I'd like to hear it for myself
Good Tuesday morning. Here we are, just a couple of days from the calendar indicating that it's springtime, and my home area is under a winter weather advisory!
I suppose this would explain why my wife, who loves being outside, is adamant about not planting anything until Mother's Day, which she considers the absolute first safe point to plant anything new. She's been proven right more times than I can remember, too.
So there are a lot of names in the news right now, not all of them for the right or best reasons, but many of them are people from whom we need to hear things, recollections of things that have already happened, plans of what they plan to do next, and so forth. I doubt this is anything close to a complete list with respect to the news of the day, either.
THE NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT SELECTION COMMITTEE: These folks have really done something I didn't see coming--they've created an upset-filled free-for-all with this year's version of March Madness. Kentucky, for example, was left for dead months ago by a number of "experts" in college basketball, yet, due to a late season hot streak and numerous losses by the other higher seeds in their bracket, they are the highest-seeded team that remains in the South region. And this weekend's regional semi-finals and finals are to be played in Atlanta, a fan-friendly distance from Lexington. Wouldn't surprise me to see the Cats playing in the Final Four the following weekend.
STORMY DANIELS: I know, this is the most tantalizing name among those in the news right now, but despite her history as an adult film actress, it appears that her conduct has been mostly appropriate. Yes, she gave a magazine interview some years ago that wasn't printed until recently, and she's made the rounds on late night and other places but still not really said anything. But her lawyer has, and has made it clear that CBS intends to air a new interview with her this coming Sunday. If you're keeping up with this you know that President Trump's legal team is working frantically to prevent that from happening. But I'd like to hear what this woman has to say, and not about her apparent relationship with Mr. Trump, but how things have gone for her since he decided to enter politics.
Her lawyer has certainly been making the rounds on her behalf, playing the Trump game of controlling the news cycle, but she's who I think we want to hear.
MARK ZUCKERBERG: The founder of Facebook has only said a little since it became known that his online service accepted questionable advertisements from Russians attempting to influence the 2016 election (paid in Russian rubles, no less). The service later acknowledged that there were fraudulent accounts set up that promoted events and ideas that sowed political discord among users in violation of Facebook user policies. Zuckerberg spoke some months ago about the need to get to the bottom of this, but when Congress "invites" the tech companies to testify on issues like this, Facebook sends some vice-president and Zuckerberg doesn't appear.
He should. If his company allowed the hijacking of 50 million user profiles by Cambridge Analytica, to be used to influence the 2016 election here and other campaigns in other countries, he, and not an underling, needs to speak to Congress and to his user base on specifically what went wrong and what he intends to do about it. I'm not a Facebook user, but use other social media, so the prospect that this has happened or will happen on other portals is very real to me.
REX TILLERSON: And, no, I don't mean the pretend Tillerson portrayed so humorously by actor John Goodman on last week's Saturday Night Live (although the clip I saw was pretty funny). I think his time will come that he'll consent to an interview with a major media source and tell his story. Or not, since we've now learned that President Trump has "senior staff" sign non-disclosure agreements before they begin their employment.
But let's say that Tillerson does speak out. Do you think he'll be up front about what he faced as Secretary of State? How he was selected? What he was required to do versus what he identified as potential priorities? Did he receive any specific instructions related to specific foreign countries? I'd like to hear it from him.
And finally....
ROBERT MUELLER: The former FBI director-turned-special-counsel has been working with his team of investigators and prosecutors since late spring last year and thus far has identified a number of cooperating witnesses, brought several significant indictments and has interviewed countless others who were aware of or involved with some of what's being investigated regarding potential cooperation by the 2016 Trump campaign with the Russian government, obstruction of justice and numerous other sensitive areas of interest.
Why do I want to hear from him? Because thus far, we've only gotten information from the indictments his team has brought, and many solid investigative pieces in the media. If he's able to speak publicly, that would mean that he's concluded his examination of these issues. I doubt we're anywhere close to that point, but hearing from him in writing or in person in some capacity would be extremely revealing.
So that's just a partial list. There are more, and that list will undoubtedly change over time.
I suppose this would explain why my wife, who loves being outside, is adamant about not planting anything until Mother's Day, which she considers the absolute first safe point to plant anything new. She's been proven right more times than I can remember, too.
So there are a lot of names in the news right now, not all of them for the right or best reasons, but many of them are people from whom we need to hear things, recollections of things that have already happened, plans of what they plan to do next, and so forth. I doubt this is anything close to a complete list with respect to the news of the day, either.
THE NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT SELECTION COMMITTEE: These folks have really done something I didn't see coming--they've created an upset-filled free-for-all with this year's version of March Madness. Kentucky, for example, was left for dead months ago by a number of "experts" in college basketball, yet, due to a late season hot streak and numerous losses by the other higher seeds in their bracket, they are the highest-seeded team that remains in the South region. And this weekend's regional semi-finals and finals are to be played in Atlanta, a fan-friendly distance from Lexington. Wouldn't surprise me to see the Cats playing in the Final Four the following weekend.
STORMY DANIELS: I know, this is the most tantalizing name among those in the news right now, but despite her history as an adult film actress, it appears that her conduct has been mostly appropriate. Yes, she gave a magazine interview some years ago that wasn't printed until recently, and she's made the rounds on late night and other places but still not really said anything. But her lawyer has, and has made it clear that CBS intends to air a new interview with her this coming Sunday. If you're keeping up with this you know that President Trump's legal team is working frantically to prevent that from happening. But I'd like to hear what this woman has to say, and not about her apparent relationship with Mr. Trump, but how things have gone for her since he decided to enter politics.
Her lawyer has certainly been making the rounds on her behalf, playing the Trump game of controlling the news cycle, but she's who I think we want to hear.
MARK ZUCKERBERG: The founder of Facebook has only said a little since it became known that his online service accepted questionable advertisements from Russians attempting to influence the 2016 election (paid in Russian rubles, no less). The service later acknowledged that there were fraudulent accounts set up that promoted events and ideas that sowed political discord among users in violation of Facebook user policies. Zuckerberg spoke some months ago about the need to get to the bottom of this, but when Congress "invites" the tech companies to testify on issues like this, Facebook sends some vice-president and Zuckerberg doesn't appear.
He should. If his company allowed the hijacking of 50 million user profiles by Cambridge Analytica, to be used to influence the 2016 election here and other campaigns in other countries, he, and not an underling, needs to speak to Congress and to his user base on specifically what went wrong and what he intends to do about it. I'm not a Facebook user, but use other social media, so the prospect that this has happened or will happen on other portals is very real to me.
REX TILLERSON: And, no, I don't mean the pretend Tillerson portrayed so humorously by actor John Goodman on last week's Saturday Night Live (although the clip I saw was pretty funny). I think his time will come that he'll consent to an interview with a major media source and tell his story. Or not, since we've now learned that President Trump has "senior staff" sign non-disclosure agreements before they begin their employment.
But let's say that Tillerson does speak out. Do you think he'll be up front about what he faced as Secretary of State? How he was selected? What he was required to do versus what he identified as potential priorities? Did he receive any specific instructions related to specific foreign countries? I'd like to hear it from him.
And finally....
ROBERT MUELLER: The former FBI director-turned-special-counsel has been working with his team of investigators and prosecutors since late spring last year and thus far has identified a number of cooperating witnesses, brought several significant indictments and has interviewed countless others who were aware of or involved with some of what's being investigated regarding potential cooperation by the 2016 Trump campaign with the Russian government, obstruction of justice and numerous other sensitive areas of interest.
Why do I want to hear from him? Because thus far, we've only gotten information from the indictments his team has brought, and many solid investigative pieces in the media. If he's able to speak publicly, that would mean that he's concluded his examination of these issues. I doubt we're anywhere close to that point, but hearing from him in writing or in person in some capacity would be extremely revealing.
So that's just a partial list. There are more, and that list will undoubtedly change over time.
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