Wednesday, May 07, 2025

"Proto-Trumpian Themes"

"The left dissented from Obama's optimistic analysis, seeing American history as a long and bloody reprise of racism and exploitation with no clearly defined trajectory. Buchanan adopts a similar analysis, except that he presents the qualities derided by the left as necessary, even praiseworthy. America is 'the product of ethnonationalism,' he asserts without judgment. 'No American war was fought for egalitarian ends, postwar propaganda notwithstanding.' Likewise, 'no one would suggest the Indian wars were about equality. They were about racism and subjugation.' Lincoln, he reminds the reader, was a white supremacist. As a descriptive account, Buchanan's history hardly differs from what you'd encounter in a text such as the 1619 Project or Howard Zinn's A People’s History of the United States, only with the moral valence of the events flipped."

Jonathan Chait at The Atlantic calls Pat Buchanan "The Godfather of the Woke Right."

Monday, May 05, 2025

"This Pressure to Build a Personal Brand Is One of the Great Pathologies of the Past Three Decades"

"The same anxieties that attracted people to New Thought at the dawn of American capitalism would later fuel demand for the positive-psychology movement, which has since been enshrined in the curricula of American business schools. At first glance, this movement may appear unassailable. Its goal, after all, is to make people happier and encourage them to 'flourish' in their work lives. However, as Baker demonstrates, its primary role is to lend intellectual support to the entrepreneurial ethic. 'Psychology is the idiom through which entrepreneurship is discussed,' he writes. In fact, 'it's not always obvious where positive psychology ends and entrepreneurship begins.' How could it be, when business schools now employ teams of psychologists, urging future leaders to embrace 'grit,' find 'flow,' adopt a 'growth mindset,' and establish their own personal brand? 'Popular psychology,' Baker writes, 'encouraged Americans to cultivate an attractive personality that would help them win the affection of their coworkers and bosses and thus ascend the corporate ladder—instead of striving to embody the transcendent moral values constitutive of the older notion of character.' Baker is keen to expose the harm this movement's entrepreneurial turn has caused the culture at large. The book opens with the tragic story of Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos and the author of Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose. Hsieh died in a fire at the age of forty-six after barricading himself in a shed with nitrous-oxide canisters, a propane tank, and candles. It's a cautionary tale about the Faustian bargain 'positive psychology' struck with the startup world."

Drew Calvert at Commonweal reviews Erik Baker's Make Your Own Job: How the Entrepreneurial Work Ethic Exhausted America.

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

April 2025 Acquisitions

Books:
Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, 2025.
Gerry Duggan, Marvel 1872: Warzones!, 2015.
Garth Ennis and Liam Sharp, Batman: Reptilian, 2022.
Gilbert Lupfer and Paul Sigel, Gropius, 2017.
Matt Margini, Red Dead Redemption, 2020.

Movies:
Rocky, 1976.

Music:
P.P. Arnold, Kafunta, 1968.
Chills, Spring Board, 2025.
Bob Mould, Here We Go Crazy, 2025.
Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, 2021.
Al Stewart, An Introduction to Al Stewart, 2017.
Frank Zappa, Strictly Commercial, 1995.
Various, Faster & Louder V.2, 1993.
Various, Popscene, 2024.

"Turn Away from Your Own Party's Least Desirable Traits and Policies, Stand Up for Your Country's Basic Values, and Be Sensible and Rational on the Economy—Not Radical"

"For starters, Prime Minister Carney explicitly rejected one of his party's least popular policies on climate and energy while keeping other elements of the government's climate agenda. He also chose to run a campaign explicitly on the economy, patriotism, and national values—not Liberals' cultural priorities which remained in the party platform but did not feature at all in the campaign. Carney and Liberals also leaned heavily on notions of nation building and pro-growth economic models. They did not go 'full socialism' or 'post-neoliberal' falsely believing that thermostatic reactions to Trump and Conservative populism opened the door for kooky and impractical economic ideas. Instead, Liberals featured the calm and successful interventions of their ex-central banker PM as a contrast to the chaotic tariff wars of Trump and politicians like him in Canada."

John Halpin at The Liberal Patriot offers Democrats "Lessons From Canada's Liberals."

Monday, April 28, 2025

"The Fears Were Justified"

"But perhaps this roundup of the sum of all fears can end on an optimistic note. Many of us did fear something that, so far, does not seem to have panned out: that America's weird love affair with Trump is so dysfunctional it will be impervious to Trump's real-life failures. In fact, he's tankingin the polls, badly. Maybe there's hope for us after all."

Cathy Young at The Bulwark looks at the first hundred days of Donald Trump's second term as US president.

Thursday, April 24, 2025

"Bumbling and Stumbling"

"Yes, Trump and his accomplices are malicious. Yes, they're corrupt. Yes, they're dangerous. But they're also profoundly stupid, and their stupidity is hurting or worrying a lot of people who voted for Trump.

Will Saletan at The Bulwark writes: "To break Trump's coalition and reclaim our government, we need to talk not just about the administration's corruption and its abuse of power, but about its pervasive incompetence."

Monday, April 21, 2025

"The 'Man From the End of the World'"

"The papacy has for centuries brought with it a place on the world stage. Francis, who from the off gave the impression of being a man in a hurry, was determined to use that platform to push a bottom-up agenda for the world. He insisted that Catholicism would henceforth be 'a poor church for the poor', and returned time and again in his pronouncements to the need to close the economic gap between developed and developing nations."

Peter Standord at The Guardian writes an obituary for Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis.

Friday, April 18, 2025

"Can We Still Hear the 'Shot Heard Round the World'?"

"Within minutes, the British commander, Major John Pitcairn had reasserted control over his forces and ordered them to resume their march to Concord, where they destroyed three large cannon and threw 500 pounds of musket balls into a local pond. A handful of militia companies, totaling a few hundred men, advanced on the British troops and, after being fired upon, fired back at the redcoats—who then beat a retreat. But word of the troops' movements had spread through the countryside and armed locals took up positions behind fences, walls, and trees flanking the return route to Boston along Old Concord Road. As the British soldiers began the lengthy march back to their base, they were met with gunfire from invisible enemies hiding in the forest. The march turned into a mad dash to safety. The war for American independence had begun, even if independence would not be declared for another fifteen months."

Lindsay M. Chervinsky at The Bulwark marks the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

Sunday, April 06, 2025

"The End of the American Era"

"Economically this means that international trade will reorganize without the United States as the central hub. Relationships will be forged without concern as to our preferences. The dollar may well be displaced as the world's reserve currency. American innovation will depart for other shores as the best and brightest choose to make their lives in countries where the rule of law is solid, secret police do not disappear people from the streets, and the government does not discourage research and make economic war on universities."

Jonathan V. Last at The Bulwark writes that "[i]t took just 71 days for Donald Trump to wreck the American economy, mortally wound NATO, and destroy the American-led world order."

Thursday, April 03, 2025

"How Do We Get Rid of You?"

"'A historical perspective is the key to democratic politics, which if denied can bury the real issues and confine news coverage to high-level gossip about the rich and the powerful, reducing us to the role of spectators of our fate, rather than active participants,' he argued. 'The obliteration of the past strengthens the short-term calculations that pass for political thought, and for me the real heroes are those few who try to explain the world in order to help us to understand what we can best do to improve our lot.'"

John Nichols at The Nation marks the one-hundredth anniversary of Tony Benn's birth.

Tuesday, April 01, 2025

"Furious Trump Cancels 'Atlantic' Subscription After 48 Years"

"'Their long-form journalism has stayed on point for years, long after most publications abandoned anything longer than 1,000 words, so it's a real shame. It's Mother Jones for me from now on. That, or I try n+1. I've been hearing really good things about it from Hegseth.'"

From The Onion.

Monday, March 31, 2025

March 2025 Acquisitions

Books:
Ta-Nahesi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze, Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, 2025.
Will Eisner and Gary Chaloner, The Complete Will Eisner's John Law, 2025.
Diana Hacker and Nancy Sommers, A Pocket Style Manual Eighth Edition, 2018.
Bryan Hill et al, Postal, Vol. 4, 2016.
Joeph Loeb et al, Superman for All Seasons, 2023.
B. Clay Moore and Shane Patrick White, Endless Summer, Vol. 1: Dead Man's Curve, 2022.
Eric Stephenson and Jamie McKelvie, Long Hot Summer, 2005.

Movies:

Music:
Roy Ayers, 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection, .
Bad Brains, Rock for Light, 1983, 2021.
Dorothy Love Coates, The Best of, .
Echo and the Bunnymen, Me, I'm All Smiles, 2006.
Horrors, Night Life, 2025.
Housemartins, The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death, .
Wilko Johnson, Back in the Night, .
Kneecap, Fine Art, .
Rain Parade, Last Stop on the Underground, 2024.
Sam and Dave, Soul Men, .
Sylvester, The Original Hits, .
20/20, Back to California, 2025.
Barbara Weathers, Barbara Weathers, .
Various, Destination: Bomp!, 1994.
Various, Millions Like Us, .
Various, Twisted Dream Machines, .
Various, Weird Scenes from the Hangout, .

Tuesday, March 25, 2025

"Corporate Restructuring Leads to Mass Layoffs at C+C Music Factory"

"'These changes are definitely necessary, but a lot of good workers are being sent home today. Of course we'll miss them, but it's now time for us to move forward as the nation's prominent supplier of dance music.'"

Sunday, March 23, 2025

"Not the Freedom to Do Anything You Damn Well Pleased"

"'It's a very malleable phrase,' said Patrick Henry Jolly, a fifth great grandson of Henry. 'It's something that can be applied to many different circumstances. But I think it's important that people understand the original context.'"

Ben Finley at the Associated Press notes the semiquincentennial of Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech.

Sunday, March 16, 2025

"De-Brahminizing a Profoundly Brahmin Left Party"

"In short, Democrats need a class traitor—a politician who's not afraid to ask Democrats who the social justice they prize so highly is really for. Is it really for the poor and working class who have the short end of the stick in our society or is it to make Democrats feel righteous and onside with Team Progressive? Are Democrats' social justice commitments and priorities what the poor and working class actually want? Does the language Democrats speak on these issues even make sense to them?"