Ocasio-Cortez Statement on Charlie Kirk Resolution and Trump Administration’s Assault on Free Speech ocasio-cortez.house.gov/media/pre…
Petulant sexual predator and convicted felon Donald Trump “reiterated his claim that critical television coverage of him is ‘illegal’ and pushed back on criticisms that his administration was taking actions that chill free speech. ‘When 97 percent of the stories are bad about a person, it’s no longer free speech,'” the orange manbaby said. www.politico.com/news/2025…
It’s so embarrassing being an American now.
Republican Ted Cruz says FCC chair’s threats about Kimmel are ‘dangerous.’ “That’s right out of ‘Goodfellas.’" www.seattletimes.com/nation-wo…
I think a person can stay sufficiently well informed on five minutes of news consumption daily, 360 days of the year. That excludes professional news, news you legitimately enjoy consuming and news about events that directly affect your life, like natural disasters in your neighborhood. Spend as much time as you need or want to on those types of news
The other five days are days like early in the Covid pandemic or Jan. 6 2021, when you’ll feel the need to dig in. But even then an hour a day should be more than sufficient.
Why more and more people are tuning the news out: ‘Now I don’t have that anxiety’ www.theguardian.com/society/n…
OpenAI released a report on who’s using ChatGPT and how. Most chats aren’t work-related, younger people are core users, most people use ChatGPT for writing, advice and information. www.theverge.com/news/7797…
Nobody knows what socialism means. Perhaps a better way to say this is that everyone who says “socialism” means something different. The worst person to ask about what socialism is is a Republican, who doesn’t know what socialism means, and will tell you that everything is socialism. The second worst person to ask is a leftist college professor, who knows exactly what socialism means, and will tell you that nothing qualifies as real socialism. Somewhere between these poles lies the elusive Practical Definition of Socialism, which nobody ever stops long enough to lay out before launching into their various tirades.
— Hamilton Nolan www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/new-yor…
New York Socialist City. Where taking care of everyone is common sense. “… what socialism really means in the context of US politics is public services for the public good. Using government to socialize the things that can help everyone, rather than allowing the private market to run everything in a way that preys on the public for private gain. As a practical matter, this is what most people trying to Do Socialism in American politics are trying to do. Full state control of the economy is not and has never been on the table.” www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/new-yor…
In retrospect it is obvious that drinking 48 ounces of cappuccino and Coke Zero in the two hours prior to my taking a window seat on a full three hour flight was not conducive to my comfort and would not endear me to the two other people seated in my row.
Balderdash
Like many people, I swear a lot, and I’m even a little proud of it. But I have resolved to reduce swearing to special occasions after reading this article in The New York Times: “Why Does Everybody Swear All The Time Now?". And that’s even though I disagree with the conclusions of the article.
Swearing has become meaningless noise, like saying “um” or “like.” It’s just something people say to convey unearned edginess or rebelliousness. Dropping “F” bombs doesn’t make me cowboy, it just makes me like millions of other people who also swear a lot.
As a writer, I am aware of economy of language and too often swearing serves no purpose. Save it for times when it really matters.
As for the Times article: It starts out well enough. Mark Edmundson, a professor at the University of Virginia, talks about the previous rules of decorum for when swearing was appropriate. “These days, curse words fill the air like angry drones – an ambient buzzing of bitter, nasty words,” he says, which is a nice turn of phrase. Also, this: “A sprinkle of salt gives your dinner savor; a handful kills it.”
But here’s the part where I disagree:
When you curse compulsively you produce a view of the world that’s smaller and meaner.
…
Omnipresent cursing, the programmatic reduction of nearly everything, pollutes our worldview. It makes it harder to see what is true and good and beautiful. We become blind to instances of courage and compassion. Our world shrinks. And we shrink along with it.
On the other hand, the willingness to use decent words suggests a decent heart and mind.
To that I say: Bulls—
I mean, nonsense.
I don’t think swearing makes us meaner people. Plenty of great people swear a lot, and plenty of awful people refrain from profanity. But swearing has become noise, and I’m aware it makes some people uncomfortable, so I’m just going to dial it back and save it for rare occasions.