A parent complained that an insipid children’s book, part of a series of picture books on nations and cultures of the world, was too pro-Cuban. The two local committees that reviewed the book said it should not be banned. The head of the school system said it should not be banned. But the Miami-Dade school board — led by a man who’s about to run for State Senate — decided to ban it anyway.
Lawsuits to ensue.
Ray LeMoine, Los Angeles Times, Terrorist in a bootleg T-shirt on what DHS is screening for at our borders: local offenses, not terrorist contacts.
It’s a funny column in an awful sort way. We expected DHS mission creep. Normally, though, it takes a little longer…and the creep adds to the mission rather than overtaking it. But then again, this is the DHS, the people making a strong bid to displace the VA for the coveted title of “most dysfunctional agency.”
That said, though, on reflection I find that I’m not as offended as the author by the idea that people with warrants out for them might be stopped at the border in either direction. Even if the warrant is from a state or local court, why is this an evil form of federal assistance? I’m a big supporter of the right to travel, but does this offend it? I’m dubious.
And, maybe in an odd way it is reassuring to know that DHS still isn’t competent enough to make use of all those wiretaps…
Ok, it’s not quite like Lord Lucan doing a runner, but the bust of law school donor Baron De Hirshmeyer which used to be in the main lobby of the law library has vanished.
Please be on the lookout for:
In beautiful Florida style, Baron De Hirshmeyer (d. 1974) was not a baron in the sense of having a foreign title of nobility, but rather a Jewish guy from Wisconsin named “Baron.” After moving to Miami Beach in the mid-20s, Baron built a fortune in the South Beach hotel business, in real estate and later co-founded the City National Bank. He also became the first President of the Miami Beach Bar Association and a prominent local philanthropist. His gifts paid for a big chunk of the Law School’s early buildings in the mid-50s and onwards.
By all accounts, the absence of a genuine title did not stop his wife, Polly, also a UM benefactor, from signing into European hotels as the “Baronness” de Hirsch Meyer. Apparently, some time after Baron’s death, Polly took up with a producer of TV commercials but upon her death her paramour was disappointed to discover he had been left out of the will. His reverse-palimony-style suit against the estate did not, however, prevail.
A new, downloadable song by Kay Hanley, Jill Sobule, and Michelle Lewis in favor of net neutrality. Nice, but the chorus sounds too much like it’s going to be “Hey Mr. Tambourine Man.”
And coming on the heels of this gloomy analysis of the congressional vote — heck, they even got Alcee Hastings to vote against it! — it does put one in mind of Tom Lehrer’s Folk Song Army (they “may have won all battles, but we had all the good songs”).
My brother was at YearlyKos and you can see his panel on C-SPAN. His presentation starts at about the 21 minute mark. It’s surprisingly blunt.
I thought of going, but couldn’t quite face Las Vegas, which I’ve successfully avoided so far. And then when Caroline got the PUSH gig, it was easy to stay home and renew my appreciation for single parents.
Photo update:
Via TalkLeft, a pointer to Amnesty International’s Swiss chapter’s vivid, shocking, trompe- loeil trilingual poster campaign. The French, at least, translates as “This exists. Not here, but now.”
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