SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:

MAJOR NATIONAL SCANDAL – FROM REASON.COM:  If you're a white person, you have no business running a restaurant that serves Asian, Latin, African, or Indian cuisine.  That's according to the creators of a "white-owned appropriative restaurants" list, which accuses several Oregon establishments of engaging in cultural appropriation—a tool of "a white supremacist culture."  The list, a Google Docs spreadsheet, includes about 60 Portland-area restaurants, the names of their white owners, and the kind of cuisine they serve. (For example, the list informs us that Burmasphere "was founded by a white man who ate Burmese food in San Francisco.") The spreadsheet also lists competing restaurants that are owned by people of color and urges customers to try them instead.  "This is NOT about cooking at home or historical influences on cuisines; it's about profit, ownership, and wealth in a white supremacist culture," wrote the spreadsheet's authors. "These white-owned businesses hamper the ability for POC [people of color] to run successful businesses of their own (cooking their own cuisines) by either consuming market share with their attempt at authenticity or by modifying foods to market to white palates. Their success further perpetuates the problems stated above. It's a cyclical pattern that will require intentional behavior change to break."  I certainly intend to look into the racial ownership of every restaurant we visit.  It may take a couple of days before we're seated, but it's important for social justice. 

DOPE – FROM THE POLITICO:  HELENA, Mont. — Montana Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte was issued a citation late Wednesday after he allegedly “body-slammed” a reporter at a campaign event on the eve of a hotly contested special election.  Ben Jacobs, a reporter for The Guardian tweeted that Gianforte “body-slammed me and broke my glasses” at a campaign event in Bozeman, Montana — minutes before what was to be the last campaign rally of the campaign. Jacobs said he had asked Gianforte about a new budget analysis of House Republicans' effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.  Other reporting pretty much concludes that the story is entirely accurate.  Hey, nothing like a Congressional candidate engaging in an act of personal violence.  Where did the GOP get this jerk?  The Congressional seat, Montana's only House seat, should be safely Republican.  But watch the party blow this one.  They're so good at it.  To be sure, the reporter is a left-wing, obnoxious guy, but you never assault someone.  Never.

PERSONAL GROWTH IN THE DIGITAL AGE – FROM ORLANDO.COM:  A student wasn't happy with his "F" grade in his engineering class so he logged into a faculty computer and changed it, according to University of Central Florida police.  Sami Adel Ammar, 22, was arrested Tuesday on a warrant after detectives linked him to the grade change.  A UCF engineering professor said he received an email on May 4 from the university’s electronic grade book program thanking him for approving his grade roster, but the professor said he had approved the roster much earlier in the day and had already received that confirmation email.  The professor checked the grade roster and said he was surprised to find that the class grade for Sami Ammar was changed from an “F” to a “B,” according to the arrest warrant.  The professor tried to change the grade back, but received an error message.  Question:  If this kid is so good at hacking, how come he got an F in the class?  Probably lack of motivation.  Clearly, the college's computer system needs to be upgraded.  Maybe the kid can be ordered to do it, rather than suffer a penalty.

May 24, 2017