2017 archive
Meta: OTR 0
I stumbled over a new-to-me old time radio website and added it to the sidebar, over there, on the right.
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Palate Cleanser 0
Afterthought:
I didn’t know that Don Ameche could sing. When I think of him, my first thought is of the Bickersons.
No News Is Bad News 0
My local rag, which has a long history of trying to do a good job (that does not mean I always agree with them, by the way), has just implemented yet another 10% reduction in force because the ad revenues just aren’t there.
Facebook Frolics 0
Aside:
And folks thought that computers would somehow make us smarter . . . .
Afterthought:
Instead, they merely amplify the stupid.
“The Cup Conspiracy” 0
Afterthought:
I do not patronize Starbucks. I like coffee (that, frankly, is reason enough), and I refuse to learn an ersatz secret language to purchase it.
Easy Marks 0
Timothy Egan writes about something I’ve mentioned before. Lies don’t work unless persons believe them.
A snippet:
Fake news is a real thing produced by active disseminators of falsehoods. Trump uses the term to describe anything he doesn’t like, a habit now picked up by political liars everywhere.
But Trump is a symptom; the breakdown in this democracy goes beyond the liar in chief. For that you have to blame all of us: we have allowed the educational system to become negligent in teaching the owner’s manual of citizenship.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness is child’s play.
The 3-year-old was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital before being sent to a Minneapolis hospital. Authorities say the victim is stable.
If the victim had been packing, perhaps he or she could have returned fire . . . .
Out of the Ashes? 0
In my local rag, Phil Terrana savages the nihilists–you know, those folks who want to tear everything down hoping that out of the rubbish will rise whatever cockeyed paradise they desire. He gives an example of how that works:
When Is “Sexual Harassment” Sexual Harassment? 0
The short answer, natch, is when the target feels harassed.
I expressed my opinion of the relationship between political leanings and sexual harassment a while ago: there is no relationship; the impulse to harass is independent of the voting booth (though there may be a relationship in how persons react to allegations of sexual harassment–I’ve not explored that, but it could be fruitful ground for a future post).
Now comes Gina Barreca with eight things to know about sexual harassment. I commend her article to your attention.
Afterthought:
Of course, the stink is stronger when the perpetrator has made a career of crowing about how virtuous and “Christian” he or she is; a healthy dollop of hypocrisy makes the goulash spicier.
Nonetheless, the perpetration, as distinct from the perpetrator, is no more reprehensible for that.
A Charted Flight of Fancy 0
Stephen Colbert explores Louie Gohmert’s chart of crazy.
The Clandestine Keyboard Corps 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Christopher Lane discusses a recent report on the tactics of Twitter twits and Facebook frolickers, who, armed with bots and weaponized blather, to promulgate propaganda, tarnish truth, and gull the gullible.
Read it.
In Common 0
Jay Bookman asked a question via Twitter.
Do I write about the outrage of someone with Trump’s history of sexual harassment gloating about Franken’s downfall?
Or about the fact that in this “middle class tax cut,” the middle class gets $1 for every $9 that goes to rich and corporations?
Follow the link for his own answer.
Life in the Cattery 0
The kittens love to play with bendy straws.
Indeed, the living room has become a straw-buried field.