michael5mackay
@michael5mackay.bsky.social
Eclectic Curmudgeon
Bookstores and libraries are my happy places.
On the internet, no one knows you're a Canadian.
Bookstores and libraries are my happy places.
On the internet, no one knows you're a Canadian.
Yet another reason why I'm glad I cancelled my subscription to the NYT. They keep trying to entice me back by dropping their price.
If we get to the point where they pay me, I'll reconsider.
If we get to the point where they pay me, I'll reconsider.
January 12, 2026 at 5:07 PM
Yet another reason why I'm glad I cancelled my subscription to the NYT. They keep trying to entice me back by dropping their price.
If we get to the point where they pay me, I'll reconsider.
If we get to the point where they pay me, I'll reconsider.
People who claim that she was a threat are ignoring the obvious evidence to the contrary.
Every day ICE agents blatantly break the law -- IMHO knocking someone's cellphone out of their hands to stop them filming is an assault. Ms. Good's murder was just the most serious crime.
Every day ICE agents blatantly break the law -- IMHO knocking someone's cellphone out of their hands to stop them filming is an assault. Ms. Good's murder was just the most serious crime.
January 11, 2026 at 8:07 PM
People who claim that she was a threat are ignoring the obvious evidence to the contrary.
Every day ICE agents blatantly break the law -- IMHO knocking someone's cellphone out of their hands to stop them filming is an assault. Ms. Good's murder was just the most serious crime.
Every day ICE agents blatantly break the law -- IMHO knocking someone's cellphone out of their hands to stop them filming is an assault. Ms. Good's murder was just the most serious crime.
Same. I started reading the Sunday NYT in 1982, when it was harder to come by than marijuana (in Guelph, Ontario 🇨🇦). A great way to kill an afternoon before the internet.
January 11, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Same. I started reading the Sunday NYT in 1982, when it was harder to come by than marijuana (in Guelph, Ontario 🇨🇦). A great way to kill an afternoon before the internet.
Beat me to it. 👍
January 11, 2026 at 3:18 PM
Beat me to it. 👍
The NYT has always been like this. Check out their reporting on Hitler.
I would only be interested in reading an unedited transcript of the interview. I'm sure an epic amount of sanewashing was conducted.
I would only be interested in reading an unedited transcript of the interview. I'm sure an epic amount of sanewashing was conducted.
January 11, 2026 at 3:17 PM
The NYT has always been like this. Check out their reporting on Hitler.
I would only be interested in reading an unedited transcript of the interview. I'm sure an epic amount of sanewashing was conducted.
I would only be interested in reading an unedited transcript of the interview. I'm sure an epic amount of sanewashing was conducted.
This is not the face of a terrorist or a person who is a threat to *anyone*
January 11, 2026 at 3:08 PM
This is not the face of a terrorist or a person who is a threat to *anyone*
... masturbation. And IMHO we didn't get a good answer until the Enlightenment.
But given where the world, especially America, is today, I don't know that I missed much. 🤷♂️
You've got a tough job these days.
But given where the world, especially America, is today, I don't know that I missed much. 🤷♂️
You've got a tough job these days.
January 7, 2026 at 3:26 PM
... masturbation. And IMHO we didn't get a good answer until the Enlightenment.
But given where the world, especially America, is today, I don't know that I missed much. 🤷♂️
You've got a tough job these days.
But given where the world, especially America, is today, I don't know that I missed much. 🤷♂️
You've got a tough job these days.
I could never get past the first couple of pages of Plato's Republic because he begins by raising, then begging the essential question: "How do refute 'Might makes right' and discourse is futile if those with the might refuse to listen.
I mean, unless there's a good answer, it's just mental /2
I mean, unless there's a good answer, it's just mental /2
January 7, 2026 at 3:26 PM
I could never get past the first couple of pages of Plato's Republic because he begins by raising, then begging the essential question: "How do refute 'Might makes right' and discourse is futile if those with the might refuse to listen.
I mean, unless there's a good answer, it's just mental /2
I mean, unless there's a good answer, it's just mental /2
I only read the back cover. I do have to reread Anthony Powell's Temporary Kings. Maybe this year.
January 5, 2026 at 5:33 PM
I only read the back cover. I do have to reread Anthony Powell's Temporary Kings. Maybe this year.
I think Trump is happy to be remembered by History more than he cares about how History actually judges him. Remember, Trump has always been a creature of publicity, and for some, there is no such thing as bad publicity.
Trump is now an eradicable stain on human history. Like Hitler, etc.
Trump is now an eradicable stain on human history. Like Hitler, etc.
January 5, 2026 at 3:18 PM
I think Trump is happy to be remembered by History more than he cares about how History actually judges him. Remember, Trump has always been a creature of publicity, and for some, there is no such thing as bad publicity.
Trump is now an eradicable stain on human history. Like Hitler, etc.
Trump is now an eradicable stain on human history. Like Hitler, etc.
I agree. You write about Trump becoming Leviathan. It occurred to me last week that Trump is becoming Julius Caesar [the shuttering of NASA's library = the destruction of the Library of Alexandria]. Like Caesar ended the Roman Republic Trump has ended the American Republic.
January 5, 2026 at 3:18 PM
I agree. You write about Trump becoming Leviathan. It occurred to me last week that Trump is becoming Julius Caesar [the shuttering of NASA's library = the destruction of the Library of Alexandria]. Like Caesar ended the Roman Republic Trump has ended the American Republic.
Makes me proud I stopped reading Maureen Dowd in 1998. Her takes on Clinton and Whitewater were the sh*tt**st..
January 3, 2026 at 5:12 PM
Makes me proud I stopped reading Maureen Dowd in 1998. Her takes on Clinton and Whitewater were the sh*tt**st..
Reminds me of this song. History may not repeat exactly, but it sure as hell rhymes:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJBB...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJBB...
The Price of Oil
YouTube video by theDossier
www.youtube.com
January 3, 2026 at 5:09 PM
Reminds me of this song. History may not repeat exactly, but it sure as hell rhymes:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJBB...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJBB...
Didn't Arthur Koestler write a book, aptly titled "The Call-Girls" about this? I've only read Darkness at Noon, but the blurb suggested it.
Also a theme in Temporary Kings -- book 11 in Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time -- which apparently only I read anymore.☹️
Also a theme in Temporary Kings -- book 11 in Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time -- which apparently only I read anymore.☹️
a woman wearing a santa hat says " stop trying to make fetch happen "
Alt: The meme of a GIF of Regina George from Mean Girls saying "Stop trying to make fetch happen" - just like my quest to persuade more people to read Anthony Powell's hilarious 12-novel sequence A Dance to the Music of Time.
media.tenor.com
December 13, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Didn't Arthur Koestler write a book, aptly titled "The Call-Girls" about this? I've only read Darkness at Noon, but the blurb suggested it.
Also a theme in Temporary Kings -- book 11 in Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time -- which apparently only I read anymore.☹️
Also a theme in Temporary Kings -- book 11 in Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time -- which apparently only I read anymore.☹️
Maybe it's no coincidence that a new film of Animal Farm is in the works, presumably not funded by the CIA *this time* which this photo evoked:
"the creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from man to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."
"the creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from man to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."
December 13, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Maybe it's no coincidence that a new film of Animal Farm is in the works, presumably not funded by the CIA *this time* which this photo evoked:
"the creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from man to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."
"the creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from man to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."
Yes, and the spectacle now is Trump losing his mind at an accelerating pace.
For me it evokes a metaphor from George Eliot's Middlemarch that I'll tweak:
Trump has a great brain -- "A great bladder for dried peas to rattle in!”
For me it evokes a metaphor from George Eliot's Middlemarch that I'll tweak:
Trump has a great brain -- "A great bladder for dried peas to rattle in!”
December 10, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Yes, and the spectacle now is Trump losing his mind at an accelerating pace.
For me it evokes a metaphor from George Eliot's Middlemarch that I'll tweak:
Trump has a great brain -- "A great bladder for dried peas to rattle in!”
For me it evokes a metaphor from George Eliot's Middlemarch that I'll tweak:
Trump has a great brain -- "A great bladder for dried peas to rattle in!”
Injuries have not helped, to be fair to the Commanders.
December 7, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Injuries have not helped, to be fair to the Commanders.
IDK. Not torturing people was a big step towards peace.
If the Nobel committee thought Obama deserved the prize for not being as bad as Bush, I'm OK with that.
I just wish they'd also given Biden one for not being as bad as Trump. That alone would probably have been enough to make Trump stroke out
If the Nobel committee thought Obama deserved the prize for not being as bad as Bush, I'm OK with that.
I just wish they'd also given Biden one for not being as bad as Trump. That alone would probably have been enough to make Trump stroke out
December 7, 2025 at 4:02 PM
IDK. Not torturing people was a big step towards peace.
If the Nobel committee thought Obama deserved the prize for not being as bad as Bush, I'm OK with that.
I just wish they'd also given Biden one for not being as bad as Trump. That alone would probably have been enough to make Trump stroke out
If the Nobel committee thought Obama deserved the prize for not being as bad as Bush, I'm OK with that.
I just wish they'd also given Biden one for not being as bad as Trump. That alone would probably have been enough to make Trump stroke out
Bowling Alone has had a 10-year head start, maybe.
I have not read Bowling Alone, but I have read The Pursuit of Loneliness and 120 pages of Thinking F & S, so by the time-honoured tradition of faking it and engaging in some BS-artistry, I can claim at parties to have read both.
I have not read Bowling Alone, but I have read The Pursuit of Loneliness and 120 pages of Thinking F & S, so by the time-honoured tradition of faking it and engaging in some BS-artistry, I can claim at parties to have read both.
November 26, 2025 at 5:13 AM
Bowling Alone has had a 10-year head start, maybe.
I have not read Bowling Alone, but I have read The Pursuit of Loneliness and 120 pages of Thinking F & S, so by the time-honoured tradition of faking it and engaging in some BS-artistry, I can claim at parties to have read both.
I have not read Bowling Alone, but I have read The Pursuit of Loneliness and 120 pages of Thinking F & S, so by the time-honoured tradition of faking it and engaging in some BS-artistry, I can claim at parties to have read both.
Kinda wish he'd straight out called them both PABs; but the Captain has more class than I do.
November 26, 2025 at 5:05 AM
Kinda wish he'd straight out called them both PABs; but the Captain has more class than I do.
Trump loves being the pot that calls the kettle black.
Maybe it's him, not Stephen Miller, who is the vampire. It seems like Trump can't see himself in the mirror.😼
Maybe it's him, not Stephen Miller, who is the vampire. It seems like Trump can't see himself in the mirror.😼
November 26, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Trump loves being the pot that calls the kettle black.
Maybe it's him, not Stephen Miller, who is the vampire. It seems like Trump can't see himself in the mirror.😼
Maybe it's him, not Stephen Miller, who is the vampire. It seems like Trump can't see himself in the mirror.😼