Phil Ochs was a singer/songwriter, and a leftist of the old sort. Later in his career, he was plagued by mental illness and had a tragic end. But what a beautiful and distinctive voice he had, instantly recognizable. Some of … Continue reading →
I grew up in an era in which we had to memorize scads of poetry, some of it of the patriotic verse variety. I’ve written about the experience here. An excerpt: I think it may be a lost pedagogical device, … Continue reading →
When I was a child of around ten, one semi-bored day I came across the light-verse poem “Evolution” in a book on a shelf in my house. Even at the age of ten it amused me and also moved me, … Continue reading →
This isn’t going to be the definitive post on guaranteed income programs. I’m hoping to write one at some point, but that point isn’t now. But this development is certainly of interest: Communities throughout the U.S. are experimenting with social … Continue reading →
Commenter “huxley” linked this website purporting to list the greatest books. It uses an algorithm based on a a group of 130 other lists, and comes up with some obvious choices as well as some curious ones. Even some of … Continue reading →
“SEO” stands for “Search Engine Optimization,” which is apparently one of the main keys to Google rankings. I’m lousy at it, and so I decided to install a plugin that supposedly assists in that endeavor. One of my main problems … Continue reading →
Commenter “Mac” expresses what I’ve been feeling too: I have a sense that politically, culturally, socially, things are *not* going to be ok. Things are *not* going to work out. The America that we knew is not going to survive. … Continue reading →
Daniel Pipes gets to say “I told you so” to Rushdie. I wondered about the seeming lack of security around Rushdie that enabled his attacker to get so close to him. Scott Johnson has an interview with Daniel Pipes at … Continue reading →
In a post I wrote earlier today about Germany’s power problems, there was a link with a photo of a low-water Rhine and the caption: “A ferry cruises past the partially dried riverbed of the Rhine river in Bingen, Germany … Continue reading →
He was about to give a lecture in upstate New York when a man ran up to the podium and stabbed him many times. We haven’t been told Rushdie’s condition, but apparently he is alive. The attacker is in custody, … Continue reading →
From Newsweek: The raid on Mar-a-Lago was based largely on information from an FBI confidential human source, one who was able to identify what classified documents former President Trump was still hiding and even the location of those documents, two … Continue reading →
It was Lenin (or Stalin, or Marx) who supposedly said: “The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.” Whoever really said it, it’s one of those pithy witticisms that encapsulate some sort of truth, in … Continue reading →