We’re on our way to the heist the Republican party calls tax reform. That’s exciting. I guess.
Sic transit gloria etc etc
Just as the center of hip-hop has shifted from New York to LA to Atlanta, so the centers of culture and joy shift. The US may still be the global cultural hegemon, but people are beginning to chip away at it. We all fail to learn from each other.
On second thought
Actually, go back to the New Yorker article about Atlanta hip-hop. I really like this one. The way it mentions the ever-present downside and danger of the music business, stating things without really stating them, is clever. And it’s just an interesting angle on the music and culture industry generally.
Thomas is relatively new to the music industry, having evidently been successful in his first career, which he declines to discuss. “He come from the streets,” Lee says, by way of explaining why neither of them will explain more. Unlike Lee, who grew up in Indianapolis, Thomas is from Atlanta, and, when the two began working with Migos, Thomas’s local reputation was a great asset—he was known to the proprietors of the city’s clubs as a generous patron, and an unusually well-connected one.
And then compare to this Nat Malkus New York Times editorial which leaves unstated and unimplied those things which really should be made explicit:
Congressional Republicans, traditional defenders of states’ rights, will deliver an unexpected one-two punch to state tax systems if the current version of their tax bill becomes law as expected.
As though “states rights” were ever a principle. As though federalism had ever been anything other than a cudgel to disenfranchise the minority.
It’s one thing to say “a mysterious past” and leave implied that a gentleman was once an investment banker (what “streets” do you think he came from to get that kind of cash? Wall Street, obvs) and has now moved on to a more reputable and ethical career as a music promoter. It’s quite another to take for granted that manifestly bad-faith slogans are in fact good-faith principles.
Tropes
Year in review, aerial photography edition.
Year in review, general photography edition.
Year in review, archival digitization progress edition.
Year in review, poetry edition.
Year in review, year-in-review edition.
Voting
After a recount, Democrats have taken one additional seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, bringing it to exactly evenly split between them and Republicans. Margin of victory for that last critical seat: One vote. NEVER SKIP VOTING.
Twitter interlude
AI can’t quite tell whether a photo is of pornography or of a desert. Thirsty bros everywhere say “send dunes.”
Um…okay Google…not so sure about this one pic.twitter.com/fgkmKlV7d0
— Sulome Anderson (@SulomeAnderson) December 19, 2017
Cultivating joy
Fence is no obstacle.
Baby fox playing.
Secretly Ironic 
