Friday Ephemera

Simpler times. (h/t, Damian) || Trophy malfunction of note. (h/t, Julia) ||  “No Trump supporters.” || Getting to grips with a foreign tongue. || Snug. || Ideal gift for Julia. || Next best thing. || Now, about that bad day you’ve had... || Our betters impart their wisdom. We need reminding, you see. (h/t, Darleen) || Our betters impart their wisdom 2. || Unsupervised potatoes. || Pedal-powered at 590 feet. || Hardcore headline. || Crane use of note. || New York, 1930s. || Nommy nommy nom. || Nature sound map and wild ambience. (h/t, Things) || Bolero, on one cello. || These are some of those. || The thrill of sea slugs. || Silent-era film effects. || And finally, understandably, she feared its mighty power.

Comments

[Lady Cutekitten of Lolcat]

I once saw The Unsupervised Potatoes open for Rod Stewart.

I’d love a shelf full of the glass spiders.

[pst314]

Beltway pundit says "It's time to stop feeling sorry for restaurants".
Via Garbage Human and Orwell & Goode.

[ComputerLabRat]

Getting to grips with a foreign tongue.

That was freakin hilarious!

"Nom! Rear, the rear! Gnaw, Jean Reno's great rear!" was funny enough, but then the end - "Suck them off Avatar!" And the tail!

I've been hitting replay too many times.

[Richard Cranium]

“No Trump supporters.”

Seems superfluous.

[Richard Cranium]

Now, about that bad day you’ve had...

Jesu.

[JuliaM]

Now I want some handblown glass sea slugs too!

[Richard Cranium]

Toxic masculinity. (Actually toxic white masculinity.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3osMnq7XSvE

[David]

Morning, all.

Jesu.

It does rather throw into perspective those routine grumbles.

[David]

Beltway pundit says “It’s time to stop feeling sorry for restaurants”.

I recently learned how many city centre businesses will not be reopening after lockdown. I was quite shocked. I didn’t often visit the city centre as it was, but will now have, quite literally, no reason to do so. The cost of lockdown is about to become vividly apparent.

[John D]

Now, about that bad day you’ve had...

God, for a minute I didn't think it was real.

[Felicity]

This is classic....
https://twitter.com/FlashMuellerF30/status/1375170227378475009?s=20

[David]

Vox is wildly misleading trash shock.

[Burnsie]

Trophy malfunction of note

Ha ha ha ha...I needed that laugh, thank you!

[David]

I needed that laugh, thank you!

Proof, if more were needed, that Julia has a filthy mind.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Ian Miles Cheong brings us a glimpse of a bold new Marvel comic book, though I am not at all sure what is going on; "...Yeah, this campus is a safe space...", "...For everyone but you!".

[David]

“...Yeah, this campus is a safe space...”, “...For everyone but you!”

And again, the same pattern. It’s not just the ludicrous, adolescent, utterly predictable politics. It’s the tin-eared, ham-fisted, cack-handed delivery of the ludicrous, adolescent, utterly predictable politics. It’s all shoehorned in and foregrounded, as if it were a selling feature, but done so ineptly. And so, when you hear how woke some new “creative talent” is, the things that you can assume will not be on offer are deftness and subtlety.

[kmuldoonator53@gmail.com]

Traffic problems.

[Patrick Brown]

“...Yeah, this campus is a safe space...”, “...For everyone but you!”

Are we sure that's not a parody of SJWs? Reads like a pisstake to me.

[Captain Nemo]

How to do funk music in two minutes:

https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1375122593318064136

Via:

https://twitter.com/DamCou

[WTP]

Are we sure that's not a parody of SJWs? Reads like a pisstake to me.

Reads like sjw Overton window control. They seem to realize that they've pushed things to the edge for now. Time to take a step back and look like "reasonable" people by saying canceling people is ok, but killing them is not. Which will be the new meaning of "tolerance". Those others who call for the killing are the extremists. Those just canceling people are the new normal. They are showing restraint. Until sufficient time passes and they can move on to just killing those who oppose them. In that future time eating them (or some other "far" extreme) will be the bridge too far. It's how we got to where we are today. Wake up.

[Daniel Ream]

Next best thing.

Buried lede: this is why I'm suspicious of the whole "muh repreezentashun" thing. That kid doesn't care that Anthony Mackie's black. He just thinks the Falcon is cool.

Which is one of the reasons I'm not jazzed about Sam taking up the shield and becoming the new Cap; Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson is just a cool character design with a lot of story potential. He's one of the few Marvel characters who doesn't have any superpowers, in a community full of people who can leap small buildings and lift tanks. You could do a lot with that.

Are we sure that's not a parody of SJWs?

The problem with SJW writers is that to them, any thought to the right of Stalin is self-evidently foolish and risible. Their right-wing straw men - Archie Bunker, Ron Swanson, Fake Ann Coulter, President Forrest - reiterate entirely mainstream conservative rhetoric. The result is that the audience, generally more centrist than the writers, ends up identifying with the right-wing straw man.

Nothing Fake Ann Coulter says in that comic is inaccurate - El Falcon is an illegal immigrant, there are scholarship programs available only to illegal immigrants and Hispanic students, and he is, legally, a citizen of another country that he can return to any time he wants. And barging on to the stage to disrupt a scheduled event because you have an axe to grind is a massive dick move.

As for the Bombshells - Marvel has been pretty badly rocked by ComicsGate and the aftermath, and some of the writers are starting to try to draw a distinction between their Good, Righteous and Sensible left-wing nuttery and the Extreme, Illogical and ridiculous left-wing nuttery. It's not working, though (note Cheong is joking when he says a writer was cancelled for writing those panels; the writer is Nick Spencer, who is still employed at Marvel writing The Amazing Spider-Man).

Reads like sjw Overton window control

That. Marvel has long since ceased to be an entertainment company and has been all in on propaganda for years now.

[Squires]

Which will be the new meaning of "tolerance". Those others who call for the killing are the extremists. Those just canceling people are the new normal. They are showing restraint. Until sufficient time passes and they can move on to just killing those who oppose them.

If only we had an appropriate term for human punching bags whose unbelief is conditionally permitted by a righteous state, for the sake of the contained unbelievers’ usefulness as economic producers and as a psychological vent for disatisfied and malicious believers.

[WTP]

I'm a bit of a WWII buff so I'm rather surprised I hadn't heard this story before. I have heard of WWII airmen (or maybe just one airman) bailing out of aircraft without a parachute or the parachute didn't open and they survived. I had not heard this story about a tailgunner riding the tail to the ground until I saw the video on Ace's ONT. I still found it hard to believe I hadn't seen it so I looked it up further. Here's the guy's obituary:

https://www.swnews4u.com/obituaries/eugene-p-moran/

Before seeing it on Ace, had anyone here heard of this? Seems like it would have been/should have been a movie or more publicized in some manner.

[pst314]

"The problem with SJW writers is that to them, any thought to the right of Stalin is self-evidently foolish and risible. Their right-wing straw men..."

That reminds me: Somebody recently mentioned Harlan Ellison, which led me to locate one of his essays so that I could be sure of what he had (and had not) said. In the course of that search I saw a few others in which he demonized conservatives, Christians, defenders of the right of individuals to own firearms, and so on. In a short essay purportedly about political correctness, the only examples he gave were demons of the right such as Jesse Helms, suggesting to me that he could not bring himself to admit that there were leftists who sought to silence those they disagreed with.

[pst314]

bailing out of aircraft without a parachute or the parachute didn't open

I remember one who landed in a thick snowbank, possible also cushioned by fir trees. Yikes.

[WTP]

The result is that the audience, generally more centrist than the writers, ends up identifying with the right-wing straw man.

See also Col. Nathan R. Jessup, Commanding Officer, Marine Ground Forces, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. You can't handle the truth. Similar with songs like Born in the U.S.A. and American Woman. The latter of which was nearly used as walk-on music for Laura Bush at an event. Or so I was told. I've gotten to the point where I regard virtually every piece of information I receive as probably being a lie, no matter what the spin. I get rather frustrated with my conservative..."conservative" friends when they fail to grasp how much of the rah-rah America stuff in our culture is really left-wing, Overton Window moving propaganda. I try to point these things out, but restrain myself to only doing so when they come up naturally where they are being misunderstood. They then get mad at me. Like I'm inventing this shit. Because they can't handle the truth. But this is why we are where we are.

Though TBF, I was similar myself in regard to the Starship Troopers movie. Though never having read the book, I still think it works as camp and will share the shit out of any version of the "It's afraid" meme. If it suits my purpose.

[Darleen]

New York, 1930s.

Note the absence of trash in the gutters, paper or trash around the buildings or shrubs and Dept. of Sanitation trash cans about every couple of blocks (all standing upright, no graffiti).

Maybe because it's down 5th Avenue, but I still found it remarkably clean.

[pst314]

Reads like sjw Overton window control

I am certain you are correct: that is the inherent nature of leftism.

[WTP]

In a short essay purportedly about political correctness, the only examples he gave were demons of the right such as Jesse Helms, suggesting to me that he could not bring himself to admit that there were leftists who sought to silence those they disagreed with.

Anyone familiar with a certain Cass B. Sunstein and his book It Can Happen Here? Picked it up a the library yesterday. The leftist projection in the opening introduction/forward was stunning. I planned to share it here but no time right now to retype it. Maybe later, but if anyone is familiar it might save me the effort.

[pst314]

New York, 1930s.
Note the absence of trash in the gutters...no graffiti...

We are fascists for noticing this and asking why our cities are now so filthy.

[David]

Their right-wing straw men - Archie Bunker, Ron Swanson, Fake Ann Coulter, President Forrest…

I was recently re-watching Dennis Potter’s Cold Lazarus and the solid central idea isn’t helped by his need to caricature the class of people that he saw as evil in real life. By depicting the story’s two business moguls as crass pantomime characters with no goal or argument beyond cartoonish greed, he basically cheats. It’s a dramatic short-cut, a way to score points without risking comeback.

[pst314]

Anyone familiar with a certain Cass B. Sunstein and his book It Can Happen Here? Picked it up a the library yesterday. The leftist projection in the opening introduction/forward was stunning.

I have not read it, but I've glanced at Sunstein's introduction. I agree that the leftist projection is stunning and instructive. Note that Sunstein poses as a libertarian but has a history of favoring government "nudging" of the citizenry into making the "right choices".

[PaulF]

bailing out of aircraft without a parachute or the parachute didn't open

Which makes me think of pleasanter things, namely Pressburger and Powell's 1946 classic A Matter Of Life And Death, in which bomber pilot David Niven bales out of his badly-damaged Lancaster and... but that would give it all away.

Find it and watch it, a wonderful film.

[pst314]

Has everybody seen the cheat cards that Joe Biden used at his press conference? Complete with names and photos of those journalists whose questions he would answer? Note also the silence of almost all American news outlets.

[Darleen]

God, for a minute I didn't think it was real.

Here's the rest of the story.

[Richard Cranium]

Though TBF, I was similar myself in regard to the Starship Troopers movie. Though never having read the book, [....]

Well, you've done it in the correct order. Having read the book, I had absolutely no doubt that the movie would totally bleep up the story.

Since you didn't read the book, you can enjoy the movie. Judging from your comments here, I suspect that you'll like the book; albeit not as camp.

BTW, the director didn't read the book either.

[Squires]

Note the absence of trash...

And the difference in architecture, both near and distant.

We are fascists for noticing this and asking why our cities are now so filthy.

It was all part of the plan.

Somebody recently mentioned Harlan Ellison...

Good writer. Better jackass.

[Uma Thurmond's Feet]

Reading "Boomers" by Helen Andrews -- a book inspired by "Eminent Victorians" -- was fantastically instructive and depressing. The Al Sharpton chapter, with its accounts of blackmailing American businesses into paying him money to silence his "racism" accusations, reminded me of "Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers," that seminal essay by Tom Wolfe, that showed that back in the Sixties, the practice of "transformational politics" was gaining power over "transactional politics."

In transactional politics, the political machines controlled the cities. Like a feudal fiefdom, they traded favors for votes. Ward heelers who could command blocks of votes could receive favors to pass along. It was a corrupt system, but it benefitted people up and down the chain.

In transformational politics, leaders with no real constituency gain power in the media, and win benefits that they largely keep to themselves. They destroy the system for their benefit, then move along to the next target.

We've reached the point where it has metastasized to a nationwide, imitative campaigns. People at the bottom no longer benefit; they're the object of money-draining taxes and fines. The organizations which control the votes have grown so powerful, and so sophisticated, that they can imprint whatever narrative on voters they want (which is why we're, as pst314 points out, few people know how Robotic Joe Biden works), and soon they won't need voters at all. We pretend to vote, and the machine reports the result they want.

[Darleen]

pst314 --- even the cheat cards didn't help

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA >>>Here <<<< HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH :::deep breath::: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

[Daniel Ream]

People at the bottom no longer benefit; they're the object of money-draining taxes and fines. The organizations which control the votes have grown so powerful, and so sophisticated, that they can imprint whatever narrative on voters they want

For the benefit of those who did not waste their callow youth on a Classics degree, this is exactly how the tribunes usurped power from the Roman tribes. This led to increasing concentration of power in the hands of the upper classes.

Whether Gaius Iulius Caesar is Trump or Biden is left as an exercise for the reader.

Since you didn't read [Starship Troopers], you can enjoy the movie

I've read the book and seen the movie. The movie works quite well as an in-your-face to the idiots who claim the book is fascist, or jingoistic, or something. IF they're going to deliberately, grossly misrepresent your position, there's little point in trying to defend yourself. Just double down on their cartoonish version of your position and use it to mock them.

your terms are acceptable

[Sam]

It’s a dramatic short-cut, a way to score points without risking comeback.

Funny enough it was, I think, Ann Coulter who said about leftwing hollywood preaching: "they cannot win arguments or make valid points based on reality, so they retreat to a medium where they control all the variables" (heavily paraphrased)

[Sam]

Bolero, on one cello.

It's not everyday you see a mainstream parody of a p0rn concept, rather more often the other way around.

[Peachy rex]

Trump was the Gracchii - the dissident patrician who tried to reform a failing system before it was too late, only to be destroyed by a corrupt establishment which profits handsomely from the decaying hulk of the Republic. Biden is no one in particular, I think - if anything he's an early Empire trope, the doddering aristocrat installed by the Praetorian Guard who will be swept aside when someone offers the Guard a bigger donative.

Who will be our Marius, I wonder?

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Today in racism, pedestrianism.

The Secretary quotes a website where I think they missed seeing the problem

[pst314]

The Secretary quotes a website where I think they missed seeing the problem

"People walking in lower-income neighborhoods are also killed far more often. The lower a metro area’s median household income, the more dangerous its streets are likely to be for people walking."

No mention of the behavioral factors, such as more reckless behavior by pedestrians and drivers.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

No mention of the behavioral factors, such as more reckless behavior by pedestrians and drivers.

Like the guy jaywalking and the one walking in the middle of the road they have in their first picture ? Nope, we must re-engineer all roads to compensate for dumbassery, it is the equitable thing. Or something.

[Daniel Ream]

if anything he's an early Empire trope, the doddering aristocrat installed by the Praetorian Guard who will be swept aside when someone offers the Guard a bigger donative

So Claudius, then?

I tend to see Trump more as an Aurelian figure - fully comfortable with the infrastructure he inherited, while trying to harken back to a mythical Republican era.

[David]

So Claudius, then?

It pleases me that these threads can accommodate allusions to antiquity and knob jokes.

[Daniel Ream]

Today in racism, pedestrianism

I refuse to believe there are enough American Indian[1]/Alaskan Natives to produce those numbers. They're only 0.8% of the population. Is every Indian in the US constantly flinging themselves in front of passing motor vehicles?

[1] "Painted savages."

[Y. Knott]

"Snug" - that wouldn't be made out of marshmallows, would it? Sta-Puft marshmallows? It has a very "head of the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters" air...

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Is every Indian in the US constantly flinging themselves in front of passing motor vehicles?

It is all that dense traffic on the reservations, and dogsleds running red lights. The whole thing is a statistical dog's breakfast - Alabama and Mississipi, for example, are on the charts on the basis only of Birmingham and Jackson respectively (both the largest cities, oddly enough), and both are higher on the "danger" scale than Louisiana despite having fewer fatalities and lower rates/100K.

OTOH, old people are allegedly more at risk, though older boomers apparently know how to cross the street.

[pst314]

old people are allegedly more at risk

Hypothesis: 1. Age-related cognitive decline. 2. Inability to cross street before light changes.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Hypothesis...

Nonsese, it is speed crazed hot rodders driving like madmen though dense city traffic, fueled by their toxic masculinity and yte supremacy, and the only solution is to make it mandatory that people like me who live in tiny towns where it is seven miles to the grocery store to take government funded solar powered self-driving ubers going a maximum of no faster than the average 90 year old can walk.

[pst314]

Nonsense, it is speed crazed hot rodders...

And here is your new conveyance. Be seeing you.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

And here is your new conveyance.

If they had their way, that would sadly be not too far off the mark, though configured for mass transportation.

[Pooklord]

the Nature Soundmap makes me glad the internet was invented.

[David]

The travails of our betters.

[David]

so they retreat to a medium where they control all the variables

It’s odd. I’m now watching Potter’s Karaoke and the characters’ outbursts that match Potter’s own political preoccupations are quite clumsy and jarring. They break the spell. It’s as if incongruous fits of anger were a substitute for accuracy or any kind of articulation. Suddenly, standards drop. It’s the dramatic equivalent of The Blurting.

[David]

Laughed, not sorry.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

The dawn of a new golden age, a veritable Renaissance awaits.

[David]

The dawn of a new golden age,

Officials are also hoping the effort can jumpstart the area’s lagging economy

Interesting theory.

[WTP]

Officials are also hoping the effort can jumpstart the area’s lagging economy

We are ruled by idiots. And our friends, coworkers, and trusted professionals voted for them.

[pst314]

If they had their way, that would sadly be not too far off the mark, though configured for mass transportation.

Indeed.

Does anybody recall a magazine article touting the virtues of pedal-powered commuter trains? It would have appeared in the Whole Earth magazine, I think, in the 80's or early 90's. Probably illustrated with paintings of happy commuters boarding a train in what appears to be a totally rural paradise.

[Felicity]

pedal-powered commuter trains?

The flintstones?

[Steve E]

pedal-powered commuter trains?

The flintstones?

Don't want to be the first stop or the last stop.

[WTP]

Does anybody recall .... Probably illustrated with paintings of happy commuters boarding a train in what appears to be a totally rural paradise.

Heh. I remember my 5th grade Weekly Reader "newspaper" having a story about PPV's...People Powered Vehicles. Now just being kids and the story containing limited info, I presumed there was some sort of tech beyond my comprehension that helped move them. The picture was of this low-sitting, two person three wheeled cart of a thing. As luck (?) would have it, while visiting a friend who lived in/near a wealthy neighborhood, some kid happened to come peddling by in one that looked exactly like the one I remembered from the WR and offered me to hop in and try it with him. It was, of course, just a simple pedal powered device that was effectively no different from a bike except that it was even harder to initially get moving than a bike would be. Little did I know The Stupid was just beginning.

[pst314]

pedal-powered commuter trains?

Don't want to be the first stop or the last stop.

I wonder if all the dope they were smoking prevented them from thinking of such problems.

[pst314]

Little did I know The Stupid was just beginning.

Important folks like Al Gore, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Mitt Romney, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will keep their cars, just as the pigs in Animal Farm got all the apples. Eventually anyone who objects will get banned from Facebook and Twitter and will have their credit cards and bank accounts closed.

[Steve E]

...in what appears to be a totally rural paradise.

Not to be confused with an Amish Paradise.

[David]

This.

Via Ben.

[pst314]

Q: Which would be worse to live in, a Gangster Paradise or a Hippie Paradise?
A: The latter will eventually become the former.

[Uma Thurmond's Feet]

It pleases me that these threads can accommodate allusions to antiquity and knob jokes.

Thank Hardcore History for the former ("Death Throes of the Republic") and, well, American culture for the latter.

[Darleen]

Another message from the Ministry of Truth -- Melanin = morals.

[Richard Cranium]

From The Chosen by S.M. Stirling and David Drake:

Half a dozen Protégés [essentially slaves -- RC] went by on a gang-bicycle, which was a very clever invention, when you thought about it.

Too heavy for one to pedal -- it takes six. Factory workers can use them to commute, but they don't get personal mobility.

Cleverness wasn't a wholly positive quality...

[pst314]

Another message from the Ministry of Truth -- Melanin = morals.

Original source: Media Now Claims Shooter Was Factually Arab, But Morally White

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Original source...

Is it ?.

[Alex DeWynter]

If they had their way, that would sadly be not too far off the mark, though configured for mass transportation.

I recall reading a steampunk-ish story once (sadly the title escapes me atm) in which there were trains that were powered by actual engines, but power could also be fed into the engine by peddling -- which passengers who wanted/needed to reduce their fare could do. That's the only way I could see something like that maybe working. Otherwise, you'll have the first/last stop problem mentioned above, along with passengers (such as Reddit editors) who feel they're too special to pedal.

[Darleen]

Original source:

Thanks, pst314 -- satire is way too close to reality and I didn't double-check Ian's tweet.

[WTP]

OK, I'm only 30 minutes into it andI dare not share my thoughts with my wife, but...the story line of Places In the Heart Seems ridiculous. I remember people raved about this. The production seems excellent. The story seems completely disconnected with anything approaching rational.

[pst314]

Darleen: I agree entirely. It seems that it is only a matter of time (and not much time) before that becomes a real CNN headline.

[Daniel Ream]

the story line of Places In the Heart Seems ridiculous

I cancelled all my streaming services and have been...acquiring various media from previous decades in an attempt to find things to watch that don't insult my intelligence (or values).

The 1980s is pretty much a writeoff. I'm finding a lot of 1970's media holds up quite well - The Rockford Files, Magnum P.I., Beretta, Black Sheep Squadron.

[Farnsworth Muldoon]

This just in:

Through our pilot initiative, we hope to provide a replicable, CRT-informed framework that can move us beyond the historic cycle of documenting racial inequities while endlessly deferring their resolution. The outstanding debt from the harm caused by our institutions, and owed to our BIPOC patients, is long overdue: now is the time to start settling it.

I know what you are saying, standard SJW boilerplate arglebargle. Not really, you see, this is from "an anti-racist agenda for medicine" or, "Wypipo, don't get sick in Boston".

Second, trust between patients and providers is a prerequisite for equitable care, but federal reparations are unlikely to have a direct effect on the trustworthiness of medical personnel...Federally paid reparations are essential, and broad adoption of Healing ARCs can build on them...

What ? You expected consistency ?

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

As long as we are on the topic of medicine, what would we do without government scientists to guide and protect us ?

[Sonny Wayz]

Like the guy jaywalking and the one walking in the middle of the road they have in their first picture ?

If you manage to get to the bottom of that page, you'll find this little gem:

'Dangerous by Design 2021 was made possible by the support of ... the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention'

Disease Control, you say.

[pst314]

I cancelled all my streaming services...The 1980s is pretty much a writeoff. I'm finding a lot of 1970's media holds up quite well - The Rockford Files, Magnum P.I., Beretta, Black Sheep Squadron.

I will look forward to your future comments about what does (or does not) hold up as useful guides to my own searches.

[pst314]

As long as we are on the topic of medicine, what would we do without government scientists to guide and protect us ?

In Maoist China, village political officers exercised strict control over romantic relationships.

[pst314]

'Dangerous by Design 2021 was made possible by the support of ... the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention' you say.

In other words, it has been taken over by ideologues who have (as leftists always do) squeezed out all the honest scientists.

Remember Robert Conquest's Second Law of Politics: "Any organization not explicitly and constitutionally right-wing will sooner or later become left-wing."

The corollary easily follows: Do not allow leftists in positions of power.

[WTP]

The 1980s is pretty much a writeoff. I'm finding a lot of 1970's media holds up quite well - The Rockford Files, Magnum P.I., Beretta, Black Sheep Squadron.

I find things start going south in the mid-70's, though there are still lots of good movies to work through. But things really start to go down hill rapidly as you approach the end of the 90's, which is about where I totally give up. Many older movies I used to enjoy until just a few years ago I am now finding hard to watch because the underlying Narrative is just that much harder to ignore. And now TCM's bumper and trailer discussions that used to be interesting and informative are infused with wokeness.

But back to PitH, like I said it's a well made movie in general, but it won an Oscar for screenplay/writing, which is about the lamest aspect of the film.

[pst314]

But back to PitH, like I said it's a well made movie in general, but it won an Oscar for screenplay/writing, which is about the lamest aspect of the film.

So, it actually won for having the right opinions?

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

In other words, it has been taken over by ideologues...

I suspect it never needed to be taken over considering it appears most of the staff & directors have pronouns and appear firmly to be of the Beltway ilk.

...served as Legislative Director for Congressman Henry “Hank” Johnson (GA)...

I think I'll take a pass on advice from a guy who worked for a congressman who thought Guam might tip over.

[pst314]

I suspect it never needed to be taken over considering it appears most of the staff & directors have pronouns and appear firmly to be of the Beltway ilk.

Except that it was established in the 1940's to accomplish a real purpose, the eradication of malaria. I do not know for certain but am willing to believe that it remained a mostly non-political agency until the 1960's when institutional rot in our society accelerated.

[Sonny Wayz]

I think you two are referring to different 'its'.

[WTP]

So, it actually won for having the right opinions?

While I don't doubt that was part of it, the story could have been a bit more coherent and still had the Narrative slant. It's not awful, but for something so well praised it was kinda awkward. Not excusing the slant, mind you.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Except that it was established in the 1940's to accomplish a real purpose...

Sorry - I thought you were talking about the "Dangerous by Design" crew, not the CDC, about them you are correct.

Unfortunately the fields of public health and preventive medicine going all the way back to John Snow became too successful at eliminating or minimizing real disease that the real doctors and scientists working on real problems are relegated to the back burners in favor of the bureaucrats and agenda slinging "C average" Useless Studies college students who managed to get an MPH.

[pst314]

Farnsworth: agreed.

[Darleen]

Prof has article canceled cuz WrongThought. Long read but worth it.

Race is predominantly viewed as an obsolete concept by the majority of the population regardless of their political inclination, yet there are aspects of Academia which seem disproportionately focused on keeping racialization alive. The motivation for doing so likely boils down to two things. Firstly, racialization and concepts of race are easily accessible methods for creating support as they draw on historical injustices. Secondly, these factors also serve to create considerable financial benefits for academics who keep this concept alive. The most vocal academic proponents of this highly racialized worldview are individuals who stand the most to gain via the financial incentives such as research sponsorship or publication of their books which are bought by those who feel disenfranchised and who may have genuinely suffered or by those who wish to help.

[NateWhilk]

Anyone familiar with a certain Cass B. Sunstein and his book It Can Happen Here? Picked it up a the library yesterday. The leftist projection in the opening introduction/forward was stunning.

Google Books to the rescue! (The mere Table of Contents is almost as bad.)

https://books.google.com/books?id=z30mDwAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PP1&dq=Cass%20R.%20Sunstein%20and%20his%20book%20It%20Can't%20Happen%20Here%3F&pg=PT5#v=onepage&q=Cass%20R.%20Sunstein%20and%20his%20book%20It%20Can't%20Happen%20Here?&f=false

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

...yet there are aspects of Academia which seem disproportionately focused on keeping racialization alive.

As noted racist Booker T. Washington said,

There is a certain class of race problem-solvers who don't want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public.

I have no doubts that those he references would, even though Washington was actually born into slavery, lambaste him for yte supremacist thinking or some such nonsense.

[WTP]

@NateWick & pst314,

Now take that hysterical presented-as-fact-ha-ha-just-kidding story and compare it to what the Narrative is from the January 6 events. Far less dramatic situation with a far more overreaching reaction by the government where restrictions on freedom of speech are far worse than imagined by Sustein's hypothetical Trump. Replace the name Trump with Biden and a few other words in some of those sentences and it rings more true to what we have actually seen today...example:

"Since the ... attack, Congress has capitulated to the president's demands and enacted the laws he favors. The federal judiciary has upheld his programs. So far, the press remains free, at least as a formal matter. But the most popular news outlets enthusiastically embrace President Trump'sBiden's programs. They are careful not to criticize him.

The majority of Americans dismiss the president's critics as sources of "fake news". The Department of Justicie is starting to investigate some sources of fake news for possible sedition. Whether or not the investigations result in prosecution, the dissenting news outletsprivate citizen journalists are increasingly marginal. In terms of impact, they're failing, and their economic situation is increasingly dire.
In a recent speech to Congresspress release, President TrumpBiden declared that the war on Islamic terrorismWhite Supremecy "had no beginning and has no end".

OK, not perfect but far more in line with what really has happened verses Sustein's fevered imagination in regard to Trump. Again, far greater reaction for far less of a threat/event, IMNSHO. Again, lefties project.

[WTP]

Yes...I pooched some spelling...versus vs. verses....Sustein vs. Sunstein. God knows what else. Shoot me. Please...