Fourth is Vision, just before he dies (?): "I have been a voice with no body, a body but not human, and now a memory made real. Who knows what I might be next?"
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I'm already dreading how the democracy reform debate will play into the media's worst both-sides tendencies.
Viewed through the lens of partisan politics, it just looks like both parties fighting for policies that will get them more votes. That's the "savvy" take.
In reality, voter fraud, of the kind Republicans claim to be addressing with their wave of state-level voter-suppression bills, is a myth. In this debate, the GOP is acting purely for partisan interest, against the public interest. Meanwhile ...
... the flaws Dems mean to address with HR1, DC statehood, etc., *really are* problems. They really do distort the fairness of the system. In this debate, the Dems are acting simultaneously for partisan interest & for the public interest. That just breaks "savvy" brains.
This morning around 10am, I pulled up the shades only to be near-blinded by the clearest, most intense 🌞 in months. I may have hissed a little. 🧛♂️
By noon, it had turned a thick, gloomy dark, as though dementors were afoot. 👻
It rained a bit & then cleared up again by 3pm, when the 🦮🐕🦺 & I started our walk through Carkeek Park.
It slowly got dark again. I was looking at a tissue in my hand when (I know it sounds weird) a camera flash came out of it. 📸🤔
I had one second to think "wtf?" when ...
CRACK!🌩️ The single loudest thunder I've ever heard in my life. Not a deep boom but a flat clap, like air compressing & sizzling. It sounded like it was 20 feet over my head. I *felt* it. The dogs & I all jumped in the air.
And that was it. One ⚡️, one thunder, then no more.
Voters don't care about Senate procedure. Ending the filibuster needs to be tied to protecting voting rights from the nationwide assault launched by state Republicans. The only way to move intransigent senators is to build grassroots & party pressure around preserving democracy.
Every single Democrat -- voters, pols, activists, wonks, leftists, moderates -- needs to be made to understand that the next two years will determine at least the next decade of US politics. Dems throw democracy a life preserve (filibuster be damned) or it goes under.
There should be marches & rallies & petitions. Every senator's inbox & voicemail should be overflowing. Celebrities should be making clever song videos about it. Jimmy Fallon should be talking about it in his monologue. The volume should be deafening: save US democracy.
All right as long as I'm procrastinating, lemme clarify: I loved Wanda & Vision. Her grief gave the whole thing (even the messy finale) some heft, as did Bettany's lovely grace as Vision. If it had just been about them through the sitcoms, I'd have loved it. However ...
... everything else in the show turned out to be pointless. The SWORD stuff, the quippy doctor, Monica Rambeau -- what did they actually do? What effect did they have on the course of events or the outcome? If they were subtracted, what would change?
On a serious note, though: for most of human history, in most places, people lived in multi-generational households in walkable settlements that featured regular, unplanned interactions with neighbors. America's decision ...
... to glorify the nuclear family & to isolate each nuclear family in its own separate suburban castle, thus eliminating 98% of spontaneous community interactions ... is responsible for soooooo many of our current social & political dysfunctions.
This is probably bad of us, by my 17yo and I are reading this story & it is prompting gales of laughter. What do you do when "charismatic Christian revivalist prophets" disagree with one another? What are the criteria for evaluating such things? politico.com/news/magazine/…
Honestly, every paragraph feels like a perfect set-up and a punchline.
Sincerely: how does one "reform" a movement based on supposed religious revelations of prophecy? Testing prophecies agains reality? That sounds a little like science. So ... what? What exactly is the proposal to maintain "spiritual integrity"?