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America, History, Liberty, Never Trump, Politics, Trump

After This Conflict Is Won

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These last years have been difficult, and one can reasonably expect worse from Trumpism before that ideology is consigned – as it will be – to the political outer darkness. A necessary condition for optimism is an understanding of the present from which one can build a better future. (Local boosterism and babbittry are failures…

America, Blogging, History, Newspapers, Press, Press Release, Public Relations

Sullivan on Public Officials as Reporters

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Editors of small-town newspapers sometimes lack the judgment (and self-respect) to remain independent of government.  During these lapses of decision-making, one finds that elected or appointed officials become, themselves, reporters on their own stories.  (For a case like this in Whitewater involving a school board member, see Public Officials Should Not Be Reporters.) Margaret Sullivan, of the…

Cats, History, Music

Hep the Hepcat (December 1946)

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From the Library of Congress: Caption from Down Beat: Probably no dance band ever has played to so many empty tables consistently as the Sam Donahue ork [orchestra] during the recent double booking with Lionel Hampton at the Aquarium. The operators decreed that Sam should play afternoons, and the place isn’t open in the afternoon!…

America, Babbittry, City, History, New Media, Newspapers, Press, Social Media, Writing

The Media’s ‘Post-Advertising’ Future

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Nationally and locally, the media (whether profit or non-profit) continue their significant transformation: the decline of print, the rise of (interactive) digital media, and the collapse of a middle-of-the-road partnership of boosterism between mediocre newspapers and middling officials. Print’s doomed, and so is digital that merely repeats the same banal style of contemporary print. Traditional…

Cats, History

Friday Catblogging: Cat Mummies

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Amanda Erickson reports Archaeologists have discovered dozens of cat mummies in an ancient Egyptian tomb: On Saturday, Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities announced that a team of archaeologists had uncovered dozens of mummified cats, along with 100 wooden cat statues and a bronze bust of Bastet, the ancient Egyptian goddess of cats. The artifacts, found in a tomb…