From Pine View Farm

Political Theatre category archive

Air Pollution 0

Share

Stray Thought 0

If yesterday’s didn’t, maybe this article will remind you of someone–maybe several someones–in the news.

Share

Lessons Learned 0

Danae, looking at phone:  Hey.  The Gulf of Mexico got changed on my maps.  How'd that happen?  Father:  The president wanted it done.  Danae: Oh, so can anyone just decide to change something that has been accepted for hundreds of years?  Father:  Uh, I guess so, if you can get enough idiots who will go along with it.  (Later, as Danae is jumping with joy.)  Lucy:  I'm afraid to ask, but what are you so happy about?  Danae:  A couple of things.  History is written by the winners--like *moi*--and the world is full of idiots.

Click to view the original image.

Share

Size the Day 0

PoliticalProf decodes de code.

Share

A Tune for the Times 0

Share

Republican Family Values 0

Uncle Sam and an old lady tied to a rock labeled

Via Job’s Anger.

Share

Stray Question 0

Does this article remind you of anyone in the news?

How about this one?

Share

Sauce for the Goose? 0

The Rude One responds, How about some sauce for the gander?

Share

“This Fact-Starved Environment” 0

David talks with Bill Adair, Professor of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University and founder of the fact-checking site PolitiFact, about the proliferation of lies and lying liars and about news media’s refusal failure to call them out.

This is truly a worthwhile listen.

Share

The Neighbor Hood 0

At the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Maxwell King argues that Mr. Rogers would probably look soomewhat askance were Donald Trump to move into his neighborhood. Here’s a bit:

The thing Rogers abhorred more than anything was a bully. He felt there was nothing so despicable as a figure of power bullying a lesser figure. He made that point in numerous lessons he crafted for the children in his audience.

The recent sight from the White House Oval Office — two of the most powerful people in the world ganging up to berate and humiliate a struggling war hero trying to save his country from an invading force — chilled viewers all around the world. What would Fred Rogers have made of that?

Share

A Tune for the Times 0

Share

Unfriended 0

Caption:  State of the Union.  Image:  Donald Trump on the rear platform of a train car lebeled

Click for the original image.

Share

All That Was Old Is New Again 0

Thom argues that Donald Trump is bringing back the spoils system. (And, yes, it was Garfield.)

Share

A Tune for the Times 0

From the Youtube page:

One of our favourite Coldplay songs is “Viva La Vida” – with its nod to Frida Kahlo, its lavish strings, its rotation and roar, its bells and history, and its heel-thumping singalong harmonic personality. It means “Long Live Life” and was released in 2008.

Our version takes the sense of history, the pain, the trauma, and the notion of world rule, and applies it to the most disgusting media spectacle to date – with already several to choose from – of the new US administration. Like many around the world, as well as disheartened friends in the US, we watched the undignified ambush of Zelensky’s trip to the White House with dismay and pity. It was a very unbecoming sight – just at a human level – even without all the higher stakes, deals, implications, and nightmares unfolding as another win is handed to Putin, and more pressure placed on Ukraine.

Like many we are hoping for a miraculous path forward that can somehow turn Trump’s intensity into an outcome that can transform into a lasting peace – but given how misdirected the fury and energy and narrative is at the moment, it’s quite hard to see it turning out other than a quickfire US withdrawal of support. If that happens, we’re in a cowardly new world.

Share

“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0

Another person hears that rhyme from Munich 87 years ago.

And, in possibly related news, Field has a wonder.

__________________

*Mark Twain.

Share

The Patriot Gamer 0

Donald Trump stands at a podium.  Teleprompters in front of him read

Click to view the original image.

Share

When Fiction Becomes Reality 0

At The Philadelphia Inquirer, Kathryn Grossman makes a strong case that, under the Trump maladministration, we are being transported into the world of George Orwell’s 1984.

Share

The Deserter 0

Der Spiegel takes an in-depth look at Donald Trump’s decision to abandon America’s allies, as illustrated by his recent meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A snippet (emphasis added):

It would be naïve to view the spat between Trump and Zelenskyy last week, broadcast on live television from the Oval Office, as a dispute over the details of a possible peace deal. The rupture was so unique because it showed the entire world that the U.S. under Donald Trump no longer wants to be the leader of the free world. The country that lost more than 250,000 soldiers in World War II to protect Europe from fascism is suddenly displaying a degree of moral indifference that has left its allies gasping for breath.

Methinks it safe to say that, under America, America is no longer “a shining city on a hill,” to quote Ronald Reagan.

What it seems to be becoming gives me shudders.

And methinks it is influenced in great part by the legacy of America’s original sin of chattel slavery.

Share

Coming Attractions 0

Share

Responsible Fiscals 0

Planes falling from the sky onto a world in chaos as Elon Must, holding chainsaw labeled

Click for the original image.

Share
From Pine View Farm
Privacy Policy

This website does not track you.

It contains no private information. It does not drop persistent cookies, does not collect data other than incoming ip addresses and page views (the internet is a public place), and certainly does not collect and sell your information to others.

Some sites that I link to may try to track you, but that's between you and them, not you and me.

I do collect statistics, but I use a simple stand-alone Wordpress plugin, not third-party services such as Google Analitics over which I have no control.

Finally, this is website is a hobby. It's a hobby in which I am deeply invested, about which I care deeply, and which has enabled me to learn a lot about computers and computing, but it is still ultimately an avocation, not a vocation; it is certainly not a money-making enterprise (unless you click the "Donate" button--go ahead, you can be the first!).

I appreciate your visiting this site, and I desire not to violate your trust.