kevingan52.bsky.social
Retired professor of literature & writing and critical thinking, Yale and USC. Also 10 years’ teaching high school English. NYC native, now in CT. New Deal Democrat, like my parents before me.
645 posts
399 followers
1,173 following
Active Commenter
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Her accountant uses steroids.
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Quick, publish the numbers! Maybe it’s not too late to save the transmitter!
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It’s just accurate. Things haven’t changed much since Dickens’ time:
Charity worker: “they would rather die!“
Scrooge: “they had better do it then, and decrease the surplus population!“
Malthusianism is always with us. Dreaming of Mars and floating-platform billionaire nations reflects it too.
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Not everyone has a computer or a smart phone, even now – short wave and long wave can still travel far beyond the reach of cell phone towers.
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I’d love to read how much the BBC saved by shutting down Long wave – I can’t imagine it was more than a tiny percentage of their budget. I also wonder how many listeners still used it – that would be very useful to know.
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One of the great reflections on the psychic roots of this phenomenon is Freud’s essay on The Uncanny. “Uncanny” itself is a contronym: it means “remarkable, super-skilled,” but also “weird, disturbing.” Freud will tell you why, starting with a funny anecdote!
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Contronym…there are many. I always think of “cleave,” which means both join and divide. Here’s a little article:
www.mentalfloss.com/article/5703...
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But Mike Johnson says the opposite! Who should I believe??? It’s so confusing!
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Rev. Barber is the best! Dems, are you listening?
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It certainly is! Sanity, logic, and truth…too bad our president doesn’t (can’t?) read…
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Noted foreign policy expert and defense intellectual Pete Hegseth? That guy? They’ll certainly heed his advice: absolutely, no doubt about it.
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I just did a rough estimate:
$70 per American per year.
Americans are very generous when disaster strikes. Why don’t we ask them what they want to do about these kids?
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Stories with pictures every day in all media, old and new. Explain what they did and show the consequences.
What did USAID cost each American taxpayer per year? I bet people would want to pay it, once they saw the catastrophe.
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Good catch.
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He looks just like the kind of obsequious lickspittle who’d do that without a second thought.
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A hit! A very palpable hit!
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Inspiring! I have to try and keep up! Thanks, Ben.
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Seems unfair—he only makes $45 billion a year. Maybe if they gave him a raise!
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I guess it’s a coincidence that he looks like Alfalfa on the Little Rascals – but somehow it seems significant.
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Questionable? “Blatantly corrupt” seems more accurate. “Indefensible and actually sociopathic” would also cover it.
The larger the crime, the better he likes it.
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He’s speaking in tongues.
You know, for the evangelicals.
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fewer
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Turn off the sound and look at her face:
“I saw Goody Proctor with the Devil!”
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Nailed it!
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His chaotic insanity, sanctified by the highest bully pulpit, absolves them: so that they are good and right, and everyone else is wrong and evil.
He is speaking in tongues, as the vessel of their Holy Spirit.
Tough problem for the rest of us. How do you deprogram 1/3 of the electorate?
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I think his people’s inchoate feelings of rage and resentment—at more successful people, at a society whose standards they haven’t met somehow—find a vehicle, a champion, in his inchoate expressions of his own rage and resentment at the same people and standards.
The chaos is the point.
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A proud Korean war veteran who always spoke truth to power – a life well-lived. Rest in Power, Congressman.
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“Live all you can, it’s a mistake not to.”
I think you’re on to something.
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“Spahn and Sain and two days of rain!”
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Instead of looking for bro influencers, the Democratic Party should be plastering this information in nonstop ads in swing districts in the red states. Tell people clearly and truthful about the corruption and they will move your way. It’s that simple.
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I have a better idea: Farage could just sit on it and fk all the way off.
His phony regular guy shtick makes me want to vomit. Brits actually fall for that? C’mon.
Of course, 40% of Americans believe Trump cares whether they live or die, so who are we to scoff…
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Probably a lost cause, but could you email that directly to Margaret Brennan at CBS? Your name has weight, you never know…
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Think of Adorno, et al. The Authoritarian Personality; Lee et al., The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump; The Club of Rome, The Limits of Growth.
Hold Substack-author colloquia on campuses: publish the proceedings. We know how to do that! So get organized!
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Communicate and plan collaboratively, perhaps; work together on large investigations, exposés, manifestos? Each contributing special expertise to a larger product.
Collaboration is largely MIA: no Shadow Cabinet; no Interstate Compact of Blue State Governors; no coordination of mass rallies.
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Stephen A. Smith for President!
Then maybe I won’t have to read his idiotic sports takes.
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Britain’s chief science advisor, Lord Zuckerman, showed the impossibility of such a system**40 years ago**! Nothing much has changed… He wrote several books about it, and this long ago NY Times article sums up his thinking pretty well.
“nuclear war: can anything stop the rain?” Jan. 20, 1985
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A beautifully passionate statement, and 100% true. Thank you, Prof. Wolfers!
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Excellent point!
“In order to support the life-saving scientific research that President Trump has interrupted, we are forced to redirect funds from our athletic programs. Unfortunately, that means that the football season this year will be canceled.“
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Who’s the player most like Havlicek since Havlicek? Ginobili, maybe? But he really seems like one of one.
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Congratulations to you both! A great achievement—and boy, do we need historians right now…
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Suckeeeerrrrs.
Oh, wait, they’re the smartest guys in the room! How could I forget!
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They’ve wanted the unitary executive for decades – but to make it happen *now* with this madman in the presidency? The majority is just as insane as he is!
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I don’t think Democrats should repeat Trump‘s brand-name for this abomination. I prefer “Big Unbeautiful Suckers’ Griftathon,”but I’m open to suggestions. Just don’t repeat his framing ( h/t George Lakoff) and give him free advertising.
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In other news, the Trump Corporation will be unveiling its new line of flying pigs, just time for Christmas.
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America here: You’re wrong, fkface, and you’re way out of line telling us what *we* think.
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One of the more depressing facts of life, especially since they’re supposed to be in the service business! Service to the people! Not so much…
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Red herring from Tapper—not surprising.
You defending Tapper—disappointing.
(Longtime admirer of your reporting.)
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Apart from being soulless and completely dishonest every time he opens his mouth, he’s also a pathetic wise-ass punk.
His interview with Saint Peter is not going to go well…
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Are we surprised? She murdered her own dog.