Misc
Two generations of celebrity influence, a parade of medical quacks, and the rather disturbing journey from daytime television to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Political Musing
Mar-a-Lago may be MAGA's headquarters. But Florida's Republican establishment was there long before Trump arrived, and it has no intention of leaving when he's gone.
Political Musing
Trump will eventually leave the stage. The Republican Party will still be here. And American democracy offers no guarantee that it will learn the lesson its critics expect.
Misc
The casino is fucking delighted you've decided to pursue this professionally.
Political Musing
Two days before the midterms, the polls look promising, the Republicans look nervous, and I'm trying very hard not to be Eeyore.
The Fulcrum: how Reagan was the pivotal point in conservatism
A congressman overdrew his account 22 times, including one $9,463 check to the IRS. He spent the next two years making a career out of exposing everyone else who did the same thing.
The Fulcrum: how Reagan was the pivotal point in conservatism
Margaret Thatcher’s last word on Reagan was a recording. Her own body had done to her roughly what his had done to him.
The Fulcrum: how Reagan was the pivotal point in conservatism
“At the moment I feel just fine.” Then he told the country what was coming anyway.
The Fulcrum: how Reagan was the pivotal point in conservatism
Reagan signed one of the strictest gun laws in the country in 1967, then spent 1991 and 1994 lobbying for two more. The myth came later, and it isn’t his.
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O’Connor was chosen for trust, Bork for record, Souter for the absence of one. The conservative legal movement spent the next 30 years learning from all three.
On January 11, 1989, Ronald Reagan described a city with walls and open doors. He left out a good deal of what had happened outside them. Series: The Fulcrum, Book Two: The Performance, Act Three: The Presidency, Episode 8 On the evening of January 11, 1989, Ronald Reagan sat down
Iran-Contra’s pardoned alumni never left. One ended up handling Iran policy, one ran a surveillance program, and one became president of the NRA.
One adverb, “knowingly,” protected employers from the law meant to hold them accountable. Forty years later, both parties are still content to leave it in.
C. Everett Koop wrote the AIDS report himself, in a basement, and handed out numbered copies so no one could edit it. Then he mailed it to every household in America.
D.A.R.E. didn't work, its founder wanted casual users shot, and the 1986 drug law was written in a few months after one death. The war on drugs, 1982 to 1990.
Halloween is different when you have a very reactive dog, so you have to resort to strategy to avoid all the barking. I pick up a guitar and enjoy myself as a street performer for a day.
Sweaty and the Dude had things to say, week of October 24 - 31
Still avoiding the electioneering and punditry overdosing on hopium, here are two songs I think you will enjoy...
Reagan called the Soviets the focus of evil, then nearly gave away every nuclear weapon in sight. His own cabinet said whoa, whoa, not like that.
Definitely not AI slop, Robyn brings a fun flair to classics
PATCO endorsed Reagan, got a letter promising cooperation, and was decertified by October 1981. The law was the stated reason. The message to private employers was the point.