… the Chinese have a curse, so it is said, “may you live in interesting times”… boy are we living in interesting and unsettling times… Heather Cox Richardson, reviews Joe Biden’s speech from the Roosevelt room in which he made his case to the American people that his economic policies really are better for the country and the nations’s economic performance demonstrates that… unemployment at all time lows; infrastructure getting repaired and improved; the deficit coming down (which it has also done during the last three Democratic presidencies, while going up under every Republican president since Reagan)… Steve Bannon received a sentence at the upper range of guidelines for his refusal to respond to a subpeona from the 1/6 committee… former President Trump received his own subpoena which made a detailed case for his being at the center of the the January 6 insurrection… news also broke that some of the documents that Trump took with him to Mar-a-Lago…
… contained highly sensitive material about Iran and China, including information about Iran’s missile program.
… HCR’s post ends on an ominous note…
Finally, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin today called his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu for the first time since May 13. The Pentagon says it wants to keep the lines of communication open.
Decision to Leave is a Stirring Hitchcockian Neo-Noir… another glowing review of the movie…
Technically speaking, _Decision to Leave_ might be the best-made film of the year. It is nothing short of breathtaking, with glowing cinematography from Ji-yong Kim and pitch-perfect editing from Park’s frequent collaborator Sang-beom Kim.
Imani Perry: To Understand America, We Have to Understand the South… a look at Perry’s latest book, South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation… this book sounds really interesting… the premise… uncomfortably… has the ring of truth to me… another one to add to my long list… i wish i could find more time to read… more time to understand…
How to Outsmart Election Disinformation… every U. S. citizen should read this… full of resources for making sure you get to vote and that you are not being snookered by misinformation…
A Disturbing Number of Americans Endorse Violence to “Top Voter Fraud” and Return Trump to Power…
In the final weeks before the 2022 midterms, faced with multiple government investigations, Donald Trump has tripled down on a disturbing pattern of incitement. He continues to stoke grievance and fear and use inflammatory rhetoric that is likely to instigate random followers to violence, a technique experts call stochastic terrorism.
… and…
Now, a new study published by the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California-Davis reveals a growing acceptance in the United States of political violence, particularly among Americans who identify as partisan Republicans.
Christian Nationalists Are Closer Than You Think to Running America… Mother Jones can be given to hyperbole in its article titles… click bait… they are a pretty liberal take on the news and politics… still, i think we need to pay attention to Christian Nationalists… i think Roe v. Wade is more than the canary in the coal mine…
They, Borowicz says, _hate the Bible_: Democrats, COVID-conscious governors, librarians letting “pornography”—read: queer-friendly literature—into schools, trans people, pastors who didn’t fight lockdown orders, and Barack Obama, “the opposite of light.” (COVID, by the way, is “punishment for our sins.”)
… no, i don’t hate the bible, i simply can’t tolerate any idiot who wishes to push it on me as the only meaningful source of information in the world…
… on a lighter note…
Weirdly, Taylor Swift Is Extremely Close to Creating a True Metaverse… according to this article the only thing missing from Swift’s launch of her new album, Midnights, is a “3-D space to hang out in.”
To call what Swift is doing with this album release “online savvy” or “audience engagement” or “marketing” is to undersell it. She has, in a way, created a virtual universe in which fans can experience the launch. As _The__Washington Post_’s Emily Yahr recounts, Swift has left puzzles and secret messages for fans for more than 15 years, embedding them in her album liner notes, music videos, and social-media posts, and even (if the theories are right) in the clothing she wears. The result is a near-year-round ecosystem that’s pretty much constantly bubbling away online.
… i wonder if “weirdly” isn’t a bit of disrespect to a woman creator… weirdly, as in unexpectedly, as in surprising from a woman… hmmm…
… wow, so much attention to a movie most people are disturbed by… America’s Favorite Marilyn Monroe Cliché…
Let’s be clear: She was not Norma Jeane. She Chose to be Marilyn.