I am watching Mississippi Burning again as it is available on Prime. And I am thinking how little racism has changed since 1964. It's still as prevalent as ever.
— Meow (@ablackcatstail) August 28, 2022
He’s right of course. Read more
I mourn roadkill, for I am not so very much better off.
I am watching Mississippi Burning again as it is available on Prime. And I am thinking how little racism has changed since 1964. It's still as prevalent as ever.
— Meow (@ablackcatstail) August 28, 2022
He’s right of course. Read more
See updates through February 28, 2023, at end of post.
Fig. 1. Flags in front of a house in Clairton, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There are one U.S. flag, two U.S. Army flags, one Confederate battle flag, and, less visibly behind a utility pole, a Betsy Ross flag. Photograph by author, April 29, 2020.
So, as I’m driving around southwestern Pennsylvania, I’m noticing a lot fewer signs and flags in support of Donald Trump.
The ubiquitous Confederate flags in the area almost entirely came down after the January 6 coup attempt. There are still a few up, but they’ve become rare. Read more
See updates through June 19, 2023, at end of post.
Fig. 1. Donald Trump, depicted in an orange jumpsuit, reportedly by the Drudge, via Mediaite,[1] fair use.
I suppose I should not be surprised that the story of Donald Trump’s absconding with records that properly belong with the National Archives and Records Administration[2] is taking a darker turn. Read more
I recently came across Anne Applebaum’s 2018 article in the Atlantic, “A warning from Europe: The worst is yet to come,” in which she describes the politics in Poland as reminiscent of Viktor Orbán’s competitive authoritarian regime in Hungary, posing it in a false dichotomy with meritocratic, cosmopolitan, and capitalist “liberalism.”[1] It’s not ideologically quite a match for white Christian nationalism, as indeed are not structurally similar regimes in Turkey and India, and as indeed would not be a similar regime which might arise in Italy[2] and might have arisen in France.[3] Read more
See updates through December 31, 2022, at end of post.
It seems Donald Trump’s entourage is perceiving a need for him to lawyer up[1] as the legal ramifications[2] of the search of Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago[3] become more apparent, but
One lawyer told a story from early in Trump’s presidency of his legal team urging him against tweeting about the Mueller probe, only to find he’d tweeted about it before they got to the end of the West Wing driveway. Several people said Trump was nearly impossible to represent and that it would be unclear if they would ever get paid.[4]
Fig. 1. “Handmaids protest abortion restrictions at a recent rally,” undated photograph by John O’Connor for the Associated Press, via The Well,[1] fair use.
See updates through September 10, 2022, at end of post.
If there is, hopefully, a scenario in which my 2024 forecast, in which I saw nothing stopping Donald Trump’s return to the presidency and the culmination of a longstanding project to establish what, in jargon, is called a competitive authoritarian regime,[2] might be derailed, it may lie in developments of the last few days, in which Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence was searched[3] and allegedly classified materials were retrieved.[4] While support for Trump appears to have solidified among Republicans,[5] the search warrant indicates that he is under investigation for, among other things, violations of the Espionage Act.[6] Read more
See updates through August 14, 2022, at end of post.
Our story today begins with a search. Conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate,[1] apparently for nuclear secrets that should have been turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration when Trump left office,[2] it has provoked the entirely predictable white Christian nationalist outrage[3] and reunified the Republican Party around Trump.[4] Read more
See updates through February 7, 2023, at end of post.
Fig. 1. “Transfiguration.” Oil painting by Raphael, 1520, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Honestly, I had not planned on traversing Kansas two days after, as it turned out, voters there rejected a constitutional amendment that would have cleared the way for further abortion restrictions in the state.[1]
The first sign I noticed along Interstate 70 said, “Kill Relativism, Not Babies.” Okay, I thought to myself, how many people will even know what that means? Read more