Yikes April 17, 2023April 17, 2023 In case you missed “60 Minutes” last night, Artificial Intelligence is exploding. Some of it is amusing. Watch robots teach themselves to play soccer. Some of it is fantastic. What would have taken a billion PhD-years to do, mapping out all 200 million proteins, will apparently take A.I. only . . . oh wait, it’s already finished. Much of it is hopeful. Disease could soon be a thing of the past; climate change reversed. (That’s me talking, not “60 Minutes.”) And all of it is scary. Have a great week. [Friday I mistakenly attributed to liberal Chief Justice Earl Warren the famous Second Amendment words actually spoken by his successor, conservative Chief Justice Warren Burger. Sorry!] [George Santos is still in Congress. How is it possible? The Once-Grand Old Party gone mad.]
Justice Fortas, Justice Thomas, Chief Justice Burger April 14, 2023April 14, 2023 THE COURT 54 Years Ago, a Supreme Court Justice Was Forced to Quit for Behavior [Far] Less Egregious Than Thomas’s Though Abe Fortas was an LBJ appointee the loss of whose seat would tilt the Court from Left to Right (Nixon was by then president), Democrats joined with Republicans to force him to step down. Just as Republicans would years later join with Democrats to force Nixon to step down. Oh, how we need to get back to the days of civility, compromise, reverence for the law, and common sense. Instead we have the Once-Grand Old Party led by a Putin-admiring, FBI-bashing sociopathic tax cheat who mocks the disabled, poses with a baseball bat by the head of a black prosecutor he calls “an animal,” and kept a book of Hitler’s speeches by his bedside. GUNS MAGA Republicans trumpet crime at “record levels.” Especially in Alvin Bragg’s New York. CNN found that there were 438 murders in the City last year (so far this year the rate has fallen somewhat) — compared with 2,262 in 1990. (If 1990 sounds familiar, New York City crime-wise, it’s the year five young black men were convicted of a rape they had nothing to do with, for whose execution Trump advocated in full-page ads.) Even a single murder in a city of 8.8 million is, of course, awful. But only in today’s Republican Party is 438 more than 2,262. Republican elected officials — though not, I think, a majority of Republican voters — believe that more guns on the street, more freely carried, will help the police to make us safer. You’d be hard pressed to find police who believe that. Or who favor the sale of cop-killing bullets. It is madness — not mandated by the Constitution. Here is the famous Warren Burger quote as originally spoken on TV. (This longer quote is accurate, but an amalgam: “The Gun Lobby’s interpretation of the Second Amendment is one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American People by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime. The real purpose of the Second Amendment was to ensure that state armies – the militia – would be maintained for the defense of the state. If the militia, which was going to be the state army, was going to be well-regulated, why shouldn’t 16- or 17- or 18- or any other age persons be regulated in the use of arms the way an automobile is regulated. The very language of the Second Amendment refutes any argument that it was intended to guarantee every citizen an unfettered right to any kind of weapon he or she desires.”) Think about it: a well-regulated militia was intended to preserve the free state, not to overthrow its government. That, the Founders said, you got to do at the ballot box. Putin loves seeing us do this to ourselves . . . and Trump admires Putin . . . but it’s madness. BONUS → And this was back when Trump, like Koch, was a pro-choice Democrat. Have a great weekend, and don’t forget to file your taxes or an extension (and your first quarterly estimated tax, if applicable) this coming Tuesday.
1927 April 12, 2023April 12, 2023 I’ve just listened to Bill Bryson’s One Summer: America 1927. Published 10 years ago, but timeless. Indeed, the part about Charles Lindbergh becoming the most famous man in the world, attracting enormous adoring crowds, admiring Hitler and arguing against our trying to stop his conquest of Europe . . . may be even more relevant now. But what a summer. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig! America First rallies! Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney! The 5-million strong Ku Klux Klan! Saco and Vanzetti! The electric chair! Charles Ponzi! Al Jolson! Al Cap0ne! Talking pictures! I pause here for a brief excerpt: . . . Universal and Paramount were both dominated by German stars and directors. Universal was said, only half in jest, to have German as its official language. A few European actors – Peter Lorre, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo – adjusted to, or even thrived in the new sound regime, but most actors with foreign accents found themselves unemployable. Jannings, winner of the first Academy Award for acting, returned to Europe and spent the war years making propaganda films for the Nazis. Behind the scenes Europeans still thrived, but on screen movies were now a thoroughly American product. Though the significance of this wasn’t much noticed in America, globally the effect was profound. Moviegoers around the world suddenly found themselves exposed, often for the first time, to American voices, American vocabulary, American cadence and pronunciation and word order. Spanish conquistadors, Elizabethan courtiers, figures from the Bible were suddenly speaking in American voices – and not just occasionally but in film after film after film. The psychological effect of this, particularly on the young, can hardly be overstated. With American speech came American thoughts, American attitudes, American humor and sensibilities. Peacefully, by accident, and almost unnoticed, America had just taken over the world. Henry Ford’s disaster in Brazil! His book! Mt. Rushmore! Herbert Hoover and “Silent Cal” Coolidge! Eugenics! Sixty thousand involuntary sterilizations! One of them performed on a white 6-month-old girl. Another okayed by the Supreme Court in an 8-1 ruling written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.! David Sarnoff commercializes radio! Philo T. Farnsworth patents television! Sarnoff steals it anyway! (The ParkerVision story?) It’s hard to think of another book that’s as simultaneously entertaining and informative. You’re welcome. APE closed at $1.52 yesterday and its very slightly less valuable twin, AMC, at $5.43. It’s not certain when the two prices will converge, or where AMC will be trading when they do, but converge they almost surely will.
We’re BACK, Baby! April 11, 2023April 10, 2023 Our Republican friends say Democrats are “destroying America.” (See, for example, their leader’s Easter message.) Yet the Wall Street Journal reports: America Is Back in the Factory Business Record spending on manufacturing construction heralds a made-in-the-U.S. rebound, stoked by green-energy incentives and concerns about foreign supply chains; ‘this is here to stay’ Production at U.S. factories rose last year, but few things were produced at a more furious pace than factories themselves. Construction spending related to manufacturing reached $108 billion in 2022 . . . the highest annual total on record. New factories are rising in urban cores and rural fields, desert flats and surf towns. Much of the growth is coming in the high-tech fields of electric-vehicle batteries and semiconductors, national priorities backed by billions of dollars in government incentives. Other companies that once relied exclusively on lower-cost countries to manufacture eyeglasses and bicycles and bodybuilding supplements have found reasons to come home. . . . . . . David Mindell, professor of the history of engineering and manufacturing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who co-founded a venture-capital firm investing in industrial transformation, said major cycles typically play out over several decades. The factory boom signals that the U.S. is at the start of a new cycle, he said. And looking at our progress more broadly, I offer this column from last August, here updated: In Just Two Years . . . . . . the President has: Defeated the biggest threat to democracy we’ve ever faced — by 7 million votes. Restored our alliances and greatly strengthened NATO. United all of Europe in support of Ukrainian sovereignty, setting Russia back decades. Eliminated the leader of Al Qaida. Restored competence and professionalism to the State Department . . . and to the rest of the executive branch. Restored integrity, decency, dignity, modesty, and compassion to the Presidency. Ended the deadly Covid plague for anyone choosing to be vaccinated. Rescued the economy and cut unemployment to its lowest rate in half a century. Made clear that, like almost all Democrats, he wants to FUND the police, not defund them as the other party voted to do. Appointed a wonderful Supreme Court Justice and more than 100 federal district court and appellate judges. Signed into law a massive infrastructure bill to help revitalize the country, after decades of prior presidents’ failing to do so. Signed into law the strategically and economically spectacular Chips-Plus package. Signed into law a gun safety bill that, while wholly inadequate, at least did something for the first time since 1994. Signed into law the PACT Act, extending benefits for veterans. Signed into law a bill that will reduce the cost of prescription drugs, meaningfully restore our global role in confronting the existential climate crisis, and levy tax on the uber-wealthy and most profitable corporations while not seeking a dime from anyone else. And more. The country is moving forward. Many of you helped make it possible. Thank you. Have you done all you can to fund the organizing effort that is our best chance to save democracy and keep America moving forward?
Your Imaginary Friend April 10, 2023April 9, 2023 This Ezra Klein interview about artificial intelligence is a must-listen. Is there a 10% chance A.I. will destroy humanity? If so, should we take it? (No.) If not, how can we stop or slow A.I.’s development? (We can’t.) So what do we do? Mankind is going to need some really thoughtful leaders in tech and government to give this story a happy ending. Judging from his Easter message . . . HAPPY EASTER TO ALL, INCLUDING THOSE THAT DREAM ENDLESSLY OF DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY BECAUSE THEY ARE INCAPABLE OF DREAMING ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE, THOSE THAT ARE SO INCOMPETENT THEY DON’T REALIZE THAT HAVING A BORDER AND POWERFUL WALL IS A GOOD THING, & HAVING VOTER I.D., ALL PAPER BALLOTS, & SAME DAY VOTING WILL QUICKLY END MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD, & TO ALL OF THOSE WEAK & PATHETIC RINOS, RADICAL LEFT DEMOCRATS, SOCIALISTS MARXISTS, & COMMUNISTS WHO ARE KILLING OUR NATION, REMEMBER, WE WILL BE BACK! . . . Trump is not one of them. Over the weekend I happened on a 2021 movie I had totally missed — Free Guy — that’s all about A.I. It’s great. A kind of Her-meets-Groundhog Day. Growing up, I didn’t have an imaginary friend (I had a collie and a stamp collection), but lots of kids apparently do. Soon, it may not be just kids. For better or worse (I think both), lots of us may have imaginary friends. And lovers. Technology’s clock ticks faster and faster. Hang on. Listen to Ezra Klein, enjoy Free Guy, and have a great week.
And What About Money I Truly CAN’T Afford to Lose? April 7, 2023April 6, 2023 Some of you ask me that from time to time. A large chunk of it I entrust to Chris Brown’s Kentucky-based Aristides Capital (minimum investment: $500,000). Like all hedge funds, his is open only to “accredited investors.” Unlike many, his truly is hedged. Which means he may do worse than some when the market soars, but less badly, if badly at all, when it falls. He has yet to have a losing year. His monthly investor letters are lively, informative, and — ordinarily — all about how the fund’s various holdings and strategies performed. (Aristides was down 1.57% in February and a further .62% in March but remains slightly up for the year. From inception in 2008, it has compounded my IRA at 15.87% annually, net of fees.) This month’s letter added “some broader things” that I got Chris’s permission to share. To wit: Last week, Kentucky lawmakers overrode Governor Beshear’s first and only veto, passing what the ACLU calls the “Worst Anti-Trans Bill in the Nation,” Senate Bill 150, into law. The bill combines: (1) a “Don’t Say Gay” law (specifying that no student, not even in high school or during sex ed instruction, shall receive any instruction that relates to sexual orientations or gender identities); (2) provisions opposing federal Title IX protections (the new law prohibits any local school district from making a policy that transgender students should be referred to by their preferred names/pronouns, and also includes a “bathroom bill,” mandating that transgender students may not use the restrooms or locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity); and (3) a trans health care ban, which bans physicians from providing gender-affirming health care to trans & non-binary adolescents, including any of a broad range of standard medical therapies supported by the American Medical Association and the American Association of Pediatrics. This is stunningly cruel legislation, which essentially says to a very vulnerable group of kids, “We don’t want you to exist, we don’t believe that your lives are valid, and we are going to do everything possible to make your lives worse.” Kentucky voters were recently polled as to whether they support a ban trans-affirming health care for youth, and by overwhelming margins, they do not. But radicals in the legislature, largely from districts where they could never lose a general election, ignored common sense, the Golden Rule, and the will of the people. One of the bill’s original sponsors, Republican Sen. Danny Carroll of Benton, proposed an amendment to soften the bill’s language, but to no avail. He was the sole Republican no vote in the Senate. “In the midst of all this, my fear, my no vote, is for those kids that are being left out. Those kids that may be contemplating suicide, may need to delay puberty. That can have a huge impact on them,” Carroll said. “We’re not doctors, with the exception of a couple of us, we’re not doctors. I trust them to make the right decisions when they’re dealing with those kids…” In the Kentucky House of Representatives, four Republicans voted against the bill. Rep. Kimberly Moser (R), who represents part of two counties near Cincinnati, said during House debate, “I’d like to say to the rest of the world who’s watching Kentucky: We are not complete Neanderthals.” She was kicked off of her committee assignment by House Republican leadership. Rep. Kim Banta, another northern Kentucky Republican, co-authored an editorial before the vote, which read in part: “We have seen the painful struggle of students who were perceived as different, and we have made extra efforts to be more accepting so that their school day is less miserable. Schools should be safe, happy places — not judgment zones where marginalized kids feel unsafe — or the consequences could be tragic. It’s time to spray a fire hose on the hostile teacher rhetoric and consider the broader consequences, including teachers leaving the profession (adding to the teacher shortage), college students averse to entering the profession, and companies doing business elsewhere. Let your legislator know you’d like them to focus on more pressing issues, like homelessness, addiction, family-care leave, and infant and maternal mortality, among other things.” Banta explained her “no” vote this way: “I felt like we were singling out a very fragile group who already struggle for acceptance and belonging, and I just honestly, I said, ‘this is mean, and I can’t do this.’” My gosh is Banta is right about business. Twenty-percent of young adults born between 1997 and 2003 now identify as LGBTQ. If you are the parent of a trans or non-binary kid, or really any queer kid, do you want to be in Kentucky right now? My second-born is non-binary; fortunately they are already a happily grown adult but there’s no way I’d want them to have to fight hateful garbage from adults (!!!) at school. A radical legislature unaligned with the people of our state is hurting business in other ways, too. If you’re a woman of reproductive age, do you want to live in a state that bans abortion, even in the case of rape or incest? Or a state that might force you to carry a non-viable fetus around for weeks? Surveys of high-earning women show that these issues matter to the vast majority of them. Kentucky, you are not making it easier for us to compete with New York and San Francisco for the next analyst we are trying to hire. Highly-Gerrymandered legislatures are a disaster. Whether on the Right, or the Left, they are not “sending their best people” to begin with, and then those people are generally unconstrained by the next general election, and need only win a primary. Michigan went through a non-partisan redistricting process a few years ago, and the results are pretty good. Sure, there are still a few wackos, but if you listen to an episode of Stateside, the Michigan Public Radio show about politics, you’ll frequently hear Republicans and Democrats discussing legislative priorities with one another, in a respectful way, and working to actually accomplish what is feasible. It feels like being on another planet compared to Kentucky, or Ohio where 9-figure corruption scandals have become frequent and normalized, and you know there’s a decent chance the next law will be something only 20 or 30% of the people of your state support. Kentucky, and our nation, have real challenges that demand real solutions. A grim report from the Financial Times shows American life expectancy has fallen such that it is not only years worse than other developed nations, but now worse than Lebanon (ranked 150th in the global corruption rankings!), and somehow even worse than communist Cuba. Nor is it only less wealthy folks who are dying early here. Shockingly, for folks making the same amount of income in the US or England, Americans are dying on average five years earlier. How? Our rates of premature death are higher than peer countries throughout childhood, but from age 17 to 45, the relative risk of death is dramatically higher than our peers, literally 4-fold higher at age 30. The late political scientist Robert Lane’s The Loss of Happiness in Market Democracies attempts to explain why becoming wealthier has not made places like the United States happier in recent decades. It’s a good book, with a lot of academic literature, well presented, and the conclusion is basically this: once your basic needs are met, happiness largely comes from a rich family life and connections with other people (i.e. friends and your community). Meanwhile, according to a recent WSJ/National Opinion Research Center poll published last month, only 27 percent of Americans say “Community involvement” is a value they personally consider “very important,” down from previous readings of 47 to 62% over the last two decades. Community involvement is not valued by members of either political party (32% of Dems, 23% of Independents, and 25% of Republicans rate it as “very important”). Happiness, or, conversely, high levels of chronic and repeated acute stress, have a huge impact on our mortality. Public health is supposed to be more than tracking Covid disease cases, or encouraging people to get vaccinated. It is the role of public health to promote healthy lifestyles, help prevent disease, protect people from environmental hazards, and ensure access to quality care. We don’t have that. We have a fake food pyramid, a smorgasbord of high-sugar, calorie dense foods, rampant gun violence, a raging drug epidemic among young adults largely isolated from meaningful connection (and a readily-available supply of lethal, fentanyl- and Tranq-adulterated, drugs), a carceral system that destroys families and re-traumatizes people rather than making them less likely to commit more crimes, health care that is unaffordable for many, and few shared public opportunities for participating in exercise, sports & leisure. Free markets are great for many things, but free markets alone cannot fix the alienation of modern life; the profits from many of these problems fall to a relatively select group of companies, whereas the burdens fall on all of us as a society. I am an inherently optimistic person, mainly for the reason that it’s functional. No matter how challenging a situation is, if you believe it’s fixable, you’re likely to function better than if you lose hope. But, at a certain point, if we are to thrive as a nation, we need to collectively understand that happiness is not a fixed pie, nor does happiness come from making other people unhappy. As Kennedy famously noted, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” We desperately need to focus on lifting all the boats. → Amen to that. And thanks for septupling my IRA.
A Six-Minute Seder, Regardless Of Your Faith April 6, 2023April 5, 2023 I’ve never met Ben Platt. I do know the wonderful Judith Light. Harold Arlen lived next door. I was recently bar mitzvah-ed but haven’t been to a seder in 50 years. I am a terrible Jew. I found this really moving. (Six minutes.) In America, there should be a place for all of us.* In my view, the good people of Waukesha, Wisconsin shouldn’t be banning rainbow-titled songs but, rather, learning the words. (Too preachy? I am an accredited Internet minister. I have performed two legal weddings.) Happy Passover, Good Friday, Blessed Ramadan — or none-of-the-above. *Very much including the able-bodied straight white Christian males who feel under attack for — through no fault of their own! — not having had to face the challenges others have and do.
The Perfect Gift (Plan Ahead!) April 5, 2023April 4, 2023 The big news yesterday (other than the Trump thing and our big win in Wisconsin) was that CHRA, suggested here last week at $3, is being delisted from the New York Stock Exhange. It will henceforth be listed in the Pink Sheets under the same symbol. I bought more. Closing at $1.55, and with 3.37 million shares outstanding, the whole company was valued at $5 million. Which is deceptive, because it also has $135 million in debt coming due in three years. But less than a year ago the stock was as high as $50, and I like to think they may right the ship. “With over 30 years of experience, Charah Solutions is a leading provider of mission-critical environmental services and byproduct recycling to the power generation industry.” Only with money you can truly afford to lose! APE, suggested here four months ago at $1.05, jumping to $2.56 a few weeks later (where I like to think you may have sold half), closed yesterday at $1.68, up 20 cents on news that the convergence of AMC and APE shares is moving forward. AMC fell 23% to $3.93, but still sold at a ridiculous premium to its twin. (Imagine two identical ham sandwiches with lettuce and mustard. If one is $1.68, why would the other be $3.93?) I’m likely going to hold on until the two literally become one, at which point AMC will trade simply on the basis of what the market thinks the business is worth. I have no idea what that will be in the short term, let alone the long term. Standard valuation is based on assets-less-liabilities and on future earning power. Might AMC command a “glamour” premium — the way sports teams do (the Dallas Cowboys alone are reportedly worth $5.7 billion) — just because it could be kind of cool to say you own the world’s largest theater chain and get a shout out at the Oscars? I don’t know. Only with money you can truly afford to lose! You know how walking, healthy eating, low stress, and plenty of sleep are good for almost . . . anything? That’s not voodoo or quack science, it’s just true. Well, it seems that doing BrainHQ exercises — even if the company has yet to find a way to make them as much fun as crossword puzzles (which have no proven positive effects on your health) — also helps with almost everything. From reduced likelihood of developing dementia (the big one!) to fewer falls and broken hips, fewer and less severe auto accidents, relieved tinnitus, PTSD, depression, and more. Here’s a summary of 70 studies from last year alone. As long-time readers know, I own a tiny sliver of this company, so when you sign up for free daily exercises, I smile; and when you upgrade to a paid subscription for full access, I go wild. Younger readers: the perfect gift for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. Plan ahead!
Two Questions For Jim Jordan, Et Al April 4, 2023April 4, 2023 Whatever today’s charges turn out to be, I have two questi0ns: If the Stormy Daniels expose had NOT been hushed up two weeks before the 2016 election, with early voting already underway, might Trump have gotten 77,745 fewer votes in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin? That’s my first question. I ask, because, as you know, all it would have taken for Hillary to win the Electoral College was for 38,723 Trump voters to have flipped blue. Not a lot out of nearly 14 million votes cast in those three states. Or, if no votes would have flipped, then all that would have been needed was for fewer than 1% of the Trump voters in those states simply to have stayed home. Some may think the Stormy Daniels story wouldn’t have affected the outcome, but I’ll tell you someone who thought it was worth $130,000 not to take that chance. (More than that, really, because to make Michael Cohen whole, after taxes, Trump apparently paid about twice as much — and he is not a man who parts with money easily.) So as trivial as the porn star pay-off seems to Jim Jordan, et al, it’s not crazy to think that without it, Hillary would have been president and our third branch of government solidly progressive instead of right-wing. So is Trump innocent of whatever he’s charged with today unless proven guilty? For sure. But is it outrageous for a grand jury to think he should not be above the law? And for objective observers to think that paying off Stormy Daniels may have changed the course of human history? I don’t think so. And here’s the second question I’d put to those Republicans who think today’s indictment is an “outrageous abuse of prosecutorial discretion”: Was it an outrageous abuse of prosecutorial discretion for Trump’s Justice Department to indict and imprison Trump’s co-conspirator? WOKE IS BROKE: With some of my fellow Stanford Law students, there’s no room for argument. So well said. Pass it on.
Uganda, The Pope, And Wisconsin April 2, 2023April 2, 2023 Democrats and sane Republicans mourn the passing of the once-Grand Old Party . . . a party that is now in full-throated support of its indicted leader and incensed that public urination might be demoted from a criminal to a civil offense. Read that piece if you’re curious; but today I want to talk about Uganda. Nine years ago we learned how Uganda was Seduced by conservative American Evangelicals into making homosexuality punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Last week the Ugandan parliament voted overwhelmingly to crack down further, with life sentences and the death penalty. And we learned How U.S. Evangelicals Helped Homophobia Flourish in Africa, You don’t need to read those to get the idea. (Likewise: US Christian Right pours more than $50m into Africa.) What I’d rather focus on is what the Pope told the Associated Press two months ago: We are all God’s children. And God loves us as we are. Being homosexual is not a crime. It’s a sin. But it is also a sin to lack charity with one another. Let’s distinguish sin from crime. Every man and woman must have a window in their life where they can turn their hope and where they can see the dignity of God. And being homosexual isn’t a crime. It’s a human condition. Not to mention what Jesus himself said about homosexuality! (If you don’t know, it’s worth 30 seconds to watch.) And it should be noted that Pope Francis later clarified his remarks to the AP: When I said it is a sin, I was simply referring to Catholic moral teaching, which says that EVERY sexual act outside of marriage is a sin. Gay and straight alike. Oops. As for Wisconsin, this headline caught my eye: Wisconsin School District Bans Miley Cyrus-Dolly Parton Duet with ‘Rainbow’ in Title. I mean, c’mon, guys. We’re not realistically going to send all the immigrants — and descendants of immigrants, millions of whose ancestors “immigrated” involuntarily — “back to where they came from.” Or non-straight folks back into the closet. We’re just not. And most of us, white, black, or brown, liberal, independent or conservative, straight, gay, or trans, urban, suburban, or rural — very much including most Trump voters — are good decent people once you get to know us. We are! And we share lots of common ground. That was true of the Tutsi and Hutu in Rwanda, who got along fine for decades until it went catastrophically wrong. It was true of gentile and Jewish Berliners before the forces of darkness took hold. (Have you seen Leopoldstadt?) Among the forces of darkness working to stoke our divisions: > Putin. > White separatists. > The profit motive. Conflict sells. And as Fox executives made clear, telling the truth would have been “bad for business.” > Religion, the source of so much bloodshed over the centuries. We need to make room for moderation, compromise, and common ground. One three-part key to doing that: > “Open primaries” (as in California), where candidates can’t win appealing only to the extremes. > “Ranked choice voting” (as in Alaska and Maine), which also makes room for moderates to win. > Easy voting by mail (Oregon and Utah, among others), so that most people vote in the primaries, not just the highly motivated extremes. Rainbows are beautiful! And so is religion, when not taken literally. Which brings us back to Uganda. As the simple Ugandan woman says near the end of “The Book of Mormon,” the most profane, blasphemous, irreverent show ever . . . thereby redeeming the entire show and bringing sense not just to Mormonism but to all religions . . . marveling that the young missionaries have lost their faith in the preposterous stories they’ve been told (everyone gets his own planet?) . . . religion is not to be taken literally — “Eet eez a MET-a-phor!” (As I’ve written before, could someone please get this word to the Islamic fundamentalists? Or at least to those who believe God calls them to murder?) (Here’s the banned Rainbow song, by the way.) Have a great week!