Political Theatre category archive

Especially when it is a house made of straw.

. . . in North Carolina.

Aside:

I’m so old that I can remember when North Carolina was considered the leading light of the South.

It was, maybe, three or four years ago.

Via Juanita Jean.

What the Booman said.

Afterthought:

I have long thought that the concept of “performance art” is dumb.

If it is art, it can stand on its own. It does not need to be “performed.” If it needs to be “performed,” it’s not art, it’s chutzpah.

Also, “art installations” are crap. If it needs to be “installed,” it’s not art. It’s a washing machine.

It’s not the students.

It’s not the teachers.

It’s not even the administrators, though a lot of them are grifters who serve no useful purpose.

It’s wishful thinking and a ginormous misdirection play.

Our elite class has decided that they will not consider economic solutions to economic inequity. Instead, they will ask the educational system to solve what are, in large part, economic problems. Educational systems can help improve economic problems on the margins, but if the core problem is economic you need an economic solution. Elites will not consider economic solutions, so educators are given incoherent and unrealistic demands, and all else follows.

James Howard Kuntsler is not optimistic.

SO, NOW we are threatening to start World War III because Russia is trying to control the chaos in a failed state on its border – a state that our own government spooks provoked into failure?

Image via Jaunita Jean.

Shaun Mullen looks across the Delaware River to contemplate New Jersey. He does not find conducive to peaceful contemplation.

He starts with a question:

Say “Iowa” and you think of cornfields. Say “Texas” and you think of the Alamo. Say “Florida” and you think of Disney World. But say “New Jersey” and you think of . . . Oil refineries? Toll roads? The 1932 Lindbergh kidnapping? The Sopranos? And most recently Chris Christie, who has parlayed a career as a crime-busting U.S. attorney into a career as the most corrupt New Jersey governor in recent memory.

Do read the rest.

The father of the gunshine state’s “Stand Your Ground” law is moving into breakfast foods, pushing a bill to prevent schools from punishing kids who nibble their pop-tarts or other food items into the shape of guns.

My two or three long-time readers know that I think schools’ “zero-tolerance” rules are silly and stupid. They have resulted in the punishment of elementary school children for silly, harmless kid stuff that was malicious in neither intent nor result.

Those same readers know that I think “Stand Your Ground” is pernicious and vile. Underneath the high-fallutin’ rationale, it does nothing more than provide legal cover to Judge Lynch.

The Florida legislator is clearly grandstanding to the gun nut portion of his constiutency, but Frank Cerabino thinks some good might come from his effort:

But this might be the rare Florida gun bill that actually won’t create more harm to Floridians.

If this bill encourages school kids to imagine that Pop-Tarts function better as building materials for fake guns, rather than an acceptable breakfast food, it will be doing Florida’s kids a lot of good.

Florida has more than its share of child obesity . . . .

How to make the grade in Florida.

In certain big northeastern cities, there’s an informal tradition that, if you clear your street parking place after a big snow, it’s yours. In the residential neighborhoods of Boston and Philadelphia, you will see trash cans, folding chairs, and other markers holding down the claim.

The tradition is illegal, as streets are public, but it’s strong.

Michael Smerconish takes a look at how various politicians might view this practice. This is my favorite; follow the link for the rest:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) emphasizes the individual’s God-given right to suffer an unnecessary heart attack while proudly doing a physically exhausting job: “Every American has the right to lead an unnecessarily difficult existence with as little governmental assistance as possible.”

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

In Wingnut World, it’s the words that count, not the thought. Steven M:

Wingnut Rumplestiltskin? We’ve been playing the post-9/11 version ever since Obama became a presidential candidate. Obama won’t say we’re at war with Al Qaeda and its ideological allies! He won’t say “jihadist” and “Islamist”! He won’t say “war on terror”! He’ll say “terrorism” and “extremism,” but he won’t say “Islamic terrorism” and “Islamic extremism”! It’s “wingnut Rumplestiltskin” because apparently the key to solving all global problems is using the exact booga-booga words right-wingers want to hear — say them and everything magically works out.

Attytood.

Moved below the fold because it autoplays on some systems.

Read more »

Via PoliticalProf.

The ACLU explores location data and its uses. From the blurb accompanying the video:

As long as it is turned on, your mobile phone registers its position with cell towers every few minutes, whether the phone is being used or not. Since mobile carriers are retaining location data on their customers, government officials can learn a tremendous amount of detailed personal information about you by accessing your location history from your cell phone company, ranging from which friends you’re seeing to where you go to the doctor to how often you go to church. The Justice Department and most local police forces can get months’ worth of this information, without you ever knowing — and often without a warrant from a judge.

Not that it does much good, but I keep the GPS turned off in my phone unless I actively need it, even though various apps keep nagging me to turn it on to “provide better service.”