Fragments of a blog
Fragments of a blog
Slate ran an interview yesterday with a healthcare worker in South Dakota focused on the Covid crisis and Covid denialism in the state. Having skimmed it, I believe the stressed-out nurse who said that sufferers denied having Covid “until their…
A nurse in South Dakota says some of her patients refuse to believe they are infected with Covid-19 until their dying breath – literally. Some would rather be told they had the flu, pneumonia, even lung cancer (!) – anything…
Last Friday, I wrote that election fraud isn’t all that easy to pull off even in a polity dominated by a single party. Even in Russia. Now think about a fiercely competitive environment such as a swing state, like Georgia,…
Up until recently, Putin’s regime committed fraud at every important election. It wasn’t that easy, even though the perpetrators were told they would never face prosecution. In fact, having independent or opposition party observers at polling stations all but closed…
Dr. Bedřich Welfer is an episodic but memorable character in Jaroslav Hašek’s great novel, The Good Soldier Švejk. Welfer’s uncle left him a generous allowance in his will, enabling the lucky nephew to remain a student of medicine for as…
An American (apparently) freelance writer writes of his experience working for what turned out a Russian operation posing as a “progressive global news outlet.” PeaceData, seemingly a leftwing news outlet, offered me a column. I should have known it was…
Orwell’s 1984 begins comically: It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. “Oh the horror of the continental (Papist) 24-hour clock! Anything but that!” sneered John Dolan. Good enough, but there’s also the obvious…
From time to time, Google Photos sends out “Rediscover This Day” messages, showing users their pictures from the same day a year or years earlier. When you’re grounded and the coronavirus outlook is uncertain, these reminders can be disconcerting: “Will…
As reported by CNN Business: The United States is “looking at” banning Chinese social media apps, including TikTok, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday. Pompeo suggested the possible move during an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, adding that…
It is said that the 1967 song Comme d’habitude, the French precursor to My Way, was …a bleak reflection on the breakup of his [Claude François’s] affair with [France] Gall. François co-wrote the lyrics with Gilles Thibaut; Jacques Revaux composed…
The infamous Minnesota policeman shares a last name with Nicolas Chauvin, the “legendary, possibly apocryphal” French soldier who inspired the term “chauvinism.” In its turn, the surname Chauvin can be traced back to the French adjective chauve, “bald,” ultimately from…
Facebook moves to limit spread of ‘Boogaloo’ groups after charges, Reuters reports. What’s this boog-a-loo thing? Facebook Inc is making it harder to find user groups associated with the term “Boogaloo,” which refers to a potential U.S. civil war or…