neonvincent

My comment on Race Hustle

Here in Detroit, even the rich keep it real, or at least appreciate those who do.

I had a different reaction to the debates, which was to find drinks for the candidates who didn't make the stage. The first one was suggested by reader SoftStarLight, who suggested Everclear jello shots, which I assigned to Mike Gravel. I think that's better than the alternative. Did anyone here know that the unofficial cocktail of Alaska is called the duck fart?

In other news, the Retail Apocalypse rolls on, as CNBC warned yesterday that "Bed Bath & Beyond is facing extinction" — CNBC's words, not mine.

My comment on Magic Monday for August 5, 2019.

The commenters at Ecosophia.net didn't seem to mention the magical working on behalf of Marianne Williamson, so I'm doing so here, as this seems to be the venue for reporting on working magic for political ends. Here's the relevant paragraph.

The person organizing the occult task force — who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak more freely about it — said a group of 13 chaos magicians, witches and energy workers were performing synchronized “gestures” to help Williamson get airtime at Tuesday’s debate and in the race to follow. “The whole orb gang community is tapping into the power of memes to reflect back on, and multiply, the sort of pulsing undercurrents of our collective unconscious,” the person wrote in an email.

In the next paragraph, the article also mentions “Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power in the Age of Trump” by Gary Lachman. First, what do you make of this and second, have you heard of Lachman and his book?

My comment on Hold the Teddy Bears and Candles.

I enjoyed reading your your response to the weekend's mass shootings. I had a different reaction, which was to see if I could reconcile my plan to write about entertainment on Sunday, as I usually do, with trying to address the shootings. I was able to do both, as I found that 'Point of View: Sandy Hook Promise' was among the Emmy nominees for Outstanding Commercial. That was a chilling public service announcement, but it did the trick. It won't win, though. I think that's between Nike's "Dream Crazy," which Colin Kaepernick narrates, and Netflix's "A Great Day in Hollywood," which recreates the photo A Great Day in Harlem with African-American stars of Netflix shows. If it were up to the viewers, the former would win. Since it's the Television Academy, I think the latter will win. I think the television professionals will not be able to pass up something that tells a good story about themselves that they want to believe.

In other collapse and decline news, the latest government statistics confirm a record low U.S. birth rate during 2018. On the one hand, zero population growth. On the other, not enough people to sustain business as usual. I should be careful what I wish for, I might get it.

My comment on Link round-up for 4 August 2019.

Thanks for linking to my post showcasing Samantha Bee's videos on Russian election interference twice. Between here and Crooks&Liars, you sent about 300 people my way!

My comment on The Next Twilight of Environmentalism.

When I first read the term "ecofascism," I thought it was just a snarl word, as I quoted you five years ago about the use of fascism in general and was being used to smear environmentalists as "Liberal Fascists," the title Jonah Goldberg gave to one of his most notorious books. Then I read the article you linked from The Guardian and realized that, no, it meant actual fascists and others of the alt-right who see environmental catastrophe as a means to man the lifeboats and push survivors they don't want on board into the waters to drown. I've seen enough of those in zombie apocalypse TV shows that I don't want to experience them in real life!

As for Greta Thunberg, I'm with Andrew T. I think she's genuine in her concern, even if it's a way to act out and get attention for a good cause if not just for herself. Then again, her slogan is "I don't want you to feel hopeful. I want you to panic." What's the ternary thinking alternative to hope and panic?

As for "you can have a perfectly pleasant, decent, and comfortable life on a small fraction of the energy and resource inputs that the comfortable classes of the industrial world think they have to have," I'm trying to work on that. July 29th was Earth Overshoot Day. I've been trying to get my footprint down to the level of the average German, which is 3.2 Earths. Last year, I was at 3.7 Earths. This year, I'm down to 3.5 Earths, mostly from eating less meat. On the one hand, progress, especially compared to the average American, whose impact is 5 Earths. On the other, keep working, although doing so reminds me that you "really do have to do a post about the bizarre transformation of dietary theory into a branch of moral philosophy," as you asked yourself rhetorically a few weeks ago.

My comments on Midweek Cafe and Lounge, Vol. 126.

"The bar is always open" — yes, it is!

I am resuming a theme that I started in June and took a break from during July, drinks dedicated to the Democratic candidates. I begin with a farewell toast to Eric Swalwell, whose favorite comfort food is coffee, preferably mocha, so here is Morning Coffee from Tipsy Bartender.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhVS5JvBrZw

Now a farewell toast to Mike Gravel, the Duck Fart, the unofficial cocktail of Alaska.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_yANJMl2do

This layered shot is simple, smooth, and creamy!

Andrew Yang stopped by Tipsy Bartender, who mixed him a special drink inspired by "Game of Thrones" and chatted with him for half an hour about robot bartenders and other examples of automation taking jobs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ2EV9sF76I

Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang stops by to try Giant's Milk, and to talk about bartenders being automated away!

LOL. That's the fantasy. Here's the reality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymw7Gj5LS6k

One of the two robots at the Tipsy Robot bar inside of the Planet Hollywood makes a gin and tonic. The bar is the first of its kind in the U.S.

My comment on Rude Awakening.

My dear neighbor across the Detroit River, I agree with you, but you're in Canada, where the Left is more gauche than sinister, although I wouldn't call Justin Trudeau either gauche or sinister. At least you can be an impartial observer of American politics there. On that note, I can trust your opinion.

Thanks for the link to your post, which you conclude with "But don’t worry, we’re in for another 15 months of sound bites, empty promises, and flash commercials until the current presidential campaign concludes." One of those promises is canceling student loan debt. Vox looked at the idea and came to the conclusion that it wasn't a bad idea, but it wasn't as good as it was made out and was too dependent on cooperation from the states and their university systems. So it's not a completely hollow idea, but it's not as solid as one might think.

My comment on He Did What… ! ? !

Hi, John. I read your entry and, while I don't have anything to say about Epstein's death except "good riddance," I do about another point you brought up: "They no longer believe that the political process is fair and honest – vote fraud, gerrymandering, foreign interference, courts overruling voters, etc." That list doesn't even include the ability of bad actors to use big data derived from social media, particularly Facebook, to manipulate voters. That's the subject of at least two documentaries, "The Facebook Dilemma" on "Frontline," which has been nominated for two News and Documentary Emmy Awards, and the Netflix documentary "The Great Hack," which explores how online data affects public opinion focusing on the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Who needs Russian interference when a British company will do the job?

My comments on Midweek Cafe and Lounge, Vol. 127.

"The bar is open" — yes, it is!

Today, I'm offering a departing toast to John Hickenlooper, who dropped out of the Democratic presidential contest. Since he told Eater his favorite comfort food is M&Ms, I'm sharing an M&M cocktail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8fvei80PMQ

A delicious mix of booze, Ice cream and M&M's.....THE M&M DELIGHT!

I hope you find out the cause of your headaches and feel better. I haven't been contributing much for real-world reasons as well, although mine are less dire. I just had to grade final exams and compute and enter grades for the summer session, but that was still time-consuming.

Jay Inslee just dropped out, so I'm offering a departing toast to him, M&M Shooters from Tipsy Bartender.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9Qa8O8gI3w

Both the candidates who liked M&Ms are now out. I think it's just a coincidence.

To toast Seth Moulton dropping out, I'm serving Spoon University's unofficial cocktail for Massachusetts, the Cape Codder.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/98/b3/13/98b313b42b133f22573867c90346138e.jpg

With Ocean Spray cranberry juice headquartered in Massachusetts, their signature cocktail MUST feature this yummy drink. What’s better than a basic as f*ck vodka cranberry? Add a lime and call it a Cape Codder.

My comments on The Yin and the Yang of It.

I always think of the American version of "who reads the papers" from "Yes, Prime Minister" when I think of who reads the New York Times: "The New York Times is read by the people who think they ought to run the country." In that respect, it's the mirror of The Guardian in the U.K., which I suspect a lot of New York Times readers like myself also read. As for the yang, I was hoping our host would be referring to Andrew Yang, who has been talking about robot bartenders as an example of automation coming for our jobs. No such luck.

Meanwhile, the 2-year and 10-year yield curve has inverted, sending another recession signal, and GNC has announced that the chain will close 900 stores. The Retail Apocalypse rolls on with a recession in its wake.

My comment on There Is No Normal.

Hi, John. When you mention the U.S. facing the same fate as Rome, it reminds me of what John Michael Greer the Archdruid calls Trump — Orange Julius. He considers Trump to be the manifestation of Caesarism replacing democracy and republicanism in the U.S. As someone who used to enjoy the eponymous drink in malls during my youth, I appreciate it for another reason — the Orange Julius mascot was a little devil.

Changing subjects, I always enjoy it when our host mentions Strauss and Howe and where we fit in their scheme of turnings. We've been in the Fourth Turning, the time of crisis, since either 2001 or 2008. As for when we'll get out of it, S&H wrote about a "Crisis of 2020." Looks like we're on schedule for it, including the Retail Apocalypse and the climate crisis.

My comment on Who Holds the Match?.

Hi, John. I'll repeat the relevant part of my response to you at Kunstler's blog: When you mention the U.S. facing the same fate as Rome, it reminds me of what John Michael Greer the Archdruid calls Trump — Orange Julius. He considers Trump to be the manifestation of Caesarism replacing democracy and republicanism in the U.S. As someone who used to enjoy the eponymous drink in malls during my youth, I appreciate it for another reason — the Orange Julius mascot was a little devil.

My comment on The Dream of a Managed Society.

"[E]very human being is composed...of epithumia, thumos, and nous" — or as Freud called them, id, ego, and superego, although the correspondence is not perfect. It also shows up in the Enneagram, where every person has a moving (gut or leg) center, heart center, and head center, and also in graphology, with the part of the letters below the line corresponding to the legs and gut, the body of the letters corresponding to the body centered on the heart, and the parts of the letters that rise above the body corresponding to the head. Wow, when you wrote that "if you grew up in a Western or Muslim society, dear reader, you use categories and concepts Plato invented literally every time you think," you were not kidding! All three examples occurred to me right away.

"Our models disprove your anecdotes." In addition to the Clinton campaign losing because its models were wrong, it lost because it was up against better models. In particular, I'm thinking of Cambridge Analytica, which not only modeled the electorate better, but was able to influence public opinion and exploit the ability of Facebook to propagate its influence. That turned out to be a good example of the Frank Herbert quote you used, "Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them."

My comment on Lost at Sea.

Vice also thinks Gabbard is the most anti-war candidate running this year, so you're not alone. It's still not enough to get her into the next debate, as she needs two more polls with 2% or higher support to qualify. Tom Steyer is closer, as he only needs one more poll of 2% to qualify. Should he qualify, there will be two nights of debates, possibly delaying a direct confrontation between Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren another month. That will annoy a lot of people who want a showdown. Personally, if the presidential contest gets any sillier, I would rather rewatch "Veep."

My comment on The G-7 Blues.

Hi, John! Between your post asking "what is a dark age?" and our host's image of "The people who live in FlyoverLand style themselves like Visigoths, all tatted up and armed to the teeth, moiling angrily at the edge of the Rome-like coastal enclaves," I'm reminded of John Michael Greer's description of the external proletariat forming war-bands, a concept he borrowed from Toynbee. Of course, "the people in FlyoverLand" are really the internal proletariat. The external proletariat are the refugees coming across our southern border, but they're not forming war bands. To see those, one would have to look at ISIS.

Your entry also mentions the $22 trillion in debt the U.S. has racked up. Congress lifting the debt ceiling for two years has averted a crisis until after the election, but it will make the long-term situation worse. As Barry Commoner said in his four laws of ecology, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Another of Commoner's Laws is "there is no away" and yet another is "nature knows best." The way people have been trying to combine the two is recycling, which is a way of imitating nature through culture and technology. Unfortunately, because China is no longer taking the rest of the world's low-quality recycling, people in the U.S. are finding out we're recycling wrong, which really screws up our attempts to be sustainable. Oops! Time to re-think the circular economy.

My comments on Midweek Cafe and Lounge, Vol. 128.

"Our trusty bartender does a great job in my absence." Why, thank you! Just for that, I'm serving another cocktail for a Democratic presidential candidate. Today, it's Amy Klobuchar. In her honor, it's Minnesota's official cocktail, The Bootleg. Watch Lunds & Byerlys show how one is made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y87HbKhaLjg

Mix up a batch of refreshing, citrusy Bootleg cocktails.

"So hoist a pint, wine glass, shot glass, or travel mug and let’s have a toast to community." Indeed!

Now time for a toast to Kirsten Gillibrand, who dropped out yesterday and whose favorite drink is a shot of whiskey. Here she is, tending bar.

https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/sen-gillibrand-gay-bar-blazing-saddle-fred-gilgen-3.jpg

Bernie Sanders has a drink named after him. Like Trump, this one is official. Food and Wine shared the story and recipe.

Sanders treated everyone at the party to a custom cocktail—the Bernie Paloma. The drink was developed by Miguel Marcelino Herrara from D.C.’s hip cocktail spot, Barmini. And while Bernie Sanders doesn’t exactly seem like the type who throws back $17 cocktails (good on him for drinking Heady Topper), the drink that bares his name still sounds pretty good.

If you plan to vote for the Vermont Senator (or even if you don’t), here’s what you should toast with (per the NY Times):
The Bernie Paloma:

1/2 oz. Vermont maple syrup
1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
2 oz. fresh grapefruit juice
2 oz. silver tequila
Garnish: “salt air,” which is sea salt, lime juice, water and Sucro, emulsified with a hand blender.

Here's the image for the Bernie Paloma.

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/d3/3f/8c/d33f8c0c72dfbe847752933b00afde6c.jpg