Weekend Reading: January 27, 2017

On January 27, 2017January 26, 2017 By chrisbarsantiIn Omnium GatherumLeave a comment

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So how come Gwyneth Paltrow’s website Goop thinks it’s a good idea for women to stick jade eggs in their, well, you know whats?
John McWhorter: “I listen to the man who is now president as if he were roughly 12 years old. That way, he is always perfectly understandable.“
Criminalizing dissent: A North Dakota congressman wants to make it legal for drivers to run over protesters.
Young Obi-wan Kenobi vs. sexist troll Piers Morgan.
“A torqued up man-child, alternatively rageful and fragile, both grandiose and profoundly insecure.“
Maybe it’s time to just stop interviewing Kellyanne Conway.
Better than Nazi-punching? Shia LaBeouf fights Nazi with many, many words.
Ever wonder what Narcissistic Personality Disorder looks like? Watch this and see.
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual Democracy Index, the United States is downgraded from “Full Democracy” to “Flawed Democracy”; meaning it’s now ranked below Japan and even with Italy.
This is what happened one of the last times that the U.S. government decided that certain refugees were a threat.
Why the president thinks millions voted illegally–a golfer told him a story.
25 billion avocados equals one wall.
Is it scorched-earth time?
Print and read: How rural-urban resentment in a small Wisconsin county leads to Trump.

Quote of the Day: Inauguration Edition

On January 20, 2017January 15, 2017 By chrisbarsantiIn Omnium Gatherum, politicsLeave a comment

In 1935, journalist Dorothy Thompson reflected on the rise of dictators:

No people ever recognize their dictator in advance … He never stands for election on the platform of dictatorship. He always represents himself as the instrument [of] the Incorporated National Will.

She also noted how the same thing would happen in the United States:

When our dictator turns up you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys, and he will stand for everything traditionally American.

(h/t Smithsonian)

Weekend Reading: January 20, 2016

On January 20, 2017January 19, 2017 By chrisbarsantiIn Omnium GatherumLeave a comment

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Oh, irony: Now that they’re running things, GOP voting to fund same ACA they were recently suing to kill.
Some people think that silencers have been just too easy to buy.
The lights are back on in Detroit.
Maybe it’s time to stop making excuses for why so many people in Middle America voted for hate.
“I love this new world, I no longer have to be politically correct,” said the Connecticut Republican, allegedly, before assaulting a woman, allegedly.
Fiddling and prevaricating while the planet actually burns.
Somebody wrote a poem for Trump’s inauguration. And it is bad. As in, Vogon poetry bad.
Print and read: About that KKK murder prosecution Jeff Sessions was supposedly so instrumental in…

Quote of the Day: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Edition

On January 16, 2017January 15, 2017 By chrisbarsantiIn Books, Comics-Graphic Novels, Omnium Gatherum, politicsLeave a comment

This is what Evan McMullin (yes, a Republican) had to say about the president-elect’s attacks on Rep. John Lewis:

On this Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, let it be clear that John Lewis is an American patriot. Trump’s attacks on him further confirm it.

Now, go and buy yourself the March trilogy of graphic historical novels that Lewis co-wrote.

If you can find a copy, that is.

Weekend Reading: January 13, 2017

On January 13, 2017January 12, 2017 By chrisbarsantiIn Omnium GatherumLeave a comment

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Frank Sinatra wouldn’t have performed at the Inauguration, either, because racism.
Eisenhower said, “disorganization … can easily lead to disaster”—get ready for a chaotic next four years.
Wait, there’s been five Underworld movies and they’ve made a half billion dollars?
The kids programming your future: “Lawyers will be completely gone, like, pretty soon … Same with cashiers. They make no sense. And non-automated cars? Those are dangerous.“
How corruption begins: Donate to president-elect, get Twitter shout-out.
The books of Karl Ove Knausgaard, in Lego form.
Decluttering in a post-apocalyptic world.
The (maybe) next Game of Thrones is based on African mythology and being written by a professor at Macalester College.
And here come the anti-vaxxers, again, only now with presidential approval.
Only Silicon Valley could turn hallucinogenics into just another way to work more efficiently.
Print and read: Pew study says about 70% of black cops think the country needs to do more for black people, only 6% of white cops agree.

Weekend Reading: January 6, 2017

On January 6, 2017January 6, 2017 By chrisbarsantiIn Omnium GatherumLeave a comment

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“The church militant” – yet another way to make religion awful.
Most anticipated books of the year, so far.
Carrie Fisher, galactic princess with the heart and soul of a writer.
Turns out that Nixon was even worse than we already knew.
Maybe there’s (some, tiny, infinitesimal) hope: the GOP just might keep shooting itself in the foot, what with corruption, free spending, and whatnot.
Rogue One mapped out with clips from previous films; why bother creating?
South Korea has one government official whose sole job is monitoring Trump’s Twitter.
In 1971, the Notorious RBG pointed out to her alma mater, Columbia Law School that yes indeed, there were women alumni.
Well, this certainly seems democratic.
Print and read: From the days when literature could be dangerous — George Plimpton, Ernest Hemingway, the Cuban Revolution, and the CIA.
Bonus print and read: Full U.S. intelligence report on the Russian disinformation campaign during the 2016 election.

Reading for 2017

On December 30, 2016December 28, 2016 By chrisbarsantiIn Omnium GatherumLeave a comment

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The best books of the year.
King Arthur to Dave Eggers, here’s some upcoming book-to-film adaptations.
Seven things to freak out about in 2017.
Theranos to Brexit and the Fight for $15; the biggest business stories of the year.
Indivisible: Former Congressional staffers share the best ways to resist in the new year.
The films of 2016 didn’t see Trump coming, either.
Steven Pinker: No matter how miserable 2016 was, in many ways, the future is still looking bright.
“The newly weaponized””alt-reality media” in the post-truth era: It’s going to get a lot worse and a lot crazier very soon.
Keeping the dream of open societies open in 2017.

Department of Holiday Entertainment

On December 25, 2016December 24, 2016 By chrisbarsantiIn Omnicultural, Omnium GatherumLeave a comment

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What to do?

Well, maybe watch Fanny and Alexander.

Make yourself a good mug of spiked wassail, perhaps.

Celebrate Festivus with Rand Paul’s list of grievances.

Or, just take a snow day, everybody, you deserve it:

Weekend Reading: December 23, 2016

On December 23, 2016December 20, 2016 By chrisbarsantiIn Books, Omnium GatherumLeave a comment

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During the 2016 election, major news networks devoted three times more coverage to Clinton’s email scandals than to all other policy issues combined.
The new president will have his own Praetorian guard, it appears. Related, clues from Roman history on how republics die.
Is the shocking GOP coup in North Carolina just a harbinger of more attacks on democracy?
Audre Lorde, Rebecca Solnit, James Baldwin, et al: A reading list to guide you through the next four years.
Wanted: White people to build all of Dear Leader’s beautiful new roads.
“That depends on where you get your facts.“
These are the books that writers are giving as gifts this year.
Print and read: So how long will it be before a robot takes your job?
Bonus print and read: “Possible to be smart and cool at the same damn time;” Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “My President was Black.”

Weekend Reading: December 9, 2016

On December 9, 2016December 8, 2016 By chrisbarsantiIn Omnium GatherumLeave a comment

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Apparently there are just no facts anymore. None.
Wondering how to talk Midwestern? Read this.
The 2016 election as disaster without a moral.
The case for banning high-speed police car chases.
What’s the Matter with Kansas predicted this election back in 2004.
By 2050, there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish.
Voting in North Carolina as a Democrat? Better hope your name doesn’t appear on a list of suspicious voters.
Yep, it’s all up to America, still, or maybe China.
Librarians getting ready for new attacks on civil rights, privacy, and access to the Internet.
Rio de Janeiro’s new tourism tax will make sure you get your money back after being mugged.
Sure, the trailer might be awful, but check out that awesomely haunting cover.
Print and read: Martin Scorsese, our missionary of cinema.