Pun Salad

Today Pun Salad features a double play brought off via Jess to Goldberg to Lukianoff:

Famous tells:

“It’s not you, it’s me.”
“This isn’t about the money.”
“We have nothing to hide.”
“I’m just asking questions.”
“This is not a golden calf.” https://t.co/YYl7Hb7l9K

— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) May 9, 2026

Ah, but wait, there's a play at the plate! Jeffrey Blehar posts his punchline at his Carnival of Fools newsletter:

And in case you need a hint about that last bit, Jeffrey's link goes to…

I assume that if Pastor Mark found it necessary to repudiate the golden calf parallel, it was only because he had been hearing it a lot from people familiar with Exodus 32 (or at least the movie).

Also of note:

• Kevin D. Williamson made me realize that I've been using the word "Orwellian" a lot over the past year or so. And even more so with his recent Wanderland newsletter, summarizing The Empire of Baloney. (Dispatch gifted link)

  An item from NBC News: “U.S. and Iran exchange fire near the Strait of Hormuz; Trump says ceasefire still holds.” Wha? “The attacks highlighted the fragility of the ceasefire in the area around the Strait of Hormuz ....”

  An item from the Wall Street Journal: “Muted U.S. Response to Iranian Attacks Deepens Gulf Fears About Cease-Fire.” Fears about what? More WSJ:“The efforts to play down the attacks came as the Trump administration tried to protect a fragile cease-fire and keep peace talks moving forward.”

  In the words of that great philosopher Jules Winnfield: “English, m----------r! Do you speak it?”

  And in case you need a hint about that movie reference (or help with de-expurgating that word), here you go.

• Explain it to me like I'm five, or a US Senator from Massachusetts. Christian Britschgi tries to do that: Why the Bipartisan War on Housing Investors Won't Make Housing More Affordable.

  In March, the U.S. Senate passed a bill full of tweaks to federal grant programs and regulations. Although nearly all of the bill's provisions are aimed at increasing the housing supply, one would undermine that goal.

  That provision, inserted at the last minute, bans investors from owning more than 350 single-family rental homes. Investors could still acquire homes built as rentals, but they would have to be sold off within seven years. Because of these restrictions, the Senate bill, which otherwise could be expected to have a modest positive impact on the housing supply, probably would reduce yearly home construction.

  Proponents of the large-investor ban argue that it's necessary to preserve owner-occupied homes. "An overwhelming majority of Americans across party lines want to stop private equity from snapping up single-family homes," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) said on the Senate floor after the bill's passage. "This bill does exactly that."

  It should go without saying that prohibiting people from buying homes necessarily bans the current owners from selling those homes.

  But Christian does a good job of pointing out the other junk economics involved.

• It's tough out there for a barista. George Will looks at one possible explanation for youngsters that take Elizabeth Warren seriously: It’s graduation time for disappointed little Lenins. (WaPo gifted link)

  There is a growing subset of graduates who, propelled by the applause of grade inflation, emerge from the political monoculture of campuses with high grades, low learning and a talent for blaming. They blame capitalism, markets, society, something for their frustrations and disappointments. Their vast sense of entitlement includes an assumed exemption from common life experiences.

  Many supposedly underemployed graduates are casualties of the siren call of “college for all.” This gave the political class something more to subsidize, and gave the academic industry opportunities to raise tuition, siphoning up the subsidies to fund expansions. Thus were millions of young people lured onto an expensive — in time and money — path away from well-paid and satisfying trades, and into a curdled adulthood nursing vague grievances about foregone status.

  The predictable result of market saturation resulted in a 2024 report that 45 percent of graduates held, 10 years after graduation, jobs that do not “require” a college degree. But the meaning of this is murky.

  As usual, the AI summary of the (as I type) 1,222 comments is a hoot. Excerpt: "The conversation explores a wide range of criticisms directed at George Will's opinion piece, with many participants expressing dissatisfaction with his portrayal of young college graduates and his perceived condescension."

  Translation: the "little Lenins", and their enablers, got their feelings hurt.

• In case you were wondering who to blame… The WSJ editorialists note 535 (or so) possible culprits for the the fact that The U.S. Postal Service Is Going Bust. Blame Congress. (WSJ gifted link)

  The U.S. Postal Service is again barreling toward insolvency, and on Friday it reported a $2 billion quarterly loss. “We are in a cash crisis,” Postmaster General David Steiner said. “We require urgent Congressional action to expand our borrowing authority and to address outdated constraints on the organization.” The important part for lawmakers to hear is that last part.

  The USPS has been raising prices and trimming costs, but it keeps falling short in trying to make ends meet. The reality is that its business model is an anachronism in a digital world, yet Congress has refused to recognize that. As paper correspondence—letters, bills, party invites—shifted online, total mail volume fell off a cliff. Last year the USPS handled 108.7 billion pieces, down 49% from a peak of 213.1 billion in 2006. A majority of what’s left is euphemistically categorized as “marketing mail.”

  Providing a data point on that, a little Googling shows my state's senators are firmly stuck on the unsustainable status quo: Shaheen, Hassan Join Colleagues to Urge Postal Service to Pause Planned Changes to Mail Delivery Network

  And so is my current CongressCritter: Rep. Pappas' bill to stop USPS downsizing passes House committee.

  And now I'll head out to the mailbox to pick up today's "marketing mail".