________
________
Information from some sites may not be reliable, or may not be vetted.
Some sources may require subscription.
________
from The Conversation US
Media/News Company in Boston
In defense of HBO’s counterfactual ‘Confederate’
In late July, HBO announced its forthcoming alternate history series “Confederate,” a show that will take place in a world in which the South successfully seceded from the Union and the institution of slavery persisted. The backlash was immediate. Some decried it for being the brainchild of two white men, “Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. In The New York Times, Roxane Gay compared it to “slavery fan fiction.” Ta-Nehisi Coates argued in The Atlantic that it would perpetuate the South’s enduring belief in the “Lost Cause,” which celebrates the Civil War as a heroic struggle and minimizes the role of slavery in the conflict. But as a historian who studies counterfactual histories, I think the critics of “Confederate” are mistaken to suggest that today’s racial tensions make the HBO series redundant, or that imagining a world in which the South won is inherently apologetic to the Confederate cause. Those calling it slavery fan fiction are ignoring the long, nuanced tradition of articles and films that wonder what would have happened if the South had won.
In late July, HBO announced its forthcoming alternate history series “Confederate,” a show that will take place in a world in which the South successfully seceded from the Union and the institution of slavery persisted. The backlash was immediate. Some decried it for being the brainchild of two white men, “Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. In The New York Times, Roxane Gay compared it to “slavery fan fiction.” Ta-Nehisi Coates argued in The Atlantic that it would perpetuate the South’s enduring belief in the “Lost Cause,” which celebrates the Civil War as a heroic struggle and minimizes the role of slavery in the conflict. But as a historian who studies counterfactual histories, I think the critics of “Confederate” are mistaken to suggest that today’s racial tensions make the HBO series redundant, or that imagining a world in which the South won is inherently apologetic to the Confederate cause. Those calling it slavery fan fiction are ignoring the long, nuanced tradition of articles and films that wonder what would have happened if the South had won.
________
from Duluth News Tribune
Broadcasting & Media Production Company in Duluth, Minnesota
The Republic of Texas believes in self-reliance and is suspicious of Washington sticking its big nose in your business. "Government is not the answer. You are not doing anyone a favor by creating dependency, destroying individual responsibility." So said Sen. Ted Cruz, though not last week. Sunday on Fox News, Gov. Greg Abbott said Texas would need upward of $150 billion in federal aid for damages inflicted by Harvey. I'm all in favor of pouring money into Texas but I am a bleeding-heart liberal who favors single-payer health care. How is being struck by a hurricane so different from being hit by cancer? I'm only asking.
________
from FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
A Trade War Won't Solve the North Korea Crisis
Starting a trade war over North Korea is both bad foreign policy and bad economic policy.
A Trade War Won't Solve the North Korea Crisis
Starting a trade war over North Korea is both bad foreign policy and bad economic policy.
________
from Miami Herald
This Sunday, NFL games will be played in 13 towns. In each, someone will present the American flag, someone will sing the national anthem, and most people will stand to pay their respects. But a few will sit or kneel to show themselves estranged. And maybe someone will gaze on them and ask, with righteous indignation: “How dare they?” To ask it is to forget that America is a land of liberty and justice for some. But thankfully, it is also a land where the right to call out wrong is sacred. What we are seeing from these athletes embodies not a trend, but a principle. Because of their station as sports heroes, they have the ability to focus attention on the nation’s sins — and they feel called by conscience to do so.
________
from Mises Institute
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]As the floodwaters brought by Hurricane Harvey last week recede and new hurricane Irma moves slowly toward the Eastern U.S., it might be edifying to review how millions of Americans, despite federal anti-flood efforts, came to live and work in hazardous to dangerous flood-prone areas.
Politically we seem to be living in some trying times. The political polarization, as captured in the mainstream news media, appears to be intensifying with even acts of destructive violence on the streets and campuses of American cities. At the same time, pictures out of Houston during and following Hurricane Harvey show empathetic assistance and cooperation between people and groups that supposedly are in heated contention with each other. How do we reconcile this? To begin with, I am persuaded that the supposedly racial and social “class” tensions that some assert is on the rise in America is not true. In fact, I would argue that in everyday interaction and association race relations are far, far better than they were, say, twenty-five years ago, and most certainly compared to fifty or seventy-five years ago, and the marketplace has been a key factor in improving matters.
________
from Orthodox Christianity
Metropolitan Jeremiah of Gortyn, of the Greek Orthodox Church, has addressed his congregation with a special message. The hierarch paid special attention to the issues of ecumenism and the preservation of an Orthodox identity. “My brethren,” he writes, “you are Orthodox Christians, received in the font of holy Baptism from an Orthodox priest.” Expressing his zeal for the purity of the Orthodox faith, he exhorts his flock, “Hold fast to the Orthodox faith just as we received it from our fathers; that which our grandfathers and grandmothers followed.” “There is an insidious satanic movement that wants to mix our true faith with false beliefs, change it, and lead us into deception,” the metropolitan warns his people. “This movement is called ‘ecumenism.’ It’s not just a heresy, it’s a malicious thinking that embraces all heresies and errors. It’s a ‘pan-heresy,’” Met. Jeremiah affirmed, echoing the words of the great 20th century Serbian theologian St. Justin Popović.
________
from The Spokesman-Review
________
from Sputnik
(Russian government-supported propaganda channel)
The solution to the US's 16-year-long fruitless war in Afghanistan would require the participation of China, Russia and Iran, which have direct security concerns in the conflict, geopolitical analyst Shahid Raza told Radio Sputnik, explaining why this peace scenario would be unacceptable to Washington.
________
from Trains Magazine (& Classic Trains Magazine)
The flood damage to railroads caused by Tropical Storm Harvey echoes the the trials the Illinois Central faced during the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927.
________
from Zero Hedge
CONSPIRACY-PSEUDOSCIENCE, MIXED, financial blog with aggregated news and opinion
Chinese Scientists Warn North Korea's Nuke Test Site At Risk Of Imploding, "Releasing Many Bad Things"
Earlier we showed the shocking satellite images showing numerous landslides around the mountain that is North Korea's nuclear test site, and it appears Chinese officials are also keeping a very close eye on the region, instigating "emergency monitoring" for radiation leaks as the former chairman of the China Nuclear Society warns of the potential for a massive environmental disaster. If this report continues to gain traction - and the satellite images we showed earlier appear to confirm it - then North Korea’s weapons testing is no longer just a geo-political military problem, but rather, has the potential for a massive humanitarian crisis, something that both East and West could use to further pressure the North’s leader Kim Jong Un in an effort to avoid widespread nuclear conflict.
________
No comments:
Post a Comment