Thursday’s thumbs

Yes, we must acknowledge that game

We’re back at it again, offering our up- and down-turned digits on major and minor developments in our neck of the woods and beyond. Let us remind everyone that this is the Editorial Page, where important and serious issues are pondered and sometimes even elucidated (You don’t see that word in the Sports Section, do ya?).

But how about them Hogs! And here’s a question: Has there ever been a year at the University of Arkansas in which students and other fans of the Razorbacks rushed the field after a huge win in football (Texas), then rushed the court after a victory over the No. 1 basketball team in the nation?

Yes, it’s “just” a game. But tell that to the thousands of fans who poured onto Nolan Richardson Court Tuesday night and the tens of thousands more watching across the state and beyond. The team did the state proud, and it was gratifying to see the players dancing on the scorer’s table, celebrating a moment forever etched in their minds and those of fans everywhere.

Count us among the thankful that the Arkansas State Police and Arkansas Highway Police have launched their “Slow Down, Phone Down” enforcement campaign to discourage distracted driving. Two Arkansas Department of Transportation employees have been killed recently in work zones and fatal accidents are at numbers not seen in several years. Mobile phones have been around long enough that people know better than to let them distract from driving, and yet it happens all the time, with deadly consequences. People allowing themselves to be distracted need to feel the pressure to put their phones — or other distractions — away. Unfortunately, that sometimes means writing people traffic tickets.

A national organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, seized on the private development of a park in Bentonville that will feature a statue of a Confederate soldier to declare that the city of Bentonville should cancel its plans to honor advocates of white supremacy and slavery. The only trouble is, it’s not the city of Bentonville building the park. As we noted in an editorial Sunday, the park will exist precisely because the time had come to remove the Confederate statue from public property. Once that was accomplished, it’s up to its owner, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, to decide whether it wants to display the statue on private property. The CAIR organization urged cities nationwide to rid themselves of such symbols, but showed poor knowledge of Bentonville’s situation, because Bentonville has done just what the organization says it wants.

The Associated Press reports on the odd trend of continued sharing of streaming service passwords, sometimes for years, after people’s romantic relationships end. Some people apparently continue to share access to Netflix, Disney and other services long after their marriages or dating relationships end. And it sometimes even continues with exes after one or both are in new relationships. Does anyone else think this is strange? If one’s personal relationship is over, why in the world would anyone want a digital relationship to linger?