The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Kansas

    By Flavius on Wed, 04/04/2018 - 12:36am |

    What ‘s the matter with  ………….(fill in blank)

     

    So stick in  Kansas and get it over with. But we´re not in Kansas anymore Toto.  Or Sri Lanka, or Suriname. Or…….

     

    Take it in steps

     

    1. Joe and Bonnie  Lunchpail don´t want to accept  they ŕe  losing ground.

    2. They were OK with standing  still .But Joe used to have season tickets and now it´s making it to an occasional  game . At best. And  he knows  what that means..And worse suspects Bonnie does too (and he´s right).

    3. Used to be that Joe L  felt bad for Greg in the next cubicle who was slipping.

    4. Whereas  now- and he  won´t admit this to Bonnie -or himself- he ´s secretly pleased.

           5 And don´t think he spends a moment of sincere pity for refugees .From Myanamar

              or where-ever..Maybe for a minute for a drowned 3 year old. He’s not a    ……....monster. Really

          6. But it´s gone on too long.Compassion is for the winners. And season tickets.

          7. What 's gone on too long ?

          8 Although Joe doesn't  know it.  It´s  is : A- 91.0% and B-37.0%

          9. Which happen to be the   top marginal ordinary income tax  rates .

             A  From 1951 to 1963 . 

            B This year ´s ¨Reform of the Tax Code¨

      JFK believed  a rising tide would raise all boats.  Turned out in only did  for the compound in Hyannisport.

    I can´t prove it  ( but don’t  believe Scott and Zelda when they say they can disprove it) but - as I used to  say in my  insufferable youth-  it´s intuitively obvious that as a country  we´re not  rich enough to afford a top marginal rate of only 37% . And a  Military to keep Vlad from treating us like Sevastapol , and bridges that    continue to make it  all the way over the Missouri .And a  five day School week in Oklahoma .(So itś  four days in Lawton. Big deal !).

    Meanwhile you can be sure  S and Z will glance up from  their Antarctica Cruise brochures long enough to contribute to this  year´s Republican Campaign Fund.

    In  order to finance this years clever campaign to convince a million and a half more Joe´s  to once again send  a Republican candidate  to   the House

     

    Comments

    yes


    by A Guy Called LULU on Wed, 04/04/2018 - 5:19am

    Some of the Lunchpails may be rethinking things. A Liberal Democrat won a Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin. She defeated an NRA supported Republican. Backing came from Biden, Booker, Gabby Gifford, and Eric Holder.

     https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rebecca-dallet-wins_us_5ac3c75ce4b00fa46f873516


    by rmrd0000 on Wed, 04/04/2018 - 6:58am

    Five decades ago , a segregationist governor, George Wallace, peddled hate and division in reaction to the civil rights movement . Today , it is the president himself who is inciting anguish, bigotry and fear.

    Jesse Jackson , today 's Times

     

     


    by Flavius on Wed, 04/04/2018 - 9:44pm

    I think that  should stand alone not diluted  by any contribution from me.

    Now here´s that .

    I don´t  necessarily have a bleak view of human nature.  At bad times (like these) I open the Epilogue of the ¨Brothers Karamzov ¨.

    Alyosha speaking

    ...¨ Boys, ...whatever happens to us in life  let us remember how we buried the poor boy at whom we once threw stones, do you remember , by the bridge ? and afterwards we all grew so found of him.....And we will remember him ,boys, all our lives.

     ..perhaps you won´t understand what I am saying to you......but you ´ll remember it all the same....some good sacred memory ...is perhaps the best education.....if one has only has one good memory ..left .in one ´ s heart , even that may sometime be the means of saving us.....

    ......But however bad we may become.......when we recall  Ilusha ....the cruelest and most mocking of us....will not to dare to laugh inwardly at having been kind and good at this moment.

    .........................................

    ¨ Karamazov , we love you¨ a voice cried impulsively.

    ...........................................................................................

    That also shouldn't be diluted so I won ´t.

     


    by Flavius on Wed, 04/04/2018 - 10:33pm