…by this NYT article about Indian tribes in California that are disenrolling “inauthentic” members of the tribe. After all, the more people you throw out, the less of a split you have for that lovely casino money. ($15,000 a month?!)
I found this quote particularly striking:
By way of Insta, Great But Forgotten.
I was more than a little skeptical when I saw his entry. But when I clicked over and saw that they had covered
And all on the first page of the site, I pretty much said to myself, “Yeah, these guys are worth keeping an eye on.”
Then I kept clicking. Screaming Yellow Zonkers! Ellery Queen! And Tom freakin’ Reamy! (I haven’t read Blind Voices, but I have read San Diego Lightfoot Sue and Other Stories.) Yeah, if these guys are willing to go that deep, I’ll trust them on a lot of stuff. (Okay, I do have a quibble or two. I don’t think Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was all that and a bag of chips, though I agree it wasn’t horrible.)
I could waste hours here. Indeed, I think I already have. But, you know, when someone singles out Night of the Comet, attention must be paid.
Rough day for coaches.
Terry Murray out as coach of the Los Angeles Kings. This is a hockey team, by the way.
Also, for the benefit of the Texas Tech fans in my audience (both of them), Lawrence sent along this link to turnover in the coaching ranks.
Miami Dolphins drop Tony Sparano, at least according to speculation. We should be about 30 minutes into that 4:15 press conference.
This is a little early, since the final grade hasn’t been put into the main university system yet. (Edited to add 12/13: it is there now.) But I’ve been in touch with my “20th Century: Triumph and Tragedy” professor by email, and she’s confirmed the grades posted in the university’s BlackBoard system.
And…?
NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
Indianapolis
A few notes: someone pointed out to us yesterday that Indy is just engaged in “sucking for Luck”; that is, they’re deliberately tanking the season in hopes of getting a first round the number one draft choice. We agree that this is probably the case: but all the Loser Update is intended to be, is a tally of who has a shot at going 0-16. Motivations aren’t a factor in the LU.
Secondly, we owe Lawrence $100. However, the link he posted says nothing about the Texans clinching the playoff berth. Here’s a better one.
Thirdly, this is only tangentially related to the loser update, but we’ve been threatening to link it all weekend: Elektrosjokkfotball. Basically, imagine two teams of Swedes playing soccer, where all the players (and the ref) are wearing shock collars, and the two observers/commentators have the controls. (I can’t tell for sure, but there may also have been alcohol involved.) I’d watch a lot more soccer if it was like this. (Push the “CC” button for English subtitles. Hattip: TJIC on the Twitter.)
Lawrence is on top of the UT Law School dean resignation story, but there’s one aspect of this story that troubles me.
From the Statesman:
Mmmmmkay. The Statesman goes on to quote officials with the Law School as saying that “Every member of the faculty with a named professorship or chair gets summer support and/or a salary supplement from the foundation,” and “Sometimes we help people with mortgage loans and things of that sort.” How many people does this amount to? And where does the foundation get funds?
But here’s the thing that makes me go “Hmmmmm”:
Settlements?
So was the Law School underpaying people and engaging in discriminatory behavior (or at least, giving people reason to believe such a thing was going on)? And were they using money from this fund to pay off people who otherwise would have sued? Because that’s sure the implication I get from the word “settlement”; that this money was going to folks who otherwise would have gone to court.
If my reading of this isn’t too far off base, it strikes me as being even sleazier than the forgivable $500,000 loan to the dean.
I’ve been following the case of Officer Daniel Faulkner for years.
I believe, along with such notoriously conservative sources as Vanity Fair and Salon, that Mumia Abu-Jamal killed Officer Faulkner. I believe that anyone who maintains otherwise, in the face of all the evidence against Abu-Jamal, is delusional. I can respect the people who said “Mumia Abu-Jamal shouldn’t be executed because nobody should be executed.” I understand that position, and respect the intellectual consistency of it. I can’t respect anyone who says “Mumia Abu-Jamal shouldn’t be executed because he should be walking around free because he didn’t do the crime.” The evidence is too overwhelming.
The district attorney in Philadelphia has decided that he’s not going to seek a new sentencing hearing for Abu-Jamal. He will remain in prison for the rest of his life, instead of being executed for killing Officer Faulkner.
I’m torn by this. I believe Abu-Jamal deserves to be executed. I know I’ve threatened to write a longer post about my views on the death penalty (and I will do that some day). People I respect a great deal argue against the death penalty. I’ve given a lot of thought to their arguments, and I’ll admit I’m about 51% in favor, 49% against.
What it comes down to for me is that I believe some people do things so awful to other people that they deserve to die. I believe Ted Bundy deserved to die. I believe Ronald Clark O’Bryan deserved to die. And I think Abu-Jamal deserves to die.
But Officer Faulkner’s widow supports the decision not to pursue the death penalty again. Good enough for me. May Abu-Jamal vanish back into well deserved obscurity, and may he die alone, unmourned and unloved.
Since I have been slightly involved with the profession, I am compelled to call attention to Popehat’s post about Homeland Security funds being used to purchase snow-cone machines. (Edited to add: Just to clarify, that is the snow cone/shaved ice profession, not the Homeland Security profession.)
There are several things that bother me about the coverage of this:
Harry Morgan. (Edited to add: LAT obit.)
Most of the obits I’ve seen so far reference his work on “M*A*S*H” right away, but I prefer to remember him in his other famous role.
Edited to add: As Lawrence points out in the comments, Morgan also had one heck of a film career. In that vein, I’d like to spotlight Sean O’Neal’s obit at the Onion A/V Club site.
I’ve noted that the A/V Club obits, especially those written by O’Neal, do a very good job of summarizing the accomplishments of the people they are eulogizing (especially older Hollywood figures) and explaining why their lives mattered, without snark.
Hmmmmm hmmmmm hmmmmm. A “reality television” show. I wonder what show that could be. Actually, I don’t wonder: I took a guess as soon as I saw the headline. Anyone want to play along? I’ll put this behind a jump…