July, 2021 archive
Vaccine Nation 0
Bob Molinaro, sportswriter extraordinaire:
In contrast: Speaking for the dumbest sex, Buffalo Bills anti-vaxxer, anti-masker Cole Beasley tweeted, “I may die of COVID, but I’d rather die actually living.” What a drama queen. One who sings in the key of me. The comic irony of NFL players avoiding vaccine needles is that in their line of work, they get shot up more often than race horses.
A Taxing Issue 0
At the Washington Monthly, Jennifer Taub takes a deep dive into the tax fraud charges against Alan Weisselberg and, by implication, Donald Trump’s “business” ventures.
It’s long, complex, and boring, and a very worthwhile read.
Fragility 0
AL.com’s Roy Johnson discusses the 625 persons who have signed a petition against providing anti-bias training to educators in an Alabama school district. A snippet:
This is like saying, say, nutritional counseling focuses too much on food.
Follow the link for context.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
When out with your wife, dine with politeness.
One more time, “accidentally” is not a synonym of “negligently.”
Guns and stupid, guns and stupid.
They go together like love and Cupid.
Let me tell you brother,
You can’t have one without the other.
Just the Vaxx, Ma’am 0
It’s not just in the U. S. that some folks deny scientific reality.
QOTD 0
Mary Roberts Rinehart:
Every act of one’s life is the unavoidable result of every act that has preceded it.
Signs of the Times 0
Seen at the entrance to a local bank.
Hoarders 0
Thom and his guest discuss the “morbidly wealthy” and their dynastic desires.
“Morbidly weathy.” What a well-turned phrase.
Limitations of Statues 0
The Arizona Republic’s Laurie Roberts remarks on the hypocrisy of Republicans who would deny America’s history of racism while honoring those who fought to preserve race-based chattel slavery. A nugget:
Follow the link for her complete article.
And, while on the topic . . . . F. T. Rea reflects on Confederate statues and the removal thereof in the estwhile capital of the Confederacy.
“It Can’t Happen Here” 0
Au contraire, argues Gwynne Dyer. Here’s a bit of her article, from the Bangor Daily News:
Writing just after the G7 summit, he warned that “the most dangerous threat (facing the world) is the transformation of the Republican Party in the US into a fascist movement.” Almost every journalist alive has toyed with this analogy – and then avoided it because it sounds like partisan rhetoric rather than hard analysis.
Cockburn points out that Trump’s presidency had many of the attitudes and behaviors of a fascist regime – extreme nationalism, racist hatred of minorities, disregard of the law and constant denial of the truth – but that it failed one crucial test. It did not include automatic re-election, and so Trump lost control.
Follow the link for a discussion of Republican strategies to remedy that last failing.