Support Squirrels Are a Nutty Idea
Reports of weird exotic support animals on passenger flights get weirder all the time. There was a support peacock. Then came the support pig. And, yes, the support miniature horse. Southwest Airlines allows the latter, which can be used as guide animals for the blind, but the airline draws the line at support snakes, hedgehogs, ferrets and, we presume, alligators.
Passengers aboard a Frontier Airline flight from Orlando to Cleveland had to disembark because a passenger refused to leave when the airline told her she couldn't have her support squirrel in the main cabin. It turns out that rodents are on Frontier's banned list, and squirrels, despite their cute, fluffy tails, are rodents. If the airline industry were to go for a uniform policy regulating such animals in the cabin, we would certainly stand by it. For emotional support, that is.
Coaching for Life
After hearing McCluer South-Berkeley High School football coach Howard Brown expound on his eligibility requirement that his players be "good citizens, good people, good students," TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres presented the team with a $25,000 donation. DeGeneres read a short biography of Brown before speaking to him by video link, noting his work with at-risk youth in the Ferguson-Florissant community and "doing anything to make sure they feel loved." He uses his own money to supply food, uniforms and gear for his players, DeGeneres noted.
"Every single day, it's a struggle for these young men to make it home safely from practice," Brown told DeGeneres as his players crowded around him. The $25,000 check came courtesy of the CW Television Network, which is promoting a new show about high school football, "All American." Considering that Brown and his coaching staff spend their own time scrubbing and washing players' uniforms, perhaps some of that money could go toward buying some heavy-duty washing machines.
MAGA Mistake
A Minnesota television station has, appropriately, given the boot to one of its journalists for wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat while covering a Trump rally. You wouldn't necessarily know it from watching the cable-news screamers on Fox or MSNBC, but most working journalists today are still bound by professional rules of conduct, which include not being an active participant in the events and issues they cover.
James Bunner, a multimedia journalist for KTTC-TV in Austin, Minnesota, clearly violated that standard when he was caught on camera wearing one of the familiar red hats while covering a Trump appearance in Rochester.
It may sound like a severe sanction, but according to BuzzFeed, Bunner had a history of touting his personal political leanings while covering politics. You can cover it or participate in it. But you can't do both if you work for a reputable news outlet.
Mis-Identification
A judge this week smacked down the Missouri secretary of state's office, hard, for falsely telling voters they couldn't vote without a photo ID. Judge Richard Callahan of Cole County, Missouri, ruled Tuesday that Missouri election officials enforcing the state's new voter ID law can no longer make voters who use alternate identification like utility bills sign a statement saying they have no photo ID. That, Callahan ruled, contradicts the law itself.
In a lawsuit brought by opponents of the law, the judge didn't find it to be unconstitutional, but did chide the secretary of state's office for what he said was disseminating misleading information about the requirements.
As we have said before, this law and other GOP voter ID laws around the country are a deliberately cumbersome solution to a nonexistent problem, designed to make it harder to vote. What both sides in the current court dispute appear to agree upon is that the whole issue has deeply confused voters about the rules — which is another reason to oppose these laws to start with.
Bully Pulpit
In an interview this week, first lady Melania Trump, referring to social media criticism of her, called herself "the most bullied person in the world." She made the comment during an ABC News interview, explaining why she wanted to launch her anti-cyberbullying initiative.
Clearly, Melania Trump hasn't been talking with any of her husband's numerous bullying victims, who have included members of Congress, his own Cabinet, entire impoverished nations, journalists, showbiz personalities and private citizens. Most notably lately, the president used a rally to rip into sexual assault survivor Christine Blasey Ford — prompting some in the crowd to chant "Lock her up!"
Melania Trump's anti-bullying initiative is admirable in concept. But given that she's married to the most powerful bully on the planet, there's no way that effort won't always contain a bit of cognitive dissonance.
Prisoners of a Different Stripe
After a major earthquake leveled the Indonesian island city of Palu on Sept. 28, a prison erupted in rioting as inmates demanded they be allowed to leave and care for their families outside. The fires they set made the prison uninhabitable. The anarchy reached a point where the warden decided his only option was to open the gates and let them out, National Public Radio reported. Most prisoners ran away, but about 260 stayed behind.
The warden told the remaining prisoners they could leave, too, provided they agreed to come back. And what happened? They came back. About a quarter of the prisoners check back in every other day, awaiting assignment to another prison. It turns out that in Indonesia, at least, there really is honor among thieves, not to mention other convicted criminals.
REPRINTED FROM THE ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
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