January, 2024 archive
The Bullies’ Pulpit 0
One more time, “social” media isn’t.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
. . . and another child is added to Wayne LaPierre’s legacy.
Legacy 0
Wayne LaPierre grew up in Roanoke, Va.
Roanoke Times columnist Dan Casey reflects on his legacy.
“The Silent Revolution in American Economics” 0
Robert Reich argues that President Biden is working to reverse the damage done to the economy and to workers’ rights since the Reagan Devolution.
Or you can read the transcript.
A Notion of Immigrants 0
Yet more mean for the sake of mean.
The Snaring Economy 0
Sarah Hunter Simanson explains what life is like if you’re trapped in the “gig economy” by circumstances beyond your control.
It’s not pretty.
The Artful Dodgers 0
At The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, David Mills explains the “Texas Two-Step,” a strategy available to corporations to avoid accountability for their actions. Here’s a bit:
Settling all these cases could have cost the company a huge amount of money, given how much was known so long ago about the effects of asbestos and how brutal is the cancer, mesothelioma, it causes. And the legal fees, holy cow, they’d be huge too even if the company won every case.
What does unscrupulous corporation do when faced with such possible losses? Does it man up, as people used to say? Does it take responsibility? No. It uses a legal maneuver called “the Texas two-step,” created in Texas because it’s Texas, that lets the company split off a new part of itself, making that part solely liable for the lawsuits.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
The hunt for politeness continues.
When I was a young ‘un, we used to set up tin cans on a log in the back yard to perfect our marksmanship. Except during hunting season, because there might be hunters in the woods beyond the field, and a .22 can carry for a mile.
We also didn’t go walking in the woods during hunting season, because there might be hunters in the woods . . . .
In the Teeth of the Evidence 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Glenn Geher explores the psychology behind “doubling down,” that is, the human tendency to cling to a false belief even after it’s been conclusively and decisively disproved.
Given that our politics are currently poisoned by the Clown Prince of Double Downers, methinks you will find his piece a worthwhile read.
QOTD 0
Kerry Greenwood:
The poor steal from the rich because they envy them. The rich steal from the poor because they despise them.
Greenwood, Kerry, The Spotted Dog (Naperville, IL, Poisoned Pen Press, 2019) p. 387.
The Oathbreaker 0
An MSNBC panel discusses Donald Trump’s claim that he did not take an oath to “support” the Constitution, only to “preserve, protect, and defend” it. (How “preserve, protect, and defend” does not mean “support” defies me, as it does them.)
They also discuss the various ways in which our current Supreme Supremacist Court may try to weasel out of confronting the core issue.
Merchants of Death 0
At the Portland Press-Herald, Fred Egan makes a persuasive case that our domestic bullet-based bloodbath is bankrolled by the Benjamins. A snippet:
(snip)
Why isn’t common sense being applied to gun laws in this country? Follow the money. The sale and lucrative aftermarket of 400 million guns carries a lot of influence into the pockets of many of those responsible for our gun laws.
Diamond Jamie 0
At The Philadelphia Inquirer, Will Bunch offers an explanation for the statement by Jamie Dimon, longtime CEO of JPMorgan Chase, that Donald Trump was a good president and is qualified to serve in that role again. Here’s a bit; follow the link for Bunch’s reasoning.
Florida Man 0
Scott Maxwell offers his thoughts on the implosion of Ron DeSantis’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination:
Follow the link for his reasoning.
(Broken tag fixed.)
Swiftvoting 0
Sam and the crew try to figure out the right-wing’s furor over Taylor Swift’s suggesting that citizens should vote.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another oxymoronic “responsible gun owner” is polite to himself.
Guns and stupid, guns and stupid.
They go together like love and Cupid.
Let me tell you brother,
You can’t have one without the other.
