Tues Blogcast: Andy McCarthy; A transplant surgeon exhales

Just One Thing

From the “there’s dumb and then there’s this” files: Republican election officials in rural Cochise County, Arizona refused yesterday to certify the county’s election results even though there is no evidence that anything was wrong in that county’s elections. Not only do the county supervisors face potential criminal liability for their actions but the state has said that if the county does not certify by next Monday then the county’s votes will be excluded from official election results, meaning that a seat in the House of Representatives and the State’s superintended of public instruction, a hugely important job, would both flip from having a Republican winner to having a Democratic winner. It’s one thing to claim to have questions about an election, even if it’s without evidence. But this is a really special kind of stupid.

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Today's Guests

Former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy usually writes about the intersection of politics and law regarding very specific situations: government actions, impeachments, January 6th, etc.

But in his recent piece for National Review, Andy goes very big-picture: Time to Get Serious about Preserving and Protecting America | National Review

What exactly is he concerned about that requires preservation and protection? We'll have a great and, I hope, deep discussion.

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Dr. David Weill MD was one of the nation's top transplant surgeons, primarily focusing on lung transplants. After years of finding satisfaction...including for his ego...in the work, something changed for him and he quit the profession "later than he should have." We'll talk with Dr. Weill about his new book, "Exhale: Hope, Healing, and a Life in Transplant".

More here: Exhale | Book by David Weill, MD | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster (simonandschuster.com)

Dr. Weill wrote an intense piece for The Hill arguing that many of the nation's smaller transplant programs should close: Should some lung transplant programs shut down? | The Hill

Other Stuff

Ready in slightly over 3½ minutes: Woman Sues After Her Microwavable Macaroni Takes More Than Three and a Half Minutes – RedState

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Biden administration asks Congress to prevent railroad strike. Union members and leftists on Twitter are annoyed. https://apnews.com/article/business-congress-government-and-politics-44c88740ed57ba96a20c4fc6fffb230b

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There’s dumb and there’s this: GOP-controlled Arizona county refuses to certify election

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Whole Foods decision to pull lobster divides environmentalists, politicians | FOX31 Denver (kdvr.com)

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More ugliness in crypto: BlockFi charts new crypto bankruptcy play: Distance from FTX (axios.com)

And while some things that are hard to explain and understand can be quite successful and profitable, being hard to explain/understand is definitely a hurdle for a technology whose long-term success probably requires at least fairly widespread public acceptance. Otherwise, it's all just a giant pump-and-dump. This is an example of the kind of story that feeds my skepticism about even medium-term success of crypto: Wrapped Bitcoin Trades at Discount Amid Market Contagion (coindesk.com)

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Cop who will soon (probably) be a convicted felon is still on the job issuing tickets. POST says they can't decertify her: State agency can't stop officer with felony charges from working | 9news.com

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Pretty cool that he was collecting old cards even back then, so really old (and valuable) now: https://coloradosun.com/2022/11/28/baseball-cards-colorado-treasury-unclaimed-property

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Disney's new kids' sci-fi movie, Strange World, is on track to LOSE $100 million. These two articles help explain why. Sure, some of the apologists are talking about people still reticent to go to the theaters (even though other recent movies have done great) as well as Disney's tendency lately to send stuff to their Disney+ streaming platform fairly quickly. But maybe it's something else: Maybe it's just a bad movie.

One wonders if many of the positive reviews were given solely because the main character is a mixed-race gay boy and the plot of the movie is a thinly veiled diatribe against fossil fuels. What kid wants to see that? What parent does? Can't we just be entertained without having all this woke stuff shoved down our throats? (By the way, that comment is in no way intended as criticism or dislike of anybody based on race or sexual preference; it's about making movie characters that are caricatures of intersectionality and making movies that are blatantly all about the filmmaker's desire to propagandize rather than entertain us.

I note the last line of this "review": Strange World review – A worthwhile Disney animation (lwlies.com): "This is the first time a Disney family title such as this has really put its money where its mouth is in terms of bold, modern, progressive depictions of family, and here’s hoping that it whips up a performative moral frenzy with all the wrong people." Is THAT what movie-making, especially a Disney film for kids, should be about? Moviegoers seem to think not.

Also, from this article: Disney's Strange World bombs at the box office (theweek.com): "Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it a B, a lower grade than any modern animated Disney movie. Since 1991, every film from Walt Disney Animation Studios received an A- CinemaScore or higher."

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Devious but effective, at least for now: Twitter grapples with Chinese spam obscuring news of protests - The Washington Post

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As someone who greatly enjoys listening to music, I hope this tech works for those who can't hear: People without hearing can LISTEN to music with new technology that converts tunes into vibrations | Daily Mail Online

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Today's Videos

Maybe the greatest piece of chocolate I've ever seen. OK, not maybe. Definitely

The most relaxing 4 minutes of your day...watch this


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