;)
The Commentariat -- May 27, 2021
Late Morning Update:
Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: "President Biden will propose a $6 trillion budget on Friday that would take the United States to its highest sustained levels of federal spending since World War II, while running deficits above $1.3 trillion throughout the next decade. Documents obtained by The New York Times show that Mr. Biden's first budget request as president calls for the federal government to spend $6 trillion in the 2022 fiscal year, and for total spending to rise to $8.2 trillion by 2031. The growth is driven by Mr. Biden's two-part agenda to upgrade the nation's infrastructure and substantially expand the social safety net, contained in his American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan, along with other planned increases in discretionary spending."
Marianne Levine of Politico: "Senate Republicans unveiled a $928 billion infrastructure counteroffer Thursday, in an effort to reach a bipartisan agreement with the White House. The proposal comes as talks are set to go past the Biden administration's unofficial deadline of Memorial Day. But the latest GOP offer only includes $257 billion in new spending, a far cry from the White House number of $1.7 trillion." The Washington Post's story is here.
Manchin Is Mad at Mitch. Jordan Williams of the Hill: "Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Thursday blasted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for playing politics over a bill establishing a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol. Manchin issued a strongly-worded statement ... and accused McConnell of blocking the commission to help the GOP avoid the topic ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, when the Senate majority will be in play. 'There is no excuse for any Republican to vote against the commission since Democrats have agreed to everything they asked for,' Manchin said.... Manchin told reporters Thursday, however, that he would not nix the filibuster to pass the bill to form the commission."
Oh, This Should Change Everything. Daniella Diaz of CNN: "Former House Speaker Paul Ryan is set to criticize ... Donald Trump and his hold on the Republican Party during a speech Thursday night, according to excerpts obtained by CNN. Ryan, a critic of the former President in the past, is expected to say at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, that Republicans must move away from the 'populist appeal of one personality' because 'then we're not going anywhere.'"
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here: "China on Thursday criticized the Biden administration for its renewed push to investigate the origins of the coronavirus, saying that the United States 'does not care about facts or truth, nor is it interested in serious scientific origin tracing.'The comments by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian follow President Biden's announcement Wednesday ordering the U.S. intelligence community to 'redouble their efforts' to determine how the pandemic started, including probing whether the pathogen emerged from a lab accident in the Chinese city of Wuhan."
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Nick Niedzwiadek of Politico: "Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday sought to downplay the historic nature of her leading the White House's daily press briefing, saying the Biden administration has embarked on a broad effort to ensure representation.... With Wednesday's appearance, Jean-Pierre -- the principal deputy press secretary -- became just the second Black woman to ever take the podium and the first since Judy Smith did so in 1991 under former president George H.W. Bush. She's also the first openly gay spokeswoman to field questions in the briefing room.... 'I appreciate the historic nature,' she said when prompted by a reporter. 'I really do, but I believe that being behind this podium, being in this room, being in this building is not about one person. It's about what we do on behalf of the American people.'" MB: Hard to imagine Sarah Sanders being this gracious if someone complimented her on, say, telling more lies in one briefing than any other White House press secretary in history. (This would have been the day she surpassed Sean Crowd-Size Spicer's record.)
Kat Stafford, et al., of the AP: "In interviews with The Associated Press, current and former enlistees and officers in nearly every branch of the armed services described a deep-rooted culture of racism and discrimination that stubbornly festers, despite repeated efforts to eradicate it. The AP found that the military's judicial system has no explicit category for hate crimes, making it difficult to quantify crimes motivated by prejudice. The Defense Department also has no way to track the number of troops ousted for extremist views, despite its repeated pledges to root them out. More than 20 people linked to the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol were found to have military ties."
Trumpified & McConnellized. Mary Jalonick & Lisa Mascaro of the AP: "Senate Republicans are ready to deploy the filibuster to block a commission on the Jan. 6 insurrection, shattering hopes for a bipartisan probe of the deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol and reviving pressure on Democrats to do away with the procedural tactic that critics say has lost its purpose. The vote expected Thursday would be the first successful use of a filibuster this year to halt Senate legislative action. Most Republicans oppose the bill.... Trump has made it clear he opposes the formation of any panel to investigate the mob siege. With the former president wielding influence, Democrats are warning that if Republicans are willing to use the filibuster to stop an arguably popular measure, it shows the limits of trying to broker compromises, particularly on bills related to election reforms or other aspects of the Democrats' agenda."
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "It has long been obvious that Mitch McConnell puts party before country, but this week he actually admitted it. The Senate minority leader told Republican colleagues that they should oppose the creation of a Jan. 6 commission, no matter how it is structured, because it 'could hurt the party's midterm election message,' as Politico's Burgess Everett reported. And so, as early as Thursday, McConnell will use the filibuster to thwart a bipartisan effort to prevent further attacks on the U.S. government by domestic terrorists -- because he thinks it's good politics for Republicans.... In addition to denouncing the Jan. 6 commission bill..., McConnell undercut Tim Scott (S.C.), the lone Black Republican in the Senate and McConnell's designee to negotiate policing legislation.... This week, McConnell disrupted progress on a broadly bipartisan bill designed to improve American technological competitiveness against China.... Why? Because unrelenting obstruction is McConnell's only way to placate the GOP base in the face of Trump's attacks.... Maybe [Sen. Joe] Manchin [D-W.Va.] will be disturbed by this, too."
Felicia Sonmez & Peter Hermann of the Washington Post: "The mother and partner of the late Capitol Police officer Brian D. Sicknick [-- Gladys Sicknick and Sandra Garza --] are requesting meetings with all Republican senators to urge them to establish an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob." MB: I heard on the teevee that 15 Republican senators had agreed to meet with Sicknick & Garza. The article cites excerpts from Gladys Sicknick's statement; those GOP senators will have a hard time countering her arguments. Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ The Post reporters write, "Several Republican lawmakers have also in recent days sought to play down the seriousness of the Jan. 6 attack, comparing the violent mob to 'tourists,' railing against law enforcement for seeking to arrest them and questioning how anyone could be sure the rioters were supporters of ... Donald Trump." But the two stories that follow, among many others, make ridiculous the claim that imposters were, or might have been, were pretending to be Trump supporters. These long-time prominent Republicans/Trump backers would have had to been posing as Republicans & planning this supposed false-flag operation for years, an event they did not even foresee until a short time before it happened. ~~~
~~~ James Musgrave of the Palm Beach Post: "Using Facebook photos and video captured during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, the FBI this week accused a one-time Palm Beach County commission candidate and former GOP heavyweight of joining the deadly rampage. Jody Tagaris, 67, who lives near Jupiter, is charged with four federal misdemeanors, accusing her of illegally entering a restricted building and being disruptive and disorderly once inside. She faces a maximum year-long prison sentence on two of the charges and six months on the two others.... In court papers, FBI agents say Tagaris' undoing began when they were alerted that she had posted a photo of herself on Facebook, sitting in a broken window of the Capitol. The caption on the photo was: 'The Capital. ... back at hotel safe! Got tear gassed but okay!' While the woman was masked, she was wearing a MAGA hat, an American flag scarf, blue jeans, and what agents described as a 'unique U.S. Olympics American flag jacket.'" ~~~
~~~ Peter Montgomery of Right Wing Watch: "Doug Mastriano, a Pennsylvania state senator and promoter of ... Donald Trump's false stolen-election claims, is facing a fresh wave of criticism after evidence emerged challenging Mastriano's claims about his participation in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Mastriano, who describes his entry into politics as a religious mission and has portrayed resistance to pandemic-related mask mandates as a Christian duty, is positioning himself to run for governor. Mastriano used his state senate campaign funds to charter buses to bring Trump supporters to the Capitol on Jan. 6. Mastriano has since condemned the violence at the Capitol, while claiming that 'at no point' had he crossed police lines, entered the Capitol, or walked on the Capitol steps. On Saturday, the Sedition Hunters, described by the HuffPost as an 'online community that has worked to identify riot participants,' flagged footage of Mastriano on the Capitol grounds, video that has since been reviewed by other journalists. The video and images 'contradict [Mastriano's] claims that he never breached police lines and left the area before violence broke out," HuffPost's Josephine Harvey reported Tuesday.'"
Trump Was Always Corrupt. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump allegedly attempted to stop a congressional probe of the Spygate case involving the New England Patriots by offering a bribe to then-Sen. Arlen Specter, the late senator's son claimed Wednesday. An ESPN report detailed how Trump, nearly a decade before he became president, allegedly acted on behalf of Patriots owner Robert Kraft when he met with Specter in 2008 to offer him 'a lot of money in Palm Beach' if the then-Republican senator from Pennsylvania dropped his investigation into the team ... illegally filming an opponent's hand signals.... Shanin Specter, the senator's son, said to ESPN that Trump intervened in the probe, while Charles Robbins, the senator's longtime communications aide, told The Washington Post that he surmised Trump to be the person who offered Arlen Specter the bribe." Shanin Specter said his father told him about the bribe within days of its being offered.
Clifford Krauss & Peter Eavis of the New York Times: "Big Oil was dealt a stunning defeat on Wednesday when shareholders of Exxon Mobil elected at least two board candidates nominated by activist investors who pledged to steer the company toward cleaner energy and away from oil and gas. The success of the campaign, led by a tiny hedge fund against the nation's largest oil company, could force the energy industry to confront climate change and embolden Wall Street investment firms that are prioritizing the issue. Analysts could not recall another time that Exxon management had lost a vote against company-picked directors."
Ruth Graham & Liam Stack of the New York Times: "The past several weeks have seen an outbreak of anti-Semitic threats and violence across the United States, stoking fear among Jews in small towns and major cities. During the two weeks of clashes in Israel and Gaza this month, the Anti-Defamation League collected 222 reports of anti-Semitic harassment, vandalism and violence in the United States, compared with 127 over the previous two weeks.... Until the latest surge, anti-Semitic violence in recent years was largely considered a right-wing phenomenon, driven by a white supremacist movement emboldened by rhetoric from ... Donald J. Trump, who often trafficked in stereotypes. Many of the most recent incidents, by contrast, have come from perpetrators expressing support for the Palestinian cause and criticism of Israel's right-wing government." ~~~
Grade School Teacher Moonlights as Racist Writer. Christopher Mathias of the Huffington Post: "... 'Sinclair Jenkins,' [a white nationalist writer]..., is really a pseudonym for Benjamin Welton, a 33-year-old Boston University history PhD candidate who, until this week, taught English, social studies and computer science at Star Academy, an elementary school in Massachusetts. When HuffPost contacted the school for comment, Welton was put on leave, and was fired shortly before this article was published. For years, he has also worked as a freelance writer for major media outlets, including The Atlantic and Vice, for whom he published articles about esoteric spy and detective novels. He also wrote pieces for the The Daily Caller and The Weekly Standard, which let him make his racist sympathies clear in print. He was meanwhile using multiple pen names to secretly author fascist screeds online, in some cases advocating violence to establish a whites-only ethnostate." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Funny, but Star Academy's Website never mentions it's a school for white kids to realize they're so much better than children of other races. The main page is more about their "customized curriculum[, which] combines proven traditional American methods with the world's best innovative approaches to teaching." In fairness, white nationalism is traditional in the U.S.
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Jeremy Barr of the Washington Post: "Senior managers at the Associated Press admitted fault on Wednesday in the firing last week of a 22-year-old junior staffer, Emily Wilder, who was being targeted by right-wing commentators over her political activism in college. Wilder was fired last Wednesday for violating the news organization's social media policy. Company managers felt that her tweets showed a bias toward the Palestinian people in their conflict with the Israeli government and Israeli settlers -- though Wilder says her editors never told her which of her tweets were problematic. Since then, the AP -- a huge international news organization whose internal dramas rarely go public -- has been dealing with dissent from employees who feel it abandoned Wilder in the face of an online mob.... In a town hall with employees on Wednesday..., managing editor Brian Carovillano called them 'mistakes of process, and not of outcome.' He said it was still 'the right decision' to fire Wilder." MB: That is, we were right all along, but our PR team failed to cover up the fact that we don't give a damn about our employees. The Hill has a story here.
Donald Baker of the Washington Post: "John W. Warner, the five-term U.S. senator from Virginia who helped plan the nation's 1976 bicentennial celebrations, played a central role in military affairs and gained respect on both sides of the political aisle for his diligence, consensus-building and independence, died May 24 at his home in Alexandria, Va. He was 94.... He also brought a touch of glamour to the political world through his six-year marriage to film star Elizabeth Taylor." Gillian Brockell of the WashPo has an article on the Warner-Taylor marriage. MB: I recall seeing a group photo of Senate wives, a quaint tradition back when all U.S. senators were men. Taylor, well, stood out among the less-glamorous women.
The Pandemic, Ctd.
Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "Immunity to the coronavirus lasts at least a year, possibly a lifetime, improving over time especially after vaccination, according to two new studies. The findings may help put to rest lingering fears that protection against the virus will be short-lived. Together, the studies suggest that most people who have recovered from Covid-19 and who were later immunized will not need boosters. Vaccinated people who were never infected most likely will need the shots, however, as will a minority who were infected but did not produce a robust immune response."
Annie Linskey, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden said Wednesday he had asked U.S. intelligence agencies to 'redouble their efforts' to determine the origin of the coronavirus, an abrupt departure from the previous White House position of relying on the World Health Organization to uncover how the contagion started. The new message reflects a notable shift in some prominent scientists' assessments that the virus all but certainly jumped from an animal species to humans. The theory that has more recently gained traction is that the pandemic -- which has killed more than 3.4 million people worldwide -- may have accidentally escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, though that is far from conclusive. Biden ordered intelligence officials to deliver a report within 90 days 'that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion.'" The AP's story is here. President Biden's statement is here.
Hannah Sampson of the Washington Post: "While several [cruise] lines have announced plans to return to service after a 15-month halt due to the pandemic, those have all been missing approval from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Wednesday, Miami-based Celebrity Cruises said it had everything it needed: plans to cruise with paying passengers and the go-ahead from the public health agency. The CDC confirmed the approval.... Celebrity Edge will leave Fort Lauderdale on June 26 for the Caribbean at reduced capacity. All crew will be vaccinated, and most passengers will have to be."
Beyond the Beltway
Arizona. Tierney Sneed of TPM: "Recently added language to the state's budget package, which could be passed by the legislature as soon as this week, deprives Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs of any role in elections-related litigation. The bill rests that authority solely with the state's attorney general, who currently is a Republican, Mark Brnovich. But there's a catch. The measure sunsets in Jan. 2023 -- presumably because, come the 2022 election, the attorney general could be a Democrat. Or, perhaps, the secretary of state could be a Republican.... 'The fact that the legislature has singled out me and my office for these unjustifiable restrictions -- restrictions which would expire at the end of my term -- make it clear what this is really about: partisan politics,' she said. She also connected the bill to the sketchy Senate-ordered audit underway to recount Maricopa's 2.1 million ballots and how the legislature had worked 'all year' to 'undermine our elections. It appears their next step is an attempt to undermine Arizona's Chief Election Officer,' she said.<"
New York. Racist Woman Sues Company that Fired Her for Being Famously Racist. Jonah Bromwich & Ed Shanahan of the New York Times: "Amy Cooper, a white woman who last year became an international symbol of the routine racism that Black people face in their daily lives, is suing her former employer for firing her, arguing that she is a victim of racial discrimination. Ms. Cooper makes the claim in a lawsuit filed this week against the investment firm Franklin Templeton, which terminated her employment a year ago after she was captured on a widely shared video in a tense encounter with a Black bird-watcher. The lawsuit is the latest fallout from the May 2020 episode in Central Park, which touched off intense discussions about the history of white people making false, and sometimes life-threatening, accusations against Black people to the police." A Law & Crime story is here.
Oklahoma. Nolan Clay & Chris Casteel of the Oklahoman: "Attorney General Mike Hunter announced his resignation on Wednesday, less than a week after filing for divorce from his wife, Cheryl. The Oklahoman submitted questions to Hunter on Tuesday night about an extramarital affair that the newspaper confirmed through people familiar with the situation. The sources said the affair was with a state employee, who did not work in the attorney general's office." In a statement Mike Hunter called his affair a "distraction." MB: Apparently so.
Texas. Peter Aldhous, et al., of BuzzFeed News: "The true number of people killed by the disastrous winter storm and power outages that devastated Texas in February is likely four or five times what the state has acknowledged so far. A BuzzFeed News data analysis reveals the hidden scale of a catastrophe that trapped millions of people in freezing darkness, cut off access to running water, and overwhelmed emergency services for days. The state's tally currently stands at 151 deaths. But by looking at how many more people died during and immediately after the storm than would have been expected -- an established method that has been used to count the full toll of other disasters -- we estimate that 700 people were killed by the storm during the week with the worst power outages. This astonishing toll exposes the full consequence of officials' neglect in preventing the power grid's collapse despite repeated warnings of its vulnerability to cold weather, as well as the state's failure to reckon with the magnitude of the crisis that followed. Many of the uncounted victims of the storm and power outages were already medically vulnerable...."
Wisconsin. Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Assembly Speaker Robin Vos [R] is hiring retired police officers to investigate aspects of the November election, joining with Republicans from around the country who have questioned President Joe Biden's victory. Vos, of Rochester, said he recognizes Biden narrowly won Wisconsin and is not trying to change the results with his taxpayer-funded investigation. He said he hopes the investigators can get to the bottom of issues Republicans have raised unsuccessfully in court, such as how the state's largest cities used more than $6 million in grants from a private group to run their elections.... In addition to the grant spending, he said they may look into claims of double voting and review how clerks fixed absentee ballot credentials."
News Ledes
CNBC: "The U.S. jobs market edged closer to its pre-pandemic self last week as initial jobless claims totaled just 406,000 for the week ended May 22, the Labor Department reported Thursday. While that level is still well above the pre-Covid norm, it is the closest to the previous trend since the crisis began in March 2020 and a decline from the previous week's 444,000."
AP: "An employee who gunned down eight people at a California rail yard and then killed himself as law enforcement rushed in had talked about killing people at work more than a decade ago, his ex-wife said. 'I never believed him, and it never happened. Until now,' a tearful Cecilia Nelms told The Associated Press on Wednesday following the 6:30 a.m. attack at a light rail facility for the Valley Transportation Authority. 'When our deputies went through the door, initially he was still firing rounds. When our deputy saw him, he took his life,' Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith told reporters. The sheriff's office is next door to the rail yard, which serves the county of more than 1 million people in the heart of the Silicon Valley. The attacker was identified as 57-year-old Samuel Cassidy, according to two law enforcement officials. Investigators offered no immediate word on a possible motive but his ex-wife said he used to come home from work resentful and angry over what he perceived as unfair assignments.... President Joe Biden ordered flags to be flown at half-staff and urged Congress to act on legislation to curb gun violence.... Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the site and then spoke emotionally about the country's latest mass killing." ~~~
~~~ CNN Update: "The gunman who opened fire on coworkers at a light rail yard in Northern California on Wednesday -- killing nine people before killing himself -- bypassed certain people and so appeared to select those he shot, a witness said. 'He ... was targeting certain people. He walked by other people,' Kirk Bertolet, a worker at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) in San Jose, told CNN affiliate KGO Wednesday night. 'He let other people live as he gunned down other people.' The gunman, armed with two semiautomatic handguns, shot coworkers in two buildings around the time of a morning shift change...."
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CHILL WIND IN THE WILLOWS:
I found this a most interesting and disturbing story. It's about the Biden administration defending the huge Alaska oil drilling project known as "Willow."
The Choice:
"Decline to defend oil drilling and hinder a lucrative project that conflicts with its climate policy or support a federal decision backed by the state of Alaska, some tribal nations, unions and key officials, including Lisa Murkowski"–-[someone badly needed to vote with Democrats on key issues]. No word yet from the wildlife–-these creatures' voices remain mute, as always.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/26/climate/biden-alaska-drilling.html?action=click&module=In%20Other%20News&pgtype=Homepage
So yesterday while Amy Klobacher was chairing a hearing on gun control word came out that there was another mass shooting. Would that have swayed those like "I'm jest a good ole southern boy" who polishes his guns like he was caressing a lover? John boy "belives" in bullshit pure and simple and because we have so many of these "highly educated" congress critters gun control is shot down once again.
Eric Carle died: author of children's books especially the famous "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." All my children loved these stories, especially the illustrations. I used the TVHC at one time here to describe DJT. And apropos of our comments yesterday re: language:
From the Times yesterday:
John Updike: An acclaimed short-story writer who had yet to publish a novel, Updike appeared in an advice article in 1958, encouraging parents to teach their children complex words. “A long correct word is exciting for a child,” he said. “Makes them laugh; my daughter never says ‘rhinoceros’ without laughing.”
It's pretty easy to disprove Updike's theory of the relative attraction to young kids of long words.
Your next conversation with a four-to-ten year old, see which gives the greater laugh:
(a) poop
(b) coprolite
In a similar vein, last week I was mentoring my first-grade grandaughter during on-line class. The teacher showed a "virtual field trip" film about coral reefs. Near the end, the narrator showed how parrot fish chew up and ingest the coral when eating the polyps, then noted that the ground up coral has to go somewhere and the film showed a parrotfish excreting sand. The narrator said yes, kids, the beach is made up of fish poop. ALL the kids in class picked up on this in post-film discussion, as the most interesting fact in the clip. And they ALL thought it was funny, actually hilarious, that they build sand castles from fish poop.
So, kids may be interesting in funny sounding words, but they're REALLY interested if those words sound like farts.
What is the Darwinian value in this human trait? Maybe that we're all doody-heads? Or that, to survive, humans have to recognize crap when they see it? If the latter, we are doomed to ex-stink-shun.
@Patrick: I certainly agree with your assessment–-most kids in that age group you cited love anything scatological, but isn't it pretty that Updike discovered (I assume reading to his own kids) that they also took to complex words. I once admonished one of my own by saying, after he refused to put his alphabet letters back on the refrigerator:
"I am appalled! I gave you plenty of time to complete this task and I see the letters are still all over the kitchen floor!" The fact that he had a brother named Paul, Josh thought I was somehow linking him to the scolding. It has become a joke in the family––"I am appalled" still brings lots of laughs.
@Patrick - While "poop" would always bring a chuckle, the word that most delighted my 4-year-old was "underpants" and we used it for years to get him to smile for photographs.
The Party of White Grievance Has Never Cared About Democracy by Steve Phillips
"The hard truth is that whichever United States political party has been most rooted in the fears, anxieties, and resentments of white people has never cared much about democracy or the Constitution designed to preserve it.
Whatever the label, the party that prioritized protecting white rights has always been more willing to destroy the country than accept a situation where people of color are equal and can participate in the democratic process.
Donald Trump was not the first politician to refuse to accept the results of a presidential contest. After Abraham Lincoln and the anti-slavery Republican Party won the election of 1860, the Confederates did not waste time filing lawsuits and trying to bully state election officials into overturning their state’s election results. They simply severed their ties with the United States of America, seceded from the union with the defiant 1861 Cornerstone Speech by Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens declaring that “the negro is not equal to the white man,” and quickly organized an army that killed hundreds of thousands of their formerly fellow countrymen. "
@RAS: Well said. I think you've captured the essence of the white people's party.
Oops, I see all of your comment is a citation. Well, then, Steve said it well.
@ PD, if I recall you have a son and grandchildren that live in Germany. I'm wondering how your grandkids are dealing with the long words that are part of the German language.
According to the googles, their longest word is Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft. (Slightly over half of the old twitter character limit.)
Does it make them laugh?
I'm just glad that I don't have to deal with their Otto-korrekt software.