Morning Belz, June 14
A whale encounter, and Minneapolis politics.
Lobster diver says a whale swallowed him (briefly) — Cape Cod Times
Robert Lewandowski’s long difficult road — Guardian
3 “defund” Mpls council members in election trouble — Star Tribune*
A COVID-related spike in child marriage in India — The Print
Excerpt from an 8th-grade Louisiana history textbook — Joshua Benton**
First person account of fleeing Venezuela — Persuasion
*The city has 13 council members, and the elections aren’t until November, so it’d be premature to call anything, but the endorsement (the Democrat-endorsed candidate wins the general) votes were just conducted last week and in the 5th Ward, which is among the poorer areas with the most crime in the city, an interesting thing happened. Victor Martinez, an evangelical pastor who seems to be a fan of traditional policing, won 58% of the endorsement vote compared to incumbent Jeremiah Ellison’s 39%. Ellison, the son of former U.S. Representative Keith Ellison, is one of the “Powderhorn 10” who pledged to “defund” the police. That, of course, has not happened. Anyway, you need 60% of the vote to win endorsement, so Martinez did not win it, but he does seem to be the frontrunner heading into the fall.
**examples like this are why it’s difficult for people on the Left to take hand-wringing about the teaching of critical race theory seriously. If the stories of secession and emancipation are still told, at least in part, through the eyes of a sympathetic slaveholder, perhaps, as a matter of emphasis, that should be addressed first before anyone gets too upset about an overemphasis on race in the way history is taught to kids. That textbook was published in 2015, and Benton has several examples of, at minimum, an insensitivity to the profound injustice of slavery. The whole thread is worth checking out.
Quote
“As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” — H.L. Mencken, 1920
About: I send this email most weekdays in an effort to stay informed and in touch. I was a newspaper reporter for 14 years, most recently at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. I explained why my family left Minneapolis here. Now we live just outside Chattanooga and I work on Scuffed News. Please share this newsletter with anyone you think might enjoy it. And please consider supporting this work with your money on Patreon.