Crisis and Cure: Writing Both Political and Personal

 I had neglected this blog a bit because it seemed a bit unnecessary. I had my own private, personal blog to care for (see https://www.michaeljaytucker.com/blog) and other people weren't writing for it as much. And, besides, Twitter seemed a quicker and more effective means of communication. But, well, now Twitter seems to be going down with all hands (thank you Mr. Musk). I will continue to post there, but I'll also try to post here a bit as well--just in case Twitter ceases to be viable or becomes unwelcoming for those of my moderate disposition. So, stay tuned. There may be more coming here.  cheers

  Here is an interesting story from Inews, " Russia’s republics, bled dry by Putin, begin to demand independence from his rule " by Kieron Monks. It seems that the Russian Federation's "independent" republics are beginning to get a little bit unhappy with Putin and his endless war. Some of them are at least hinting at going it alone. Probably won't happen anytime soon. But, the fact that they are even just whispering about it in the police state which is now Russia is a very interesting fact indeed.  In trouble?

Very powerful piece over on Vice that everyone should read, " Christian Nationalism Drove These People Out of Their Churches " by Tess Owen. In it, Owen looks at how Christian Nationalism...an ideology which is surely a contradiction in terms...has begun to overwhelm churches across the country. The idea that Jesus, who preached against such things, should be used to support racism, nationalism, and dictatorship is, of course, grotesque. But, it is important for us to know what is happening in the world of right-wing churches. This is, in other words, what we're up against. Forewarned is forearmed... This has nothing to do with Christ.

 If you're wondering about the GOP's strategy, take a glance at this article in The Washington Post, "‘They are preparing for war’: An expert on civil wars discusses where political extremists are taking this country," by KK Ottesen. In it Ottesen talks to political scientist Barbara F. Walter.  And Walter's conclusion? That the GOP is actively weakening the institutions of the American government so that it can wage a violent war against the state, and establish some sort of authoritarian state. It is frightening, disturbing, and all too probable.  Clearly, we have one choice, #VOTEBlue. The alternative is horrible. Go here: "‘They are preparing for war’: An expert on civil wars discusses where political extremists are taking this country," by KK Ottesen. war and death

 Like it says, if you're wondering why we have a crisis in American education right now, just look at this: https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/revealed/revealed-teachers-come-from-dumbest-parts-of-dumbest-colleges-tenn-governors-education-advisor-tells-him In effect, the governor of a major American state, Bill Lee of Tenn., agreed with "Dr. Larry Arnn, president of Michigan's ultra-conservative Hillsdale College," that teachers are "dumb" and anyone ...with no training or background whatsoever... can handle the education of children. In a word, Ouch. Isn't it lovely when you hear teachers told that they are useless and incompetent, by people who can't handle a single teenager at home, much less 40 of 'em in a crowded classroom? Of course, anyone can teach...

So it seems that Republican Congresswoman Debbie Lesko said that "she would shoot her grandchildren" to defend the 2nd Amendment. She later tried to "back it up" a bit, saying she'd been misquoted, but the fact remains that she's on the record saying what's sounds like exactly that.  You know...I've got no deep philosophical reactions on this to share, but... I'm guessing the Lesko family's gonna have a really tense Thanksgiving dinner this year.   "Uh, Grammy..."

Special Note: more details on the origins of the stones have come to the fore. See below for an update. So we learn that the Georgia Guidestones have been destroyed by someone, as yet, unknown. The reality, of course, is that whoever paid for them, was a bit kooky, but clearly he/she/they were no villains. The stones carried what were simply some platitudes of the sort we see all the time on greeting cards. They didn't hurt anyone and did no wrong. Yet, somehow, the Right saw them as unspeakably evil, and used high explosives to destroy them. How on earth is this possible? How is it that the Right has grown so mad, so utterly insane, that it would vent its fury on stone? And thus achieve nothing while endangering others? But, one thing. It is a perfect metaphor for what the Right...and particularly the Christian Right...has become. And the danger it poses to us all. For the story, go here:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/07/georgia-guidestones-blown-up-explosion/ So

 There's a piece in the current New York Review of Books that anyone with an interest in geopolitics should see. In " A Hotter Russia," Sophie Pinkham reviews Klimat: Russia in the Age of Climate Change by Thane Gustafson.  Gustafson's argument is that Russia is pretty much on the rocks, regardless of whether it wins its current war in Ukraine or not. Moscow has seen itself as a "winner" in the case of global warming. It will gain year-around shipping in the Arctic, and have access to more agricultural land...or so the Kremlin thinks. The kicker? This may not be the case. Global warming is hitting Russia hard. Its forests are declining, its permafrost is melting, and its landscape is turning into mud and desert.  None of which is good for the West, of course. We'll be suffering, too. But it is an intriguing argument, and the idea that Russia, as Russia, might cease to exist before 2030, is both fascinating and alarming. A Siberian Winter, c. 2032

Fascinating article on the The Poynter Institute’s website, “ ‘They keep threatening to arrest us.’ The obstacles facing local news in Uvalde: San Antonio Express-News editor Nora Lopez talks about her newsroom's struggle against authorities to tell the stories of Uvalde. ” According to Lopez, the Uvalde police have begun actively harassing journalists who are trying to report on the mass killings there. It gets worse. It seems the police force is being assisted in this by some sort of motorcycle clubs (Lopez calls them “gangs”) that are associated with the police themselves. All of which makes you ask, if the Uvalde police did nothing wrong on that terrible day, why are they now trying to clamp down on journalists? This has a certain Putin-in-Ukraine feel to it.  Or, worse, it feels like corruption paired with tyranny.   If you did nothing wrong?

Your future? Fascinating article over on Bloomberg, “ Larry Ellison’s Lanai Isn’t for You—or the People Who Live There. ” It seems that Billionaire Ellison bought the entire Hawaiian island of Lanai. Now, the people who have lived their for generations are getting pushed out. And, of course, the justification is that “Well, he owns the place. He can do what he wants with it.” And with the people who live there. It all seems a bit like a metaphor for life in the modern age. And you have to think that if the 1% isn’t brought to earth a little at some point, we’ll all be living in a vast Lanai…a world of oligarchs, where ordinary people have been replaced by robots and slaves, or, given new technology, maybe some combination of the two. *** #VoteBlueToSaveAmerica

  This is a powerful piece that looks at how Jack Welch personified the changes in American capitalism that ultimately led to our current dystopia.  Worth reading. And remember to #VOTE in 2022 and #VOTEBlue. Go here:  https://the.ink/p/like-capitalism-itself-business-journalism?s=r&.tsrc=372

 If you have not already watched this, please do so ASAP. You owe it to yourself, and to the nation.  We all know what happened on that horrible day, but we had no idea just how awful it really was. And please #VOTE and #VOTEBlue

Saw this article recently. I don't know how likely the scenario is. But it is a daring and innovative suggestion. Basically, the author suggests that China may soon decide that a war against Russia, gaining a huge swath of Siberia in the process, might be a wise investment. Here's the piece: https://thirdoffset.substack.com/p/could-siberia-be-a-greater-prize?s=r

 Stay tuned, folks. This blog is coming back, but under new management.  Check back in a couple of weeks for the grand re-opening!

Okay, I had hoped never to come back this blog. But… Then that bastard Putin invaded Ukraine and turned a whole country into a slaughterhouse. Plus, the GOP has continued to act like a criminal enterprise.   So… This blog will be coming back for a bit. I’ll be posting here, as will some of the other folks who were involved with the original effort. There will also be some new volunteer management involved. But…let’s hope things get better soon so we can get back to doing the things we really wanted to do rather than felt we had to do.   So, stay tuned. More to come.   Cheers ~mjt

As you know, I’ve been saying for quite some time that Afghanistan under the Taliban is a disaster, and is going to be more of a disaster in future. In fact, I’m afraid it is only a matter of time before the rest of the world gets drawn back into the country just to keep it from imploding. Well, now The New Yorker magazine has printed an article that shows just how awful things are already, and how much worse they’re going to be. Jane Ferguson’s piece, “Afghanistan Has Become the World’s Largest Humanitarian Crisis” goes into grim detail about the country and its problems. The most terrifying statistic? Maybe the fact that “more than twenty million Afghans are on the brink of famine.” Let’s hope that the world gets it act together on the Afghan issue, and soon. And, while we’re at it, let’s hope that the Taliban wake up to the fact that it has to act like a government rather than a murderous legion of suicide bombers.   No matter how much fun blowing yourself up might be. Source: “Afg

  Music is forbidden! Okay, this is probably small potatoes given all the other awful things the Taliban are doing in Afghanistan, but here’s a story that’s peeved me no end. After the Taliban took over that unfortunate country, they banned music.   That’s right. Music. Certain elements within some Islamic communities regard music as illicit. As a result, music and singing have been, in some places, and from time to time, banned in some Islamic countries.(1) The Taliban follow in this tradition.   And, in fact, the Talibani have followed up their victory in Afghanistan by banning music, beating up musicians, and burning precious musical instruments, some of them decades old and utterly irreplaceable.(2) Personally, I find this appalling. Maybe not as appalling as the fact that the Taliban is allowing children to starve (3), but appalling all the same.   But it does say a lot about certain kinds of humorless, joyless, and bloody-minded, theocratic regimes. I mean, think of the marvel of

  Good afternoon, Governor. This is old news, of course, but I’ll share the tale. It seems that the actress/singer Bette Midler said something mildly insulting about West Virginia after that state’s Senator (and major dingbat) Joe Manchin refused to support President Biden. That comes under the heading, of course, of “So what?” Celebrities are always saying something mildly insulting about somebody. That’s just S.O.P. But, then, West Virginia’s governor, Jim Justice, responded by showing his dog’s derrière during his State of the State address and suggesting that Ms. Midler could kiss it. Honestly, that wigs me out a bit. Sure, Midler was insulting, but she’s a private citizen. Justice is supposed to be the governor of an entire American state. He is supposed to be, you know, dignified and stuff like that. He’s not supposed to be displaying a canine’s anus to the whole wide world.   Oh, did I mention that Justice is a Republican? You probably guessed that already. What concerns me abou

Right now, children are dying of hunger.  So children are starving to death in Afghanistan. That’s it. That’s pretty much all there is to the story. If you want more on it, here’s an article on the topic on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Gandhara website: “Afghan Children Starving To Death As Hunger ‘Rapidly Spreading’,” by Abubakar Siddique, Gandhara, Jan 28, 2022. (1)   And why are they starving to death? Because the Taliban destroyed the former government, which was capable of feeding its own citizens, and replaced it with one that can’t. Also, the Taliban lack the resources to purchase, transport, or distribute food to the neediest of its people. Oh, and they may not be particularly interested in doing so. There is evidence that what food resources they do have tend to go to the Taliban’s own supporters rather than those who really need them. (2) What’s that you say? That the West, in general, and the United States, in particular, is really responsible for the problem because “w

  What The Q-cultists think about liberal men. Source is below. One of the Reddit groups I follow is Qult Headquarters. This is a sub-reddit for people who are trying to make sense of the QAnon movement, which seems to have begun as something of a joke, then morphed into a complex conspiracy theory, then turned into a cult, and is now well on its way to being some kind of religion.   Recently, one of the members posted the screenshot above, which had been taken from a the QAnon-supporting site. The screenshot interested me because it said a lot about how a certain class of Right-wing activists see their analogs on the Left—i.e., un-men, not masculine, probably homosexual, and certainly effeminate. On some level, that’s not surprising. Men of all sorts frequently resort to the same (admittedly sexist) vocabulary when they attempt to picture their rivals in an opposing camp. The other side is composed of “wimps” and “weaklings,” whereas they are themselves strong and manly. That said, th

 Just a reminder: Found on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/p/CC9A1wYlnwc/

 This is an oldie but very much a goodie. And too true... Found on Instagram...

  Head on over to Xcargo ! Hi, Everyone, As you know, I maintain multiple blogs. There is this one, “Crisis and Cure,” and there is my private blog, a.k.a. “ explosive-cargo ,” which I maintain at my website here:   https://www.michaeljaytucker.com/blog And there are a couple more in other places. Well, quite frankly, I have found that I am a little overwhelmed. I have some real trouble keeping all these different blogs going, while I also do my little videos, and do other writing, and, well, you know, eat and sleep and whatever. So, I’m going to try to do a bit of consolidating. This blog is going to merge with my personal blog, Xcargo. I will continue to post here for a short while longer, but by 14 Feb (Valentine’s Day!) I will shift over mostly to https://www.michaeljaytucker.com/blog Don’t worry! I’ll still be doing political stuff and saying nasty things about the Former Guy, and QAnoners, and Moscow Mitch, and all the rest. I’ll just be doing it there rather than here. In other