The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    Rebuking Ronald Reagan--The Real City on a Hill swears in a Sandinista as Mayor

    By jollyroger on Wed, 01/01/2014 - 2:14pm |

    By the time "Imagine" (the Hippie Internationale...) was being sung, I had completed the transition from teary, to weeping to uncontrollable sobbing.

     

    (I know, I know, I am a pussy...)

     

    If he had retained enough cognitive function to know his own name when he died (he didn't...) Ronald Reagan would be spinning like a top.  

     

    As you will by now have surmised, I watched Bill de Blasio be sworn in today as Mayor of New York City.

     

    In passing, and with his reference to FDR, I remarked on how the Roosevelts (both of them) were products of New York. (Warren/deBlasio, '16?)

     

    I always figured that California, in the person of Jerry Brown, would save the nation,and it could still happen.

     

    I'm not ready to surrender my San Francisco voter registration, but Precious Blood of the Sweet Baby Jesus, I'm proud today to say that I'm a native New Yorker.

    Comments

    I watched it too and got teary eyed.  We so need more of this.  It gave me hope that the country is starting to turn around.  There is so much unnecessary pain being inflicted on the lower classes.  We are going to see a push back take root this year in more than New York. 


    by trkingmomoe on Wed, 01/01/2014 - 8:04pm

    I was astonished by the junior poet laureate, the freshman from St. John's who could win a poetry slam in a heartbeat.  Let alone that they sung "Imagine"--as in, "imagine no religion", which has to be the repugnants worst nightmare.  And let's not forget, it wasn't just an electoral victory, it was a fuckin' rout.


    by jollyroger on Wed, 01/01/2014 - 8:28pm

    I saw mainly his speech.  I have small kids here today and had to make a point to see that. I thought the speech was good and right on the mark.  I am sure heads exploded at "imagine there is no heaven" on the religious right.  His pre-K statement and telling the world that the rich would only have to give up one latte a day to make this possible in NYC, was what brought on my glassy eyed moment. It just pointed out how incredibly mean and selfish the Republican ideology.  I bet they don't even finish those lattes most of the time. All kids should be given the opportunity to dream big as well as communities. 

    I think the author of the "Invisible Child" should get the Pulitzer for that piece of journalism.   I read it all in one sitting because it was so true.  I live with poverty all around me and I felt that was such a honest look at what it is like for so many of these kids.  As you know I live in South Florida, I could take you on a tour of the local homeless camps that are close to me.  Many in this town don't even know they are here.

    Pundits are still not sure what to make of the new Mayor of NYC.  It caught them by surprise, so will some other elections in 2014.  After all Charley Cook says it will be a Republican year...blab, blab and blab.   It also proves that we need to field Democrats in all races because you can't build a party with out new unexpected talent.   


    by trkingmomoe on Thu, 01/02/2014 - 4:22am

    "Imagine" is de Blasio's favorite song, come to find out!  I think I'm gonna like this.


    by jollyroger on Thu, 01/02/2014 - 9:20pm

    Here's something you may not like:

    John Miller, of  recent 60 Minutes agitprop piece for NSA, was just appointed NYPD's Counter Terrorism Chief.


    by artappraiser on Fri, 01/03/2014 - 7:40pm

    Yeah, I noticed that with some displeasure.

     

     O/T as I know you to be a Mad Man fan, I made the best investment of entertainment dollars possible (Netflix) and having binged through Breaking Bad, I dipped my toe into Mad Men and IT STINKS

     

    I got two thirds through first episode and quit in disgust...seriously heavy handed caricatures of the men in the sixties (I was there....)  My cousin says it gets better.  I'll try after I binge through Sherlock.

    also O/T you must have caught the Keno twin touting the Livingston manuscript they found at Morris-Jumel?

     


    by jollyroger on Fri, 01/03/2014 - 7:54pm

     My cousin says it gets better

    My fandom is based on coming to it quite late, like 4th season. I don't think I've seen most of like the first three seasons. I eventually got fascinated enough by the main characters to look up their history on various sites when I felt I didn't understand something, but I feel that even without that sort of cheat, I would have enjoyed many episodes. But an initial binge does help very much, you don't warm to it without a few episodes under the belt.

    If you are plot-oriented, you probably won't like it. It is very character-oriented. Despite the whole cliff-hanger thing when it's happening, in the end you realize that what you've grown attached to is the change/growth of characters.

    One part of the allure is that the costuming is pretty accurate (and sophisticated--i.e., the old farts are wearing out of style stuff, class and age differences paid much attention as to style of the time) so many wimmins and drag queens and the like perhaps are more prone to like it right off without knowing the characters than guy guys would. Which reminds me, through the seasons, the main protagonist has gone from hip young guy to at the end of the season basically old fart-still wearing grease-backced hair and a grey suit--showing how fast the decade moved.

    caught the Keno twin touting the Livingston manuscript

    He didn't discover it, the Jumel archivist did. His auction house is about as beginner as you can get, with mostly relatively low $ value items and low volume compared to most other houses. He very much needs it to do well and for people with expensive stuff to sell to know about that happening.

     


    by artappraiser on Fri, 01/03/2014 - 9:23pm

    Re: Mad Men vs. Breaking Bad.

    It just occurred to me that I should also it was very very hard for me to warm to Breaking Bad, much more so than Mad Men. And I also came to that late, skipping a lot of the original seasons. (Doing the same thing, checking on the net for summaries and commentary when I didn't understand something.) Once I understood the characters, though, I was hooked on seeing the final season. It see it as a lot more plot driven than Mad Men, as finely developed as its characters were. I guess it's that Mad Men has those cultural history things that some find immediately extremely appealing, even addicting, even if they don't know what's going on, and others do not. Many times when I first tried to watch Breaking Bad, and would go "yuck, this is just another psychologically violent boy movie" and change the channel. I really didn't get interested until I read up on the plot and characters a bit more.


    by artappraiser on Fri, 01/03/2014 - 9:40pm

    I dunno, I think Michael Moore had it all down, as they say:

    There was some comedian who I cannot find. Years ago he said:

    Reagan was to the Reagan Administration as a steel icon is on the front of a Mac Truck!

    This arsehole argued against Civil Rights, against providing children with food stamps, against equality in employment , against ...basic rights for the citizens of the United States of America. When he was cognizant! 

    His motives were impure, his aspirations were impure, his ideals were impure.

    I hate this guy's memory and I hate the bastards who use him for their own purposes.

    US

     

     

     


    by Richard Day on Fri, 01/03/2014 - 4:32pm

    One thing you have to give Reagan, he lived the old trope (here reversed...) "one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist", cuz he could stand there with that smirk of his and call the Contras "freedom fighters" even as they were knee deep in innocent  blood.


    by jollyroger on Fri, 01/03/2014 - 4:47pm

    I just think he was a corporate sock puppet that was slowly loosing his marbles. 


    by trkingmomoe on Sat, 01/04/2014 - 2:21am

    I find I am slowly losing my marbles.

    hahahahahah

    I cannot take the last twenty years of Reagan worship.

    hahahahahahah


    by Richard Day on Sat, 01/04/2014 - 3:15am

    Here's the youth poet laureate "we will no longer  stay silent to this classism"

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EOQzwuk4wY


    by jollyroger on Sat, 01/04/2014 - 4:20am

    Thanks for the link.  Wonderful talent there.


    by trkingmomoe on Sat, 01/04/2014 - 6:43am

    There is nearly zero support for a Sandinista style agenda in Albany:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/09/opinion/gov-cuomo-begins-his-campaign....

    and I suspect Mr. DeBlasio fully understood that was the situation even while campaigning.


    by artappraiser on Thu, 01/09/2014 - 3:38am

    Mario raised his boy up wrong....


    by jollyroger on Thu, 01/09/2014 - 3:09pm