२४ जून, २०२३
"Now we see that only armed people can resist the dictatorship."
Says the Russian businessman, Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, quoted in the NYT.
"However much Prigozhin may have previously declared that this was not a coup but a 'march for justice,' when a commander starts talking about imposing his own will on the government..."
"Washington Post is embarrassing itself by reporting— at length— an utterly irrelevant PR stunt by two, white, self-absorbed multi-billionaires."
"The History of Lobotomies and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
In this "Era of That's Not Funny," is the problem too little humor... or too much?
I've been running my "Era of That's Not Funny" tag for quite a few years. I don't like the suppression of free speech, and putting some topics off-limits for humor is a subcategory of that suppression. But that doesn't mean everyone should have free rein to make any sort of joke about anything to anybody on any occasion. There are infinite considerations of taste, decency, and funniness. There are differences between what can be said by a professional comedian late at night in a club and what can be said by a stepmother at a child's funeral. How much loose talk do we really want? There's also the free speech that comes in the form of telling jokesters that's not funny. Or — because maybe it is funny, really funny — You're an asshole.
Anyway, the issue of the day is all those jokes about the implosion of the Titan submersible. I'm reading a WaPo editorial by Molly Roberts titled — unhumorously — "What internet jokes about the submersible disaster say about society."
"Regarding the betrayal of the motherland, the president is deeply mistaken. We are patriots of our motherland."
२३ जून, २०२३
At the Biocore Prairie...
"The experimental submersible vessel has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body..."
"Distraction" is trending on Twitter.
It was all a distraction! pic.twitter.com/OiV04jGHzI
— SBRod Memes (@S_B_Rod) June 23, 2023
"Establishment using RFK to affirm their favorite lie: they don't spread conspiracy theories."
Establishment using RFK to affirm their favorite lie: they don't spread conspiracy theories.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 23, 2023
They spread the most and worst:
1) Saddam/AQ/WMD
2) Kremlin seized control of the US with blackmail
3) Hunter Biden laptop "Russian disinformation."
4) COVID "lab leak" misinformation. pic.twitter.com/5bhXZN91MM
Is Peter Hotez winning the I-won't-debate debate?
1. Hotez doesn't know how to reach us emotionally. The photograph overwhelms the text, and it's a dramatic, dignified presentation of Joe Rogan. The text is then read and absorbed under the influence of the photograph of the strong, serious man who is only asking for debate.Joe Rogan wants a scientist to “debate” a vaccine denier. Turning him down was the right thing to do. @voxdotcom https://t.co/ouuuFuk1f4
— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) June 22, 2023
"In 1942, Vogue quoted a male soldier saying of his female counterparts, 'To look unattractive these days is downright 'morale-breaking and should be considered treason.'"
Writes Patricia Marx, in "Is the Army’s New Tactical Bra Ready for Deployment? It’s fire-resistant but not bulletproof, and was developed with help from eighteen thousand female soldiers" (The New Yorker).
"For older kids, her list of punishable offenses includes everything from talking too much, talking too loudly, interrupting, whining, getting up from the table..."
Writes Lauren Collins, in "French Parents Don’t Know What They’re Doing, Either/An ongoing debate in France complicates the notion that there is an overarching secret to raising kids à la française" (The New Yorker)(Goldman = clinical child psychologist Caroline Goldman).
While detractors label her as a 'Mère Fouettarde réac'—a female version of Père Fouettard, the Yuletide character who goes around whipping naughty kids ahead of Christmas...
Père Fouettard?! Why haven't I read about him in a David Sedaris book?
"... cluing voice..."
२२ जून, २०२३
"[Republicans] haven’t uncovered any evidence that Hunter’s business dealings—which included serving on the board of a Ukrainian energy company while his father..."
Writes John Cassidy, in "The Hunter Biden Plea Deal Leaves House Republicans in a Pickle/The White House can now point out that it let the legal process take its course, which is what has happened" (The New Yorker).
"Damon Lawner, the founder of Snctm, has been banned from the high-end sex club after he publicly identified Hunter Biden as a former member."
Lawner, 52, created Snctm in 2013 after watching the Tom Cruise movie “Eyes Wide Shut,” which features scenes in which wealthy elites gather at a secretive orgy. With a carefully curated guest list and membership fees of up to $75,000 a year, it became the free-love private playground of Hollywood actors, rock stars, chief executives, city officials and run-of-the-mill millionaires....
“Hunter was a member at Snctm and I canceled his membership after 1 party because he’s a scumbag,” Lawner wrote in a since-deleted post.... “Posting what I did on my Instagram about Hunter was me letting people know that the type of behavior that he exhibited was something that upsets me,” Lawner said...
"A fictionalized version of the Strauses’ story was immortalized in pop culture by the director James Cameron, whose 1997 film about the disaster features a poignant shot of an older couple embracing in bed as the waters rise around their cabin."
"... naturally occurring affordable housing..."
The Madison City Council late Tuesday refused a rezoning for a 12-story student housing redevelopment, citing a lack of low-cost units.... During the debate Tuesday, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway gave some council members reminders to address only their fellow board members, not development team members present. Additional warnings were given regarding time limits and swearing.
Ald. Tag Evers, 13th District, called the rezoning issue “a change in philosophy, and ethos.” Looking toward the development team, he decried its decisions to tear down “naturally occurring affordable housing,” and what he considered to be a lack of action on their part to “replace it in kind” with more low-cost options. “You guys need to do better,” he said. “Send these developers back to the drawing board.”...
True carnivores.
True carnivores just tear apart meat with their canine teeth & chew lowering their heads to one side so that the blood drips from their mouths without soiling their clothes. Sounds like you aren’t the real thing complaining about a knife. https://t.co/5cTmfq3t2O
— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) June 22, 2023
"In New York, lithium battery fires have killed 13 people so far this year, including four people in a blaze that started in an e-bike store in Chinatown on Tuesday."
"Shame" chant in Congress echoes the "Shame!" chants heard in Wisconsin in 2011.
I want to remind the world that the "shame" chant was a major feature of the Wisconsin protests of 2011 — the so-called "uprising" — as documented on this blog at "Protesters chant 'Shame! Shame!' after Gov. Walker reads the MLK Day proclamation" and "Weary Wisconsin Democrats surprised by late-night vote, rush at the Republicans "pumping their fists and shouting 'Shame!' and 'Cowards!'", and "Next to the meat, concern for the fish... and for fraud... chanting 'shame'... yelling 'Koch suckers!' at a 14-year-old girl... laughing at Andrew Breitbart's 'Go to Hell!'"Democrats throw a 5 minute temper tantrum in the well of the House chamber as the vote to censure Adam Schiff passes, yelling "shame" at Kevin McCarthy and refusing to allow him to finish reading the resolution. pic.twitter.com/kqQocSoZPi
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 21, 2023
२१ जून, २०२३
"The company said Suleman Dawood is a big fan of science fiction literature, plays volleyball and takes a keen interest in solving Rubik’s Cubes."
"Mocking 'White people food' is all the rage on China’s heavily censored internet."
The long day.
Daylight hours on the Summer Solstice. 😎 pic.twitter.com/ih3j6EZYOe
— Brian Brettschneider (@Climatologist49) June 20, 2023
"Donald was given the opportunity to pursue his passions and his interests, and he was able to build a very happy life for himself on his own terms."
[I]’s clear that Donald reached his potential thanks, in large part, to the world he occupied—the world of Forest, Mississippi—and how it decided to respond to the odd child in its midst.... In Forest, it appears, Donald was showered with acceptance, starting with the mother who defied experts to bring him back home [from a mental institution], and continuing on to classmates from his childhood and golfing partners today. Donald’s neighbors not only shrug off his oddities, but openly admire his strengths—while taking a protective stance with any outsider whose intentions toward Donald may not have been sufficiently spelled out. On three occasions, while talking with townspeople who know Donald, we were advised, in strikingly similar language each time: “If what you’re doing hurts Don, I know where to find you.” We took the point: in Forest, Donald is “one of us.”
२० जून, २०२३
"For more than a decade, the dominant form of American feminism has maintained that differences between the sexes—whether in libido, crime rates, or even athletic performance..."
Writes Helen Lewis in "The Feminists Insisting That Women Are Built Differently/An emerging strand of feminism zeroes in on the differences between male and female bodies" (The Atlantic).
"When things get divisive and controversial so easily, I think it’s an important wake-up call to all of us marketers to be very humble...."
Screenshots display confusion over whether Biden is popular or unpopular.
"Meta has adopted an internal list of Vietnamese Communist Party officials who should not be criticized on Facebook..."
"Can a modern young person ever understand what it was like to simply watch whatever happened to be on television?"
I'll cherry-pick and blend the various interviewees together:
"There could be a problem with Titan’s communication equipment, or with the ballast system that controls its descent and ascent..."
"Hunter Biden to Plead Guilty on Misdemeanor Tax Charges."
The Justice Department has reached an agreement with Hunter Biden for him to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and avoid prosecution on a separate gun charge, according to a court filing on Tuesday, moving to close a long-running and politically explosive investigation into the finances, drug use and international business dealings of President Biden’s troubled son.Oh, this will not be enough to end the political pressure! I want to hear more about those "international business dealings."
१९ जून, २०२३
"Single women approaching middle age are so vulnerable. We have money but we might not have met the right guy yet. And suddenly this good-looking man starts talking to you and you’re excited."
Said Rebecca Holloway, 42, quoted in "Newly divorced mom scammed of entire $100,000 401k savings in Tinder ‘pig butchering’ scheme" (NY Post).
She added: “Looking back, the signs are so obvious. But at the time you want to believe it’s real.”
The scam that hit Holloway is the latest example of “pig butchering,” a term that refers to a months-long scheme to “fatten up” victims with fake romance before “butchering” with fake investment advice.
Well, aren't we all "so vulnerable" to a "good-looking" person who offers love? It's an old story, and I would not find it bloggable, but for that slang "pig butchering."
"Mr. Kennedy is the one person who has the qualities that can bring about the unity that most Americans are hungering for. He speaks a language of conciliation and compassion."
"[T]he idea that technological ambition and occult magic can have a closer-than-expected relationship feels quite relevant to the strange era we’ve entered recently..."
Writes Ross Douthat in "This C.S. Lewis Novel Helps Explain the Weirdness of 2023" (NYT)(the novel is "That Hideous Strength").
A history of the weekend.
A continuous seven day cycle that runs throughout history, paying no attention whatsoever to the phases of the moon and having a fixed day of rest, was most likely first practised in Judaism, dated to the 6th century BC at the latest.
In Ancient Rome (753 BC–476 AD), every eight days there was a nundinae. It was a market day, during which children were exempted from school and agricultural workers stopped work in the field and came to the city to sell the produce of their labor or to practice religious rites.
The French Revolutionary Calendar (1793–1805) had ten-day weeks (called décades) and allowed décadi, one out of the ten days, as a leisure day.
१८ जून, २०२३
At the Sunday Night Café...
The endless debate between A.I. Trump and A.I. Biden.
Watch here.
(Via Metafilter).
Celebrating Father's Day...
... is that still something we do?
How long do you think it will continue, this archaic convention?
Are you following the pretty formidable coalition with neofascist leanings?
The man is refusing to debate because he stands so firmly on SCIENCE. Isn't it funny that he bandies about a slur like "coalition with neofascist leanings"? Don't you have to at least act as though you're devoted to truth and reason if you want to win on the ground that you're the scientist?To those misunderstanding what he’s saying, he’s NOT agreeing to debate @RobertKennedyJr. He’s just offering to come on my show by himself.
— Joe Rogan (@joerogan) June 18, 2023
"From the distant historical perspective of a 90s or 2000s forum moderator or avid user, the Reddit of today might sound like a pretty depressing destination..."
"Two developments over the last week significantly increased the likelihood that Donald Trump will be elected president next year."
First, Cornel West announced his candidacy for the presidency, first on behalf of the People’s Party, before switching to the Green Party. Next, No Labels revised its criteria, and now says it plans to run a third-party presidential candidate unless Joe Biden is “way, way out ahead” in polls....