100 Words: Self-aware comic strips

I love newspaper comic strips. I especially adore the “meta” approach sometimes found in Pearls Before Swine. (Meta, of course, is when something refers back to or is about itself, like a book about books. It's seeing the thing from a higher perspective, like being enjoyably self-aware.) In one recent Pearls strip, Neighbor Bob buries his face in his hands. Sob Sob Sob appears above him. Rat says, “Hey, Neighbor Bob. Are you crying or calling someone a you-know-what?” “Crying,” Bob says. “So hard to tell in comic strips,” Rat comments. This kind of whimsical absurdity transcends the comics.

100 Words: Which newspaper comic strips do you like and why?

I love newspaper comic strips. My tastes have changed over the years along with the strips featured. Pearls Before Swine, Dilbert, and Speed Bump all offer wise philosophical commentary disguised as silliness, of course. In a recent strip, Dilbert says, “I can’t tell the difference between good ideas and bad ones. There are smart people on both sides of every idea. What rational process do you use to determine who is right?” To which cynical lay about Wally replies, “I label the people who disagree with me ‘idiots’ and call it a day.” Who doesn’t do that? Guilty as charged.

Another 141 Words on Breonna Taylor’s death and what can be done to keep this from happening again

I must hasten to add that in praising the Metro Council’s revolutionary proposed police budget that I am in no way suggesting that it could ever make up for Breonna Taylor’s appalling murder by LMPD. No innocent person should ever have to die because of police violence. Like all decent human beings, I wish it had never happened and I grieve for her loved ones and oppressed people, especially African Americans. But at least now it seems possible that Breonna’s death may have a transformative effect on her city. The revolutionary police budget proposal unveiled today, according to Councilman Pat Mulvihill, is a “paradigm shift,” that would prioritize recruiting a diverse police force that lives in the community and training on using force, de-escalation and implicit bias. If this happens, perhaps such future tragedies can be averted. I fervently hope so.

248 Words: Praising Louisville’s revolutionary police budget proposal

You would never know it from today’s CJ headline—"Metro Council unwilling to defund police department”—but I believe the council’s proposed police budget is about to revolutionize justice in this community and turn Louisville into an international model for sound policing. Yes, you read that right. Of course, the devil is always in the details. But if you read the details in this story, this conclusion is inescapable. In my opinion, what the council wants to do is incredible, taking the most positive step in our city’s checkered history of criminal injustice. According to the newspaper, “state and federal forfeiture funds would go toward police recruitment, training and exploration of co-responders, like behavioral health specialists, over equipment. It also proposes setting aside more than $750,000 for a civilian oversight system, an independent body to investigate the police department.” It doesn’t end there. “Rather than using the dollars on police equipment or other law enforcement purposes, it would send the roughly $1.2 million to explore ‘deflection,’ the idea of moving people away from the criminal justice system and toward a behavioral health model, which could include assigning co-responders with police. That might look, for instance, like a case manager assigned to respond with police to help people get connected to treatment, housing or other services.” If adopted and implemented faithfully and fully, policing in Louisville will be changed forever for the better. I have never felt prouder or more hopeful of our local leadership than is this moment.

100 Words: A few more about “The Eddy” on Netflix

I loved this moody, uncompromising eight-part miniseries, which is unlike anything else on TV this summer. Reviews have been mixed, with criticism centering on the show’s hazy, improvised story line rather than following a more traditional dramatic structure. Nevertheless, “It was a show with scenes that moved me as much as anything on TV” (Roger Ebert). Filmed in a struggling Paris night club, it was “visually rewarding” (LA Times). The original jazz numbers composed by Glen Ballard are sensational. The music is performed by magnificent vocalist Joanna Kuligac and a cast of accomplished musicians, many in their first acting roles.

100 Words: “The Eddy” on Netflix is challenging but so worth it

This is my favorite TV show of the summer. The eight-part miniseries follows André Holland’s struggles to keep his Parisian jazz club afloat during terrible times. The murky plot is complicated further by lines mumbled in English, French, and Arabic. But brilliant musical scenes dominate. They’re filmed “in loving detail,” with “incredible solos and moments when the whole band comes together to form something almost transcendent” (Roger Ebert). To critics who panned it: “Sometimes you have to be careful to avoid criticizing a series for not being what you want it to be, instead of what it is” (LA Times).

100 Words: So, this is what opening back up looks like

Had my first (unavoidable) in-store experience since the plague began yesterday and was appalled by the number of people who were blundering around without masks. What is wrong with these people? According to current news accounts, leading U.S. infectious disease experts are warning the coronavirus will continue making life difficult for the foreseeable future. Why? Because so many refuse to take the persistent threat seriously. But the virus is not going to rest, according to the CID director. I sincerely hope no one has to die because of this, but if someone does then I know who deserves the nomination.

100 Words: A Final Trump Reminder: He’s No Nixon (NY Times)

The 50th anniversary of the Kent State massacre passed with little notice. Now Nixon era echoes are heard as Trump deliberately invokes Tricky Dick’s legacy, tweeting on “law and order” to exploit white backlash for political gain. But Trump isn’t Nixon — he’s much, much worse. Nixon was cynical and ruthless, but also smart and hard-working. Trump spends his days tweeting and watching Fox News. Trump on Covid-19 threat: denial, then frantic efforts to shift the blame to others for his own sham ineffective policies. So, Trump is no Nixon.” (Paul Krugman, NYT). My question: How different is the country Trump’s trying to “dominate?”

100 Words: A Trump Reminder for This Fall (as reported by USA Today)

The upcoming presidential election “continues to be largely a referendum on the incumbent. The initial reaction to ongoing racial unrest in the country suggests that most voters feel Trump is not handling the situation all that well” -- Monmouth U. poll. George Floyd’s death has made Americans more pessimistic about the state of race relations. 61% say race relations in the USA are “generally bad” while 57% of Republicans believe race relations are generally “good.” --CBS News survey. Monmouth says if the fall election, still five months away, were held now, Biden wins over Trump by 56% to 41%.

100 Words: A Trump Reminder for Now (as reported by USA Today)

“President Donald Trump is now one of only three presidents to be impeached, and the only one impeached in his first term. Why Trump? On Inauguration Day, he had already confessed to grabbing women’s genitalia, stoked bigotry against Mexicans and Muslims, encouraged fans to “knock the crap” out of protesters, bilked Americans with his fraudulent “Trump University,” mocked a disabled reporter and lied in a way that appeared pathological. Now Americans are unhappy with Trump’s response to George Floyd’s death, his handling of ensuing protests, and his handling of race relations in general, according to four polls released this week.

100 Words: A Trump Reminder (as reported by USA Today in Dec. 2019)

“Trump has never lived the life he deserved. In the 1970s, the Justice Department sued him for refusing to rent apartments to African Americans. Still, he became a billionaire real estate developer. He bragged about sexually assaulting women, reduced presidential politics to name-calling, and invited a foreign adversary to hack his 2016 rival’s emails. Still, he was elected president. He stocked his administration with crooks and cronies, used the presidency to further his financial interests, bribed a foreign ally for personal gain and hired a morally bankrupt attorney general. Still, he has good odds of winning reelection.”

100 Words: Who’s to Blame for Our Failure?

There’s been enough international success dealing with the plague to leave a clear sense of how to beat it: impose strict social distancing long enough to reduce those infected to small fraction of population. Then test, trace, and isolate--quickly identifying outbreaks, finding and quarantining everyone exposed until danger passes. It worked in South Korea and New Zealand, but  must be strict and patient, staying the course, not giving in to temptation to return to normal life with virus still widespread. Alas, America’s impatience and unwillingness to do so runs much deeper than any one man.—Paul Krugman, NY Times