I guess spring is almost here. St. Patrick’s Day is Tuesday, Sports Connections today was all about the NCAA tournament, the Oscars are tonight, we’re in Daylight Saving Time and I didn’t fall asleep after lunch today, even though it was huge. (Culver’s. I regret nothing. Well, maybe the chocolate shake. Defense: I had just come from a 2K yard swim, and that is HONGRY work.)

Most of you will read this after the Oscars. I only made one prediction on my 2026 Bingo card, that “One Battle After Another” would win best picture, but I fear it will be shut out by “Sinners,” or maybe “Hamnet.” I’ve seen “Sinners.” It was fine, but OBAA was better, in my opinion. I am not a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences, so my opinion is a fart in the wind.

I suppose most of you saw that Metro Detroit made the news last week, when a pissed-off Lebanese immigrant drove through the front door of a synagogue preschool and exchanged gunfire with the security guards before shooting himself in the head. The first stories noted that he’d been recently divorced, and unnamed family members had been killed by Israeli missiles in recent days. As I sad more than once after learning this news, an explanation is not an excuse. Today, the Israelis claimed his brother was a member of Hezbollah.

I think we can all agree it was a tragedy, even though no children were harmed and one security guard suffered a broken leg. Violence begets violence.

And what’s happening in the other big news of recent days? The president is asking our allies — do we still have any? I mean, besides Russia? — to help escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, an act so cheeky it would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic. “You! Get over here and clean up my mess!,” etc.

This NYT story on the death of the Giving Pledge — a briefly trendy push for the mega-wealthy to give half their net worth to nonprofit causes — is interesting. When I did election work in 2020, in particular the verification of absentee ballot requests in Detroit, I had a brand-new laptop to work on, which might have been purchased with the money pledged by Mark Zuckerberg’s foundation. Alas, the idea of protecting free and fair elections is now BOR-ing, and Zuck has taken his money elsewhere. Bezos built a yacht so vulgar it requires a second yacht to follow it around with the toys and helipad. I hope that laptop still works for someone in Detroit, somewhere.

Meanwhile, the president’s toady on a federal arts commission also wants to replace the White House columns with something fancier. Probably gilded, too.

Alan says, “I don’t want to pay $5 a gallon for gas, but I’d happily do it if it means the end of this.” I’ve never agreed more.

Meanwhile, the U.P is right now getting anywhere from one to four FEET of snow, and a blizzard to boot. I can’t wait to see the pictures.

OK, then! On to the Irish takeover of the Dakota Inn! Happy St. Paddy’s Day, and let’s get through this week without a nuke going off somewhere.