Yeah, yeah, you don't like sports.  Fine, whatever.  This will take you 30 seconds.  It's worth it.  Be sure to turn the sound on.

A month ago, I wrote here about how those on the far-right trying to use "Personal Choice!" as their fake-excuse cry to freedom was utterly empty because pretty much everything was Personal Choice.  It's Personal Choice, I wrote, whether or not to jump off a building.  And Personal Choice whether or not to cross a busy street in the middle of traffic.  It's Personal Choice to wear a seat belt, even though it's the law.  You don't have to, you can break the law, it's Personal Choice.  Just like it's Personal Choice to follow the admonition on a restaurant that says "No shoes.  No shirt.  No service."  But just because you're making a Personal Choice, I wrote, doesn't mean you're making a good one.

​James Akers took mere words and put it to action.
 
Akers is a father who went to the local school board meeting in his Dripping Springs Independent School District.  Dripping Springs is in Texas, where thanks to anti-vaccination and anti-mask policies of Gov. Greg Abbott and the self-styled “freedom-loving” Personal Choice would-be cowboys have helped the state’s infection level spike problematically.  It’s likely that the school board there hasn’t has a parent address them quite like James Akers did the other day.
 
It started out normally, as Mr. Akers took his turn at the microphone.
 
 "I do not like the government, or any other entity, telling me what to do," he told the school board members. "But sometimes I've got to push the envelope a little bit. And I've decided I'm not just going to talk about it, I'm going to walk the walk."
 
And so he did.
 
"At work they make me wear this jacket," he said.  “I hate it.”  And to show how much he hated it, Akers took off his jacket. 
 
"They make me wear this shirt and tie," he said.  Adding, "I hate it."  And so, he took off his tie.  And then his jacket.
 
And he continued telling the board how much he hated wearing a lot of the clothes he was obligated to wear, but that the requirement to wear them were put on him by others than himself and his family.  And all the while, as he explained this, he took off more clothes.  Though he didn’t have many other clothes to take off, other than his shoes and his pants.  But they went, too.  And he stripped down to his underwear.
 
"It's simple protocol, people,” Akers went on. “We follow certain rules. We follow certain rules for a very good reason.”
 
School board president Barbara Stroud asked him to please put his clothes back on, but Akers wasn’t ready to yet, since he had his point to make in words.
 
"I have every right to drive as fast as I want to," he said.  (It’s a Personal Choice, after all…)   But he doesn’t.  Because he wanted to show that we have rules in society for safety – and wearing masks is no different than any of those safety rules.
 
As you might imagine, James Akers’ presentation got a mixed response from those in attendance at the meeting, with a mixture of cheers and boos.  But he made his point, and then put his pants back on.
 
I merely made the point.  James Akers walked the walk.
I don’t have video of his full presentation.  But happily, I do have the end of it.  And the Texas news story that covered it.  Though “covered” might be the wrong word to use here…

At this point, there's a good chance you’ve seen stories about Zaila Avant-Garde, the 14-year-old girl who the other day won this year’s Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee and wat the first African-American to do so.  You may have also read about some of her other talents, like that she’s in the Guinness Book of Records three times.  More about that in a moment -- and more, because I want to present her in a little more in-depth way than the coverage she's gotten.  Because, as you'll see, she deservies it.

First though, let’s see her win the contest that got all the attention. 

And trust me, you ain’t see nothing yet. 
 
Because here it is.  Here she is dribbling and juggling basketballs, what she got her three Guinness Book of World Records for.  There are several videos of her doing other tricks beyond just these.  This is merely just one of many.  I’m not going to say anything more about the specifics you're about to see, this since it not only speaks loudly for itself, it shouts it from the rafters.  And it’s not repetitious, her skills just keep getting better and better as the video progresses – and they’re jaw-dropping amazing from the first.  And no, I’m not exaggerating.  And no, too, there are no special effects here, this is all Zaila Avant-Garde.  In real time.

And remember, as she was painstakingly teaching herself this unearthly skill, she was training to become the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee champion.

There are probably more "Oh, my God" moments here than in most tent revival meetings.

Yeah, between that and her regularly basketball, not too shabby for a Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee winner.
 
I thought I’d end with arguably the best video of all.  Her being herself, interviewed on the Today Show.  Showing why she can likely do whatever she wants to in the future.  And probably will.
  ​

On this week’s Al Franken podcast, his guests (yes, there are two guests this week) are Miami Dade County Judge Steve Leifman and Norm Ornstein.  As Al writes, they talk about Judge Leifman’s “remarkably successful Jail Diversion Program, which saves lives and big bucks. An inspiring, feel-good story about changing the lives of our society’s most vulnerable.”
 

With all the discussion this past week on Trump's insistence on opening schools, I thought that this would be a particularly good conversation on Al Franken's podcast to post here.  Al (who was a member of the Senate Education Committee) talks with Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association, about teaching during a pandemic and, as he puts it, “an important subject: how awful Betsy DeVos is.”

​A few years back, the inveterate Chris Dunn told me about a comedian and filmmaker he liked, Mike Birbiglia.  I've since checked out his work and, if I'm not at the same high level of appreciation as the Dunn fellow, I do agree with him that Birbiglia is good, and I like the fellow. 

As it happens, Birbiglia was asked to give a commencement address at Georgetown University to the Arts & Sciences College, of which he's a graduate.  And like all such commencements these days, it was a virtual one.  (A common feature of all these is that they tend to be short.  Even Barack Obama's commencement address to all high school graduates was only about six minutes.  And Birbiglia's falls in that same range.)

He gave the address a couple weeks ago, and what with other things taking precedence we're only getting around to it now.  But from there to here --

If you didn't get a chance to see the "Graduate Together" special last night, here is President Barack Obama's keynote speech.

He was low-key – only speaking for about five minutes, and it almost came across like a father talking to his kids.  But he was so warm and so thoughtful and so decent.  And got a brilliant dig into Trump that will infuriate him because it was so indirect without mentioning Trump that the proper response to his complaint would be, “But why would you assume he was talking about you??” 

But then, the mere fact that Barack Obama was invited to speak to all high school graduates and not Trump is without question galling enough to him.

On this week’s Al Franken podcast, Al notes how “the Felicity Huffman/Lori Loughlin scandal pales in comparison to the scandal of our higher education admissions system, which protects the privileged and leaves everyone else behind.”  So he and his guest Paul Tough talk about how the College Admissions system preserves our nation’s economic and social disparities.
 

One of the latest efforts by the Republican Party is to try and blame the college bribery scandal on entitled, liberal Hollywood elites.  Meghan McCain did as much on her The View rant the other day when she attempted to paint herself as the victim (yet again) somehow.  (I can't quite figure it out, but it involved Hollywood Liberal Elites not considering Arizona State University an Elite College like Yale and Harvard.  And no, I'm not kidding.)  And all of this effort -- as far as I can tell -- is because two actresses were on the list.  So, apparently, in Far Right Conspiracy Theory World that means everyone was a Liberal Hollywood Elite. 

What I find remarkable (although not surprising, given the empty state of today's Republican Party, throwing away the concept of morals to support Trump, accused pedophiles, wife beaters, pathological lying, neo-Nazis and more) is how Ms. McCain or most anyone on the far right actually know the political affiliation of all the donors.  For all I know, they indeed all are liberals.  Everyone of them.  It's absolutely possible.  Though what is even more possible -- in fact, probable -- is that they aren't.  For all I know, 70% are conservative Republicans.  (For those keeping score, note that I'm being fair enough to not say that they could all be Republican.)

I don't have a clue who they all are.  And most anyone being fair would say the same.

What I can say, and do have a clue of is that  --

Among money that can be directly accounted for, at least $220,000 went to Republican entities.  Much of that to Mitt Romney, and a lot to the Republican National Committee, the Republican Senatorial Committee, and the Republican Campaign Committee.  So, there you have it, and...Oh, okay, wait a moment.  Not only that but also Lori Loughlin and her husband donated to Marco Rubio  (R-FL) and Mitt Romney (R-UT).

Well, gee, so much for that "Hollywood Liberal Elite Theory."  It was really cool while it lasted...  (Okay, with today's GOP, I have no doubt that this crackpot, disproven theory will nonetheless continue along with Pizzagate and HillaryIsTheRealOneWhoColludedWithRussia.

To be clear, there were donations to Democratic politicians and Democratic organizations.  But then, I'm not someone blaming this all on reactionary Republican wingnuts -- or whatever the opposite is of Liberal Hollywood Elites.  (Given that "Liberal Hollywood Elites" is often wink-wink code for "Jews," perhaps the opposite may be simply "Christians."  Though again, I'm not blaming the scandal on them.  As a fun sidenote, though, I did find a lovely interview with Lori Loughlin on the Christian Broadcast Network website where she talks about balancing her family, work and faith.  It's very sweet.)  Scrolling through the list, a quick glance appears reasonably split somewhat evenly between political parties.

(Disclaimer: Years ago, I very briefly had an agent who was just starting out. The agent's assistant was Lori Loughlin's sister. We had lunch once, though as personable as she was that was largely the limit of our interaction since she rarely responded to my emails which ultimately was one of the main reasons I left the start-up agency after only about six months, because I thought an assistant returning a client's emails was not an unreasonable expectation, at least as a starting point .  I do not blame this on Lori Loughlin.  She was busy balancing her family, work and faith.)

In the end, though, I think the only common denominator that we can fairly make about the people who paid bribes to get their children into colleges is that everyone of them were all financially well off.  This is the polite term for "rich."  So, if Republicans and Meghan McCain truly, honestly want to put the blame on anyone, that might be at least a good place to start.  

Not that they will.  Because it would give their brand a bad name.  

Okay, worse name.