But this is how "largely peaceful" counter-protests get reported:
A Speedbump on the Road to Revolution
Truck drivers say they won’t deliver to cities that disband police departments.
Tough luck, Minneapolis! I’m sure you’ll come up with a suitable substitute for food delivery. Of course you could go the capitalist route and pay more until people are willing to dare the risk. Probably citizens won’t mind the increase in food prices as much as they’d mind starvation.
Unfortunately embracing capitalism would defeat the purpose of the revolution.
Tough luck, Minneapolis! I’m sure you’ll come up with a suitable substitute for food delivery. Of course you could go the capitalist route and pay more until people are willing to dare the risk. Probably citizens won’t mind the increase in food prices as much as they’d mind starvation.
Unfortunately embracing capitalism would defeat the purpose of the revolution.
Joe Biden on "Juneteenth"
In fairness, a lot of people don't know what "Juneteenth" is. I did my undergrad studies in downtown Atlanta, which was the first time I'd heard of it. It wasn't a celebrated holiday in the mountains, but it was a big deal in the city.
Also, the conflation of the holiday celebrating liberation from slavery and the completely separate (and much later) Tulsa massacre isn't exactly his fault either. His surrogates are complaining that it's racist of Trump to give a talk in Tulsa on 19 June. Somebody probably tried to explain that to him, and he just didn't follow the details of the explanation.
Trump probably doesn't know why 19 June is significant either; and may well not have heard of the Tulsa massacre either. These men are 70+ years old, and their educations won't have focused on such things the way contemporary education does. Americans were still being taught that their country was a beacon of hope with noble principles in those days.
It's just strange to see an old man like Biden trying to play in the grievance culture war he plainly doesn't understand. He knows he's supposed to accuse his opponent of racism; that's been part of the playbook for decades. It's just the need to know all these intersectional details that's confusing him.
Also, the conflation of the holiday celebrating liberation from slavery and the completely separate (and much later) Tulsa massacre isn't exactly his fault either. His surrogates are complaining that it's racist of Trump to give a talk in Tulsa on 19 June. Somebody probably tried to explain that to him, and he just didn't follow the details of the explanation.
Trump probably doesn't know why 19 June is significant either; and may well not have heard of the Tulsa massacre either. These men are 70+ years old, and their educations won't have focused on such things the way contemporary education does. Americans were still being taught that their country was a beacon of hope with noble principles in those days.
It's just strange to see an old man like Biden trying to play in the grievance culture war he plainly doesn't understand. He knows he's supposed to accuse his opponent of racism; that's been part of the playbook for decades. It's just the need to know all these intersectional details that's confusing him.
A Small Correction from the Lancet
A major journal of medicine, the Lancet once made a massive and obviously political estimation of the death toll in Iraq. By pure coincidence, the error correlated with the US presidential re-election race of George W. Bush -- in fact it was published just days before the election.
This time, the election correlated with a massive error by the journal is the Presidential re-election of Donald Trump. The error? A little thing, really. Just a complete retraction of the paper the published on the dangers of hydroxychloroquine for COVID patients. Small stuff, hardly relevant.
This time, the election correlated with a massive error by the journal is the Presidential re-election of Donald Trump. The error? A little thing, really. Just a complete retraction of the paper the published on the dangers of hydroxychloroquine for COVID patients. Small stuff, hardly relevant.
Ground Glass Pizza
Not one of the most desirable toppings, but the National Guard was served it anyway. Fortunately years of eating Army cooking and MREs had made them immune to irritants in the stomach lining.
Happy Birthday, Schlock
Schlock Mercenary is 20 years old. The artwork has gotten better, and the storylines have developed with the kind of depth that can only occur with a long run. Recent years have been sadly marred by wokeness, which has diminished the overall quality as it does everywhere it appears. Still, the core story remains interesting.
They're wrapping up the basic arc of those two decades too, for those of you who followed along. If not, and if you're inclined to binging comics, by all means start at the beginning. The early years especially were a lot of fun.
They're wrapping up the basic arc of those two decades too, for those of you who followed along. If not, and if you're inclined to binging comics, by all means start at the beginning. The early years especially were a lot of fun.
Warlords in Seattle
As expected, autonomous anarchy was short-lived. I'm not opposed to anarchist free zones, not at all; but they're going to need to think through the self-defense issues. You can't set up a new way of life without defending a space in the world for it. The most obvious way to fail is to be overrun, either from the outside or from strongmen on the inside.
Maybe next time.
Maybe next time.
The One Night Hotel
Two good voices. Landry sounds like a cross between Townes Van Zandt and Gordon Lightfoot, while his duet partner, Brandi Carlile, reminds me of Bonnie Raitt.
Chicago melts down
Chicago's mayor and aldermen are reduced to swearing at each other and asking difficult questions like, "How in the world are we going to get businesses to rebuild in war zones when we seem to have no plan?"
Some of the neighborhoods are starting to implement their own plans:
Some of the neighborhoods are starting to implement their own plans:
Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11th Ward) told Lightfoot he was worried that the looters would attack homes where many people have guns and concealed carry weapons.
Ald. Ed Burke (14th Ward) said he was concerned that residents would take matters into their own hands and become vigilantes.Seattle's down the tubes, too.
Catastrophe
A friend brought me a copy of Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character by E. B. Ramsay. I was reading through it tonight, and wanted to convey one of its stories. A young man was translating the Iliad and his teacher rebuked him for using the word catastrophe. That word is Greek after all, and the task was to translate. The boy proved unable to give a good translation in rhyme.
His teacher said this reminded him of his all master. The old man had been prone to using big words that the parishioners might not know. One of them was ‘catastrophe.‘ So when he heard himself say it, he explained that catastrophe meant the end of a thing.
The next day, some boys pranked the old man by attaching a piece of bush to his horse’s tail. The horse was a good one and didn’t spook, and thus the man never knew of it until he got into town. Then he was made aware by a woman from his congregation who came up to him and said, “Pardon me sir, but there’s a bush tied to your horse’s catastrophe.”
His teacher said this reminded him of his all master. The old man had been prone to using big words that the parishioners might not know. One of them was ‘catastrophe.‘ So when he heard himself say it, he explained that catastrophe meant the end of a thing.
The next day, some boys pranked the old man by attaching a piece of bush to his horse’s tail. The horse was a good one and didn’t spook, and thus the man never knew of it until he got into town. Then he was made aware by a woman from his congregation who came up to him and said, “Pardon me sir, but there’s a bush tied to your horse’s catastrophe.”
Fennario
What will your mother think, pretty Peggy-O,
What will your mother think, pretty Peggo-O,
What will your mother think, for to hear the guineas clink,
And the soldiers marching before you, O?
New USAF Chief of Staff
Senate confirmation was 98-0. He had three thousand hours in fast movers, and several significant command tours.
Freedom and Protest
Asheville is reporting ongoing fatalities from the virus, but "chiefly concentrated in nursing homes" according to a print article I read earlier today. Meanwhile, the nation has emerged from lockdown to intensely populated, dense protests over issues that have been known issues for decades, and which by most available measures have been improving anyway.
I wonder how much of this nationwide protest movement is an expression of the desire to be free of lockdown? For months people languished at home, watching their lives fall away, longing for friends and companionship. Suddenly it's OK to get out and be with everyone you wanted to be with, provided only that you join one of these marches. All restrictions are lifted! Just join the throng.
People who had come to believe that enjoying any little liberty was tantamount to manslaughter are suddenly able to feel virtuous about going out and being with their friends. All it takes is a little submission: take a knee and pledge your loyalty to Wokeanda, Forever.
It's no wonder they're having such success. They opened a door to repressed desires, and made it a virtue to express them -- so long as you express them just this way.
I wonder how much of this nationwide protest movement is an expression of the desire to be free of lockdown? For months people languished at home, watching their lives fall away, longing for friends and companionship. Suddenly it's OK to get out and be with everyone you wanted to be with, provided only that you join one of these marches. All restrictions are lifted! Just join the throng.
People who had come to believe that enjoying any little liberty was tantamount to manslaughter are suddenly able to feel virtuous about going out and being with their friends. All it takes is a little submission: take a knee and pledge your loyalty to Wokeanda, Forever.
It's no wonder they're having such success. They opened a door to repressed desires, and made it a virtue to express them -- so long as you express them just this way.
By their Fruits
By coincidence, I was rereading the end of The Ballad of the White Horse the other day. After a book-length epic poem, Chesterton allows his King Alfred the Great to sum up the lessons he wants his contemporary readers to take.
In some far century, sad and slow,I suppose he thought that's where he was in 1903, or he wouldn't have written a book about it. It certainly sounds familiar today.
I have a vision, and I know
The heathen shall return.
"They shall not come with warships,
They shall not waste with brands,
But books be all their eating,
And ink be on their hands....
"They shall come mild as monkish clerks,
With many a scroll and pen;
And backward shall ye turn and gaze,
Desiring one of Alfred's days,
When pagans still were men....
"By this sign you shall know them,
The breaking of the sword,
And man no more a free knight,
That loves or hates his lord.
"Yea, this shall be the sign of them,
The sign of the dying fire;
And Man made like a half-wit,
That knows not of his sire.
"What though they come with scroll and pen,
And grave as a shaven clerk,
By this sign you shall know them,
That they ruin and make dark;
"By all men bond to Nothing,
Being slaves without a lord,
By one blind idiot world obeyed,
Too blind to be abhorred;
"By terror and the cruel tales
Of curse in bone and kin,
By weird and weakness winning,
Accursed from the beginning,
By detail of the sinning,
And denial of the sin....
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