2023 archive
The Lowest Common Dominator 0
John Young explains the “one dumb person” doctrine.
QOTD 0
Robert Goldsborough, in the voice of Nero Wolfe:
Man’s ability to indulge in self-deception knows no bounds.
Goldsborough, Robert, Stop the Presses (New York: MysteriousPress, 20176) p. 121
Recommended Reading 0
It’s a short read, but a valuable one. It’s historical American realpolitik. I read it many years ago for one of my classes when I was training as an historian.
Learn more about George Washington Plunkitt at Wikipedia.
Gutting Out the Vote 0
A caller talks with Sam about voter suppression shenanigans in Texas:
Oh! And speaking of Texas . . . .
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Once again, a “responsible gun owner” proves that said phrase is an oxymoron.
In a post related to this topic, Grung_e_Gene argues most cynically that Republicans have no interest in stemming the flow of blood. One dares to hope that he is, as my old boss used say, in error.
Aside:
Recently, on an episode of the Bob Cesca Show–I can’t remember just which one–Buzz Burbank said that skepticism is good and cynicism, well, not so much. I’m not sure I buy all of Gene’s reasoning, but, sometimes, cynicism does seem to be called for.
When Fomentation Comes to a Head . . . . 0
The Seattle Times’s Danny Westneat looks at the recent sedition trials of Jan. 6th defendants.
His observations are disquieting. Here are a couple of snippets; follow the link for context.
(snip)
To this day, thought, these . . . beliefs are an animating core of the Republican Party. They are the war cry for the current front-runner for the party’s nomination for president.
Precedented 0
Steve Bousquet, columnist for the Florida Sun Sentinel reminds Florida’s Governor DeSantis that, to paraprhase Mark Twain, history may not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.
A Notion of Immigrants 0
Driven to destruction.
We are a broken society.
(With a broken link, which is now unbroken.)
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
And again:
Jeffery McClintic, 31 of Indianapolis, and Scott Poynter, 34, of Danville received non-life threatening injuries when the man shot in their direction, officers said.
This may come as a surprise to oxymoronic “responsible gun owners,” but turkeys and humans do not look alike.
Furrfu.
“He Fought Pillow, and He Won” 0
David talks with the person who debunked Mike Lindell’s bunk, a person who, I would note, considers himself a Republican.
It’s an interesting discussion and an example of something we hear too seldom: civil discourse between persons of differing political positions.
Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! 0
Trials, not to mention convictions, on the charge of seditious conspiracy are rare, but four leaders of the they-call-themselves Proud Boys beat the odds and were found guilty.
At the Inky, Philadelphia activist Gwen Snyder details the years of harassment she has endured from the they-call-themselves Proud Boys. This was how it started; follow the link for full account.
My downstairs neighbor was home, out on our building’s porch for a smoke break. The far-right gang members approached him, demanding to know if I was there.
He didn’t know, he told them. They demanded that he tell me to stop writing about their racist activities and posting members’ names on Twitter. Then they plastered a sticker with their logo onto my front door. They placed more around the neighborhood for good measure.
Image via Balloon-Juice, which has commentary.