In a Congressional hearing recently, Banana Republican Congressman from Florida, Matt Gaetz, asked a pointed question of Colin Kahl, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, based on an article in Global Times.
Kahl replied, “I’m sorry, is this the Global Times from China?” Gaetz said no, then checked and said yes, it was, and asked Kahl if that made it untrustworthy. “As a general matter, I don’t take Beijing’s propaganda at face value,” Kahl answered. Gaetz said: “Fair enough.”
Yup.
How about a 3rd Grade grammar lesson from Jaime Raskin of Maryland? Noting Colorado Republican representative Lauren Boebert’s reference to a “Democrat solution,” Raskin said “I would like to educate our distinguished colleagues that ‘Democrat’ is the noun. When you use it as an adjective you say the ‘Democratic member.’ Or the ‘Democratic solution.’”
He said he was beginning to suspect that this usage was intended to be “an act of incivility.” [Ya think?]
He went on to say it would be like the Dems saying “Banana Republican” every time they said “Republican.”
“But we wouldn’t do that,” he said. “So, out of pure political courtesy, when it’s an adjective, refer to the ‘Democratic’ congresswoman or the ‘Democratic’ member.”
Will that be on the test, Mr. Raskin?
Some of you may have noticed baseball is back. Hurrah! I watched a few innings of a Mets-Nats spring training game and was thrilled to find their crack announcing team at work — Gary Cohen, the old pro, along with Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling. Get this — the question came up about a team’s batting order being in alphabetical order. The odds are very high against that happening. Cohen said it was some number over 300,000 to one. Yikes! But I did the math. (Judy — pay attention!) The odds of the highest lettered player being in the #1 slot is 1/9, right. Then for the second highest to be in the second slot is 1/8, etc. So I multiplied 9x8x7x6x5x4x3x2 and got 362,880. So the chances of a batting order being in alphabetical order is 362,880 to 1. In fact, Cohen said, in the entire history of baseball, it only happened once — back in 1933 or 34 (I forget). And I think the team was St. Louis — the Gas House Gang. I tried to track it down, but failed. Cohen did note that he did not know if the alphabetically ordered batting order occurred by intent or randomly.
Here’s Keith with his first wife Sue. They had three daughters together and look like a hot couple, but they divorced way back in 1983 after only four years of marriage. Go figure. The Mets retired his number last year (17). We’ll catch up with him at some point in the future. Don’t worry — he’s an Owl Chatter favorite.
The puzzle got off to a good start today at 1 across. The clue was “Like some plants that don’t need watering.” Four letters, starting with F. Some commenters said they were hoping it was FACE. You know, a “face plant,” defined as falling face first into something. But it was FAKE — fake plants don’t need water. That wasn’t bad either.
And 31A had a good clue for the simple word LINE. It was “common theme park sight.” We’ve all been there.
ANZAC day was in the puzzle, as a “Down Under holiday.” According to Anonymous, “it stems from the acronym Australian New Zealand Army Corps which was the name given to armed forces fighting in World War I. April 25 is the day that Australia commemorates the storming of beaches in Turkey by ANZAC ‘diggers’ on orders from British commanders where they were swiftly mowed down by Turkish machine guns. The event is seen now as the birth of a nation as Australia was only federated a few years earlier in 1901 and many see it as the establishment of a national identity.”
“Cher or Madonna, e.g.,” at 5D was MONONYM. A person known by one name. Here’s LMS on it:
“When Sage was in high school and fretting that she didn’t know what to do with her life, I said, ‘Hey! You can learn photography and become a world-famous pet photographer! You have a magical connection to animals; they’ll do any pose you ask! Fancy movie stars will hire you for their Christmas cards. Dog food advertisers will insist that they book ‘Sage’ for the shoot! You’ll be so famous that you’ll be known just as ‘Sage’ like Cher!’ She looked at me for a minute and said, ‘Mom. I want to do something meaningful that helps people.’ I felt shallow and pedestrian.
Sadly, one of the Rex commenters was bidding goodbye to everyone today (for some reason I am not aware of). His “name” is Birchbark, and he was very much loved for his input by the veteran commenters. (I’m a noobie.) This was a very pretty goodbye note posted by Barbara S. She found a poem to share. I don’t quite understand it (duh), but it seems beautiful.
Barbara S — I’ve just now looked at the blog for the first time today, only to find that we’re saying goodbye to @Birchbark. You will be missed. For you, a poem.
BIRCH BARK
by Michael Ondaatje
An hour after the storm on Birch Lake
the island bristles. Rock. Leaves still falling.
At this time, in the hour after lightning
we release the canoes.
Silence of water
purer than the silence of rock.
A paddle touches itself. We move
over blind mercury, feel the muscle
within the river, the blade
weave in dark water.
Now each casual word is precisely chosen
passed from bow to stern, as if
leaning back to pass a canteen.
There are echoes, repercussions of water.
We are in absolute landscape,
among names that fold in onto themselves.
To circle the island means witnessing
the blue grey dust of a heron
released out of the trees.
So the dialogue slides
nothing more than friendship
an old song we break into
not needing all the words.
We are past naming the country.
The reflections are never there
without us, without the exhaustion
of water and trees after storm.
Thanks for wasting a little time with us. See you tomorrow (Anne Hathaway may drop in!)
The Wellington Files 