First Looks category archive

Join us.

When: Thursday, August 8, 6 p. m.

Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)

Read the chapter blog and sign up to have your inbox flooded with one or two emails a month here.

Or, muses The Roanoke Times, there may be more similarities than one would expect.

Shaun Mullen solicits suggestions for coping with Trump’s cultists, as America’s original sin of racism threatens to swamp the polity. He argues that the descent in to deplorability is unprecedented even in the darkest periods of our history.

Here’s a bit from his post.

What I got wrong, much as I had failed to understand when I got blindsided by Agent Orange’s 2016 “victory,” was that Mueller and I, and probably you, too, live in a very different time. A time of profound national polarization when the unwavering support of Trump’s basket of deplorables, variously estimated at upwards of 40 percent of registered voters, is not based on the standards by which we judge a Jefferson, Grant or Kennedy, but an adoration hinged on how Trump keeps beating the system — whether it is cheating on his taxes or stifling Mueller — and how they wish they could be him.

The here-and-now is so different, the rot in America so great and the stench in Washington so overpowering, that the logical alternative to the criminal investigation on which Democrats pretty much bet the post-Blue Wave ranch was a national investigative commission not unlike those empaneled after 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. Gather facts and then bring criminal charges based on those facts.

You cannot argue with those who will not listen. Reasoned debate is not the answer. Unified resistance is, but too many Democrats seem to be lacking spines.

Heck, I think many of today’s Democrats would fear to read aloud even one of Franklin Roosevelt’s campaign speeches.

Via Classic Arts Showcase.

We need a loony story.

Thom wonder whether the United States is moving backwards.

Off to drink liberally.

When you need fellowship, join us.

When: Thursday, July 11, 6 p. m.

Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)

Read the chapter blog and sign up to have your inbox flooded with one or two emails a month here.

Alfred Nobel:

Second to agriculture, humbug is the biggest industry of our age.

Via Juanita Jean.

Via Juanita Jean.

Demonstrative Trumpling.

Slackware –Current with the Fluxbox window manager using the Blueish 1.3 style on one of my Zareason desktops.

Afterthought:

All of my computers are now Zareasons–two desktops and a laptop–since a freak lightning strike took out my 23″ Lenovo graphics tablet. Zareason gives good value and stands behind its products.