About Last Week...

Slow It Down!

So I was wandering around a medium-sized city yesterday and came across a protest decrying the villainous Elon Musk, his enabler and felon Donald Trump, and the havoc they have caused in DC.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but every protest I’ve ever seen has called for immediate action about whatever the topic may be. “Hey, Ho, Joe Schmoe has Got to Go!” or “Stop Whatever-i-icide!” or “Expand Trans Dolphins Rights Now!”

That kind of thing.

But one of the first chants from yesterday’s progress-a-palooza was “Slow It Down! Slow It Down!”

A few hundred committed social justice warriors – terrified about the extinction of the USAID - were really yelling that.

“Hey, ho, would you mind terribly if you took a step back and re-thought some of your goals and objectives!” could have worked just as well, just like “Could you think this through a bit more?”

Of course, what should one expect from a protest that featured the following sign:

“SAVE OSHA!”

I’m pretty sure that never in the history of the English language those two words have been put together like that before.

The bulk of the protest was made up of speeches about unconstitutionality, how evil Elon is stealing Social Security numbers to sell off the government piece-by-piece, and the oligarchy.

Funny – it seems right about now that it is the real oligarchy that is doing the squawking.

While far too complicated for a sign, someone tried (the protest was very white and very well-credentialed, it being not too far from a major university) this catchy gem:

“Resistance to the coup is the defense of the human against the digital and the democratic against the oligarchic.”

At least we know that sign was homemade.

And each speech called action – eventually, one assumes – and less speechifying.

“Less Talk, More Action!” was actually chanted, reminding me of this:

In other news, the NIH has cut the amount of money it will allow for research grants to 15% of the hard costs. They had been averaging about double that, letting universities (for the most part) to pad their admin budget by an extra $4 billion a year.

Needless to say, this set off a paroxysm of “Babies Gonna Die!!!” stories in the press decrying the health care cuts.

Well, they’re not cuts to actual health care and the NIH is simply bringing the overhead amount into line with what EVERY OTHER HEALTH CARE FOUNDATION ALLOWS so shut up.

This week’s epigram is yet again not an epigram, but a song from socialist 1960s singer Phil Ochs.

“Love Me I’m a Liberal.”

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