"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
by russell Eric Cantor lost his primary to economics professor David Brat. Cantor spent about $5M, Brat about $200K. What does this mean (if anything)? Is it a demonstration of the ongoing vitality of the Tea Party movement? Proof that money doesn't always prevail, even in Washington DC? Evidence that people around Richmond VA really, … Read more
by Doctor Science The Sprogs were saying how difficult it is to keep track of the differences between Christian denominations, especially when you’re raised Jewish in a community with no real religious majority and a plurality of Catholics. They have a good sense for “what’s a Catholic”, from my relatives, but Protestants confuse them. Sprog … Read more
by Doctor Science Wednesday food blogging falls on a Sunday (night) this week. This week our “Family-sized” share, which we split with another family, included another 8 quarts (!!) of strawberries. They were so abundant and delicious that Sprog the Younger and I picked our share’s worth in about 1/2 an hour. One thing about … Read more
by liberal japonicus A little late with this, but interesting (at least to me). Two of Cameron's ministers, Teresa May and Michael Gove, are involved in a nice catfight. Both being Tories, I don't really have a dog in this fight, but the use of government infrastructure for evaluating education (Ofsted) illustrates how these evaluations … Read more
by Doctor Science I have no friends or relatives who were at D-Day, but I’m sure many of you do. Talk about them, please. One of Robert Capa‘s literally death-defying photos from the first wave assault on Omaha Beach. If this doesn’t give you chills I don’t understand you at all. It’s not just the … Read more
by liberal japonicus Yuri Kochiyama, Japanese-American activist, passed away on Sunday, and it provides an interesting moment of synchronicity in our discussions about reparations. She was with Malcolm X when he was assassinated and was one of the main movers for the reparations for those who were involved in the Japanese-American internment. Her memoir Passing it On, … Read more
by Ugh I'm sure folk have read about the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from Taliban custody in exchange for transferring five Taliban mutant super-terrorists (worse than Magneto!), formerly held at Gitmo, to Qatar. And likely the assorted related and unrelated right-wing outrage that has accompanied the exchange, most of it predictably misdirected, offensive, and/or irrelevant. … Read more
by Doctor Science Over the weekend, I was at a party with both young people (in their 20s) and people of my generation (50s), mostly graduates of an Ivy League institution. We were talking about Olga Khazan’s recent Atlantic article, There’s No Such Thing as a Slut, which several of us had read. It’s about … Read more