Category: Politics

We’ve Fallen and I Don’t Think We’ll Ever Get Back Up

I saw this Economist headline fly by today on one social media network or the other. It’s from the end of last month. In more ways than I care or want to count it sort of sums up exactly what’s happening on this planet. 

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Set aside the editorial judgment that went into the article and the headline. Instead focus in on the surreal, but very real reality, that for far too many most of the problems we’re facing don’t matter as long as the quarterly results and bank balances are positive.  

And you have to love this quote:

Could financial markets once again be underpricing the risk of a global conflict? 

We’ve fallen and I don’t think we’ll ever get back up.

Here’s the link to the article.

Sunday Morning Reading

Big week and a traveling weekend. A new granddaughter has made her entrance. Rehearsals have kicked off for The Lehman Trilogy, and as usual most things surrounding us feel unresolved and unsettling in ways that can color good news in ways that make you think. Here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share.

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Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner seek to remind us that viewed through the wider of arc of human history moments of peril do get resolved, but at a high cost in human suffering. Check out All These Emotions.I get the context. Just not thrilled with what seems like an easy way to shrug off the moment.

Doing Less, Extraordinary Well by David Todd McCarty takes a look at how standards shouldn’t shift even when our circumstances do.

Do You Know What Time It Is? I’m not talking about the switch of the clocks between daylight and standard time that happened this weekend. Jonathan Chait looks at that question as a warning we should all be aware of in The Authoritarian Right’s Code-Phrase: ‘Do You Know What Time It Is?’Highly recommend you read and be aware of this.

Almost a companion piece to the previous entry, Mike Lofgren pens Right-Wing Fake History Is Making a Big Comeback—But It Never Went Away. Myths are always grounded in some fact and some fiction. This is a lengthy read and is perhaps as guility as it thesis. The take away is the more things change the more they remain the same.

Artificial Intelligence hasn’t been featured in awhile here on Sunday Morning Reading, but this caught my eye. Polly Thompson tells us about how an AI Bot Performed Insider Trading And Lied About It’s Actions, Study Shows. Don’t tell me you didn’t see this coming.

And speaking of the Internet and bad folks doing bad things because they can, Amanda Chicago Lewis takes a look at The People Who Runied The Internet. Same type of folks who’ve ruined most things throughout history.

And closing things out on a totally different note, one of my favorite writers of the moment, NatashaMH, penned Excuse Me, I’m Heterosexual.I’m saving this piece to share with my new granddaughter one day. Maybe the note isn’t actually all that different.

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. 

Sunday Morning Reading

It’s been quite a week. Lots going on with work. Lots going on politically in the US and the world. People are dying. So is a country. A new granddaughter is about to be born. I’m deep into work as we begin rehearsals for The Lehman Trilogy at Playhouse on the Square. Virtually at first. Deep enough to be tossing and turning in my sleep searching and grasping for questions, much less answers. Regardless, discovery never stops and that means reading. At times it feels like discovery yields a collection of whatever carcasses and stuff are randomly caught in a spider’s web. Out of the randomness it seems everything is pointed towards the work I’m doing. Either way here’s a web of Sunday Morning Reading to share.

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First You Have to Row A Little Boat. It’s a piece by David Todd McCarty that cribs its title from Richard Bode’s memoir of the same name. Words resonating at the moment far beyond the original and McCarty’s riff. Happiness, perhaps should not be a life’s goal and the curiouser you are might lead to acceptance of that. Enjoy the stumbles and the mistakes as much as you enjoy the moments that seem like victories. If you can.

When historians write about the tumult and chaos of this political moment in the United States this past week’s ascension of Mike Johnson to the role of Speaker of the House will be one of, if not the key moments. Everything changed if not during that culmination. Ruth Graham and Annie Karni in the New York Times give us For Mike Johnson, Religion Is At The Forefront of Politics and Policy, sketching a sketchy biography pulled from what little is known about the man, even as some of it is quickly disappearing from the Internet. But let’s get real. We may not well know this man’s bio. We well know this man and this moment.

One of the strands that allow me to discover is the Internet. Remember when we referred to it as the World Wide Web? It’s going through a moment of chaos and re-examination. Katie Notopoulos in the MIT Technology Review offers up How to Fix The Internet. She’s pointing to what feels like a change in the air. I think we have to fix humans first. Good luck with that.

This piece from January popped up twice in my Internet surfing this week. I believe in serendipitous discoveries, but I do not believe in coincidences. Louis Menard examines When Americans Lost Faith in the News.

Fran Lebowitz. You’ve got an opinion just from the name, assuming you’re aware. Constance Grady gives us an interview with Lebowitz that contains this nugget: “Art should be useless.”  Read the interview. 

And briefly back to the Internet, Casey Newton gives us Twitter Is Dead and Threads Is Thriving. I’ll agree with the first part. I’ll say this about the second. Threads may be thriving at the moment. But we’re in the moment before Threads becomes what we all know it will be. Two words. Mark Zuckerberg. All of our kids are adorable until they’re not.

Natasha MH writes about Letting Go of Perfection and the prisions we create for ourselves. A quote: “It’s art. You can’t ruin an artwork. It just becomes something else than what you started with. That’s the whole point. That’s where the fun is. If you ask me, I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m doing this because it feels great. Liberating.”

And closing out  this week, Spiders Might be Quietly Diisappearing. Betsy Mason takes a look beyond the ick. If they are disappearing, here’s hoping the webs, world wide and otherwise don’t and continue to catch things.

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. 

Photo by Raldugina Oksana

Legal Landmines About January 6

This article in the Washington Post caught my eye this morning. Announcing that Hearings Begin as Trump Critics Attempt to Kick Him Off Ballots. What caught my eye wasn’t the headline but this paragraph:

Starting on Monday in Denver, a week-long hearing featuring witnesses and legal scholars will explore whether Jan. 6 qualified as an insurrection, which could bar Trump from the ballot in Colorado. On Thursday, the Minnesota Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether an obscure part of the Constitution might keep Trump off the ballot there. In coming weeks, courts around the country might hold similar proceedings.

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First, I don’t think any legal proceeding is going to keep this decaying orange turd off of any ballot. I just don’t. But what grabs me and frosts my jib is that there’s going to be a hearing exploring whether or not what happened on January 6th qualifies as an insurrection.

Call me crazy, but if we’re going to legally try to parse what the world saw that day into a thumbs up or thumbs down on calling it an insurrecton than I say we’re already thumbs down on not only this process but our legal proceedings as a country.

Think for just a second. It shouldn’t take you that long. If some august body in a hearing determines that what happened on January 6th was not an insurrection it’s open season for all sorts of political mayhem and violence that, in my opinion, goes far beyond freedom of speech or freedom of assembly.

I get the impulse. We want to make sure we’re doing things the right way legally. That’s supposedly who we are. News Flash. We aren’t that anymore.

So, let’s get serious. We all wish some Senators had shown some backbone and convicted the guy after the Hosue impeached him. And when I say “we all” I mean a quite a few of those Senators who cowardly voted to acquit. That way we wouldn’t be dealing with this mess. I’m sure we’d be dealing with a different mess and will continue to do so until this decaying orange turd no longer breathes oxygen or we run out of lawyers willing to be thrown under the bus and not paid by their client.

If we have to adjudicate this I think we’ve lost more than the game. We’ve lost the playing field..

Books Unbanned

I believe that if you’re afraid of a book and the ideas it contains then you’re actually afraid that what you believe in is wrong. If your belief or your faith can be so shaken by another’s ideas or words, then you’re on shaky ground to begin with. That obviously doesn’t stop cowards from banning books, a still surprising recent phenomenon that keeps gaining steam as it tries to rally support from the ignorant and the similarly close minded. 

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Books Unbanned is an effort to provide digital access to books that have been banned, especially to young people. Several public libraries have joined in under that banner first started by the Brooklyn Public Library. Kelly Jensen at Bookriot has and is compiling a list of libraries that do the same, promising to update the list as others join the effort. Here’s a quote:

This list is as comprehensive a roundup as possible of all the U.S. public libraries offering access to banned books. It includes the name of the library, the people who are being granted access to the collections, materials within the collections, as well as any other pertinent or relevant information.

A worthy effort for the unafraid. 

Sunday Morning Reading

Fall’s shadows deepen daily, so too do troubling clouds darkening our skies. And yet another Sunday morning dawns. With that here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share featuring a mix of interesting writing and topics unveiling a few writers looking into some of their own and the world’s shadows.

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The United States is consumed with what pretends to be politics but discerning eyes are on the difficulties in the Middle East. Wherever you cast your gaze you can find hatred fuelling conflict. But you can still discern moments of hope. Natasha MH looks in on that struggle in The Highland Between Conflict and Peace. Here’s a quote: “So much absence of truth is robbed by our ego, our vanity, our obsession for power and control.”

And on the western shores of Lake Michigan Greg Jaffe and Patrick Marley rack focus from the larger world view down to the local, yet still revealing the same challenges in The Pandemic Is Over In This Michigan County. The Mistrust Never Ended.

Speaking of smaller views into smaller pictures, Daniel Immerwahr in his piece Beyond The Myth of Rural America takes a look at Steven Conn’s The LIes of the Land: Seeing Rural America for What It Is —and Isn’t. 

Nitin Dangwal takes a look at The Language Of War and the stories it tells. Over and over again.

Robert Sapolsky doesn’t think Free Will is a thing. Scary concept given all that’s going on in the world currently. Corrine Purtill takes a look at his thinking in Stanford Scientist, After Decades of Study, Concludes We Don’t Have Free Will.

John Gruber of Daring Fireball links to a Washington Free Beacon piece, NYU Law Students Say Classmate Losing Job Offer Over Pro-Hamas Statement Is ‘Violence.’ John chimes in with his thoughts on this and I’m linking to Gruber’s link for his comment on that article. Well said.

There certainly seems to be a lot of bad news, fake news, news news, and it’s all tough to discern what’s what. (I’m bordering on depression just sharing these links). Annie Lowery takes a look at how frustrating it is for consumers these days in The Annoyance Economy.

And to close out this week’s edition David Todd McCarty takes a look at the discerning difference between discerning and difficult in A Difficult Man.

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. 

Next Moves in the Jim Jordan Speaker Gymboree

Noted liar, insurrectionist, and favorite of those who cheer on child sex abusers, Jim Jordan, has decided not to seek a third humiiating vote for Speaker of the US House of Representatives. He still wants to remain the Speaker designee of the GOP and is reserving the right to ask for a vote on his chances in the future.

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Here’s how this will play out. Congress has some big and serious issues on its doorstep. Action will need to be taken on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and hey, they actually have to vote on whether or not to keep the government open.

Regardless of which Republican has the gavel, compromises will need to be made. Compromise is a dirty word to the GOP. So, Jordan’s play is to let all of that work its way out with Patrick McHenry as the Speaker Pro Tempore calling the shots and taking all the fire.

If a motion is made to give McHenry more power that just sets the stage for one to be made to vacate the chair he would be sitting in after the compromises with Democrats actually keep the lights on.  Then Jordan would move again. The situation is actually a setup that could be a win-win for Jordan in the long run and the rabble that wants to continue to gum things up in the House.

That prediction of course depends on the rest of the House Republicans continuing to keep their brains detached from the real world and not pulling off some other sort of compromise.

UPDATE: Apparently the temporary Speaker approach is now dead in the water. For now.

How The Dems Can Strip the Pants Off Jim Jordan

The Democrats have a chance to strip the pants off Jim Jordan while the GOP continues to operate with their heads stuck up their nether regions. Insane speculation? You bet. But then everything we know about US politics in this moment is insane, so why the hell not?

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This speculation makes several assumptions:

1. Not much legislation is going to happen in the US House until after the next election in 2024 regardless of who is Speaker.

2. Some Republican puts forward a name other than Jim Jordan. This would have to happen on the floor of the House while in session.

3. There’s no way there’s going to be any sort of negotiated compromise candidate between the parties at this point. There will at some point be a GOP Speaker of the House. The wish-casting for a Dem speaker is just nonsense.

So, here’s how it works. A GOP member puts forward a name trying to keep Jordan from getting the requisite number of votes. Assuming the name is one that is somewhat palatable, say the current Speaker pro-tem, the Dems then vote in unison for that member. If the Dems throw 212 votes at another candidate who might garner 5 votes or more from the GOP side, Jordan is out of the game.

Could it work? I doubt it. But the math is there. The moment could be there. I doubt the courage is there on either side of the aisle. Given that I think chaos is going to reign until after the 2024 election regardless of who has the Speaker’s gavel, there’s nothing really to lose. We’ve already lost any simidgen of integrity Congress might have had. But there is a chance to punt Jim Jordan out of the picture.

Sunday Morning Reading

Time for another edition of Sunday Morning Reading. Today’s collection is a scattered selection of topics some of which might feel a bit dark. But it is a dark time scattering many of us into our corners or maybe to have an extra drink or two.

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For reasons, other than stupidity, we’re steal dealing with forces that want to ban books in America. This sadly isn’t a new thing, and Chris Klimek gives us A Brief History of Banned Books in America in this podcast transcript from the Smithsonian magazine podcast “There’s More To That.”

What’s happening and about to happen in the Middle East has the world on edge. Technology brings these moments to us in moments. Joanna Stern in the Wall St. Journal gives us a look in When Our Smartphones Became Windows to a War.

Continuing with that news of the moment Anne Applebaum in the Atlantic gives us There Are No Rules. As she describes it, our norms and values define how the world ought to work. We continually learn that’s not the reality.

Here’s a pallet cleanser with the first of a couple of tech topics. Jared Newman in Fast Company takes a look at the note-taking app Obsidian in The Cult of Obsidian: Why People Are Obssesed With The Note-Taking App. 

If you’ve paid attention to my tech writings here you’ll know I’m having some challenges with Apple’s iCloud failings and flailings. I’m not the only one and my challenge isn’t the only iCloud issue. In TidBits Glenn Fleishman describes his in Cloudy With A Chance of Insanity: Unsticking iCloud Drive.

And back on the politics and follies of mankind beat, this piece by Michael Tomasky, I Never Thought I’d Live to See Democracy Die. But Now I Wonder is worth a look. He’s not alone in his wondering if Democracy is just a phase.

And after all of that, if you think you might need a drink, here’s a look at The Bad Law That Made Good Bars, from Peter Suderman on The Raines Law. Never heard of it? Pour yourself a beverage of choice and take a read.

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. 

Sunday Morning Reading

Fall’s cooler temperatures are settling in and it’s a Sunday, so time for some Sunday Morning Reading to share with a mix of topics covering a range of interests. Enjoy!

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Leading off is a bit of politics because, well, US politicians seem to be knocking each other over in their quest for who can do the most damage to their so-called profession. First up is an excellent piece from Will Bunch, America Needs to Talk About the Right’s ‘Red Caesar’ plan for U.S. Dictatorship. This is happening. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.

And continuing in the poltiical vein, David Todd McCarty says We’ve Seen the Best Republicans Have to Offer. Sad. But true.

Off Camera is a terrfic piece by John Paul Scotto about his visits through his memories as seen through old home videos.

And speaking of things through lenses, the debate about over what exactly is a photo is heating up as Google (and others) keep moving the goal posts on doing things in post. Check out The Pixel 8 and the What-Is-A-Photo Apocalypse by Jay Peters.

Live theatre and the arts in general are going through some tough times. Spaced Out in Chicago: When Storefront Theatres Run Out of Storefronts by Amanda Finn in American Theatre Magazine focuses on the once thriving storefront theatre scene in Chicago and the challenges when real estate becomes less real.

James Parker in The Atlantic wonders what comedy is for in Comedians Only Care About Comedy. It’s a piece on the new Comedy Book: How Comedy Conquered Culture-and the Magic That Makes it Work. The joke’s on all of us if you ask me.

And David Todd McCarty gets a second hit this Sunday with his excellent The Myth of Fingerprints. As his subhead describes it “In which I explore the wisdom and efficacy of investing emotionally in the long-term outcome of America.” Read it.

And to close out this week, the week that brought us the anniversary of Steve Jobs’ death, take a read of this piece from Lisa Melton, simply titled Memories of Steve. She republished this April 2014 piece. It’s not just terrific. It’s an amazing memory from someone who was there.

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.