Music Monday: The Lyrics Got Me

Particularly the line “Cuz Girls Your Age Know Better.” I think there’s a lot of ladies — particularly younger ones — who could stand to identify some of the red flags she rattles off. Only dates younger women, tells her all the exes just happen to be crazy, emotionally (and sometimes monetarily) draining, etc.

More about the artist here. Apparently she has made what she considers some bad dating decisions.

Play Ball

The other night I had the pleasure of attending a Las Vegas Aviators game at the Las Vegas Ballpark. They played (and lost to) the Sacramento River Cats. That picture is me with the Aviators mascot, Spruce the Goose.

The facility is in an area of town known as Summerlin. For those who don’t know Vegas, it’s a “suburban” Master Planned Community on the West edge of town. The Ballpark itself is within walking distance of a newer outdoor shopping complex (the kind of place that does a farmer’s market on the weekend) and a high end locals casino resort. It’s easy to get there from two different exits on the highway that loops around town or two major east/west roads. There’s ample parking, a real effort to appeal to foodies while still having access to classic ballgame fare, and comfortable seating for 8196 with a total capacity over 10,000. The night I attended there were about 7300 present.

There has been a lot of talk about the Oakland A’s coming to town, adding Major League Baseball to Vegas’s stable of professional sports teams. We currently have the reigning world champion WNBA Aces and NHL Golden Knights, as well as other teams. The latest legislative session passed a law to make it possible, land deals are in talks, and MLB is considering whether to let it come to pass. But nothing is set in concrete.

Here’s the thing: a typical A’s game is currently bringing in barely enough fans to fill the locals oriented Ballpark way on the West edge of town. Some games end up with fewer fans in the stands than the minor league game I saw the other night! Somehow they plan to fill a brand new 30,000 seat stadium close to the Strip and all the Strip traffic with limited parking available on a regular basis. Oh, and it’s the same freeway exit as people are using to get to Allegiant Stadium T-Mobile Arena, and the “back way” to Harry Reid Airport.

I’m not sure who’s coming out ahead on this deal, but it certainly isn’t the people of Las Vegas. I’m not even going to bet on whether this will actually come to pass, or whether it’s just a gambit to make Oakland beg to keep their team.

If they do make it here I’ll have the same policy I do for the Raiders: I’ll buy one team T-shirt and one hat for the Las Vegas A’s; and the day they announce they are leaving town they are dead to me.

Immigration Roundup

When the COVID Public Health Emergency ended, some immigration policies also ended. I’ve written multiple times about immigration both legal and undocumented in the past, with a focus on the broken system and why none of the “reform” ideas being floated are good ideas. But since Mr. Biden has a long rich history of disfiguring reform initiatives, he’s probably exactly where he wants to be.

Here’s one of my early efforts from 2007, where I look at the issues and the stakeholders.

By 2009, we had crazy machines to replace undocumented farm workers.

In 2014 we noticed the Children’s Crusade Redux at the border.

Oh, let’s not forget Chris Christie in 2015 wanting FedEx style tracking of visa holders.

in 2018 I brought you commentary on the Dreamers and a comprehensive post on the topic that I think still largely stands true. Real reform still must include a radical lifting of immigration caps, hiring a lot of staff to process people who want to be here legally, simplifying forms so someone with a grade school education and little knowledge of English can fill them out, and severe penalties for employers that don’t follow the law. Spoiler alert, we won’t be getting any of that.

What we will get? Another heaping helping of Joe Biden as Democratic nominee for President whether we like it or not.