable of keeping their vile thoughts to themselves. So the fact that far too many of them piled on in mocking Gus Walz is not really a surprise, and their apologies after the fact ring hollow.
I recall Democrats/liberals being pretty ugly to the Bush twins ... I think those are the most recent "young" -- and they were in their late teens/early 20s when W was elected -- kids of a GOP prez. in decades. There's mockery on both sides.
You contradict yourself.
You first note that Proft's "apology" contained no recognition that it is wrong to mock ANY child, regardless of ability status. Yet you then suggest that Jacobson should have been allowed to remain as coach if she "explain [ed to the students ] why it’s wrong to make fun of PEOPLE WITH DIFFERENCES". (emphasis added)
They're both vile.
I agree—Proft offered very little in the way of “I was wrong under any circumstances”and Amy Jacobson should not get a pass for the same offense. And she had no bikini business at that guy’s house either. How Bizarre!
I wouldn't have thought that Quip of the Week would be the instrument to deflate my post-DNC relief. Nonetheless, while I usually find four quips that I can vote for, and often need to eliminate good ones to reach my self-imposed limit of four, this week I found only two. And those two are hovering near the bottom of the standings as I write. The others seem dully self-deprecating, mean, or simply pointless. Maybe the recent hot spell sapped lighter humor, and I can hope for a better crop as temperatures moderate a bit. I hope so!
Surprised Danny and Amy were watching the Democratic Convention. Could they be closet Democrats? Amy apologized so I think she should keep the Volleyball Coaching Gig. They can't be easy to find and anyone who opens their mouth, especially someone who makes a living with it is going to say something stupid sometimes. I see it with other people they say something stupid then all the people that disagree demand they're resignation. Use it as a teaching moment and move on. But now the Folk Singer insult, I think the gloves need to come off here. This is below the belt and deserves action. Eric and Danny, mano to mano.....hit him over the head with your mandelion, wash his face with your washboard, and hit him in the ass with your wash tub bass. Don't take it. Folk Singer? Just what the world needs is another Folk Singer.
Amy didn’t apologize for making fun of a kid—only because he had a diagnosis. The apology should apply to ALL kids. That didn’t happen.
Such a weird glitch—somehow posted part of my above reply at a different time—my posting was not open. Sorry for repeat!
In order for anyone to SAY those cruel things about a kid, they have to THINK those cruel things. - And no apology that doesn't include an admission of absolute shame for these thoughts is not an apology!! These trolls tried to justify their cruelty by saying that they didn't know he was neurodivergent!! AS IF that made a difference.
I truly wish that I believed in Hell! Because that is where these cruel people belong.
I clicked "yes" on the Amy Jacobson poll, but only because there was no option for "yes with conditions". I think a public speech to all students expressing sincere regret and and denouncing any sort of bullying would have been a minimum requirement, possibly paired with a temporary leave of absence. This is also me assuming there was no prior history of displaying this kind of attitude, which it sounds like there must have been and certainly no one like that should be around groups of children. So my answer yes was really just tipped off the middle and possibly influenced by your comment that "cancelling" is often rash and counterproductive.
Regarding the Lincoln Project video ad with the state trooper stopping a father and daughter from traveling across state lines to obtain an abortion. According to your stance that "all laws should be followed and enforced until overturned by proper procedure or higher court", that trooper is not doing anything wrong and the young woman should be suffering the consequences for breaking it until the law is officially stricken through proper procedure? I'm sorry to keep harping on this, I am just baffled by this view, I promise this is the last time I'm bringing it up.
Finally, "I gave my love a cherry that had no stone, motherfucker. " I literally laughed out loud! Chef's kiss. Perfect. No notes.
The ad isn’t about the Trooper doing something improper. It’s about the terrifying wrongness of the laws the forced birth moment wants.
I understand that. My point is that unjust immoral laws depend on officials enforcing them and on people blindly submitting to them and that civil disobedience is a valid and sometimes necessary backstop to these laws. This is in response to EZ's mention in an earlier column that all laws have to be followed until properly overturned.
So you believe that the Love couple should never have married!! Because it was illegal!?!
Just which act of 'illegal' behavior are you telling us should not happen???
I'm on your side, I strongly believe in civil disobedience, it's EZ's view that I've been trying to refute. This is a direct quote from him: "But rules need to be followed until they’re officially changed or overturned through the normal review process." It's in this column: https://ericzorn.substack.com/p/zorn-dnc-protesters-lost-the-expectations It was related to the gymnastics bronze medal controversy, but he doubled down on it later
So I take it the going rate for an AM station was $30 million in 1991. What would it cost today?
I’m going to nominate for the best regrettables column already written Ed Sherman’s piece that followed his 1997 column about why Tiger Woods would not win The Masters that year.
“Last Thursday, I had the amazing clairvoyance to write that Woods would not win this year's Masters, his first major as a pro. Now I feel like Roberto DeVicenzo, the golfer from Argentina who signed an incorrect scorecard in the 1968 Masters, costing him a chance to play in a playoff.
DeVicenzo uttered the immortal phase: ``What a stupid I am.'”
I do happen to know Ed personally because his kids were in preschool with mine many years ago. He would sometimes write a piece in the school newsletter which would result in my husband being perplexed when he would ask me what I reading that was causing me to laugh repeatedly and I’d say the preschool newsletter.
Ed is a very good guy!
I'm usually judicious when it comes to quip voting. Not today, best list of quips ever -- voted for every one!
As a parent to an autistic, developmentally different young adult, I was gutted to see people going after Gus Walz. Gus' reactions to his dad tell me everything I need to know about their relationship and the cruel reactions of others tell me all I need to know about them.
My son hates Trump because he is unkind (mocking a disabled reporter) and was delighted to cast his first Presidential vote for Biden in 2020. He is very excited to vote for Harris in November.
Cruelty is the GQP's stock in trade!! Trump has shown himself to be incapable of being a decent human being since ever. VOTE BLUE!!!
I enjoy Willie Wilson’s columns, and find his simple, common sense reasoning and encouragement to strive to become better citizens to have a slightly Capra-esque flavor.
That said, EZ’s addendum in today’s feature on Wilson’s coda technique made me laugh louder than any Tweet of the Week candidate that I’ve seen in a while.
I, too, give EZ props for making uncomfortable those who are comfortable using the title "Dr " for their honorary doctoral degrees.
Did y'all realize that Donald Harris is still alive? Kamala Harris' father is alive but barely rated a mention at the convention, much less an invitation. Interesting. I realize trotting out her Marxist-influenced economist father would just bring out the Trump Trolls but it is still a little curious.
I get that it raises an eyebrow why he wasn't mentioned or present. But if they do not have a good, or any relationship (which may be the case for her sister as well), then not including him where his presence would impose on her sister, nieces, and entire family extreme awkwardness at a once-in-a-lifetime occasion they should be free to celebrate, makes perfect sense. Plus, bringing him into the spotlight exposes Kamala and her family to millions of press questions of "Why don't you have a good relationship with your Marxist father?" I completely understand the desire to not go there.
Vice-President Harris mentioned in her DNC speech that her father urged her to "Run, Kamala, RUN!"
Hi Melinda - I have read that, Harris is estranged from her father because he took offense to a remark she made when she began her presidential campaign in 2019, something to the effect that of course she smoked dope because she is Jamaican and he took offense that she stereotyped Jamaican people in that way. I also read that he lives in Washington DC, but has never visited her at the White House.