Bob's Almanack

A record is not the truth. It is where the hiding starts.

~ Robert

New from Outside In Print

Editorial cartoon showing a man feeding papers into a shredder labeled PRIVATE CHANNELS over a pit labeled NO RECORD while a woman holds an empty box labeled PUBLIC MEMORY.

The Text Message in the Archive Box

Judge Bates's records order turns private-channel government into an archive problem: a text is public only if the route back to official custody exists before the screen goes dark.

Editorial cartoon showing officials labeled Stormwater, Agriculture, Wastewater, Dams, Development, and Climate Office managing The Oxygen Budget above a river cross-section where fish swim beneath a declining blue Remaining Oxygen line.

Save Some Air for the Fishies

A dissolved-oxygen study puts heat, runoff, dams, and permits into the same river ledger: how much life can warmer water carry?

Editorial cartoon showing a supermarket cashier asking a customer to show papers while scanning a roll of duct tape with a red checkout light.

ID Required

A federal citizenship list and voter ID rules test whether election verification can be lawful, correctable, and worthy of the franchise it guards.

Editorial cartoon showing people kneeling before a marble altar holding a consent form stamped CONSENTED, with a plaque reading PERMISSION = PURITY and shadowed figures labeled Duty, Wisdom, Obligation, and Formation.

Consent: From Permission to Sanctity

The essay tracks consent from legal tool to civic sanctity, where permission can protect the weak and then quietly carry moral judgment off the books.

This Week's Virtue

Order

Order is not neatness for its own sake. It is the discipline of putting records, duties, doubts, and corrections where they can be found. A private message, a water meter, a voter file, and a consent form all become dangerous when their proper place is hidden. Public life needs places where evidence cannot wander off.

One Number

55%

NOAA's May 21 Atlantic hurricane outlook put the chance of a below-normal 2026 season at 55 percent, with 8-14 named storms in its 70 percent range. source

One Document

Freedom of the Press Foundation v. Trump preliminary injunction

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 2026-05-20

Judge John D. Bates ordered covered presidential and vice-presidential records preserved and required nonofficial electronic messages to be copied or forwarded to official accounts within 20 days. source

Results

Knicks 109, Cavaliers 93: New York took a 2-0 Eastern Conference finals lead on May 21. source
Golden Knights 3, Avalanche 1: Vegas scored three in the third and took a 2-0 Western Conference finals lead on May 22. source

Records

Jack Eichel became the third-fastest U.S.-born player to 60 career Stanley Cup Playoff points. source
Colorado had been 45-0-0 when leading after two periods across the regular season and playoffs before the Game 2 loss. source

Final Bows

Beaches will play its final Broadway performance at the Majestic Theatre on May 24. source

Obituaries

Kyle Busch, two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and active Cup driver, died at 41. source

Creditors have better memories than debtors.

~ Poor Richard

Worth Reprinting

The Sewer Under the Sidewalk

Read it beside this week's river-oxygen piece because old pipes and warming water both show how yesterday's public works keep billing the present.

Every shortcut has a witness.

~ Robert