Richard Wolfe: A business of ferrets
The word “venery" has two unrelated definitions and usages.
According to the Collins dictionary, the most recent (if you can call the late 15th century "recent") is rooted in the Latin veneria, referring to the goddess of love, Venus. Specifically, Collins describes venery as “the pursuit of sexual gratification.”
The second definition, first encountered some 200 years earlier, refers to groupings of specific types of animals. The term originated as part of hunting traditions throughout the Middle Ages and finds its origins in the Old French venerie, from vener, to hunt.
Many animal group names have been in use for centuries and have become part of the English language. Some group names, such as a "murder of crows" and a "parliament of owls," are symbolic of death, wisdom or knowledge. Others are physically descriptive, i.e. a "bloat of hippopotamuses," a "prickle of porcupines" or a "leap of leopards." Still others are just fun to say (a "clowder of cats," a "puddle of "platypi").
A group of female dolphins are a “party” (and didn’t we just have Girlfriends Weekend here in Holland?) while their male counterparts are a “team.”
A group of ferrets is called a "business."
The name "ferret" comes from the Latin furittus, meaning "little thief," not least because they love secreting away small items. Ferrets can be kept as pets, but they are closely related to skunks, and, like skunks, they can spray — noxiously so — when excited or afraid.
Washing a ferret isn’t a good idea. Their oil glands will work extra hard to replace the oils that get washed away, only making them smellier.
The Republican National Committee is also called a business.
The RNC, by dint of installing as co-chair the daughter-in-law of the man President Joe Biden referred to simply as his "predecessor," has signaled its intention to secret away all the sketchy conduct and dark finances that will benefit no one other than the predecessor.
Stretching the analogy, the predecessor has in the past, and will again in the future, spray rancid and disgusting lies as he ping-pongs back and forth between the fabricated excitement of his evermore poorly attended rallies and his poorly masked fear of the reckonings he can’t escape.
RNC whitewashing will only intensify the odor that has so many former supporters and voters turning away in search of fresh air.
In related news …
As reported by WBEZ, the NPR station in Chicago, the other newly minted RNC co-chair, election denier Michael Whatley, sent a three-page memo to staff on March 14 emphasizing the organization's new focus — voter turnout, creating a united front with the Trump campaign and election integrity.
Jump to the second "focus" item, which is nothing more than a slick misdirection. "United front" is a clumsy euphemism, used to veil the draining of funds away from other Republican candidates’ campaigns — up and down the ticket — and into the coffers that underwrite the predecessor’s legal bills, both for attorneys and for financial penalties.
The third "focus" item is a weak echo of what failed so completely in 2020. The RNC is taking steps to prioritize legal challenges wherever an anti-MAGA outcome is either foreseen or results. To this end, the RNC hired "Ms. Integrity" Christina Bobb, she of the falsification of the classified records and surrendering pursuant to federal subpoena at the predecessor’s Florida compound.
The first "focus" item, however, is an absolute puzzlement. How is the RNC going to "emphasize" voter turnout when it has officially scrapped its plan to encourage early voting and shuttered its mail-in voting program. Concentrating on the base alone, and insisting they physically show up at the polls on election day only, is rank political malfeasance.
It is a fact that Nikki Haley drew over 3 million votes in the Republican primaries before she officially dropped out. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll found that only about 37% of Haley's supporters plan to vote for the predecessor. Some 16% said they would vote for Biden and the rest said they would vote for someone else or not vote at all.
Those 16% of the non-MAGAs are set to be a double dead loss hit (increase to Biden, decrease to the predecessor). Nearly half of Haley supporters (47%) could yet stay home. Or could yet vote for Biden.
So, things seem to be going well. For Democrats.
Not least because the predecessor is running his campaign like his businesses.
Ineptly. Maybe criminally so.
— Community Columnist Richard Wolfe is a resident of Park Township. Contact him at wolf86681346@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Richard Wolfe: A business of ferrets
