Blog Posts

"Irony my Shirt": 18 months on

It's 18 months past the stolen election, and we can itemize different ways it was stolen/cheated/rigged, even if all the testimony and indictments haven't come through yet. There's enough to piece together. Not just the politics, but the whole background of criminality and illegal hidden influence. And of course the successful effort to start tearing apart our government (put in place those determined to destroy what they're in charge of - hardly subtle).

Topics: 

18 months on: "irony my shirt" edition redact

It's 18 months past the stolen election, and we can itemize different ways it was stolen/cheated/rigged, even if all the testimony and indictments haven't come through yet. There's enough to piece together. Not just the politics, but the whole background of criminality and illegal hidden influence. And of course the successful effort to start tearing apart our government (put in place those determined to destroy what they're in charge of - hardly subtle).

Celebrating Tangier (Tanja)

There's also The Spider's House in Fez and Paul Bowles' amazing Collected Stories 1939-1976, but nice to have all the translations of local Tangiers writers.

And then there's music from Jajouka....

Personal Best: Roger Bannister laps in at 88

Back in a still rough post-war era reviving personal dreams - measurable, daunting, somehow achievable.

It's not that other sports measures aren't great, or that the 4-minute mile wasn't in a way much more arbitrary than the ascent of Everest, but still, a definite challenge in an age of breaking the sound barrier and other advances.

Topics: 

The Accidental Revolution

A funny thing has happened to the Revolution on steroids that was supposed to take us by storm. The complaints that would define us turned out to be lukewarm after all (seems whites in flyover country were less than worried about jobs, and the need for free education hasn't been dominating the front pages (yet?), while others like $12/$15 minimum wage are less than likely to get a national listening under current government).

But several issues have gained traction - some old, some new, some red, some blue... #MeToo may be receiving some deflection, but it appears it's real beyond pink pussyhats and the casting couches of Hollywood. Even Fox had a heretic on its CPAC review, and tried quickly to veer off into "poor accused men", before going viral.

#RussiaGate is now in full scandal mode with domestic and foreign indictments, full charges against Manafort, Gates in full confessional flip mode, and the Nunes Memo now rebutted and exploded all over GOP faces.

#BlackLivesMatter is a thing - the smear job against black athletes has finally failed, and worries about blacks' security and well-being have gained prominence over traditional canards about the troops and the needs of sport fans, while Michael Steele just blew the racist club out of the CPAC water.

Feeding the Dinosaurs: The Death of Movement 2.0

I'm going to do what I largely dislike doing - linking to a New Republic article instead of writing me own blog piece - because it needs to be discussed.

10 years ago we'd won the Presidential election, and had introduced a new modern style of grassroots participation that had started with Howard Dean's shortlived efforts in 2004.

Battle of the Sexes: On Bonsai Trees & Suburban Myths

A quote recently about men's role in the changing state of affairs (pardon the pun) struck me as rather bitchy and dismissive: "Oh, how fragile is the ego of a man. We must never let him feel like a bonsai in a grove of California redwoods..." The same article goes on to note men's time spent with children nearing women's (ignoring any Roy Moore jokes there). So why the insult and calumny? It's not like men aren't evolving to meet the changing societal situation, whatever the headlines. It's also not like men aren't on the brutal receiving end of many of these changes.

Battle of the Sexes: War's not the absence of Peace

Once upon a time in a land far away, we had big people and smaller people, and the bigger people largely took care of the smaller people and the smaller people largely did what the bigger people wanted, and this comic-book characterization carried on for a few millennia. Beneath the cartoonist's rendition, there was a lot of smudgy tawdry goings-on, but in a regular newspaper, you can only get so much detail.

Eventually people discovered tools, which went from simple stuff like big sticks used as clubs on to more subtle stuff like x-ray spectrometry and online marketing, which confused the hell out of early caveman/woman, but is slowly becoming comprehensible to their descendants.

Victory for 3rd Way Democrats?

Well, it's Monday morning, figuratively speaking, and victory has many fathers & mothers while losing's an orphan, as JFK noted. So putting a stake in the ground...

Has the centrist Democrat revived over the last year? Let's see how this went - Wilmont Collins won as a black Liberian immigrant in Helena - and a member of Child Protection Services and the Naval Reserves - focused on support for the homeless and increased funding for police and fire departments. Can we split that baby any nicer?

Topics: 

Week in Rear View: All the Kingsmen

Lost almost an hour's worth of link collecting last night trying to summarize the shape we're in, so here's a quick stab as the news keeps piling up.

Big news last week was Manafort & Gates being indicted last week & finding out Papodopolous had pled and talked some months ago - Rick Gates being key as he stayed on with Trump's campaign to the end, while Manafort slid out earlier to avoid controversy (but never cut connections), while more of Manafort's ties to Russian mafia/power brokers became public. Judge found this week Manafort's release from home confinement denied as risky. But that quickly led to a slew of other revelations.

Remember, Trump himself notes he hires all the smart people, the rich people. What you're smelling is the stench of burning braincells and crime cells - ain't it grand?

Pages

TypeTitleAuthorRepliesLast updated
Reader blogMeme busted:U.S. is a systemically racist country artappraiser332 years 6 months ago
Link[AFRICA news] Special Forces Colonel Says He Has ‘Seized’ Guinea’s President artappraiser282 years 6 months ago
LinkTaking a seat to fight crime in Black neighborhoods rmrd0000202 years 6 months ago
LinkExpert Backs NCD on Drone Strike, BBC NCD322 years 6 months ago
LinkGeorge Bush's 9/11/21 speech @ Shanksville, PA artappraiser152 years 6 months ago
LinkShe’s One Of Congress’s Leading Progressives. Just Not In Her Own Office, Staffers Say artappraiser32 years 6 months ago
LinkNYT: No Bomb or ISIS in Drone Strike that 10 Died NCD142 years 6 months ago
Link'Get worried': Gavin Newsom's supporters are trying to bridge an enthusiasm gap by pumping up the fear Orion72 years 6 months ago
LinkChelsea Manning Says She’s ‘Terrified’ of Former Pal Glenn Greenwald artappraiser52 years 6 months ago
Reader blogOf course the Taliban will let us leaVe unmolested... jollyroger232 years 6 months ago
Link Iran’s hijab war as politics by other means artappraiser32 years 6 months ago
Link[CRIME News] 3 Arrested After Man Shoots AK-47 Into Air Near Temple University, Police Say artappraiser822 years 6 months ago
LinkYour AI soulmate censored PeraclesPlease02 years 6 months ago
Reader blog[World Stage] Palestinians reject vaccines PeraclesPlease742 years 6 months ago
LinkIt's done! Anti-vaxxers in NYC get to stay home and go nowhere starting tomorrow artappraiser912 years 6 months ago
LinkIvermectin — For and Against, Briefing Document A Guy Called LULU22 years 6 months ago
LinkAre Taliban Just the Proud Boys of Afghanistan? NCD212 years 6 months ago
Creative[Everybody else's history] Bad stuff happened, gets forgotten... artappraiser642 years 6 months ago
LinkThe 'Great Resignation' is likely to continue, as 55% of Americans anticipate looking for a new job artappraiser42 years 6 months ago
LinkLouisiana braces as Hurricane Ida may strengthen to Cat. 4 (exactly 16 yrs. after Katrina) artappraiser232 years 6 months ago
CreativeThe Black Surfers rmrd000022 years 6 months ago
CreativeEd Asner & the Secular Rabbi PeraclesPlease02 years 6 months ago
CreativeThird World Magic - Captivation & Exorcism PeraclesPlease12 years 7 months ago
Reader blog[Policing problems redux] Guilt from teen who took Floyd's $20 artappraiser2402 years 7 months ago
LinkTaliban photo appears to mock Iwo Jima flag raising in latest propaganda push Orion82 years 7 months ago

Pages

Latest Comments