The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Richard Day's picture

    MEATHEAD TRIUMPHS OVER T-RUMP

     

    REINER: The words that have been flung out from his mouth are insane. If he was not a celebrity, if Donald Trump was not a celebrity, the words that come out of his mouth, you’d see a guy in a park, a lunatic in a park on a soapbox, and you’d walk right by him. But the fact that he is a celebrity, all of a sudden, we’re all interested.

    Bernie calls for a revolution

    America is broken. The problems are numerous. Banks, Wall Street Bankers, Hedge funds, big banks too big to fail, corporations, and rich bankers. Business as usual will not solve our problems. We need a Revolution. A Revolution of The People, The People who are democratic senators. The People who are democratic representatives. The People who are democratic governors and democratic mayors. The People who are democratic super delegates.

    Richard Day's picture

    T-RUMP TRIUMPHS?

    Joker (Alex Ross).jpg

    I cannot help it.

    No one else is doing this.

    But I just witnessed the strangest set of events I have ever seen.

    Is T-Rump the worst American ever?

    No.

    Hell, I watched George Wallace tell us Segregation Now, Segregation Forever.

    Obama's Smart War?

    Recent announcements of attacks on ISIS paint a picture of a rogue group of militants finally on the run, getting their come-uppance as it were (being "brought to heel", since I'm not running for office?). Defeated in battle, having $800 million in cash destroyed, even having the US turn up the heat on their famed social media advocacy (helped by rock star hackers Anonymous).

    After 7 years of maintaining and extending the Bush Doctrine to new countries, and tip-toeing around the Syrian conflict, has Obama finally found his groove, his not a "dumb war", but a smart war, one that has at least tangible benefits to what most people see as something worth fighting for?

    Hillary Releases Transcript

    Okay, not that one, but the Bejing one, but as bonus, you can find one of the Goldman Sachs videos below sans transcript. In the meantime, to answer Nancy Fraser (via Trkingmomoe):

    Horse Latitudes

    There's been a lot of discussion lately regarding fracking, obscene oil profits, and the need to funnel part of this largesse into social programs and needed improvements. Oil companies and their lobbyists are seen as immoral and exploitive, and the taint of money from any of these sources is an overriding theme to this campaign season. Moreso, as they're seen as the culprits both behind our endless Middle East wars and the growing concerns of global warming and greenhouse gases, with calls to phase out fossil fuels now, not later.

    Potentially Fatal Mistakes and the Necessary Correctives

    A year ago political insiders expected Hillary Clinton to waltz to the Democratic nomination.  Last July, Five Thirty Eight's Nate Silver opined Clinton might well win every primary except the first two.  Things didn't turn out quite that way.

    Clinton had to weather a surprisingly strong primary challenge from a self-described democratic socialist.  Weather it she did thanks to overwhelming support from both "strong" and "weak" Democrats.  Anxious moments came courtesy of "independent Democrats," among whom Bernie Sanders has a 10 point edge, and independents who prefer Sanders by a 5 to 1 margin.  Young voters, those least likely to register with either major party, have mostly abandoned Clinton.  The under-30 cohort favors Sanders by more than 3 to 1.

    Yeah, they have more money

    Hemingway's famous reply to Fitzgerald's "the very rich are different from you and me"

    Does being part of the 1% make you evil?

    Of course not. But it calls attention to the fact that we 99% are stupid. Not because we haven't executed our current versions of  Marie Antoinette. That  didn't provide any cake for the Paris poor.But because we've permitted the tax code to degrade to the extent that when a Susan Wojcicki earns an extra thousand dollars she'll pay the same $300 or so as her secretary.

    Who's Susan  Wojcicki?  I thought you'd never ask.

    Jane plays victim card

    So Jane Sanders goes on Fox to agree with Donald about how unfair the delegate process is.

    Let's see how hypocritical that stance is. Her big complaint is about closed primaries. But Hillary's won 11 open primaries yugely including semi-open Ohio, while Bernie won Michigan by the skin of his teeth (1%/17000 votes). New Hampshire was a closed primary, Oklahoma and Rhode Island semi-closed, but Vermont & Wisconsin were open - kudos, 2 open primary wins, finally.

    I'm Voting Your Vajayjay

    I've been a bit bewildered from the start - when people frame the election in terms of "voting your vagina", I expected a rousing round of "Hell yes!" At least I would, ever since I was 8 or 9 or so. I of course vote and think with my dick too, so it might be a bit conflicted, but "I'm in" was the expected response.

    STELLA !

    The campaign will be a three month revival of "Street Car".

    Trump represents Joe Lunchpail (R)  and scorns the Washington leadership.

    Hillary knows what Nancy Pelosi is going to say before she does. But thinks his millennial  women  worked  for Bernie to meet guys. (OK, I know that's what  Gloria and Madelyn think )

    One is terrifying  and the other's pushing  her "sell by" date. 

    Heaven help us! At least Hillary knows better than to rely on the kindness of strangers,

    Anyway, I'm glad she won.

    Richard Day's picture

    PATTON OSWALT LOSES THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE

    Patton Oswalt by Gage Skidmore.jpg

    I like this guy. He is about 6 to 8 years older than my kids and I began seeing his gigs on cable over the last 15 years.

    It is hard to gage the issue concerning time in these days. I mean, you might pick up something on cable that is fifteen years old and not even know it is a decade and a half ago.

    Louis CK has fun discussing his new family. Louis CK had his life and his riffs change forever.

    Comics change, if they are worth a damn.

    Richard Day's picture

    THE TRIUMVIRATE

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    Okay so Julius was worried about finances and Crassus had one hell of a lot of money.


    And Julius of course was 'related' to the familia of one of the Seven Sacred Hills.


    And so Julius had one of his daughters betrothed in marriage to a guy named Pompeii (who was another of those folks 'related' to another familia of another Seven Sacred Hills.

    armchair guerrilla's picture

    Yet Another Reflection on Prince

    Lord knows, anyone who has come within range of social media has seen his or her share of reflections on the death of Prince. They run the gamut from heartfelt and poignant to nauseatingly narcissistic.  Here then is my first effort at the genre.

    In 1981, I was a junior in high school.  I used to bring to school and carry around a portable cassette player to listen to music on the bus and in the woods smoking cigarettes and engaging in other prohibited activities.  I wasn't alone in this.  During breaks we'd run down to the smoking room (hard to imagine that now in HS!) or athletic fields and compete for selections.  We surely weren’t aware of it then, but our choices were about more than simply having a good time. It was a way of defining ourselves relative to our peers. The music you chose was a way of saying something about yourself, a statement of identity.  This is who I am because I listen to _____. 

    Whither Sanders supporters?

    Goliath has won.  Barring something truly extraordinary or tragedy, the Democratic presidential nominee will not be Bernie Sanders.  Not only does Hillary Clinton have a nearly unassailable advantage in pledged delegates and the support of the vast majority of super delegates, she is ahead in the few states which still haven't held primaries and which she needn't win in any event.  Under these circumstances, it does not behoove progressives to engage in magical thinking.

    Prince Retrospective

    Ever since I heard Dirty Minds and Controversy, I've been a big fan. "Annie Christian, Antichrist...."

    He combined Hendrix and funk, managed the cross-over, a bit clean, a bit dirty, get your big on butt over here - gotta get up, get down.... oh shit. Way too young. And then that duet with Beyoncé.... and the Revolution.

    See ya, dude - and thanks

    A walk down memory lane

     

    How we got into this fix

                     Maximum tax rate  for         

                        Ordinary Income     Capital Gains       Corporations  

                                                                                                      what else was happening

    Ike                     91.0                        25.0                     52            Interstate highways program

    Carter                 70.0                        39.9                     48

    Ice cream. And Newtown

    In the April 18th Financial Times, Edward Luce (Hillary Clinton's Missing Theme) lamented the fact that Hillary seems diffuse: Either in that same oped  or in one a few days earlier he essentially said  ask anyone, and they can tell you in 30 seconds what Trump or Cruz or Bernie intends to do. But Hillary, she just kind of suggests she'd do a better job of what Bill or Barak were doing..

    Not slamming her, lamenting, because he mostly agrees with her positions. Was he listening tonight I wonder?

    Bernie wins New York

    As Bernie wins over 50 of New York's 62 counties, it becomes obvious that Bernie Sanders has charmed a good portion of the electorate yet again, and there remain fierce concerns and problems to be resolved for Democrats, not just Independents who couldn't vote, and Americans as a whole. 

    Nonsense about Hillary

    For both of my readers, here's my list of the most nonsensical attacks on Hillary. Since it's important she win today I figure I should speak now or forever hold my peace- which I would certainly hate doing.

    1. She's hiding the contents of her speeches  to various bunches of investment bankers.?  Let's see. How many people were in the room?  And why haven't some of them spilled the beans?  Do you think every banker in the room was an FOH? Hasn't the media asked? The reason the contents haven't  been reported is because 'there's no there, there'.

    How Pathetic are We?

    (response to CVille Dem) Fun aside, all this joking about Sanders & his voters living in their mom's basement is quite a bit unfair, and worse, masking a much bigger problem.

    Richard Day's picture

    IT WAS 1980

    I was 29 years of age.

    I had a wife and a tiny baby boy and a girl of three years of age.

    I was fat and I drank a lot of beer.

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