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

    Check Out My Music

    By Orion on Sat, 07/20/2019 - 5:10pm |

    I wrote this song (vocals, guitar and samples are by singer Eva Gnostiquette). Check it out: 

     

    This one too:

     

    Orion's picture

    A Flashback To Nixon

    By Orion on Mon, 07/15/2019 - 5:14am |

    Dag readers no doubt heard about Trump's offensive comments toward female Democratic congresswomen. I thought it'd be prescient to remember when a similar man was in the White House (Nixon even personally told Trump once that he would "make a great president"). Just imagine if he had had a Twitter account: 

     

    jollyroger's picture

    Gestapo! Don't answer the door!

    By jollyroger on Sun, 07/14/2019 - 4:28am |

    At the behest of Mi Reina (AOC) and my vestigial conscience, I am joining a cadre of canvassers today to help inform any who may benefit therefrom, that they have rights in the face of the impending ICE raids.

     

    Principally, of course, the paramount instruction DON'T ANSWER THE DOOR.

     

    This paltry bit of symbolic resistance causes me to confront the wider and more difficult question that lurks.

     

    jollyroger's picture

    Tsipras joins May in snap election loser hall of fame...

    By jollyroger on Sun, 07/07/2019 - 6:23pm |

     

    Heads of state who are bound by fixed terms must envy, from time to time, the parliamentary leaders who can snap their fingers (as it were) and muster up a surprise election.

     

    Surely, one might think, this lightning bolt, when deployed, would signal that the perpetrator had caefully analyzed the electoral terrain.

     

    Or not...

     

    I just can't vote for a woman

    By ocean-kat on Fri, 07/05/2019 - 3:49pm |

    Sorry dag bloggers but we have to face the reality that a woman can't do what's needed in a debate with Trump. Punch him in the face. Biden is the only nominee that promises to beat Trump to a bloody pulp if he so much as walks to close to him. He claims a long history of punching people in the mouth as evidence to back up his ability to fuck up Trump.

    jollyroger's picture

    "They took over the airports", If you think your script says that, don't blurt it out!

    By jollyroger on Fri, 07/05/2019 - 11:55am |

    As if to minimize his moronic display, explanations of Trump's July 4th encomium to the rag tag rebels of 1775 has been attributed to "trouble reading the teleprompter"...

     

     

     

     

    Orion's picture

    Mad Magazine Is Over

    By Orion on Wed, 07/03/2019 - 11:49pm |

    Dude, Mad Magazine is over. Maybe Pete Buttigieg made a good move in saying Donald Trump's nickname for him ("Alfred E. Neuman") was outdated.

    Orion's picture

    TRUMP'S CYNICAL BUILD UP OF TENSION PART 2: MEXICO COOPERATES

    By Orion on Wed, 07/03/2019 - 12:21am |

    When a leftist president was elected in Mexico, one who had attempted to win office but been passed over in favor of more centrist candidates, one might think that would mean confrontation between Mexico and America's president, who opened his campaign by saying Mexico was sending "drugs," "crime," and rapists." Apparently not: 

    What I like about Frank

    By artappraiser on Sun, 06/30/2019 - 5:07pm |

    When he's trying to spot trends, his only motive is: spotting trends:

    Orion's picture

    It Is Now Conservative To Be Anti-War

    By Orion on Fri, 06/28/2019 - 10:43pm |

    Being anti-war is now conservative:

    Trump Threatens Withdrawal from 1848 Treaty

    By NCD on Wed, 06/26/2019 - 3:31pm |

    After attacking Japan today and "lamenting what he views as an unequal military alliance" Wednesday, claiming that if the US is attacked, Japan "doesn't have to help us at all" and "can watch it on the Sony television."

    He then lit into Mexico and connected an 1848 Treaty to the crisis at the border.

     Trump also asked why Mexico got paid millions for losing a war against the US in "the Treaty of Guadalupe"... "Mexico attacked us and we responded, then to settle the war they gave us Utah, Colorado and California which were already American anyway, and then they got paid a huge sum of blackmail money." He went on "Who names a Treaty after the woman who used to clean my resort residence in New Jersey?"

    Orion's picture

    Trump's Cynical Build Up Of Tension

    By Orion on Wed, 06/26/2019 - 7:43am |

    There's a whole lot of jubilation out there that Donald Trump cut short a military operation that could have started a catastrophic war with Iran. Iran is a massive country with a population of 81.16 million. It is at the nexus of America's tension in the Middle East, from the implementation of the Shah to the revolution during Carter's administration to the Iran-Iraq war and then the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. It is no mistake that so much blood and treasure was spent occupying two countries directly bordering Iran. Iran has ties with most of the world, located as it is at the heart of the nexus between Central and South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. It's an ancient and impressive civilization. Everyone seems to get this ... now.

    Orion's picture

    Reparations Should Be Done Right

    By Orion on Wed, 06/26/2019 - 12:19am |

    We should have slavery reparations, not just as reparations for slavery itself but also for the legacy of lynching, mass incarceration, and housing and workplace discrimination, which at its height, went to a level that crossed in to urban planning and design (Dan Crenshaw's congressional district geographically cuts out the predominantly African American area of Houston, Texas).

    Orion's picture

    Passing The Torch From WWE To UFC

    By Orion on Wed, 06/26/2019 - 12:03am |

    I remember when I blogged here before that Michael Maiello was really in to the WWE. WWE was truly a strange creation and while it dominated the market for "sports entertainment," with copycats like TNA or WCW mimicking its image, in retrospect, it seems like the creation of madman Vince McMahon.

    Orion's picture

    The Death Of Naivety

    By Orion on Tue, 06/25/2019 - 11:26pm |

    I found this interesting: 

    "Ocasio-Cortez’s 'concentration camps' comment questions an old orthodoxy: that only other countries—and not the U.S.—are capable of evil.

    jollyroger's picture

    His crimes cry out to Heaven...he is an abomination

    By jollyroger on Tue, 06/25/2019 - 11:02pm |

     

    What, after all, is the breaking point?

     

    In a week that produces a crescendo of evil, juxtaposing unspeakable cruelty to children with outright rape, how can the House not proceed with impeachment, regardless of the putative complaisance of the Repugnant  majority in the Senate..

     

    Failing to  impeach is  to turn a blind eye to the clear obligation that simple humanity imposes.

     

    He cannot be allowed to proceed in this fashion untrammeled, at least by the clear accusation of his serial crimes, made concrete.

     

    Orion's picture

    Random Thoughts On The World Part 1

    By Orion on Sun, 06/23/2019 - 4:59am |

    Taken from Facebook statuses.

    1. Miles Davis put more soul and effort in to Sketches of Spain than Kind of Blue. I didn't listen to the former until well after I heard the latter. It's the real deal as far as composition.

    2. Western society has progressed from printed information to putting all of our information in a cloud. If that cloud ever shuts down, we might not leave much more behind than ancient civilizations did - and the physical inside of a computer will seem as comprehensible as hieroglyphics.

    AOC, Omar Vote with GOP to Protect Trump Powers

    By NCD on Wed, 06/19/2019 - 6:23pm |

    The Democrat Purity Angels who joined with the unanimous Republican rejection of the Bill which passed, on the votes of Democrats alone.

    • Heck
    • McAdams
    • Ocasio-Cortez
    • Omar
    • Peterson
    • Pressley
    • Tlaib

     

    Thinking of spending the $10 for this article

    By artappraiser on Tue, 06/18/2019 - 11:38pm |

    Meantime I'm parking the link to the abstract here:

    Orion's picture

    Everyone's Podcasting! But Who Is Still Reading?

    By Orion on Sat, 06/15/2019 - 10:49pm |

    In Berkeley, there are many copies on display of Slavoj Zizek's "In Defense of Lost Causes." After his debate with Jordan Peterson, it was the book put up in Berkeley to promote him. The book is fantastic and Zizek's analysis is incredible - his writing on Mao, on artificial intelligence, even on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein novel, is all stellar. All of it was clearly written in the 2000s, however, as there are a bunch of references to George W. Bush or Hugo Chavez.

    Since then, he has mostly become known online in videos on YouTube. His persona is being built through various interviews on Russia Today, at college seminars, Vice documentaries, etc. Unlike a lot of people today, he doesn't seem to produce the videos himself, which I guess makes him kind of an outlier.

    Mueller

    By Flavius on Thu, 05/30/2019 - 12:19am |

     

    "Obstruction of Justice undermines the social contract: if most people jump the turnstile  I'm tempted to jump it too.

    And the subway goes broke.

    But if  jumpers , are punished ,I'll pay for my ride. And the subway works .

    If the  Governor frees all the jumpers  he has to be punished by a higher level of Government.

    To make sure jumpers fear getting caught. And pay. And the subway will work.

    But if the President frees jumpers he's obstructing justice ;  that should  be punished by ,say, the Attorney General.

    Shouldn't it?

    Any recent racism in the U.S.

    By artappraiser on Tue, 05/28/2019 - 7:05pm |

    definitely isn't because of lack of news coverage; check out what Zach Goldberg found out on this thread:

    1/n Spent some time on LexisNexis over the weekend. Depending on your political orientation, what follows will either disturb or encourage you. But regardless of political orientation, I'm sure we can all say 'holy fucking shit'

    — Zach Goldberg (@ZachG932) May 28, 2019

    Advice for us all from Charles Darwin

    By artappraiser on Mon, 05/27/2019 - 5:07pm |

    For aficionados of dark humor

    By artappraiser on Thu, 05/23/2019 - 11:48pm |

    Check out some of the tweeted replies to the U.S. Army's new twitter campaign:

    How has serving impacted you?

    — U.S. Army (@USArmy) May 23, 2019

    I found it because this one reply was retweeted by the great veteran NYTimes reporter C.J. Chivers.

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