They need tampons and underwear and gaming supplies:
The Funny Thing About Abusive Relationships
The number of women in stand-up comedy who are coming out as being victims of abuse is alarming. This is a must-read article. An excerpt: The experience is certainly not monolithic, but for many women who write and perform comedy, choosing this career path involves the cultivation of a chitinous exoskeleton, involuntary or not. It’s hard not to let it … Read More
Original Intent
From The New Yorker: December 5, 1791 James Madison House of Representatives Dear James, How is it almost 1792?! Quick question on the right to bear arms thing in your “Bill of Rights”—the wording and punctuation are slightly confusing. Did you mean that the right of the people serving in the militia to keep and bear arms shall not be … Read More
Y’All Queda: The Oregon Standoff – Day 5
First, this: Ammon Bundy, a leader of the armed protesters who took over a federal building in Oregon, and his family are known for battling the federal government. But Bundy told CNN on Tuesday that he’s not opposed to government and said that taking a six-figure loan from theSmall Business Administration doesn’t conflict with his political philosophy. Bundy borrowed $530,000 … Read More
North Korea’s Got One Too (Just To Use On You Know Who)
There was a 5.1 magnitude earthquake yesterday in North Korea. Except it wasn’t an earthquake. North Korea announced that it had detonated a sophisticated hydrogen bomb. North Korea’s three previous nuclear tests since 2006 have been met with international condemnation, including resolutions and sanctions from the Security Council. But North Korea has ignored the U.N. on this. The good news is … Read More
RIP Elizabeth Swados
Songstress and Broadway composer Elizabeth Swados died yesterday at the age of 64. She was a bit of a hippie after the end of the hippies, or a new age artist before the advent of new age artists — depending on how you looked at it. Swados first made a splash with “Nightclub Cantata,” a revue produced at the Village … Read More
Emotional President Moves On Gun Control
White House insiders have long said that the worst day of Obama’s presidency was the day of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. What should have been a 9/11 moment for the whole nation turned out to be nothing — as in nothing changed. Congress voted against reasonable laws like universal background checks. It is clear … Read More
Domestic Terrorism Update
Busy day today, so I have little commentary. I recommend an article in The New Yorker for a slightly different, but valuable, perspective than mine: American vigilantism is never racially innocent. Its two parents are self-mobilization on the frontier, usually against Native Americans at a time when homesteading was reserved to whites, and the racial terror of the Ku Klux … Read More
Armed Terrorists Seize Federal Property
You would think this would be 24/7 headline news, but it isn’t. The terrorist takeover began Sunday morning, but the regular news outlets barely covered it. Only on Twitter was it discussed at any length, thanks to the hashtag #OregonUnderAttack. Now that it is a regular non-holiday workday, the media is starting to report it. Before then, the only real … Read More
Wheeee!
The Dow starts the year in a plummet this morning. Because Asian markets suck apparently. Also international fears re: Middle East. You know…. the usual.