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

    Post Truth In A Dystopian Present

    By librewolf on Wed, 02/01/2017 - 2:01am |

    We are in a time when things are so insane that there is a background refrain of "you can't make this stuff up." Unfortunately, at least two authors have. One is so well known that there are periods (like now) when his name-cum-description is frequently invoked: "Orwellian." The other is Max Barry, who is the author of Jennifer Government - a world where you are born into a corporation or government, and assume your positions at the appropriate time. It is the ideal of the corporatist state on a global scale.1 For me, there is an eerie echo of it as I watch businessman Trump, with zero knowledge (or interest) in the functions nor purpose of government, ride roughshod over the Constitution as he reshapes it to his comfort level.

    Scalia Rises from the Grave, Age 49

    By NCD on Tue, 01/31/2017 - 9:30pm |

    Only took less than 2 weeks and the Republicans have risen Scalia from the grave.

    Not only alive, but 25 years younger. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. Son of Anne Gorsuch Burford who tried under Reagan to gut the EPA.

    Gorsuch, ready and eager to guide America to the right for 30 or more years.

    DHS Border Agents Defy Court Orders

    By NCD on Sun, 01/29/2017 - 10:07pm |

    The spineless one, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), as might be expected, tweeted everything is OK.  He talked to DHS head John Kelly and Kelly said so.

    Senator Schumer needs to get out to JFK or Dulles airport and start taking names, specifically the name of who is in command of border control.

    Apparently court orders are NOT being followed. 'Official resistance' to court orders is reported across the nation and in NYC.

    The situation is described as 'Kafkaesque'.

    barefooted's picture

    Enough

    By barefooted on Fri, 01/27/2017 - 9:15pm |

    Enough.

    Our president calls those who oppose his policies, executive orders and general theatrics his enemies while his spokespeople who hold positions of unwarranted power declare the media corrupt.

    That one sentence scared me as I wrote it – and it’s extremely benign compared to what has been and will be written … or not.  Where even the internet and our freedom to use it goes from here is under attack; at this point opening our mouths to speak may be.

    How long do we wait?  How long do we laugh at the joke that hurts?

     

    librewolf's picture

    Trump Starts Running and So Many Troublesome Issues

    By librewolf on Wed, 01/25/2017 - 4:57pm |

    I am finding the beginning of the Trump Presidency frightening in both its content and lack of consideration for the humans involved. From calling all those not with him his 'enemies', to gagging a number of agencies and having them suspend contracts and grants (putting who knows how many out of work), to targeting the Dreamers (and one assumes their families) for ejection from the country; to banning Muslim refugees from entering the country. It is a slash and burn approach that is largely embedded in a perception of 'reality' which frankly is not reality.

    tmccarthy0's picture

    We Are Legion

    By tmccarthy0 on Wed, 01/25/2017 - 2:08pm |

    I had a little surgery on my left on Monday, can I just say, OW! I had a Pterygium. But here I am the youngest person in the Cataract and Eye Surgery Center in Bellevue Washington. So I am sitting waiting in an area where you get your eye put to sleep. I'd tell you how this is done, but as you can imagine, it's isn't pain-free! LOL. A woman is sitting directly across from me, she is reading her phone, but she is sitting right next to her mom and dad. I know because she called them, mom and dad! LOL.  

    Trump, Franken vs. Senate GOP

    By NCD on Tue, 01/24/2017 - 2:14pm |

    Forget for a moment all the issues surrounding the Keystone pipeline legality, that it will likely create few permanent jobs or that it may serve solely as a way to export Canadian oil and is not moving dirty tar sand oil for US use.

    Look at the hypocrisy of the Senate GOP in 2015 on where the steel would come from, and how Trump takes the 'not rocket science' use US steel side of Democrats on this today. 

    Richard Day's picture

    NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

    By Richard Day on Tue, 01/24/2017 - 12:40pm |
    I have my own prejudices for sure.
     
    I will not view a film or tv show with Gary Sinese or John Voight or a number of miscreants who I have witnessed libeling or slandering President Obama.

    However, I have created my own exceptions. I have a need to watch Clint and a number of other actors who express opinions that vary from mine.

    Fusing Group Identity and Class-Based Politics

    By HSG on Mon, 01/23/2017 - 12:27pm |

    In respective post-election “taking stock” articles, Columbia History Professor Mark Lilla for the New York Times and Alex Seitz-Wald at NBC suggest how the Democratic Party can return to prominence. Lilla contends that Trump’s victory should mark the End of Identity Liberalism. Identity liberalism, as practiced by Democrats like Hillary Clinton, consists of appeals to discrete groups identified by race, ethnicity, gender, and sexually orientation. This is a losing strategy, Lilla argues, and must be rejected in favor of one that seeks to attract voters based on shared economic interests and overarching national goals.

    tmccarthy0's picture

    A Potemkin Presidency with Baghdad Sean and Tokyo KellyAnn

    By tmccarthy0 on Sun, 01/22/2017 - 4:12pm |

    It's been a really weird day and a half. Things changed drastically for me after I'd read Emperor Tiny Fists inaugural address. The carnage was apparent as I approached the bus stop to go to the Womyn's March in Seattle. The carnage was real, I stepped over bodies as I ran to the unprotected bus stop. I knew I had to stop at a Walmart and get a shotgun because bears often attack us near public schools. It's a known fact grizzly, and brown bears crave a public education. After that, I made my way to the Army Surplus store to get some body armor because of all the carnage in the city! Every single day it's like NCIS LA out there. We've all seen it, we just didn't know we saw it. Alternative Facts people, you don't know, no one does.

    Boycott Trump

    By moat on Sun, 01/22/2017 - 2:37pm |

    I encourage all people to make a concerted effort to boycott Trump. I see that there already is an "app for that" and lists being compiled by different groups.


    In addition to not buying from Trump or any of his different investments, an effort is needed to identify which sources of income feed the Billionaire cabinet and do all we can to weaken the flow.

    We live in a market society. Let us the pick up the tools laying at our feet.

    How could this have happened?

    By Flavius on Sat, 01/21/2017 - 2:35pm |

    That's easy.   Bernie ran and Hillary lost.Take Pennsylvania for example

     

                                            PA      Election results in thousands

    Richard Day's picture

    MAY DAY! MAY DAY!

    By Richard Day on Thu, 01/19/2017 - 9:17pm |

    Maypole Dancing at Bishopstone Church, Sussex - geograph.org.uk - 727031.jpg

    May Day marked the middle of spring like Groundhog's Day acknowledges the middle of winter.

    librewolf's picture

    The Strange Firing of Maj. Gen. Errol R. Schwartz

    By librewolf on Thu, 01/19/2017 - 1:55am |

    Let me share the strange tale of the firing of Maj. Gen. Errol R. Schwartz who is in charge of the joint forces gathered for the inauguration on Friday.

    He "has spent months" helping with the planning of protection of the President-Elect/President, along with everyone else. In other words, this requires a high degree of coordination. The Washington Post broke the story and gives explicit detail.  Here are the specifics...

    Selfish Loser Dems

    By HSG on Tue, 01/17/2017 - 12:27pm |

    Establishment favorite neo-liberal Hillary Clinton faced an unexpectedly strong challenge from self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries.  Ultimately, Clinton lost disastrously in November to historically unpopular billionaire Donald Trump who posed as an economic populist. Sanders is now probably the most well-liked politician in America. Under these circumstances, you could be forgiven for expecting a chastened shrunken Democratic Senate minority to unite behind an unabashedly progressive economic agenda, but you’d be wrong.

    Richard Day's picture

    I GET THINGS WRONG SOMETIMES

    By Richard Day on Tue, 01/17/2017 - 11:20am |

    I get things wrong

    sometimes--or most of the time.

    They are currently playing Have Gun Will Travel on one of the five cable stations dedicated to old tv shows available to me.

    From the age of 7 or so I came to wonder at how someone could go through life with the first name of 'Wire'.

    As an adult, I thought that one of the stars of L&O was Christ North.

    librewolf's picture

    Globalization, Lost Jobs, Immigration and More

    By librewolf on Sun, 01/15/2017 - 7:22pm |

    Long before one line of NAFTA was written, manufacturing in the United States was dying. Not just factory after factory was shuttered, but entire industries were shipped out of the country, until virtually noting remained. While it is not part of this discussion, as manufacturing left, the strength of unions bled out onto the broken foundations of the dead factory floors. By the 1970's there was already the movement from an Industrial to Post Industrial society, and the burning question was 'Could a society that produced nothing survive?' (Something that is still a viable question) However, the question that was not raised until much later was 'Can the middle class survive?'

    Why Trump's Inauguration Will Be Different Than Any Before

    By Jason Gordon on Fri, 01/13/2017 - 2:15pm |

    Calling Donald Trump’s rise to the highest seat in the United States eventful is an understatement. In about one week, Trump will take the stage and officially be inaugurated as the 45h President of the United States. However, Trump's inauguration raises plenty of questions. Here is what you can expect to see in Washington D.C. on January 20th.

    Richard Day's picture

    PLEASE READ OGD

    By Richard Day on Wed, 01/11/2017 - 9:36pm |

    Maybe I am naive.

    Please just read Ducky.

    He just scared the shit out of me.

    Read his comments of course.

    I do not know how best to advertise this.

    No one is listening....or hearing...or reading.....

    HE GOT TO ME TODAY FOR CHRISSAKES

    http://dagblog.com/reader-blogs/hair-raising-must-see-film-21697

     

    QED

    By Flavius on Wed, 01/11/2017 - 6:52pm |

    IMHO in specifying today that the "Illegitimate son of Obama care"  will be passed on the same day as the burial of its oft-mocked predecessor Donald the T is committing that Trumpcare will offer equivalent benefits.

    Particularly since he was extremely clear during the campaign that he agreed with Obamacare's pre existing condition clause.

    Since s

    1 Accepting pre existing conditions is a money loser. In spades.

    2 To offset that loss on (1)  Obamacare  permitted Insurance.Co   to overprice everything else

    3 with UsSGOV  subsidizing  (2).

    Obamacare: Never was about Health Care for the GOP

    By NCD on Tue, 01/10/2017 - 1:18am |

    Obamacare was never about health care for Republicans. That's why they still don't have a health care plan of their own. Republicans don't do health care, because the 1% doesn't need one. For Republicans, it was always about Obamacare taxes, on the rich. Taxes which fund health insurance subsidies for the poor and the middle class. Eliminating those taxes is job one this week. And don't ever believe the GOP will ever pass any tax to replace those funds. The health care industry is in 'disarray' with how this comes out.

    Richard Day's picture

    THE NEW PC

    By Richard Day on Mon, 01/09/2017 - 3:06pm |
    Okay, so we now have this irritant known as Political Correctness. Or PC.

    Now just to start off; Personal Computer seems good PC to me!

    But if we move on to Laptop. Well, to tell the truth, most folks have laptops with gigabytes so much more intensive than the old PC's....I mean I have a Laptop with four wires coming out of it and I never ever move it...
    .
    Anyhow, laptop does not seem so PC to me.

    When in danger and in doubt

    By Flavius on Sun, 01/08/2017 - 1:43am |

    run in circles , scream and shout.

    1. Trump's not Putin .Yeah he'll be an undignified President but not a dumb or mean one .Personallly  I agree  with him (and Keynes)that "all goods should be homespun". Maybe clutching at straws but I'm hoping Ivanka will be a "friend at Court" re Global Warming.

    We survived worse . Nixonl

    2. If we retake the Senate in 2 years  we can save  Roe.

    3. We increase the odds of that  if the only demonstrating we do is

    to demonstrate our support of Chuck Schumer.

     


     

    stillidealistic's picture

    Republican Spank Bank

    By stillidealistic on Thu, 01/05/2017 - 10:10pm |

    I knew the country was in trouble as soon as it became obvious donald would win. But I had no idea how bad it would be.

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