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

    Can we finally call it a coup?

    Egypt's democratic revolution is effectively over. The army has decided to roll back things back further than they stood when Mubarak fell. For several election cycles, the Muslim Brotherhood had been illegal but tolerated, even electing legislators as long as they ran as independents. That won't happen again.

    Orion's picture

    Review: Europa Report

    If you plan on watching this movie, beware of spoilers. I didn't really know how to review this movie without dropping a few. Sorry.

    It's the big question - Are we alone?

    Orion's picture

    The False Stigma of Public Housing

    My housing complex has a newsletter and I wrote this article for it - with the topic of public housing as the center of it. It turned out pretty fantastic - all the other ideas I had weren't very good. I thought I'd repost it here. Adrienne, who I mention in the article, was/is my editor. Let me know what you think. 

    Orion's picture

    "The Innovation of Loneliness"

    I thought this video would be very interesting for people here.

    This site is one of the more intimate ones I have ever been involved in - the feedback from this website has been way more intense and personal than anything that I ever did at San Francisco Examiner, Heritage or Elephant Journal. Way more intense. I feel like I have gotten to know especially Michael Maiello, artappraiser and PeraclesPlease really well (though the last one had to bear the brunt of some of my anger on the guns issue).

    Richard Day's picture

    MORT SAHL AND DAVID CROSS

    Mort Sahl Ed Sullivan 1960.JPG

    Mort Sahl explains politics in 1967:

    jollyroger's picture

    Bobby Kennedy framed Jimmy Hoffa for tampering with a jury which Hoffa. in fact, did.

    My father was subcontracted to write the  brief appealing  Jimmy Hoffa's conviction (his first, after years of frustrating Bobby Kennedy who was so obsessed with Hoffa that once he became Attorney General he assembled a "get Hoffa"--his words-squad.

    All parties to the attorney client privelege having died I believe I commit no trespass in quoting my father who said Hoffa was guilty but framed.

     

    That is to say, Kennedy manufactured evidence of true behavior.

     

    Richard Day's picture

    A NEW LOOK AT THE UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM

    LAMAR ALEXANDER

     

    THE NEW JOB PROGRAM

    I have an idea that will really create jobs in this country.

    I have studied this issue for decades.

    And I have finally found the answer.

    Orion's picture

    "Savor The Wanting"

    I work as an editor/agent/whatever-is-needed for a friend of mine, Luis Congdon. His first article with my assistance was published just yesterday and I'm really proud to congratulate him - his article "Savor The Wanting" for Elephant Journal is pushing towards 1800 views in only one day. 

    Read it for yourself:

     

    Three way of looking at a blackbird (ten more to go)

     

    OBAMA ON THE ECONOMY IN GALESBURG: STUBBORN POWER OF FALSE NEO-AUSTRIAN NARRATIVES WEBLOGGING

    Obama turns neo-Austrian:

    Towards the end of those three decades, a housing bubble, credit cards, and a churning financial sector kept the economy artificially juiced up. But by the time I took office in 2009, the bubble had burst, costing millions of Americans their jobs, their homes, and their savings. The decades-long erosion of middle-class security was laid bare for all to see and feel.

    The Decider's picture

    There isn't Much Time Left to STOP THIS THING!

    I have it on good authority that the brave men leading the battle to defund the government and stop Obamacare (Senators Cruz, Rubio, and Representative Tim Huelsump...or Fuelskamp...or Hulaskimp, or something) have been placed AT THE TOP of Obama's Death Panel List! Time is running out!

    jollyroger's picture

    Lily Ledbetter got her act. Shouldn't Edward Snowden?

    There has been extensive back and forth (not excluding here at the Dag) focussed on the proper way to characterterize Edward Snowden. The polar entries are traitor or full blown patriot/ Ellsberg redux.
    More focussed deconstruction debated " "whistleblower" vs. irresponsible publicity seeker unwilling to follow the logical mandate that civil disobeyers must surrender to, rather than flee from, "justice". ( fear quotes purposely used for intended irony...)

    Orion's picture

    Jazz And Hip-Hop: The Intersection Part Three - Pete Rock

    Hello all, so I have tried pretty hard to write some stuff about all the racial strife that America is going through thanks to the George Zimmerman ruling. Unfortunately, I have felt the need to just scrap almost all of it. I'm not really sure what can be said at this point.

    jollyroger's picture

    impunity bites

    There are few occasions for international irritation more abrasive than the refusal by one sovereign to honor the request of another that a fugitive from justice be surrendered to the tribunals if the aggrieved nation.

    Recall that the proximate casus belli for the longest war in American history was the refusal by the Taliban rump Afghan government to extradite Osama Bin Laden.

    THE TEXAS 500

    In case you didn’t notice, with all the recent fanfare involving ground-breaking Supreme Court decisions, government spying, or the demise of a Southern cooking empire, Texas—where they do everything on a grand scale—carried out its 500th “modern execution.” Modern, that is to say, since 1982, when the death penalty was resumed in that state.

    Wall Street Fleecing Main Street, Gaming Commodities

    While the public is thoroughly distracted with unending news and commentary on phone call logs, metadata, roller coaster accidents or the lack of accountability for the murder of a teen in Florida, one lonely article in the New York Times discusses how Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Blackrock are fleecing the consumer on Main Street with a game of merry go-round played with 1,500 lb. bars of aluminum in the environs of bankrupt Detroit:

    Orion's picture

    Jazz And Hip-Hop: The Intersection

    From Blood Is One:

    A while back, I made a post about Miles Davis where I played "Doo Bop Sound" - I heard that song for the first time when I was in high school, I think. I had no idea that that piano loop was actually a Gang Starr / DJ Premier beat. Gang Starr is comprised of Guru and DJ Premier - Guru has since passed away but Premier is still a producer. He is well known for producing beats for everyone from Nas to Royce da 5'9. This is the Gang Starr version:

    jollyroger's picture

    Free market risk assessment says Wayne La Pierre is full of shit.

    You don't need an MBA on staff to have access to exquisitely sophisticated risk management tools. Thanks to the miracle of competing insurance companies, underwriting expertise is constantly available to reduce to a fungible figure all the imponderable interacting risks that attend any activity.

     

    This figure, of course is your annual premium.

     

    Facebook Jailing & Voting Rights Act................. (I'm afraid of Americans)

    Unconcern about all the privacy scandals often wraps around "yeah, but it doesn't really affect you, theoretically these things could happen but in real life..."

    I made one of those comments out with a friend on 9/10 2001, something about the wisdom of the American people pulling back from too much hysteria.

    So here's Texas jailing a teen for violent-sounding (but fairly obvious joking) Facebook comments - now in his 5th month in jail awaiting trial, bail at $500K, charges up to 8 years in jail. Even if he's found innocent, he's served 5 months for a joke.

    DagTSB Report: Flight 214, Quebec Train Disaster

    As Director (acting) of the Dag Transportation Safety Blog, reports on each of two recent transportation disasters are below. For the Asiana flight 214, they say the official NTSB report will be over 900 pages long and take 18 months. DTSB works on a swifter less verbally expansive, 'in your face' manner in issuing reports.

    DTSB Flight 214 crash in SF:

    MrSmith1's picture

    Weiner-Spitzer ... Oy.

     

    With the prospect of a Weiner - Spitzer ticket for NYC Mayor and Comptroller now a real possibility, it's time to say:  "Dear Anthony and Eliot, please go away and let the next generation of Democrats have some career opportunities."  It's only been a day and I am already tired of the snide comments and snarky headlines.

    Orion's picture

    The Mind Of Prejudice

    A little note - Dagblog has a code, Terms Of Service, that we all are obligated to follow as long as we are here. I realize I've passed those bounds myself and so have others. This is a very heated issue and it is wise for all of us to try to watch ourselves.

    If you guys have the time, read this entire essay. It was sent to me by a friend from Florida and is written by a gentleman who obviously did not enjoy his experience working at a predominantly black school. If you can make it through, reading stuff like this is very important as it taps in to the mindset of many in our society:

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