Loose Ends (87)

Caught this news item this morning:

Wait—doesn’t Michelle know that dodgeball is a tool of oppression? How could she?

One of gym classes’ most common games is being used as a tool of “oppression,” according to a team of Canadian researchers.

Dodgeball in phys-ed classes teaches students to dehumanize and harm their peers, professors from three Canadian universities said in a presentation this week at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Vancouver. A paper on the subject is set to appear in the journal European Physical Education Review.

“When you’re setting up the environment for students to learn, and you introduce the idea that it’s okay to slam the ball at whomever you like, even if it’s with a soft ball, the intention is there,” Joy Butler, a professor who studies pedagogy and curriculum development at University of British Columbia, said in a phone interview.

This news item might qualify for a repeat of Michael Kinsley’s famous “most boring headline” contest, whose winner was “Worthwhile Canadian Initiative.” (With apologies to our Canadian readers, though I am sure you know well what I mean.)

Nothing says “I got nuthin'” like House Democrats summoning John Dean as their opening witness for an “impeachment” hearing today. Maybe they really wanted Jimmy Dean, since they are trying to make impeachment sausage out of Mueller’s scrap meat. By the time they are done, they’ll resemble James Dean—a mangled, twisted wreck on the side of the highway.

Highlight of the day, though, clearly belongs to Georgia Republican Rep. Doug Collins:

“It was brought up when one of our candidates talked about Russia being a threat, & former president Obama said the 80s are asking for their foreign policy back. Well guess what, this committee is now hearing from the 70s, and they want their star witness back”

Boom!

I suppose this is par for the course, but even for the New York Times this is egregious—look closely at the photo gallery:

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