Slant

• If the East Grandstand of Historic Hayward Field is so hazardous, why were so many track fans allowed to sit on it during the Prefontaine Classic May 25 and 26? We were waiting for it to “collapse” with every cheer.

• Something about the scale of the University of Oregon’s women’s softball program is so much fun. Here we are, ranked first in the country, playing in the world series in Oklahoma City, and President Michael Schill gives the players what the Register-Guard calls a “group hug” after they win the super regionals in Eugene on May 26.  Hard to imagine a  “group hug” for the football team.

• If you are a strategic thinker, someone who loves public policy, and a fighter for economic justice, here’s a good job for you. It’s the next executive director of the Oregon Center for Public Policy, the progressive think tank in Portland founded and headed by Chuck Sheketoff for the last 20 years. He will be a hard act to follow, but the importance of OCPP to this state and country right now is apparent in the slogan, “Because facts matter.”

• Nationally, stories are swirling about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) losing children and purposely separating parents from children as a way to deter families from crossing the border into the U.S. While the issue of ICE losing 1,475 immigrant children is more complex than it might first appear — experts have pointed out that the unaccompanied minors can be sent to relatives who may not want to be found because of the risk of deportation — separating children from their parents in order to attack immigrants is simply inhumane and cruel.

• What we’re reading: Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by tech skeptic Jaron Lanier. The book, published May 29, was written before the news of Cambridge Analytica, Russia and Facebook. A virtual reality pioneer whose writing includes 2010’s You Are Not a Gadget, Lanier argues forcefully that Facebook and similar platforms poison social discourse in their endless quest for clicks and money.