How much suspension is too much?

by liberal japonicus I thought it was Aristotle who came up with ‘suspension of disbelief’, but apparently, it was Samuel Coleridge. Aristotle argued that a convincing impossibility in a story is preferable to an unconvincing possibility, but Coleridge came up with the phrase. This is prompted by seeing clips for the TV series Lanterns along … Read more

Demography

by liberal japonicus This Guardian article touches on a point that I think is interesting, why so many Latinos are involved on the enforcement side of ICE. The final graf is The lesson is that we should stop treating Latino support for anti-immigration politics as a paradox. To the contrary, this is a part of … Read more

Frostadóttir Saga

by liberal japonicus Lots of things in this Rest of Politics interview with Kristrún Frostadóttir to comment on. The first thing that struck me was her accent. She went to grammar school in the UK and her graduate work in the US and her accent is 95% USaian. About at the 40 minute mark, Campbell … Read more

Your Odyssey thread

by liberal japonicus Apologies for the radio silence, been watching lots of discussion about Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey. I limit myself to full length youtube videos, and I avoid shorts like the plague, but here is your invitation to post anything related that you think might be interesting.

Jefferson’s shadow

by liberal japonicus In a comment, GftNC posted Luttig’s article about Clarence Thomas’ speech shitting on Jeffersonian ideas and ideals in American history, discussing how this underlines much of the damage that Trump and MAGA are doing to the the country. I’m sure everyone has already read it in the comments, but I pull out … Read more

What’cha doing?

by liberal japonicus In one of my favorite programs, Phineas and Ferb, one of the characters always asks the eponymous pair this question and they reply with what they have planned, including a time machine, a portal to Mars, and equipping Santa’s sleigh with a gift cannon. This flippant title is to introduce GftNC’s recommended … Read more