Stray Thought, Still Rising Again Dept. 0
It occurred to me yesterday that so many persons who are white like me are hostile to any remembrance of Juneteenth because it emphasizes what precisely was the cause that was lost in what has mythologized as the Lost Cause.
To put it another way, celebrating, or even recognizing, Juneteenth calls out the lie that the Civil War was about anything other than chattel slavery.
A Question of Identity 0
Rebecca Watson takes a look at right-wing provocateur Matt Walsh’s recent efforts demonize LGBTQ persons. It is a timely video in the context of the current Republican war on transgender school kids (which is, again, a very small number of persons). (Warning: language.)
Transcript here.
The Drop in the Bucket 0
QOTD 0
Trevor Donovan, in the voice of Thomas Buckner:
I miss being a kid and not knowing how screwed up the world really is.
“The Doom and Gloom Scroll” 0
Sam and his guest* find American media’s coverage of the January 6 hearings to be somewhat problematic, especially when compared to that of the European press. They wonder whether this news of what was nothing less than an attempted coup d’etat is getting lost in a “daily doom and gloom scroll.”
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*I think it’s Heather Parton, but she’s not specifically identified in the clip.
Where It’s Always High Noon . . . . 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Scott Bonn takes issue with the notion mass shooters are “mentally unhinged individuals who simply ‘snap,'” pointing out that “the majority of mass public shooters are individuals who would not be classified as either clinically or legally insane . . . .” He thinks the problem is much larger, embedded in our very culture and mythos. An excerpt:
Methinks he may be onto something. Follow the link for his arguments.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yes, indeedy-do, one of those responsible gun owners shot himself in the foot.
We are a society of stupid.
Spin City 0
Driftglass marvels at how, ever since Watergate, Republicans keep getting away with it. He thinks he has divined their strategy.
Phoning It In 0
You heard of Trac phones.
You’ve also heard of track(ing) phones.
Well, it’s worse than you imagined.