““Stranger danger” swept America in the ensuing decades, and like any fear, some of its founding myths were just that, myths, like the stories of fiends who hid razor blades in Halloween candy, or Satanic cults that ran daycare centers. This fever broke but not without innocent people being falsely accused or even imprisoned. In the 21st century, these anxieties remained, but a curious thing happened to them: they started to become less about fear and more about angry fantasies of what you’d do to such predators.”
“I first read about the infamous Dr Crippen when I was researching the work of the Scotland Yard detective, Walter Dew, who wrote about his investigation into this notorious homicide in his memoirs. Since then, I’ve given talks on this fascinating case, which includes an exciting cross-Atlantic chase and some fascinating early forensic science. It was also the first time that a murderer was caught by wireless technology.”
“As conservative states wage total culture war, college-educated workers—physicians, teachers, professors, and more—are packing their bags.”
From the Things I Don’t Need To Worry About And Neither Do You department.
“In other words, it’s not true that “we” have lost confidence in science. Republicans have. Democrats actually have more confidence in science these days.”
“The filing was a concrete example of how Trump’s incitement works. It shows how his own language gets parroted directly onto the voice mails and social media accounts of those he targets.”
“Everybody who thinks that the election was stolen or talks about the election being stolen is lying to America. Everyone who makes the argument that January 6 was, you know, an unguided tour of the Capitol is lying to America. Everyone who says that the prisoners who are being prosecuted right now for their involvement in January 6, that they are somehow political prisoners or that they didn’t commit crimes, those folks are lying to America.”
A fond look at The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
“Rupert Murdoch Faces Deposition in Smartmatic’s $2.7 Billion Defamation Case Against Fox”.
“Trump Touts Intel Community He’s Long Besmirched In Bid To Defend Jan. 6 Charges”.
“Let me get this straight. After wailing and moaning for ten months about Hunter Biden and alluding to some vast unproven family conspiracy, after sending Hunter Biden a subpoena to appear and testify, Chairman Comer and the Oversight Republicans now reject his offer to appear before the full Committee and the eyes of the world and to answer any questions that they pose? What an epic humiliation for our colleagues and what a frank confession that they are simply not interested in the facts and have no confidence in their own case or the ability of their own Members to pursue it.”
“Qatar has been the conduit for countries to talk to people they can’t talk to openly and officially—Hamas being one of them.”
“This begs the question: why did Mississippi buck the trends seen in Louisiana, and what drove Presley’s overperformances?”
RIP, Larry Payne, longtime community and social justice activist. Larry was one of those people that knew everyone and was always a pleasure to talk to. He did good work on the Mayor’s Task Force on Police Reform, done while he was fighting cancer. Rest in peace.
“If you love to get in touch with nature by looking at photographs of big cats, birds, reptiles, mammals or ocean life, there’s a photo for you among this year’s shortlist of contenders for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award.”
“So what does Elon Musk want with Twitter? The best available guess is that he wants it to fade to black. Musk won’t have to work as much, and his other businesses might benefit.”
“If the company should fail in the coming weeks, it will be one of the largest, most astounding, and most self-inflicted business failures in history.”
Henry Kissinger has died. You know who he is and you know why I didn’t say “RIP”. There’s plenty of worthwhile commentary around if you need the reminder. I also liked TPM’s take on why Kissinger was so infamous.
RIP, Shane MacGowan, singer-songwriter for The Pogues and The Popes. I hope you listened to “Fairytale of New York” yesterday. Now listen to this lovely anecdote about him as told by Kiefer Sutherland.
RIP, Frances Sternhagen, two-time Tony-winning and three-time Emmy-nominated actor, Broadway star known for many memorable guest roles on TV.
RIP, Sandra Day O’Connor, first female Supreme Court justice. She built a solid legacy as a Justice, which the current bunch of nihilists are busy obliterating, piece by piece.
RIP, Chuck Rosenthal, former Harris County District Attorney.
I like the Daily Show segment on Kissinger. Scroll down to the end for the video.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/daily-show-michelle-wolf-henry-kissinger-death_n_65698079e4b028b0f3cfbf2f
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More on Kissinger-
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/4/2209286/-Cartoon-The-bad-place?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_2&pm_medium=web
Someone needs to tell the authors of the “What Happened In Mississippi?” post the difference between begging a question and raising a question. Anyone who has taken a college level course in philosophy, linguistics or logic is intimately aware of the distinction.