MIKE RICE HAS A NEW GIG! And he's on at 2 to discuss his new role as half of the Rockies play-by-play team.
MITT ROMNEY PUSHES FOR WITNESSES AND I THINK HE'S JUST BEING TRUE TO WHO HE IS It shocks me that so many people who supported Mitt Romney in 2012 because he was a good and decent man have no decided he's the devil because he says he may want to hear from witnesses in the impeachment hearings. I think Mitt Romney, who does not like the President, is doing this not out of spite, but because he is a good man. He wants the facts to be heard before he makes a decision. Or I could be totally wrong and he just sees this as a chance to stick it to the President. The Wall Street Journal Editorial board makes the case for witnesses well here.
I CAN'T IMAGINE WHY PEOPLE THINK CNN IS ANTI TRUMP But I'm guessing is has something to do with scenes like this one from the Don Lemon show.
I HOPE THIS MODEL SPREADS TO OTHER AREA SCHOOLS SOON This is a really great article about PTEC, a trade school in the Springs. What makes it unique is it's a charter school. Kids learn things like welding, machining and other hands on career based skills and graduate well on their way to being hirable. We need a lot more of this and we need it now. It's worth noting that 80% of the students are MALE. Why is this worth noting? Because men and women choose different career paths. And that's okay.
REMEMBER THE SCATHING COLUMN ABOUT CDOT'S SHOSHANA LEW? I totally forgot to post Part II because I was on vacation and Part III just came out. Part II is about how law changes pushed by huge corporations have made it darn near impossible for anyone but the big corporations who pushed the rules changes to get win a bid for a CDOT job. Which definitely drives up costs. Part III discusses what they call the "Lexus lanes" for people willing to pay the toll to ride in the express lanes. I sure hope that Republicans can seize on this mismanagement as an issue in the next election cycle. I sure hope Shoshana manages to hang on long enough to at least be useful that way.
THIS LOOKS LIKE A SCENE FROM A MOVIE As a hiker who slipped off the trail and was holding on to some tree roots was finally rescued in dramatic fashion.
WOULD YOU LET YOUR COLLEGE TRACK YOUR WHEREABOUTS USING AN APP? Schools are adopting a program called SpotterEDU where professors can use an app to see if someone is in class during class. It was developed to track student athletes but now it's being used on regular students. The University of Missouri now requires it's students to use the app if the professor opts in. I'm not sure how I feel about this. It makes me uncomfortable. The app makers say they ONLY track students IN CLASS but the program is capable of tracking them elsewhere. I'm most uncomfortable because it gets students used to being tracked. That is not good.
A KERFUFFLE ABOUT AN AUTHOR WHO HAD THE NERVE TO WRITE ABOUT A MEXICAN WHILE NOT BEING MEXICAN I've decided I don't believe there is such a thing as cultural appropriation. It's stupid. Back when we had a melting pot it was celebrated when cultures melded together to create the great American experiment. Thank God white people were allowed to discover tacos and step dancing and pasta and soul food because they have made our lives so much richer in the process. So when I hear about an author being blasted because in her highly acclaimed book she dares to write about a Mexican woman I have to roll my eyes. Get a life, people.
LET'S CHECK OUT SOME NIFTY PROP BETS ON THE SUPER BOWL And if you don't know what prop bets are, they are dumb stuff that you can bet on that isn't necessarily related to the performance on the field of either team. Here are some doozies.
ALAN DERSHOWITZ MAKES THE CASE AGAINST IMPEACHMENT and he does so as a classical liberal left leaner who does not love Donald Trump. You should watch it because it's a brilliant defense of the Constitution.
THIS COMMERCIAL IS ALREADY IN THE LEAD FOR BEST SUPER BOWL COMMERCIAL And it's wicked awesome.
THE BACKFIRE EFFECT EXPLAINS A LOT ABOUT OUR POLITICAL DISCOURSE My favorite emailer Joe sent me this super interesting article about what's called The Backfire Effect. It simply says that sometimes when you present facts that disagree with someone's beliefs, it can actually HARDEN their belief in their incorrect information. We're going to talk about this today.
SOMETIMES A WHITE LIE IS THE BEST FOR SOMEONE And in this case it was a mother who lied to her little artistic son. Read this thread. It's so sweet.
WE ALL SHOULD PROBABLY READ THESE TIPS ON BEING A BETTER LISTENER I know I found them to be useful and I actually do a couple already so WINNING. Seriously though, I think a lot of our problems come from too much talking and not enough listening. Read it here.
DO YOU REALLY NEED TO SLEEP WITH YOUR PARTNER? This Ted talk says not necessarily.
IS NOMINATING BERNIE AN ACT OF INSANITY? this column says yes, and it was written by a reliably liberal columnist. I expect more columns and punditry of this nature as Bernie continues to poll well in early states. I personally think he's right, but many said the same thing about nominating Trump and here we are.
TRUMP UNVEILS THE MIDDLE EAST PEACE PLAN And it's interesting. It connects the Palestinian territories via a tunnel, which the Palestinians are used to. Here is the proposed map.