ratiocinations out of thin air and elsewhere
WARNING: This is where all the really political things are found. Know that I am so liberal that I don’t mind at all that others are conservative—as long as your opinions are based on facts. While I have mellowed considerably with age, I still suffer fools poorly.
As Artemus Ward reputedly observed: “It ain’t so much the things we don’t know that get us into trouble, it’s the things we do know that just ain’t so.”
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OCCASIONALLY, I am given an opportunity to take on a one-day gig and pick up a little pocket money. So far, my favorite has been serving on a couple of mock juries. I have also been a test patient for a psychiatric grad student: I warned her in advance that she would get nowhere with me. [Read more] “were you picked on for being gay (even if you weren’t)?”
INCONCEIVABLE! This is what is passing for news in today’s rightwingnut media world of faux news organizations and the ubiquitous bloggers all over the Internet: “Russell Brand labels ex-wife Katy Perry ‘vapid, vacuous and plastic’ in documentary.” 1
(O!my!gawd!)
Or my fave, the one that I received in my mailbox from an email newsletter: “Ex-Husband Has Extremely Harsh Words for Hillary-Supporting Pop Star Katy Perry”! [Read more] “vapid vacuous mindless journalism in my mailbox”
WITH CAFFEINE-INDUCED GUSTO—what other kind is there at 6:30 in the morning?—I opened my sole “conservative” newsletter, a sort of rightwing-lite version of TruthOut and other progressive newsletters that I receive. It arrived with this headlined story: “Donald Trump Blames Mass Shootings on 2 Words President Obama Won’t Dare Bring Up.” [Read more] “trump on mental health as opposed to guns”
MY ROOMMATE GADJI is a cat who actually likes having a harness strapped around her neck and midriff: it means that she is going outside! Apparently, any price is worth paying to spend the time in the fresh air—rolling in the dirt, spying on birds, and going for walks. [Read more] “crows as whistleblowers and snowdens”
LIKE MANY PEOPLE who speak English, I occasionally use the phrase at one fell swoop. I know what I mean when I use it and I assume (although I never assume anything, of course) that each and every listener also knows what I mean. But what does the phrase mean? Basically, at one fell swoop means something done in a single action. [Read more] “at one fell swoop (did you say all?)”