Books can talk to you in different ways at different stages of your life. This is especially true of great books, such as George Orwell’s 1984 which I have read at least 3 times. I recently watched a Wondrium class George Orwell: A Sage for All Seasonsthat was utterly fascinating. I would wholeheartedly recommend this class to anyone with an interest in literature or history. Watching the class inspired me to reread both Animal Farm and 1984.
The Guardian in 2007 proclaimed 1984 ‘is definitive book of the 20th century’. The Atlantic in 2019 declared that “No novel of the past century has had more influence than George Orwell’s 1984.” In my world view Orwell’s book would be required reading for all high school students, and most certainly for college students.
I generally agree with Bill Maher, but I find him so self-righteous that at times I find him hard to take.
I find myself between a rock and hard place shopping these days for all things except groceries. In full disclosure (smiley face) Señora takes care of that. I really do not like buying from Amazon because 1) I find Jeff Bezos obnoxious beyond words 2) I do not see Amazon’s business model good for anyone except Jeff Bezos and maybe Amazon shareholders 3) they like many of these big tech companies went over to the dark side long ago.
Where is Luke Skywalker when you need him?
Yet I keep buying from Amazon. When I try to buy locally I generally cannot find what I want. I say locally, most the stores anymore are really part of huge corporations. And these huge corporations continue to eat into many businesses that have traditionally been local mom and pop operations. Have you tried to find an independent barber shop lately?
So then I try to buy online, but not from Amazon. But somehow Amazon always beats everyone else to death price wise. I thought I found a good source for used books that was not Amazon, Abebooks. Guess what. Amazon owns them.
Where is Teddy Roosevelt when you need him?
If you are sensitive to “colorful” language… you might want to avoid Mr. Maher and this video.
After Bezos rode into space on Blue Origin’s maiden voyage, he famously said this in a news conference.
“I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all this.”
To me ears that was one rankest statements of hubris I have ever heard, given Amazon’s reputation for overworking and underpaying employees, given how their business model has changed the American landscape – and not for the better.
I am going to start selling burkas online. This item of dress is about to become de rigueur in this country.
I read the headline today about the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade and I had the same feeling I had seeing the planes crash into the Twin Towers in NYC. The world has gone absolutely mad and fanatics are in charge. I am sick in my stomach and sick in my soul.
IMHO every justice that voted for this should be charged as an accomplice for the death of every woman who dies from a back alley abortion.
I cannot think of time I have been more disgusted by the situation in this country. The religious zealots, gun nuts and white supremacist have gained control of this country I once loved.
I am absolutely disgusted with the Supreme Court of this country. Between expanding of gun rights, overturning Roe v. Wade and declaring money to be free speech in politics they have sent this country over the cliff. And the saddest part is that they are not “practicing” law but partisan politics. That is not the function of the Supreme Court.
I going to say it again… please Dear God, save us from the religious.
Eric Greitens is running for the United States Senate from the state of Missouri. He was briefly Governor of Missouri, but he was chased out of office. He resigned amid allegations of sexual assault and campaign finance impropriety. As the Washington Post put it:
“Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens left the state capitol in disgrace as he faced down two criminal charges, an ethics probe, and public fallout over reports that he’d had an affair with a hairdresser and then allegedly tried to blackmail her with nude photos.”
Somehow he managed to get much of that dismissed…
Just in case you do not know, RINO stands for Republican In Name Only aka Republican politicians that are not Trump supporters, that are not MAGA enough. The message of this video is abundantly clear, that MAGAs should hunt these folks down, and apparently with military grade weapons.
For the sake of me, I do know understand why this type of ad is legal, why any TV station would air it, and why YouTube does not take it down. IMHO, if one of these”RINOs” is murdered or even assaulted, Eric Greitens should be charged as an accomplice.
Please God No… Do not send Eric Greitens to the United States Senate.
Just for the record I did report this video to YouTube as promoting terrorism. I pray many folks follow suite.
Thank you YouTube to listening to many, many folks and taking this awful video down from your site.
A prominent historian, Heather Cox Richardson, puts out a daily newsletter, Letters from America, described as ” A newsletter about the history behind today’s politics.”
She had multiple themes today, much it about the January 6 hearings going in our national’s capital. A couple things really caught my attention, one was a quote from a very conservative federal judge that he uttered during an NPR interview:
“[T]he former president and his party are today a clear and present danger for American democracy,” Luttig reiterated to NPR’s All Things Considered.
Color me sheltered, I had no idea. These are deadly weapons that anyone can buy online. They are unregulated, no serial numbers, untraceable, anyone – and I mean anyone with a credit card or PayPal account can buy one online. I am betting an untraceable Visa/Mastercard gift cards would work just fine too. Wow! This is so very WRONG. Now here is something I would classify as sinful, the marketing of such merchandise. What is the lowest level in Dante’s Inferno?
I was in Memphis, TN this weekend and saw this bumper sticker – God, Guns & Trump – on the back of a small, older pickup truck with Mississippi tags. The sad reality is that I could have seen this sticker many places; they are just more common in that part of the country. I live in St. Louis which is not what I would call a particularly liberal or progressive area, but it is an island of sanity in the red cesspool of MAGA Republicans of rural Missouri and southern Illinois. I see many bumper stickers of a similar ilk around here too.
God, Guns & Trump…To me this encapsulated the sickness that is currently inflicting our country.
When I was young it seemed to be an extraordinary event when the United States flag was flown at half mast. It was especially so back then as it did not happen that often. It is still a big deal to fly the flag at half mast, but it seems to be happening all the time now. Often it seems to be for victims of yet another mass shooting incident which are an absolute pandemic in this country. After the recent FedEx shooting in Indianapolis, there were two more of ONLY 3 or so people, one in Wisconsin and one Texas, this past weekend.
I am going to suggest that it would be easier and saner to leave the flags at half mast all the time until we do something about the availability of guns in this country – especially assault style rifles – and gun laws in general. The fact that we have failed to act on gun legislation, that guns have become so prevalent in our society, that mass shootings are so common, that guns are especially problematic in inner cities (there is nearly a gun death a day in St. Louis), is reason enough to be flying the flag at half mast. I am not so sure that we should not be flying it upside down as a signal of dire distress.
Books can talk to you in different ways at different stages of your life. This is especially true of great books, such as George Orwell’s 1984 which I have read at least 3 times. I recently watched a Wondrium class George Orwell: A Sage for All Seasons that was utterly fascinating. I would wholeheartedly recommend this class to anyone with an interest in literature or history. Watching the class inspired me to reread both Animal Farm and 1984.
