Religious people can be so touchy

Some Hindu groups in India are up in arms about a scene in the new film Oppenheimer, a biopic about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the leader of the Manhattan project that developed the first atomic bomb in the top secret laboratory created just for that purpose in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Oppenheimer was a very cerebral person who taught himself Sanskrit and was fond of the classic work the Bhagavad Gita that is considered one of the holy scriptures of Hinduism. He said in a later interview that when he witnessed the first explosion of the bomb at the Trinity test site in the New Mexico desert and saw its explosive power, these words from the book “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” came to his mind. Here is a more complete quote from the interview of the reactions of the observers as they witnessed the mushroom cloud:
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The ‘No Labels’ charade

One of the enduring pieces of conventional wisdom in American political punditry is that voters want politicians to work together for the common good. While appealing in principle, it is premised on the idea that there are policies that both sides can agree on or that there is a commitment to following the norms of governing that enables compromise policies to be enacted without too much acrimony.

Whether that ideal ever existed is up for debate but it is clear that we are not living in such a time now. We are at a point where it is clear that Republicans have decided to adopt a scorched Earth policy where anything and everything will be thrown into battle to achieve their goals, including attempts to undermine the legitimacy of elections, even to the extent of seeking a forcible overthrow of election results that they do not agree with.

Such a climate is conducive to the growth of third parties that claim to be above the fray and thus hope to appeal to those voters who say they are fed up with the squabbling of the two major parties. And sure enough, we have the appearance of the group known as No Labels that claims to represent this supposed large bloc of voters.
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The slipperiness of conspiratorial rabbit holes

A supporter of serial sex abuser Donald Trump (SSAT) who was also an avid consumer of Fox News is suing the media company saying that he was defamed by Tucker Carlson.

Fox News was hit with a defamation lawsuit on Wednesday by Trump supporter Ray Epps after former host Tucker Carlson repeatedly called Epps an undercover FBI agent who orchestrated the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.

Carlson said Epps, an Arizona resident and former marine, “helped stage-manage the insurrection” – a conspiracy he broadcast in nearly 20 episodes.

Carlson also told viewers that Epps was recorded urging the mob to enter the Capitol building, but that he never entered himself.
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Epps claims he and his wife, Robyn, have received death threats and that their lives were ruined because of Carlson’s conspiracies.

The lawsuit reads: “As Fox recently learned in its litigation against Dominion Voting Systems, its lies have consequences.”

The lawsuit describes Epps as a “loyal Fox viewer and Trump supporter” and rejeted [sic] the notion he was a federal agent.
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Legal experts noted earlier this week that while Epps will have to prove that Carlson’s claims damaged his reputation, he presents a strong argument and therefore probably has standing.

David D Lin of the Lewis & Lin LLC law firm said he believed “there is a lot of potential risk here to Fox and they need to take the claims very seriously,” before adding that Carlson could be personally liable if the suit included him.

Epps could face charges himself for his role in the January 6 insurrection. He was questioned by the House January 6 committee, though a criminal investigation is still ongoing.

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The strike by writers and actors

The film and TV industry in the US has pretty much shut down following strikes by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) that began on May 2 and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) that began on July 14, both against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the media companies that produce shows.

The main complaint of the writers is that they are being squeezed by being asked to do more, working with fewer writers on shows for shorter seasons, making their profession even more precarious than it already was. Another major issue for both writers and performers is one that has been brought on by the increasing popularity of streaming services that the old contracts did not deal with. This involves the payment of ‘residuals‘, payments that are made to writers and actors when the shows they worked on are rebroadcast later.
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Thanks, Marge!

Nutcase congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene gave a speech in which she outlined all the. dastardly things that president Joe Biden is doing and continues to do. It is quite extraordinary the things that she lists in her attacks on Biden. The irony that the Biden campaign has used her own words in a campaign ad will be lost on her.

Abraham Lincoln’s complex views on race and slavery

In the US, Abraham Lincoln has reached the status of secular saint so that even in these partisan times, no member of either major party will dare criticize him. In fact, Republicans will point to the fact that he was a Republican to deflect the charge that they are racists or at least racist-adjacent.

Although I was generally aware of the story of Lincoln and his role in ending slavery, I had never actually read a detailed treatment about the man himself. I really did not know much about Lincoln apart from the bits and pieces that I gathered here and there but there was one thing that I knew about him that bothered me, and that was what he said during one of his debates with Stephen Douglas when they were competing in 1858 for the US Senate seat in Illinois. It was jarring, utterly at odds with what people commonly think about him, that he was a believer in equality for Black people that resulted in him being given the title of The Great Emancipator

He said:

“I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the black and white races, that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, not to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of racial and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and as much as any other man I am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.” (Meacham, p. xxxii)

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How the rich avoid taxes

The invaluable ProPublica has come out with another article about how billionaire Harlan Crow, the generous benefactor of justice Clarence Thomas who showered him with vacations on his luxury yacht and private planes, has used the tax law loopholes to avoid paying taxes.

He adopted a well-known tactic by the wealthy, to use so-called ‘business losses’ to reduce their net income. In his case, how this was done was to set up a company for his luxury superyacht that was purportedly a business and then use the ‘losses’ incurred by the company (i.e., the money used to run the yacht for him and his family and friends) to offset his income.
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Even a cult leader’s death does not kill the cult

Two years ago I wrote about a particularly bizarre cult surrounding John F. Kennedy Jr. that believes that he faked his own death and would be returning as serial sex abuser Donald Trump’s (SSAT) running mate for 2024. A large crowd of believers of this cult congregated at Dealey Plaza (where JFK was assassinated) in November 2021 on the 58th anniversary of his death thinking that both father and son would appear there. Spoiler alert: They did not appear.

The leader of this particular QAnon subcult was someone named Michael Protzman who also went by the label Negative48.
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The other GOP primary

The Republican primary race is heating up even though the first actual contest in Iowa is still six months away. The first debate among the candidates is scheduled for August but which members of the already crowded field will meet the criteria set by the. Republican National Committee is still unknown.

Another big unknown is whether serial sex abuser Donald Trump (SSAT) will take part in the debates. Typically, a candidate who is far ahead in the polls (like SSAT is) will try to avoid taking part in debates, and those who are far behind are eager to do so. The low-ranking candidates seek to raise their national profile by appearing on a national stage on an equal footing with their competitors while the high ranking ones want to deny them that opportunity.
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Musk has the mind of a six-year old

Twitter has been in the news a lot and not in a good way, as Elon Musk erratically makes changes to its operations, seemingly without necessarily thinking things through, most significantly firing more than half of its workforce as a cost-cutting move that has had a deleterious impact on the user experience. The resulting chaos has resulted in widespread grumbling among users as well the entry of competitors like Meta’s Threads system seeking to take advantage of its woes. Threads racked up over 100 million users within a week of its unveiling and Twitter has reportedly blocked links to that service.

As is often the case when reporters write about these things, they contact the people and companies they are writing about to get a response before going to press. Sometimes the respondent simply says ‘no comment’ or issues some kind of bland statement. But not Twitter. They do not have a media relations department anymore but when a reporter contacted them to ask about a $500 million lawsuit that was filed against them by laid-off employees who had not been given the contracted severance payment, the company responded with a poop emoji.

This is not the first time that Twitter has responded this way to media requests. It has apparently become company policy to respond this way. Musk is claiming credit for this practice, saying that he has decided that all press requests will get this automatic reply.

One has to wonder about the mind of an adult who has not outgrown the notion that scatological references are clever and/or funny.