Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

My beloved Arizona Wildcats (21-6) moved up to 14th in the ranking. It won't be long before March Madness begins.

Here.

Here.

Idlewild (1988). There's an interesting story behind this song. I heard it on the radio (New Age station KAWV, "The Wave") 30 years ago when I lived in Tucson. I taped it (and a few other songs) onto a cassette tape. I managed to get the artist and title of most of the songs, but not this one. I listed it as "I Have a Friend," followed by a question mark, because those words were in the song. I no longer listen to cassette tapes, but I have always wondered about that song. If I could just find out who performed it, I could buy the album on compact disc.

The other day, while listening to music on my iPhone (I subscribe to iTunes, to which I have uploaded my entire collection), I heard a song by Everything but the Girl that I downloaded from Napster or some such place in the 1990s. The singer's voice reminded me of that Tucson song. Could it be? I located the band's first few albums and went through them, song by song, on YouTube. As I neared the end of the final album (released in 1988, the year I moved from Tucson to College Station), I found it. Hooray! I have recovered a wonderful song, and a piece of my life to boot. I hope you enjoy it.

There are two aspects to the Left's cry of "Russian collusion!" The first involves explaining how Hillary Clinton lost. The second has to do with destroying President Trump (by which I mean destroying his presidency). The recent charges by Special Counsel Robert Mueller against 13 Russians may have something to do with the first of these, but they have nothing to do with the second.

Let me explain. To the Left, Hillary Clinton should have been elected president in 2016. That she wasn't requires explanation. Part of the explanation may be that Russians (or Russian agents) used propaganda or other forms of disinformation to influence American votes. Mueller's charges constitute evidence (though not sufficient evidence) of this. Russians were doing what Russians do.

Mueller's charges have no bearing on the second matter, for they show no collusion between Donald Trump or his campaign team and any Russians. Perhaps other indictments will come, but so far, there is no evidence of collusion.

In its zeal to "get" President Trump, the Left makes a classic mistake. It conflates explaining why Hillary lost with establishing that Trump colluded. The reasoning seems to be that because Trump benefited from Russian involvement, he instigated it; and if he instigated it, then he "colluded" with the Russians to throw the election; and if he colluded, then he should be impeached and perhaps prosecuted.

The Left has nothing except raw hatred, and the strength of this emotion causes them to make simple mistakes, both of fact and of logic. It's actually quite fun to watch. It's a prime example of how emotions (especially powerful ones) cloud judgment.

Here is Kurt Schlichter's latest column.

Were it announced tomorrow that anyone who fancied it might, without risk of reprisals or recriminations, stand at a fourth-storey window, dangle out of it a length of string with a meal (labelled "Free") on the end, wait till a chance passer-by took a bite and then, having entangled his cheek or gullet on a hook hidden in the food, haul him up to the fourth floor and there batter him to death with a knobkerrie, I do not think there would be many takers.

Most sane adults would, I imagine, sicken at the mere thought. Yet sane adults do the equivalent to fish every day: not in panic, sexual jealousy, ideological frenzy or even greed—many of our freshwater fish are virtually inedible, and not one of them constitutes a threat to the life, love or ideology of a human on the bank—but for amusement. Civilisation is not outraged at their behaviour. On the contrary: that a person's hobby is fishing is often read as a guarantee of his sterling and innocent character.

(Brigid Brophy, The Rights of Animals [London: The Animal Defence & Anti-Vivisection Society, 1965], 3 [first published on 10 October 1965 in the Sunday Times])

To the editor:

I have not read Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt's book, "How Democracies Die," so maybe this following issue is discussed in their book. ("Trump attacks on Russia investigation threaten U.S. democracy, authors say," Feb. 6)

President Trump's most basic assault on our democratic institutions is his willingness to lie and deny facts. Trump began his political rise by promoting his bigoted "birther" lie, which taught the future president that he could utter any falsehood and people would believe him and not the facts or the truth.

Trump's ability to convince gullible people to believe his lies ties directly to Trump's demand for personal loyalty. In our democracy, we pledge our allegiance to our Constitution and not to the individual. For Trump, allegiance is owed to him personally. Loyalty to an individual is the hallmark of authoritarianism.

Trump's lies and his demand for personal loyalty are the core threats to our democracy.

Arch Miller, Arcadia

Note from KBJ: I'm still unaware of a single lie told by Donald Trump. You don't have anything, do you, Arch? Just "racist" and "liar," which have come to mean nothing through overuse.

Just watched a very insecure Oprah Winfrey, who at one point I knew very well, interview a panel of people on 60 Minutes. The questions were biased and slanted, the facts incorrect. Hope Oprah runs so she can be exposed and defeated just like all of the others!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2018

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Here are highlights from Stage 6 of the Tour of Oman.