2017 archive
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Leonard Pitts, Jr., argues that one factor contributing to yesterday’s racist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, was our society’s inability to be honest about racism. A snippet:
Like when people say that talking about racism is racism.
Or when they babble pious inanities like “racism goes both ways” and “all lives matter.”
Nor have news media always brought clarity. It was pundits, after all, who kept ascribing Donald Trump’s rise to “economic anxiety” even as his followers were yelling racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic slurs with unbridled glee. And leave us not forget how media have allowed the folks who brought such chaos to Charlottesville to brand themselves under a banal-sounding new euphemism — the “alt-right” — as if they were not the same bunch of mouth-breathing, lowlife racists they always were.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
A fell swoop of politeness:
A bullet hit the man’s finger, went through a bedroom wall and exited into the living room, according to the report. He was treated at a local hospital.
The Trumpled Fan Club 0
Dana Milbank finds unwavering support for Donald Trump in an (un?) expected place. A snippet:
Balderdash.
There is absolutely no reason to think Trump’s support has slipped in the slightest among those who like him best: the 144 million men, women and children of the Russian Federation. A poll released by the Pew Research Center end of June found that fully 53 percent of Russians have confidence in Trump, 67 percent there think he’s a strong leader and 62 percent find him charismatic and well qualified.
“Error Creating a Database Connection” (Updated) 0
I got the dreaded above-named error tonight. Fortunately, a quick trip to phpMyAdmin at my hosting provider to do a check, repair, and optimize fixed it and all is back to what passes for normal.
Afterthought:
I use GoDaddy. Their tech support is superb, and I say that as someone who wore a headset for six years.
Addendum, the Next Morning:
This morning I got a MySQL socket error. I ended up rebooting the VPS and everything seems to be working again. If you notice any wackiness, please drop me a note via the email link over there on the sidebar. —————->
The Trumpled Agenda (Updated) 0
Addendum, Later That Same Day:
The Charlottesville Daily Progress has more on today in hate. An excerpt:
There’s nothing like imported hate.
Full Disclosure:
I spent a year at U.Va. a long time ago, during which I realized I was not cut out to be an academician. (Dammit, it’s “academician,” not “academic.” “Academic” is an adjective, for Pete’s sake; “academician” is a noun. It’s called “grammar.” Grumble grumble.)
“The Thrill of Victory, the Agony of Delete” 0
It would appear that the International Olympic Committee has given up all pretense of being about anything other than mammon. Bob Molinaro reports:
Teed Off 0
Will Bunch:
The good news is that the experts still believe, despite the insane rhetoric and threats from both sides, that a nuclear war involving the United States, North Korea, and assorted allies is highly unlikely. In that sense, it’s a little like comedian Steven Wright’s joke about his plan to live forever: so far, so good.
Follow the link.
Image via Job’s Anger.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Be polite to passers-by.
A 17-year-old male had stopped his vehicle on Highway 185 to check on a vehicle that had just been involved in an accident. Blair allegedly shouted at the motorist and asked him why he was stealing from his property, then fired a shot in his direction.
And, in international news of the polite . . . .
From Wimp to Warrior 0
Thom discusses “little wars” as a political tactic.
Copyright Infringement? 0
More stuff you can’t make up.
“Merchants of Death” 0
Little remembered now, in the 1920s and 1930s, the “merchants of death” theory was the notion that munitions manufacturers and banks had engineered World War I so as to sell arms. Indeed, the first couple of Leslie Charteris’s Saint novels used that theory as a background to their plots.
The origins of World War I were much more complex, far less coherent, and, frankly, much sillier than the reasons posited by the “merchants of death” theory. Nevertheless, as Solomon Jones points out as he recalls the death of Philandro Castile, the U. S. now has its own actual merchants of death.
A snippet:
Follow the link.
Twits on Twitter 0
Dick Polman investigates the Case of the Missing Twit.