Welcome to the Third Degree: Tough, Brief, Weekly Interrogations on matters public and private that force thinking and response. This Sunday, we target: It

  • Does “next to last” have a seasonally deficient, defeatist ring to it while definitionally definite “penultimate ” provides a certain, syntactic elegance to the Third Degree wrapping up process?
  • So be it?
  • Is it impossible to forget the Clinton, Monica, sex question response: “It depends on what is is” (or was) as we almost wrap it up, the five-year weekly journey of imperative inquiry, with an “it” excursion?
  • Is “it” context dependent?
  • Is there an it magnitude of meaning appropriate to the season and wrapping things up?
  • Why is it that women possess an order of magnitude wrapping talent denied to men?
  • Does semi-cultural anthropologist Lily Tomlin shed light noting that men should have tactile advantage after choosing to walk on two legs rather than all fours? Is it true?
  • That stipulated as settled science, does it explain distaff sex willingness to please plus the power of the little finger?
  • Happily wrapped round it are the men (most of the time)?
  • Did Clara Bow, the original “It” girl set the stage, so to speak, for future generations of girls who have it or want it?
  • Confusing isn’t it, or is it?
  • Does it say something about XX and XY chromosomes and baby making in terms of glorious differences between and definitions of men and women?
  • Isn’t it a simple question for future Supreme Court justices, notwithstanding the Ketanji jink around at confirmation?
  • Is it OK, for men to play in women’s sports?
  • Is it an obvious answer that the insouciant head of the NCAA ducked? Is it a problem?
  • Has “Keep It Simple” been a worthwhile axiom of action and wisdom over the years but bloated generations of politicians and staff hide behind and thrive on complex and ponderous procedure?
  • Size, is it, in large measure, the problem, be it programs or people?
  • Not counting elected officials (512,000 nationwide), plus many millions more on their staffs, their count also excluded by law (FLSA), is it tip of the iceberg, to note a countable 2.3 million civilians working for the Feds and 20 million more at state and local levels, almost all hard to fire, especially if public union types?
  • Do we cheer or jeer the President elect, Elon, and Vivek for taking it all on?
  • Will it ever be a wrap, certainly not a pretty one?
  • For us, for now, shall we put a bow on it and see you next week when it’s really a wrap?
  • Merry Christmas, certainly, it is, no question about it.

Socrates reminds: “The unexamined life is not worth living. “ The answers and actions are yours.