2025 archive
Republican Family Values 0
Writing at The Sacramento Bee, Erwin Chemerinsky, dean and professor of law at the UC Berkeley School of Law, reminds us that mean for the sake of mean seems to have become the overriding Republican family value. Here’s how he opens his piece:
The entire article is worthy of your attention.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Celebrate your family’s Christmas with politeness.
All the News that Fits 0
Walter Cronkite would be ashamed of what CBS News has become.
QOTD 0
Missy Gold, in the voice of Katherine ‘Katie’ Olivia Gatling:
If there were dirty books in the library, boys would get library cards.
Afterthought:
If you can find that episode of Benson, you should watch it.
It’s happening in real life as I type this.
I watched it on Tubi.
A Tune for the Times 0
From the Youtube page:
This is an a cappella version of “Carol of the Bells” – originally a Ukrainian New Year celebration song titled “Shchedryk” – whose music was first written by Mykola Leontovych in the eastern town of Pokrovsk (now under Russian occupation) in the 1900s. The composer would later be murdered by a Soviet agent in 1921. Our adaptation sends strength and solidarity to the brave people of Ukraine facing down Russian invasion, in spite of the pressure placed on them by failing allies and cruel diplomatic games.
The Rule of Lawless 0
In what I consider a quite appropriate follow-up to the previous post, I must say, it is not surprising that University of Chicago law professor Aziz Huq argues that
Follow the link for the evidence.
The Greenland New Deal 0
David discusses Donald Trump’s determination of annex Greenland, as well as several other of his somewhat unusual (at least for anyone else) statements.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Trustworthy? Hardly.
At Psychology Today Blogs, Richard Gunderman reminds us that “(t)rust arises from relationships, not from digital probability functions.”
This New Gilded Age 0
VIa Boston.com, we learn that the kids are starting to feel that the American dream of the possibility of upward mobility through hard work is but a memory. A snippet:
In 1991, the typical first-time homebuyer was 28 years old. This year, that buyer was 40, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Recommended Listening 0
Harry Shearer’s interview with Gary Marcus about “the AI illusion and why it isn’t intelligence” on this week’s episode of Le Show.
And in more (quite disgusting) news involving AI.