Author's archive
The Privatization Scam 0
The Arizona Republic’s E. J. Montini says that you can vouch for it–school vouchers a bait-and-switch.
Storm Windows 0
QOTD 0
Rex Stout, in the voice of Nero Wolfe:
Dread feeds on itself.
Stout, Rex, Before Midnight (New York: Bantam, 1993) p. 195
Gutting Out the Vote 2
The Washington Monthly’s Joshua Dounglas thinks the Supreme Supremacist Court is poised to take another whack at the Voting Rights Act of 1965. A snippet:
Then, just last year, the Court in Brnovich v. DNC made it much harder for plaintiffs to use the Voting Rights Act to fight election rules with a discriminatory effect on minority voters. Section 2 of the act is a nationwide provision barring discrimination in the voting process. T. . . .
The third case in this grim trio, Merrill v. Milligan, is now before the Court. It’s another Alabama case that could severely limit the act’s protections for minority voters during redistricting. It could even lead to the Court declaring Section 2 unconstitutional.
Follow the link for discussion.
The Red Tide 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Ruth Bettelheim explores why persons commit mass shootings and other “senseless” acts of violence.
She argues that, though the acts may seem “senseless” to the observer, on some level they make sense to the perpetrator. Here’s a tiny bit of her article (italics in the original):
She concludes that there is one way to reduce this red tide. Follow the link to see what it is.
Committee Proceedings 0
Seth looks at what it might look like if Trump were called to testify before the January 6 committee.
Backfire, Special Mastery Dept. 0
As Bob Cesca pointed out in a recent podcast, Donald Trump is finding out that, if you demand a special master, you may find that your special master demands that you do things you don’t want to do.
Lies and Lying Liars 0
Thom explores why persons fall for Republican lies.
All the News that Gives Us Fits 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Polly Campbell suggests that excessive news consumption is–er–less than desirable.
A snippet (emphasis added):
I think she is onto something.
I gave up on broadcast news years ago. I find it superficial, sensational, and simplistic. Heck, I can read more in 10 minutes than a news announcer can read to me in 30.
And, when broadcasters have the choice, they will opt for sensational over sensible and superficial over solid, because these days it’s all about keeping eyeballs glued to the screen.
So I read.
Newspapers, newspaper websites, magazines, some blogs I have found reliable, sometimes even books–material for persons who read.
Also, in the “twenty-four hour news cycle,” there is not twenty-four hours worth of news, so broadcast news fills the gap with drivel talking heads spouting opinions. Opinions may or may not be valid, but they are not news.
(Of course, I fill this blog with my opinions, but I don’t pretend that they are anything more than opinions. Always right and never wrong, of course, but, still, just my opinions.)
The Artless Dodger 0
Honest to Betsy, you can’t make this stuff up.
Suffer the Children, the Children Strike Back 0
Sam and his crew discuss Virginia students’ protest against Virginia’s Governor Trumpkin’s bigoted actions towards trans kids, who, ass the writer of a letter to the editor of my local rag pointed out, are a minuscule percentage of the population.
It wasn’t just in Northern Virginia, folks.
Misdirection Play, Thought Police Dept. 0
Clarence Page, in a longer article about attempts to ban books and shove ideas under the rug, sums up the current, exptremely popular misdirection play on the part of the right-wing. He even mentions our own Governor Trumpkin:
Follow the link for context.
Afterthought:
I share Page’s opinion of Huckleberry Finn.
Despite the prolific use of the n-word, as was common in the time that the novel was written, the arc of the story is a powerful indictment of racism; Huck chooses friendship and humanity over bigotry. Those who are distracted by the n-word miss the message of the missive.
Mark Twain understood America, and he understood the stain of its original sin.
(Spellink erorr corexed.)