James H McLaren @JamesHMcLaren@qoto.org

2024 Headline of the Year nominee (June)

Question of the day:

Think we all know who is running the show.

@fesshole

as the great maestro once said, "A secure connection to the SSL server cannot be reached" 🙏

Summerhill Force

I went up to Teesdale to grab a few BnW waterfall shots.

The second colour photo was actually a sighter, taken to judge the shutter speed away from the spray zone. I love the light on the tree so ended up keeping it.

#landscapephotography #photography #bnw

I am looking for a nice, big, chunky book on #French #history. I am fairly well up on The Revolution and Napolean & want a book that covers a greater timescale. Recommendations gratefully received.
@bookstodon

When does winter start ?

An extremely important and incredibly polarizing question:
#poll #BoostsWelcome

Trump's coming War on Arithmetic

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/masayoshi-son-and-the-art-of-the

#uspol

So it turns out that these "mystery drones" over NJ, etc. that politicians are making such a fuss about -- but that don't seem to concern the FAA -- usually (if not always) have red and green lights and a blinking strobe. Which means that if they are UFOs, they're following FAA regulations for manned aircraft, which is what experts believe them to be. This whole panic is likely utter nonsense. Of course. Politicians. People.

The Nation put up a debate piece between some white woman, who never published at The Nation before, and Elie Mystal, who is black and has written at The Nation for quite a while.

The debate topic? Did voters turn to Trump over economics or bigotry?

Elie Mystal wiped up the floor with his debate partner.

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/why-harris-lost-economy-versus-racism/

Saw somebody here declare something to the effect that (economically) comfortable people don’t revolt. Yes they do. A lot.

Pretty much all uprisings, revolutions, and pro-democracy mass movements have involved support and participation from disaffected elites and bourgeoise.

Like, the American Revolution and (initially) the Russian Revolution come to mind.

1/2

🤔 Canada Mexico (without USA). The MexiCan free trade agreement.

🇲🇽🇨🇦

You know who...

My first Cybertruck sighting (other than on the dealership lot) was from half a block away behind it and I thought "it's not as ridiculous as the Internet says." I have now seen it from the front/side waiting at a light right in front of my bus stop, and nevermind, yes, it is that ridiculous.

@apophis @futurebird Rich people are WAY RICHER than they were a few decades ago, in comparative terms. A smaller number of them control a much larger portion of the total economic product, and have tremendous power, and being in this position seems to be absolutely toxic to the human brain.

The situation is more like the late 19th century, the Gilded Age. And the rich people of that time were buck wild.

Suddenly the elections are fair. Did Biden do that too?

Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not
original and the part that is original is not good.
-- Samuel Johnson