Setting fire to women's health by The Contrarian
The Trump administration would rather burn contraceptives than help women and girls in developing nations.
Read on SubstackWednesday, August 13, 2025
Tuesday, August 05, 2025
Sweet Kitty
This morning, as I was finishing my bagel and coffee, Priscilla Kitty came in to get a drink of water. The feeding station is close to my place at the table. So, I leant my hand down and waited, watching her.
When she finished, she looked around. Then she came right up to me and briefly touched her nose to my hand before strolling out of the kitchen.
I was thrilled! That's by far the most trust or affection she has ever shown me! It really made my day. Sometimes it's the little things that get you through.
Monday, August 04, 2025
We can reduce the possibility of nuclear war if we act now.
It may well seem as though we have enough, and more than enough, nowadays to keep track of, protest against or agitate for. Indeed, the ever-expanding list of things we absolutely have to follow and speak out about leaves me, for one, dizzy and exhausted.
And yet, the problem of the disconnect between the public’s awareness of nuclear arms and their governments’ rush to modernize and even expand nuclear stockpiles grows more acute as time goes on. While people assume they are as safe now as, say, when the START treaties were signed and put into effect, the fact is that nuclear non proliferation agreements and structures have been crumbling over the past decade and more.
According to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, last year global Nuclear Weapons Spending Surpassed $100 Billion - enough money to feed three hundred forty-five million people facing hunger and starvation for two years.
And the problem isn’t only the obscene and absurd waste of money represented by nuclear arms. The fragile protection offered by mutually assured destruction has crumbled as more countries become nuclear powers, and as more of those countries engage in conventional wars and military actions, the probability of accidental – or deliberate – escalation to the use of nuclear weapons increases.
I know when everything is a five alarm fire, nothing is a five alarm fire. You get numb to urgency. I get that! I’m exhausted and heartsick all the time now. One more thing I have to feel outrage over, and write/post/blog about and share? Really? Come on!
This cause is fundamental though. Like climate change, the spread and ever increasing power of nuclear weapons poses an existential threat to civilization. But unlike climate change, it also poses a broader threat to life on Earth itself.
Howsoever tired we are, howsoever fervently we want to crawl into a hole and pull it in after us, we can’t ignore the looming threat of nuclear arms.
Link
Threat of Nuclear War Is Rising, But Scientists Say the Public Can Change That - Click
Sunday, August 03, 2025
Violent Tornado VS Mountains: Great Barrington F4
I was quite surprised to stumble across this video detailing the Great Barrington tornado, right here in my neck of the woods.
Saturday, August 02, 2025
As Israel's genocide and engineered famine in Gaza reach new depths of depravity it is important, not only to keep calling attention to the attrosities and war crimes, but also to humanize the suffering Gazan Palistinians. This piece in The New Yorker does that, not with sentementality, but with deep compassion.
Link
Treating Gaza’s Collective Trauma - Click
Saturday, July 26, 2025
Trump Regime's Takeover of Commercial Media Starts in Earnest
The text of a post by Aaron Parnas that has since been removed from Substack
BREAKING: Paramount Will Have a 'Bias Monitor' Overseeing CBS News Reporting to TrumpIn a move that would have seemed like satire a few years ago—perhaps something ripped straight from an especially cynical episode of South Park—the federal government under Donald Trump has successfully strong-armed one of the most powerful media companies in America into adopting a "bias monitor" and eliminating its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs as a condition of merger approval. This isn’t a dystopian Netflix pitch. It’s policy now.
Last Thursday, FCC commissioner Brendan Carr approved the $8 billion merger between Skydance Media and Paramount—an act that would normally garner attention for its financial and creative implications. But we now know that this merger came with a disturbing catch: government-mandated ideological restructuring. Paramount must now hire an ombudsman—essentially a political commissar—tasked with flagging any perceived "bias" at CBS News. This bias monitor must report directly to Donald Trump.
To say this is unprecedented is an understatement. We’ve entered a new phase of culture war: not one merely waged on social media or cable news, but one enforced by regulatory muscle.
While Trump’s first term was marked by a toxic rhetorical war against the press—“enemy of the people,” “fake news,” “scum”—his second term appears more tactically effective. He’s not just yelling anymore; he’s governing. And he's using the full power of the federal government to reshape the media landscape in his image.
The timing is impossible to ignore. Only days before this merger approval, CBS canceled The Colbert Report, an iconic show known for its sharp political satire—particularly when directed at Trump. The cancellation followed shortly after Paramount agreed to pay Trump a $16 million settlement over what he claimed was the “unfair editing” of an interview with Kamala Harris. Legal experts called the suit frivolous. But it didn't matter. The settlement came. The show got axed. And a billion-dollar merger received a presidential green light—so long as CBS cleansed itself of both "bias" and DEI.
The Trump White House has also now taken to issuing official condemnations of comedians. Last week, Joy Behar was labeled “an irrelevant loser” by the administration for a tame joke about Trump’s jealousy of Barack Obama. South Park—which has lampooned every political figure imaginable—was attacked for being “irrelevant” after an episode featured Trump in bed with Satan.
It’s worth asking: What happens to a culture when satire becomes suspect? When jokes become federal offenses in all but name?
When media companies start thinking twice about airing an SNL skit, a political cartoon, or even a provocative drama because the White House might retaliate financially or regulatorily—that’s not just chilling. That’s totalitarian adjacent.
We can mock the absurdity of a federal government that obsesses over comedy sketches and internal DEI training slides. But that mockery must be paired with alarm—and action. Because this isn’t theoretical. It’s happening now. And it’s happening fast.
Media institutions must decide whether they are in the business of truth or the business of survival. Journalists must decide whether they are stenographers or storytellers. And the public—you, reading this—must decide whether you’re comfortable with your government telling late-night comedians what they can joke about and newsrooms who they can hire.
Paramount has capitulated. Others may soon follow. The question is: who will stand?
Friday, July 25, 2025
Gaza destruction surpasses Hiroshima, Holocausts Professor Says
Prof. Bartov's assessment comes as no surprise to anyone who has been following Israel's genocide in Gaza and attempts to destroy the PA in the West Bank for the last few decades, but still horrifying when couched in such terms.
No other country on the face of the Earth would have been allowed to get away with a fraction of what Israel has done to the Palestinians, most especially in Gaza!
As a Roman Catholic, I love and respect the Jewish people, our elder brothers in faith. But, that has never stopped me, nor will it ever stop me, saying as loudly and frequently as possible, that the Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu is a murderous, genocidal regime.
All the members of the IDF who carry out Netanyahu's sick, grandiose genocidal vision shall eventually find, here or in the Hereafter, that "just following orders" doesn't cut it.
Massachusetts Working to Protect Civil Liberties and Vulnerable
The Democratic majority in the Massachusetts House and Senate are currently working on legislation to protect Bay State residents from the depredations of the Trump admin.
Monday, July 21, 2025
Sunday, July 20, 2025
Saturday, July 19, 2025
Friday, July 18, 2025
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Saturday, July 12, 2025
Making Good Trouble
On July Seventeenth, Free Speech for People will be holding a nationwide, peaceful day of action. Click this link to find an action near you.
Thursday, July 10, 2025
Regrets Aren't Worth Squat!
Oh, yeah, cry me a friggin' river.
You know, maybe, just maybe, the folks we send to Capitol Hill should have to pass a) a commonsense test and b) a basic reading test before being sworn in. If they flunk either test, they should be rejected and another election immediately be called to fill the seat. Furthermore, the wouldbe reps and sens that flunk should be barred from ever running for any public office again.
I wouldn't trust any of these dunderheads to catsit my precious babies!
Wednesday, July 09, 2025
My Dad Got a Deepfake Scam Call. Marco Rubio Got One, Too.
Malicious uses of ever more powerful and versitile artificial intelligence pose threats not only to individuals, but to governments.
Tuesday, July 08, 2025
Sunday, July 06, 2025
Keeping an Eye on ICE
The YouTube algorithm is a remarkable thing. A few days ago, it brought up to my home page this video from KPBS in San Diego :
There's no way of knowing how long this treasure trove of info will remain publically available. As long as it is, though, we must use it to the fullest possible advantage.
And, remember, if you see masked men in your area:
- Stay calm
- Call 911
- Video them
- Get their lisence plate numbers
Wednesday, July 02, 2025
Trump calls New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani 'a communist'
Having watched the below clip a few times and thought about it rather a lot, I still can’t decide whether Trump doesn’t realize Mandani has won a primary, not a mayoral general election, whether he no longer understands the difference between a primary and a general, or what!
One thing is painfully clear. No one in the White House so much as tries to keep Trump from making a fool of himself, which he does every time he opens his mouth or takes to Truth Social. Rather, every administration official, starting with the press secretary, repeats, amplifies and normalizes his lies, rantings and ignorant statements. The same can be said for most of the Republicans on the Hill.
It is never clear to me which of Trump’s statements display his mental illness and cognitive decline, and which his stupidity. In a way, it doesn’t matter. The man is unfit for the office he holds. He always was. In his first administration, though, some around him retained respect for the dignity of the office and concern for decorum. They managed (with difficulty) to reign in some of his excesses. This time, he has taken care to surround himself only with those as stupid, mendacious, corrupt and craven as he is.
They all also hold loyalty only to Trump, not to the Constitution or the country. As commentators such as Glenn Kirschner and Rick Wilson have pointed out, one way or another Trump won’t be president forever. While he is president, though, America is at the mercy of a stupid madman, who never ceases to embarrass himself and us.
And while he is president, we all must point out that he is a stupid madman. We must counter his lies with facts; challenge his gibberish with commonsense. Hillary Clinton said it takes a village to raise a child. Well, it takes a country to defeat a would be dictator.
Tuesday, July 01, 2025
Monday, June 30, 2025
Sunday, June 29, 2025
Chinese Cities on Fire — 220,000 Injured | BBC News
This report is from several days ago. One can only imagine conditions have grown worse.
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Thursday, May 29, 2025
New Quiz: Nineteenth Century Children's Literature
Here's my latest quiz, one for Children's Literature buffs. Can you sort these books into publication order?
Nineteenth Century British Children's Literature (Link opens in a new window.)
Monday, April 14, 2025
New Quiz: Can A Man
Here's the latest of my word play quizzes.
Can A Man (Link opens in a new window.)Tuesday, February 04, 2025
Musk shutters USAID leaving the world's poor in crisis.
It makes me sick with sorrow and shame, and the knowledge that I am powerless to help the people who will suffer and die because of Musk's illegal and immoral closure of USAID. May God have mercy on all those poor, innocent souls.
Sunday, January 26, 2025
Thursday, January 23, 2025
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Monday, January 20, 2025
Constitutionally Disqualified
In less than twelve hours a convicted felon, adjudicated rapist and, pertinently, adjudicated insurrectionist will take the oath of office to become the forty-seventh president of the United States, despite being barred from doing so by the Constitution.
By training, I am an English teacher and by vocation, a writer, not a lawyer or Constitutional scholar. Yet, the legal as well as moral and practical reasons the soon-to-be Felon in Chief ought not to take office are obvious to me. To name just a few non legal disqualifications: He does not have the intelligence, mental competence, attention span, education, breadth of knowledge, public spirit or integrity to serve as dogcatcher, much less President of the United States. For decades he has been well known to welch on his debts, stiff his contractors, mistreat his employees, lie in his business dealings, drive enterprise after enterprise into bankruptcy and cheat on and abuse his wives. Rumors of incest with his elder daughter have swirled around him, even after her marriage, rumors that seem totally believable given his character (or lack thereof). Even absent his many civil and criminal legal, er, problems, DJT is by no stretch of the imagination presidential material.
Add in those legal entanglements, most notably his Constitutional disability, and we are left with someone who is not only odious, but will become an illegitimate president the moment he takes the oath of office. And, I’ve barely scratched the surface of his villainy and depravity!
Endless hours of commentary and magnums of ink have already been spent on how and why he won the Electoral College vote and eked out the barest of pluralities in the popular vote. Everyone has a different idea and Democrats remain, as always, un-wrangleable cats. Being a Democrat is worse than being a Red Sox fan. The Sox eventually got their shit together. But, you get two Dems together, and you end up with three opinions. It’s aggravating! Besides, all this blothiating is worse than useless, since it distracts from the point at hand: As of 12:01 Monday, January 20 2025, the United States of America will have an illegitimate president, whose government is committed to destroying this country in the interests of making obscenely rich individuals and corporations even richer, while the MAGA controlled Congress bows and scrapes, and rushes to do his bidding. It’s a horror I never expected to experience in my beloved America. I don’t know how – or if – we are going to survive it.
Saturday, January 18, 2025
Friday, January 17, 2025
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Saturday, January 11, 2025
Friday, January 10, 2025
Thursday, January 09, 2025
Friday, January 03, 2025
Thursday, January 02, 2025
Wednesday, January 01, 2025
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
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