Have you heard about the completely insane story of a transgender student in Illinois and the locker room drama surrounding her?

I really, really hope that this presidential election will not be lost on the strength of the bathroom debate like Houston’s HERO bill was. Yes, I know HERO was not about bathrooms but all that matters is how the voters perceived it.

If this presidential election is diverted into the bathroom / locker room territory, that’s it, the Dems are done. As Zygmunt Bauman keeps pointing out, identity will win over the economy every single time.

So Rubio is going for every stereotype of a white Cuban boy: lazy, a Momma’s boy, and handy with somebody else’s credit card.

Cute. All that’s left is for a couple of black mistresses to surface and the image will be complete.

Forbes decided to throw a childish tantrum in Obama’s direction and proclaimed Putin the most powerful person on the planet. Of course, the powerful Putin made a total ass of himself in Ukraine and was so embarrassed about it that he’s now making an ass of himself in Syria to get people to forget his pathetic trouncing at the hands of Ukrainians.

His powerfulness is not managing to prevent Russian airplanes falling out of the sky like overripe pears or the country’s economy sinking like it’s trying to compete with the Titanic.

One can only wonder what Mr. Powerful will do after Syrians whoop his ass the way they know how to do and oil prices sink to under $35 per barrel.

What is the purpose of this portrait of Putin? Who is supposed to use it and how?

The correct answer is under the fold.

Continue reading “The Vagaries of Putinism: A Riddle” →

So you know how I hate movies, right? There is one movie, though, that I can watch time and again and again and again and never tire of it.

The movie is Groundhog Day.

It’s no masterpiece but I LOVE the rigid, repetitive structure. The sound of that song that plays over the radio every time the clock hits 6 am is hypnotic because it’s always the same.

This is the reason I love Law & Order, too. The structure is very predictable, and I dig that.

No, I haven’t had a lot of stability in my life.