The Wires
powered by Surfing Waves
Help!

To keep the Conversation going, please help me by linking news articles, opinion pieces and other political content in today's Comments section.

Link Code:   <a href="URL">text</a>

OR here's a link generator. The one I had posted died, then Akhilleus found one, but it too bit the dust. He found yet another, which I've linked here, and as of September 23, 2024, it's working.

OR you can always just block, copy and paste to your comment the URL (Web address) of the page you want to link.

Note for Readers. It is not possible for commenters to "throw" their highlighted links to another window. But you can do that yourself. Right-click on the link and a drop-down box will give you choices as to where you want to open the link: in a new tab, new window or new private window.

Thank you to everyone who has been contributing links to articles & other content in the Comments section of each day's "Conversation." If you're missing the comments, you're missing some vital links.

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

Contact Marie

Click on this link to e-mail Marie.

Page Links
Monday
Oct092023

The Conversation -- October 9, 2023

Arlette Saenz, et al., of CNN: "Eleven US citizens have died in the conflict in Israel, President Joe Biden said Monday, and an unknown number remain missing. 'As we continue to account for the horrors of the appalling terrorist assault against Israel this weekend and the hundreds of innocent civilians who were murdered, we are seeing the immense scale and reach of this tragedy,' Biden said in a statement. 'Sadly, we now know that at least 11 American citizens were among those killed -- many of whom made a second home in Israel.' It is 'likely,' Biden said, that American citizens may be among those being held hostage by Hamas, and that his administration is working with Israeli officials on 'every aspect of the hostage crisis.' Biden also noted that there are American citizens whose whereabouts remain unaccounted for. 'This is not some distant tragedy. The ties between Israel and the United States run deep,' he said. 'It is personal for so many American families who are feeling the pain of this attack as well as the scars inflicted through millennia of antisemitism and persecution of Jewish people.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Melina Delkic & Anna Betts of the New York Times: "Two years after President Biden became the first U.S. president to formally commemorate Indigenous Peoples' Day, more than a dozen states recognize some version of the holiday in lieu of Columbus Day. More than 100 cities have adopted the holiday, choosing to heed calls from Indigenous groups and other activists not to celebrate Christopher Columbus, the Italian navigator after whom the holiday is named. They say he brought genocide and colonization to communities that had been in the Americas for thousands of years. Many around the country, however, still celebrate Columbus Day or Italian Heritage Day as a point of pride.... [Indigenous Peoples' Day] is not yet a federal holiday, though lawmakers in Congress have introduced legislation that proposes to make it one. Here is more background." ~~~

~~~ Harmeet Kaur of CNN: "For centuries, the US celebrated Christopher Columbus as the intrepid explorer who discovered the Americas -- a symbol of the American ideals of entrepreneurship and innovation. The story of the Italian navigator taught to generations of schoolchildren is shrouded in mythology. But for the Indigenous peoples who inhabited the Americas long before Columbus ever arrived, Columbus and his namesake holiday represent something much more sinister: the violent colonization of their lands and the brutal treatment of their people. The movement to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day has been decades in the making." First published a year ago.

Marie: Shame on me for forgetting on Indigenous Peoples' Day Randy Newman's historical perspective on my own peoples' "contributions" to the American experience. Thanks to Akhilleus for the reminder:

Annie Karni of the New York Times: Rep. Steve "Scalise [R-La.], a longtime rival to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, is now mounting his own bid for the post. He has pitched himself as the man uniquely positioned to unite Republicans at a moment when they are deeply divided and demoralized after Mr. McCarthy's historic ouster last week. His candidacy is the culmination of a steady political climb for a deeply conservative Republican who once described himself, according to a local columnist, as 'like David Duke without the baggage.'... Under the current rules of the Republican conference, whoever receives a majority in [a] secret-ballot vote will be the party's nominee when the full House meets to elect a new speaker, now expected on Wednesday."

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The fact that [Rep. Jim] Jordan [R-Ohio] is a viable [candidate for Speaker of the House] appears to be less about his own evolution than the Republican Party's.... 'I just never saw a guy who spent more time tearing things apart -- never building anything, never putting anything together,' former House speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) wrote in his 2021 book, which lumped his Ohio colleague in with other 'legislative terrorists.'... For much of the 2010s, Jordan was a key leader of GOP efforts to push the government toward shutdowns while holding out for concessions.... That is relevant given that the next speaker would be thrust into an imminent shutdown debate, with the next deadline mid-November, according to the deal McCarthy cut.... But shutdowns aren't the only area in which Jordan has been to the right of his colleagues and held a hard line.... Jordan has aligned himself with [Donald] Trump in ways that even many of his fellow Republicans have been reluctant to[.]... And that's to say nothing of the personal questions." Blake details many of Jordan's, ah, shortcomings.

Where "Moderate" Means Timid or Whiney. Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post: is tired of hearing so-called "moderate Republicans" complain about their party's flamethrowers. "It's not the MAGA Republicans who are responsible for the House's descent into chaos, nor is it the responsibility of the minority party that has been lied to by [Kevin] McCarthy and his ilk. The culprit is the famed 'moderate' Republicans we keep hearing about.... If they and a supposed majority of House Republicans want to prove they are more responsible and more serious than their MAGA counterparts, they can either advance a sober contender for speaker or, better yet, place conditions on their support for any speaker (just as the far-right did with McCarthy).... This would entail an actual commitment ... to behave responsibly. Though this sounds almost inconceivable, this should be the bare minimum required of any member." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If they're so moderate, can't they come up with a candidate for speaker who did not associate himself with the Ku Klux Klan or help engineer a coup against the U.S.? Unfortunately, the answer is probably not.

~~~~~~~~~~

Germany. Christopher Schuetze of the New York Times: "German voters handed a victory on Sunday to mainstream conservatives in a state election in Bavaria -- as well as in the smaller central state of Hesse -- while punishing the three parties running the country. While all three of the governing parties lost votes, symbolically at least, the far-right Alternative for Germany and another populist party were the evening's clear victors, notching record results in both states when compared with other western states." MB: While the article discusses the success of "conservatives" and "populists," you would not be wrong to think "Nazis," at least where it comes to "populists."

Israel/Palestine. Andrés Martínez & Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: "Israel's military acknowledged on Monday that it was still battling to drive Palestinian militants out of southern towns near the Gaza Strip and that more militants could still be crossing through breaches in the border fence, two days after an invasion that has killed hundreds and provoked furious retaliatory strikes by Israel.... More than 700 people have been killed in Israel, which has responded to the assault by striking nearly 500 targets in Gaza, leveling whole buildings that they say are linked to Hamas, the militant group that controls the territory. At least 493 Palestinians have been killed, according to authorities in Gaza.... The timing and scale of the next steps, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would dstroy Hamas, were unclear because Hamas and other militants held at least 150 Israelis hostage. And Israel appears to be nowhere closer to answering key questions about how it was caught unaware by the attack on Saturday despite having some of the most extensive and sophisticated intelligence, missile defense and spying networks in the world." This is a liveblog. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates are here. The AP's live updates are here. ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's live updates are here: "Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant says he has given an order for Gaza's 'complete siege.' No electricity, food, fuel or water will be delivered to the enclave, which is surrounded on three sides by Israel and Egypt. 'We are fighting barbarians and will respond accordingly,' he said on camera." MB: Nothing medieval about that.

Susannah George, et al., of the Washington Post: "Israel formally declared war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Sunday as it reeled from a surprise attack that killed more than 700 people, opening the way for a major escalation in fighting that already threatened to engulf the region. A swelling counterattack by Israeli forces in Gaza also killed more than 400 people, including 78 children, as residents braced for a more punishing campaign that some feared would include an Israeli ground invasion. The vote for war by Israel's cabinet could signal a wider operation -- it allows the government to expand military mobilization and deploy a more lethal range of military options. U.S. officials said Sunday that they expected Israel to launch a ground incursion into Gaza in the next 24 to 48 hours, according to people familiar with the matter. Israel also requested heightened cooperation with the United States on intelligence-sharing related to southern Lebanon...."

Michael Birnbaum, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration on Sunday scrambled to prevent Hamas's assault on Israel from escalating into a multi-front, regional conflict, deploying a U.S. aircraft carrier group to the eastern Mediterranean and rushing arms to the Israeli military in a bid to deter the Lebanon-based Hezbollah and other actors from attacking.... American citizens are probably among the hostages that Hamas is holding inside Gaza, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday. At least several Americans were killed in the attack, a senior administration official confirmed."

Tia Goldenberg of the AP: "Israel's intelligence agencies have gained an aura of invincibility over the decades because of a string of achievements.... Israel's intelligence agencies have gained an aura of invincibility over the decades because of a string of achievements.... the apparent lack of prior knowledge of Hamas' plot will likely be seen as a prime culprit in the chain of events that led to the deadliest attack against Israelis in decades.... The ferocious attack, which likely took months of planning and meticulous training and involved coordination among multiple militant groups, appeared to have gone under Israel's intelligence radar. Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general, said that without a foothold inside Gaza, Israel's security services have come to rely increasingly on technological means to gain intelligence. He said militants in Gaza have found ways to evade that technological intelligence gathering, giving Israel an incomplete picture of their intentions." ~~~

~~~ David Ignatius of the Washington Post: compares the intelligence failures that caused U.S. agencies to fail to connect the dots that signaled the 9/11 attacks to those that caused Israeli intelligence to miss the signs that pointed toward a major attack by Hamas.

Mr. Potato Head Doesn't Care. Ursula Perano, et al., of Politico: "Sen. Tommy Tuberville is not relenting from his monthslong blockade of military nominations over the Biden administration's abortion policy -- even in the face of one of America's closest allies going to war.... [Because of Tuberville's hold on military nominations & promotions, more than] 300 nominees are in limbo, including two picks for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and top officers slated to command U.S. forces in the Middle East. 'The severity of the crisis in Israel underscores the foolishness of Senator Tuberville's blockade,' Senate Armed Services Chair Jack Reed said in a statement Sunday. 'The United States needs seamless military leadership in place to handle dangerous situations like this and Senator Tuberville is denying it. This is no time for petty political theater, and I again urge Republican colleagues to help actively end Senator Tuberville's damaging blockade,' the Rhode Island Democrat added. 'The time for talking is over.'" ~~~

~~~ AND we all knew this was coming. Alex Griffing of Mediaite: "...Donald Trump weighed in Sunday morning on the devastating attack Hamas launched against civilians in Israel on Saturday as only he would. 'THE HORRIBLE ATTACK ON ISRAEL, MUCH LIKE THE ATTACK ON UKRAINE, WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED IF I WERE PRESIDENT -- ZERO CHANCE!' Trump posted to his Truth Social platform.... 'They didn't have that level of aggression with me. They didn't have it. This would have never happened with me either,' Trump said [in a statement]. He also later in the day declared during a Cedar Rapids rally that Biden had 'betrayed Israel' by releasing $6 billion in funds to Iran in exchange for American prisoners." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yes, yes, the lion would lie down with the lamb if I were president, too, and the dove of peace would fly over every hill and dale. I'd teach the world to sing in perfect harmony and I'd buy everybody a Coke (okay a Diet Coke). What absolute crap. ~~~

~~~ AND here's what Kristen Welker of NBC News thinks is getting tough on Nikki Haley for claiming Hamas was using money the U.S. released for Iranian humanitarian relief: "And yet, there's just no proof of that yet.... Is it irresponsible to level that charge when you really don't have any evidence of that at this point in time?" MB: Good thing she wasn't interviewing Trump again; she would have asked him if it was irresponsible to claim Hamas was afraid of him. Most Americans don't have or don't take time to follow the news closely. They figure they're being extra-good citizens if they catch a few nightly news broadcasts & tune into a Sunday morning news show. That's not really unreasonable. Well, thanks to the networks for misleading them with milquetoast & honey.

News Lede

New York Times: "The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded on Monday to Claudia Goldin, a Harvard professor, for advancing the world's understanding of women's progress in the work force with her research. The Nobel committee announced the award in Stockholm. Ms. Goldin is the third woman to have won the economics Nobel, and the first one to be honored with it solo, rather than sharing in the prize. She has long been a groundbreaking woman in the field -- she was the first woman to be offered tenure in Harvard's economics department, in 1989." The AP's story is here.

Comments Off

Reader Comments (13)

From Wikipedia:

Criticism and Controversy-----

Indigenous People's Day has been harshly criticized by the American
right, with the Washington Examiner publishing a column calling for
the holiday's end, saying that indigenous peoples attacked and
conquered each other's land.
Then President Donald Trump attacked Indigenous People's Day a
rally in Michigan, calling it an example of how the "radical left is
erasing our history."

(As if he would know anything at all about our history, he who has
never read a book and probably slept through school).

October 9, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterForrestMorris

Indigenous Peoples Day presents what one would think is so prominent an ox-gored issue that no one could miss it; still, it seems far too many Americans do.

People have always been on the move. Everyone came from somewhere else. On a historic scale, property "ownership" and "homeland" have always been temporary arrangements.

Don't know where that t-shirt is now (have almost as many t-shirts as Romney had binders full of women), so can't wear it, but that one depicting two Apaches, rifles held across their chests, with the words "Homeland Security since 1492" below would be a good shirt to wear today.

No wonder R's are dull (perhaps their greatest sin) as well as selfish and mean. They miss all the irony. And the fun.

October 9, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

The mouse who would be squeaker…

What else could you call a cowardly rodent who scurried into his hole in the wall to hide while students he was charged with caring for were being sexually abused?

Let’s see…

Sexual abuse of students that could mar them for life…

OR

Me.

Gym always picks the latter. The latter and the ladder. The ladder up, up, and up. Step on people, kick them when they’re down, lie, cheat, and betray your country. That’s the Gym Way.

So what could we expect from Squeaker Gym?

Since we’ve already pointed out how he allowed students to be mauled so he could keep his cushy job, let’s see what ol’ Gym has done as a “legislator” (*cough, cough*) to stand up for kids.

Here’s what the Children’s Defense Fund has to say:

“During the 117th Congress, Rep. Jordan has taken 7 votes that would help the children in his district. He has introduced 0 bills and cosponsored 0 bills to help children. Rep. Jordan has taken 26 actions we believe to be against the interests of children.”

Keep in mind, those 7 votes were not for any bills he sponsored or cosponsored. Here are just a few of the bills Gym pissed on:

voted against H.R.5984 the IDEA Full Funding Act.
voted against H.R.7989 the Protecting Infants from Formula Shortages Act of 2022.
voted against H.R.5080 the Secure Background Checks Act of 2021.
voted against H.R.4464 the Fighting Homelessness Through Services and Housing Act.
voted against H.R.4837 the Honoring Family-Friendly Workplaces Act.
voted for H.R.8213 the Fair Housing Improvement Act of 2022.
voted against H.R.137 the Mental Health Access and Gun Violence Prevention Act of 2021.
voted against H.R.1620 the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2021.
voted against H.R.1808 the Assault Weapons Ban of 2022.
voted against H.R.2377 the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2021.
voted against H.R.5129 the Community Services Block Grant Modernization Act of 2022.
voted against H.R.5305 the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act.
voted for H.R.5551 the Improving the Health of Children Act.
voted for H.R.5561 the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act of 2021.
voted against H.R.5746 the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act.
voted against H.R.6531 the Targeting Resources to Communities in Need Act of 2022.
voted for H.R.6878 the Pregnant Women in Custody Act.
voted against H.R.7309 the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2022.
voted for H.R.7666 the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act of 2022.
voted against H.R.7780 the Mental Health Matters Act.
voted against H.R.7790 the Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022.
voted for H.R.7791 the Access to Baby Formula Act of 2022.
voted against H.R.7910 the Protecting Our Kids Act.
voted against H.R.8326 the Ensuring a Fair and Accurate Census Act.
voted against H.R.8404 the Respect for Marriage Act.
voted against H.R.8542 the Mental Health Justice Act of 2022.
voted against H.R.8876 the Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting Reauthorization Act of 2022.

Who in the holy hell votes against improving children’s health? Or pregnant women threatened with violence? Or making sure there’s enough baby formula? Fucking baby formula!!

Gym Jordan. That’s who. The mouse who would be squeaker.

By the way, the CDF gives out report cards for legislators. Gym got a big fat F. An F in Cares About Kids.

But there’s a certain number that keeps popping up when one starts investigating Gym’s “legislative record” (*cough, cough, cough*).
the number to keep in mind is zero.

A check of Jordan’s record shows zero bills passed. Zero, as in none, not a one, zip, nada, nothing. In YEARS. At least Lyin’ Ryan got a post office named.

According to Govtrack:

Laws enacted: Zero
Bills out of committee: Zero
Powerful Co-sponsors (ie, not MAGA morons): Zero
Work with the Senate: Zero

But Zero has been Gym’s big number for a long time, going back to his days as a “legislator” (*cough, cough*) in Ohio:

“He hasn’t written a law in the last 16 years or done much of anything but make noise, throw shade, troll, obfuscate, grandstand, and attempt to overthrow democracy.”

Here’s more where that came from (Ohio Capitol Journal):

“Jordan began a rant about all the investigations that must happen with Biden administration bureaucrats who ‘have assaulted our constituents’ and ‘need to be held accountable’ with made-for-TV fireworks that last forever and beat writing and passing laws. But, as if to temper his undisguised zeal for putting the screws to Democrats, the new chair of the Judiciary Committee stressed that his combative, in-your-face inquisitions would be proper.

‘We need to do it in a way that’s consistent with the Constitution,’ said the Jan. 6 co-conspirator apparently without any self-awareness of his jaw-dropping hypocrisy. That the smallish Benedict Arnold could even utter those words about adhering to the fundamental law of the republic he aggressively undermined shows how rudderless he truly is. Attempting to overthrow the government is anything but consistent with the Constitution.

Jordan’s newfound loyalty to the codified core values of the American people is conditional. By his extensive involvement in Trump’s electoral subterfuge — from as early as November 2020 to Jan. 6 and beyond — Jordan affirmed that being ‘consistent with the Constitution’ depended on the circumstances. Plainly, sedition was an exception to the rule.”

Yes, folks, zero is the word. Zero faithfulness to his oath of office, zero concern for the nation, zero heart, zero soul, zero decency, zero civility, zero competence at the job he was elected to do, zero zero zero.

What to do with such a dolt?

In the GQP, he’s Squeaker material. But maybe not a mouse. More like a rat.

October 9, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

CNN explainer about the $6 billion in the Iranian hostage deal. It was frozen Iranian money that is restricted for humanitarian aid use.
"The money made accessible to Iran as a part of the deal are Iranian funds that have been held in restricted South Korean accounts. Sources told CNN the funds came from oil sales
The money is now available to the Iranian government for purchase of non-sanctionable items such as food and medicine. But it is not totally under the control of the Iranian government and will not reside in Iranian banks, according to the US."

October 9, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterRAS

This being Indigenous People’s Day, I thought it would be useful to recall the greed for gold, land, and power that nearly killed off all those people. Here is Randy Newman singing about Great Nations of Europe.

~~~ [Marie: I've had to cut the lyrics Akhilleus provided on account of copyright infringement, though I'll acknowledge that the lyrics no doubt are all over the Internets. In the meantime, I've added above a YouTube video of Randy performing "The Great Nations of Europe."] ~~~

And today, the descendants of those natives, natives who were here for thousands of years, are being described by a fat asshole whose family only arrived in the last hundred, as “poisoning the blood of Our Country.”

October 9, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

In the early 70's, Trinity Square Rep in Providence presented two plays by Brown prof James Schevill, "Lovecraft's Follies" and "Cathedral of Ice." I'm including both because I can't remember in which one the set was an Old West carnival through which the audience walked as various "acts" vied for attention. In the play, Schevill showed that Hitler was a big fan of the American Old West, in which a growing nation killed off its inconvenient races.

October 9, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterJack Mahoney

@Jack Mahoney: Thank you. Although he doesn't mention Schevill, here's an essay by David Carroll Cochran on how the U.S. treatment of Native Americans influenced Hitler. While I was aware Hitler had invoked this sordid & important aspect of American history as a model for his plans for Europe, I didn't know how avid a student Hitler had been of the worst of our own white man's history.

It's a good read to honor the day.

October 9, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Gee…another horrible thing Trump has in common with Hitler.

For Trump (and Hitler) there are only good people on one side.

October 9, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

It is downright amazing to me that I got all the way through grade school without reading one damned thing about American history that wasn't totally, totally white man's history, and the white guys were definitely the good guys. The rare exceptions, I guess, were the "good" Indians who taught the white guys how to survive a New England winter and the "good" Negros who longed for the old plantation.

My high school textbooks were not any better, though I did have a teacher or two who ever-so-gently broached the idea that maybe not all the white guys were terrific, but that lesson definitely did not sink in until I was in college. Essentially, my entire public education, courtesy of the Great State of Florida, was extreme tribalism.

One of the great failings of our educational system seems to be that it ends when it ends. We are not encouraged to keep on learning, so if you want to know what's the matter with Fox viewers, it's that most of them grew up under the same distorted educational system I did. They knew everything they had to know by Grade 12, and they'll be damned if they have to learn anything differently. The rest of life is just a magnification of the white man's history they read in public school, and every contemporary "lesson" is absorbed as some sort of manifestation of that extreme tribalism.

Many younger people may have received a less racist schooling and a percentage of my generation has worked our way out of those early lessons, but today's Republicans are working really, really hard to make sure today's schoolchildren are not contaminated -- i.e., "made uncomfortable" -- by reality.

If we want to make America great again, it will not come through the white tunnel vision of Mein Trumpf.

October 9, 2023 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

How is history taught now? Not sure, but in my grandaughters' grade school:

-- in the first grade, a major teaching point was Sequoya's development of the Cherokee alphabet and the influence of Cherokee culture
-- and also in the first grade, the students learned about the Wampanoag's importance to the survival of the Pilgrims as the Thanksgiving story's main point, as opposed to the versions where the Pilgrims' hospitality is the focus.

I was sort of surprised when my granddaughter referred to "the Wampanoags," since when I was in elementary school they were always just "the Indians."

This school is nowhere near the Cherokee Nations, nor to New England. So the curriculum seems based on national history and not local fondness for our neighborhood tribes, which were historically seasonally nomadic and whose remnants now reside predominantly a bit south. Those were the indigenous occupants of the Chesapeake area, and the various tribes did not all get along before we brought them the mission civilatrice.

Also: last year my older granddaughter "hated" history (then 6th grade) but this year she "loves" it. Wisdom with growth? No. Different teachers. The curriculum is important, but so is how it's taught.

October 9, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterPatrick

Marie,

Quite right about those lyrics. Shoulda just included a fair use snippet but it was hard picking just the right one.

Anyways….

I have a question.

How do they do it?

I mean, really. How do the MAGAts reconcile their Dear Fat Leader’s most outrageously hysterical lies with the real world?

Fatty’s latest masterpiece of Narci-MAGA-ssistic batshit mendacity is to claim, hang on, hahahahaha!!! that he has a MUCH BETTER BODY than Joe Biden.

What is this? The Emperor’s new body? Biden works out and takes care of himself. Trump is a fat blowser who gobbles Big Macs like M&Ms. Six years ago this tub of lard needed a golf cart to keep up with G7 leaders in Sicily. And even in a golf cart, they all beat this fat pig to their destination and had to twiddle their thumbs while Mr. Goodbody waddled in.

Seriously. How do they cheer when this obviously waaay out of shape, overweight blimp proclaims his Adonis-hood?

Mass hysteria.

October 9, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

And this astounding bullshit about how Hamas would never have attacked Israel had this moron been president?

So what, is antisemitic Trump all of a sudden a BFF of Jews??

Fuck no.

This is an asshole who talks about “disloyal Jews”, who loves Nazis.

No, Trump wants the droolers to believe that he is so powerful that he.personally could prevent wars.

Too bad he wasn’t around in 1914. I’m sure his personal Fatty Power would have prevented Gavrillo Princip from shooting the Archduke Ferdinand. And WWII? The Japanese would never have dared attack Pearl Harbor had they known they might incur the Orange Monster’s wrath.

Just think of the stupidity and ignorance of history involved in the claim that “I could have stopped it!!”

Think Faux “experts” will opine, honestly, on such a ludicrous claim?

October 9, 2023 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus
Comments for this entry have been disabled. Additional comments may not be added to this entry at this time.