the bastards' last stand

I have been intending to write about an epiphany I had after the sudden end of a torrid affair in Barcelona. I was going to write about how I realized that all women are crazy all men stupid, and how that refined over the course of a walk home to be be we all exist on an X/Y axis of "crazy" and "stupid" determined by the extent of your personal privilege. I might write about that later but I'm actually more interested in my continued distraction from writing the things I vaguely intend to write. When I committed recently to posting twice a month I also planned to start writing more regularly. I've come to realize that I have been writing regularly, probably more than the 30 minute minimum that was my goal, it's just that it's in increments of 240 characters or less. I spend a lot of time sparring with dishonest people on Twitter threads about electoral politics and progressive policy. I worry a bit that this is some weird modern techno social media...

In 2006 Stephen Colbert gave a commencement speech at Knox College that concluded like this: So, say "yes." In fact, say "yes" as often as you can. When I was starting out in Chicago, doing improvisational theatre with Second City and other places, there was really only one rule I was taught about improv. That was, "yes-and." In this case, "yes-and" is a verb. To "yes-and." I yes-and, you yes-and, he, she or it yes-ands. And yes-anding means that when you go onstage to improvise a scene with no script, you have no idea what's going to happen, maybe with someone you've never met before. To build a scene, you have to accept. To build anything onstage, you have to accept what the other improviser initiates on stage. They say you're doctors—you're doctors. And then, you add to that: We're doctors and we're trapped in an ice cave. That's the "-and." And then hopefully they "yes-and" you back...

I made a commitment to myself to start a music podcast that I would post monthly. To meet that commitment I need to post it today. There's a slight problem. While looking at options for hosting the podcast I consulted with a Twitter friend who pointed out the likelihood of being taken down by publishers. I hadn't considered the possibility that anything I might do would be anything other than obscure. So in order to meet the commitment I will post the first episode of my podcast, The Supper Table . I'm in the process of looking for loopholes to do what I want to do in a completely not for profit way.

I have been a Virgin Mobile customer since I returned to the US in 2012. It reminded me of the low pressure nature of the relationship with mobile companies in Spain. I purchased their low end phone to try out their service (and smartphones). Overall I have found their service to be perfectly functional. There is one exception, it's kind of ironic, the phone service sucks. I have to stand by my bedroom window or lean over the balcony railing to hear and be heard clearly. I don't actually mind. I hate talking on the phone but enjoy the pocket computer. After a year I decided to upgrade to a Samsung Galaxy 3, at the time 2 generations behind their most recently offered S5. I purchased my S3 from Radio Shack (RIP).  Six months after that purchase, while vacationing in California, I had trouble charging the phone. It required that I prop something under the cord to ensure connection. After some back and forth, although I purchased the phone through Radio Shack, Virgin sent first a ...

Let me start by saying: I know I can be petty. I'm not proud of that, but sometimes it results in good cheap fun. Mostly because I'm sick of their bullshit, but also out of pure curiosity with what they might produce, I have been challenging the people flogging non-voters, third party voters, Bernie Sanders, Russia, the Pope, etc as the reasons for Hillary's loss a year ago. I feel like six months of denial is okish, a year on it starts to be ridiculous. This has been my challenge: Most try to point out my lack of understanding for nuanced campaigning. In response I ask for an example of another successful campaign relying on a website and an opaque message. Many of them block me or move on to pastures involving less cognitive dissonance. Two have actually attempted to define her agenda and provide video. The first got salty and blocked me after I asked if he was sure the agenda he shared was in each of the five videos. The second is the reason for this distracting pos...

Despite any appearance to the contrary, like writing about it, again, I so want to move away from 2016 and on to a much stronger position for 2018 and 2020. The revelations from Donna Brazile this past week, but more strikingly the pushback, has helped me figure out why I can't fully move on into the future: because we haven't learned the right lessons from 2016. In truth the Democratic leadership seems unwilling to do anything other than what it has been doing to lose for the last decade. I have not really gone through therapy but I've had enough experience with being broken to know that there's no getting better without naming and owning the problem. I'm not sure if they're capable of admitting there's a problem. The Democratic Party is watching the foundation of its house sink and deciding to paint the walls for redress. While writing about this on Facebook it finally occurred to me what it will take to put this argument away once and for all: If y...

FEC Reporting of HVF expenditures to state parties except Puerto Rico  https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?two_year_transaction_period=2016&disbursement_purpose_categories=other&data_type=processed&committee_id=C00586537&min_date=01%2F01%2F2015&max_date=12%2F31%2F2016