2019 archive
A Vast Wastetime 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Mike Brooks argues that no one really cares about your “social” media posts, certainly not in proportion to the amount of time most “social” media users spend using “social” media. He offers several arguments.
Among other arguments, he suggest that others care about your posts to the same degree that you care about theirs:
Follow the link to see what you think of the rest, then be sure to use one of icons at the bottom of his article share it on soc–oh, never mind.
“The Elites Are Clueless” 0
Lawrence R. Jacobs, distinguished professor of political science, is not optimistic. No excerpt or summary can do his article justice.
Just read it.
The Payola of the Privileged 0
I am not surprised at the college admissions cheating indictments, particularly as they involve ersatz athletes and corrupt coaches. The corruption of college athletics has been obvious to anyone who would look for a long long time. It is why I can no longer enjoy watching college football games on New Year’s Day.
At the core of the scandal is the fear of powerful, wealthy, privileged persons that their privilege was not enough to get them what they felt they or their children were due simply because of who they were, so they decided that their privilege included the right to cheat.
At The Sacramento Bee, Marcos Breton writes a powerful essay that highlights the other side of this coin: persons who are accused of being undeserving because of the spelling of their last name or the color of their skin, those whom the jealous privileged accuse of being “tokens.”
Here’s a bit:
I struggle to express the hole these indignities burned in me when I was naive and young and unaware of the social, political and cultural upheaval caused by the integration of white collar jobs and universities, a process that began before I came of age in the 1980s, but was in full backlash mode when I cluelessly took my place in the line of American opportunity.
Read it.
Facebook Frolics 0
Farron discusses the new robber cyber-barons.
Methinks Farron has a point when he says that “they don’t know what the hell they are doing.”
They know the tech, but ethics and integrity are concepts foreign to them.
For them, the guiding moral principle is “because I can.”
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
There’s a reason movie actors use blanks.
Peterson said Dalton suggested they re-enact a scene involving a gun. Peterson said she got a .38 caliber revolver from the bedroom and accidentally shot Dalton, the station reports.
The Bully’s Pulpits 0
Laurie Helgoe argues that today’s American cultures seems to encouraging an increasing degree of destructive narcissism in both private and public life. A snippet:
The Art of the Con 0
Thom looks at Donald Trump’s budget in the light of Trump’s trail of broken campaign promises. He points out that the Republican Party is the same now as it was when Harry Truman was running for president.
Virginia Beach Drinking Liberally Thursday 0
Prepare for the Ides Of March with us.
When: Thursday, March 14, 6 p. m.
Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)
Read the chapter blog and sign up to have your inbox flooded with one or two emails a month here.
Budget Bluster 0
Remember, in Republican World, a federal budget deficit is a cause for crocodile fears only when a Democrat is in the White House. Here’s a bit from the AP’s report on the current state of the deficit:
Trump’s 2017 tax cut bears much of the blame, along with sharp increases in spending for both the Pentagon and domestic agencies and the growing federal retirement costs of the baby boom generation. Promises that the tax cut would stir so much economic growth that it would mostly pay for itself have been proved woefully wrong.
Follow the link for the compete article.
“Toxic Nostalgia” 0
Methinks she has a point.