November, 2022 archive
A Faustian Bargain 0
Shorter Melinda Henneberger to Kevin McCarthy: Be careful what you sell your soul wish for.
Both Sides Don’t 0
Methinks she has a point. And I think that the female commentator’s (I don’t know her name) comment at the end of the clip that AOC’s comments were “interesting” were (looking for words) appallingly stupid.
It’s quite clear that one thing is not like the other thing.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
The flaw in the bothsiderism that characterizes much of our political reporting, especially on television and most especially on cable news (don’t get me started on AM talk radio), is quite simple.
It ignores facts.
It equates minor misdemeanors with felonies, missteps with malevolence, unintentional and quite human gaffes with poisonous perfidy. It pretends that our home-grown fascists are merely dissatisfied dissidents and ignores their inimical intent. It values ratings over rights, and it values ratings over right.
Facts can be dull and convoluted; they can seem boring; and they don’t get ratings. In contrast, the horse race can be (portrayed as) exciting. The fact of the matter (ahem!), though, is that reporting should be about facts, not about what-ifs and horse races (unless they are real horse races with real horses, but that’s what racing forms are for, which reminds me that I once hit an exacta at Delaware Park–but that’s another story).
We should value the news providers that focus on facts and disdain contemn those who do not, because they are contemptible.
I could go on, but I won’t. But there’s a reason I stopped watching television news (mumble) years ago. When it stopped being a loss leader and a public service and became a profit center, it–er–descended into Hades.
Video via C&L, which has commentary.
The Crypto Con 0
El Reg explains non-fungible tokens for dummies.
H/T to Harry Shearer for featuring this on Le Show.
Fly the Fiendly Skies 0
Enjoy the cutting-edge fiendliness.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another “responsible gun owner” demonstrated that said phrase is an oxymoron.
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.
Dis Dishonorable Discourse 0
For Veterans Day, Frances Coleman shared some memories of her father, who fought in World War II (as did my own father).
She mused about what he fought for–and about what he didn’t fight for.
Especially, they didn’t die so that this country’s worst enemy could become its own people.
Follow the link for the rest of her article.
Republican Family Values 0
Leonard Pitts, Jr., marvels at the heartlessness of the party of mean for the sake of mean.
A Shining City on a Hill
0
Trudy Rubin thinks the shine has worn off from Reagan’s “shining city.” A little bit from her article:
Follow the link for her reasoning.
Corralling the Crazy 0
The moral of the story is simple. Don’t vote for stupid.