Brett: I’m pretty sure we could announce that milk is generally good for babies or vaccines are generally safe, without setting a precedent that the federal government can work with Big Tech to censor individual speech.
Gail: Of course I agree with you about freedom of speech. But in the process of protecting it, it is natural to argue about specific cases with particular details. We’ll deal with that again soon. Well, forever probably.
But let me get bored for a second and ask you about Congress. Just got through that deficit crisis, and another one is coming around the bend this summer. What is your long term advice? Spend less? Tax more? Ignore the whole thing and assume it will work somehow as always?
Brett: My advice: Talk less, smile more. Seriously, what we need from Congress and the president is to get through the next 18 months without another manufactured domestic crisis. Between the war in Ukraine, the creeping nuclearization of Iran and China’s saber-rattling over Taiwan, we have more than enough to worry about abroad.
Gail: Hmm. One writer’s manufactured domestic crisis may be another’s acceptable disagreement. And while Congress isn’t always fascinating, it’s at the top of the critical-if-possible-boring ladder.
Brett: Before we go, Gail, I must put in a word for the funny, fabulous obituary of Penelope Green in The Times by Sue Johanson, a Canadian sex educator who died last month at 92. It has the single most memorable paragraph to appear in the paper. for at least a month, if not a year. I have to quote it in full:
Is it weird to put body glitter on your boyfriend’s testicles? Is it safe to have sex in a hot tub? Could a Ziploc bag serve as a condom? If condoms are left in a car and they freeze, are they still good? Answers: No. No (chlorinated water is too harsh for genitals, especially for women). Absolutely not. And yes, after they were defrosted.
I mean, after that, what else can be said?
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