TAIL TRACK.

Barring signal troubles, links to any posts of substance ought to work.

YOUR SCOLDING IS NO LONGER EFFECTIVE.

I'd really rather the culture warriors types leave Sophie Cunningham be, to sink those trilighters and protect her teammates. But the po-faced common scolds, such as supposed sports pundit Jason Page, have to contextualize her celebrating a milestone birthday at a country bar in downtown Indianapolis and energetically delivering that boot, courtesy of the Red White and Blue.

And again… tell me exactly what you are about without telling me exactly what you are about.

Just own who you are and stop talking about “loving everybody”. https://t.co/bSAUDTD3Mk

— Jason Page (@TheBackPage) August 15, 2026

He ran out of ripostes faster than Iran ran out of missiles, and well down the thread somebody posted, "They're bodying you in the comments and you deserve it."  Maybe the ratio came in a boot.

Any day we discover the Anointed losing their power to scold is a good day.

LET THE THING BE PRESSED.

Stephen "Vodka Pundit" Green is not yet urging "Faster, please."  Historian Scott Powell suggests the time to finish the mullahs is now.

Iran is already a militarily defeated nation. To allow this evil, suicidal regime to rebuild and reconstitute itself would be a tragic missed opportunity to liberate the vast majority of Iranian people who want to live as free people under some form of democracy. And fundamentally, it would be a dereliction of duty to the greater Middle East. Defeating this regime also puts the nail in the coffin for Hamas, Hezb’allah and the Houthis, all of which dramatically improves the prospects for peace in the region.

A lot can change in a few days.  Last week came the usual sort of posturing.  "Tehran has vowed not to reopen the critical shipping lane “until America corrects its behavior,” despite a looming agreement with Oman reported to have been close for days."  As well as the usual scavenger hunt in the arsenal.

Iran's regime fired two ballistic missiles toward shipping traffic in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday. The United Arab Emirates has had enough. Abu Dhabi responded by severing every trade, commercial, and financial transaction with the terror state, effective immediately.

Roughly $28 billion in annual commerce is now gone. The UAE was Iran's single largest source of imports, a lifeline the mullahs just torched with their own missiles.

UAE Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Afra Al Hameli made it official Wednesday. No end date. No conditions. Just a hard stop tied to Iran's escalating aggression.

“All trade, commercial exchanges, and financial transactions with Iran have been halted until further notice.”

It helps if you have ordnance that works if you seek concessions.  Dud missiles scratchbuilt with whatever the mullahs scraped together might even have changed minds at CNN.  "Iran has lost significant control of the Strait of Hormuz."

JESSICA CORBETT HAS NO STANDARDS AT ALL.

Her Monday column, "‘Deeply Alarming’: Ex-Congresswoman Fuels Fears of Trump Using Nuclear Weapons on Iran," neglects to mention in the headline that the ex-representative is none other than Marjorie Taylor "Madge" Green, who has long been a figure of fun among establishmentarian conservatives.  Common Dreams types get a bit of that fun deep in the column.

“Trump promised no more foreign wars, but may actually be the one who delivers a nuclear holocaust that would likely drag the entire world into major conflict, economic depression, and mass human suffering we’ve never seen in our lifetimes and maybe throughout history,” added Greene, who promoted various conspiracy theories while in office. “People need to speak out and boldly stop this insanity. America is not untouchable. If and when that happens, everyone, and I do mean everyone, will hold ALL of those in leadership right now fully responsible for the rest of human history. Do not use nuclear weapons and stop this war NOW.

Self-styled progressives having no standards at all?  Business as usual.

[S]elf-styled progressives are almost as eager to embrace people who offer concurrence with them than they are to excommunicate people who violate a purity test.  Years ago, there was Ariana Huffington, whose pronouncements as some sort of conservative were on occasion cringe-worthy, and who instantly became a hero to many of the people who eagerly slagged on her as an "idiot" once she switched allegiance and put her money into what became the Huffington Post.

The Militant Normals?  Crazy is as crazy does.  "Marjorie Taylor Greene is back at it, spinning another unhinged conspiracy yarn about the Trump administration secretly plotting nuclear Armageddon against Iran in some shadowy strategy meetings."  The things some people do for relevance.

The best argument for not expanding the size of the House of Representatives according to a cube-root rule or any other formula?  The behavior of the current members.

More districts might make election of a legislative body that more closely approximates the multicultural makeup of the population, even with more sensibly drawn simplest closed regions for the districts. On the other hand, the likes of Ilhan Omar or Marjorie Taylor Greene might become more common in more politically homogeneous districts. That's a case for limiting the scope of government, something that might happen organically as those True Believers gridlock themselves.

Put the right bunch of attention hogs on the same committee, and you're watching C-Span and Jerry Springer comes on.  It figures, doesn't it, that if the House Oversight Committee includes Lauren Boebert, Sandy Ocasio-Cortez, Jasmine Crockett, and Marjorie Taylor-Greene, sooner or later you'd get all the decorum of the Mean Girls' Table at Johnson Middle School."

TELL THAT DEANLET TO SOD OFF.

The house organ for all wokeness, all the time, republishes an August 2024 lament, "The Summer Break That Isn’t."  The author, one Susannah M. Givens, is not dealing with the proliferation of journals to keep current with or the gift of an uninterrupted morning of reading and writing time.  In her community college environment, the distractions keep coming all the same.

Don’t get me wrong. My summers are not miserable. They are the opposite, usually involving time with family and friends, traveling, reading and gardening. But in the midst of all of that, resentment festers within as I realize all over again the unstated expectation that I also work through summer for no pay.

What I really want someone to ask when I return for fall is “Did your summer leave you feeling rested and ready for the new academic year?” Maybe then I would reply more honestly. I envision myself boldly responding, “No. In fact, I feel underappreciated. My work is not valued. Summer made me realize how my time has been disrespected for many years. My tank is half-full because I have been volunteering my time to keep up with emails, policy changes, advising, meetings and grant work all summer. At this point, I hope I make it to winter break.”

This isn’t just my individual experience. My reality is widespread. I don’t claim to speak for all faculty members, but I know that from colleagues at other institutions, from the many books I’ve read, from the private online groups where I have lurked and from the many podcast episodes I have heard.

Her discontent is not about the inconsistent deliveries of the Journal of Trivial Results whether in print or on the server.  It's the deanlets.

The emails don’t stop. Students need advising. Faculty are encouraged to attend meetings in person and virtually. Administrators need replies to various requests. And if I don’t keep up, I could miss something—a policy change or new initiative—that might have a negative impact on my students or me. I worry about not attending a meeting where an announcement could be quietly dropped while faculty are not paying full attention. What might I be missing? This question looms over the summer.

And the deanlets have to justify their existence.  "Faculty cannot set boundaries if administrators keep overstepping them, and it is time for administrators to take the lead in changing the culture."

The faculty have to set boundaries, whether by letting the electronic mail fester or by asking if that midsummer meeting is necessary.  "Summer shut-down has been a fact of life for what, 100 years? And in that time nobody has figured out how to deal with most of the routine business by May 15?"

It's likely too much to ask of Inside Higher Ed contributors that they call attention to all the intrusive diversity and special education stuff that make teaching more of a pain than it has to be.

Set those boundaries.  Tell those deanlets to sod off.

NEITHER BEER NOR BRATWURST.

Imagine, dear reader, a human interest story from ninety years ago documenting the human side of the Volksbund.  Maybe it could incorporate the rhetoric of empathy and inclusion.

World War I traumatized Germans on both sides of the Atlantic – though in different ways. In Wisconsin and across the United States, war with Germany led to a wave of anti-German hysteria. Self-proclaimed “superpatriots” attacked ethnic Germans (whom they assumed disloyal unless proven otherwise) and denigrated their culture. Sauerkraut became “liberty cabbage” and hamburgers “liberty sandwiches.” Some Germans were forced to kiss the American flag to prove their loyalty, and a few were even physically accosted. In neighboring Illinois, a German immigrant was wrapped in a flag, forced to sing the “Star Spangled Banner,” then hanged. In such a hostile atmosphere, many German-Americans abandoned their ethnic ties. Milwaukee’s Deutscher Klub renamed itself the Wisconsin Club, and hundreds of ethnic Germans Americanized their names. The German Athens had become a shadow of its former self, and those who remained a part of the German cultural scene were left battered, bruised, and defensive.

A human interest story describing a quiet evening dealing a few hands of Schafkopf and enjoying some real beer, or perhaps a livelier story involving group singing or dancing to oom-pah music might put a human face on people who are, after all, neighbors, possibly co-workers, sometimes voters.

No, strike that.  Let's deploy the full culture-studies methodology in the fall of 1938 to "contextualize" North Americans who aren't troubled by the looting of businesses and the sacking of temples; who might perceive their overseas cousins as beset by internal disorder and external punishment.

THAT SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT.

"Karoline Leavitt Prepared For Motherhood After Spending Last Two Years Answering Millions Of Stupid Questions."

It's Babylon Bee stuff, and yet, it's spot on.  "At publishing time, Leavitt experienced déjà vu after listening both of her kids screaming whilst throwing simultaneous tantrums."

TRAINWRECK!

Sometimes, those online train-watching cameras catch an unusual occurrence.

I'm taking the rest of the day off.

LET THAT HARD RAIN FALL.

In the early years of Cold Spring Shops, I devoted a lot of attention to the ways in which universities were failing at their mission.  Twelve years into retirement, I don't have to bother as much with such things, although perhaps conditions have gotten sufficiently bad that people on the inside, or with establishmentarian platforms, can no longer ignore them.

TIME TO THINK OF A SUBWAY SERIES?

Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park, or whatever the White Sox got thirty pieces of silver for its current name, are both on the HoDar, which transits one of two short stretches of subway in Chicago.

But Chicago has gone from Mission Territory to birthplace of a Pope in under two centuries.

A century ago, George Cardinal Mundelein made the case for Chicago as home to the XXVIII International Eucharistic Congress, complete with a consecration of Soldier Field long before the Packers punched a ticket to the Super Bowl there.

The Archdiocese of Chicago scheduled a special Papal Installation Mass on the White Sox infield in 2025.

Now, the White Sox are going from worst to first, and Chicagoan Rick Moran is being cheeky.  "Chicago Native Pope Leo Is Being (Sort of) Credited With the Sudden Resurgence of the White Sox."

Then, the U.S. pope, a Chicago native and White Sox fan, arrived. White Sox fans finally had something to cheer about. While 2025 was a lost season, Leo-mania began to grow, and with it, the fortunes of the hapless White Sox began to improve.

After the 2026 season started 6-13, fans and the media believed another losing season was on the way. Then, a miracle. Or so it seemed. The second-youngest team in baseball began to knock the cover off the ball. Leading the way in the home run department was a Japanese import, Munetaka Murakami.

God Helps Thofe who Help Themfelves.

White Sox management have been attempting, subject to the constraints of protocol, to obtain some sort of papal blessing.

The White Sox have adopted Pope Leo as a kind of mascot. They wanted to have a bobblehead night with the pope dressed in his white cassock holding a White Sox bat. The Vatican politely declined. But the marketing geniuses at Rate Field were only getting warmed up.

“We’ve had sitting mayors of Chicago, we’ve had governors of Illinois that have been avid White Sox fans, we had a president of the United States in Barack Obama,” said Brooks Boyer, an observant Catholic who is the team’s chief marketing officer. “I didn’t expect anything bigger than the mayor when I started this job, but we’ve kind of climbed the ladder. What’s next? I mean, I feel like we’re one step away from God.”

Well, no, the hot line to God is in Green Bay, only a quarter to use the red 'phone on the General Manager's desk.

But White Sox management are not proposing the sort of deal that Cardinal Mundelein offered to his colleague Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, who became Pius XII: during the War he offered the campus of St. Mary of the Lake as a refuge to the Vatican.  The Holy See, with plenty of experience doing business in Rome despite assorted Vandals, Visigoths, Huns, and heretics, stayed home.

DESPERATELY SEEKING A UNICORN.

In "Taxes Need a Rebrand," Michael Jarvis makes an argument straight out of the early days of the Clinton presidency, when Hillary was actually wearing the pants.  "Too often, tax is framed as a burden instead of a form of shared investment and discussed as a technical obligation rather than the foundation that allows modern societies to function."  Just reframe 'em as "contributions."  (Try not to think of George Lakoff.)

Too often, tax is framed as a burden instead of a form of shared investment. It is discussed as a technical obligation rather than the foundation that allows modern societies to function. Schools, healthcare systems, transportation networks, courts, emergency services, climate resilience measures, and public safety systems do not emerge on their own. They depend on sustained and predictable collective investment, and taxation remains the primary way societies make that investment possible.

You get your Common Dreams commentator card revoked if you even admit of the possibility that many of the items in that passage emerged through the discovery of trade-tested betterments.

IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE WEATHER, WAIT.

The Old Farmer's Almanac forecast is out, and the Great Lakes summary might be "expect anything."  "The almanac forecast predicts the northern Plains and Upper Midwest could be drier at times, 'especially when the southern storm track becomes dominant.' Still, intense cold, wind and snow are possible, with clippers, sudden cold snaps and snowy periods likely."  That should clarify things.

SIMPLICE! SIMPLICE! TOJOURS LE SIMPLICE!

For years, I've groused about overdesigned rotaries.  "The point of rotaries is to simplify traffic flow, and it defeats their purpose to provide multiple lanes."  My gripe is impressionistic, based on my frustration with Wisconsin's penchant for slip lanes and overhead signage.  "Too much nuance in the construction of a rotary defeats its purpose."  Consider, dear reader, when among all the government follies to mock on April Fools Day, the Wisconsin rotary gets dinged.  "Overdesigned rotaries make motorists mad, so much so that Right Wisconsin posted an April Fool capturing the spirit in Wisconsin, a state notorious for overdoing the channeling and signage of the rotaries."

The good news is that Charles "Strong Towns" Marohn has the traffic engineering expertise to ask the Credentialed Experts to reconsider.  "A dangerous Minnesota roundabout shows what happens when engineers preserve future traffic capacity at the expense of safety today."  For "dangerous," read "overdesigned."  "This story ends with drivers being blamed for failing to navigate a design that engineers have spent more than a decade trying (and failing) to make understandable, and engineers continuing to deprioritize safety, in spite of recent policy directing them to make it their first priority."

THE OBSCURE HISTORY OF THE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SIDESHOW.

Indiana Fever reserve Sophie Cunningham has a history of standing up for herself and her teammates.  That's generally something for the court, but somehow the culture wars crop up.

Now, she's teasing a book.  It's probably not about recognizing junk defenses and providing subtle cues to get a teammate a better shot.

We, unfortunately, have precious few details at this point about what might be included in her "tell-all," but two likely topics are treatment of certain athletes by the WNBA and the delusional backlash at her wanting to protect girl athletes.

All those blue-haired weirdos who are showing up at games trying silence Sophie may want to be careful what they wish for, because if Cunningham really decides to open Pandora’s box, they might not like what comes spilling out.

It's been there all along, only the national media generally doesn't notice. Visualize a bench-clearing, fan-involved brawl at DePaul's old Alumni Hall.

ELEGANT REFUGES.

Years ago, the builders of vaudeville theaters and the earliest movie theaters offered more than a place to forget about life for a while.  The buildings would have some sort of exotic theming, the ceiling might have twinkling stars and the outline of a courtyard extending the balcony.  Some of the earliest air conditioning installations were in such theaters.  The arena might give the impression of an Arabian Night, without the heat and humidity.

A few such refuges remain, and Architectural Digest recently identified "The 9 Most Beautiful Historical Movie Theaters in the US."  Somebody could write a book.

“Theaters help bring people together to learn and laugh and just be in community,” says Benita VanWinkle, a photographer and associate professor of visual arts at High Point University in High Point, North Carolina. Theaters are also treasure troves of architectural brilliance, as evidenced in VanWinkle’s soon-to-be-released book America’s Hometown Movie Theaters: Please Remain Standing (Bauer & Dean Publishers, September 2026). The book features 395 theaters, all built before 1965, that VanWinkle has photographed while traveling the country for more than 40 years. In the process, VanWinkle also captured tales of resilience as communities have come together over the decades to preserve historical theaters. Her hope is that they remain, not just for design lovers, but as essential community gathering places. “Theaters have always been these places where we get to see a different version of ourselves and have a place together that doesn’t have judgment,” she says. “Most theaters have places to have discussions, share conversations, be educated, and be entertained.”

It's a challenge to narrow that list to a top nine.  Among the honorees are DeKalb's Egyptian Theatre, one of the few remaining Egyptian-inspired theaters (so inspired by the discovery of King Tut's tomb) in the United States.  The preservation group that own and operate the Egyptian recently installed air conditioning and a visitor center of sorts.  The Al Ringling Theater in Baraboo, Wisconsin, built by the eponymous circus magnate, also merited mention.  Children of all ages and their parents have a variety of offerings to choose among.

What many of the nine theaters have in common is their location in smaller cities, perhaps where the forces of creative destruction did not urge partitioning into multiplexes or replacement by something else.

I might have to look through the book, see if the surviving Milwaukee courtyard-themed theaters merited a photo.

JUST FINISH THINGS.

Sometimes, the right sort of air power can be persuasive.

That might not convince one Roland Oliphant, who in London's Telegraph offers "proof Iran won the war."

THANKS YET ANOTHER MILLION.

Two weeks ago the Google counter ticked past thirteen million, and overnight came the fourteenth million page view, with close onto a quarter of a million today.

I hope the data centers are mining nuggets, and that the live readers among that number are finding content that is informative or provocative or fun.