With all my health stress I haven't been able to devote my attention to the hellscape we're in as I wish I could. In other news, KPOP Demon Hunters made me tear up.

"her words have a weight that can move mountains and build pyres"; "social contagion"; "the truth...was a collaborative fiction";

"paranoid vigilance"; "let our fears turn out neighbors into monsters"; "in the 17th century, the children were the eyes of the law and what they saw was a world that deserved to burn"; "the boundary between what she dreamed and what she must say begins to dissolve";

Maybe a bit of the "civic religion" from Burke to temper the religious zealotry element?

Americans look to the precursors for Salem back to the British Isles. But in looking into a few more examples, I think the Scandinavian (esp. Sweden) version of the history is perhaps more revealing.

Got thinking today. Something about 17th century witch hunts, the "veil between worlds," and the function of such a border within a nation state under duress. The accusation of the innocent, the death sentence against the community's outliers. The testimony of youth is not quite as clear to me.

Moussad? That would definitely raise my interest in JE's ultimate fate.

New team of plumbers aim to have Pittsburgh's fountains flowing earlier this year The city of Pittsburgh has hired more plumbers since last year. This new crew of four is at work turning on drinking fountains in the city. The goal is to get all 170 flowing by the end of the month.

In 2024, most of Pittsburgh's drinking fountains ran dry while a lone plumber at the Department of Public Works juggled everything from fixing hose connections to turning on water at concession stands. Now, the city has a crew of four plumbers at work, including a master training an apprentice.

Personally, I have been interested specifically in Pat Buchanan. He wasn't ever an elected official, but he served as the consultant on conservative opinion from Nixon forward. And he's *prolific*. I think he's the driver behind replacing busing in the early 80s with immigrants. #lateralracism

I agree. That's exactly the thing that a sustained textual and social analysis can document for comparison. People seem to think that Trump came out of nowhere. What he is was begun in the late 1970s when the Religious Right began to organize and exert influence.

I have wondered about opposition opinion during Reagan's presidency. I was a child then, but I don't recall public outcry to the "doing" as we see currently. I really think this kind of study bears rhetorical analysis.If Trump is "not new," then let's test that.

Should five percent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman

~ "Taxman," The Beatles
#tax #taxday2025 #taxes #beatles #taxman

It looks like a penis. I think there's a penis envy joke to be made, but I don't have the energy to see who wrote the best one.

90 day delay is not a "total reversal" because the administration listened to the America people or because it fears the market. It was ALWAYS the plan. It's a classic sales or DEAL making strategy. Try to sell the condo at $2 m so you can negotiate to ensure you can sell the condo for the $1.8 m.

So, in Trump's America I can't afford the therapy that helps me cope with a horribly unjust world - retail therapy. #firstworldproblems

President Trump’s Executive Order on Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa

So, I totally missed the Executive Order where Trump invited Afrikaner "refugees" to come on over. So...if you are white and feel discriminated against after Apartheid was ended...Trump feels your white pain. #trump #executiveorder #apartheid #racism

za.usembassy.gov/president-tr...

You know what I'd like instead of DOGE?

How about the "Department Devoted to Predicting All the Bad Shit That Can Result From Misuse of Power and Short-sightedness."

What is the acronym for that? DDPABSTCRFMPSS

Sounds about right when you say it out loud. 5 times. Fast.

"Who's throat do I get to choke if this proves to be wrong?" ~Thom Tillis (R) NC

Hi, @criminolly.bsky.social. You've done a lot of e-reader devices. I don't think you've ever talked about the Nook from Barnes & Noble. Is it something that is available in the UK? Any thoughts on it?

OMG. You are so right. What would you say is the pleasure principle?

We simply had to intentionally destroy the world’s strongest economy while dismantling our scientific and educational infrastructure to ensure that a team with a trans girl would never finish second place in the Mountain West volleyball standings again

kitsch is fascism, cringe is democracy

Ah. Lacan. Yes. The economy is an encounter with the Real. (And always has been?)

There’s a Reason Trump Is Going After Birthright Citizenship YouTube video by New York Times Podcasts

Hey, @rhetoricpj.bsky.social. Listen to this. It's like the second level to my dissertation. "Reimmagrantizing" is exactly what I talked about in my Ellis piece, except that it is weaponized against the "other," instead of shielding the self.

Here's a weird thing: piggy banks make me sad. It's a kind of counter-nostalgia. I recall feeling the same way as a child when I saw one.

I am old enough to trace the lineage of Trump back through the move of the GOP in the early 1990s. The Contract with America and Pat Buchanan introducing the term "culture war." You can go back all the way to Nixon's "silent majority," which incidentally was crafted when Buchanan was WH advisor.

I think one of the points that should bee emphasized: what if Canadians (or other nationals) stop buying US products across the board in response? Seems like the US producers won't be protected, but instead could be up to double burdened by the tax. #tariffs #canada #USimports #USexports

I miss Paul Wellstone. I wonder what he would be doing in response to our present moment. Bernie wouldn't be one of the few voices making real demands. Bernie can never die, or at least he needs an apprentice to take over when he does.
#berniesanders #paulwellstone

BTW, anyone checked on the "deal" that Trump has made with Russia? My favorite is helping Russia to get fully back into the game of exporting agricultural products and .... get this ... fertilizer. If it's anhydrous ammonia, that's the stuff that terrorists make bombs with.

Watching the two military (or former) have to engage in rhetorical gymnastics at the open hearing was uncomfortable. I was struck that engaging in sleight of hand was hard and that they felt they were violating their own sense(s) of integrity.