Sunday, June 26, 2016

It's Paunch and Palimony Time on Lucifer's Leash



  • Olive in a basket, yesterday.
  • Stills from the collapse of the New World Order as seen by Franz Kafka.
  • A time of disruption.
  • Brexit to Trump.
  • Only a problem of the Elite's weak propaganda: And here is where the failure of imagination proved catastrophic for the established elites. They failed to paint a vision of a better, brighter future. They failed to offer a persuasive account of how much their people had gained. They failed to address the real concerns of their constituents, or to acknowledge that the interests of different constituencies sometimes diverge. They looked at those who pointed to the flaws in the global consensus—from Bernie Sanders to Nigel Farage—and saw only ideologues making outlandish promises.
  • The places we live.
  • Reminder: Brexit (and Trump's candidacy, win or lose) will result in Triskelions doubling down on the policies that purposely created the precarious economic positions that many of the supporters of Brexit and Trump live daily and which created their revolt. 
  • Reminder: Brexit (and Trump's candidacy, win of lose) will be used by Triskelions to thwart resistance from the Left.
  • People who think Triskelions will give back what's stolen....
  • Bomb.




  • That's Dexter, sixteen, met him last night at the house of folk we - o, it doesn't matter. Dexter's a good guy.
  • Star Trek has never been progressive: While The Next Generation is undoubtedly a good show, the later seasons of Deep Space Nine and Voyager have a richness that made them more thought-provoking. Both of these series are meditations on justifying received values with none of the prerequisite material support that makes those values work. How do post-scarcity ethics work when you’re stranded far away from home? What does it mean to uphold exploration as your highest ideal when you are at war? To what lengths will you go to defend utopia? These shows were, as far as I can remember, the last popular pieces of culture that asked us to think in utopian terms. We need that again, especially given how shaky everything feels as of late.
  • 20-Somethings celebrating the 70s?
  • Maggie's weekly links.
  • { feuilleton }'s weekly links.
  • Selfies, contemporary literature, the presumption of interest.
  • The Damned?






THE DAMNED

Rodney Lumsden

Kitten curious, or roaring down drinks   
in Soho sumps, small hours tour buses,   
satellite station green rooms, or conked   

out in the bathtubs of motorway hotels,   
there you were, with muck-about kisses,   
sharking for the snappers, before hell   

opened up for you and weeping sores   
of after fame appeared, the haphazardry   
and dwindling after three limelit years,   

recognized with catcalls, wads of spit,   
a nightclub fist, the scant camaraderie   
melts fast, like your flat on Air Street,   

the Lhasa Apso pups, the wraps and lines   
of chang, the poster pull-outs, fake tan   
smiles. It’s paunch and palimony time   

on Lucifer’s leash. But for a madcap few   
who cling, thin soup, one pillow Britain   
is simmering with hatred, just for you.