It’s no secret that I don’t have much reverence for Hemingway. The reason Primary and Middle School teachers assign him is because he’s short. The Smoke Like Black Labradors The woman scratched the dog’s ears. In the distance he could see the smoke from the train. The coffee was still too hot. He would have …
Tag: ek Politics
Jan 22 2017
The Numbers Game
So when he was in Langley after his visit to the CIA yesterday The Donald falsely claimed that his Inauguration drew about 1 to 1.5 Million people (I hope you don’t ask me for a transcript, nobody seems to have one, here’s a story from the Washington Post instead). Later on Sean Spicer walked back …
Jan 20 2017
Activism! (Women’s March on Washington)
Sigh. This is really TMC’s idea, we were having a story meeting (yeah, I may look like a complete flake but I’m actually classically trained, that’s why I never do obituaries anymore) and I brought up the Women’s March on Washington. She’s like- oh yeah, I’m going to be there; how about you? I never …
Jan 18 2017
Misty Eyed
As in, “Don’t be gettin’ all,” over Barack Obama’s departure. The transition period has been a time to reflect on the failures of his Administration, kind of an anti-Greatest Hits Album of broken promises, missed opportunities, and fecklessness. I’d almost be sorry if it wasn’t clear that Obama’s worst policies weren’t so clearly deliberate and …
Jan 18 2017
Talking With Jeremy Scahill
TMC and I have had the pleasure of meeting Jeremy Schakill twice. The first time was during his book tour for Dirty Wars when he was interviews at The New School by Spencer Ackerman (now of The Guardian– we actually sat next to Spencer’s Mom who was a very nice and charming lady). When we …
Jan 17 2017
One Good Thing
Surprise: President Obama Commutes Chelsea Manning’s Sentence by Mike Masnick, Tech Dirt Tue, Jan 17th 2017 Well, here’s a surprise. President Obama has just commuted the bulk of Chelsea Manning’s sentence, meaning she will be freed this May, rather than having to spend another three decades in jail. Manning, of course, was sent to prison …
Jan 17 2017
See Yah. Thanks For Nothing.
It is my contention that Barack Obama’s Neo Liberal, Moderate Republican agenda and concentration on symbolic Identity Politics to the exclusion of genuine economic reform, his tolerance of and participation in War Crimes, his looking the other way at real and provable Financial Fraud, his systemic militarization of Police and sufferance of their violence against …
Jan 17 2017
The End Of Davos Man?
One can only hope. Davos is the name of the Swiss town where the World Economic Forum is held annually. As you might expect it’s kind of a ‘Burning Man’ of Neo Liberal excess, but with inequality reaching a point where according to Oxfam half the World’s wealth is held by a mere 8 individuals …
Jan 16 2017
Birmingham Jail
You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has …
Jan 13 2017
A Catalog Of Fail
Some people may think I go a little lighter on Hillary than Barack. If I seem so it’s purely by intention. You see, we’ll never know what a Hillary Presidency would have looked like. It’s possible she’s the closet liberal her supporters claim. It could be that her war hawk foreign policy compensates for her …
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