by John Walters
The Hunched Shoulders Of Notre Dame
A sharp spike in positive coronavirus tests, incited by an off-campus party, has led Notre Dame to suspend in-person classes for at least two weeks. The Irish brought students back on August 3rd (borrowing from Creighton’s playbook) so that they’d be able to send everyone home by Thanksgiving and call it a semester. That plan’s still a go, but being confined to dorm rooms for two weeks in South Bend in August? No bueno.
As one of my old Dillon friends proffered, “Would not want to be in quarantine with ______ during ‘The Night of the Gas’ whether or not I had mask, hazmat suit, etc. Cabbage-stuffed chimichanga in South Dining Hall is a key contributor.”
So two weeks of taking classes in your dorm room or running around the lakes to keep from going insane. And is there even gonna be football?
You may recall that Fr. John Jenkins was resolute back in the spring that Nore Dame would be able to safely reconvene students on campus and hold in-person classes this semester.
To be fair, Jenkins said that “we think we can achieve it” and even prefaced that with “If there’s a dramatic outbreak of the corona again, then we’ll have to adapt and change.” Which is what the school is doing.
Blame Jenkins if you like for, like so many, having the audacity to think that human will is enough to simply overcome the virus. Credit him for, unlike others, having the wisdom to adopt to real consequences. But don’t forget: Notre Dame and other schools already have the tuition (and room and board) checks. Is that a cynical view? Maybe, but it’s also a fact.
CFL Ya Later
Maybe it hasn’t made much news south of the border, but the Canadian Football League canceled its 2020 season on Monday. One reason the CFL, which has nine teams, cited for not playing this fall is that it can’t be assured of receiving government assistance (we thought everyone in Canada received government assistance).
So there’s yet another boot to drop in Football v. Pandemic.
Also, it didn’t get much attention here, but did you know that the Edmonton Eskimos are now the Edmonton Football Team? We didn’t know that, either.
Til 2021, Grey Cup.
Isn’t The Answer Obvious?
CNN’s website made a big deal of promoting this contretemps between Anderson Cooper and Michael Lindell, the creator of MyPillow. At issue was Lindell promoting a supplement that he claims is effective in fighting Covid-19 while not being upfront about the fact that he’s on the company’s board of directors (which got the company into the room with POTUS because Lindell is a big contributor).
But we had to laugh when Cooper asked, “How do you sleep at night?”
The dude created MyPillow. It’s kind of obvious how he sleeps, no?
Food Stamps Vs. Farm Subsidies
So I was having an argument with a friend the other day and I decided to do the research myself. To me, both of these programs are signs of an unhealthy economy.
- In 2019, the federal government spent $22 billion on farm subsidies. That is, your tax dollars were given to farmers (also known as massive land owners) in exchange that they not farm. It’s good non-work if you can get. it.
- Meanwhile, that same year, a whopping $60 billion was spent on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (aw, SNAP!), also known as food stamps. Approximately 38 million Americans, or more than one in 10, use food stamps.
So what’s the broader lesson here? I’m not sure other than to say that both programs are welfare. If you’re against the latter (or former), you should be against the former (or latter). Or maybe you just think it is (or isn’t) the government’s job to be a charity organization? Or to put guardrails on capitalism.*
*It’s funny how often capitalism has to be put back on track by artificial means, like when your AFX car runs out of its slot and flies into the wall.
This from an article in The Kansas City Star, which I imagine would be a farmer-friendly publication:
Overall spending on food stamps is much higher than farm subsidies. But on a per-person basis, farmers come out ahead.
Now maybe I have the math on this wrong, but if you did not pay the farmers to not farm, then the price of their goods would be lower, so that it would not cost as much for food, so that your food stamps would go further. So, from a taxpayer vantage point, they’re not paying the farmers and they could spend less on the welfare queens people who use food stamps.
Ah, but you know the one group that no one ever lobbies for in Washington? Taxpayers.
Roe V. Wade
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It was the bottom of the 9th inning at Yankee Stadium last night as the Bombers were about to lose their first home game of the season after 10 straight wins (you can’t play Boston every night). The Rays, leading 6-3, had reliever Chaz Roe on the mound when ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian noticed that if one Yankee got on base, then Tyler Wade would be coming to bat. “If the Yankees can get a runner on base,” said Kurkjian, who probably hadn’t thought his next words through very thoroughly, “we’ll get Roe versus Wade.”
You could hear Jimmy Pitaro screaming from here. Whoever ESPN’s play-by-play man was (Jon Sciambi), he wisely kept silent. After Miguel Andujar did get on base, bringing Wade up to bat, third man in the booth Eduardo Perez noted, “There’s your Roe versus Wade matchup.” Kurkjian did not acknowledge it. By then a producer had probably asked him, “And what’s your next statement going to be? Are you going to note that we’re late-term in this game?”
If Your Election Lasts More Than Four Hours…
The 2020 presidential election is still 80 days away but the president is already claiming that his opponent got an unfair head start, or that he didn’t hear “Ready, Set, Go” or whatever dipsh*t kids on the playground do when they know they’re about to lose a race.
Speaking to cult members in Oshkosh, Wis., on Monday, President Trump said, “The only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged.” Those are the kind of statements that bring a $50,000 fine to a coach in the NBA or NFL. But when you’re Orange-ina, it’s okay.
Here’s a Trump tweet: “Must know Election results on the night of the Election, not days, months, or even years later!” Unless, of course, those results show that Joe Biden is ahead, in which case we revert to the previous paragraph’s dictum.
Because of the coronavirus, the source of which Trump is not responsible for but the insane levels of calamity (1,358 dead here just yesterday; good job, good effort, Donald) he is totally responsible for, more Americans than ever will likely be voting by mail this fall. And that means it will be very irresponsible for any media (networks, newspapers) to declare a winner on the night of November 3rd. It’ll just be too early.
And that doesn’t mean we’re looking at a hanging chad scenario. It just means you’ve got to give the election officials time to count the ballots. Have you ever tried opening 10 million envelopes in one night?
But what did the president have to say about that in May? “There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent. Mailboxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed….“
Of course, the president himself is not voting in person. But he refers to that as “absentee balloting,” as opposed to mail-in voting. Quick translation: If you vote for Trump, that’s an absentee ballot; if you vote Biden, that’s a mail-in ballot.”
This piece in this morning’s New York Times reports that President Trump has already publicly questioned the integrity of our voting process 91 times this year (or 91 more instances of something other than hospital visits to sick Covid patients who are not his brother). If only he had a job where he were in a position to do something about that. Oh, well. How many times would Barack Obama have had to have done that back in 2012 for Bill O’Reilly to have stopped sexually harassing co-workers long enough to go batshit crazy on-air that the President of the United States had impugned the integrity of our electoral process? I’m placing the over/under at “1.”
Perhaps his most outright transparent statement in all of this came earlier this week with Fox Business drone Maria Bartiromo, when he told her why he was against further funding the U.S. Post Office: “Now they need that money in order to have the post office work, so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots …. But if they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting, because they’re not equipped to have it.”
Just win, baby. That’s how Trump who, like Al Davis, is a reptile born and raised in the boroughs of New York City, thinks.
Re Notre Dame. MSU, UNC and other colleges facing outbreaks because of parties or other student gatherings: as noted by others, any public health strategy based on people acting in a way that they are unlikely to behave is doomed. (As Chris Rock would say, that tiger didn’t go crazy — that tiger went tiger.)
Also, one question I don’t know the answer to: setting aside the parties, how are dorms and dining halls not also incubators for covid spread, especially when you essentially force students to stay there by cancelling in-person classes?
My only issue with Notre Dame is that when its president announced in May — IN MAY — that it would open this fall, he wrote about having courage, facing risk and, in the surest sign in the covid era of misguided thought, noted that we have sent young people to war knowing that they might not return. I think in the risk/reward category, the upside of saving the world from fascism is not quite the same as four months of English Lit lectures and late night pizza runs.
It is still early, but the news will never share with you “success” stories of universities transitioning into the COVID world. Instead, you’ll hear about the outbreaks at universities such as Notre Dame, MSU or UNC. And I wouldn’t even consider those cases “failures.” Outbreaks will occur. It is how universities respond to the situation that matters.
And people think it is really easy to just switch everything to online classes. I think those same people get upset when we opened back up restaurants and other non-essential businesses. You can’t just stop everything and tell people to stay home indefinitely. And if you do do that, you need to provide for them financially. You can’t have one or the other.
I actually commend the universities that took the last 5 months putting into place protocols on campus to make it as safe as possible. I think it is far more greedy of the Harvards and Stanfords of the world in going 100% online while charging full tuition than it is for a state university offering hybrid classes that allow students on campus with safety protocols in place.
Not in the mood to Susie B. this, but I’m also not against food stamps. Will people take advantage of them? Most certainly. But no matter what you do, there will always be bad apples in the bunch. Food stamps also give people the opportunity to get life in order, so they can live long, productive lives.
Thou shalt love my neighbour as thyself. As the late, great Bill Withers once sang:
Lean on me, when you’re not strong
And I’ll be your friend
I’ll help you carry on
For it won’t be long
‘Til I’m gonna need
Somebody to lean on
Life sucks sometimes and shit happens. If we have the resources (we do) to provide assistance, why not? If my neighbor is strong, that benefits all of us. The reason why welfare is demonized is because America has created this ultra ego of capitalism in that low income people are inferior. You can have a world of billionaires chasing money while also providing assistance to those in need. Because guess what? A lot of people actually just want to go home at night and spend time with their family. They aren’t selling their soul to CNBC and thinking about that beach house in the Bahamas.
You totally Susie B’d that, Jacob/Jethro, but I liked it. It’s what the kids call a “strong take.” I’ve spent the past week prepping for my hybrid class. I’d much rather it be all one or the other.
As for food stamps, I’m wondering if maybe $60 billion is a little too much to spend. There is a certain degree of disincentivizing that goes on that may not be what you see in Otumwah or wherever it is. But it is real.
I’d rather that most people want to get up and go to work and THEN go home to hang out with their families.
I did, in fact, Susie B. it. *Lowers head with shame*
As a student, I’d also prefer one or the other. I’d prefer in-person over online, though. And if we can’t have that, I’d rather have hybrid than all online.
$60 billion may be too much. I just know that fighter planes can cost upwards to $80 million per plane. That seems excessive.
If we take a step back, a better approach may be to invest more money into education so food stamps can be used as last resorts (i.e lost job & have 3 kids to feed, pandemic happens, etc.). I think we could do a better job of re-educating people without them having to go back and get a bachelor’s degree.
Something I’m certain we can agree on: An educated society (via science, not social media) is a healthy society.
Because I missed commenting earlier this week, I’d also like share my favorite post on MH since its birth: https://mediumhappy.com/?p=4010
And thanks for not raising the subscription price!
I think you and I can agree on your education aphorism. Pretty sure MAGA would rather have the $80 mil plane and LAW AND ORDER.
What do you mean “lowered you head with shame”?! You’ve just joined the ‘club’. Sure, there’s no clubhouse or secret handshakes or even a pin for your tie or lapel (yet) but you KNOW you’re a ‘club member’. And that’s enough. 🙂 🙂
It would be interesting to hook jdubs up to a lie detector & see which he hates more : Unemployment payouts, Food Stamps or farm subsidies. 😉
What I hate most is people using the comparative degree (“more”) when more than two items are referenced, this calling for the superlative degree (“most”).
The “shame” was because I said I wasn’t going to do something and then proceeded in doing that same thing.
Jacob – I hardly ever agree with a take that starts with “the media will never tell you about” but I don’t dispute that how an institution responds to an outbreak is just as important as the outbreak itself. At Notre Dame, for example, they are now up to 155 cases, and the spread is being in part blamed on insufficient testing.
I’m not anti media. I just think a lot of what the national networks do now is just sensationalize negative news. It’s irresponsible if you ask me, and it is purely motivated by viewership, not editorial judgement.
Perhaps you remember Trump’s TARIFF FIGHT WITH CHINA? Where the SOCIOPATH slapped tariffs on thousands of Chinese imports? To “punish China” when all it did was make AMERICANS PAY MUCH MORE for these goods? AND China then retaliated by NOT BUYING AMERICAN FARM PRODUCTS. China had become one of if not THE largest importer of American agricultural products & they slashed 80% due to that INANE tariff war. Hundreds/thousands of small farmers (especially in the Midwest) went bankrupt. Most all other non local-produce farmers (i.e growers of soybeans, for ex) have struggled since.
If you really want to start paying $30 for a gallon of milk & $50 for a dozen tomatoes or loaf of bread, let all the small farmers cease to exist. The land is either bought by the AGROBUSINESS conglomerates or housing developers & both results in higher food prices. The former are already monopolizing our food supply (see how well that is working out in the meat processing industry, especially for the workers).
And btw, NOT ALL FARMERS get or take subsidies. So let’s not paint ALL farmers as greedy hypocritical bastards with their hands out.
Did we, Susie B?
I’m now beginning to think you’re doing this on purpose:
“It’s good non-work if you can get. it.”
Of all the things you wrote, the thing that got me most worked up was that interview of the MyPillow guy. This is why I loathe cable news. I’d like to chalk it up to the interview taking place on WebEx, but they were talking all over each other.
There was no civil discourse, no gentlemanly exchange. Right out of the gate, Anderson Cooper seemed out to get this guy. I’m not saying that the MyPillow dude is correct, or is even above board. But, there’s a way to conduct this interview where the truth of the matter is revealed to the audience (either the MyPillow guy is promoting snake oil or is pushing an unknown cure to our pandemic) without looking like a jerk.
As for football, there’s no way a season (no matter how short) will come to a full completion (pun not intended). College football is my favorite sport, so it pains me to say that. I was listening to a sports radio station and someone made a great comparison, albeit to the NFL not college football. He said that the NFL was like a car that passes a sign that says “Bridge Out Ahead” but instead of slowing down, floors the accelerator as if there’s nothing to worry about.
As for baseball, have you seen the theory that beginning in September there’ll be a bunch of players who will opt out when it becomes apparent that their team isn’t going to make the playoffs (or make a deep run)? If that happens, you’re looking at a bunch of minor league caliber players on big league rosters.
Per your MLB theory: I’d not considered it, but I think you’re spot on. Why risk their health for a lost cause when younger/less paid workers can fill in for them? That’s the American Way.
‘Susie B.’ officially reaches verb status! Can a presidential pardon be far behind?