"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
by wj It's a goal worth pursuing. So Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah,Happy Solstice,Happy Holidays (if that's how you roll) For something fun, and not specifically related to any of those holidays, there's this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP96n0gyNz0I'm particularly fond of the tag line: "The hardest job I ever done…." Sort of reminds me of how I (and, I … Read more
–by Sebastian I feel like am barely treading water about the Trump Presidency. It creates such a huge number of scary possibilities that I don't know how to form a good plan about what to do about it. I normally like to tackle the big picture and then fill in details, but I can't do … Read more
by Ugh Trump seems determined to appoint a murderer's row of Breitbart Illuminati and assorted crazy persons to his cabinet and other associated high level senior positions. The latest being noted free market loon Larry Kudlow to head the council of economic advisers, whose chief qualification seems to be talking loudly on the TeeVee. Based … Read more
by Doctor Science Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism by historian James Loewen is one of the two books I think are most necessary to understand the 2016 election results (the other, as I've said before, is Sady Doyle's Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear… and Why). It's necessary … Read more
by wj California gets held up as an example of how Democrats can run amok without Republicans having some sort of veto. Certainly it is true that California Republicans have made ourselves mostly irrelevant when it comes to contests for state-wide offices (both state offices and Senate seats). Currently, Democrats have a 2/3 majority in … Read more
by russell Twice in the last 20 years, a highly contentious election season has yielded a POTUS who lost the popular vote. Most recently, lost by a lot. The argument is made that the system we use – the electoral college – was created as a compromise between the interests of states with larger … Read more
by russell From the Boston Globe, the brothers are arming up. Why? Because they perceive that they are increased risk of being harmed or killed. Who wouldn't, right? Unfortunately, it seems that a black person with a gun is that much more likely to be a former black person with a gun. Centripetal force; not a … Read more
by Doctor Science My mother and I have very little overlap in our fiction tastes: she finds SF & F fundamentally baffling, I find most literary fiction soporifically unimaginative. She recently asked me if I’d heard of Elena Ferrante‘s novels, and I said of course, but they’re not the sort of thing I read. She … Read more