I WANT BETTER CHOICES.

Inside the Beltway's James Joyner offers a gloomy analysis.  "Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans truly represent most Americans. Fixing that is exceedingly unlikely."  To him, though, the party duopoly is something to be treated as immutable reality, rather than as the drag on emergence it has become.

I’m still fundamentally an Old Guard Republican but my choice is between voting for Trump (or a Trumper) or the Democrat or staying home (or voting Libertarian or some other protest vote, which is functionally the same). For all intent and purposes, I’ve become a Democrat even though I’m not particularly aligned with that party. And most Old Guard Republicans are effectively Trumpers, since that’s what the primary system delivers.

A protest vote is only a protest vote to the extent that everyone else is voting as if the choice is binary. The same primary system that delivers Trumpians delivers Squaddies.  Mr Joyner sees that, but his evaluation of the correlation of forces seems off.

Progressives are a minority of the Democratic Party and a tiny minority in the country as a whole. That they have to settle for half, or even a third, of a loaf and are frustrated by that is, well, politics. The dynamic in the GOP is far worse: it’s empowering a minority that may be even smaller than the progressives to the detriment of the country as a whole.

Isn't debt, corona authoritarianism, urban crime, inflation, overweening school boards, and now "Why don't they all drive Priuses?" enough evidence that whatever passes for Democrats these days ought be nowhere near the school board or the police commission, let alone the federal government?

I wonder, also, whether the "crazies" are as small a faction or as fringey a faction as Reason's Steven Greenhut suggests.  "The modern lesson is that liberal parties that can't purge themselves of socialists and conservative parties that can't purge themselves of fascists risk destruction by those 'allies.'"

The problem is that the bundles are too big, particularly at the state and federal levels.  Devolve, delegate, and enumerate.

CHINA TRIANGULATES?

Via Power Line's ever-changing list of interesting links, I found this article, by a mainland Chinese academic.  It's worth reading in full.  Note the preface.  "This article does not represent any party and, for the judgment and reference of the highest decision-making level in China, this article conducts an objective analysis on the possible war consequences along with their corresponding countermeasure options."  A few passages stand out.

The United States would regain leadership in the Western world, and the West would become more united. At present, public opinion believes that the Ukrainian war signifies a complete collapse of U.S. hegemony, but the war would in fact bring France and Germany, both of which wanted to break away from the U.S., back into the NATO defense framework, destroying Europe’s dream to achieve independent diplomacy and self-defense. Germany would greatly increase its military budget; Switzerland, Sweden, and other countries would abandon their neutrality. With Nord Stream 2 put on hold indefinitely, Europe’s reliance on US natural gas will inevitably increase. The US and Europe would form a closer community of shared future, and American leadership in the Western world will rebound.

Some of that seems to be under way already, and that's got to concern the mandarins in Pekin.

China will become more isolated under the established framework. For the above reasons, if China does not take proactive measures to respond, it will encounter further containment from the US and the West. Once Putin falls, the U.S. will no longer face two strategic competitors but only have to lock China in strategic containment. Europe will further cut itself off from China; Japan will become the anti-China vanguard; South Korea will further fall to the U.S.; Taiwan will join the anti-China chorus, and the rest of the world will have to choose sides under herd mentality. China will not only be militarily encircled by the U.S., NATO, the QUAD, and AUKUS, but also be challenged by Western values and systems.

Thus, the triangulation.

China cannot be tied to Putin and needs to be cut off as soon as possible. In the sense that an escalation of conflict between Russia and the West helps divert U.S. attention from China, China should rejoice with and even support Putin, but only if Russia does not fall. Being in the same boat with Putin will impact China should he lose power. Unless Putin can secure victory with China’s backing, a prospect which looks bleak at the moment, China does not have the clout to back Russia. The law of international politics says that there are “no eternal allies nor perpetual enemies,” but “our interests are eternal and perpetual.” Under current international circumstances, China can only proceed by safeguarding its own best interests, choosing the lesser of two evils, and unloading the burden of Russia as soon as possible. At present, it is estimated that there is still a window period of one or two weeks before China loses its wiggle room. China must act decisively.

It's dangerous for the mandarins to be seen backing the wrong horse. "China’s top priority is to make appropriate strategic adjustments accordingly, to change the hostile American attitudes towards China, and to save itself from isolation. The bottom line is to prevent the U.S. and the West from imposing joint sanctions on China."

SOME LIBS JUST BEG TO BE OWNED.

There might be pragmatic reasons not to blow money ostentatiously on a pickup truck, but where's the posturing in that?

But for the general public, especially those who drive giant SUVs and trucks around the city, fouling the air, damaging roads, and putting everyone at increased risk of death and dismemberment—do they deserve a gas-tax holiday?

Which only begets mockery from Militant Normals.

It's not given to Streetsblog aesthetes to decide.

The idea of a gas tax holiday itself deserves mockery.  Are Our Political Masters serious about using the current rise in crude oil prices to induce substitution and invention of less-fossil-dependent technologies?  Or is it more political theater, using Vladimir Putin to deflect attention to incompetence closer to home while continuing to subsidize development patterns that don't pay for themselves?

AN INTERURBAN TRADITION ENDS.

Years ago, the witticism ran that there was an interurban line circling the courthouse in every county seat in Indiana.  The last electric cars in the streets were those of the South Shore Line in Michigan City, which we noted years ago.

The Commuter Rail authorities, and the street department of Michigan City, have wanted to get the trains off the streets, and that harmonizes well with plans to add track capacity on the South Shore Line.  In this instance, it is an addition of tracks.  The right-of-way east of Gary was laid out with a second track in mind, but only a few passing sidings were provided, with well-timed meets, and spring switches to allow those to take place at speed.

The work is far enough along that a bus bridge will replace the trains through Michigan City.  "Beginning Monday, Feb. 28, buses will replace commuter trains between the Carroll Avenue station in Michigan City and Dune Park in Porter, Ind., as part of the project to double-track the South Shore main line between Gary and Michigan City."  Freight trains will run at night, as will shuttles of cars between the west end of the line and the Michigan City shops.

The last train in the interurban tradition doesn't look like a traditional interurban, does it?

Perhaps when through service resumes, there will be a Cold Spring Shops report on developments.

IT'S NOT NICE TO FOOL THE POPE.

Sometimes, though, there's an unintended consequence.

The Paulaners were a strict order, and when Lent rolled around, they abstained from solid food. They COULD however, drink beer. And when they doubled the malt, the beer satisfied the monk’s hunger pains (a 1 liter Mass contains 160-200 grams of malt, the equivalent of 4-5 slices of bread).

Now here’s where myth steps in. According to legend, the beer tasted so good, that they felt guilty. Lent was a time of abstaining from pleasures, and enjoying beer is contrary to the spirit of Lent. The monks decided to take it to a higher authority…not God… the Pope. The thing is, the Pope lived far away. Road Trip! A few of the monks took a barrel of their strong beer up over the Alps for judgement. Along the way, the barrel was subjected to changes in temperature… and it went bad. When the Pope tried the beer, he declared it foul, and an appropriate Lenten penance. The monks were granted Papal Approval to drink their Doppelbock Bier during Lent.

Back in Munich, the authorities granted Paulaner monks permission to produce beer for their own consumption, but… somehow outsiders managed to get their mugs on some of it in exchange for “donations”.

Much more about the variations on Bock Beer at the link.

Prosit!

FRIDAY short TAKES.

The continuing demonstrations of Smart People Doing Dumb Things continues.

Pithy elaborations on familiar Cold Spring Shops points follow.  There are fewer this week than in the previous few weeks.

THE REAL VOTER SUPPRESSION COMES BEFORE THE VOTING BOOTHS OPEN.

The wrong way for libertarian-minded tories to punish Republicans for Donald Trump is to vote for Democrats.  That way gets you a Joe Biden running as a corporatist Democrat yet getting rolled by the communist wing of his party.  There might have been people who protested against the Obama presidency taking the Democrats too far left by voting for Republicans, and we might have seen some of that at work in Congressional elections two years ago.

When the manifestoes of the major political parties bundle too much foolishness with a few good ideas, I'd really like to have something other than primary challenges as the best way to influence legislation.

For the 2022 election cycle, [Angela] Pence decided to throw her own hat into the ring, by running against Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene in the race to represent Georgia's 14th Congressional District in the House of Representatives. Greene, in just a single term, has garnered a reputation as a kook, spreading outlandish conspiracy theories ranging from defending QAnon, to suggesting that California wildfires were intentionally caused by lasers from outer space. Just last month, Greene appeared as a speaker at a white nationalist political conference. There would seem to be plenty of room for a competitor.

But before someone like Pence can make her case to voters, she has to clear another hurdle: Georgia's ballot access laws.

That's a research topic for election scholars: do primary challenges that shift the focus of the major parties gradually more effectively than challenges from additional parties?  Yes, even if one of the additional parties is the Stalin wing of the communist parties?

The law was initially passed in 1943, at a time when the state was also barring Communists from running for office. Perhaps not surprisingly, since 1943, not one single third-party candidate has made it onto the ballot for a districted race in Georgia. Last year, on a challenge from the Georgia [Libertarians], a district court tossed the 5-percent rule, replacing it with a rule only requiring signatures from one-percent of registered voters. But earlier this year, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the requirement.

Ryan Graham, chair of the Georgia [Libertarians], tells Reason that the steep signature requirement handicaps the party's ability to "build the bench," recruiting candidates for local races who can gain political experience and potentially go on to higher office. Pence says that after the appeals court reinstated the 5-percent rule, at least five Georgia [Libertarian] candidates for office dropped out, citing the difficulty in obtaining that many signatures.

Representative Greene does face primary challenges. Ultimately, though, whether easier ballot access by additional parties influences policy more than primary challenges within the established parties remains to be seen.  As does the absence of those choices on voter participation, something Our Intellectual Betters keep fretting about.

In Georgia, any potential alternative parties—the Green Party, the Constitution Party, Democratic Socialists of America, the still-extant Prohibition Party — face the same seemingly insurmountable task just to qualify. That disparity makes it that much more difficult for a fringe candidate in a safe seat like Greene to face a serious challenger.

Some of those parties have qualified for the Illinois ballot, despite the state being a Chicago Democrat satrapy for years.

THE CASE FOR CONTRACTING PROVISIONING OUT TO NOODLES AND COMPANY.

Food service on Amtrak's eastern trains was a disgrace long before the corona tyranny led to service cuts.  Trains contributor Bob Johnston notes the slippage has gone beyond the menu.  "The trip featured onboard personnel that were uniformly friendly and attentive to passengers’ needs. Yet it also showed shortcomings that can be rectified if management and employees at all levels would exert more effort in catering to those who invest time and money in Amtrak’s product."  He started with the Silver Star, the only Florida train currently running, and after a fiasco getting passengers aboard at Orlando, here's what on-board is like.

With only one train to worry about on the Miami-New York route, you would think Amtrak would make a good-faith attempt to make the experience in the Viewliner diner a positive one for customers. The car has been redefined as a “lounge” for sleeping-car patrons, who remain the only travelers allowed to enjoy the landscape rushing past the double set of windows until management figures out when, or if, serving protocols can be altered to include coach passengers.

There's not much food on offer, which does not excuse not having any menus on hand.  In addition, giving passengers clean windows to look out of isn't a priority.

The westbound Cardinal and northbound Silver Star showed no evidence that either train had recently been pulled through a washer. The temperature in South Florida was sunny and in the mid-80s all week, and the Chicago-bound triweekly was coming off of a full-day layover at New York’s Sunnyside Yard. Clean windows are a relatively inexpensive way to enhance the travel experience, but have proven to be one of the first expendable items at many maintenance facilities. The Chicago washer was out of commission for an extended period last year, apparently because no one considered it a priority.

Fifty years ago, Amtrak were taken by surprise when passengers discovered that "Are you driving or flying?" omitted a choice.

Gas prices are skyrocketing. When this happened in Amtrak’s past, beginning with the oil embargo of 1973, it resulted in significant ridership gains across the entire network. Lack of proactive investment in personnel and equipment may have handicapped the company’s ability to take fullest advantage of the current situation, but there is no reason easily adjusted customer service aspects can’t be immediately addressed.

It is a sobering thought, though, that the legacy cars Amtrak inherited from the investor owned railroads were not as old as many of the long-distance cars comprising the Star, Cardinal, Capitol Limited, or Lake Shore are now.

MAKING RESEARCH AVAILABLE.

I'm pleased to report that the continued downsizing and consolidation at Northern Illinois University has not gutted the history department.

[Historian Andy] Bruno was shocked by the invasion and didn’t think that it was going to happen in the way that it did. Bruno was doubtful of America’s intelligence reports given the history of America’s lying such as the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and a drone attack that killed 10 people last year.

“I went to Russia (in August and October) and it seemed normal,” Bruno said. “It became very clear that something bad was going to happen when Russia started to say genocide was going on in Ukraine.”

There used to be a strong Russian and Soviet bench within history. The consolidation of the languages departments hasn't completely crowded the European languages out.

The history of Ukraine was delved into including the development of the Ukrainian ethnic group and its constant history of fighting for independence including rebels fighting against both Nazi Germany and the U.S.S.R. during WWII. Ukraine’s history was discussed to refute Putin’s claims that Russians and Ukrainians are the same.

“In the 19th century, Russia began to push that Belarusians and Ukrainians are brothers,” said Joanna Kot, a professor in the Department of World Languages and Cultures. “There’s no basis for that.”

The panel included students and faculty from that part of the world, and the university community includes Ukrainians and Russians.  So far, the sort of Russian-baiting foolishness we have called attention to elsewhere has not manifested itself on campus.  The fallout, though, will continue.

[Sociologist Laura] Heideman also made sure to let the attendees know how this war can affect the entire globe due to Ukraine producing a quarter of the world’s wheat and a significant part of the world’s corn crop. The places that will be hit hardest are low-income countries that depend on European imports.

It's not theoretical. To the extent that Russian nationals in the States have been using their credit cards to aid family members make purchases in Russia, the shutdown of bank transactions is going to have an effect.  Whether that will push Russians closer to their current government or make them skeptical remains to be seen.

IF YOU CAN KEEP YOUR HEAD WHEN ALL AROUND YOU ARE LOSING THEIRS.

Sometimes, that's what you have to do to make the big bucks.

Take a moment to think about where we were this past spring and summer in Madison.

Closed door meetings, secret recordings, disgruntled players, a poor reputation, and a head coach squarely under the microscope.

Now, the Wisconsin Badgers are Big Ten Champions.

How did this happen?

Well, having a National Player of the Year candidate on your team certainly helps.

But Greg Gard deserves a ton of credit for keeping the focus where it should always be: on the floor.

It would’ve been really easy for Gard to lash out at former players and coaches, who attempted to tank his reputation and quite frankly, his program.

Instead, he went to practice.

He worked with his guys.

He developed good players into great players.

His reward for his focus, commitment, and resolve is a regular season conference championship.

I’m sure he’s not the only one that hopes another title is on the horizon.

Despite last season's apparent mutiny, the team bowed out to the eventual tournament champion.  Time on task matters.  Discipline trumps talent.  Greg Gard is again Big Ten coach of the year, and conference player of the year Johnny Davis will be able to play in the conference tournament, despite being mugged by Nebraska in the concluding game of the season.

YOU'VE HEARD OF THE PRINCIPLE OF SUBSTITUTES.

I'm no longer teaching actively, but the current crop of economics faculty can still use it.  "I continue to do some thinking, in the odd spare moment, about the economics of suburbs. Irreversible investments and dual immigration tracks first."  Ultimately, where I was in 2008 is where I still am in 2022, although I object to public policies that inhibit development of fuel sources before the backstop technology is practicable.

With fuel at $1.50 a gallon, many people are going to want those land yachts. (I've had that conversation with many of my colleagues. It never had anything to do with suburban machismo.) At $4 or $5 a gallon, many people are going to want something else. But there are depressingly many commentators who would have you believe that opening the Outer Continental Shelf or the Arctic Ocean to exploration (both of which I endorse) will bring back that $1.50 a gallon unleaded regular. Unlikely. If those sources were worth developing at those lower prices, the political pressure to permit it would have been present at those lower prices. Permanently higher gasoline prices are also where the reward to innovation will come from -- not from public investments. Battery-electric cars and other technologies do not make economic sense without permanently higher gasoline prices.

Those battery-electric cars don't come for free, either.  "Electric car prices could go up even as fuel prices soar."  That "even as" is silly, it suggests that there is some Electric Car Fairy who will magically deliver them as crude oil prices increase.  There's enough material in the following paragraphs to fill up several chalkboards with supply-and-demand diagrams.

It’s not impossible to make batteries without nickel — Volkswagen and other automakers are looking into other battery technologies that don’t use it or cobalt (the price of which has also been on the rise), according to Reuters.

But, like energy policy, battery production and integration is a big ship for automakers to turn around — if the prices of nickel and other metals stay up, it’ll be a race to switch to other tech before the shockwaves of higher prices and sanctions make their way through the supply chain. If automakers don’t make the shift quickly, it could put EVs even further out of reach for most Americans, at a time when gas prices are making them look better than ever.

You don't have to like the principles of economics, but when a good or service looks better than ever, demand increases, and buyers bid its price up.

YOUR LOQUACIOUSNESS IS OFF-PUTTING.

Yes, seriously.  "3 in 5 people ‘articulate’ themselves with big words to sound smarter — even if they don’t know the meanings."  There's substantial overlap between the words people perceive as making themselves sound smarter and the words people perceive as pretentious coming out of the mouths of others.  Totally unnecessary, suggests career maven Joshua Spodek.  "In my experience, people considered smart use common words to avoid distracting from their ideas and meaning."

Yup.  Shorter preferable to longer.  Anglo-Saxon etymology preferable to Greco-Roman.

MORE FOOLISHNESS FROM MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY.

It's evidently more important to send the right virtue signals than to understand history.  The university recently changed its Great Seal.

The reference image for the scene is an 1869 painting by Wilhelm Lamprecht titled "Pere Marquette and the Indians." However, critics say the way in which the scene was cropped to be put in the seal leads to a misleading depiction of the power dynamic between the Jesuits and their Native guides — one rooted in the mindset of settler colonialism.

Here's the full painting.

What you see in the full painting communicates a different power relationship than what the presentists read into the excerpt in the seal.

In the full version of Lamprecht's painting, standing eye-level to Jacques Marquette on his left is another Native man who is giving the missionary and his Native companion directions from the river's shore.

In other words, the cropping of the image in the old seal gives the impression that the explorer was giving directions when, in fact, he was asking for them, critics say.

That's all too much for Red State's Alex Parker. "Indeed — a brouhaha boiled because it appeared the white guy was the one giving directions."

It's better than that.  Marquette and Joliet's initial mission was to find the Northwest Passage, as the Americas were a major roadblock on that ocean route to India and China (which, recall, is what Columbus was looking for, and why there are American Indians in archaic usage).  They got as far inland on the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes as Green Bay, and somehow found out from the locals about a "large waterway" to the west.  Yes, up the Fox to Lake Winnebago, further up the Fox to near Portage, thence overland to the Wisconsin, and that goes to the Mississippi in the painting.  But when you're all done with the Mississippi, you're still not to the Pacific.  On their return north, they learned about a different portage between the Illinois and Chicago rivers.

I wonder if the rewriters of history will next come, or if they already have come, for a similar monument in Milwaukee.

How long, also, before those crucifixes and Jesuit references have to go?

CANCEL CULTURE IS A FOOLISH IDEA.

I'm not a fan of it when it comes for campus speakers or entertainers.  It's stupid for an orchestra to fire its director for failure to make the proper woke politically correct statements.  "Acclaimed Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, known to have close ties to the Kremlin, was fired Tuesday from his job as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic after failing to denounce Moscow's invasion of Ukraine." You'd think that after Otto Klemperer and Bruno Walter the Germans would know better.  What's next, a land acknowledgement before the concert?  An appearance before the Diet of Worms?

Gergiev had in recent days already been dropped from upcoming concerts at the renowned Philharmonie concert hall in Paris and by the Vienna Philharmonic at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

The Edinburgh International Festival has also cut ties with him, as has his agent in Germany, Marcus Felsner.

The other National Railway Museum (the one in York) is also engaging in purity tests.

Science Museum Group director Sir Ian Blatchford has also returned a Russian cultural medal awarded to him in 2015.

He said: "In light of distressing events in Ukraine, we have decided not to proceed with our upcoming exhibition at the National Railway Museum and Science Museum, Trans-Siberian: The World's Longest Railway.

"I know I speak for all my colleagues in the Science Museum Group, when I say we stand united in opposition to this conflict and in support of all those impacted by Russia's invasion."

By missing an opportunity to provide additional information, say, about the role of Ukrainian convicts in the construction of the railway, or about the newer BAMlag, which might be undergoing repairs using convict labor.

The exhibition, due to open later in March, had originally been due to take place in in 2021, but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It would have celebrated the railway, which runs 5,772 miles (9,290 km) from Moscow to Vladivostok and opened in 1916.

Objects for the show included items from the Moscow Kremlin Museums, the State Archives of the Russian Federation, Russian State Library, the State Hermitage Museum and the Central Museum of Railway Transport in St Petersburg.

Those included the famous Fabergé Easter egg known as The Great Siberian Railway, that contains a bejewelled model train, created for the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II.

Sir Ian was awarded the Pushkin Medal in 2015 for his work on an earlier exhibition.

"I cannot keep a medal that was handed out in the name of the Russian state by Vladimir Putin, who is responsible for this war," he said.

"My enduring admiration for the Russian people themselves, and their cultural and scientific achievements, is undiminished."

Wouldn't it be possible to send the medal back, heck, go to Moscow and toss it over the Kremlin wall or leave it in the St. Basil's poor box, whilst letting Englishmen distinguish between the kleptocratic Russian government and the long-mistreated Russian people?

Dear reader, it might be the case that the Cardiff Philharmonic had particularly bad timing scheduling an all-Tchaikovsky concert featuring both the Marche Slave and the Overture 1812 as well as the Second ("Little Russian") Symphony.  There's been a programming change.

The orchestra will instead present a programme centred around Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8, with John Williams‘s The Cowboys Overture opening the concert, and a performance of Elgar‘s Enigma Variations in the second half.

That's caving in to mob outrage, when it's straightforward enough to mention the contested status of "Little Russia" that figures in the current war, and scheduling a suitable Ukrainian hymn or anthem after the symphony, as well as to note that the excerpt of "God Save the Tsar" in the march and in the overture was, well, cancelled during the Soviet era.

I'll let Jim Treacher take us home.  "I’m just not stupid enough to believe that punishing people for being born in Russia [or born a Russian cat, or chucking a rock at a Russian-cuisine restaurant in a North American city] will do anything to stop any of this."

CAN THE ERA OF FASHIONABLE NONSENSE GO ON?

Glenn "Aspen Beat" Beaton got off a title that could easily headline the next installation of Friday short Takes.  "Americans are no longer a serious people or culture."  It's worth reading in full as it calls out all sorts of things a serious people would or would not do, for instance, here are five traits of a serious people.

*Would not spend billions on monster pickup trucks.

*Would favor immigration by the best and brightest of the world who respectfully and legally come, rather than favoring the poorest and worst who come illegally.

*Would not contend that the top 1% of earners who pay 40% of income taxes are failing to “pay their fair share.”

*Would not elect to the presidency a man who is clinically demented and criminally corrupt.

*Would not elect to the presidency a man who thinks a clever debate rejoinder is to intimate that his opponent has a small penis (don’t ask how he knows or why that’s on his mind).

It's not quite 95 theses, go read it anyway.

THE DANCING RESUMES.

College basketball came to a screeching halt in March of 2020, as public health officials went from cautiously optimistic to full-on panic.  There were no national tournaments.

For the 2020-2021 season, there were games, and tournaments, but spectators were few, and at Northern Illinois, limited to immediate families of the players.

The 2021-2022 season began with spectators allowed in the arena, although subject to the state mask rules.  Those rules were even more ludicrous for high school competitions, where players were running the floor with their Biden muzzles dangling off their chins.  Sometimes the way to demonstrate the folly of a rule is to comply with it.

The Illinois mask ukases have mostly been lifted as of 28 February, although clinics and hospitals still require their use, as do transportation authorities.  You'd think a government that wants to encourage mass transportation use would make riding the buses, trains, and planes less unpleasant, but thinking like a government official is something I've never done well, and I'm digressing.

Saturday's opponent was Central Michigan, which, despite being handled roughly by the local kids a year ago, won the conference tournament and was the Mid-American's obligatory one-and-done in the national tournament.  This year, Central Michigan failed to qualify for the conference tournament.  Go figure.

Most of the scoring was contributed by players who were by game's end resting.  The starters and first substitutes got substantial rest.

That's a new custom, the players communicating their thanks to the band.  There's no singing of the alma mater, Wisconsin's Varsity style.  Look closely, the band members are playing through their Biden muzzles.

Senior recognition now takes place after the game.  Under the corona redshirt rules and the transfer portal, it's not always clear who is a senior and who has extended play status.  These kids all did their part.  We'll see how being a middling team in the most mid-major of mid-majors Mid-American Conference fares in the tournament, commencing Wednesday.

People are getting back to public functions, the monthly train show in Wheaton was well-populated by children of all ages as well.

IT TAKES A LOT TO STOP A TRAIN.

Insider correspondent Alan Chin files a report from Ukraine.

Ukrzaliznytsia's trains have been packed. Lviv's station normally handles 5,000-6,000 people a day, but in recent days it's been as much as 10 times that. Where possible, the trains return back east, toward Kyiv and the rest of the country, carrying aid. "We have trains going to Poland. It would be a waste of resources to bring them back empty," [head of passenger operations Oleksandr Pertsovskyi] said. "Load them up."

The Russians get the strategic value of railroads.

Ukraine's rail network is extensive, and Pertsoivskyi says they've been able to cram as many as 6,000 travelers onto a single train. They have also suspended regular ticketing. He described some of their difficulties: an unexploded bomb fell next to tracks. He said, "It's my decision to let a train move people or not. We had to close that sector; luckily in this case we could re-route. It might be a difficult decision."

Also, he said, "Last night I got a call from an intercity train" – the fastest and most reliable way to get from Kyiv and Lviv – "facing damaged tracks. Fortunately, resolved."

People more skilled in the operational arts than I suggest that the Ukrainian military are working to protect the major junctions along the railroad.  That's helpful to the train crews, although railroaders are no slouches when it comes to fixing the tracks.  "Many years ago, Army Air Force General [James] Van Fleet wrote an article in Trains explaining the difficulties of knocking out a railroad with the biggest air armada in the world. Railroad maintenance crews have a lot of practice clearing derailments and restoring tracks clearly."  Sometimes you hang on to what might look like valuable scrap metal because it's more valuable restoring a bridge, or perhaps installing a temporary bridge.

As part of his report, Mr Chin gets a cab ride.

Sitting next to the driver at the front of the train, [railroad CEO Oleksandr] Kamyshin consulted with various department heads as the train hurtled through the countryside at 100 miles an hour, at times – our journey punctuated by the sound of loud horns, cackling radio traffic, and the sights of dispatch and station personnel with their different colored batons at regular intervals. It was a reminder that Ukraine combines both elements of the 21st century cosmopolitan internationalism that it wants to join, growing a burgeoning tech sector and empowering these young executives with their foreign educations and claims to clean up corruption, with an older, almost nostalgia-tinged Europe of telegraph wires, semaphore signals, and vanished empires.

I bet that speedometer is registering a more sedate 100 km/h. Those code lines, semaphore signals, and station agents are what can keep the trains rolling when senior management are on a business car and if somebody hacks into the computer dispatching system.

The article also includes what might be propaganda.

Ukrzalinytsia also made available refrigerator cars for the Ukrainian Army to transport the bodies of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine back to Russia, but thus far, they haven't received a response from the Russian side. "They don't care," Kamyshin said, "tomorrow I'll ask volunteers to help our army with loading. Then we will carry these refrigerated cars to Russia."

It's not clear from elsewhere in the article or from other reading I have done whether any connections to Russian or Belarus metals are still operable.  The Russians are notorious for concealing their military losses, going so far as to note that soldiers have "fallen in service to the country," which could mean either as a participant in an operation or in a training accident or when a submarine fails.

I wonder if the General Notice posted in the engine houses and yard offices has been amended to read 

"Subject to the military situation, safety is of the first importance in the discharge of duty."

TURF THEM OUT.

Karol Markowicz opens up a can on the corona tyrants.

Apologize. Then exit stage left and let us never hear from you again.

You fearful, quiet politicians who let extended lockdowns destroy businesses, fray the fabric of our cities and cost us all so much: We saw you maskless, at concerts and parties, while our 2-year-olds stay masked to this day.

We know that you didn’t actually think masking was important like you implored us it was. You loved your power and nothing else mattered. Apologize.

She continues, "Don’t apologize, we don’t believe you anyway."

THE DECAY OF OBJECTIVE JOURNALISM.

Several "Freedom Convoy" truck parades have been making their way toward Washington City.  Apparently one such convoy made its way along Interstate 90 and 39 through Madison and into the Illinois Valley.  Ultimately, participants reached a staging area near Hagerstown, Maryland.  "More than a thousand large trucks, recreational vehicles and cars are gathering on the outskirts of Washington as part of a protest against COVID-19 restrictions that threatens to roll on the U.S. capital in the coming days."

Decide for yourself, dear reader, whether "so-called" has the same connotation as "self-described," or whether such a specification is even necessary in the following.  "The so-called 'People's Convoy,' which originated in California and has drawn participants from around the country, is calling for an end to all pandemic-related restrictions. It was inspired by demonstrations last month that paralyzed Ottawa, Canada's capital city."

It's possible that the primary message of the convoys has been muted by recent developments.

The convoy's message has been undercut in recent weeks as major U.S. cities have rolled back mask mandates and other measures against COVID-19, which has led to more than 950,000 deaths in the United States but has been mitigated with vaccines and therapeutics. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, signaled in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday that the country was entering a new, more controlled phase of the pandemic without business lockdowns or school closures.

Consider, though, what the following sentence contributes to the report. "A little more than a year ago, supporters of former Republican President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attack that left five people dead and more than 100 police officers injured."

The convoys are protests against overweening public health mandates.  The futile and stupid gesture at the Federal Capitol was at best a protest against improper changes to state voting procedures and at worst a failed attempt to stop the certification of the electoral vote.

Perhaps Ted Hesson's salary at Reuters depends on supporting the narrative that some forms of dissent border on sedition.

U.S. federal law enforcement agencies have been coordinating with state and local authorities for weeks in preparation for the possible arrival of the convoy, said one U.S. official who requested anonymity to discuss internal operations.

A Feb. 26 U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) bulletin to law enforcement reviewed by Reuters said trucker convoys could hinder emergency responders depending on the size of the protest.

The bulletin said federal law enforcement was not aware of any substantiated threats from domestic violent extremists, but that some extremists "probably will be drawn to the event and could engage in premeditated or opportunistic violence."

Arguably, any peaceable assembly might hinder emergency responders.  As might any stalled freight train in the middle of a populated area.  Prior restraint, though, is an infringement on civil liberties.  "Put another way, perhaps it ceases to be a peaceful protest when it looks more like a riot."  So far, none of the convoys, whether in Australia, Canada, or the United States, have looked like a riot.  Why the Shapers of Public Opinion have to raise the spectre of riot or insurrection before a single truck rolls might say more about the Shapers than about the protestors.

FIRST PESTILENCE. NOW WAR. NEXT FAMINE?

Trent Telenko has posted another evaluation of the situation in Ukraine.  "Day Eight of the Russian Column Held Hostage (by the usual Russian incompetence)."  It's worth reading in full.  One observation, about the failure of the motorized infantry to move, stands out.  "Vehicles are combat power in mechanized war."  With the convoys seemingly stalled by partisan action or bogged down in mud, Russia started this campaign with fewer leg infantry than George McClellan's Army of the Potomac, and all that force had to do was march from Washington City to Richmond.  Three years later, it got there.  But where is the second force securing the major rivers?

It's possible at least some of the Russian convoys are stymied by flooded fields.  With planting season coming, it's unlikely the summer wheat crop coming off the steppes will be as plentiful as it can be.  "If the war is prolonged, countries that rely on affordable wheat exports from Ukraine could face shortages starting in July, International Grains Council director Arnaud Petit says."  Those Ukrainian sunflowers?  That, too, is a cash crop.  "Russia and Ukraine combine for nearly one-third of the world’s wheat and barley exports. Ukraine also is a major supplier of corn and the global leader in sunflower oil, used in food processing."

All of this good news coming immediately after the corona shutdowns might have undone a generation's work raising living standards.  "The war could reduce food supplies just when prices are at their highest levels since 2011."