States that ban abortions always point to their exceptions, including rape and incest in a few to the threat of death or irreparable harm to the woman in all to show they aren’t being unreasonable. Problem is, and this has been demonstrated countless times, proving these exceptions is unworkable, making the exceptions moot. And Republicans now want to make this attitude the law of the land. Not only that, many espouse banning contraception, thereby putting more women at risk. Yikes!

A solution that makes sense to me would be a work-permit program. Foreigners could work here while waiting for immigration visas (if they desire such). Europe already does this a little, but the oil-rich Mideast countries do it in a big way, using foreigners to do the lowly jobs no citizen would think of doing. Then the hotel owners, farmers, and construction companies wouldn’t have to worry about losing their workers if Republicans get their way.

Republicans are against raising the minimum wage and unionization. No need to address those low-paying jobs in the agriculture, hospitality, and construction industries, because those employees are plentiful and happy to be working. Sure, because many are undocumented workers and want to stay beneath the radar, and conditions in their native countries are what drove them across our border to begin with. If the border was actually shut down, and all the illegals deported, who’d do those jobs?

March Madness update: I watch a lot of college basketball, study the NET and KenPom rankings, listen carefully to what Joe Lunardi and his fellow bracketology gurus have to say. And I’m out of the running in my pool. My wife, on the other hand, doesn’t follow college basketball except as it involves the UNC Tar Heels. She knew hardly anything about the teams when making her picks for our bracket pool. And she has a chance to come in first. Go figure!

March Madness update: I’ve fallen to fifth in my pool (my Grand Canyon and James Madison upset picks didn’t survive the second round), but my Final Four is still intact. Go Heels!

Appeals court judge: “Well, how much can you do?”

Trump: “Do I have to post any bond? I’m being treated so unfairly. It’s a political witch hunt by Democrats to prevent me from being president. A total disgrace!”

Judge: “Come on, Donald, you’re in the system now. so it’s gotta look reasonable. How about we make it 200 million?”

Trump: “Oh, jeez. Okay. Make it 175 and we have a deal.”

Judge: “Done.”

As expected, Trump gets a break in his fraud case. Now only has to pony up 175 mil instead of 464.. Jeez. Why not make it 0, apologize for inconveniencing him, and quietly go away? After all, he shouldn’t be held accountable for any wrongdoing, because he’s Trump.

March Madness update: I’m in third place of my 21-entry pool after being 10th when I went to bed last night. The James Madison and Grand Canyon wins got me there. Big day today!

I’ve already lost an Elite Eight (Kentucky!) in my bracket but otherwise hanging in there. Successfully picked the Oregon and N.C. State upset wins but lost the Samford and Duquesne picks.

Okay, looks like Texas will be allowed, thanks to SCOTUS, to arrest suspected illegal immigrants despite immigration law being in the purview of the federal government. But what if the federal government refuses to recognize these arrests? Texas doesn’t have - yet - the authority to deport people. Maybe they’ll just lock them up in prison after a trial? Hmm.

Can someone explain to me how a bunch of prison inmates can get together as a choir to sing and record songs used in political rallies?

Big weekend for college basketball! I love it. And during the commercials, I’ll look in on the Players Championship golf tournament. Needless to say, I won’t be getting any chores done!

Why am I not surprised that the onlyTrump trial that looked like it would actually start in time to finish before November has just been delayed? When you’re rich, you can delay accountability forever, it seems. Let’s face it, folks.The only thing standing between us and another Trump administration is Biden winning five crucial states, and some of those he only won by a few thousand votes in 2020. That’s the election, and the numbers don’t look good. The national popular vote is irrelevant.

Biden won’t do it now, of course, but if he gets re-elected in November, he should get another Attorney General. Garland seems like a nice fellow, but he’s been a disaster for justice. Delaying any prosecutions of those involved in Jan. 6 until the election calendar would preclude any trials for the conspirators before November was terrible enough. But appointing Hur as the special prosecutor in the Biden classified documents case was the last straw. Hopefully, Biden will be able to can him.

Consider this: If Trump wins in November, Justices Thomas and Alito will likely retire, and two more MAGA justices will be appointed to SCOTUS. What’s the difference, you say. A simple exchange, right? Wrong! The newbies will be much younger and will be there for decades, cementing the right-wing agenda of the court for a generation.

Can journalists please stop asking low-information voters how they “feel” about the economy? Jeez!

Biden will no doubt get heckled during his State of the Union speech tonight. Will it be MTG or Boebert or Gaetz? Someone else? All three? Get in on the pool.

Why the military and veterans continue to support Trump despite what he’s said about them being losers boggles my mind. What, they’ll vote for a Republican no matter what? Because that’s what they’ve always done?

While I’m happy for Caitlin Clark and her setting a new college basketball scoring record set by “Pistol” Pete Maravich over 50 years ago, we should compare apples with apples. Maravich established the record in three years (freshmen then could not play on the varsity team) and there was no three-point shot yet. Clark is in her fourth year and has scored a ton of threes. Good for Clark and what she has done for women’s basketball, but let’s not forget Pistol Pete.