Vale, Shane MacGowan of the Pogues: The Ignorance Next Door, and What to Do about It

1987 was a year still Before Children (BC) and two years before the Iron Curtain was torn Down and New York sad memory of John Lennon death reached 7 years … According to another Joe: The song is an Irish folk-style ballad and was written as a duet, with the Pogues' singer MacGowan taking the role of the male character and MacColl playing the female character. It was originally released as a single on 23 November 1987 and later featured on the Pogues' 1988 album If I Should Fall from Grace with God.

I could have been someone

Well so could anyone

You took my dreams from me

When I first found you

I kept them with me babe

I put them with my own

Can't make it all alone

Vale, Shane MacGowan of the Pogues, dead at 65, NYT: “I was good at writing," MacGowan said. "I can write, I can spell, I can make it flow, and when I mixed it with music, it was perfect.” Never more perfect than "Fairytale of New York."

(As for the much missed Kirsty MacColl, she already had a solid career before the song was released, providing backing vocals for the likes of Robert Plant,  The Smiths, Talking Heads - in 1990s after children, my neighbour from the second Birriga Rd - Steve Douglas did many gigs with the Talking Head roaming US in 1980s)

Rebecca Solnit: Billionaires are out of touch and much too powerful. “The 1% aren’t just the biggest climate wreckers, they also greatly influence how the world responds to the crisis.”

The Ignorance Next Door, and What to Do about It

By 

Justin Weinberg

Philosophers sometimes complain about how colleagues in other fields don’t know enough about what philosophy is and what philosophers do, even as said colleagues make pronouncements about philosophy, or decisions that affect philosophy department, or changes to curricula or requirements relevant to philosophy course offerings, and so on.

[lock and keys by Abloy]

In case you were looking for an example of this, here’s a recent one that was published at Inside Higher Ed.

In it, historian Steve Mintz (Texas) argues that universities should require their students to take ethics courses—not a bad idea at all. But he seems to think this should (or perhaps could only) be achieved by taking ethics education out of the hands of philosophy departments and having it be taught by others who have “no formal training in ethics.”

NYT Piece Calls Learning Loss “Startling” — But It’s Not

Ghostly Messages: Australia’s Lost Horror Anthology, ‘The Evil Touch’

By Andrew Nette

In a June 2017 article in Fortean Times, the British magazine concerned with strange and paranormal phenomena, writer and broadcaster Bob Fischer discussed how the sensation of not being exactly sure what you were watching on television was a common experience in relation to consuming visual culture in the 1960s and 1970s…

We Are the Mutants: The Book!

If you haven’t heard, we wrote a book! And it’s out right now! Won’t you please buy it and be our best friend?

If you haven’t heard, we wrote a book! And it’s out right now! If you’ve followed us over the last six plus years, you know our MO: we get deep down into the berserk array of popular and outsider media produced during the Cold War and talk about what these various artifacts—lost, forgotten, seemingly disposable—mean in the larger arenas of politics and culture, then and now. We Are the Mutants: The Battle for Hollywood from Rosemary’s Baby to Lethal Weapon takes that approach and applies it to American films released between the arrival of US combat troops in Vietnam and the end of President Ronald Reagan’s second term—probably the most discussed and beloved stretch of movies in Hollywood history. 

Read more about the book at our publisher, Repeater. 

We talk about the book in an interview with Joe Banks at The Quietus.

Check out Andrew Nette’s review at Pulp Curry.

Have a look at Johnny Restall’s review at Diabolique.

You can buy the book pretty much anywhere books are sold, including bookshop.org, Amazon, and Penguin Random House. If you dig it, please rate it and/or review it. We need all the word of mouth we can get. Thank you and keep an eye on the site—we’ll be back soon in some (altered) way, shape or form.

—The Mutants

Gen Z wants action movies, not woke storylines: UCLA study.

Gen Z would rather see movies that show two men fighting each other, rather than kissing one another, according to a new survey from the University of California Los Angeles.

The younger, college-aged generation ranked superhero movies and action films high in their interest list, along with “hopeful, uplifting content with people beating the odds” and “people with lives like my own” according to the survey.

Meanwhile, “Nonbinary and LGBTQIA+ Identities” is ranked at the bottom, according to the survey from UCLA’s Center for Scholars and Storytellers.

The survey of 1,500 people also found Gen Z is not interested in sexual content, which may explain their lack of interest in LGBT identity-focused programming.

Respondents reported that they use entertainment media “to escape and take my mind off of things.”

Not Santa Claus! Santos is out! George Santos expelled from US Congress after House votes 311 to 114 in favor of resolution

Goodbye to George Santos and Henry Kissinger

Plus: an unexpected digression into the world of Little Debbie dessert snack cakes.

George Santos expelled from US Congress after House votes 311 to 114 in favor of resolution – 

US politics live Disgraced New York Republican leaves Capitol after expulsion resolution passes in bipartisan vote

Ohio’s Republican representative and House ethics committee member David Joyce said that his fellow Ohio Republican colleague Max Miller’s last-minute letter about how George Santospersonally ripped him and his mother off convinced many Republicans to vote for Santos’s expulsion.

~ Epilogue


In late-night rant, George Santos shows he's determined to light the GOP on fire 🔥 

Ousted George Santos Plots Revenge Against Ex-House Colleagues In Online Tear

The disgraced congressman fired off a series of tweets promising to file ethics complaints against some of the House members who voted him out.

Speaking to CNN following Santos’s expulsion, Joyce said:

“One of the members came forward yesterday at the end of the talk and then today came forward and put out the email for those who may not have understood where he was coming from and explained that no only he but his mother were ripped off by this campaign… If that’s not enough to convince people that maybe you shouldn’t be here, well then I don’t know what it’s going to take.”

Here’s Every Single Lie Told by George Santos

George Santos' tumultuous term... 1 year in 1 minute

Breaking: Is this a resignation letter from George Santos? Dear Esteemed Colleagues and Fellow Citizens, As I pen this letter, which doubles as my resignation from the United States House of Representatives, I, #GeorgeSantos, find it only fitting to share a few parting observations. In the grand tradition of "going out with a bang," let's take a look at some of my colleagues, whose stories are as compelling as any political drama. I have done nothing wrong but they all suck. #LaurenBoebert, our very own Beetlejuice of Capitol Hill or as her buddy MTG calls her "Vaping, Groping Boebert". In the aftermath of my departure, I picture her wandering the halls of Congress, invoking not the spirits of the afterlife but the specter of political spectacle. Her flair for the dramatic is almost cinematic, a fitting reminder of the theatrics that often overshadow the serious business of governance. Keep it classy, Lauren. #JimJordan, embroiled in the wrestling scandal at Ohio State, now watches another teammate leave the ring. As I exit the political arena, one can't help but wonder if Jim is left contemplating his next move in this intricate dance of politics, where every step and misstep is scrutinized with the intensity of a championship match. He is already a loser, as he couldn't beat Mike Johnson for speaker of the house. Will the crying and blaming ever stop? Matt Gaetz, whose escapades with underage girls read like a cautionary tale from a high school drama. As I make my exit, perhaps he'll reflect on the transient nature of fame and the enduring scrutiny of public life. It's a dance as delicate as any, requiring a careful balance between personal liberty and public responsibility. However, with Gaetz's past of drunken driving charges and sexual escapades, I doubt he will learn. And Marjorie Taylor #Greene, our resident science fiction enthusiast. With space lasers and electric airplanes, her narrative might just take a turn towards the fantastical, in the absence of my own colorful contributions. One imagines her, laser pointer in hand, and displays of her tweets, charting a course through uncharted political galaxies in search of new, perhaps even more outlandish, frontiers. You be You Marge. As I bid farewell to this stage of political theater, I leave behind a cast of characters as vibrant and varied as the nation they serve. In the world of politics, where truth and fiction often intertwine, my story, albeit brief, has been a testament to the unpredictable nature of public life. So, as I take my final bow, I leave you with this: in the halls of power, every exit is an entrance somewhere else. May the next act of this grand political drama be as riveting and revelatory as the last. Don't worry about me I am extremely qualified to do anything. See my Resume below Go F@ck Yourselves George #Santos P.S. Remember, in politics, the end of one tale is merely the prologue of another. WATCH FOR MY REALITY SHOW

 

Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth

 Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth by Ingrid Robeyns is reviewed at Kirkus Reviews.

Ex-Officer Derek Chauvin, Convicted In George Floyd’s Killing, Reportedly Stabbed In Prison

Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin has been stabbed by another inmate at a federal prison in Arizona where he's serving time for the murder of George Floyd.

The 100 Greatest BBC Musical Performances

Jason Kottke  

I linked to this in the recent David Bowie post, but it’s worth pulling out separately: the 100 greatest BBC musical performances. This is an incredible trove of late 20th and early 21st century musical greatness. Some selections just off the top of my head:

Blondie – Atomic/Heart of Glass (The Old Grey Whistle Test, 1979):

Could eating turkey ease colitis? Study suggests extra tryptophan could reduce risk of future flares.

‘It Snowballed:’ How a Knife Attack in Dublin Led to a Riot New York Times. I hate to point this out, but nowhere does the story say the rumor was untrue, that that the attacker was not an immigrant. Ditto Sky News (Dublin riots: Everything we know about the knife attack and police clashes) when it merely says that attack was stand-alone and not part of terrorist activity. Now it is correct that people should not rampage before someone has at least been charged. But the insinuation is that the rumors were false, as opposed to vigilantes should not try to usurp due process. After all, we in the US think it’s perfectly OK to destroy the careers of people merely accused of sexual misconduct, as opposed to waiting for the courts to do their work.

‘F**k the EU’: Nuland’s decade-old Maidan quip has never been more true RT

 

The election of Milei and the breakdown of Peronism and bourgeois democracy in ArgentinaWSWS

Bear witness to both your challenges and triumphs

A new wave of Chinese elites is flocking to Japan Japan Times 

Watch: Volcano in Japan spews ash, rock 200m into sky BBC

WOA designs own studio space using materials that had been “relegated to landfill” dezeen

Fears swine flu could be spreading under the radar as health chiefs urge Brits with cold-like symptoms to stay at home after ‘fluke’ detection Daily Mail

How China is tearing down Islam Financial Times. BC: “Amazingly well presented multi-media article.”

Bear witness to both your challenges and triumphs Paying attention to our daily joys and sorrows is important — and so too is making space for other people’s stories

 A few summers ago, I was visiting a close friend I hadn’t seen in years but with whom I have always felt I could share intimately. I was telling her about some events in my life that had combined to have a significant impact on me, but that I hadn’t really shared with many others. As she listened, she said something I found to be such a beautiful and compelling turn of phrase, and one that has always stayed with me, “You need a witness to your life.”

As our schedules get busier in the end-of-year rush, and the troubles in the world only seem to intensify, it’s difficult to attend to all that life demands of us. I’ve found that the phrase “bearing witness” comes up in my mind again and again, as I think about our human need to attend to our individual and collective joys and sorrows. For me, a more expansive understanding of bearing witness is about not turning away from the experiences of our lives, whether good or bad. We are observers of our own and others’ lives. So how can we be more attentive to the beautiful complexity of our challenges and conflicts, as well as our successes? And how do we bear witness to other people on a regular basis, blurring the lines that separate us from one another?

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I’m smitten by “Granddaughter” (1956) by American painter Andrew Wyeth, which speaks powerfully to me about one of the ways in which we bear witness. A young girl dressed in white shorts and a blue shirt stands in front of her grandfather, her hands clasped behind her back. Her grandfather is hunched over, resting against a wood-panelled wall. His gnarled hands are wrapped around a wooden stick and his head is tilted down. We only see the top of his hat.

Andrew Wyeth’s ‘Granddaughter’ (1956) © Andrew Wyeth

Depending on the country, the time in history, the family we are born into, our lives have very different sets of challenges and triumphs. In this painting, the girl’s posture suggests her respect for her grandfather, as her elder and the bearer of truths and wisdom to be passed on. Each elderly member of our family or community offers a line back, in turn, to the ancestors who have shown them how to navigate a life. By spending time with her grandfather, the young girl is bearing witness to his life because bearing witness is also about being present in the lives of others.

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I have always been drawn to the regal women striding forward in “Walking”, the 1958 painting by the modernist artist Charles Henry Alston, a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance. In bold colours, Alston depicts a group of black women in long skirts and dresses walking determinedly forward in a widening line along a red road. The woman at the very front of the group has her head thrust forward and her chin raised. Beside her a woman in a green dress moves as determinedly along, eyes forward, her arm around a little girl who seems to stand still and face us, the viewer, directly.

Alston painted it to capture the mood and events of the year-long Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-6), a non-violent protest against racial segregation on public transportation, and a pivotal moment in the larger civil rights movement. These are everyday women who believed in their right to equality and walked together to bear witness to that belief. Yet even without knowing the background of the work, a viewer can see that these women are on a mission, and there is a feeling of universality, that this could be happening anywhere and about any issue.  

I love how the women’s bodies are structured like sculptures. Their long necks and dresses lengthen their form and give a feeling of grace and elegance to them and their call for equality. I appreciate how tightly together Alston painted them, giving a sense of their unity, and how the three figures on the sides seem to be walking to join the movement. They are bearing witness to one another’s experiences in the shared injustice but also in the shared courage and willingness to seek change.

In some way, the role of the artist is also to be a witness bearer. I’ve always thought of art as a form of truth telling, less about appeasing the masses and more about being a beholder of the times and our lives. And in this painting, Alston reminds me how bearing witness to the ways we have been mistreated, misrepresented or taken advantage of is often intimately tied to bearing witness for others with similar experiences. Experiences of injustice, as painful as they are for the individual, are usually tied to some larger system of power structures.

I gaze at this painting and in my ear I hear “no one is free until we are all free”, those famous words of another bold woman, the civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer. And speaking so, Hamer was also bearing witness to those who had come before her, saying in a different way what Martin Luther King Jr had said less than a decade prior: that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. 

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The words “Tell It Like It Is!”, written in large black script, glare from a wood-framed electric sign box. It is a work from a lightbox series by American multimedia artist Sam Durant, in which he repurposes slogans and phrases from political and social movements around the world and gives them new life and expanded meaning through a format normally reserved for commercial signage.

Sam Durant’s ‘Tell it Like it Is!’ (2020)

Without the original protest or demonstration context of the slogans, viewers are confronted with the power of language and how we can make meaning arbitrarily and selectively. As I thought about the idea of bearing witness, whether speaking about social or political events or personal issues, I was struck by Durant’s work. In the US, the phrase has been spouted by politicians promising to be hard-nosed truth-tellers. To “tell it like it is” means to not hold back to make other people comfortable or to play it safe.

But language is a tool we often wield without full acknowledgment of its power. Words can have histories layered in them and when we speak we may be bearing witness to narratives of which we aren’t fully conscious. Durant’s work, for me, is a call to have the courage to see, think and speak with heightened awareness and intention, to remember that we make meaning with language and that our words can often be more politically charged than we even are aware.

To tell it like it is always depends not only on who is doing the telling, but also on how the teller perceives. How do we faithfully bear witness when what we believe to be true may not necessarily be the whole truth? We are always working with the limited information we have, and from the perspective we hold. As we speak what we know to be true from our own vantage point, we must also remember that there will always be another voice who wants and needs to tell it like it is.

Criminals Can Steal Your Phone Number

Security depends not so much upon how much you have, as upon how much you can do without.

— Joseph Wood Krutch, born in 1893

Criminals Can Steal Your Phone Number

How To Geek: Here’s How to Stop Them: “Key Takeaways

• Criminals are stealing phone numbers through “port out scams” by pretending to be the owner and transferring the number to another phone, gaining access to security codes and sensitive accounts.
• Port-out scams pose a major threat as phone numbers are often used for two-factor authentication, making it easy for criminals to receive security codes intended for the owner.
• To protect against port-out scams, set a secure PIN with your cellular carrier, use alternative two-factor authentication methods like Google Authenticator, and avoid relying on SMS verification for important services.

Criminals can steal your phone number by pretending to be you and then move your number to another phone. They’ll then receive security codes sent via SMS on their phone, helping them gain access to your bank account and other secure services…”

If today is all about Tory tax bribes it really will be a total waste of time

This is the morning when I know that almost anything I right now will be the equivalent of chip paper by lunchtime. Any speculation on
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