The Weird Times
Inner Monologues and Desultory Reporting from Outer Spaces
The Weird Times: Issue 129, October 30, 2022 (V3 #25)
“The Republican Party’s diminished base has now shifted toward backing a strong government that will impose its will on the rest of us, while for all their disagreements—or perhaps because of them—Democrats have demonstrated that lawmakers across a wide spectrum of political beliefs really can work together to pass popular legislation.”—Heather Cox Richardson
“I fear what we may be witnessing right now is that private/corporate ownership of the media has now become fundamentally incompatible with democracy.”—Prof. Michael E. Mann
Go out and do something.
It isn’t your room that’s a prison,
it’s yourself.—Sylvia Plath
Politicking
Mike Davis, ‘City of Quartz’ author who chronicled the forces that shaped L.A., dies, Carolina A. Miranda, LA Times, 10/25/22. Book: City of Quartz
American Jews start to think the unthinkable, Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 10/28/22: “We have flourished under the shelter of the principles behind the First Amendment, and we have been protected by the absolute belief in the rule of law. Without these, Jews, start packing suitcases.”
How Republicans Weaponized Lies to Incite Their Followers: On What Was Behind the January 6 Insurrection, Robert Draper, LitHub, 10/24/22. “We need to always remember the two lies that, if they hadn’t been told over and over, we wouldn’t have had the insurrection. ”Book: Weapons of Mass Delusion: When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind
‘A madness has taken hold’ ahead of US midterms: local election officials fear for safety: In two rural California counties, voters are showing increasing hostility and aggression toward election workers, Dani Anguiano, The Guardian, 10/27/22
The Making of a Leftist: My trajectory from teenage progressive to democratic socialist, Luke Savage, The Atlantic, 10/24/22: “…the upshot has been an ever-narrowing field of political contestation in which fundamental questions are off the table and much of what remains is the orderly management of discontent in an unequal and unstable world.”
How the Supreme Court Failed to Stop the Brutal Relocation of Indigenous American Nations: On the Legal Challenges to Racist Presidential Policy That Led to The Trail of Tears, Joel Richard Paul, LitHub, 10/25/22: “No other president before or since has failed to enforce an order of the Supreme Court.” Book: Indivisible: Daniel Webster and the Birth of American Nationalism
The midterms are a referendum on democracy in America and Ukraine, Max Boot, Washington Post, 10/24/22: “These elections are actually a referendum on whether you favor the continuation of democracy in America — and Ukraine.”
That Cardboard Box in Your Home Is Fueling Election Denial: A previously unreported boom in profits for the shipping supply giant Uline has provided the funds for a deeply conservative Midwestern family to bankroll anti-democracy causes around the country, Justin Elliott, Megan O’Matz, Doris Burke, ProPublica, 10/26/22. Try Ecoenclose instead.
The Impeachment of Joe Biden: And possibly Kamala Harris, and Merrick Garland, and Alejandro Mayorkas, and Antony Blinken, Barton Gellman, The Atlantic, 10/26/22: “Sometime next year, after an interval of performative investigations, Republicans in the House are going to impeach Joe Biden.”
The "fix" is in, Judd Legum, Rebecca Crosby, Popular Information, 10/25/22: “The group dedicated to helping Republican candidates for secretary of state win is called the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC)…. the RSLC has publicly supported voter suppression efforts across the country.”
The New Nihilists: These midterms are proving how deep the GOP rot runs, Sarah Longwell, Persuasion, 10/27/22: “Plenty of Americans still crave moral leadership—”
The GOP: Breaking Our Democracy One State at a Time, Marc Elias, Democracy Docket, 10/26/22: “There are no dog whistles left in the GOP; they have been replaced by blaring sirens of authoritarianism.”
Ex-Black Panther asks for fresh trial amid new evidence: New evidence shows that the conviction of Mumia Abu-Jamal – who has spent over 40 years in prison – was tainted, prompting calls for a re-examination, Ed Pilkington, The Guardian, 10/26/22
Meeting a Crying Need: How the Women of the Jane Collective Revolutionized the Abortion Conversation: On the Hidden History of Pre-Roe Abortion, Laura Kaplan, LitHub, 10/27/22: “Jane determined to take control of the abortion process so that the women who turned to Jane could have control as well.”
How 5 Black female clergy leaders are building a network of climate activists: The Black Church-The Green Movement is training hundreds of pastors across the country to educate their congregations on climate change and environmental racism, Talib Visram, Fast Company, 10/26/22
The United States’ Unamendable Constitution: How our inability to change America’s most important document is deforming our politics and government, Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 10/26/22: “An unamendable constitution is not an American tradition.”
Fetterman deserves our respect, not ridicule, after the U.S. Senate debate | Editorial: The Democratic nominee could become a role model in helping the nation better understand that a person’s struggles can also be a source of strength, Editorial Board, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/27/22
Why Did Vikings Appear Out of Nowhere? And How That Helps Explain Incels Today, Tomas Pueyo, Uncharted Territories, 10/28/22: “Geography and history shouldn’t be memorized. They should be understood.”
The end of the system of the world: A critical point has been reached; decoupling is for real this time, Noah Smith, Noahpinion, 10/26/22: “The old world-economic system of Chimerica is being swept away, and something new will take its place…”
The Economy Is Still Robust: Will the Fed take that health as a cue to keep strangling it? Robert Kuttner, American Prospect, 10/28/22
‘A change of heart’: sympathies shift toward migrants in Texas border town: Eagle Pass has been a way station for undocumented immigrants for years, but recently their numbers have grown – and residents are divided, Alexandra Villareal, The Guardian, 10/29/22
How China Exerts Its Power: The country has developed a network of institutions designed to silence its critics, enhance its reputation abroad, and use the strengths of the American university system for its own benefit, John Metz, Seth Kaplan, Persuasion, 10/26/22
The War in Ukraine and the Question of Genocide: Genocide is underway. If we don't see it, the failure is ours, Timothy Snyder, Thinking About, 10/29/22: “the core problem is that we do not want to believe that a genocide is going on, because that would make us bystanders.”
As all the Heavens were a Bell,
And Being, but an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange Race,
Wrecked, solitary, here
—From “I felt a Funeral, in my brain,” by Emily Dickinson, Adapted into a song by Andrew Bird, sung by Andrew Bird and Phoebe Bridgers
Environment and Science
COVID-19 Origins: Investigating a “Complex and Grave Situation” Inside a Wuhan Lab: The Wuhan Institute of Virology, the cutting-edge biotech facility at the center of swirling suspicions about the pandemic’s onset, was far more troubled than previously known, explosive documents unearthed by a Senate research team reveal. Following the trail of evidence, Vanity Fair and ProPublica provide the clearest picture yet of a laboratory institute in crisis, Katherine Eban, Jeff Kao, Vanity Fair, 10/28/22
World close to ‘irreversible’ climate breakdown, warn major studies: Key UN reports published in last two days warn urgent and collective action needed – as oil firms report astronomical profits, Damian Carrington, The Guardian, 10/27/22
Why More and More Girls Are Hitting Puberty Early: A pandemic-era rise in early puberty may help physicians to better understand its causes, Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 10/27/22
A Plan to Cool Off the Hottest Neighborhoods: As the climate changes, hyperlocal projects are helping keep disadvantaged areas livable, Emma Marris, The Atlantic, 10/26/22
Climate Activists Are Waging a New Kind of Legal Fight: In the face of bigger wildfires, deadlier floods, and more extreme weather, plaintiffs around the world are taking up a new tactic: suing for the damage climate change has already wrought, Isabella Kaminski, Hakai, 10/25/22
Global Energy Report: Pain at the Pump, High Energy Costs Could Create a Silver Lining for Climate and Security: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the reverberation in energy markets will hasten the transition to clean energy, and peak fossil fuel use is fJames Bruggers, Inside Climate News, 10/27/22
'Our horses are ready': Native Americans and white farmers form an unlikely alliance to oppose a pipeline in the Dakotas: "Maybe the Native Americans weren't all wrong," said Ed Fischbach, a South Dakota farmer who's against the Summit carbon capture pipeline, which would cross five states, Gretchen Morgenson, Karla Hult, Andrew Davis, Lydia Bermel, Claire Boldt, Fricka Lindemann, Anna Mulhern, NBC News, 10/25/22
Last Resort: Moving Endangered Species in Order to Save Them: Scientists have long warned that climate change and other threats will require relocating some endangered species outside their historic ranges. Now, U.S. officials are proposing rules that would enable them to use this new — and potentially controversial — conservation tool, Zach St. George, Yale Environment 360, 10/27/22
How scientists want to make you young again: Research labs are pursuing technology to “reprogram” aging bodies back to youth, Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review, 10/25/22
How Genes Can Leap From Snakes to Frogs in Madagascar: The discovery of a hot spot for horizontal gene transfer draws attention to the possible roles of parasites and ecology in such changes, Veronique Greenwood, Quanta, 10/27/22
Thawing Permafrost Exposes Old Pathogens—and New Hosts: Climate change is disrupting delicate arctic habitats, which could unearth frozen viruses and transport them elsewhere, Grace Browne, Wired, 10/27/22
How Food Powers Your Body: Metabolism, which unleashes the energy in what you eat, may be nature’s most electrifying invention, James Somers, New Yorker, 10/25/22
Cancer drugs are closing in on some of the deadliest mutations: The protein KRAS, mutated in many cancers, was deemed ‘undruggable’. Now scientists are hoping to save lives with a batch of new compounds that target it, Heidi Ledford, Nature, 10/25/22
The ‘Brightest of All Time’ Gamma-Ray Burst Sparks a Supernova Hunt: Telescopes around the world are capturing photons from the blast, and researchers anticipate exciting discoveries ahead, Katrina Miller, Wired, 10/26/22
Books and Culture
Jerry Lee Lewis, notorious US rock’n’roll star, dies aged 87: Artist’s songs such as Great Balls of Fire helped install rock’n’roll as the dominant American pop music of the 1950s, Ben Beaumont-Thomas, The Guardian, 10/28/22. Song: “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”
Longtime Santa Cruz resident, folk music icon Mary McCaslin dies at 76, PK Hattis, Mercury News, 10/17/22. Song: “Circle of Friends”
A Unified Field Theory of Bob Dylan: He’s in his eighties. How does he keep it fresh? David Remnick, New Yorker, 10/24/22: “I just opened up a different door in a different kind of way. . . . I thought I was just extending the line.”
Controversy In a case litigating Andy Warhol’s use of a photograph of Prince, the Supreme Court wades into the uncomfortable territory where art criticism and copyright law collide, Liza Batkin, NY Review of Books, 10/25/22
Poetry After Bucha: On Ukraine, Russia, and the Demands War Makes of Language: "There’s no such thing as peace without justice,” Serhiy Zhadan, LitHub, 10/26/22: “As long as we have our language, we have, at the very least, the vague chance to articulate ourselves, speak the truth, and tidy up our memories. So we speak and we go on speaking. Even when words hurt our throats.”
If Everything is Forgiven in End: Like That, Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin, The Newsletter with ECM, 10/26/22: “It is possible, I now realize, to forgive just for the sake of your own body, for the sake of your own soul, for the sake of being able to breathe again, because you have decided to release yourself from so much malignant and incendiary rage.”
The Hold of Slavery: In the archive of slavery, I encountered a paradox: the recognition of the slave’s humanity and status as a subject extended and intensified servitude and dispossession, Saidiya Hartman, NY Review of Books, 10/24/22
H.D.’s Art of Failure: The modernist poet’s autobiographical novel “HERmione,” written in 1927 but not published until 1981, recounts a bisexual love triangle from her youth, Charlie Tyson, New Yorker, 10/21/22: “This work, which shows H.D. discarding her identity as “perfect Imagist” in favor of something wilder and more reckless, is itself an elaborate account of imperfection as a route to artistic creation.” Book: Hermione
Welcome to hell, Elon: You break it, you buy it, Nilay Patel, The Verge, 10/28/22: “Twitter is a disaster clown car company that is successful despite itself, and there is no possible way to grow users and revenue without making a series of enormous compromises that will ultimately destroy your reputation and possibly cause grievous damage to your other companies.”
The latest Writerscast podcast episode is an interview with children’s author and therapist Cornelia Maude Spelman about her excellent memoir, Missing, which recounts her search for family stories and solutions to some of the mysteries in her life. Book: Missing: A Memoir
Birdland
Feeling down in the dumps? Try BIRDWATCHING! Researchers say seeing or hearing birds helps lift your mood, Xantha Leatham, Daily Mail, 10/27/22
Birds are so specialized to their homes, it shows in their bones: 3D images of avian skeletons help scientists understand the role of ecology in evolution, Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 10/26/22
Better buildings for the birds, Alex Fitzpatrick, Axios, 10/24/22: “Windows can be modified to be less reflective, giving birds a better chance of seeing and avoiding them.”
Climate change could quiet prairie birds’ chirping: Virtual model predicts birdsong is dampened by drought-induced drier air, Molly Magid, Science, 10/18/22
in October all
color returns
to the forest floor. who
cast shadows perish
to the life
of the sun
—from “Graphite,” Linda Parker, 1976
Shadows are fallin' and I'm runnin' out of breath
Keep me in your heart for a while
If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less
—from “Keep Me in Your Heart,” Warren Zevon, sung by Eddie Vedder
“I have the feeling that we let our consciences realize too late the need of standing up against something that we knew was wrong. We have therefore had to avenge it, but we did nothing to prevent it. I hope that in the future, we are going to remember that there can be no compromise at any point with the things that we know are wrong.”— Eleanor Roosevelt
The future Eleanor Roosevelt was talking about is now. No compromise is right. Much love to all, and keep on working for a better future. —David