Sunday Reads: Refolution?
Posted: November 22, 2020 Filed under: 2020 Elections, corruption, Domestic terrorism, Donald Trump, ethics, History, income inequality, morning reads, open thread, Psychopaths in charge 9 Comments
Disgusting.
This next link is an interview with historian/sociologist Jack Goldstone:
It is a lengthy article, but please take time to read the whole thing.
I also suggest looking into the articles listed in the first few paragraphs of the Alternet piece:
…Jack Goldstone, whose 1991 book, “Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World,” revolutionized our understanding of revolutions as products of organizational failure in coping with demographic pressures.
Goldstone’s book appeared just as America was celebrating “The End of History,” as announced in a then-famous book by Francis Fukuyama. With the end of the Cold War, everything had supposedly been settled. There would be no more revolutions or ideological struggles. Almost 30 years later, no one thinks that anymore, and the demographic factors Goldstone identified — such as the “youth bulges” associated with the Arab Spring — have become commonplace terms in discussing potential revolutions. Goldstone’s model combined measures of demographically-driven social stress from the mass population, the elites and the state to produce a single number, the “political stress indicator,” or psi. State breakdown — and thus revolution — has only occurred when psi rises to dramatically high levels. Unlike earlier theories, Goldstone’s approach explained when revolutions didn’t happen, as well as when they did.
I discovered Goldstone’s work by way of cultural anthropologist Peter Turchin, who refined and expanded his model and applied it to a broader range of societies, including modern industrial states. Four years ago, the month before Donald Trump was elected, I reviewed Turchin’s book, “Ages of Discord: A Structural-Demographic Analysis of American History,” which predicted an approaching period of social and political disintegration, regardless of whether Trump won or lost.
But even in 1991, Goldstone had seen worrying signs in America of the same sorts of problems his book described in England and France in the 17th and 18th centuries, respectively, as well as in China and the Ottoman Empire. Most notable was the problem of “selfish elites” who “preferred to protect their private wealth, even at the expense of a deterioration of state finances, public services, and long-term international strength.”
That’s why Goldstone’s perspective on the problems facing us today seem particularly worth our attention. He and Turchin combined to write an article for Noema magazine in September, “Welcome to the Turbulent Twenties,” and BuzzFeed highlighted their perspective — and specifically, the role of psi — in a late October storyon the possibility of rising political violence in the U.S. But their perspective deserves much more than an occasional mention — it should inform the entire framework in which our discussions take place.
So please give that interview your attention…some responses may give you pause to think, but others are completely on the mark.
The other day:
Here’s a few other items from this week:
Love the message:
Isn’t nature amazing:
Finally, hello Dolly…
I love this woman.
Have a safe day….peace.
Sunday Reads: Ditto
Posted: November 1, 2020 Filed under: 2020 Elections, abortion rights, COVID19, Domestic terrorism, morning reads, open thread, Psychopaths in charge, Republican politics 13 Comments
I’ve got plenty of links for you today, the only thing is…I can’t remember if these links have been shared already. All the days and news horrors meld together, it has become so difficult to make sense of anything.
Be sure you watch this clip, so you can have a good laugh before the serious news links hit like bricks.
In Poland:
Other weather updates:
Picture above from the Oslo episode of Veep…showing the map of chickenpox outbreaks that follow the exact path of Jonah’s Presidential campaign rallies…
Want to laugh…read the comments:
Sean Connery passed away yesterday:
That was a lot of tweets and links, but there is a whole bunch of shit going on…this is an open thread.
Wednesday Reads: Never Gonna Give
Posted: October 28, 2020 Filed under: 2020 Elections, abortion rights, fundamentalist Christians, GLBT Rights, Injustice system, morning reads, open thread, Reproductive Health, Reproductive Rights, War on Women, We are so F'd, Women's Healthcare, Women's Rights 15 Comments
The last 24 hours have been so disappointing. I’ve lost myself in classic and campy horror movies…but even that cannot remove the anxiety that weighs on me…especially when I see something like this:
That smacks hard. People have to prepare for a completely new life, just because of the bigotry and hatred of the fucking Republicans.
Pay attention, because this may be the US in a few months:
In other news:
Follow the events of last night here:
More at the thread.
Hope you have a pleasant day, well…as good of day that can be expected.
Here is a link to NHC website for the latest on #Zeta
This is an open thread.
Sunday Reads: SuperSPREADER
Posted: October 11, 2020 Filed under: 2020 Elections, Art, Biden Harris 2020, COVID19, Diplomacy Nightmares, Domestic terrorism, Donald Trump, History, morning reads, open thread, Psychopaths in charge, Real Life Horror 12 Comments
No, that is not a link to The Onion:
In a series of phone calls, President Donald Trump floated a bizarre idea last week from his presidential suite at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center — he wanted to rip open his dress shirt after discharge to reveal a Superman symbol beneath, The New York Times reported Saturday.
He “wanted to appear frail at first,” people with knowledge of the conversations told the Times. But underneath his dress shirt, Trump would wear a Superman T-shirt, which he would reveal by ripping open the top layer of his clothing. He ultimately opted not to go ahead with the stunt. It wasn’t immediately clear why.
I think it is obvious, tRump is clearly crazy coo coo.
Meanwhile…
Here are a few interesting items, non-political links:
This is a quick post, we have already seen a tornado warning tonight…also flash flood warnings, as the remaining parts of Delta pass over Northeast Georgia. I hope everyone takes care…this is an open thread.
Sunday Reads: Memes and More
Posted: October 4, 2020 Filed under: Afternoon Reads, COVID19, Donald Trump, open thread 38 Comments
The orange turd, receiving his experimental treatment after testing positive for the Covid 19 virus.
Before we get to the comedy relief, here’s some newsy updates that will peak your interest:
Keep that in mind…
This thread here:
And still, the idiots persist:
Point to be made:
There was a debate last night:
And I will leave it at that.
Please take care of yourselves…
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