Politics – Page 19 – Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

Crashing and Burning

Time to get on with the inevitable.

Let me state clearly here at the beginning of this post, I do not want to see anyone in any capacity hurt by the looming government shutdown. Repeating, I do not want to see anyone in any capacity hurt by the looming government shutdown.

That stated and repeated, let me offer the following. Regardless of any action taken on a government shutdown people are going to get hurt.

Assume this circus/charade/shit show over a government shutdown wasn’t occurring. That responsible adults (assuming a lot I know) would be working to transition our government from one administration to another in an orderly fashion. We know, based on campaign promises and post-victory statements that large numbers of people are going to be harmed and hurt once the new administration is sworn in come January 20th. You can’t repeat often enough that cruelty is the point. There is going to be pain. Let those so desperate to cause it, feel some of it themselves.

So, with that as a given, and with the continued interference from Elon Musk, an unelected drugged up man child of an oligarch who has desires on running not just the US, but the world, I say let these damn Republican sniveling cowards shut down the country. Take Musk’s urging and keep it shut until January 20th and possibly beyond. Should make for a swell inauguration party.

At some point no matter how smoothly any transition may or may not go, the system is going to crash and there’s going to be damage none of us can calculate. Why not get on with it?

Sure you can play the game of which administration’s watch it might happen on, but give me a break. There’s no effective action coming from the outgoing administration or Congress to correct the actions of what feels like a transition already out of control and almost completed. Sure, Biden, at the moment still wearing the crown bestowed on him by the Supreme Court, could declare a state of emergency and make some bold moves. But we all know that’s not going to happen.

Call the bluffs. Blow out the bluster. Bust it all. Then let’s see what happens when the pieces need to get picked up come January.

One way or the other sacrifices are going to need to be made. Lame social media calls for resistance and not surrendering in advance are going to feel more like nursery rhymes than rallying cries. What we had is gone. It’s not coming back. You kid yourself if you think otherwise. Democrats stepping in to save some semblance of what was are only going to weaken any position they currently don’t really have at the moment. At least not until they come up with their own madman oligarch.

When an arsonist has to put out the fire he started to try and save himself, things look a lot differently.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Sunday Morning Reading

Drones may be circling and society may be circling the drain, but there’s always time for Sunday Morning Reading.

Drones may (or may not) be circling the skies overhead, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep our eyes peeled for some good writing and good reading. This week’s Sunday Morning Reading features a usual mix of writing on tech, Artificial Intelligence, politics, and culture. Buckle up and enjoy.

A man reading a newspaper on a porch with a sky full of drones and a cityscape background. AI generated

Speaking of Artificial Intelligence, Arvino Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor tell us that Human Misuse Will Make Artificial Intelligence More Dangerous. I’ve been saying that for a while and so have any number of science fiction writers. Still, this short piece is worth a read.

Matthew Ingram asks and answers the question Are AI Chatbots Good or Bad For Mental Health? Yes. Good read.

Reed Albergotti chronicles an interview with Google’s Sundar Pichai on Google going all in on AI and the next move, Agentic AI. Check out Why Sundar Pichai Never Panicked.

Rounding out this group of links on AI, take a look at this intelligent and very human piece from NatashaMH. In No Society Left Behind she posits that AI will still leave us with uneven playing fields across the different strata of society.

John Gruber has an interesting piece On The Accountability of Unnamed Public Relations Spokespeople. It’s politics specific but it also speaks more broadly about the, in my opinion, decline of PR as an effective tool.

We still haven’t come to grips with the shooting of the United Health Care executive and the reaction to it. Adrienne LaFrance takes that as a cue for Decivilization May Already Be Under Way. I would argue it’s been under way for quite some time now. Itt’s just accelerating.

David Todd McCarty says We’re All Going to Need To Hunker Down For A Long-Ass Storm. I concur, although I fear it’s going to be looked back on as a major climate shift.

Dave Troy in the Washington Spectator gives us The Wide Angle: “Project Russia,” Unknown In The West, Reveals Putin’s Playbook. It will never ceae to amaze me how we let this one slip by us.

Looking back a bit in history take a look at this piece from the Atlantic’s 1940 issue called The Passive Barbarian by Lewis Mumford. With the exception of a few references in the article and the publication date, I bet you would think it had been written in this current moment.

And finally, with the holiday drone buzzing around us David Todd McCarty offers up Struggling To Find Peace In The Midst of Exuberant Joy.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. You can also find me on social networks under my own name.

Sunday Morning Reading

Sunday Morning Reading is on the road but there’s still plenty to share.

We’re on the road this weekend to get the Christmas holidays started with the grandkids, but there’s still time to share a little Sunday Morning Reading. Enjoy.

First up is a piece by Margaret Dean called An Afternoon In My Strawberry Fields. You’ll enjoy wandering there.

I don’t think the sun sets anywhere on the planet that there isn’t a current political crisis. Artists and storytellers keep doing their thing regardless. This story from Tom Phillips and Etienne Cóte-Paluck tells of a Haitian theatre troupe still carrying on in the face of that island’s chaos. Check out ‘An Act of Rebellion: Haitian Theatre Persists Amid Political Crisis and Violence.

No crime story has quite captured public attention and exposed how insufficient American media is at reporting out what’s behind the headlines as the murder of United HealthCare’s CEO Brian Thompson. The act is shocking, the reaction to it is shocking as well, yet not surprising. Some of the best reporting I’ve seen so far comes from the BBC from Mike Wendling and Madeline Halpert in Killing of Insurance CEO Reveals Simmering Anger At US Health System.

If you’re wondering about that “simmering” and why I don’t think we should be surprised by what this event reveals, check out this guest essay in the New York Times from Dr. Helen Ouyang entitled What Doctors Like Myself Know About Americans’ Health Care Anger.

Casey Newton delivers one of the best pieces I’ve seen on Artificial Intelligence with The Phony Comfrots of AI Skepticism. You might want to hang on to this one for future reference.

Mark Jacob wonders Can Journalism Survive Billionaires? My short answer is not with this current crop.

If you think repealing women’s right to vote in America isn’t on the agenda of some in the world of MAGA misogyny check out Emma Cieslik’s piece Christian Nationalism’s First Item On The Agenda: Repeal The Women’s Right To Vote.

Brian Krebs is a name most on the Internet have run across as a top-notch security researcher and reporter. Robert McMillian and Vipal Monga have gone behind the curtain to reveal some of the lengths Krebs has to go through to keep himself secure. And not just on the Internet. Check out He Investigates The Internet’s Most Vicious Hackers-From A Secret Location.

We Might Want To Become Familiar with The Vacancies Act

We might want to pay attention to the numbers 210 and 300.

The numbers 210 and 300 might come into play over the next couple of months. Why? Those are the time limitations that acting appointments made by a President of the U.S. can serve in an “acting” capacity, depending on the circumstances of the appointment.

VacancyResource 2048x1152 1.

Of course, given the desire for damage promised by the decaying orange president-elect you could also say all bets are off as regards to following any rules, laws, or traditions. No one really knows just what might happen come January 20 and after. Just look at South Korea.

Remember, Trump made a number of “acting” appointments to his cabinet the last time around, primarily to avoid Senate confirmation. Given his rogue gallery of nominations so far, and his already announced penchant for recess appointments, I’m sure he’d like to take whatever shortcuts he can.

Still, a lot of bad things can happen in the span of 210 or 300 days.

As a reference, here’s a Government Accounting Office FAQ on the Vacancies Act that you might want to keep handy.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Avoiding Thanksgiving Political Squabbles

A preemptive attempt at avoiding holiday harangues over politics.

Thanksgiving kicks off the end of year holiday season. Time to gather with family and friends and give thanks for our blessings. Time to get tied up in traffic or airports. Deal with weather delays. Pass illnesses around like we pass the potatoes, (hopefully not COVID), and either argue over our political differences or sit around the fire pretending that those chasms don’t exist.

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Yeah, it’s a time for anxiety and has been for almost a decade now. So much so that it has become a political cliché and a sad shortcut for what we’re all living through. Certainly there’s joy to be found in the warmth and good company of family and friends, but in my life those circles are smaller than they used to be.

In the early years of the first Trump administration I didn’t initially shy away from arguing politics at family gatherings. It was largely a fruitless endeavor. We knew less then than we do now. After a few bouts of that my wife and I agreed that we’d just keep our opinions to ourselves going forward to avoid the aggravation. We largely did, even in the face of being baited now again by Trump worshipping, Fox loving sycophants.

We’ve largely tried to adhere to that avoidance game in the wake of this year’s calamitous election. We’ve actually turned down an invitation or two and will probably do so again in the future. While we’ll avoid conflict and aggravation when we can, I’ve made it plain in our house that I won’t hold my tongue going forward if someone tosses out the bait.

This Thanksgiving we’re fortunate in that we’re going to a small celebration with family and friends who view the world much the way we do, so that should be anxiety free. This scheduling has nothing to do with the political situation and we’re thankful for that. But we know there will be other invitations forthcoming during the next month or so.

With that in mind I’ve developed my response in case those show up. Here it is:

Thanks for the invitation. We’d love to attend. Before we accept there a few things I want to make clear. We know we disagree on politics, and while we’ve largely avoided that topic at past gatherings, it is important for you to know that I feel I can no longer avoid doing so. Preemptively, I am sharing some feelings and beliefs important to me.

You may not believe it, but I feel we’re heading into a dangerous and difficult time that will see much of how we’ve both viewed the world come to a crashing end. I could go on and on about Donald Trump’s lack of character and disastrous policies, and the ignorance of those who elected him, but in the interest of brevity I’ll boil all of that down to the single, simplest reason why I don’t want to spend time with you pretending.

Donald Trump, among many things, is a rapist and a misogynist. He’s attempting to surround himself with others just like him, proving to me, and the world, just how insignificant and dispensable he thinks women are. Rape is a violent act, and shows tremendous disregard for every human being. If someone thinks rape can be overlooked, there’s not much else that they won’t do to hurt other human beings.

In my opinion, it’s beyond disqualifying someone from office and participation in society. Further, anyone who voted for him can’t overlook the fact that they are comfortable viewing rape and misogyny as acceptable as well. There are no trade-offs for some other policy or viewpoint that excuses that type of behavior.

I won’t argue the point with you. To me, it’s not debatable. I also have no respect for anyone might try and change my opinion on the matter.

I’m not asking you to change your views, they are already apparent and yours to own. But I believe it is important for you to have no doubt about mine.

Happy Holidays

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Sunday Morning Reading

Delusions abound in this week’s Sunday Morning Reading.

If it’s Sunday, it is time for Sunday Morning Reading with interesting writing on a variety of topics, that without intending to all seem to involve delusions in one way or another. There’s also a little Procol Harum on the side. Enjoy reading, while you skip the light fandango.

Speaking of delusions, check out a piece by Michael Connors and Peter Halligan exploring What Delusions Can Tell Us About the Cognitive Nature of Belief.

It’s no delusion that Artificial Intelligence remains in the news (before it eventually subsumes the news). Harry McCracken takes us a bit into the deep mind behind Google’s DeepMind in The Future According to Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis. That first link takes you to the web version, this one takes you to the Apple News version of the article since the piece is a premium article for Fast Company readers.

Joan Westenberg has caught my eye of late (if you follow Sunday Morning Reading you should know that) and here are a couple of recently published dynamic pieces: Don’t Confuse Volume with Truth and Rebel Optimism: How We Thrive in a Broken World. Both worth your time.

We’re all complaining about a lot of things, the continued enshittification of the Internet being a familiar and well deserved target. (It’s interesting that I use that term enshittification so frequently and yet spell check or any other type of check hasn’t picked it up yet.) Dave Winer is fighting the good fight on a lot of fronts and he looks at a new kind of enshittification in Billionaire-proof?

David Todd McCarty takes on the platitude “the meek shall inherit the earth” in The Children of Pacifists.

Ronan Farrow takes a look at The Technology The Trump Administration Could Use To Hack Your Phone. You know it’s going to happen. You know it most likely already has.

And to round things out this week, Ulf Wolf spools out an essay on the mostly forgotten Keith Reid of Procol Harum in The Shadow Member of Procol Harum. Not going to lie, I did spin up a copy of Whiter Shade of Pale while writing this week’s column. The Salty Dog album is cued up next.

Sunday Morning Reading

Tough reading for tough times in today’s Sunday Morning Reading.

It’s a Sunday. I’ve been reading. As usual I’ll share some of that with you in today’s Sunday Morning Reading.

I started out the week thinking I’d try to avoid politics. That didn’t work. Sort of like getting a cancer diagnosis and not wanting to know anything about the disease taking over your body. So, apologies if there isn’t much “light” reading today.

I’ll start of with an anonymous piece published in The Guardian. We all knew misogyny was a feature of the incoming frat party that will be the new administration. I don’t think anyone thought it would filter down so quickly to high schools. The Boys In Our Liberal School Are Different Now That Trump Has Won, tells that story. Woe be onto us and our children.

David Todd McCarty is working out how to get through the day these days. Check out We’re All Just Killing Time.

Sherrilyn Ifill calls her piece The Truth. It is. And it’s hard.

Joan Westenberg says the way to destroy a generation is to make them think the word runs on feelings and then use those feelings against them. Check out How To Destroy a Generation.

David French thinks Donald Trump Is Already Starting to Fail. Great. Too bad he’s going to take the rest of us down with him.

Norman Solomon is optimistic about Hope In A Time of Fascism.

Margaret Sullivan tries to debunk some of the lies rolling around this history changing moment in As Trump Plans Become Clearer, Reject These Four Dangerous Lies.

Life may feel too short to worry about some things. But it’s all a matter of perspective. Check out Natasha MH in Life’s Too Short for Matching Socks.

And to close things out, BlueSky is the latest social network to experience a burst of new users. This time the the burst is due largely in reaction against Musk’s rape of Twitter/X, and dissatisfaction with Zuckerberg’s Threads, which had been the darling for awhile. Mike Issac takes a look in Bluesky Is Growing Up. Maybe Too Fast.

Politics and Theatre: Demonstrators Wave Nazi Flags Outside Performance of Diary of Anne Frank

Like everything else the theatre and the arts are in for turbulent times ahead.

Most of my theatre professors earned their bones in the 1960’s. So it’s no suprise that one of my favorites once told us that “you aren’t doing real theatre unless someone shows up with guns to stop people buying tickets at the box office.” I’m not sure this was what he had in mind.

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A group of people showed up outside a community theatre performance of The Diary of Anne Frank in Livingston, Michigan waving Nazi flags. Obviously this upset the play goers and the play doers. Some were escorted to their cars following the performance. The demonstrators left the American Legion parking lot, where the play was being performed, after being told to by local police, but did exchange words with patrons across the street.

Here’s a quote from The Fowlerville Community Theatre via CNN:

The Fowlerville Community Theatre, which put on the production, said in a statement the play “centers on real people who lost their lives in the Holocaust” and added the cast and crew “endeavored to tell their story with as much realism as possible.”

“On Saturday evening, things became more real than we expected,” the group said. “The presence of protesters outside gave us a small glimpse of the fear and uncertainty felt by those in hiding.”

“As a theatre, we want to make people feel and think. We hope by presenting Anne’s story, we can help prevent the atrocities of the past from happening again.”

Something tells me theatres, and the arts in general, are in for more of this, and not just on topics that bring out anti-semitism, given how we’ve just turned this country upside down and inside out, revealing all the ugly that I think my professor genuinely thought that theatre and the arts should be protesting against and illuminating.

Of course the theatre and the artists have also shown throughout history that they can be important voices against ugliness and hatred as well even in times when they’ve been shut down and persecuted. Art and storytelling always finds a way.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Sunday Morning Reading

Looking ahead, looking back, yet always looking in this week’s Sunday Morning Reading.

It’s Sunday. It’s the Sunday after the U.S. election that will change everything. In my opinion those changes will make life worse not better. The one thing that won’t change is my curiosity and sharing that in Sunday Morning Reading.

I cranked out a Thursday edition of Sunday Morning Reading this week to share some terrific writing in the aftermath of the election. I’m going to once again share a couple of those titles here, for the record, but also because they are worth re-reading now, and perhaps also later.

John Gruber’s thoughts post election are special, as is his piece How It Went.

Ken White of PopeHat fame’s piece And Yet It Moves is also worth re-reading and re-sharing. Excellent.

David Todd McCarty’s So, That Happened is also worth re-visiting.

Now on to some new stuff to share.

A series I had been sharing links to for awhile never really escaped my radar, but for some reason didn’t get mentioned as much here. Ellis Weiner and Steve Radlauer’s excellent serial The Split has come to an end. Conceived as a meditation “about what a country modeled entirely on red state ‘values’ would be like,” it has been a fantastic journey through 52 chapters. I’m sorry to see it come to an end. You can find the final chapter here and all of The Split here.

Over at Beardy Guy Musings, Denny Henke advises that we Remain Calm. But Prepare. Good advice.

Rachel Maddow reminds us that America has had its share of bad guys in the past in Dead Last.

Jeff Jarvis asks and answers Why Are Liberals So Infuriated with the Media?

Matteo Wong ponders The Death of Search in a world racing to embrace AI harder and harder.

Finally Frank Landymore tells us that a Physicist Says There’s Another Universe Hiding Behind the Big Bang. You can read the original essay Landymore refers to by Neil Turok here. Intriguingly not only does it exist in this theory but it is moving back in time. I’m sure not alone in wishing somehow we could do that either here or there.

America Had A Choice. America Chose Wrong

Sharing some thoughts of mine and others while trying to process this awful change.

America had a choice on November 5, 2024. America chose wrong. Donald Trump, the decaying orange convicted felon/child rapist who stole state secrets and tried to overturn his 2020 election defeat was reelected to be President and Commander-in-Chief of the United States. We can’t say we weren’t warned.

I’m still reeling a bit, alternating between shock, grief, and trying to find my way to process what I believe marks the end of America two years shy of its 250th birthday. Oh, sure it’ll still show up on a map, have a flag, and command a place in the world. But it will never be the same. No more defiantly claiming this is not who we are. In an act of national lunacy, this is who we’ve chosen to be. Sorry. That’s how I see it. You don’t invite a criminal into your home and stand in surprise when he steals the silver.

But back to the processing.

One of the things I do is read and share writing and subjects I think are worth your time. Typically that appears in my Sunday Morning Reading column here on the Wicked Stage. Today, I’m sharing some reading that has helped me through a couple of sleepless nights and very gray moods under very gray skies. Some seeks solace and understanding. Some might feel vindictive and angry. As I said, processing.

I hope you take the time to read this writing from some very thoughtful thinkers.

First up is Scattered Thoughts On The Worst of Days by Ian Dunt. Helpful words from overseas.

David Todd McCarty is trying to make sense of things in the aftermath of a catastrophe in So, That Happened.

Mark McKinnon pens An Open Letter to My Daughters. It’s meant as some words of solace. I’m not sure I’m there yet. One day, maybe. But I’m saving this for my granddaughter to read down the road.

Charles Pierce writes With The Election of Donald Trump, America is About to Get Exactly What It Wants.

James C. Nelson is a vet from a distinguished military family. He comes in hot with I Will Fly My Flag No Longer.

Finally, Ken White of PopeHat fame writes down some thoughts in And Yet It Moves. Damn good. Here’s a quote:

Are Americans inherently good, freedom-loving, devoted to free speech and free worship, committed to all people being created equal? That’s our founding myth, and isn’t it pretty to think so? But a glance at history shows it’s not true. Bodies in graves and jails across America disprove it. We’re freedom-loving when times are easy, devoted to speech and worship we like with lip service to the rest, and divided about our differences since our inception.

In some small way I’m selfishly hoping sharing this might help me as much as you. Good reading.