Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called something a "scandal and a tragedy" and also "disgraceful" this week, and he's absolutely right. McCain was talking about the delays and cost overruns of the new F-35 stealth jet. It's the replacement for the A-10 Thunderbolt/Warthog and the F-16 Fighting Falcon/Viper (think: Air Force Thunderbirds).
The cost for nearly 2,500 of these planes was supposed to be a little more than $200 billion. We're now going on $400 billion in costs. They promised more than 1,000 planes would be done by the end of this fiscal year. So far we have 179. The Air Force variant (they have variations based upon the branch of the military) has been delayed until October. The Navy won't have theirs until November.... of 2018. Even worse, the F-35s they have produced are still "not acceptable for combat," according to the Pentagon's chief weapons tester.
We've also got disagreements by people who should know how long it will take to get it fixed. Let's just take the ALIS, which is basically the in-board, high-tech computer. There are a lot of technical issues, but let's just say it's not working yet. The F-35's Air Force program manager said they're only running two months behind, and it'll be working by October. But the Pentagon's chief weapons tester said 2018 is more realistic. So one is saying the other isn't realistic, while the other is giving a still-delayed, yet more optimistic view. These are the people who should know.
When we get into millions and billions of dollars, it's easy to lose track of how much that really means. Let's approximate and say that the F-35 program alone is about $200 billion too much. That's roughly equal to the FY 2016 appropriations of the EPA, the Department of Education, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, NASA and the Department of the Interior COMBINED. Now, it's not fair to say that the F-35 program is a one-year program — it's not, and has been going since 2007. But let's do the math. Take $200 billion over 9 years, and it's roughly $22.2 billion a year. That's pretty close to the Department of Energy's 2016 budget ($24.6 billion). If the Department of Energy spent twice their annual budget and still didn't have much to show for it, the nation would be in an uproar. People would be fired. The President would be in hot water.
But why isn't this a bigger deal? It seems this should be more upsetting to more people, but it doesn't get a lot of attention. And that's because we have a blind spot when it comes to military spending. There's certainly a "do what you must" attitude when it comes to military/protection costs. The technology for the F-35 is incredible, no doubt, like custom-built $400,000 helmets that give 360-degree views around the plane thanks to camera projections (AMAZING!). But you wouldn't buy the top-of-the-line home security system, then have it continuously delayed and cost twice as much and still consider it a great investment. At this point, they should just rename it the F-35 Albatross, because of the frustrating burden the program has become around the neck of the government.
A quick aside: There's a weird split when you watch the 6-minute TV clip attached to the Fox News story. Their "defense specialist/War Games columnist" spends the entire time talking about how "on track" the program is and how "next generation" the F-35 technology, guns, and helmet are. To be fair to her, that's a clip from November. But it's strange that's the first thing that appears in a story titled "Most expensive weapon ever built limps toward finish line." I'm sure some enterprising editor or reporter thought that'd be a good video to embed, but it tells a completely different story than the story it's attached to.
Debts to Society
At first, I was outraged that a governor (Va. Gov. Terry McAuliffe) would restore the voting rights of 200,000 felons. On its face, it sounds upsetting and ridiculous. That's certainly the impression one gets from reading the headline. But that's why you can't just read the headline. McAuliffe only restored the voting rights of ex-felons who have finished any sort of supervision, probation, or parole requirements. This brings up a broader issue: When has a person paid their debt to society after committing a crime? If the punishment is X years in prison and X years of probation, then have they paid their debt after completing that punishment? McAuliffe says yes. For a long time, the answer has been that felons will never get their voting rights back. And your answer to a person's debt to society brings up another issue: Is the goal of sentencing to be a punishment or to bring about reformation? I'm not sure I know the answer. I do know that if we believe sentencing should cause reformation in the convicted, then we're probably not doing a good job of that.
Summary Judgments
If you haven't seen the winners of the World Photography Awards, take just a few seconds and see how beautiful they are. • • • The campaigns are entering the silly months. The Trump campaign believes Hillary Clinton is just playing "the woman card," while Ted Cruz referred to a basketball hoop as a "basketball ring." Just... sigh. • • • Every time there is a mass shooting, I think about Australia. Here's what Australia did after a national tragedy, rather than nothing. • • • I don't watch Jimmy Kimmel, but this rant about Dennis Hastert is absolutely on point. If you can't get upset about a former national leader admitting to being a child molester, then recalibrate your outrage meter. • • • One of the day care workers who takes care of our kids said that Evie was taking flash cards with letters on them, and bringing them to her and saying the correct letter. I can't speak for Alyson, but that blows my mind. She's 20 months old and knows some of her letters! • • • Roland, on the other hand, has gotten really good at repeating words that you say. I think his vocabulary is bigger than Evie's. It's sad that they're not even 2 years old, and Alyson and I are already resorting to spelling words for fear that they pick up on it and demand it (Almost always food.).
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Thursday, April 21, 2016
What's the Matter with Brownback's Kansas?
UPDATED: I'm sorry. The more I thought about this article, the more I thought it just wasn't up to my usual standards. I've rewritten the parts of the article that I felt weren't well thought out, which was everything but the Name of the Year portion.
To many, the title of this post won't have much of a meaning. It's the title of a quasi-famous editorial by legendary Emporia (Kan.) Gazette editor William Allen White in 1896. In it, he bemoans the near-stagnant population growth, the departure of money from the state, the development of neighboring states, and the general forgotten nature of the state. It's powerful. So powerful that they used the title for a book a few years back.
So what's the matter with Kansas now? The matter is that its population growth is stagnant, money is leaving the state, neighboring states are developing and the state is being forgotten, unless as a warning to other states.
I had a front-row seat to the show. While I was editor in Pittsburg, Gov. Sam Brownback was elected not once, but twice. As editor, I read state stories and editorials that never made our paper. I spoke directly to state leaders and legislators. I've interviewed Gov. Brownback on two or three occasions, including a one-on-one, as well as covered probably a dozen appearances. I say that to establish some credentials for the following.
Sam Brownback is a true believer. This is his greatest and worst feature. He believes that what he is doing is the right thing, and it's the righteous thing. He cannot admit failure, because he truly believes every choice he's made has the blessing of God and the people. If something goes wrong, then it's still the right choice because the other choice would have gone even worse. There's no such thing as second-guessing.
Brownback passed massive tax cuts mostly for the rich, but that critics said would bankrupt the state. Brownback said that it would be a "great experiment" and a "shot of adrenaline" to the Kansas economy. He thought the tax cuts would spur business so much that the state would be better off than ever before. However, his critics said that the math didn't work.
His critics were wrong, in a way. They said it would be a disaster, but they underestimated how bad it would be. It's worse than even their bad predictions. The state has cut its revenue projections four times, and still managed to miss those projections each time. Right now, the state faces a hole of more than $140 million for this year AND next year.
The governor and his cohorts cut even the most sacred of causes in the Kansas budget. They cut K-12 education past the bone, and the state Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional. They then retaliated by threatening to cut funding for the state courts and have basically played a game of chicken with the courts over how to fund the schools legally. They have tried to keep higher education clear, but now it, too, is facing Brownback-issued cuts. That has pushed costs onto the backs of students. They have cut social services in Kansas. They have cut funds for the disabled and poor, the "least of these" according to a certain Jew from Nazareth. Nothing has been too sacred to avoid the axe — an axe swung only because of the failure of the tax cuts.
But perhaps the worst has been transportation. The first time the budget went short, Brownback "borrowed" several hundred million from the Kansas Department of Transportation budget. Mind you, at the time he came to power, the state was ranked No. 1 in highways according to one measure. This has become a familiar source of relief for budgetary woes, so much so that it became nicknamed "the Bank of KDOT." T-WORKS, a 10-year transportation program passed before Sam came to power, which included many modernization and expansion projects sorely needed, has been delayed. Brownback has said to my face that he would never delay those projects, and yet... here we are.
The matter with Kansas is the state elected someone who refuses to consider that a plan has failed. Even now, facing a budget hole of hundreds of millions of dollars, his budget director says that a reversal of those tax cuts is off the table. Rigidity and stubbornness are virtues if you're right, but they're a millstone around the neck if you're wrong. The matter with Kansas is that its voters were shortsighted. Brownback seemed like the light at the end of the tunnel. But what they really saw was a train.
I didn't leave Kansas because of Sam Brownback. But I, and many others my age are happy to have Brownback in the rear view mirror.
Name of the Year update
Remember how good I did the first round? Let's see about the second round. This is usually where my actual brackets fall apart. I only got 8 of the final 16. BLURGH. I would note, however, that my Final Four is still intact.
Bulltron Regional
I underestimated the strength of 1-seed Tillmann Buttersack. That's a solid two-name combo, and I should have seen that it was better than Jasmine Albuquerque-Croissant. However, I did pick Brodarious Hamm to go to the Sweet 16, so that's a win. Looking back, it was obvious that Onno Hoes would win, especially after you learned his name is appropriate. That's another one I missed. But I did pick Furious Carney to continue his roll, so that's something. 2/4 correct
Sithole Regional
This was another split region. I got the advance of Pope McCorkle III and Dick Tips, one a 1-seed and the other an upset. However, a first-round miss cost me in the round of 32. Saint Schwing, who I'd predicted to lose in the first round, continued his march into the Sweet 16. Also, I backed the wrong horse in the Scholastique Koolimo-Cosmo Bjorkenheim matchup. Koolimo won. 2/4 correct
Dragonwagon Regional
I correctly called the Sweet 16 matchup (perhaps the best matchup, tournament long) of Taco Pope and Dr. Shark Bird. I also picked Howdy Goudey right. However, I expected the 2-seed of Inta Mulch to hold serve in the second round, but she fell to Ransom Barefoot. This has been my best regional from the start. 3/4 correct
Chrotchtangle Regional
This is where it falls apart. The only name I got right was 3-seed Sweet Orefice. Mighty Fine upset Bevis Mugabi. Billie-Jo Skeleton continued into the Sweet 16 despite probably the worst name left. Jorja Pound Turnipseed used her three names to beat the synergy of Divine Deablo. 1/4 correct
Summary Judgments
A couple colleagues of mine from OU won a Pulitzer as part of the Los Angeles Times coverage of the San Bernardino shootings. Great job, Mark and Hailey! • • • I didn't listen to Prince much, but I know he was awesome. I still think his Super Bowl performance was the best ever. It's not even a debate. • • • Thanks for all the support from those who read my Facebook post about signing up for a 5K. My training is going according to plan, but now I'm at a tough stage: My next run is a 2-miler, and I'm honestly pretty intimidated by that. • • • The kids had their 18-month checkup this week. They're doing great. They weigh about 22 lbs. and are 30 inches long. Their vocabulary is way ahead for their age. Unfortunately, we've also learned "Mine Now." "Mine Now" is the worst.
To many, the title of this post won't have much of a meaning. It's the title of a quasi-famous editorial by legendary Emporia (Kan.) Gazette editor William Allen White in 1896. In it, he bemoans the near-stagnant population growth, the departure of money from the state, the development of neighboring states, and the general forgotten nature of the state. It's powerful. So powerful that they used the title for a book a few years back.
So what's the matter with Kansas now? The matter is that its population growth is stagnant, money is leaving the state, neighboring states are developing and the state is being forgotten, unless as a warning to other states.
I had a front-row seat to the show. While I was editor in Pittsburg, Gov. Sam Brownback was elected not once, but twice. As editor, I read state stories and editorials that never made our paper. I spoke directly to state leaders and legislators. I've interviewed Gov. Brownback on two or three occasions, including a one-on-one, as well as covered probably a dozen appearances. I say that to establish some credentials for the following.
Sam Brownback is a true believer. This is his greatest and worst feature. He believes that what he is doing is the right thing, and it's the righteous thing. He cannot admit failure, because he truly believes every choice he's made has the blessing of God and the people. If something goes wrong, then it's still the right choice because the other choice would have gone even worse. There's no such thing as second-guessing.
Brownback passed massive tax cuts mostly for the rich, but that critics said would bankrupt the state. Brownback said that it would be a "great experiment" and a "shot of adrenaline" to the Kansas economy. He thought the tax cuts would spur business so much that the state would be better off than ever before. However, his critics said that the math didn't work.
His critics were wrong, in a way. They said it would be a disaster, but they underestimated how bad it would be. It's worse than even their bad predictions. The state has cut its revenue projections four times, and still managed to miss those projections each time. Right now, the state faces a hole of more than $140 million for this year AND next year.
The governor and his cohorts cut even the most sacred of causes in the Kansas budget. They cut K-12 education past the bone, and the state Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional. They then retaliated by threatening to cut funding for the state courts and have basically played a game of chicken with the courts over how to fund the schools legally. They have tried to keep higher education clear, but now it, too, is facing Brownback-issued cuts. That has pushed costs onto the backs of students. They have cut social services in Kansas. They have cut funds for the disabled and poor, the "least of these" according to a certain Jew from Nazareth. Nothing has been too sacred to avoid the axe — an axe swung only because of the failure of the tax cuts.
But perhaps the worst has been transportation. The first time the budget went short, Brownback "borrowed" several hundred million from the Kansas Department of Transportation budget. Mind you, at the time he came to power, the state was ranked No. 1 in highways according to one measure. This has become a familiar source of relief for budgetary woes, so much so that it became nicknamed "the Bank of KDOT." T-WORKS, a 10-year transportation program passed before Sam came to power, which included many modernization and expansion projects sorely needed, has been delayed. Brownback has said to my face that he would never delay those projects, and yet... here we are.
The matter with Kansas is the state elected someone who refuses to consider that a plan has failed. Even now, facing a budget hole of hundreds of millions of dollars, his budget director says that a reversal of those tax cuts is off the table. Rigidity and stubbornness are virtues if you're right, but they're a millstone around the neck if you're wrong. The matter with Kansas is that its voters were shortsighted. Brownback seemed like the light at the end of the tunnel. But what they really saw was a train.
I didn't leave Kansas because of Sam Brownback. But I, and many others my age are happy to have Brownback in the rear view mirror.
Name of the Year update
Remember how good I did the first round? Let's see about the second round. This is usually where my actual brackets fall apart. I only got 8 of the final 16. BLURGH. I would note, however, that my Final Four is still intact.
Bulltron Regional
I underestimated the strength of 1-seed Tillmann Buttersack. That's a solid two-name combo, and I should have seen that it was better than Jasmine Albuquerque-Croissant. However, I did pick Brodarious Hamm to go to the Sweet 16, so that's a win. Looking back, it was obvious that Onno Hoes would win, especially after you learned his name is appropriate. That's another one I missed. But I did pick Furious Carney to continue his roll, so that's something. 2/4 correct
Sithole Regional
This was another split region. I got the advance of Pope McCorkle III and Dick Tips, one a 1-seed and the other an upset. However, a first-round miss cost me in the round of 32. Saint Schwing, who I'd predicted to lose in the first round, continued his march into the Sweet 16. Also, I backed the wrong horse in the Scholastique Koolimo-Cosmo Bjorkenheim matchup. Koolimo won. 2/4 correct
Dragonwagon Regional
I correctly called the Sweet 16 matchup (perhaps the best matchup, tournament long) of Taco Pope and Dr. Shark Bird. I also picked Howdy Goudey right. However, I expected the 2-seed of Inta Mulch to hold serve in the second round, but she fell to Ransom Barefoot. This has been my best regional from the start. 3/4 correct
Chrotchtangle Regional
This is where it falls apart. The only name I got right was 3-seed Sweet Orefice. Mighty Fine upset Bevis Mugabi. Billie-Jo Skeleton continued into the Sweet 16 despite probably the worst name left. Jorja Pound Turnipseed used her three names to beat the synergy of Divine Deablo. 1/4 correct
Summary Judgments
A couple colleagues of mine from OU won a Pulitzer as part of the Los Angeles Times coverage of the San Bernardino shootings. Great job, Mark and Hailey! • • • I didn't listen to Prince much, but I know he was awesome. I still think his Super Bowl performance was the best ever. It's not even a debate. • • • Thanks for all the support from those who read my Facebook post about signing up for a 5K. My training is going according to plan, but now I'm at a tough stage: My next run is a 2-miler, and I'm honestly pretty intimidated by that. • • • The kids had their 18-month checkup this week. They're doing great. They weigh about 22 lbs. and are 30 inches long. Their vocabulary is way ahead for their age. Unfortunately, we've also learned "Mine Now." "Mine Now" is the worst.
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Look at the Stonecutters
"When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps as much as a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know that it was not that blow that did it — but all that had gone before." -- Jacob Riis
What we often see as the cause of protests (and, yes, riots) related to police shootings is an inciting incident, whether it's Laquan McDonald in Chicago, Michael Brown in Ferguson, or Walter Scott in North Charleston. But what we're really seeing is the 101st blow of the rock. What most of us don't see are the 100 blows that came before.
And it's often easy to dismiss that 101st blow, either by confusion of facts or by distraction. Probably only Officer Darren Wilson knows what really happened with Michael Brown in Ferguson, but it's safe to say that it's not a clear-cut case. With Eric Garner on Staten Island and others, it could be argued (poorly) that police are doing what's necessary to bring an unwilling citizen under arrest. That's where much of the media and the public lose their interest.
What gets far less coverage is the follow-up. The follow-up investigations of the police departments in Ferguson and Chicago have revealed that the protesters have had reason to be upset.
In Ferguson, the report by the Justice Department found, to name a few: 1) In a 2-year period, when people were arrested for "resisting arrest" after a traffic stop, they were black 100 percent of the time. 2) When police dogs had biting incidents, the person who was bit was black 100 percent of the time. 3) Black people make up about 2/3 of the population of Ferguson, but accounted for 93 percent of the arrests. 4) The disproportionate number of arrests, tickets and use of force against black people cannot be explained away by the rate in which the races commit crimes except through racist actions of the police department.
In Chicago, the investigation by an independent task force found "The community's lack of trust in CPD is justified." Roughly 3 in 4 people shot in Chicago were black. About 3 in 4 people tasered by police in Chicago were black. Nearly 3 in 4 people pulled over for street stops that didn't lead to arrest were black. In case you're wondering how many people in Chicago are black, it's about 1 in 3.
And while numbers are one thing, stories are just as powerful: One black man in Ferguson, sitting in his car after playing basketball, was blocked in by a police officer, asked to show ID and give his Social Security number (why?). The officer then accused the man of being a pedophile, patted him down, and wrote him eight violations of the city code, including Making a False Declaration — for saying his name was "Mike" when his driver's license said "Michael." The man lost his job because of the violations.
I've heard arguments from people that try to justify the police in these situations, usually with an argument that amounts to "Black people commit more crimes." This is both untrue and
These are the hundred blows that come before protests. These are the stories and figures that don't get the attention from the media and from the public. These investigations and task force reports often don't come out for months or years until after the "101st blow," but they document the 100 that come before. When it comes to major racial incidents, the media and public often answer "why did this happen?" by pointing at the most recent incident. Instead, the real answer was years in the making.
Jacob Riis — Secret Awesome Journalist
That quote by Jacob Riis hangs in the locker room of the San Antonio Spurs and also next to Kobe Bryant's locker. So who was this guy, who is so quoted by athletes? Turns out, he's not talking about basketball.
A Danish immigrant in the late 1800s, Riis did odd jobs until he got hired as a crime reporter for the New York Tribune, covering areas nicknamed "Death's Thoroughfare" and "Bandit's Roost." (Quick lament: We don't have awesome names for areas anymore.) He became a photographer and a writer documenting crime, tenements and poverty in the slums of New York. He wrote about the bad water supply and probably helped prevent a cholera outbreak. He wrote books on the subject throughout the 1890s, including "How the Other Half Lives" and "Children of the Poor," becoming one of the best-known authors and lecturers of his day.
His other claim to fame is that he befriended a New York City police commissioner in the 1890s. This commissioner asked Riis, who knew the town well by then, to show him the city's crime problems. On their first tour of nighttime patrols, they found 9 of 10 patrolmen missing, which Riis wrote about in the paper. That commissioner then issued a series of reforms for the NYPD, and later said he was tempted to call Riis "the best American I ever knew" and praised him. You might have picked up that I haven't mentioned this NYC police commissioner's name. That's because he was police commissioner in 1895, then New York governor in 1899, and vice president in 1901 before succeeding to the Presidency later in 1901. His name was Theodore Roosevelt.
Quick Thoughts on Tuesday's New York primaries
GOP: Watch to see if and where Donald Trump makes 50 percent of the vote in New York. The state and districts award winner-take-all if someone makes 50 percent. If not, it's proportional. I don't think Trump will make 1,237 delegates to clinch the nomination before the convention, but New York could help him close the gap and make it harder to deny him the nomination at the convention.
Democrats: Bernie Sanders has "momentum," but it's not as good as you'd think. He still has to beat Hillary Clinton in big states and states with a large minority population. New York is one such state. Sanders has only won one state with a black population greater than 10 percent — Michigan. If he really has momentum, he'll win New York with 60 percent of the vote. But don't expect that. Clinton's winning by double digits in all the polls. She'll clinch the nomination, but won't wrap it up until California votes in June.
Summary Judgments
I've highlighted a lot of good journalism in these parts, but sometimes a story is so over-the-top terrible that it needs to be noted. This story on Adam LaRoche (from Fort Scott) is that story. I really liked the takedown by Deadspin's Drew Magary on it, destroying the false mythology that ESPN tried to create. • • • This story is a good reason why I hate voter ID laws. "The right to vote... is not defeated by the fact 99 percent of other people can secure the necessary credentials easily," the judge wrote. Voter impersonation (what's stopped by voter ID laws) almost never happens. One study found 31 possible incidents over 14 years, nationwide. Meanwhile, if you say that the laws only impact 1 percent of the voting population, and there are 4.4 million people in your state, then you're affecting 44,000 people (This example is Wisconsin). If you truly care about the "integrity of the vote," focus on absentee voting, which has far more incidents. • • • Congrats to my Oklahoma Daily colleague Baxter Holmes, who has wrapped up covering Kobe Bryant's final year for ESPN. • • • Roland crawled under their little kid-sized rocking chair this week. He then got himself stuck. Poor kid.
Thursday, April 7, 2016
A Man, a Plan, a Paper Leak.... Panama!
A friend of mine on Facebook lamented the lack of coverage of the Panama Papers in American print and broadcast news. She's right. American journalism was slow to cover the Panama Papers. The next question is why.
Let's summarize the Panama Papers in one paragraph, because that's an easy thing to do (note: it is not). There was a huge leak of papers from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The 11 million documents — bigger than Edward Snowden's leaks — over four decades reveal the use of offshore tax havens for the political elite, sports officials and business leaders around the world. In short: Rich people have been getting away with things for years, and now we know it for a fact.
So why isn't it getting the press in America that it has elsewhere in the world? I see four reasons why it hasn't gotten the tread in these United States that it has deserved elsewhere.
First, there's the issue of timing. The Panama Papers came out worldwide on a Sunday morning. Where are most American journalists and people? Church and not working, respectively. If there's a day when people kick back and don't follow the news, it's Sunday. That's not to say the news isn't important on Sunday. Two of the traditional Sunday morning things are the Sunday morning political talk shows (which would have been taping while the Panama Papers were breaking) and the Sunday morning newspaper (which wouldn't have had the news, since they had to go to press early in the morning). The only thing that would have had it was the Web and broadcast — whose A teams were probably off that day.
Second, there's a large degree of America-centrism here, in two forms.
• While there was a consortium of international journalists — literally the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists — they weren't the influential media power players. Notably, they largely weren't American. The New York Times had to defend themselves against their readers when they weren't involved. The only involved American media were McClatchy newspapers (Kansas City Star, Charlotte Observer, Fort Worth Star-Telegram) and Fusion TV. While these are good media sources, they also aren't consumed on a national basis. So the biggest media sources in America didn't know it was coming and were blindsided.
• American businesses and leaders were largely uninvolved. There are about 200 American passports involved in the Panama Papers. While there are a few billionaires involved in America, these aren't big names here. It's not like our President or major political leaders were involved — it's just a few rich guys you've probably never heard of. And there's a reason for that: As lawyers and journalists have pointed out, rich people don't have to go to Panama to set up shell companies, since it's perfectly legal to do that through Delaware, Wyoming or Nevada. We don't have off-shoring in America. We have legal on-shoring.
Third, the Panama Papers are complicated. It involves tax shelters and havens and off-shoring and LLCs and... that's a lot for a person to handle. Particularly in a world where journalists are told to write to an eighth-grade level, the Panama Papers are a slippery bunch of issues that usually need an explainer piece beside them. Further, what's come out has mostly been accusations and has led to very few charges (I'd argue this is because they just leaked and not because everything is legal, but that's where we're at.). So what we've got is confusion and smoke. The task for journalists will be to ferret out the fire and fan away the confusion. And the smoke. This metaphor and paragraph need to end. In short: tax shelters aren't a sexy issue.
Last, I have one more argument here: cynicism. Let's boil these Panama Papers down to their essence: Rich people around the world use complicated tax schemes to avoid paying taxes. What about that statement is surprising or shocking? There are connections to Vladimir Putin and FIFA, two people/organizations certainly not known for their transparency or lack of corruption. Most of the fallout has been to foreign leaders Americans don't know (Iceland's prime minister!) or don't trust anyway (FIFA, Putin, etc.). I'd argue that we assume the most rich people do this sort of thing anyway, so the shock really doesn't set in as deeply. In America, we're more shocked that Alabama's governor said sexy things to someone who works for him and is not his wife.
Name of the Year update
The first round of voting is over, and a few upsets have happened. I didn't pick the two 2-seeds to fall in the first round, but I did pick both to fall in the second round. Out of 32 matches, I predicted 27 (!) of the 32 first-round matches.
Bulltron Regional
As predicted, Tillmann Buttersack and Jasmine Albuquerque-Croissant have advanced to face each other. I did call the Burm Snart upset, and he'll go on to face Brodarious Hamm, as I expected. I also called the Onno Hoes-Charol Shakeshaft matchup, as well as Furious Carney pulling off the upset. What I didn't foresee (though did note was the best 15-seed) was Chizu Shimizu Buckalew pulling off the upset of 2-seed sicnarF loopstoK. Altogether, I'm proud of my picks in this region. 7/8 correct
Sithole Regional
Pope McCorkle III and Oozi Cats waltzed past their competition, as expected. However, I did not see Saint Schwing trouncing Dr. Kim Nazi. Snookie Catholique advanced and so did Cosmo Bjorkenheim and Scholastique Koolimo into the Round of 32. Of course, Dick Tips had no problems with the first round. The big surprise was another 15-seed upsetting a 2-seed. Attila Freska was not fresh enough for Rigoberto Uran Uran. 6/8 correct
Dragonwagon Regional
WOW, did I nail this one. I called the upset by 12-seed Lt. Charlene Sprinkle-Huff and correctly called the coin-toss Ransom Barefoot-IV Seacat matchup (I picked Barefoot, who won by just 16 votes!). Looking at the vote totals, I feel great about this round, but feel scared about the subsequent rounds. 8/8 correct
Chrotchtangle Regional
Remember how good I've done so far? The mighty do, occasionally, fall. Just like 1-seed Shuntavyious Primes-Willes to the underdog 16-seed Billie-Jo Skeleton. I don't think anyone saw that one coming. I correctly called wins by Tre McKitty and Divine Deablo, and also picked the 13-seed upset by Jorja Pound Turnipseed over Jasmine Squirrel. However, I picked the wrong horse in the Muna Tuna-Langstaff Dickerson race, and Muna Tuna came out ahead. I did pick the rest of the bracket correctly to round it out, though. 6/8 correct
Summary Judgments
George Mason University renamed their law school after Antonin Scalia, but forgot about acronyms. The Antonin Scalia School of Law is ASSLaw or ASSoL. I can't believe no one thought about that. Anyway, they've already changed it to Antonin Scalia Law School (ASLS). • • • A Wisconsin Representative said after Tuesday's election that voter ID laws will help Republicans in that state. That's the truth about voter ID laws: Although they sound good, they are really a smokescreen to eliminate minority (often Democrat) votes from the general election. I've done the research and the facts are clear. If you want to stop voter fraud in truth, reform absentee voting. Until then, legislators are focusing on the speck of dust instead of the plank in the proverbial eye. • • • Censorship makes me angry. It makes me further angry when legislators — who should know better — cherry-pick lines to make books sound evil and toxic. It really makes me angry when legislators from former Confederate states seek to cherry-pick lines from Pulitzer Prize-winning books written by black authors. • • • The other day, I was picking up the kids from daycare. I've got Evie in my arms, while Roland is crying while the daycare attendant is grabbing our stuff. I said, "Come on, Roland! Be happy!" Evie then leaned into my ear and whispered, "Happy." It was then that I learned that any word, no matter how nice, is made creepy by whispering.
Let's summarize the Panama Papers in one paragraph, because that's an easy thing to do (note: it is not). There was a huge leak of papers from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The 11 million documents — bigger than Edward Snowden's leaks — over four decades reveal the use of offshore tax havens for the political elite, sports officials and business leaders around the world. In short: Rich people have been getting away with things for years, and now we know it for a fact.
So why isn't it getting the press in America that it has elsewhere in the world? I see four reasons why it hasn't gotten the tread in these United States that it has deserved elsewhere.
First, there's the issue of timing. The Panama Papers came out worldwide on a Sunday morning. Where are most American journalists and people? Church and not working, respectively. If there's a day when people kick back and don't follow the news, it's Sunday. That's not to say the news isn't important on Sunday. Two of the traditional Sunday morning things are the Sunday morning political talk shows (which would have been taping while the Panama Papers were breaking) and the Sunday morning newspaper (which wouldn't have had the news, since they had to go to press early in the morning). The only thing that would have had it was the Web and broadcast — whose A teams were probably off that day.
Second, there's a large degree of America-centrism here, in two forms.
• While there was a consortium of international journalists — literally the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists — they weren't the influential media power players. Notably, they largely weren't American. The New York Times had to defend themselves against their readers when they weren't involved. The only involved American media were McClatchy newspapers (Kansas City Star, Charlotte Observer, Fort Worth Star-Telegram) and Fusion TV. While these are good media sources, they also aren't consumed on a national basis. So the biggest media sources in America didn't know it was coming and were blindsided.
• American businesses and leaders were largely uninvolved. There are about 200 American passports involved in the Panama Papers. While there are a few billionaires involved in America, these aren't big names here. It's not like our President or major political leaders were involved — it's just a few rich guys you've probably never heard of. And there's a reason for that: As lawyers and journalists have pointed out, rich people don't have to go to Panama to set up shell companies, since it's perfectly legal to do that through Delaware, Wyoming or Nevada. We don't have off-shoring in America. We have legal on-shoring.
Third, the Panama Papers are complicated. It involves tax shelters and havens and off-shoring and LLCs and... that's a lot for a person to handle. Particularly in a world where journalists are told to write to an eighth-grade level, the Panama Papers are a slippery bunch of issues that usually need an explainer piece beside them. Further, what's come out has mostly been accusations and has led to very few charges (I'd argue this is because they just leaked and not because everything is legal, but that's where we're at.). So what we've got is confusion and smoke. The task for journalists will be to ferret out the fire and fan away the confusion. And the smoke. This metaphor and paragraph need to end. In short: tax shelters aren't a sexy issue.
Last, I have one more argument here: cynicism. Let's boil these Panama Papers down to their essence: Rich people around the world use complicated tax schemes to avoid paying taxes. What about that statement is surprising or shocking? There are connections to Vladimir Putin and FIFA, two people/organizations certainly not known for their transparency or lack of corruption. Most of the fallout has been to foreign leaders Americans don't know (Iceland's prime minister!) or don't trust anyway (FIFA, Putin, etc.). I'd argue that we assume the most rich people do this sort of thing anyway, so the shock really doesn't set in as deeply. In America, we're more shocked that Alabama's governor said sexy things to someone who works for him and is not his wife.
Name of the Year update
The first round of voting is over, and a few upsets have happened. I didn't pick the two 2-seeds to fall in the first round, but I did pick both to fall in the second round. Out of 32 matches, I predicted 27 (!) of the 32 first-round matches.
Bulltron Regional
As predicted, Tillmann Buttersack and Jasmine Albuquerque-Croissant have advanced to face each other. I did call the Burm Snart upset, and he'll go on to face Brodarious Hamm, as I expected. I also called the Onno Hoes-Charol Shakeshaft matchup, as well as Furious Carney pulling off the upset. What I didn't foresee (though did note was the best 15-seed) was Chizu Shimizu Buckalew pulling off the upset of 2-seed sicnarF loopstoK. Altogether, I'm proud of my picks in this region. 7/8 correct
Sithole Regional
Pope McCorkle III and Oozi Cats waltzed past their competition, as expected. However, I did not see Saint Schwing trouncing Dr. Kim Nazi. Snookie Catholique advanced and so did Cosmo Bjorkenheim and Scholastique Koolimo into the Round of 32. Of course, Dick Tips had no problems with the first round. The big surprise was another 15-seed upsetting a 2-seed. Attila Freska was not fresh enough for Rigoberto Uran Uran. 6/8 correct
Dragonwagon Regional
WOW, did I nail this one. I called the upset by 12-seed Lt. Charlene Sprinkle-Huff and correctly called the coin-toss Ransom Barefoot-IV Seacat matchup (I picked Barefoot, who won by just 16 votes!). Looking at the vote totals, I feel great about this round, but feel scared about the subsequent rounds. 8/8 correct
Chrotchtangle Regional
Remember how good I've done so far? The mighty do, occasionally, fall. Just like 1-seed Shuntavyious Primes-Willes to the underdog 16-seed Billie-Jo Skeleton. I don't think anyone saw that one coming. I correctly called wins by Tre McKitty and Divine Deablo, and also picked the 13-seed upset by Jorja Pound Turnipseed over Jasmine Squirrel. However, I picked the wrong horse in the Muna Tuna-Langstaff Dickerson race, and Muna Tuna came out ahead. I did pick the rest of the bracket correctly to round it out, though. 6/8 correct
Summary Judgments
George Mason University renamed their law school after Antonin Scalia, but forgot about acronyms. The Antonin Scalia School of Law is ASSLaw or ASSoL. I can't believe no one thought about that. Anyway, they've already changed it to Antonin Scalia Law School (ASLS). • • • A Wisconsin Representative said after Tuesday's election that voter ID laws will help Republicans in that state. That's the truth about voter ID laws: Although they sound good, they are really a smokescreen to eliminate minority (often Democrat) votes from the general election. I've done the research and the facts are clear. If you want to stop voter fraud in truth, reform absentee voting. Until then, legislators are focusing on the speck of dust instead of the plank in the proverbial eye. • • • Censorship makes me angry. It makes me further angry when legislators — who should know better — cherry-pick lines to make books sound evil and toxic. It really makes me angry when legislators from former Confederate states seek to cherry-pick lines from Pulitzer Prize-winning books written by black authors. • • • The other day, I was picking up the kids from daycare. I've got Evie in my arms, while Roland is crying while the daycare attendant is grabbing our stuff. I said, "Come on, Roland! Be happy!" Evie then leaned into my ear and whispered, "Happy." It was then that I learned that any word, no matter how nice, is made creepy by whispering.
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