The most recent administrator, Keith Hiller, who didn’t respond to requests for comment, noted in an organizational assessment many anonymous staff complaints about the mayor, according to a copy of the report.
Wednesday, December 31, 2025
The Great Gatsby at 100
First published in 1925, the Great Gatsby is one of the few books that most Americans seem to have read-- and everyone has an opinion about it. There are so many things to disagree about, too! I.e., who is the protagonist? Is Daisy manipulative or manipulated? Is there a problem with a book that does not seem to reflect a multiracial society (other than Tom's toxic racism) becoming a defining American novel?
My own short take on it-- which is different than what I would have said in college-- is that in large part it is a book about war. The key male figures in the book fought in World War One, and the novel takes place not long after their return. The war provided them meaning, and then they returned to find a lack of that. Nick is listless, sitting in the library at the Yale Club all day until he finds some kind of meaning in Gatsby's orbit. Jay Gatsby's obsession with Daisy (and his outlandish efforts to impress her) fills that hole. The women are entwined in this transition, and seem not to find meaning in the usual things expected of women in that day, particularly motherhood.
It's a book about the search for meaning, but there is not a whiff of faith in it-- that is not a place anyone turns. And sometimes what is not in a book, that negative space in the picture, is important, too.
Tuesday, December 30, 2025
It's Bowl Season!
It's not just the Game Above Sports Bowl Game that I love-- it's the whole football bowl season, which we are in the middle of right now.
One thing I like tracking each year is the performance of each league in bowl games, in part because it usually shows the weakness in the argument that the SEC is the best top-to-bottom league. For example, here are total results from last year's bowls by conference:
Big 10: 11-6
SEC: 8-7
Big 12: 4-5
ACC: 2-11 (ouch)
In the other conferences, the MAC was 5-2, and the American was a strong 6-2.
This year, the Big 10 is strong once again at 5-0, while the SEC is at 2-4.... but there are a lot of games to go!
Monday, December 29, 2025
How'd it go? A few replies
It was a pretty good Christmas for me, and for many of you! We heard from anonymous, who is living well:
So many parties!
So much singing, eating, walks
My heart is glowing.
So much singing, eating, walks
My heart is glowing.
And Craig A used the word "stocking" in a genius way:
All Good: Scaled back.
Focus on gathering and
stocking simplicity.
Focus on gathering and
stocking simplicity.
IPLawGuy has a favorite part:
The Christmas Pageant
At my Episcopal Church
is my favorite.
At my Episcopal Church
is my favorite.
Or maybe two:
My three late teen kids
Had great moments together
Best present ever.
Had great moments together
Best present ever.
And another anonymous is in... Russia?:
They huddled round borscht
Bowls steaming red,piroshki—
Gave thanks for it all.
Bowls steaming red,piroshki—
Gave thanks for it all.
Sunday, December 28, 2025
Sunday Reflection: The challenge of judgment
My adult life has largely been spent judging other people-- as a prosecutor and as a professor, where I have to issue grades that matter a lot to the people who receive them.
There is a real emotional and moral cost to judging others professionally. I think most people (though not all) would agree that the greater society needs people to perform these two functions, and that we just have to make sure that the people who do them are fair and unbiased.
And that is a part of the cost: to be fair and unbiased is, in an important way, to be selfless. That is, your own beliefs and prejudices can't come into it if the system is to have integrity.
When I look to Jesus for guidance as I judge, I mostly find Him declining to judge at all, and he even teaches "Judge not, lest you be judged." (Matthew 7:1). When he comes upon the people you expect him to judge (the woman at the well, for example) he teaches rather than judges. When he does actually judge people, it is either his own followers or those in power.
And I guess that is part of what I am still learning: when I can, I should teach rather than judge.
Saturday, December 27, 2025
America's only bowl game in Detroit!
One of our family traditions here in Detroit is that we all head downtown on the day after Christmas, have lunch at Zeff's, then walk over to Ford Field for the Game Above Sports Bowl Game Bowl (or something like that), which is the only bowl game played in the Midwest.
This year it matched the 5th-place team in the MAC (Central Michigan) with the 11th-place team in the Big 10 (Northwestern). Given this matchup, it was a little surprising to hear the slogan "Where Champions are Born!" in relation to this game on the PA, but I guess that it is true that at least a champion of the Game Above Sports Bowl Game Bowl was born. And, if you are wondering, said Champion was Northwestern in a blowout.
Here are some of the reasons we keep coming back:
-- Value! I got $6 tickets this year, up from $3 last year.
-- Excitement! Last year's game went to 6 overtimes, and this year
there was a bizarre touchdown/penalty/missed extra point
sequence that I still haven't figured out.
-- Hot dogs! Every year they come up with special hot dogs for
each team and then announce who wins for the most dogs
purchased (Central Michigan).
-- You get to see where the Lions play! Of course not on that day,
of course, but still....
Friday, December 26, 2025
Haiku Friday: How did it go?
Christmas can be joyful, difficult, meaningful, meaningless, and sometimes a mix of all of the above. How was yours? Here, I will go first:
There's so much to do
But I love the few moments
When all is so still.
Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 syllable pattern and have some fun....
Thursday, December 25, 2025
Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 24, 2025
Christmas Eve
Everyone has their own routine for Christmas Eve. Some are traveling. Others are preparing for the day tomorrow. A few are getting ready to sing or preach tonight at Christmas Eve services, bathed in candlelight. I do wonder: what will Goldy Gopher be doing?
This is the evening, of course, when I make my corn chowder after church once everyone has arrived from out of town. It's a big pot, because there will be a lot of people here in Michigan! I use this recipe, which I first discussed 18 years ago here on the Razor. Here is part of what I said then, and it is just as true now:
The thing that I feel is the urgency of the travelers who must be fed, the ones awaited. These travelers—they are tired, worried, hungry; and they might not have a bed to sleep in tonight, because it is crowded with other travelers. It’s not a thought, it’s an emotion, and it’s overwhelming. I start to act differently.
It’s time to chop the ham which will go in last, and I reach for the good knife and I cut it thick, big chunks that will fill up a soup spoon with just a little bit of corn hanging on the edge like the last men in a lifeboat. Time is short now, I can’t let the milk boil, but this soup has to be rich and I grab the really great wine and make sure no one can see, and I dump some in, and pile in even more of the ham in a feverish rush. If there is fish, I cut away all but the best parts which are firm and free of bones, and slide them in gently from my palm, and then I call to the others. The travelers come to eat.
It’s hard not to cry, because I know it isn’t good enough. I’m not worthy to feed them, and though they are grateful, I am sad that it can’t be more, that in this season of love I have only carrots, onions, potatoes, milk, bacon, and ham. Could it ever be enough?
It’s time to chop the ham which will go in last, and I reach for the good knife and I cut it thick, big chunks that will fill up a soup spoon with just a little bit of corn hanging on the edge like the last men in a lifeboat. Time is short now, I can’t let the milk boil, but this soup has to be rich and I grab the really great wine and make sure no one can see, and I dump some in, and pile in even more of the ham in a feverish rush. If there is fish, I cut away all but the best parts which are firm and free of bones, and slide them in gently from my palm, and then I call to the others. The travelers come to eat.
It’s hard not to cry, because I know it isn’t good enough. I’m not worthy to feed them, and though they are grateful, I am sad that it can’t be more, that in this season of love I have only carrots, onions, potatoes, milk, bacon, and ham. Could it ever be enough?
Tuesday, December 23, 2025
PMT: Trump Does the Right Thing on Marijuana Scheduling
Last week, President Trump did something good that should have been done years ago by his predecessors: he rescheduled marijuana from being a Schedule 1 narcotic to a listing in Schedule 3.
That may sound very technical, but it has a real impact. The federal regulatory scheme lists a variety of drugs in five "schedules," with Schedule 1 containing the most dangerous drugs. Specifically, Schedule 1 is described as containing drugs that have "no accepted medical use" and a "high" potential for abuse. It includes heroin, LSD and (until now) marijuana. (Cocaine and meth, which have medical uses, are in Schedule 2).
For decades, marijuana was listed in Schedule 1 despite it being a complete fiction that it had "no currently accepted medical use." Many states voted for legal medical use beginning nearly 30 years ago, and doctors have a strong consensus that it can be affective for certain conditions. And yet no one has changed it up to now. Barack Obama should have rescheduled marijuana, but passed on the opportunity, and Biden sat on his hands as well (as did first-term Trump).
Now it is listed in Schedule 3, which contains drugs that have an accepted medical use and a potential for abuse less than those drugs in Schedules 1 and 2.
Some advocates wanted marijuana not to be scheduled at all, and that may happen eventually-- but for now, a change long overdue has occurred.
Monday, December 22, 2025
The Airing of Grievances
My invitation to vent got a lot of responses!
Craig's complaint is environmental:
Climate change Christmas:
Forecast for the twenty-fifth is
Sixty degrees … Grrrrr.
No Christmas sweaters,
no cold, no snow, no pond ice
no fire in fireplace!
Forecast for the twenty-fifth is
Sixty degrees … Grrrrr.
No Christmas sweaters,
no cold, no snow, no pond ice
no fire in fireplace!
As is his fellow Virginian, Desiree's (at least in part):
I sit through a half
hour of ads, previews. There
oughta be a law!
Please don’t explain your
diet choices when you see
no meat on my plate.
We’re seeing wacky
weather changes everywhere.
But sure, it’s a hoax.
You don’t vaccinate
yourself, so my mom gets sick.
Thanks, you’re a giver.
hour of ads, previews. There
oughta be a law!
Please don’t explain your
diet choices when you see
no meat on my plate.
We’re seeing wacky
weather changes everywhere.
But sure, it’s a hoax.
You don’t vaccinate
yourself, so my mom gets sick.
Thanks, you’re a giver.
I hear you, anonymous:
My final exams --
RIDICULOUS EXCUSES!
What is wrong with them????
RIDICULOUS EXCUSES!
What is wrong with them????
And Christine:
My blood is boiling
The Trump Kennedy Center?!?!?
Break his auto-pen.
The Trump Kennedy Center?!?!?
Break his auto-pen.
And this anonymous entry is right on:
Stop the mass shootings!!
Now is time for peace on earth
We all want to live.
Now is time for peace on earth
We all want to live.
And Desiree again:
Dang! Lost my wallet
thanks to those puny pockets
in women’s blue jeans.
thanks to those puny pockets
in women’s blue jeans.
And another anonymous:
Not as lovely as
A clementine but orange
Passions: war, hate,self.
A clementine but orange
Passions: war, hate,self.
And finally, IPLawGuy took the instruction to examine "venting" quite literally not once:
A fire will not burn
Unless set up with venting
Oxygen is key.
Unless set up with venting
Oxygen is key.
Not twice:
The risk of a fire
In the kitchen can be high
If stove does not vent.
In the kitchen can be high
If stove does not vent.
But three times:
In the winter months
My dryer vent puts out steam
from side of the house.
My dryer vent puts out steam
from side of the house.
Sunday, December 21, 2025
Sunday Reflection: A light in darkness
Tomorrow is the last day of Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday that commemorates a small store of oil providing light for eight days, and the re-dedication of the Second Temple during the Maccabean revolt. It's not a major religious holiday, but has a strong cultural significance for many Jews.
At the center of the holiday is the lighting of candles in a menorah. And there is something so simple and beautiful about that, especially in the darkest time of the year.
There is this truth to all of this: a little light is most important when things are darkest.
And this is the time to be that light.
Saturday, December 20, 2025
How America Met Rob Reiner
Friday, December 19, 2025
Haiku Friday: Venting
This month can be stressful, and there is a lot upsetting people these days: politics, Notre Dame not making the football playoffs, a lack of snow in the West, etc. etc. etc. So let's get some venting done before the heart of the Christmas season is here and then turn towards our better angels. Here, I will go first:
It rained just so
It could freeze beneath the snow
Now, cars go skating.
Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 syllable pattern and have some fun!
Thursday, December 18, 2025
PMT: Rapid-Fire Trump Facts!
Last night, President Trump gave a televised address to the nation. First of all, I'm glad to see him doing this-- one genuine problem with the Biden administration was how rarely we saw him.
It was kind of a weird talk, though, given in a rapid-fire cadence through a sound system that seemed poorly modulated-- only a little better than the PA system in a bus station.
Trump seemed mad and kind of manic; it was like he was packing a one-hour speech into 20 minutes. Usually his speeches have a certain meandering cadence that is part of his charm.
There wasn't a lot of new content: lots about Biden, which is getting pretty stale after nearly a year, and a fair amount of not-actually-true claims about the economy, crime, and some other things. He lashed into Somalis in Minnesota (calling them "Somalians") before saying "inflation has stopped, America is the hottest country, everybody says so, etc etc etc., Merry Christmas." [paraphrased]
I'm not sure anyone is going to see this and change their mind about anything, one way or the other.
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Rage Against the Machine
At a restaurant recently I saw a family of four out to dinner. All four of them were staring at their phones, even when the food came. There was almost no conversation between them. If you look for it, you will see this everywhere you go-- people walking down the street, even, in the middle of the city, just staring at their phone. It's unsettling, and marks some kind of change in human evolution.
Between 1978 and 1995, a sociopath killed three people and seriously injured 29 others. He pled guilty to all charges in 1998, and was sentenced, appropriately, to life without parole. He committed suicide in prison in 2023.
Ted Kaczynski was a murderer above all. He is getting some attention now, though, because of his manifesto, "Industrial Society and Its Future," which posited three primary evils that come with the advance of modern technology:
1) The diminishment of personal freedom and individuality;
2) Psychological challenges for individuals; and
3) Environmental degradation.
I'm not sure Kaczynski was right, but I do know this: that his answer to it all, primitivism, is likely to see a resurgence as AI advances. That is, I think that over the next few decades we are going to see large communities of people withdraw from technology and live without it. It will be interesting to see how the government reacts to that-- especially as the government grows more and more reliant on an ever-expanding database on citizens that would be undermined by the primitivists.
Tuesday, December 16, 2025
A Time Without Principles
So, two things have happened in the last few months. First, Charlie Kirk was murdered. In the wake of that, the government went after people who were deemed disrespectful in the wake of Kirk's death, and over 600 people were fired.
Then in the wake of the murder of Rob Reiner, Trump said this:
Principles are rules we are willing to apply equally to ourselves and others. And it could be that as much as anything that is what both parties need right now-- and certainly what the nation needs.
Monday, December 15, 2025
Winter bliss in verse
Great work everyone! I 100% identify with this one from Desiree:
Can’t wait to schush fast
Down the mountain, over bumps.
Hello, wider skis!
Down the mountain, over bumps.
Hello, wider skis!
And Craig is thinking the same:
Flurries here again
in Richmond; I long for the
frozen ponds of youth.
in Richmond; I long for the
frozen ponds of youth.
Christine lives too far south:
In Durham it snowed
Cough, laugh... I saw three snow flakes
Sled still in garage
It is plenty cold
Hats, coats, mittens and scarves
A necessity.
Cough, laugh... I saw three snow flakes
Sled still in garage
It is plenty cold
Hats, coats, mittens and scarves
A necessity.
But Anonymous does not, apparently:
Sitting by the fire
Good book and cozy pjs
Outside, all is still
We need this quiet
These moments just to be still
Thankful for the warmth.
Good book and cozy pjs
Outside, all is still
We need this quiet
These moments just to be still
Thankful for the warmth.
Jill Scoggins is WAY too far south!:
Houston’s winter fun?
Not so different from spring,
summer, autumn fun.
It’s December and
you can still play golf here, go
outside with no coat.
Walk the beach. Ride bikes.
Snow is just a word we know
how to spell, not real.
Not so different from spring,
summer, autumn fun.
It’s December and
you can still play golf here, go
outside with no coat.
Walk the beach. Ride bikes.
Snow is just a word we know
how to spell, not real.
And so, sadly, is the Minnesotan Medievalist:
There is no joy in
Mudville or Waco because
its summer.
Mudville or Waco because
its summer.
Sunday, December 14, 2025
Sunday Reflection: Subject of Grace
The end of the year is a combination of hurried and quiet for academics. The hallways are quiet, but for us there is a lot to get done: grading to do, finishing writing projects, and preparing for the next semester. I have been deep in a writing hole, which is a place I like to be.
On Friday I was getting ready to leave and went down to check my mail. There was a big box on top of the cubbies with my name on it.
I was curious-- I didn't expect a big box, as I hadn't ordered anything. Sometimes a big box like that contains reprints of an article, but it did not look like that kind of box. I took it back to my office and opened it up.
Inside was a cornucopia of things: A gorgeous leather travel bag, a leather belt, a stack of handmade winter hats, earrings and several wallets and satchels. They were all beautiful. They even included two crocheted animals they made for a student whose wife just had a baby.
There was also a note. It was from a man named Luke, who is in prison at Sandstone FCI. In part, the note said this:
Dear Professor Osler,
Here are some Christmas gifts from me and my friends here in Sandstone. We wanted you to know we were thinking of all of you as you advocate for us in the system. I explained to my friends that your students chose to take the clemency clinic with the sole purpose of helping people in prison...
Luke is not someone we have actually helped; he is still in prison and other lawyers have helped him with his petitions. He owes us nothing, not even thanks.
How is that for Christmas? How lucky am I, are we?
I've always been taken by Jesus's teaching that when we visit those in prison we visit Him (Matthew 25:36). But what does it mean when they visit you?
Saturday, December 13, 2025
More about the Nobel Peace Prize...
Thursday, December 11, 2025
Haiku Friday: Winter fun
It really is winter here now-- there is over a foot of snow on the ground, it will be below zero this weekend, and the rinks are frozen and ready to go! I love winter fun, so let's haiku about that this week-- even if you live in Virginia or wherever. Here, I will go first:
Can't wait to glide fast
Over and around the lake
Hello, skinny skis!
Now it is your turn! Just use the 5/7/5 syllable formula and have some fun...
PMT: Very Local Mayhem
Minnesota sometimes does not seem like a very big state; it's a place where local politics and state politics often merge. That's the case with a situation up in Nisswa, a town of 2,000 in "cabin country" in the middle of the state. I've been there, and it is a very pleasant little town with a great bike trail (the Paul Bunyan Trail) going right through the middle.
Nisswa is the home of a woman named Jennifer Carnahan, who was a state figure five years ago, when she was the state chair of the Republican Party here (and was married to U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died in 2022). Things got weird in 2021, when a key supporter of hers, Anton Lazzaro, was indicted for child sex trafficking. In the wake of the scandal, she stepped down as state chair. She then ran for her deceased husband's seat in Congress, but came in third in the Republican primary. In 2024 she ran for mayor of little Nisswa, and won.
Then things got weird again. Here are some excerpts from an article in yesterday's Star-Tribune:
Carnahan is the former chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota after
getting pushed out of that job. She did not attend a special meeting
called Wednesday to discuss her conduct. More than 40 residents filled
the room the morning after a snowstorm dumped 8 inches in the area...
They called the special meeting after Carnahan recently claimed online
that she was physically assaulted by a resident. That resident had sent
Carnahan an email addressing what she felt was unfit conduct for a
mayor. The resident denied assaulting Carnahan, and prosecutors twice
declined to press charges...
Amid a mixture of comments, some of the complaints include: “Our Mayor is a bully, she’s political, and a terrible leader”; “The Mayor is a problem, period”; “The Mayor has no experience with City governance. She got elected and is now ‘top of the food chain.’ ”...
It started with an email that Sophie Foster, 27, sent the mayor on Nov. 20 after she said she overheard Carnahan in the Nisswa bar and restaurant where Foster works talking about ways to get Zahn off the council.
In an interview Tuesday before the meeting, Carnahan denied discussing this at the restaurant.
Foster emailed Carnahan and Council Member Joe Hall in defense of Zahn and asked Carnahan to apologize.
“Multiple of us overheard hostile/rude comments about him, which I’ve been told is not a new thing for you,” Foster’s email read.
Carnahan never replied to the email. A week later, after the city’s annual holiday lights parade, Carnahan said she was aggressively confronted by Foster outside the municipal bar Ye Old Pickle Factory.
I have so many questions, and none of them are really about the quite feisty mayor, Jennifer Carnahan.
So, the conservative town of Nisswa has a city-owned bar? That may be my new favorite form of socialism. And... said bar, rather than being called "The Nisswa Municipal Bar" or something is called "Ye Old Pickle Factory?" I'll be honest-- when I read that part of the article I was tempted to go to my car immediately and drive the 2 hours and 35 minutes to Nisswa to check that out. The official city web site lists Ye Old Pickle Factory as a "department," and one where "the beer hits the spot." The Yelp reviews are mixed, with a rating of 3.4 out of 5 and comments that refer to "frozen deep-fried food from Costco," "atrocious" service and an incident where a woman was shoved to the ground for wearing a mask at the heart of the COVID outbreak. Most interesting to me were the number of reviews that refer to the Pickle as a "dive bar"-- so it is not just a municipal bar, but a city-owned dive bar, and one where tourists are treated like dirt.
If I do go to Ye Old Pickle Factory, I will post photos. Promise.
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
So much snow....
We are having our second snow storm of the year here in Minnesota and it is awesome. I know the picture above makes a lot of people think "why would you live there?" but other people know the answer.
I love the change of seasons, to see everything transformed. And that is what we have right now...
Tuesday, December 09, 2025
The Song Stuck in Your Head
My whole life I have had songs that just get stuck in my head. Most persistent (and horrifyingly), the song "Hot Crossed Buns" often goes on a loop in there and I can't do anything about it. Plus, only one verse is on repeat, so it becomes like a mosquito in my ear.
Today, it was this song that got stuck in there:
I'm not sure why, since I probably have only heard it a few times (I don't spend a lot of time listening to "Lite Regular" on the radio).
Science people at Harvard believe that these songs may get lodged in there because they are tied to specific memories and emotions:
There’s involvement of the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe of the brain that supports musical perception, and connections between that cortex and deep temporal-lobe areas, like the hippocampus or parahippocampal gyrus, that are important in memory encoding and retrieval. The phonological loop has been implicated — the process of holding something in your mind, like a mental scratchpad, for a certain number of seconds. So there are networks in the brain that support these functions of music — and memory, and attention, and keeping something in your head, and working memory. And then there’s the connection to the emotional regions of the brain, like the amygdala, which is involved in salience and negative emotion, and the ventral striatum, or nucleus accumbens, which is involved with positive emotion and reward. These are all elements that are thought to be involved in earworms.
What happens is that connections in our brains involving these regions get “stuck,” resulting in an automatic playing out of musical memories.
If that's true, why is it frigging "Hot Crossed Buns" that is tied to some memory or emotion?!?
