Here’s some big, good news: our Commodity Futures Trading Commission (or CFTC) has banned corporations from using derivatives to essentially bet on Congressional elections. The CFTC argues that betting on elections is far beyond its purview, and the corporation trying to bet on elections refuted that argument point by point, right? Ha ha ha ha! “It’s a known fact that radical innovation often requires time to be understood and accepted,” its CEO said. As I’ve said before, facts don’t need to announce themselves as facts, let alone “known" facts, and a lot of “radical innovations” do, in fact, suck, like this one does. If you know a lot of folks who bet on sports – which is very easy now, thanks to our internet and smart phones – then you know that almost everyone who bets on sports thinks all the games are rigged now. Now imagine everyone citing organized betting to suggest that “elections are rigged,” and you will know that no corporation should create a betting hall for elections, ever. Hell, I'd go further: I think horserace polls should be illegal.
Donald Trump apparently thinks that his legal troubles make him a sort of honorary Black American – and his campaign thinks it can capitalize! “Paying hush money to a porn star, allegedly mishandling classified documents, and attempting to overturn a free and fair election” are all far worse offenses than “brandishing a cellphone,” “carrying a toy gun,” and “telling a police officer you’re carrying a gun for which you have a permit,” all of which have induced police to execute Black folks in America. But Mr. Trump's strategy is, sadly, not as stupid as it sounds, and not just because of the actual “weaponization of law enforcement” I've just described. Democrats sure don’t reciprocate the love when Blacks routinely give them 90% of their votes, and George W. Bush showed us in 2004 that every little bit helps. He got 11% of the Black vote that year, versus Donald Trump’s 8% in 2020, and though that wasn’t the only reason Mr. Bush won, it sure didn’t hurt.
Dig this: the University of Florida, now headed by former Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, just handed a $4.7 million no-bid contract to McKinsey & Company to “help develop the university’s vision for the future.” It’s a “no-bid” contract not just because of crony corporatism but because everyone knows by now that it’s a stupid idea to contract with the notorious McKinsey about anything, let alone creating a “vision” for your university! And I bet you thought vision was a college President’s job. Of course, that’s what leadership is all about these days: forcing other people to do your work for you, and then saying it’s not your fault when they screw up, and if Mr. Sasse didn’t know that before he was in our Senate, I’m sure he learned it there. Yikes, they could have paid me a lot less to develop a vision for education. Here it is: teach people to detect bullshit well enough that folks would be ashamed to hand out $4.7 million to big corporations to diddle themselves.
Finally, sure it was funny to hear Sen. Collins (R-ME) say that with the disappearance of the Senate dress code she might decide to wear a bikini on the Senate floor, but far less funny is hearing her say “I think there is a certain dignity that we should be maintaining in the Senate, and to do away with the dress code, to me, debases the institution.” Ah, do they think there’s any dignity to serving in the U.S. Senate? Have they looked in the mirror? Ron Johnson debases the institution with his endless stream of noxious, nonsensical crap, but at least he always looks sharp doing it! Meanwhile, Bob Menendez just got indicted, again, and still says I’m not going anywhere like anyone should care. Is it any wonder folks would take the guy in a hoodie and shorts who actually helps people over the guy in a suit who ensures that job-killing corporations get tax breaks?
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