Recent Comments

1. about 5 hours ago on Chip Bok

   You’re just in denial about how tax cuts for billionaires will inherently improve the standard of living, of minimum-wage earners with no increase in their pay.

2. about 12 hours ago on Jeff Stahler

   “… A diaspora (/daɪˈæspərə/ dy-ASP-ər-ə) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently reside elsewhere.

   Notable diasporic populations include the Jewish diaspora formed after the Babylonian exile; Assyrian–Chaldean–Syriac diaspora following the Assyrian genocide; Greeks that fled or were displaced following the fall of Constantinople and the later Greek genocide as well as the Istanbul pogroms; the emigration of Anglo-Saxons (primarily to the Byzantine Empire) after the Norman Conquest of England; the southern Chinese and Indians who left their homelands during the 19th and 20th centuries; the Irish diaspora after the Great Famine; the Scottish diaspora that developed on a large scale after the Highland and Lowland Clearances; Romani from the Indian subcontinent; the Italian diaspora and the Mexican diaspora; Circassians in the aftermath of the Circassian genocide; the Palestinian diaspora due to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; the Armenian diaspora following the Armenian genocide; the Lebanese diaspora due to the Lebanese civil war; and Syrians due to the Syrian civil war; The Iranian diaspora, which grew from half a million to 3.8 million between the 1979 revolution and 2019, mostly live in United States, Canada and Turkey.

   According to a 2019 United Nations report, the Indian diaspora is the world’s largest diaspora, with a population of 17.5 million, followed by the Mexican diaspora, with a population of 11.8 million, and the Chinese diaspora, with a population of 10.7 million. …" — en .wikipedia .org /wiki /Diaspora

3. about 13 hours ago on Ted Rall

   We’re experiencing the ill effects of using unvetted social media and profit over accuracy  news outlets as sources of factual/unbiased reporting

4. about 13 hours ago on Ted Rall

   Corruption perception USA: 69% or 24th of 180 a 2% increase (higher is better) over 2021’s score …

   transparency .org /en /cpi /2022

5. 1 day ago on Lisa Benson

   It makes you wonder about the electorate in that district — sending someone who would be incompetent as a town official — to loudly/cluelessly flail/fail at handling a federal representative’s tasks.

6. 1 day ago on Al Goodwyn Editorial Cartoons

   For those who do remember I’m a [Eisenhower era] progressive-conservative waiting for one of the parties to return to that — virtually non-partisan — mode and work for the whole nation, by deliberating, collaborating, and compromising with all the other ideologies … not just the partisan ideology of their outdated/aging/shrinking base.

7. 1 day ago on Clay Jones

   A year ago …

   “… While Fox News viewers themselves may have missed the news, earlier this week the cable-news giant settled a defamation lawsuit filed against it to the tune of $787.5 million. Dominion Voting Systems — a voting-equipment company that supplies voting machines across the country — had sued Fox for spreading false information about the company by frequently airing segments and hosting guests that claimed Dominion machines were hacked or programmed to rig the 2020 election against former President Donald Trump.

   This settlement didn’t ultimately resolve the question at the heart of the case: Was Fox News at fault if it knowingly spread false information about Dominion? The American people, however, have reached their own conclusions. Over the past few months, polling has shown a majority of Americans think Fox was in the wrong — though, perhaps unsurprisingly, Republicans are less convinced.

   In a March Quinnipiac University poll, 65 percent of Americans said Fox News should be held accountable for spreading false information. This included 93 percent of Democrats, 67 percent of independents and 41 percent of Republicans. That’s particularly noteworthy because Fox’s viewership is largely Republican: A Morning Consult poll conducted at the beginning of 2023 found that 50 percent of registered Republicans said they watched Fox News at least a few times a week, while 80 and 82 percent said they never watched CNN or MSNBC, respectively. …" — FiveThirtyEight .com /features /polls-fox-dominion-settlement-misinformation-media-trust (31 April 2023)

8. 1 day ago on Rob Rogers

   smh .com .au /world /north-america /whether-trump-did-or-didn-t-let-loose-there-s-a-whiff-of-defeat-about-him-20240424-p5fmbh .html

9. 1 day ago on Jeff Stahler

   Always thought that the goal of political cartoonists was to point out all the embarrassing/shameful foibles of vain/self-indulgent politicians — without using foul language that our children might encounter while exploring the comics.

10. 1 day ago on Scott Stantis

    lispine .com /blog /octogenarian-athletes-proving-age-just-number

    “… On June 11, Maros Mosehla lined up with 16,000 other runners on the start line of the Comrades, a 56-mile footrace that began outside the red brick City Hall in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Mosehla, a wispy runner, 5 feet 2 inches tall, did not stand out from the crowd of athletes who had gathered to run just farther than the equivalent of two marathons through the misty winter morning.

    But by the time Mosehla, a builder by profession, crossed the Comrades finish line in the city of Durban 9 hours and 26 minutes later, he had done something extraordinary. At 81, he became the oldest person to complete the race in its 102-year history, shattering a record that had stood for more than three decades — the previous record-holder competed at 80. Perhaps even more jaw-dropping was the fact that he had finished ahead of more than two-thirds of the runners, 95 percent of whom were more than 20 years younger than him.

    In ultrarunning, a sport that rewards mental fortitude and prudent pacing over absolute speed, octogenarian athletes are not completely unheard-of. This March, for instance, five runners over 80 competed at the USA Track & Field 100 mile championship in Nevada. …" — nytimes .com /2023 /12 /11 /sports /ultrarunning-south-african-octogenarian .HTML

    aarp .org /health /healthy-living /info-2023 /older-runners-on-the-rise .html