Stray Question (and Answer) 0
Why do the announcers in ads for pick-up trucks always sound like they stepped out of bad 1940s western movies?
Because they want guys who think they are Real Big Men to buy I-am-an-inadequate-male pick-up trucks to drive to the 7-11.
Full Disclosure:
I used to a have pick-up truck, a GMC Sonoma. I was raised Ford, but, I must say, it was a darned fine piece of work that served me well for over a decade.
And I didn’t buy it to go to the 7-11. I bought to pull a boat, back when I had a boat.
What’s in a Word? 0
David Masciotra argues that, in today’s Republican Party, the word “conservative” doesn’t mean what it used to mean. Here’s how he starts his article:
That might have seemed like hyperbole during the year Mitt Romney became the Republican presidential nominee. But it rings truer as we pass the six-month mark of Donald Trump’s second term in office.
The entire article is worth your while.
Get Me Rewrite! 0
At Above the Law, Joe Patrice tells the tale of a Constitutional redaction.
(Be sure to read the updates.)
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another oxymoronic “responsible gun owner” performs a random act of politeness.
This New Gilded Age 0
Surprise! Surprise! Monopolies are coming back (except for the ones that are already here.)
Dis Coarse Discourse 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Soren Kaplan looks at the polarized state of dis coarse discourse and reminds us that “(i)t’s an inconvenient truth. Polarization feels good.” He notes that taking polarized positions feed emotional needs that inhibit efforts to reach across differences, in particular (emphasis in the original),
Choosing sides in a polarized debate gives us:
Belonging — Feeling accepted, valued, and connected to a group of like-minded people.
Control — Feeling agency and certainty in the face of a complex and unpredictable world.
Meaning — Seeing ourselves as part of something bigger, that includes a sense of purpose, significance, and moral clarity.
He goes on to list several techniques for bridging divides in a polarized environment.
Methinks it a timely and worthwhile read in these times where so many sell divisiveness–often for reasons unrelated to whatever issue may be at hand.
No Surprises Here 0
At the Tampa Bay Times, Daniel Ruth wonders, why all the fuss? A snippet:
And MAGA world hue and cry and quiver with angst that their idol won’t come clean and release the files relating to his once close pal and now dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
A simple, but obvious question. What did you think was going to happen?
American Stasi 0
Thom discusses the random arrest of a U. S. citizen and wonders whether ICE has been transformed into Donald Trump’s own secret police.
A Notion of Immigrants 0
Seton Hall law professor Lori A. Nessel is distressed and dismayed by the Trump maladministration’s policies of mean for the saek of to immigrants. Here’s a tiny bit of her article:
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
More evidence that we are a broken society.
That’s when Adam Turck, 35, passed by while walking his dog and attempted to intervene in the dispute. The 19-year-old then shot Turck before he turned the gun on himself.
QOTD 0
Jim Bacchus as Thurston Howell III and Bob Denver as Gilligan:
Howell: Young man, are you accusing a man of cheating. I’ll have you know that I’m far too wealthy.
Gilligan: To cheat?
Howell: No, to be accused.
Still Rising Again after All These Years, Reprise 0
America’s original sin of chattel slavery and the myth of racial superiority that was fabricated to justify excuse it continue to exact their toll. (Warning: Language.)
If the Truth Hurts . . . . 0
. . . then make it go away.
Robert Reich dissects the Trump maladministration’s strategy to turn the BLS into just plain BS.
This New Gilded Age 0
In addition to all the other stupid, petty, and destructive things this is, how is this not also theft of labor?