Odds and ends of interest

Cleaning out my backlog of drafts for stories that got bumped for more pressing ones:

1.   Kim Jong Un says no to Donald Trump.   Trump has, among many things, boasted that he could set things right with North Korea by sitting down for a talk with Kim Jong Un, their Supreme Leader.   A spokesman for Kim responded by saying No.   They know it's just part of Trump's election "propaganda."    Lesson #1 for The Donald about the high stakes complex world of international relations.   The Art of the Deal isn't going to work for you here.

2.   Texas avoids an education train wreck.  A Texas woman just lost her runoff election to be on the State Board of Education that sets curriculum standards and chooses textbooks.   Why do we care?   Texas is notorious for the control that right-wing, religious conservatives have gained over the state school board.  Mary Lou Bruner drew national attention for her views, such as her claim that Barack Obama was a drug-addicted gay prostitute in his youth, that the Boy Scouts is a homosexual organization, and that parents should home-school their children rather than letting them be taught evolution in public schools.   Ms. Bruner earned the most votes in the primary, but was defeated in a runoff on Tuesday.

3.  Merrick Garland always gets it right.  Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland is in a holding pattern as the Senate Judiciary Committee chair refuses to hold hearings on his nomination.   The 415 page information document Garland filed with the committee included this.   During his tenure as judge on the Appeals Court for the District of Columbia (the most important court below the SCOTUS), he has written the majority opinion in 350 cases.   Not a single one has been reversed, either by the Supreme Court or by the full D. C. Appeals Court.   That's a remarkable record, which shows what a careful legal scholar he is and how much he is in the mainstream of legal opinion.    Republicans should jump at the chance to approve his appointment.

4.  Kenneth Starr's come-uppance.  In the mid-1990s, Judge Kenneth Starr was tapped as the Special Prosecutor to investigate some real estate deals that Bill Clinton had been involved in back in Arkansas when he was governor.  Well, actually it was a political witch hunt.  Starr's dogged pursuit turned up nothing on the real estate deals;  but Starr just kept looking for anything on Clinton until he got a tip about the sex scandal with Monica Lewinsky.  He was no impartial investigator.   His disgust and moralistic attitude were crystal clear in his reports.  In Democratic circles, the name "Kenneth Starr" became synonymous with "relentless pursuit of nothing important."   It was Starr's investigation that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment by the House.  Of course, he was not convicted by the Senate, so that was that.

 But now there's this.   Kenneth Starr's career took him into academic administration, most recently as president of Baylor University.  Oddly, a few days ago, Starr released a letter praising Bill Clinton for all the good work he has done globally and saying he was "sorry for the unpleasantness."  That puzzling gesture became clear a day later when it was reported that the Baylor football coach is being fired and Starr is being demoted from the presidency because of the university's inadequate response and cover-ups in multiple cases of sexual assault by members of the Baylor football team.    What an irony.  The prude who was so judgmental about Bill Clinton's sex scandal is now disgraced by his failure to address the sex scandal in his own back yard.

5.  Donald Trump lies.  Sorry.  This was going to be a no-Trump day, but I couldn't resist adding this.    He just says what plays well, without regard for truth.   He's touting the anticipated opening of a new Trump hotel in the renovated old post office building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.  It will open this September "two years ahead of schedule, which is unheard of for a project of this size and complexity," Trump boasts.   See, this guy can Get Things Done.   In time for his motorcade to pass by on inauguration day, of course.

The only problem is that in 2013 the Trump organization's web site announced that the hotel would open at the end of 2015.  Then in 2014 they were saying it would open in mid-2016.    Now it's going to be September 2016 . . . "two years ahead of schedule."   Construction delays are expected.  This little lie doesn't matter.

The fact that you can't believe anything the person in the Oval Office says . . . that would matter a lot.

Ralph