Don Hall 1/22/21 Don Hall 1/22/21

The Angels of Our Better Nature Are a Lesson Away

Reframing it a second and it looks like the vast majority of people are not engaged in conflict, violence, and overt racism in the country.

Elizabeth Harper 1/21/21 Elizabeth Harper 1/21/21

What's Your Poison?

All revolutions squashed or co-opted.
Capitalism's rejects find solace
in the community of 12-Step programs,
addiction as group identity.

Joe Janes 1/20/21 Joe Janes 1/20/21

President Joe Biden’s Other First 100 Days List

61) Climb Mount Rushmore in a yellow jumpsuit and dangle from Teddy Roosevelt’s nose

Don Hall 1/19/21 Don Hall 1/19/21

The Phrase That Pays in the Age of Massive Conspiracies and Tribalism

In order to be shared values, people within the culture have to find agreement on the fundamentals of the narrative. No agreement, no shared values, and the result is a series of competing cultural narratives. The result is a whole room full of people screaming at each other their sometimes bizarre, sometimes lunatic tribal memes.

Don Hall 1/18/21 Don Hall 1/18/21

I Believe... [in Public Dildo Stories]

...that the problem with telling a dildo story in a off-shoot casino bar and grill is that there might be a kid somewhere in the room who will overhear it. On the other hand, any kid today who hasn’t heard about dildos is far too sheltered with the ideological plastic helmet to survive past ten years old.

Paul Teodo 1/16/21 Paul Teodo 1/16/21

He Served

The guy had a silver chain that dangled from his left front pocket to his right, perfectly outlining his brief-less testicles. He looked at The Buff, smiled, and yanked out a pocket watch the size of a hockey puck from his faded Levis and said, “ten… p.m., fat boy.” His droopy white walrus mustache did a lousy job of concealing his shit-eating grin.

David Himmel 1/15/21 David Himmel 1/15/21

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of January 10, 2021

The life hack to being a better person is to wake up every day determined to prove your spouse wrong.

Guest User 1/14/21 Guest User 1/14/21

Three Graces At Beggar's Monument

A cigarette appeared in Cy’s mouth like a jump cut.

“I’m like Peter Pan and ya’ll are my misfit toys.” He scratched his gut over the smoothed down 4x t-shirt.

“The lost boys.” Jetta corrected him thru her own cigarette. “This is what we do when we come back from running away.”

She sat and bolted one from the freshly opened bottle.

Joe Janes 1/13/21 Joe Janes 1/13/21

Suspicious New Forum Member @HelloFellowYoungLadyTaylorSwiftFans

The China Flu would be much worse if Trump had not taken SWIFT action.

Don Hall 1/12/21 Don Hall 1/12/21

The Rise and Fall of Free Speech: What Big Tech Giveth, Big Tech Taketh Away

Zuckerberg and Dorsey have the power to melt our faces off with their laser eyeballs and we either trust that they won’t use that power on the wrong people when their having a rough morning or regulate their power in ways that no longer leave it up to their whim. Because that’s why Trump has been de-platformed. The whim of two men in charge of the most powerful communications networks in the history of mankind.

Don Hall 1/11/21 Don Hall 1/11/21

I Believe... [Switching Out Identifiers Exposes the Game]

I believe... that if changing “white” to “black” or “men” to “women” in your polemic makes you suddenly sound like a Southern politician from 1950, you’re a bigot and a sexist.

Don Hall 1/10/21 Don Hall 1/10/21

Advice Unsolicited | STAY AWAY FROM THE HOUSE!

The movies are fiction. Most of us know and accept this. While they are fiction, many can be instructive in our own non-fiction lives…

Contributing Writer 1/9/21 Contributing Writer 1/9/21

Tilly’s

I could see him as he talked. The mouth surrounded by the scraggly beard, moving at a thousand miles an hour. Him walking and talking at the same time since he never sat for too long in any one place. Medium height, medium build, and large hands with fingers, which had been broken years ago. The hands hid the story of a man feared by many when he was much younger.

David Himmel 1/8/21 David Himmel 1/8/21

Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of January 3, 2021

Even Hitler had enough sense to stage his violent coup under the guise of night. That’s the one lesson Trump didn’t rip off from the Führer.

Don Hall 1/8/21 Don Hall 1/8/21

The Demagogues Are Here (and They're Smarter Than Trump)

The demagogues of 2021 have been watching. They've been fine-tuning their approach to power and are constructing their own Big Lies to spread. Unlike Trump, they aren't supposed captains of industry and have no designs on public office. They've seen the constraints of political power and know those obstacles are not the clear road to dominance.

Don Hall 1/7/21 Don Hall 1/7/21

There Are FOUR Lights, Douchebag!

Like Madred, Trump simply keeps repeating his completely unfounded conclusions as fact over and over. I wonder if Rattensperger at some point in the conversation started to believe that maybe there were five lights. I wonder how tempting it would be to cave in just to get the man to stop talking.

Joe Janes 1/6/21 Joe Janes 1/6/21

Trump Demands Recount of Number of Racists in Georgia

Look for my new hat, We Made America Great, available as soon as they come in from China.

David Himmel 1/6/21 David Himmel 1/6/21

Who Gets to Tell Your Kid’s Story?

I hated when my mother would talk about me to her friends when I was a kid. Hated it. Even the most bland of stories, like, say, that I was playing little league again that spring would infuriate me. And I know she shared way more about me than my pre-teen baseball career to her friends and family. Hated it. As if she knew anything about me whatsoever. As if my challenges and wins and all-inclusive experiences—as if my life—were her story to tell.

Don Hall 1/5/21 Don Hall 1/5/21

I Like to Watch | Gerard Butler Movies

Less enchanted by the romcoms in his IMDB (P.S. I Love You, The Ugly Truth, or Playing for Keeps) or even his super badass phase (300, RocknRolla), my Gerard Butler jam happens once he gained a bit of weight, got the slightly droopy underchin, and did his level best to do one of the least convincing American accents since Kevin Costner tried an English accent in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

Don Hall 1/4/21 Don Hall 1/4/21

I Believe... [Ted Wheeler is a Bit Late]

I believe... that after ten months of the Antifa crowd burning Portland to the ground at the drop of any ideological excuse, Mayor Ted Wheeler’s admonition for the continued vandalism under the guise of persistent protest seems a bit late to the game.