2022 archive
A Tune for the Times 0
Mangy comments at the Youtube page:
After watching a video about Ted Cruz, or Marjorie Taylor Greene, or Lauren Boebert, or Jim Jordan, or Donald Trump, or some similarly despicable character, Mangy Fetlocks has often thought, “My God. How low can they go?” His dear wife suggested that Mangy write a song pointing out the similarities between sycophantic MAGAts and the dance where you see who can get the lowest. With help from his friend and percussionist, Roger Risley, (a.k.a., ‘Rodeo Roger’) Mangy put together this little song.
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Looting Libraries 0
Welcome to the fee marketplace of ideas.
Republican Family Values 0
There been quite a bit of who-shot-john lately about Herschel Walker and his family values (or perhaps one should say, “families values”). Some are taken aback that, despite his family values (or lack thereof), Republicans seem to still support him in his race against Georgia’s Senator Warnock.
Will Bunch has a theory as to why that is. Here’s a bit of his article:
The conservative movement is about one thing: preserving traditional hierarchies, especially around white privilege and patriarchy, by any means necessary. In the past, democracy — in times and places where white Protestants were the majority — often served that agenda well, and there were dirty tricks like Jim Crow laws for the places where it didn’t. But in an increasingly diverse and better-educated America, the old hierarchies are fading. So today, the far-right has a brand-new tool kit — a belief that Christian law trumps the will of the voters, or that vote counts don’t matter because elections are rigged (although they aren’t), or merely faith in the raw power of imposing unqualified candidates on the body politic.
I commend the entire article to your attention.
And Now Something Completely Different 0
The opening sequence for the first season of the British television show, Boon:
I can’t help but marvel at how successfully Hollywood sold its mythological vision of the old west.
By the way, the show is quirky, off-beat, and quite entertaining.
A Notion of Immigrants 0
At the Portland Press-Herald, Victoria Hugo-Vidal exposes the dirty little secret of the anti-immigration crowd. A nugget:
The first would be to mandate the use of E-Verify at every employer in America. E-Verify is a simple government system that checks to make sure a person is legally allowed to work in America, using records from the Social Security Administration – to see if the employee has a legitimate Social Security number – and from the Department of Homeland Security. . . .
So why aren’t we, as a country, using these two very simple steps to cut down on demand for undocumented labor? Because big businesses and politicians don’t actually want to do that.
Follow the link for her reasoning.
Facebook Frolics 0
One more time, “social” media isn’t.
Rather, it is a pipeline of puerile and viaduct of vile.
Scams and Scamming Scammers . . . and So It Begins 0
I received a phone call today telling me I am eligible for student loan relief and to call [some number].
I don’t have a student loan. (I once had a parent loan, but it was paid off years ago.)
When you get such calls, adopt the motto, “Mistrust, but villify.”
And don’t call them back at [some number]. They are phishing for your SSN &c. so they can defraud you.
Playing the Pawns 0
Michael Paul Williams has serious qualms about and see grave ethical issues with Virginia Governor Trumpkin’s decision to use transgender students (which, remember, are an almost infinitesimal proportion of the populace) as political pawns.
But, then, using innocent persons as pawns seems to be all the rage with today’s Republican Party.
