Category Archives: politics

Thrush to Judgement

Posted on July 3, 2024 by JE

I’ve been rereading Petronius’ Satyricon, to take my mind off the imminent death of democracy in America. It’s not working that well, because Trimalchio (the wealthy boor who is the anti-protagonist of his own episode in the novel) keeps reminding … Continue reading →

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Hair Apparent

Posted on June 15, 2024 by JE

I was turning for comfort and relief to Seneca, as I often do, when he turned around and stabbed me in the eyeball with this triple-forked slam. He’s writing about his contemporaries who have screwed-up priorities. His contemporaries, but maybe … Continue reading →

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Breslin vs. Trump

Posted on May 31, 2024 by JE

As Fate or Chaos would have it, the LoA collection of Jimmy Breslin arrived on my doorstep this week, so that on the evening when Trump’s guilty verdict was announced in Manhattan, I got to read Breslin’s verdict on Trump … Continue reading →

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Fair or Unfair?

Posted on November 5, 2023 by JE

In the course of an ultimately frustrating and pointless conversation online today, I found myself thinking of the multiple meanings of fair in English–at once, “light-skinned/light-haired”, “beautiful”, and “just, even-handed”. The meanings are so different that I wondered if they … Continue reading →

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Vote No On Issue 1

Posted on August 8, 2023 by JE

Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man Remembering the Past and Looking to the Future After Having Voted NO on Issue 1. And a Glass of Water.

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ΧΑΟΣ

Posted on July 12, 2023 by JE

I don’t know if you knew this about me, but I’ll buy a book every now and then. Because I am not a crazy person (anyway, I’ve never been officially diagnosed), before I’ll buy a book I see if I … Continue reading →

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Four Dead in Ohio

Posted on May 4, 2023 by JE

May 4, 1970

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Truth or DARVO?

Posted on April 17, 2023 by JE

I was reading a harrowing story (at Vox.com) about the Vallow-Daybell murders which mentioned the concept of DARVO. It wasn’t brand-new to me, but I had sort of forgotten about it, even though the thing itself is as common as … Continue reading →

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Paranoia Will Destroy Ya

Posted on April 14, 2023 by JE

I just got the Hofstadter volume from the Library of America and I’ve been enjoying/suffering through a reread of “The Paranoid Style in American Politics”. “Enjoying” because Hofstadter is a knowledgeable and deeply insightful writer with a dryly witty style; … Continue reading →

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The Dark Tower Is Thrown Down

Posted on March 25, 2023 by JE

Happy Downfall-of-Sauron Day, but remember: “Always after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again.”

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