Pandemic Pessimism

Happy belated Vernal Equinox everybody! Trigger warning: Two dark thoughts. 1. Am I the only one who’s been having trouble mentally separating the current pandemic from climate change? As far as I know, there’s no concrete connection. But my intuition says there just has to be, especially since global warning is how we’ve long grown…

120 Best Albums of 2022

“For now, [Matt] Gaetz seeks to project a victor’s air of comity. ‘I am not some Lord of the Flies nihilist,’ he said in a recent interview.” –New York Times, 29 January 2023 Presumably Times reporter Robert Draper means “comity” in the sense of “courtesy and considerate behavior toward others” rather than “an association of nations for…

His Nation’s Saving Face

So, where’s the best place to read about Mark E. Smith’s politics? Like, where did he stand on Brexit, for instance? What was that “obliguh-tree (n-word)” line all about? Have to admit, I’ve always been curious — But I’ve also always been either too lazy or too maybe-don’t-really-wanna-know to research it. I mean, I do…

The Capitol, Unguarded?

No doubt some of this is just veteran-of-Active-Duty chauvinism about N.G.’s, but the sight of all those unlucky weekend warriors splayed out across the floor of the Capitol — almost half of them 25 or younger, many maybe not at 100% readiness after whatever training got interrupted through the past plague year, almost all of…

McCarthy Gives Away the House

“The full extent of concessions [Kevin] McCarthy had made to appease the hard-right rebels was not yet fully known, ” reported this morning’s New York Times , four days after he officially earned the right to cosplay as Speaker of the House of Representative on a first-time-since-the-Civil War-era 15th vote. “Some lawmakers expressed doubt that…

Strange Neighbors in Sunset Valley

Sunset Valley is a separate independent 750-population municipality entirely surrounded by Austin, kind of like Hamtramck within Detroit or San Marino (or Vatican City) within Italy (except those Italian ones are countries — well, Vatican City is both I suppose. And also in Rome.) The Little House of Love, on the northernmost corner of Pillow…

Tulsi Gabbard and Other Potential Dem Party Poopers

It’s a ridiculously small sample size of a ridiculously small demographic, further narrowed by the outlet asking. And anybody who answered is probably an idiot by definition. So I obviously shouldn’t care — I know that. But I still found it intriguing that, in the letters the New York Times printed the other day from…

Dystrumpia, Nov. 2016

Seriously, millennials: Enjoy who you just elected. Hope he works out well for you. I’ve never been so glad to be old. Wish my eight-year-old daughter didn’t have to deal with your narcissism and stupidity. Okay, I haven’t seen the math, true. And I’m happy to change my mind if the math says I should.…

Halloweek 2016, Eve of a Nightmare

The nation is split between people who get a lot of trick-or-treaters and people who hardly get any trick-or-treaters. We have isolated ourselves into entirely different neighborhoods. But maybe we need to talk more. (Oops, I left out people who have no idea how many trick-or-treaters they get ’cause they’re out with their kids trick-or-treating!)…

Poker Face Soundtrack the White Christian Crypto-Nazi Dumbass Revolution

Have yet to identify any Upper Midwest Christian Militia Hard Rock bands (though they’ve gotta be out there — c’mon, Washtenaw County and Sandusky? I wonder if those vigilantes ever do maneuvers at Cedar Point.) But George Smith alerts me to a band named Poker Face “linked to by hutaree.com. You go out to their website, they have…