The Picture of Dorian Grey

Of all the tragic facts about the history of slavery, the most astonishing to an American today is that, although slavery was a worldwide institution for thousands of years, nowhere in the world was slavery a controversial issue prior to the 18th century."--Sowell

A WashPo article ("Tax Us More") signed by 18 self described rich people asks that taxes be raised "on us." By "us," I supposed they mean on  the writers of the article,  although it doesn't make lots of sense because there is nothing stopping them from sending more of their money to the government. Unless....they actually mean "on them," i.e. on "ME." So the rich guy--who could give the government more money on his own but doesn't--really wants to raise my taxes and look like a noble guy doing it.

Is someone wearing a Clemente jersey living in the past? And is he indulging in cultural appropriation?

Right now, the Chinese government has jailed more than 1.5 million Muslim-minority Uighurs in prison camps in the northwestern province of Xinjiang. Yet, the world says very little. Beijing claims to just be “re-educating” troubled individuals. Has there been an outrage of international social justice? Most companies and governments have continued their relations with Beijing, business as usual.

Men are 3X more likely than women to ride a bicycle for transportation in Seattle and 2x more likely in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

 

Right now, nearly a quarter of the nation’s homeless population lives in the state of California, and more are arriving with each passing day.  When you walk the streets of San Francisco or Los Angeles, you can’t help but notice the open air drug markets, the giant mountains of trash, and the discarded needles and piles of human feces that are seemingly everywhere.  If this is what things look like when the U.S. economy is still relatively stable, how bad are things going to get when the economy tanks?In San Francisco, the homeless population has grown by 17 percent since 2017, and when a UN official recently walked the streets she was absolutely horrified by what she witnessed. When Leilani Farha paid a visit to San Francisco in January, she knew the grim reputation of the city’s homeless encampments. In her four years as the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Adequate Housing, Farha has visited the slums of Mumbai, Delhi, Mexico City, Jarkarta, and Manila. The crisis in San Francisco, she said, is comparable to these conditions.

San Francisco has banned e-cigarettes...but not real cigarettes.

For the foreseeable future, fossil fuels will be crucial to sustaining civilization. A way must be found to use oil and gas, but capture their carbon dioxide emissions – and have the industry do something more than signal its regret; to be part of the solution, rather than most of the problem. The technology for sequestering carbon dioxide, still hopeless a few years ago, is now progressing in Norway, Canada and Texas. 

Philippize:
To behave, especially to speak or write, as if corruptly influenced.
After Philip II of Macedon. It was believed that after Philip took control of the shrine at Delphi, the seat of high priestess Pythia, she began delivering oracles in his favor.

An article by somebody named Nino Pagliccia attempts to rescue Venezuela from the damage done by America and its media running dogs (Spanish included to help the impression of authenticity):
We cannot deny the economic crisis in Venezuela caused by the “guerra económica” (economic warfare) waged by the US. The last conservative figure for the cost of US sanctions to Venezuela is US$130 billion. But the US government and the corporate media want you to believe that the economic crisis in Venezuela is due to the Maduro government mismanagement totally disregarding the impact of the unilateral coercive measures.


                            The Picture of Dorian Grey

When a politician looks in the mirror, what does he see?

Trump is a caricature of a politician. Everything is exaggerated. He is a walking satire, with all the politician's foibles highlighted. His most egregious behavior was the "lock her up" mantra that he started with Hilary, an echoing of the countless soundtruck democracies where the winner of the election imprisons the loser.

But he is a real danger to the politician and it is no wonder why they hate him so.

The danger is that the public may start to see them all for what they really are: Trump Lite. They should try to rise above him. But, since what he is essentially what they are, they can not. Like so many stupid fiction characters, they can not escape what they are. They don't imitate him, they are him. Kamala Harris has started a new tack: She wants to "lock him up."

Silly, self-absorbed, mendacious, posturing--they are all variants of the same theme--as they play to the voter's vanities and hopes. Universal access to a limited service. Curing cancer. Legislating equality. Taxing us into prosperity. At some future time it will make for great comedy. Now it is just mortifying.

But not as mortifying as a politician when he looks in the mirror. Because he sees Trump.