It really doesn’t. I haven’t finished a fiction book in years. I’m always back to history or current events.
Reading up on current academic literature about Hitler and the Nazis has been particularly useful lately.
From what I can observe, there are no really bright people left in the Democratic Party. All of the brainpower that would have been aligned with Democrats in the 1990s has fled to MAGA, or just gone independent.
There are plenty of intelligent people on the left, like professionals and academics who are brilliant in their own fields, but can’t explain themselves at all when it comes to politics.
That’s why the Nazi accusations come out, which I find hilariously ironic. Do these people really believe that applying their race-based social justice worldview is how you stop Hitler’s race based social justice worldview?
Yes, they really do.
Just call Nazis and Republicans “far-right” long enough, and plenty of midwits will believe it.
This cracks me up (not a dig at you just made me laugh and I can’t really explain why) because all I read now is fiction.
Current events and history are irrelevant to me now because I know where it is going and how it likely ends. I don’t need to be reminded over and over.
I think I get too much perverse satisfaction out of being a local rabble rouser and giving crooked DEI bullies the finger. It also runs in the family. Rabble rousing, that is. Reading nonfiction is more of a me quirk.
There certainly isn’t any money in it.
I probably wouldn’t bother if the vote margins weren’t so slim and Maine wasn’t such a small state, but it feels like the tide might actually be turning.
If voter ID passes this fall I might just dive back into the world of fiction or get a new hobby altogether, but I’m still hoping to publish a book about Lewiston at some point. I’ve got plenty of words down but still haven’t achieved a good narrative structure. Plus I keep getting into new lines of inquiry.
This weird town I ended up in really is an interesting case study in modern history.
I guess we can’t really say what’s going to happen. But I get your point. I also think it’s likely that nothing good awaits us at the end.
I mix fiction and reading about current events/history. Reading too much about humanity makes one easily overly cynical and dark. Being a parent and working with youth I can’t constantly think that we’re most likely fucked in some way or another.
There’s far worse risks than migrants. And nobody is safe.
Don’t want to sound doom monger, but shit can really hit the fan in various ways and people rarely want to admit how vulnerable our societies still are.
I’m old enough to have had nuclear attack preparedness in public schools and lived through a man made pandemic.
Migrants are the mechanism of control for the really dangerous people, but the migrants in Lewiston are also the primary drivers of violence, even with the schizophrenic native guy we had who killed 18 and wounded 13.
He unalived himself after a night of violence. Our streets and schools are far, far more dangerous than ever after mass migration. Taxes are up, prosperity is down.
I’m glad Finland didn’t choose that route. I’m sure you would notice the difference like I have, as Maine once had levels of violence quite comparable to Finland only 20 years ago or so.
It looks like the E.U. and the US and A are close to getting tariffs and trade sorted out.
And Russia is calling for Pres Trump to send a special envoy to Moscow before the end of the week. Hopefully that will bring a quick end to the war in Ukraine.
With any luck, we’ll all be feeling a little better and more secure by this weekend.
Either the first ones were right, the second ones were right, or neither were right.
NPR had someone on this morning telling me there is no way to fudge those numbers, making me believe there is a way to fudge those numbers.
Either way, Trump gets to fire people in the executive branch, and he is making good personnel choices in this administration. Maybe he fired a devoted civil servant, maybe he fired a bad actor trying to undermine his administration. He gets to do both.
In much bigger news that is barely being covered, Pam Bondi has directed an unnamed US Attorney to take evidence to a grand jury over Russiagate.
Or . . . Hear me out . . . He is an asshat who is implementing very shitty economic polices and threw a temper tantrum because it’s not making him look good.
These are all possibilities to consider, especially firing due to incompetence.
Nothing about Trump is asshattish to me, not from what I can observe. Even for the folks who think he is kowtowing to Israel too much, which I wish he wouldn’t, he seems to be navigating the political waters in rather incredible ways during this term.
It is only incredible if you compare him to past Presidents of my lifetime, and not an idealized version of some perfect statesmen who has never existed in history.
I know it is hard for some to believe that a Biden appointee would be anything other than an outstanding fit for public service, but his administration was known to appoint people for their loyalty to Democratic ideological causes. Pictured standing is a Biden appointee who was shockingly accused of stealing luggage.
Of course he has said and done asshatish things, but that’s part of what I like about him. We’ve all done the same at many points in our lives, except for narcissists, which Trump may very well be.
When it comes to his policy actions as the President in term two, his lack of asshatery really stands out to me, but only if you compare him to past presidents.
Please enlighten us on some non-shitty economic policies implemented by the people you blindly worship.
The true answer to your gotcha question is -it depends on the qualification and abilities of whoever he appoints to the position.
When the “revisions” become greater than the posted numbers, there is something very seriously wrong with the BLS. Fyi, massive amounts of capital are moved based on stats like the nonfarm payroll numbers; they’re not just political talking points.
