The vote totals on the California Recall aren't finalized yet but at the moment, "Don't remove the governor" is leading "Remove the governor" by 28 percentage points. Every single poll (repeat: Every single poll) of the last month or so showed "Don't" leading by double digits, though nowhere near as high as 28 points.
Anyone who wants to charge that the outcome was rigged has to explain how the riggers managed that. And of course, if somehow backers of the governor could have rigged all those polls, they wouldn't have. If your guy looks like a shoo-in, a lot of folks who would have voted for him won't bother to vote…but his opponents will start working extra-hard.
There's lots of arguing out there about General Mark Milley's actions to make sure a spurned President Trump didn't start a nuclear war on his way out of the Oval Office. Some of the arguing seems to be about what he actually did, not whether or not it was legal or appropriate.
On matters like this, the guy I trust most to comment is Fred Kaplan.
And while you're over there on Slate reading Fred, read William Saletan about Republicans' conflicting arguments against vaccine mandates. Here's an excerpt…
Republicans have been particularly cynical in their complaints about Biden's failure to control the pandemic. They say he hasn't done enough, yet they refuse to let him do more. Ronna McDaniel, the chair of the Republican National Committee, says the president "failed to shut down the virus" because he "failed to get people vaccinated." At the same time, she says the RNC will sue to block the vaccine mandate. Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona vows to "pursue every legal and administrative option" against the mandate, even as he blames Biden for a "plummeting rate of vaccinations."
I really like these pieces Mr. Saletan writes where he quotes people contradicting themselves and posts links so you can see he's not quoting them falsely or outta-context. I wish more columnists did that.
Turning to the real important matter: A number of you wrote me to say that the reason the folks who run Jeopardy! have named alternating guest hosts instead of a permanent one is that they really want Mayim Bialik but she can't do it full-time because of her sitcom job. So they're marking time with her (when she's available) and Ken Jennings (when she isn't), hoping for her sitcom to be canceled.
That's probably true. I wasn't particularly impressed with Ms. Bialik but if that's who they want, okay. I just can't believe there aren't others who'd be just as good and could start tomorrow. And what will they do if the sitcom gets picked-up for another season? Another year of temps?