The Weekend in Foolish Attention

Bit and bytes of the week

I want some of that requested presidential immunity. In another bizarre legal argument, former President Trump launches the idea that a president cannot be prosecuted for crimes committed while president. Trump’s main argument on this appeal is that presidents can’t be prosecuted for their official acts. That argument is based on a line of civil cases establishing that presidents can’t be held liable via monetary damages for their official actions—more specifically, as the Supreme Court held in 1981 in Nixon v. Fitzgerald, there is “absolute Presidential immunity from damages liability for acts within the ‘outer perimeter’ of his official responsibility.”

What a maroon.

Speaking of truly charismatic bad guys… The Sopranos is twenty-five years old. Still looks and sounds fresh as a daisy. It is an odd thing that for decades (and perhaps longer) we love nothing more than a criminal doing criminal things for our entertainment but then cry like a baby surprised by a dog biting its face when an actual criminal does criminal shit to us. If any one of us met a real life Tony Soprano we’d piss our jeans.

Be careful what you wish for… Successful political activism is the monkey’s paw. You may get exactly what you wish for but there will be a price to pay. The Left brought the age-old cancel culture (or accountability culture) to the forefront in the past few years and now Right is embracing it but doing it better. Harvard President Claudine Gay was canceled (or held accountable) because Chris Rufo decided she was bad and hunted down her numerous examples of plagiarism. It doesn’t matter why he did it—he was successful.

Whatever the Left comes up with in terms of dirty tricks, the Right will eventually do it better. If the motto has become “When they go low, we go lower” we’ll lose because the Right can always go lower than us.

When it rains… While I haven’t given notice yet, the chips are falling all around the Wichita job. This week it was announced that the Operations Manager of all five stations and my direct supervisor has decided to split. The guy is easily one of the most intelligent and competent managers I’ve encountered and I’ve enjoyed working with him. That said, he’s been unhappy at this gig for years and underutilized. Sure, I could stick around and suck it up but his narrative foretells my own should I have decided to stay.

Like being married to someone who consistently denigrates you and actively attempts to marginalize, guilt, and shame you into a sense of unyielding compliance, some workplaces aren’t worth the toll it takes.

“I’m content with my decision and scared for my future self,” he tells me. Welcome to my every day, brother.

Disney fumbles again. The choice for the director of the next Star Wars film is Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. She is on record stating "I like to make men uncomfortable. I enjoy making men uncomfortable. It is important to be able to look into the eyes of a man and say, I am here, and recognize that, and recognize that I am working to bring something that makes you uncomfortable, and it should make you uncomfortable because you need to change your attitude." Given that the prime audience for Star Wars is dudes, I have a gut feeling this next one will be a real blast to watch and make tons of money.

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Stay warm, Gentle Readers!