We did the hard work, you got a handout

I finished the book The World in Six Songs; How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature by Daniel Levitin. I had read and enjoyed his earlier book This is Your Brain on Music so when I saw this one I bought it. The title might properly be The World in Six Types of Songs. The author discusses six categories of songs and how each would have influenced the evolution of humans. He also discusses the opposite – how humans developed the capacity to create music while animals cannot. The six types, common to all cultures, are: Social bonding, including helping us develop synchronous movement. Joy, being so joyful we want to sing. Comfort, why we sing lullabyes and why we don’t listen to happy music when we’re sad. Knowledge, more than the ABC song. Religion, music that accompanies rites. And Love. That last one prompted a long discussion of what love is. Decades ago I had heard when the Christian Old Testament (the Jewish Testament) was written down the scribes had to sort through four sources. More modern scholars had identified four threads of influence. The chapter on knowledge songs explained how the ancient text could have had four sources. The reason is that for perhaps the first thousand years of the Jewish story the Torah and other books were not written down, they were sung. Levitin explains how singing influences memorization. But over a thousand years the words and tune would drift, both within a community and between separated communities. So, yes, four (at least) sources. I enjoyed the book and learned from it. But I can recommend the book only to people who have a strong interest in both music and how the brain works. He definitely gets into the details. My writing time has been limited lately, enough that I finished a second book. It is the novel, What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad. The pivotal event is portrayed in the first chapter – a boat full of refugees has come apart and the humans have washed onto the shore of an island. Only one of the travelers is alive. He is Amir and about nine years old. The rest of the book is alternating chapters of Before and After that event. The Before chapters tell about how Amir got onto the boat and what the crossing was like. He, his mother, infant brother, and Quiet Uncle (brother to Loud Uncle) flee the regime in Syria. They get to Alexandria, Egypt and Quiet Uncle buys passage on a ship to smuggle him to the West and Amir also gets on board. As is frequently the case with these sorts of things the passengers pay a lot of money and are duped onto a rickety boat. The crossing is not what they thought they paid for. Because of the structure of the book we know what will happen to most of them. TheAfter chapters are about what happens on the island. It is not named, but presumably is Greek. Amir flees from officials in uniform and is protected by Vänna, a fifteen year old girl. Both don’t know the other’s language. She wants to get him off the island in a way that doesn’t get him bogged down in the official government method of processing refugees. They are pursued by Colonel Kethros, who wants to make sure Amir does go through the approved system. Along the way various characters discuss how the West views refugees and how the island locals view tourists. I enjoyed the book. It sheds important light on what the refugee crisis is about in human terms. Meteor Blades of Daily Kos posted a mashup video, less than 3 minutes long, of scenes of many No Kings protests around the country. In a pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev quoted Zeeshawn Aleem of MSNBC, who discussed the end “protest fatigue.”

In the early months of Trump’s second term, it was common to ask “Where is the resistance?” Whereas Trump’s first inauguration triggered the largest single-day protest in American history, his second inauguration was met with far smaller demonstrations. Combined with Democratic Party leaders’ timidity and a business community that was much more receptive to Trump than in his first term, there was a widespread sense that Trump’s victory had fundamentally demoralized the left and that MAGA was the new normal. ... Another encouraging phenomenon: According to the Crowd Counting Consortium researchers, the total number of protest events this year is far outpacing 2017. That’s a proxy for how organized protest coalitions are — and suggests that activist networks may be building up more extensively than during the comparable part of Trump’s first term.

Kev added:

IMHO, I think that Trump’s popular vote win in the 2024 presidential election accounts for much of the “timidity” and even shock from the Democratic Party overall, including some of the party leadership. (The MSM capitulation, by and large, to MAGA coverage has also been a huge factor in a downplaying of the resistance.) I will note that the mass protests that I have seen televised and even live here in Chicago seem to be better organized than many of the protests during Trump’s first term.

In the comments is a cartoon by DaylieDoodle. It shows an elephant lecturing:

Now remember kids... When we win, it’s because we’ve earned it fair and square. But when you win, the system is rigged. When we catch a break, it’s a reward for our hard work. When you catch a break, it’s a handout. If we stop supporting something, we boycott. If you stop supporting something it’s “cancel culture.” Our extremists have nothing to do with us. But yours are indicative of everything that you believe in. Yearning for what this country used to be is patriotic. And changing it is un-American. And if you aren’t American, you’re the enemy.

Last Thursday Emily Singer of Kos reported that California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla went to a Department of Homeland Security news conference to ask Secretary Kristi Noem a question. She was defending the nasty guy’s use of the military to subdue protests against deportation. Two men forced Padilla out the news conference where FBI agents pushed him to the ground and handcuffed him. DHS accused Padilla of not identifying himself (he had) and that he “chose disrespectful political theatre” and that Secret Service thought he was an attacker. What is known about Padilla’s actions do not sound like an attacker and anything Noem says about the incident is highly suspect. Even if this was disrespectful political theater he did not deserved to be shoved out the door, then pushed to the floor and handcuffed. No one who did what he did deserves it. But this is another instance of the nasty guy’s administration calling law enforcement on Democrats wanting answers about the treatment of immigrants. Last Wednesday Alex Samuels of Kos reported that Elon Musk is trying to mend his relationship to the nasty guy after the spectacular public breakup. About all he said, though, was:

I regret some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week. They went too far.

He didn’t say which of the many posts crossed the line. Though Musk is trying to revive their alliance, the nasty guy may not want him back. Also, the public didn’t rally to Musk’s side. And he still wants those government contracts. The nasty guy did walk back his threat of pull those contracts. The nasty guy went off to the G7 conference, held in Canada this year. He then left early. YourAnonCentral explained the various humiliations he may have felt, prompting him to leave. His microphone was cut off in the middle of a rant against US citizens. He tried to act as a spokesman for Putin. He defended Israel’s attack on Iran as the others called for de-escalation. A picture circulated on him falling asleep at the meeting, prompting the name “DonOld.” He struck a deal with the UK while calling it the EU. Last Friday Bill in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos, quoted late night commentary. Here’s a couple:

"Everyone was talking about Trump being on the Epstein list and fighting with Elon. So what did he do? He manufactured a crisis. He got back to what got him here in the first place—good old xenophobia. I don’t know what happened to the states' rights he thinks so much of when it suits him, but I know I speak for a lot of us here when I say leave us alone here. We don’t need you. We don't need your 'help.' [...] And to those of you in the National Guard who have been thrust into this: when Donald Trump orders you to do something that is immoral, try to get your dad's podiatrist to write a note to say you have bone spurs." —Jimmy Kimmel "Trump's terrible policy has generated a huge backlash, which he's responded to by overreacting, which is gonna generate another backlash. We don’t know how this is gonna end, but at least we know it'll be a huge waste of money. Hello, DOGE? I found some cuts for ya." —The Daily Show's Desi Lydic

Women write about gay love, men not burdened with patriarchy

I finished the book Something Wild and Wonderful by Anita Kelly. The author uses they/them pronouns and has a wife, so a member of the LGBTQ community. Much of the story takes place on the Pacific Crest Trail, a western equivalent of the Appalachian Trail in the east. The PCT is 2652 miles, stretching from the Mexican to the Canadian borders through the Sierra and Cascade mountains. The story is about Alexei and Ben. Both are approaching their 30th birthdays, so delightfully not teenagers. Alexei is from near Portland, OR and on the trail because his parents disowned him because he told them he is gay. They are members of a conservative church. He’s had a few one-night stands and is tired of that. He hopes his time on the trail will help him figure out how to create Alexei 2.0. Ben is from Nashville feels he wasted his 20s in not knowing what he wants in life. He also had a few not good relationships. He got his act together enough to complete nursing school and hopes time on the PCT will settle his restlessness before getting a job. Their “meet cute” is on Alexei’s first day on the trail. He joined the trail a hundred miles from Mexico to skip the worst of the desert. He hears a rattlesnake ahead and puts out his arm to block and protect the people coming up behind him. Of course, at the front of that group is Ben. A couple days later Alexei and Ben meet again. Ben decides to leave the group he’s been hiking with and join Alexei. One reason is to keep Alexei from hiking alone through the dangerous desert. Another reason is he’s attracted to Alexei. From there friendship and love develop. But Alexei is still dealing with his demons. Also, both are wary of the other leaving, unsure of their own commitment, burned by previous relationships, and doubtful they will want to live where the other is from. I downloaded a map of the PCT to follow along, though only 250 miles, the time they fall in love (the first 2/3 of the book), is covered in much detail. I was amused by and saw the great practicality of the PCT map that shows the train, bus, and car routes that cross or are near the trail. The last third of the book shows Alexei dealing with those demons in a healthy way. I enjoyed this gay love story. Krotor of the Daily Kos community discussed Boys’ Love, a multimedia genre that focuses on male relationships. This is the first I’ve heard of that term. Krotor intends to have this as the start of a regular discussion on Kos because the topic is wide. The use of “boys” in the description does not refer to male children. It is used in the same manner as “boys’ night out.” The central characters are late teens to young 30s. And, yes, this is young men falling in love with young men. The genre started in Japan with manga graphic novels. And...

The original Japanese creators — and consumers — of Boys’ Love works were typically heterosexual females. The explanation I have seen most frequently is that straight women enjoy fantasies about men being loving and vulnerable with each other in relationships that are not burdened with the misogyny, patriarchy, constrictive gender roles, and similar negatives that women often experience in their own relationships with straight guys.

In 2014 the genre became international, or at least Southeast Asian. A company in Thailand released Love Sick: The Series that explored male relationships over 51 episodes. In contrast to the sexiness of some of the early manga, Boys’ Love video series usually stick to kissing, and that is usually only a second or two before the scene ends. That kiss tends to come in the last or second-to-last episode. Only a few swear words might keep a show from being rated G. A standard pattern to these shows is two young men are thrown together (perhaps the reason is contrived). Their relationship grows, they must overcome challenges, and they eventually see they’re in love. The focus is on the romance, not sexual desire. The assumption is if the emotional connection is strong enough physical passion will be there. There is no discussion of passion outside of that connection. There seems to be no concept of one-night stands. These are not like Hollywood rom-coms. The characters usually are not driven by lust and don’t shed their clothes to convey passion. Conventional European and American shows derive their tension through the cultural gender wars. But in these shows there are no shortcuts through opposing genders. Instead, the story is about the individuals. They slowly develop an emotional bond and physical attraction grows from that. Homophobia barely exists, if at all. If one of the lads is beaten up, it is because they’re from the opposing sport team and not because they’re gay. Straight friends are supportive of them pursuing a same-sex relationship. And there is no concern that a guy dating a woman flips to dating a man. In Hollywood the woman must be beautiful, but the man doesn’t need to be (how did he end up with her!). But in the Boys’ Love universe both of them are beautiful (and many work as models). These shows are quite popular. Fans call for sequels to keep the relationship going. Fans are disappointed when the actors have love lives away different from their show’s love life, especially if they love a woman. That isn’t entirely the fan’s fault. Sometimes the producers have the actors appear in public together with enough interaction that fans can conclude they’re in love. Krotor discussed US made movies with gay characters. Before the 1980s gay characters were portrayed as perverse and disgusting and worthy of a violent death. In the 1980s AIDS colored the films, but gay men still faced illness, suffering, and death. By the 1990s the gay characters weren’t the butt of jokes and didn’t always die, but they had no serious emotional connections. Unless it was the anguish from coming out. With that sort of portrayal no wonder the religious right was afraid of their children turning gay.

Heck, yeah, I love BL. It finally shows me who we should always have been seen as: strong and valued and loved and loving and happy and deserving of love and happiness. We needed this decades ago and it would have had a tremendous positive impact on gay boys, giving hope and guidance and encouragement as they developed into young gay men. We have it now and I am grateful for it and generations of gay boys to come will be better for it.

This discussion ends with ways to find Boys’ Love stories. I’ll try to see a few of them. And I’ll keep watching for more articles on the topic. Krotor linked to a list on IMDB of 100 Boys’ Love series. The list I saw had only 85 entries. A few of them are rated for mature audiences. I see I’ve seen a couple of them already, two that aren’t from Southeast Asia. They are Heartstopper and Young Royals. A few more are American. I went to another list on My Drama List. The link is for a search that brought up 1939 entries (the first page listed only 20). This list includes trailers. So I watched a couple. The first trailer I watched went so fast I couldn’t keep up with the English subtitles. In the second the subtitles were in Korean. I had written that the satirical news site The Onion had put in a winning bid to purchase Infowars, the site Alex Jones uses to spread conspiracy theories. The Onion announced plans to repurpose the site for good messages rather than destructive ones. Tovia Smith of NPR reported a federal bankruptcy judge blocked the sale. The judge said there was a lack of transparency in the bidding process and that there was a failure to maximize value for the people Jones owes money to. Those people are the parents and family members of the children killed at Sandy Hook. They had sued Jones because he called the shooting that killed 26 children and teachers a hoax. He now owes them a billion dollars. The Infowars show, its equipment, studio, and brand are only a part of the whole package. The families said they liked what The Onion planned to do with the Infowars site and brand and were willing to forego some of what they are owed so that the purchase could proceed. But the judge rejected their argument. So Jones still has the capability of spewing his bile, at least for now, and he did his usual spewing in praise of the judge. I had lunch with my friend and debate partner today. Some of our discussion turned to the momentous events in Syria. He said there are more factions in Syria, some of them Islamist, than we hear about in mainstream media. He was disappointed that the US military targeted several military sites around Syria after Assad left. And he said he would not at all be surprised if Syria fell into civil war as these various factions fight for power and the ability to impose their ideas on the country. In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted a few articles that explain the situation in Syria a bit more. That includes a thread by Raylan Givens that explains the term “Syrian Rebels” actually refers to several groups. Other articles discuss how much the HTS leader can be trusted when he claims religious minorities and women shouldn’t fear his group coming to power. Another pundit roundup by Dworkin has more quotes about Syria. I include it for a tweet by Charles Lister:

With #Assad gone & his brutal regime dissolved, #Syria refugees are already surging back home. There was only ever one solution to the “refugee crisis” & all those who said reinforcing #Assad would resolve it were at best delusional, at worst, complicit in #Assad’s agenda.

The tweet includes a minute long video of a huge traffic backup from all those refugees surging home. Irena Buzarewicz posted a cartoon by John Atkinson that has small images of how two dozen famous artists would depict a Christmas tree. The artists include Picasso, Seurat, Monet, Haring, Pollock, Warhol, Van Gogh, and Dali.

If his dudes are normal the rest of us are abnormal

My Sunday movie was this afternoon at the Detroit Film Theater. I watched Flow by Latvian director Gints Zilbaldis. It’s an animated movie and the viewpoint character is a black cat. There are no humans (though evidence humans were recently around) and the cat (and other animals) are not anthropomorphic. So no need for translation or subtitles. This world has quickly rising water and the cat is soon caught on a rapidly shrinking island. The cat is saved by a passing personal sized sailboat. Onboard is a capybara. Soon joining them is a golden Lab dog, a lemur (who likes glittery human things), and an injured secretary bird. They learn to get along and the cat even jumps into the water to catch fish to offer to the others. The journey continues until the water recedes. This is a beautiful movie. The scenery is almost photographic in quality. That’s even true for the camera dipping into and out of the water. The various animals act like that type of animal would, especially the cat and the dog. It’s also an interesting story. I highly recommend it. Even so, there were some disconcerting elements. While the background looks quite photorealistic the animals are much less so. I have strong doubts the animals could figure out what the boat’s rudder is for, yet they do. When the water recedes it happens way too quickly. And when the bird dies (ascends to heaven?) the scene is quite beautiful but out of realistic character of the rest of the movie. I still highly recommend it. Over the last eleven days the Syrian resistance to the tyranny of President Bashar al-Assad seems to have come from a dozen years of hiding to capture one major city after another, reaching capital Damascus this morning. Assad has fled and may have died in a plane crash. A few of the quotes in a pundit roundup by Chitown Kev for Daily Kos discuss the fall of the regime. These quotes and a roundup from Friday by Greg Dworkin explain why the downfall was so swift. Assad had been looting his country which put about 90% in poverty and the economy in shambles. Assad’s backers, the ones who made sure he stayed in power, were occupied with their own problems – Russia in Ukraine and Iran in Lebanon, Gaza, and Yemen. The resistance had many years to train. They made good use of their chance to strike. Dworkin also quoted Carlos Lozada of the New York Times who discussed comments by Pete Hegseth, nominated to head the Department of Defense. Hegseth said he wants for the military “normal dudes” who are “Strong. Tough. From Nowhereville, America, just like me.” Lozada added:

When you define one group as normal dudes doing normal stuff, the rest are reduced to various forms of abnormality. In Hegseth’s world, some people are just weird, at odds with his beloved normal dudes.

Greg Sargent of The New Republic wrote that the nasty guy wants to roll back the incentives for manufacturing green energy technologies. But Republicans are enjoying the money that came to their districts and want it to continue. Jesse Ferguson of The Hill suggests Democrats skip talking about “resistance” and instead should talk about how the nasty guy and Republican policies to benefit the rich are a “betrayal” of the working class voters who gave them the victory. Down in the comments exlrrp posted a meme of a woman holding a sign saying, “I’ve seen smarter cabinets @ Ikea.” And further down exlrrp posted a cartoon (uncredited) of a woman talking to her husband:

Do you think it might help to learn the difference between “being silenced” and just, like, a bunch of people not wanting to hear you talk any more?

Chronic illness is better for business

I had reported that the nasty guy and the GOP were working out ways to undo the Democratic gains in the last federal spending bill. One route is to ask Congress to vote on a list of freezes. Even though only a simple majority is needed, two senators, Collins of Maine and Murkowski of Alaska, said no. They and the rest of the GOP struggled to get a deal and don’t want to go back on votes that benefit their constituents. They also know if they blow up Dem projects they’ll get no help on the budget deal due in October. And for that one they can’t squeeze by on a simple majority. Or want a shutdown fight just before the election.

Even so, Budget Director Mick Mulvaney is proceeding with creating a list of budget items to be rolled back. He’ll have it ready for Congress by the end of the month.

Perhaps he’s preparing for the alternate option – just don’t spend the money.



The people working in gene therapy are looking for “one shot cures” that will get patients back to health. But Salveen Richter of Goldman Sachs wrote to gene therapy companies:

The potential to deliver ‘one shot cures’ is one of the most attractive aspects of gene therapy, genetically-engineered cell therapy and gene editing. However, such treatments offer a very different outlook with regard to recurring revenue versus chronic therapies. While this proposition carries tremendous value for patients and society, it could represent a challenge for genome medicine developers looking for sustained cash flow.

Translation: Controlling a chronic illness is better for business than a cure.

An example of that is HIV. It can now be controlled with medication, but can’t be cured. Will a cure be suppressed because it kills off a long-term revenue stream?



Melissa McEwan of Shakesville took a look at the nasty guy’s bragging tweets in the leadup to bombings in Syria. He had said:

Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!”

Some will see this as standing up to Putin. Finally! McEwan and others see it differently, as in: here’s a “friendly” warning so that you have time to get your assets out of the way. Always looking out for the interests of Russia.



Then McEwan looks at that pardon of Scooter Libby. He’s the only guy in the Bush II administration that was actually held accountable. A nice gift from one prez with contempt for the law to another. It is also a signal to those under investigation by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller. Fall on your swords to protect me and I’ll pardon you. Yeah, that’s obstruction of justice, but done in a way hard to prove.

Cyprus!

The parliament in Cyprus has approved civil partnerships. The legislation does not include adoption rights. The bill passed 39-12 with 3 abstentions. An effective date has not yet been set.

In Europe 14 nations have legalized same-sex marriage (though not in effect in all yet), 9 have civil unions, and 8 nations along the eastern edge of the continent have no recognition of same-sex couples.



Canada has laid out plans to accept more Syrian refugees. Families, women, children, and gay men will be welcomed. Straight men traveling alone will likely be excluded. Interesting... a case where there is an advantage to being gay.



According to Pew Research white Christians now make up less than half of the US population. The only place white Christians maintain a steady and solid majority is in the GOP where 70% of those who identify or lean towards the GOP are white Christians. This is part of why they feel backed into a corner and are lashing out.



The Federal Elections Commission produced a map of America in which states are colored by the majority of their delegation in the US House. All is red except the western coastal states, the northeast, and Minnesota, Illinois, and New Mexico. Yeah it makes the red menace look overwhelming. But is the GOP a healthier party than the Dems? The map does not represent the size of the delegations (California would be huge and Montana smaller than Rhode Island) and does not show the size of each state's majority. Click on the link and scroll down as a commenter has supplied a cartogram that does show the relative size of the delegations. The GOP healthy? Maybe not. But they are good at gerrymandering, suppressing the vote, and pulling all kinds of other election tricks.



I missed mentioning Transgender Day of Remembrance held each November to commemorate those transgender people killed in the last year. The number is up this year, though part of that is likely better reporting. For this year's Day of Remembrance trans artists have created a bunch of wonderful posters.

Sponsor a Syrian refugee

More than a week has passed since the terrorist attacks in Paris. Much of what we've been hearing in America has been state governors (including the one in Michigan) wanting to pause the acceptance of Syrian refugees. We've also been hearing a lot from GOP prez. candidates on which one will be the biggest badass ready to blow ISIS to smithereens. Terrence Heath has been keeping tabs on what conservative have been saying.

According to Heath and Melissa McEwen of Shakesville, among many other voices, these candidates and many conservative voices are giving the terrorists exactly what they want. McEwen quotes ISIS literature to explain. The goal of ISIS is to destroy the "grayzone" of what they see as half-hearted Muslims. Their plan is to attack the West and get the West to retaliate, not just against ISIS but to get the Islamophobia pot boiling and attack Muslims in general. Thus these moderate Muslims would be radicalized and pushed to join ISIS, resulting in an all-out holy war of Muslims against Christians.

And what are all these GOP candidates doing? Getting the Islamophobia pot boiling so that ordinary Americans have the political cover flaunt their bigotry and make life rough for Muslims in America and elsewhere in the West. They are the best recruitment tool that ISIS could ask for.

McEwen adds:

What happened in Paris isn't because of the refugee crisis, it's why the refugee crisis exists in the first place.

The refugees are fleeing the Middle East to escape the people who planned and carried out the Paris attacks. They are fleeing because most of the those killed by ISIS are Muslims, ones ISIS considers too moderate and accommodating.

Military strikes that kill civilians, fearmongering, and shutting the door on refugees means adding to the violence these refugees are trying to escape. That only escalates the violence, it doesn't lead to its end.

So what should we do? How about putting our Christian values to work? The central message of the Bible isn't "No room at the Inn." Want to defeat ISIS? Sponsor a Syrian refugee.

As for the nonsense that Muslim = terrorist, meet Adel Termos of Beirut who tackled a terrorist so the bomb being detonated killed only the bomber and Termos and not a host of others.

Or consider the story of Arnesa Buljusmic-Kustura and Laila Alawa, who describe how thoroughly they were vetted before coming to America.

Fortunately Obama appears to understand that and isn't spouting the "smash them to smithereens" rhetoric. I'm glad he's the Commander in Chief right now.

Alas, the fearmongering done by the GOP candidates is no match for Obama's quiet style. 53% of Americans want the program to welcome Syrian refugees to be suspended.

I'm not sure where I read this (and can't find the link), but it resonated me. My version: There are some who will put up with a higher threat of terror on American soil if it means more Syrians are welcomed and made to feel safe. There are some who won't, who insist there must be no possibility of terror, even if tens of thousands of refugees are caught in the war zone. There are some who will welcome higher taxes if it means all children, especially poor children, are given a good education and a chance at a job that will support them. And there are some who won't, who insist their money is for their use alone, no matter the plight of others. There are some who welcome higher taxes for a robust safety net, so all Americans are properly fed and sheltered, who recognize we are all made safer and all are enriched when all are cared for. And there are some who won't. There are some who recognize that gov't regulation protects all citizens from corporate predators, unsafe food, and pollution. And some who refuse to see.

M world is made better when we take in the refugee, educate even the poor, provide all with basic needs, and protect the environment. It is worthwhile even if I give up some safety and give up some coin. My humanity is at stake.