Time Change

Crime Sans Time, Conversion Reversion

Sammy Davis Jr’s rendition of the theme song from the seventies show Baretta was so stellar that it created an adage that has lasted for half a century. But has the phrase Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time finally run out of steam? These days, if you commit the right kind of crime or are connected to the right people, it may not lead to much time at all. From ProPublica: Trump’s Justice Department Dropped 23,000 Criminal Investigations in Shift to Immigration. “The change in priorities was outlined in a series of memos sent to attorneys early last year. Trump’s DOJ has said it is ‘turning a new page on white-collar and corporate enforcement’ and emphasizing the pursuit of drug cartels, illegal immigrants and institutions that promote ‘divisive DEI policies.’” Of course, this trend doesn’t do much to help those who were sentenced for their crimes before the big shift. For them, we have the now wildly popular pardon program. And you’ll never guess what happens when you pardon a large group of criminals without any legitimate reasons. (Hint: They don’t keep their eye on the sparrow.) NYT Editorial Board (Gift Article): The People Trump Pardoned Are on a Crime Spree. Trump “has created a veritable pardon industry, in which people with White House connections accept payments from wealthy convicts ... Worst of all, Mr. Trump granted clemency on the first day of his second term to everyone who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 ... The results have been disastrous. At least 12 of the pardoned rioters have since been charged with other serious crimes, including child molestation, assault, harassment, murder plots and charges related to a vicious dog attack. The outcome was predictable.”

2

Conversion Reversion

“Colorado may regard its policy as essential to public health and safety. But the First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.” So wrote Justice Neil M. Gorsuch as the Supreme Court Rejected a Colorado Law Banning ‘Conversion Therapy’ for L.G.B.T.Q. Minors. “Only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, reading a lengthy summary of her opposition from the bench ... ‘This decision might make speech-only therapies and other medical treatments involving practitioner speech effectively unregulatable,’ she wrote, criticizing her eight colleagues for having made ‘this momentous decision without adequately grappling with the potential long-term and disastrous implications.’”

3

Pump Your Own Gas

“You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us. Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!” Trump tells Europe ‘Go get your own oil,’ Iran hits oil tanker off Dubai. Meanwhile, Trump said to tell aides he’s willing to end Iran war without reopening Hormuz. Are these mood swings and outbursts part of a broader pullback? The market seems to think so. (But as I’ve written, like everything else, the market has been a little off lately...)

+ “After private grumbling at the start of the war that they were not given adequate advance notice of the U.S.-Israeli attack and complaining the U.S. had ignored their warnings that the war would have devastating consequences for the entire region, some of the regional allies are making the case to the White House that the moment offers a historic opportunity to cripple Tehran’s clerical rule once and for all.” Gulf allies privately make the case to Trump to keep fighting until Iran is decisively defeated.

+ B-52s have started flying missions over Iran, and Israel is creating a larger buffer zone in Lebanon. Here’s the latest from NYT and The Guardian.

4

To Some Degree

“The report, based on research from the Yale Tobin Center for Economic Policy, found that graduate degrees in medicine, law and pharmacy generally have the highest return on investment. By contrast, degrees in popular fields such as social work, psychology, and curriculum and instruction may actually have a zero to negative return after factoring in the full cost.” WaPo(Gift Article): Some of the most popular graduate degrees don’t pay off financially, study finds. (I’m still confident that my PhD in Newsletters will pay off eventually...)

5

Extra, Extra

Refined Crude Policy: “The Trump administration has blocked energy shipments to Cuba since January as part of a strategy to force the Communist government into submission. Mr. Trump said in a January social media post: ‘THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA — ZERO!’” So what made him change his mind as a Russian tanker full of crude approached Cuba? After Months of Threats, Trump Softens His Stance on Blocking Oil to Cuba.

+ Space Needs Some Space: Space might need a rebrand, because it’s getting really crowded up there. “Today, the space around Earth can no longer be considered empty. More than 30,000 objects are in orbit, and that figure is rising exponentially.” ‘This feels fragile’: how a satellite-smashing chain reaction could spiral out of control.

+ Meditation Retreat: “The leader of a sex-focused women’s wellness company that promoted ‘orgasmic meditation’ was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for a scheme that a judge said exploited vulnerable women and coerced them into performing sex acts with the company’s clients and investors.”

+ Plot Twist: Given the seemingly nonstop stream of new shows appearing across the many streaming apps, you’d think this would be a golden era for those working in Hollywood. But that’s not how the script is playing out. See How Hollywood’s Job Market Is Collapsing. “Hollywood studios are making significantly fewer movies and television shows than they did just a few years ago. The ones they do make are increasingly being shot in other countries and states that offer more generous tax subsidies. The result: a 30% drop in employment from a late-2022 peak for actors, carpenters, costumers and the hundreds of other professions that make movies and TV shows.”

+ Dis Service: “ICE agents will be stationed outside graduation events for the nation’s newest Marines to identify whether any of their family members are undocumented, according to the Marine Corps.”

+ California Rolling: Everyone is getting sticker shock at the gas pumps these days. Californians know the feeling. We get it all the time. There are a few reasons why we pay more than the rest of you. The Difference Between California-Produced Gas And The Other 49 States.

+ Getting Rock Off: “The army has launched an administrative review after two AH-64 Apache helicopters on a training run hovered near the hillside home of Kid Rock as the outspoken supporter of Donald Trump saluted their crews.” (Maybe they were trying to drown out the music?)

+ There’s No Sugar Substitute: “Spectators would watch the furry white canine in amazement as she balanced on her surfboard, riding wave after wave back to the shore, sometimes with her owner, Ryan Rustan, by her side and other times all on her own.” Sugar The Surfing Dog, the first canine inducted into the Surfer’s Hall of Fame, dies.

6

Bottom of the News

“On Saturday afternoon, Downey joined around 200 strangers at Ocean Beach for the 13th ‘Hole Party,’ a loosely organized gathering dedicated to the ancient, questionably productive act of digging.” SF’s most pointless gathering is surprisingly popular. Basically, a bunch of people meet at the beach where they dig a giant hole and then fill it back in. (Maybe they’re training to be news curators...)

+ A college instructor turns to typewriters to curb AI-written work and teach life lessons.