June, 2017 archive
Tales of the Trumpling: Snapshots of Trickle-Down Trumpery 0
A noose was found Saturday on the Mall, at least the third in that area in recent weeks.
The noose was found hanging from a lamppost near the National Gallery of Art, said Sgt. Anna Rose, the spokeswoman for the U.S. Park Police.
Words fail me.
“One Nation, under God” 0
In The Guardian, Daniel José Camacho explores the intertwining of Christianity, racism, and right-wing politics in the United States. A snippet:
During the annual meeting, they initially declined to pass a resolution doing just that. Chaos ensued at the denomination’s annual meeting and a firestorm of criticism quickly followed. Delegates eventually passed a modified version of the resolution – originally drafted by one of its black pastors – but the damage had been done.
It would be a mistake to interpret this fiasco simply as a misstep. The Southern Baptist Convention’s reluctance to condemn racism is not only true to its history but it reflects how white supremacy is built into the very DNA of American Christianity.
Follow the link to see why he said that.
Trickle-On Trickery 0
Eugene Robinson considers cycles. A snippet (emphasis added).
It ended up being a shot of poison. Growth rates lagged behind those in neighboring states and the nation as a whole. Deficits mounted to unsustainable levels. Services withered. Brownback had set in motion a vicious cycle, not a virtuous one.
The assumption that underlies Republican fondness for the laughable curve is both simple and malign. It is the belief that there is no such thing as the common good.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness is a family value.
Officers who arrived at the scene said the victim’s 6-year-old sibling accidentally discharged a handgun and the bullet struck the 4-year-old.
Tales of the Trumpling: Snapshots of Trickle-Down Trumpery 0
Trumpling a nation of immigrants.
Court documents indicate Kenneth Sjarpe initiated a shouting match with a trio of relatives, using racial slurs, telling them to get out of the country, and threatening to shoot them.
Barnum Was an Optimist 0
He thought that there was only one born every minute. Bob Molinaro, sportswriter extraordinaire, reports (emphasis in the original):
The Comeyuppance, Reprise 0
(Warning: Language.)
You Can’t Tell the Players without a Program . . . 0
. . . so The Guardian kindly supplies one.
Sporadic Bloggery (Updated) 0
Someone is getting hitched and I’m off to the festivities. I shall have a nice drive through the Virginia countryside clutching the hope that rain will not fall on their outdoor wedding, but I’m taking my raincoat with me.
With my own weddings, the rain always fell later . . . .
Addendum, That Very Evening:
Except for the part about the first hour of the drive taking two hours, it was a nice drive though the Virginia countryside from the seashore to the mountains. It’s been a long time since I did highway driving on two lane roads, but I was fortunately surrounded by good drivers who kept up the pace and stayed between the lines.
Then there was the sign from the Patrick Henry Tea Party (no, I’m not linking you up to their website–find it yourself). I tried to take a picture, but the light changed before I could focus:
Shovel Ready Jobs at the U. S.-Mexico border.
“Vile and loathsome” is an understatement.
QOTD 0
Rex Stout:
Man’s brain, enlarged fortuitously, invented words in an ambitious effort to learn how to think, only to have them usurped by his emotions.
Stout, Rex, Death of a Dude (New York, The Viking Press, 1969), p. 121-122
Stray Thought 0
I have been a Rex Stout fan for a long, long time going onto 50 years, and I always enjoyed his stories because they are good stories, but I did not realize what a damn fine writer he was until I started to reread his books with QOTD on my mind. (QOTD is a hungry beast that demands to be fed.)
If you are not familiar with Rex Stout, you should be. If you are not, it’s your loss.
Watch for more Stout in QOTD.
Afterthought:
As I line up the QOTDs in advance, I did not note that a Stout QOTD was next in the queue.
There will be more to come.