2023 archive
The Trojan Horse 0
LZ Granderson looks behind the curtain and concludes that
. . . the legislative attacks on drag are nothing but a Trojan horse.
Conservatives speak of protecting children, but laws aimed at drag are really about weaponizing homophobia and transphobia to score political points.
Go read the article for his reasoning.
QOTD 0
Bob Newhart, in the voice of Bob Hartley:
Thomas Paine was wrong. These are the times that try men’s souls.
The Rule of Flaw, Reprise 0
Thom suggests that the situation is much more subtle than is being suggested by the news coverage.
Sunk 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Pamela Rutledge looks at the reaction on “social” media to the sinking of the Titan submersible. She makes four main points (emphasis added):
- Disasters capture attention but stories keep us coming back.
- The Titan incident had all the elements of a blockbuster movie, it was too much for social media to resist.
- Social media is attention-driven and rewards extreme content and conspiracy theories.
- Continued speculation perpetuates the increasingly archetypal narrative, independent of actual facts.
Follow the link for a detailed exploration of each.
And, remember, “social” media isn’t.
Stray Question 0
Instead of bulldozing homeless encampments, why not do something to house the homeless?
On second thought, that might promote the general welfare.
Why, that must most certainly be unconstitutional.
Swiftie Justice 0
Prospective juror makes a concerted effort to avoid jury duty.
Reality Check 0
Of course, the problem Jim Jordan is trying to deal with is that the facts lean left.
Establishmentarians 0
At Above the Law, Thomas Mill argues that our current Supreme Supremacist Court has jeopardized the Founder’s concept of separation of church and state. A snippet; follow the link for the evidence.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
And another worshiper of weapons is driven to demonstrate politeness to a fellow traveler:
(snip)
Police did not state in arresting documents what the motive for the shooting may have been, but in a news release, the Utah Department of Public Safety referred to the shooting as a “road rage incident.”
This New Gilded Age 0
Ad revenue has long been the primary source of income for newspapers, news magazines, and other news outlets. Now that the majority of persons report getting their news online (and, as an aside, far too much of it from “social” media, but I digress), that stream in drying up.
In the Wilmington News-Journal (and, I suspect, in other Gannett publications), Mike Reed, Chairman and CEO of Gannett, explains why Gannett has chosen to join other news outlets in suing Google for its stranglehold on domineering control of online ad revenue.
It’s a complex issue, so I’ll not try to excerpt or summarize his piece, just recommend that you give it a read.
The Climates They Are a-Changing . . . 0
. . . and threats from climate-change deniers drove this TV meteorologist to leave has job. Here’s a bit frome the story in the Des Moines Register: