Albert Einstein once said that ‘insanity’ was ‘Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting to achieve different results’. He was a clever chap, that Einstein fella. And, according to him, I must have been insane. Because I kept on working hard, and I kept on expecting to be rewarded, even though my hard work had never been rewarded before. I didn’t have any evidence to suggest that I’d be rewarded. It wasn’t a rational belief. It all came down to optimism. Blind, debilitating optimism. — Joss Sheldon
Think I might start a newsletter.
That is such a lie.
Started a couple of magazines back in the day.
Turns out, I’m bad at it.
Too much paperwork.
Yeah, sure, I could invent an algorithm that creates two, no, three, that’s it, three separate silos of insight and wisdom. Depending on if you like genius stuff. Or maybe you go for the crazy evil crap.
If you are non-binary, the algorithm would nudge you in the butt and you can go down any silo whatsoever.
But there are still only two choices and three combinations, right?
Four, if you count being alone.
Maybe five.
INSANITY
On Thursday, Judge Luttig examined the ongoing danger to democracy and located it not just on former president Donald Trump and his enablers, but on the entire Republican Party of today, the party that embraces the Big Lie that Trump won the 2020 election, the party that continues to plan to overturn any election in which voters choose a Democrat.
“[T]he former president and his party are today a clear and present danger for American democracy,” Luttig reiterated to NPR’s All Things Considered.
And, as if in confirmation, delegates to a convention of the Texas Republican Party today approved platform planks
rejecting “the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and [holding] that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States”;
requiring students “to learn about the dignity of the preborn human,” including that life begins at fertilization;
treating homosexuality as “an abnormal lifestyle choice”;
locking the number of Supreme Court justices at 9;
getting rid of the constitutional power to levy income taxes;
abolishing the Federal Reserve;
rejecting the Equal Rights Amendment;
returning Christianity to schools and government;
ending all gun safety measures;
abolishing the Department of Education;
arming teachers;
requiring colleges to teach “free-market liberty principles”;
defending capital punishment;
dictating the ways in which the events at the Alamo are remembered;
protecting Confederate monuments;
ending gay marriage;
withdrawing from the United Nations and the World Health Organization;
and calling for a vote “for the people of Texas to determine whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation.”
from Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters From An American….
I am guessing they’ll add some crazy shit later.
Just a reminder.
Without democracy, there would be no titty bars.
GENIUS
We have to reframe the story of climate change so that it is not only about renunciation and loss, but also about possibility and joy.
A wild lawn full of bees and wildflowers is more beautiful and less work than a dull expanse of toxic ChemLawn; a sunlight-powered electric car happens to be a more sporty drive than a gas vehicle, and a pre-owned treasure discovered while socializing with neighbors at the local Dumptique brings more satisfaction than a plastic tchotchke one-clicked on the internet.
It’s not about giving things up but finding better ways.
– Geraldine Brooks
Now ain’t that the damn truth.
Go ahead, admit it.
Without democracy, there would be no drag shows at the library.
If there is a library.
Insanity/Genius. I’m just sayin.’
Note the fine line separating the two.
Like they are butting heads.
Judging from a neither/nor perspective, one side of the line appears terribly outnumbered.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/16/books/review/geraldine-brooks-by-the-book-interview.html
The Texas GOP also called for the repeal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
“We urge that the Voting Rights Act of 1965, codified 1402 and updated in 1973, be repealed and not reauthorized.”
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark civil rights-era bill that banned racial discrimination in elections by prohibiting any voting rules that “results in the denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen to vote on account of race or color.”
https://morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/the-madness-and-danger-of-the-texas