University of Minnesota Won't Change Building Names

The regents of the University of Minnesota have decided, in a 10-1 vote, against renaming four campus buildings as recommended by a student/faculty task force, as described here.

The task force had found that the four individuals for whom the buildings had been named were in some sense bad people who did not deserve to be so honored. 

This may indeed be a matter of some importance but the reality is somewhat different than the substance of the argument. The fact is that the University is engaged in a never-ending search for more funding, both from increasing legislative appropriations and increased tuition, as well as contracts for exclusive access (Coca-Cola), event sponsorships, and other sources, all to finance a massive administrative machine. The naming rights for the football stadium were sold to Twin City Federal, a bank, for $35 million over 25 years. Other structures bear the names of individuals who donated significantly to their cost. It only makes sense to sell the naming rights to other buildings as well. Why not sell the space above the doors of Coffman Union to someone like Target Corporation, who is already in the name business at the Minnesota Twins ballpark and the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball arena? Other big businesses could surely be enticed to have their name and logo emblazoned on a campus building and the price wouldn't have to be in the millions. The TCF Stadium financing scheme costs students $25 a semester so every dollar counts.

Names On Their Backs

This from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Edition, page 563:

15.19 "Jr.," "Sr.," and the like. The abbreviations Jr. and Sr., as well as roman or arabic numerals such as II or 3rd, after a person's name are part of the name and so are retained in connection with any titles or honorifics. Note that these abbreviations are used only with the full name, never with the surname only. See also 6.49, 9.47.

Superstar Ken Griffey Jr. could not only hit a baseball, he knew something about composition and the English language.

Book Thrown At Russian Spy

The sentence has come down. According to this Wall Street Journal account, Siberian espionage vixen Maria Butina has copped a plea in the US government's case initially describing her as an intelligence prostitute and admitted that she attempted, without government permission or license, to influence some people in the land of the free and the home of the brave. She was given a sentence of 18 months which includes time served in solitary confinement since July of last year so she might make it home in time for Christmas this year if her deportation goes smoothly.

Miss Butina wasn't actually accused of ferreting out any classified information, like plans for nuclear weapons or the code to the celebrated "football", but was instead identified as part of Russian state plan to influence key figures in US government and industry. It was pointed out that she was acquainted with Russian central bank figure Alexander Torshin and she admitted to US interrogators that she did indeed know this man. It's no stretch of the imagination that US Federal Reserve officers like Chairman Jerome Powell and Vice Chairman Richard Clarinda would be putty in the hands of a lady with an accent.

 There's no doubt that Yankees are very susceptible to the influence of foreigners and that they should be gratified that the various federal agencies designed to protect them from eastern hemispheric hordes are operating so efficiently. While the exploits of Miss Butina don't seem  to be in  the same class as the Rosenbergs or the loathsome Jonathon Pollard, the US activity in her case does afford an opportunity for myriad federal employees assigned to counter-espionage to perfect their craft.

Cynics might have the opinion that the investigation and prosecution of Miss Butina were simply exercises designed to garner favorable publicity for the agencies involved. Since their other probes into Russian and Chinese influence have achieved mixed results, the obvious success in reining in the Russian firearms enthusiast is certain to cast them in the glow needed to offset their dubious role in the 2016 US election controversy.

There's yet another way of looking at the situation. Since Miss Butina made no effort to hide her nationality and openly discussed gun rights in both countries, it was a small matter to the federal authorities. It was easy for them to corral her and, more important, since she had no connection to Russian intelligence, her arrest didn't jeopardize any ongoing justice department investigations or compromise any American agents or their sources. Miss Butina was an innocent gift. There have been further developments in the story. And this viewpoint.

Washington Sports Hero A Russian Spy?

Not the short guy, he's some Russian bureaucrat. The big fella, however, is a born and raised Russian hiding in the uniform of Washington Capitals hockey player on at least 82 evenings a year and often many more.

It's probably OK for Alex Ovechkin, the tie-less individual, to practice his trade in the vicinity of the Pentagon and it might not mean all that much for people with significant security clearances to practically worship the guy and cheer his every move in the local ice arena. On the other hand, how much does he know? And how much is he telling to the little fellow?

Tamara de Lempicka Masterpieces Go On The Block

Six Art Deco masterpieces painted by Russian artist Tamara de Lempicka are to be up for auction during the May 14, 2019 New York Christie's  Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale.

La Sagesse, estimated sale price $800,000 - $1,200,000

Etude pour le couple, $50,000 - $70,000

Nu debout, vu de dos $100,000 - $150,000

La Liseuse  $250,000 - $350,000

Nu assis $1,000,000 - $1,500,000

Jeune homme au livre  $50,000 - $70,000

Is This Collusion?

In May 2015, the British Labor Party hired Obama election campaign svengali David Axelrod to add his expertise to the attempt to win an election that would bring Labor star Ed Miliband the job of prime minister. Axelrod's fee for this service was 
£300,000 or $392,000.

According to the Manchester Guardian:
 
"Still, the early signs about Miliband’s electoral instincts were not good. In the weeks before the European elections that May, Miliband’s pitch to the public remained mostly incoherent. On 15 May, a week before the vote, Miliband met with David Axelrod – Barack Obama’s chief campaign adviser, who had signed on as a consultant to the Labour campaign for an astronomical fee – at Corrigan’s, an upscale Mayfair restaurant. During the meal, Beales was fielding calls from Miliband, who was still asking him to think of a slogan for the remaining week of the European election campaign; Axelrod was appalled by the low quality of the ideas being discussed, which he derisively characterised as “Vote Labour and win a microwave”. Unless Miliband could present the public with a bigger and more inspiring message, Axelrod told him, it would be impossible to regain the support of the white working-class voters who were deserting the Labour party."

Labor party nabobs were not only upset about the size of Axelrod's fee, they were also very disappointed at the small amount of time he spent in Britain during the campaign and the paltry amount of direction and advice he brought to the election effort, which, of course, turned out to be futile.

Axelrod also failed in his election advisory efforts for Italian Prime Minister incumbent candidate Mario Monti.

 

In fact, another Obama aide, his deputy chief of staff and campaign manager for the 2012 US presidential election, Jim Messina was a paid consultant for  Conservatives David Cameron in 2015 and Theresa May in 2017. Messina also worked on election campaigns for Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. He and his namesake firm have received over $1.2 million for mostly failed European election engineering.

The point of this description is that neither of these two political gurus are British or Italian or Spanish yet they've received millions of dollars to influence the democratic process in those countries. Their actual election influence, while generally a failure, is orders of magnitude greater than anything the Russians might have been able to pull off in the Trump-Clinton battle. Is there a corresponding effort by a British or Italian Mueller clone to investigate this? Doesn't seem like it. This makes the Russian collusion thing seem even more ridiculous.   

The Real Chicago Hate Crime

Some bozo in the Windy City made national news over a staged hate crime. Coverage of this semi-event went from the alleged crime itself to its performance to the arrest of the perp to the dismissal of charges against him. This raised so many hackles that a retired judge felt compelled to comment on the matter in one of the nation's most prestigious newspapers.

The most interesting and significant fact in this entire affair is the retired judge, Sheila M. O'Brien. According to the website CWB:

 O’Brien, 63, retired from the First District Appellate Court in 2011 after 16 years of service. She previously served nine years as an Associate Judge. Before rising to the bench, she worked as an assistant public defender, trial lawyer, and instructor a the St. Louis University Law School.

If this is true it means that the honorable justice O'Brien retired from the state bench at age 53. Now it's possible that the feminine legalist could have simply quit work one day and moved on to other things, like her current affiliation with Loyola University. We can't know for sure without access to the lady's tax returns. The use of the word "retirement", however, doesn't seem to indicate that this is what occurred. It appears more likely that she has moved to that country called "public employee retirement", a place she's likely to inhabit longer than the 25 years that she made courtroom decisions for the state of Illinois.

According to Taxpayers United of America, Justice O'Brien is the beneficiary of an annual pension of $192,039 and is statistically likely to collect in excess of $7.9 million in taxpayer-funded retirement benefits. In 2015, the mean annual household income in the US was $79,263, about 40% of what Justice O'Brien will receive in taxpayer funded benefits. Her retirement income alone puts her in the top 6.2% nationally.

We've already heard much about the dire status of  Illinois state finances. A large part of that noise has been the Prairie State's overwhelming pension obligations. According to Forbes, 23,000 retired state employees receive over $100,000 annually in pension payments. Dr. Leslie Heffez, a dentist retired from the University Chicago Circle, now operating a practice in Highland Park, Illinois, is receiving an annual retirement payment of nearly $600,000, the largest in state history.

But it isn't just about the money. The most important feature of American culture has always been its embrace of the "Protestant work ethic". The enthusiasm for hard work is a foundational value in America, and to the mind of most, the quality that makes the country perhaps the most successful in world history. Those that don't embrace that moral, that are instead lazy and feckless, are pariahs in their own communities. The idea that an elite can establish a system where they can receive benefits for things that they did and were compensated for decades ago is a rejection of the Protestant work ethic that puts them morally in league with the lowliest members of American society.

 Justice Sheila O'Brien