• Hot Off The Presses

    Detailed View of a Solar Eclipse Corona

    Detailed View of a Solar Eclipse Corona There was a lot of intense science being done. That the observation was beautiful is secondary. APOD: 2017 August 13 – Detailed View of a Solar Eclipse Corona A different astronomy and space science related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation. Read at Google+

  • Cycling - Hot Off The Presses

    6 epic bike treks around the globe

    These look a little more epic than I’m capable of handling, but they still look like a dream. But there must be a typo in the England to Rome one – 2 days to go a thousand miles is pretty ambitious in a CAR, let alone on a bike. June 2017 marked 200 years since German inventor Karl Von Drais first rode his two-wheeled Laufmaschine, or “running machine.” These trips celebrate the bike. Source: 6 epic bike treks around the globe – Chicago Tribune

  • Politics, Schmolitics

    Optics: Stern And Tough Cabinet, or Reality Show Cast Photo?

    This photo requires some context: Bannon is out, this is the currently constituted Cabinet as it was during the weekend meeting on Afghanistan, and Trump has just signed some bill that’s more of a symbolic resolution. Let’s break down the looks — and messages sent via those looks — for each white man of the 13 white men and 1 woman in the photo. Side note: I have to believe the attendees were told not to smile due to the seriousness of the topic discussed. Otherwise, the sheer spontaneous seriousness is truly beyond belief. (Huge thanks to CNN’s Jim Acosta…

  • Hot Off The Presses

    There Is No Deal Breaker For Trumpists

    People support Trump because they project their own fears and hopes on him. Note that I use the cliché in reverse order – they are first motivated by fear, and hope is secondary. NYT: No Deal Breaker For Trump Voters Larry Laughlin, a retired businessman from a Minneapolis suburb, compares Mr. Trump to a high school senior who could “walk up to the table with the jocks and the cheerleaders and put them in their place.” That is something that the “nerds and the losers, whose dads are unemployed and moms are working in the cafeteria,” could never do. Mr.…

  • Hot Off The Presses

    This First Hand Account From Charlottesville

    This experience passed along by Crooks and Liars from a Facebook post (with author’s permission) gives the lie to the “both sides do it” argument… including the one used by the current resident of the White House. I’ve spent the week since Charlottesville grieving, angry, and spending far too much time sifting through Twitter and news feeds, trying to make sense of it all. The only conclusion I can reach is that Nazis and fascists must be opposed, without violence if possible. They may make it impossible to avoid confrontations, though, in future actions. They crave conflict because without opposition,…

  • Hot Off The Presses

    Evening Calm

    Twitter has hacked my brain. Years ago I was capable of blogging long essays. Now I think in 140 character bursts. This must stop. I have New Age music playing, I’m not looking at Twitter, I’m not reading item after item in Feedly, I’m not curating links endlessly in Pocket or del.icio.us (or whatever linkhoarding tool is current now). It is late evening, it is calm, and I had a pleasant day of errands, eating out with family, playing board games, and laughing. I ate out twice, in fact. Lunch and dinner, spent with family. An older couple, a middle-aged…

  • Hot Off The Presses

    White Supremacy and Orthodox Christianity: A Dangerous Connection

    I had noticed several references to Othodox Christianity in some of the nationalist stories coming out of Charlottesville. There’s a connection, and mainstream American Orthodox church leaders have some warning signs to watch for. There are those who would co-opt American Orthodoxy, make it the voice of white nationalism. Churches need to confront the problem head on. Source: White Supremacy and Orthodox Christianity: A Dangerous Connection Rears Its Head in Charlottesville | Religion Dispatches

  • Hot Off The Presses

    Fight against extremism for former neo-Nazi from Chicago ramps up after Trump (Of Course Trump Admin Defunded)

    As a leader of the American white supremacist movement nearly 30 years ago, Christian Picciolini wrote propaganda, devised infiltration strategies and brokered mergers with similar organizations in the U.S.Now, the 43-year-old Chicago native spends his days with a different purpose, as co-founder of Life After Hate, a nonprofit group devoted to helping former neo-Nazis and other extremists shed their toxic ideology.He is busier than ever.Since Donald Trump was elected president, referrals to his group have gone from two a week to five a day, Picciolini said. And since a car plowed into a crowd protesting a white supremacist rally in…