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

Blog Posts

Thems the Breaks?

Checking the list of college spring breaks which take place largely in March, it's a huge problem for Bernie. I total 5.8 million, and guessing a 20% overlap, that's 1.2million potential youth votes knocked out of most contests (since absentee vote isn't often allowed in primaries, caucuses and for first time voters.)

Leaving Las Vegas...

Donald meets Hillary in a quiet rendezvous. "Ok, you got 5 minutes to close the deal", says Hill. "What gives?" 

"Let's stop pretending otherwise and wasting time when there's so much at stake," replies Le Donald, "you know we belong together". "Fat chance, broomhead - and don't go quoting me on that, basta with your Trump tweets or I'll put my Texts4Hillary boys on you.' "Those pantywaists? Why do you spend all this time with gays and metrosexuals?" "Cause they're my base, Don - unlike you I can't just count on the lunatic fringe to sustain me."

Left Las Vegas

Ok, moving back to regular Reader section.

Sisterhood

Now that voting one's gender has been taken off the table, it's time to bring it back - or at least if women want.

It's a typical crap piece of pseudo-emancipation; women are told they don't need to be their anatomy - when all around us we see women lauded most for being their anatomy.

Bernie, older & wiser

I'm pleased that Bernie's finally clueing in on how the game's played. He's discovered that Hillary's wrapping herself around Obama because that endears her to black voters, who make up a large core of the Democratic vote. He's also discovering that it's not so easy for him to do the same because she started courting the Big O 8 years ago, something an Independent might be loathe to do. And taking onboard one of Obama's fiercest black critics, Cornel West? Not likely to help, since he's about as popular with the black community these days as George Zimmerman. Bernie did hire a BLM member as spokesperson. But it's simply not the same thing.

Millennial Revolt

17 miles from Georgetown at George Mason U, perhaps we begin to see the real issue on which this election rests.

 

 

Perhaps old folks are out of touch...

Au Pair of Dux

Voters in both parties are reflexively unhappy with the establishment, but Hillary's problems with voters are all about her.

The best woman for the job is the one who's not running.

The male candidate is a better feminist than the world-known established female advocate of women's causes.

The best candidate to shake up Congress and get new programs through it is the one who's been in Congress for 30 years as a relative outsider with little to show for it.

Testament

In answer to Hal: "So what is it about the prospect of another Clinton in the White House that causes you to write so much so zealously in her service?"

Pretty simple, Hal - when Clinton came in there was a high crime rate, entrenched poverty and welfare state, just coming off the unsocial/Iran-Contra Reagan-Bush years with a president who thought grocery checkout scanners were the height of tech. When he left, we had high employment, a ballooning internet industry, lots of jobs, black home ownership and jobs way up (including high up visible in his administration, plus Vernon Jordan as one of his most trusted advisors), a balanced budget, and a number of interesting possibilities for the future including trying hard to fix Israel-Palestine. Plus he balanced doing a bit of military action in hot spots - and for the first time got us helping a Muslim people who didn't have oil - rather than getting us heavily involved in foreign wars for crass imperialistic reasons, or doing nothing. We had a strong dollar but were *still* increasing exports, rather than the bullshit weak dollar/cheap goods approach.

Half a Loaf 2.0

[to Flavius & Barefooted]

The poor or disenfranchised simply don't know where the levers are to do the most harm.

I know corrupt small businessmen and corrupt mega-multimillionaires. The difference is largely access. But I also know very ethical mega-multimillionaires. Money may provide a bigger venue to display corruption, but I glanced at the troopers in Paula Jones-gate yesterday, and besides lying in her case, they were already pulling other insurance scams. They simply had bad ethics.

Half a Loaf Rising

Charles Blow on Hillary's "I have Half a Dream" effect on millennials (hat-tip Digby):

Young folks are facing a warming planet, exploding student debt, stunted mobility, stagnant wages and the increasing corporatization of the country due in part to the increasing consolidation of wealth and the impact of that wealth on American institutions. - Blow

As has been pointed out before, this is largely fighting the last 2 elections' problems. Obama expanded a program for student loan relief last year to 5 million people. Stagnant wages up to now has been less important than still-high-unemployment, but now that unemployment is at 5%, the still unhealthy ~2.3-2.5% wage growth has more of a chance of growing. (this article suspects workers have been pushing less hard for wages due to harsher conditions for unemployment benefits). While the planet is warming, renewables are taking off, electric cars are finally hitting the market, and energy costs are dropping due partially to increased solar & wind, but largely due to the rise of contentious fracking. (meaning also that for the first time in my lifetime, we're not really dependent on Mideast oil anymore, while Russia's hold on Europe has also waned). And hey, we're no longer talking about "studying" global warming - we're finally beginning to do something about it.

Pages

TypeTitleAuthorRepliesLast updated
Link"This Is How Biden Should Approach the Latino Vote" artappraiser113 years 9 months ago
LinkThe House will vote on stripping Marjorie Taylor Greene of committee roles as G.O.P. weighs her future rmrd0000153 years 9 months ago
LinkShell-shocked & angry: Inside the Capitol Police force a month after the attack artappraiser213 years 9 months ago
LinkPutin avoids mention of Navalny in Davos speech, but takes swipe at social media artappraiser43 years 9 months ago
LinkSmartmatic files $2.7 billion defamation suit against Fox News over election-fraud claims artappraiser103 years 9 months ago
CreativeHe Wants to Save Classics From Whiteness. Can the Field Survive? rmrd000023 years 9 months ago
LinkPolice officers in Rochester, New York oldenGoldenDecoy153 years 9 months ago
Link[COVID NEWS] Novavax vaccine shows efficacy against new variant in UK trials artappraiser323 years 9 months ago
LinkThe Case of the Serial Sperm Donor artappraiser23 years 9 months ago
LinkPentagon purges advisory boards of Trump loyalists artappraiser13 years 9 months ago
LinkBidens pay their respects to Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick as officer lies in honor at Capitol artappraiser343 years 9 months ago
LinkThe most important legislation before Congress A Guy Called LULU33 years 9 months ago
Link"The Wealthy Are Victims of Their Own Propaganda" artappraiser23 years 9 months ago
Link Gaps in Trump’s Pardons: How the Biden Administration Can Still Pursue Justice artappraiser33 years 9 months ago
LinkJan. 6 Rally Funded by Top Trump Donor, Helped by Alex Jones, Organizers Say artappraiser63 years 9 months ago
LinkUS rapper Silentó charged with murder of his cousin artappraiser43 years 9 months ago
LinkRobinhood CEO: Becoming an investor is the new American dream, artappraiser833 years 9 months ago
LinkTop ISIS leader in Iraq killed in US airstrike artappraiser63 years 9 months ago
Reader blogL.A. act local “Don’t sell grandma’s house!” oldenGoldenDecoy33 years 9 months ago
Reader blogWhere's the Dag Blog Supreme Court??? oldenGoldenDecoy163 years 9 months ago
LinkGOP Congresswoman Blamed Wildfires on Secret Jewish Space Laser artappraiser203 years 9 months ago
LinkIt Wasn’t Strictly a Coup Attempt. ocean-kat833 years 10 months ago
Link[GOP fractures Part III] Arizona GOP censures top state Republicans McCain, Flake and Ducey artappraiser293 years 10 months ago
LinkSaudi Arabia has been scrubbing its textbooks of anti-Semitic & misogynistic passages artappraiser33 years 10 months ago
LinkAfter Trump, Democrats set out on a mission to 'repair the courts' artappraiser33 years 10 months ago

Pages