Osler's Razor

Whatever skills he may lack, Donald Trump is good at one thing: controlling the news cycle. I'm starting to think that he wants that more than anything: for good or bad, for all eyes to be on him. Yesterday was pretty typical; the news should have been about the Senate's health care debate, but he seized the attention back with a bizarre Twitter announcement that transgendered people can no longer serve in the military. That was wrong in so many ways-- the way he did it, the irrational choice itself, the insult to people who are serving our country-- and it was right only in that it kept all eyes on him.

I suppose when we pluck our leaders out of reality television, this is what we get. I haven't seen a lot of those shows, but I have seen enough to know that the people who succeed in that world aren't the winners or the heroes, but the ones who get memorable time on camera.

One of these days, too, it will matter a lot. And that won't be good.

For, if nothing else, this (from last Friday):

Put “Midvale School for
the Gifted” on resume
once. I got the job.

Sometimes, for grins, I
just like to mess with people.
Thanks, Gary Larson.

At a meeting at the White House in 2016, I referred to the pardon power as the "soul of the Constitution."  It wasn't a throwaway line; It is something I deeply believe. Like the best things of this nation, the pardon power is rooted in individual conscience, favors liberty, and requires an intense engagement with deeply human values. It changes with time, and it is enduring even while under attack. Most of all, it is something more that mere words; by allowing grace and mercy, it is spiritual in a way that unifies rather than divides.

And now, like any great thing, it might be ruined in the wrong hands, in the hands of a President who probably cares nothing for what it is and should be. If he uses it for himself or his family, it will be like using a cross to stab someone.

I'm sad, and kind of crabby. I worked hard, for years, to return the pardon power to its rightful place as a principled tool of the president. That... well, it kind of worked, thanks to a lot of other people. And now, we face this. We paddle blithely into the storm.

I hate to see any soul extinguished.

Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer resigned. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is taking his place. Which means we may not get more of this:

The latest police shooting to attract national attention occurred just eight blocks from my house. There, a white Australian woman named Justine Damond was shot and killed by a black Somali-American police office named Mohammed Noor. The killing reversed the racial roles seen in many of the other previous shootings.

There is a lot of information yet to come out, it seems, given that the story makes little sense on its face right now. According to what we do know, Damond called the police late on Saturday night to report what sounded to her like a sexual assault in progress. After she made a second call, two officers responded. Noor was one of them, and was in the passenger seat of the police car.

As the officers drove down the alley behind Damond's house, they heard a loud noise. Then Damond approached the driver's side of the police car. As she stood there, Noor fired his gun-- across his partner in the driver's seat-- and killed Damond. The victim was not armed.

How did that happen? What could she have said or done to provoke that response, even arguably?

As I have described before, in 2008 I was giving a lecture in Atlanta, and Jimmy Carter walked in. When I was done, he responded by urging me to do more than just talk, and his advice deeply affected me-- spurring me to litigate narcotics sentences and push for clemency, among other things. I described this encounter in my book Prosecuting Jesus.

Recently, I wrote to tell President Carter what his words had meant to me, and send him a copy of the book. This was his gracious response:

I'm not a big TV watcher-- in fact, I am thinking about cutting the cable, since I watch so rarely. Even so, I'm a little shocked at how little I know about popular shows these days. Below is a list of the most popular shows on cable last Friday, in order. Not only have I not seen these shows, I haven't heard of most of them. I haven't even heard of many of these networks! Home and Garden has a TV channel???? And what in the world is "BizAardvark?" I'm kind of hoping that BizAardvark is a re-imagining of the Arthur cartoon with more of a business focus, but I'm probably wrong...


Top 150 Original Cable Telecasts: Friday July 14, 2017    P18-49    P2+
Rank    Program    Net    Start    Mins    Rating    (000s)
1    LIVE PD: 51 LIVE PD    A&E NETWORK    9:00 PM    180    0.57    1,663
2    WILLIAMS STREAM    ADULT SWIM    4:00 AM    15    0.34    728
3    WILLIAMS STREAM    ADULT SWIM    4:15 AM    15    0.31    658
4    RACHEL MADDOW SHOW    MSNBC    9:00 PM    60    0.29    2,518
5    DINERS, DRIVE INS & DIVES    FOOD NETWORK    9:00 PM    30    0.28    1,017
6    MUTT & STUFF    NICKELODEON    9:30 AM    30    0.28    1,165
7    PUPPY DOG PALS    DISNEY CHANNEL    9:00 AM    25    0.27    1,347
8    BEACHFRONT BARGAIN HUNT    HOME AND GARDEN TV    9:30 PM    30    0.27    1,398
9    DEADLY SINS    INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY    10:00 PM    60    0.25    851
10    BEACHFRONT BARGAIN HUNT    HOME AND GARDEN TV    9:00 PM    30    0.25    1,325
11    MICKEY AND THE ROADSTER    DISNEY CHANNEL    8:30 AM    25    0.25    1,091
12    LION GUARD    DISNEY CHANNEL    8:00 AM    25    0.23    1,057
13    PARDON THE INTERRUPTION    ESPN    5:30 PM    30    0.23    585
14    TENNIS: WIMBLEDON       L: MENS SEMIFINAL    ESPN    8:00 AM    360    0.21    987
15    ANCIENT ALIENS    HISTORY    9:00 PM    63    0.21    1,146
16    K.C. UNDERCOVER    DISNEY CHANNEL    8:30 PM    30    0.19    1,202
17    MIGHTY MAGISWORDS    THE CARTOON NETWORK    4:00 PM    15    0.19    801
18    HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE    ESPN    4:30 PM    30    0.19    383
19    BIZAARDVARK    DISNEY CHANNEL    9:00 PM    25    0.18    1,159
20    K.C. UNDERCOVER    DISNEY CHANNEL    8:00 PM    30    0.18    1,063
21    AROUND THE HORN    ESPN    5:00 PM    30    0.18    409
22    BELLATOR MMA LIVE: 181    SPIKE TV    9:00 PM    130    0.17    514
23    AMERICAS NEWSROOM    FOX NEWS CHANNEL    10:00 AM    60    0.17    1,441
24    FOX AND FRIENDS    FOX NEWS CHANNEL    7:00 AM    60    0.17    1,441
25    KILLJOYS    SYFY    8:00 PM    60    0.17    638
26    HAPPENING NOW    FOX NEWS CHANNEL    11:00 AM    60    0.17    1,362
27    SPECIAL RPT W/BRET BAIER    FOX NEWS CHANNEL    6:00 PM    60    0.17    1,818
28    OUTNUMBERED    FOX NEWS CHANNEL    12:00 PM    60    0.17    1,397
29    WATCHMEN: WATCHMEN    HBO PRIME    8:15 PM    162    0.17    494
30    LATE NIGHT SNACK    TRUTV    11:30 PM    30    0.17    336
31    TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT    FOX NEWS CHANNEL    8:00 PM    60    0.16    2,100
32    FOX AND FRIENDS    FOX NEWS CHANNEL    8:00 AM    60    0.16    1,636
33    SPORTSCENTER 1AM        L    ESPN    1:00 AM    60    0.16    386
34    ANDERSON COOPER 360    CNN    8:00 PM    60    0.16    818
35    PAW PATROL    NICK JR    7:00 PM    30    0.16    572
36    AMERICAS NEWSROOM    FOX NEWS CHANNEL    9:00 AM    60    0.16    1,505
37    SPORTSNATION        L    ESPN    3:30 PM    60    0.16    336
38    DARK MATTER    SYFY    9:00 PM    60    0.15    568
39    FOX NEWS SPECIALISTS, THE    FOX NEWS CHANNEL    5:00 PM    60    0.15    1,463
40    SHEPARD SMITH REPORTING    FOX NEWS CHANNEL    3:00 PM    60    0.15    1,124

Desiree's haiku last Friday referred to something I did not recognize:

Peek out my window
Serviceberry is blooming
The shad are running!

Shad I knew about. Serviceberry, not so much. Apparently, "The serviceberry trees and shrubs (Amelanchier spp.) are members of the Rosaceae family. They are deciduous and found throughout the Northern Hemisphere. They offer four season interest with their beautiful blossoms, pome fruits, autumn leaf colors and bark color in winter." As Desiree notes, the tree blooms when the shad are running, which is a weird measure of time unless you sometimes get out of your house.

Here is what it looks like:

I also loved what the Waco Friend did:

Forty at Grandma's
No one brought food enough
Cousins must rescue.

Mixed some bacon grease
in a peanut butter jar
grabbed some fishin gear.

Out to the bayou
four rigs, six hooks on each rig,
mounted on Y sticks.

Dip each hook in jar;
put rig on sticks in water;
finish fourth rig, AND

Start pulling cat fish
from the first stick and reload.
Fish to feed 40

Return to Grandma's
one hour after leaving, with
fish cleaned and ready

to bread and fry with
hush puppies and potatoes.
Every one ate to full.

Wish I knew today
What Cousin Bobby put in
jar with bacon grease.

Recently I was deep in conversation at dinner with an excellent writer. I told him that when I write op-eds, it begins with an emotion. I then asked him-- he's a fiction writer-- what it was that he began with.

"Curiosity," he answered. Then he explained: He begins with something he wants to know more about, and that propels him into a story he is deeply engaged with. It was a brilliant answer, and I have been thinking about it for a while.

That impulse, curiosity, is undervalued in our society. We seem addicted to certainty, to expertise and technical virtuosity, and that draws us away from the curiosity that makes man and boy, woman and girl, a better and more whole person. And what about our faith life? It seems like we start (at least I know that I do) with a certainty, and from there it can be a pretty short road forward. I think I am going to start being more curious. I will start with what I don't know and go from there.

I imagine that is where the best stories come from...

This isn't my favorite Beatles song, but this is my favorite video of them playing a song....

In the video above, there is a chart at the beginning that shows the rate of extinction of species over history. One thing that surprised me was the severity of the previous extinctions (there have been five), which at times wiped out most of the biodiversity on the planet.

Still the threat of the next one is compelling and scary. It is linked to climate change, but also to other things-- most prominently, to the loss of habitat as people and our stuff take up more of the planet's surface.

People do love their dogs! And I loved this haiku from Megan Willome:

Polo and Clover,
rescue puppies from the shelter.
Yes, they rescued me.

And I've been thinking about OsoGrande's all day-- the idea of a human lifetime being about four dog lifetimes:

Four good dogs, song says,
make a life. Mason, Thatcher,
now Fiona. Next?

Yesterday, I did something dumb. I used an ATM to get some cash (that's what they are there for, after all), and then drove off. The dumb part is that I left the ATM card in the maw of the machine. By the time I realized this, I was a long way off.

Somehow, that kind of incompetence undoes me. As Stuart Smalley might say, it can send me into a "shame spiral" where I take it too seriously.

But, it isn't 1885, and I didn't leave a pile of cash by the hitching post (as one of the archaic cases in the crim law book I have been working with sets out). I just canceled the ATM card, and no real harm was done, except to my pride. And the truth is that having my pride harmed once in a while is a pretty good thing, a kind of mercy in itself-- and instruction to maybe not take myself so seriously.

And I'm sure the person who found my card still in the slot had a pretty good laugh over it....