Recommended Reading 0
The Razor’s Edge, by W. Somerset Maugham.
I read it many years ago and was inspired to reread it after watching a movie adaptation on TCM. (My DL friend Spencer, who used to work in the movie industry, said of that adaptation, “Oh, that’s the good one.”)
I had almost forgotten what a fine writer Maugham was. I’m now working my way through another of his novels, Theatre, one I’ve not read before, which is in a collection of Maugham novels that my friend surprised me with because I said I wanted to reread The Razor’s Edge.
By heavens, the man could write!
The Cultural Devolution 0
Mangy announces the upcoming bill of events for the newly Trumpled Kennedy Center.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Without precedent? Just ask these lawyers.
It Can Happen Here 0
Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley Law School, argues that it is, indeed, already happening here.
He notes that
He goes on to list several specific indicators that we are seeing this process right here right now right before our eyes.
Follow the link for his reasoning.
Indoctrination Nation 0
David parses the implications of some of Linda McMahon’s testimony in her confirmation hearings. (Warning: Short commercial at the end.)
“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0
Trudy Rubin hears a rhyme.
It must be free verse, as somehow “Donald Trump” manages to rhyme with “Neville Chamberlain.”
_________________
*Mark Twain.
DOGE Ball, Reprise 0
Above the Law’s Joe Patrice is less than impressed with Elon Musk’s coup takeover of the government. A snippet:
Musk and his band of merry tweebs live in a video game world and it shows.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Once again, an oxymoronic “responsible gun owner” feels compelled to expose his portable (in this case, pseudo-)phallus to a fellow motorist.
We are clearly a nation of Real Big Men with real tiny brains.
White Coffee 0
Words fail me.
DOGE Ball 0
Security maven Bruce Schneier looks at how Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (which, incidentally, is not a government department in any legitimate sense of the term) has compromised federal computer systems and concludes that it can legitimately be considered a cyberattack on “the sinews of government.”
Here is a little bit from his article:
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
The Yolks on Us 0
An excerpt:
The point is not that Trump is a liar and a hypocrite. Everyone knows that on both sides of the aisle. It’s that right-wing MAGA populism is a scam.