TygrBright
TygrBright's JournalTwo difficult things covered (so far) in Ken Burns' "American Revolution"
I get tired of Ken Burns' mannerisms and tropes and then he dazzles me again with a new docuseries. In this case, "American Revolution". I haven't finished it yet but am looking forward to it.
To be fair to my history minor and subsequent history reading, nothing so far as been entirely "new". But it has been easy to 'read past' some things, without seriously contemplating them and fitting them into the larger historical context, and considering their lasting implications. So far, Burns has done an excellent job of covering two of those things:
First, the extent to which the desire of the more powerful and wealthy colonist entrepreneurs to grab and exploit lands belonging to Indigenous nations figured into the train of events severing them psychologically from England and its rule. The way it played out made me think of some of the things today's oligarchs use to rouse the rabble and consolidate their power. As new land-hungry colonists arrived, it was easy for the propagandists of the time to stir up discontent with England's policy of "hands off" lands on the other side of the Appalachians.
England wasn't doing this 'to be nice to the natives'. They sought control over a fast-growing and diversifying colonial population, and to do that with limited military and civil authority resources, they needed to control the size of the colonist-occupied territories. The politics between the many remaining intact Indigenous nations, England, the other European powers, and the various colonies, were far more complex than I knew.
And that led to the more powerful and influential among the colonial leaders and propagandists making the most of England's other attempts to control and/or generate sufficient revenue from the colonies to support the costs of their colonial in-place military and bureaucratic infrastructure. Which, when examined objectively, were not unreasonable goals, but Lordy did the Brits ham-handedly find their way to every worst-choice scenario they could in trying to implement such things. This contributed to the long, dark root of America's "You're not the boss of me!" strain of libertarian psychosis.
The second thing, and it's odd how diametrically and conceptually opposite it is to that first thing, was the nature and ubiquity of the "Committees of Correspondence/Inspection/Safety" as things edged closer to the flashpoint. They were essentially vigilante groups enforcing approved anti-British, pro-Revolutionary rules.
The Commitees' self-appointed jurisdiction applied to almost all aspects of people's lives - whether or not they supported aid to Boston, whether they spoke kindly of English authority or insultingly of Colonial leaders and their actions, what pamphlets they read (or just had in their homes) what they ate or drank (NO boycotted English products or even local products that might resemble "British" wares), who they did business with. And whether, when publicly hauled before a forum of their neighbors, they spoke correctly about their views and agreed vigorously enough with the approved doctrines or apologized abjectly enough for some infraction.
Which sounds very Cultural Revolution, to me. Very authoritarian, even. God help the uncommitted individual going about their business and making a spot of mild tut-tuttery about the mobs forming around the taverns to revel in, shout agreement with, and get increasingly rowdy in response to fiery speeches. What must it have been like for them? While they may have been in a minority, the choice given them between fear-based compliance, and going over to the Loyalists entirely must have been a painful one.
They weren't really nice people, most of those Founding Fathers. They kept slaves, they believed in liberty for white male property owners, and what they REALLY wanted was freedom from any restraint on land-grabbing, commercial exploitation, and building their own wealth no matter the potential damage to anyone else.
And yet, they managed to define a framework for self-governance and a set of ideals for its purpose that changed everything. They set the course for a long, difficult effort to bring about a system that increasingly allowed more and more previously disenfranchised people into the big tent of self governance, checks and balances, equality under the law, and power sharing.
I sometimes wonder whether, if we could wake all those Founders up today, how many of them would find themselves cozy quarters at the Heritage Foundation and in the new White House Ballroom with the other oligarchs, and how many of them would be hollering their lungs out at the next No Kings march.
musingly,
Bright
Make no mistake: [Redacted] was on EVERY BALLOT
This is ALWAYS the case in the first election after a general election - it's a referendum on the ticket-header from the winning party of the general election. Forever and ever, AMEN.
So when [Redacted] whines that the GOP's resounding defeat happened because "he wasn't on the ballot" the bullshittery is beyond transparent denialism.
It can't even be gaslit, at this level. EVERYONE knows he was on every ballot.
And EVERYONE knows that voters turned out in record numbers to asskick fascism, and specifically, the incompetent Fascist-in-Chief.
Every ballot cast was a big, loud, "Fuck ALL THE WAY OFF" to [Redacted].
It drew blood.
And he WILL retaliate.
prognosticatorially,
Bright
Speaking of media Farthuffers.... This lot are in for a surprise, I think.
Anyone who doubts that America's corporate media organizations are lined up with their paper bags to collect every flatulent molecule emitted by the [Redacted] rectum need only look at Oligarch Bezos' shabby, shambling zombie-version of the Washington Post, talking up its breath-stoppingly stupid and immoral attempt to undermine the Veterans Affairs administration of Veterans benefits:
VA’s disability program is an ‘honor system.’ These veterans are defrauding it.
and
How some veterans exploit $193 billion VA program, due to lax controls
Warning: You may need a shower after reading the above wallows into a chainsaw abbatoir of destruction. To assist in decompressing from the painfully grotesque down-punching, here is a deconstruction of the transparently ghoulish self-serving target drawing by a billionaire who can never, ever steal enough of everyone else's money:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/04/washington-post-report-veterans-benefits
The trouble with US veterans benefits isn’t ‘rampant’ fraud – it’s bureaucratic roadblocks, advocates say]
Why the VA? Why now?
I can't necessarily answer the second part of that query pair, but the first part is obvious AF: If you're looting something, you focus on the greatest concentrations of loot-worthy swag, right? The VA's annual budget in FY 2024 was $307.31 billion, 57 percent of which is in mandatory spending and 43 percent is in discretionary spending.
Oligarch Bezos and his crew of Farthuffers (I doubt there are many actual journalists remaining at the stumbling hulk of the once-great news organization) clearly believe that they can holler "FRAUD!" while pointing to yet another group of "those people" who are some kind of minority, and the American majority of non-veterans will shrug and murmur "Go to it, then valiant Defenders of the Federal Budget Being Funneled into the Pockets of Worthy Oligarchs..."
Ummmm.... no.
Granted, the majority of Americans are themselves not veterans. Since the ending of the draft the percentage of Americans who choose active military service hovers around 1% - but except for those killed in action, every one of them becomes a veteran, meaning that the number of veterans has steadily grown and now hovers around 6%. And almost ALL of them have family members, making the 'greater' veterans community somewhere around 18-20% of Americans. Add to that those of us who do not choose to serve, but who honor and respect the service of those who do. An incalculable but substantial number. Then add to that total those politicians and public figures who may or may not, in their heart of hearts, give a shit about actual veterans but who know damn' well that veterans' issues are almost as potent a 'third rail' as Social Security.
Oh, yeah, Oligarch Bezos. Hear that loud whining sound? That's the buzz saw your zombie farthuffers wandered into, shredding them to bits.
Granted, being soulless undead, they'll reassemble and shamble on, fueled by the potent and abundant gaseous emissions of [Redacted]'s burgerprocessing system, but not even farthuffing zombies have an unlimited capacity to challenge buzz saws and survive.
Pop the popcorn, boys and girls, the show's starting.
prognosticatorially,
Bright
"The imaging looked like a field of stars - a Milky Way of tiny cancers..."
In 2011 my ex, whom I still care about and stay in touch with, was diagnosed with mesothelioma. Her lungs, abdominal cavity, and the pericardium around her heart were riddled with thousands of tiny tumors.
We were all gobsmacked. What the actual FUCK? The doctor said the commonest cause of this (relatively rare) type of cancer was asbestos exposure. But at first we couldn't imagine where it had come from. The places she worked, her home, etc. were all relatively recently built and asbestos-free. Dig deeper, go back further, the doctor urged. It can take 20 years or more for exposure to manifest in the form of the cancer.
Eventually, we figured it out almost by accident, based on a conversation with a friend whose parent had been a co-worker of my ex's back in the early 1990s, when together they worked for Blue Cross/Blue Shield. The parent had recently died of a "rare cancer" and that was the clue - BC/BS had been remodeling their office building, and was later adjudicated to have taken inadequate measures to protect employees working in the building from exposure to the insidious dust. A cluster of cases was identified, my ex was one of them. The settlement from BC/BS helped somewhat with a grueling regimen of surgeries, chemo treatments, and experimental therapies that helped her beat the odds for 14 years.
But now, at the relatively young age of 74, she's had enough of the treatments, and is going into hospice. Our daughter and her family live nearby, they spend time with her almost daily. She is still pretty strong, and I'm hoping she'll last until I'm free to travel back to Minnesota in the Spring. I'd like to spend just a little more time with her, if possible.
She more than beat the odds, she was a soldier in the war on this disease, participating in multiple treatment trials and being part of several studies to learn more about the cancer, its progression, effects, and vulnerabilities. Because of those trials and studies the survival rate has definitely been extended, although there is still no cure.
They couldn't have known that they were being exposed to asbestos. The building they worked in wasn't THAT old, it was built in the 1960s. By the time the company decided to remodel it the risks of asbestos exposure were known, but the degree to which abatement protocols were necessary wasn't fully regulated. So of course they "abated" on the cheap. There were plastic sheeting barriers everywhere, interior traffic was rerouted away from the construction areas, and demo workers wore respirators.
THAT ISN'T ENOUGH.
Asbestos fibers are microscopically tiny, tiny enough to hang in the air for hours, days, even weeks, and to travel on the tiniest of air currents through the finest of openings. And many old asbestos materials disintegrate with even the slightest movement or disturbance. Abatement is incredibly difficult, challenging and requires experienced professionals and considerable time, expense, and effort.
The East Wing of the White House was built in 1902 and extensively renovated in the 1940s, a time when asbestos was widely used in construction of all types.
You can bet your ass the class action lawyers who have won suit after suit on asbestos exposure are already collecting names, addresses, and contact information for everyone who's anywhere near the White House these days. And there will be people suffering and dying from a horrible, horrible kind of cancer popping up all over the Potomac basin the next two decades. And taxpayers paying a vast settlement bill for that suffering and death.
Enjoy your Dancing Chamber of Death, assholes.
disgustedly,
Bright
Just because the Trump-Epstein Friendship Sculpture is back...
...doesn't mean anyone should notice it, comment on it, or frame it with insulting memes/remarks, etc. REMEMBER:
We're all supposed to UNITE and stop attacking pedophiles!
This has been a public service announcement because we all have many much more important things to focus on than the trivia related to a notorious criminal blackmailer who used pedophilia and creepy sexual gratifications to obtain kompromat on many of the world's wealthiest and sleaziest oligarchs including one Russian asset who got shoved into the U.S. Presidency and is in the process of destroying our government, degrading our military, blackening our reputation and withering our influence in the world community, demolishing various civil and educational institutions, and sabotaging of our economic and physical infrastructure.
So DON'T COMMENT ON IT.
helpfully,
Bright
Only the lonely....
A brilliant Bluesky by Jimmy Kimmel:
Hi Donald!
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel.com) 2025-09-30T22:55:48.424Z
To fully appreciate the elegance of this trolling, just reflect that the only friend >Redacted< ever had is already dead by apparent suicide in jail.
And he'll never, ever have another. Only sycophants and flunkies.
No one who just takes simple joy in hanging out with him.
Sad.
Positively tragic.
reflectively,
Bright
The Kimmel lawsuit is gonna be EPIC.
What do you want to bet the top constitutional lawyers in America are lined up outside his door this minute, begging to be on the team?
The list of defendants is gonna read like a Who's Who of media shitweasels, topped by the Conspirator-in-Chief who publicly stated Kimmel "would be next" after Colbert was cancelled.
Patience, friends.
Lawsuits like this do not happen overnight. This one will be airtight, watertight, and nuclear-powered, and that takes time to assemble.
The goal:
Make the Supreme Court choose between the Constitutional and Judicial oaths they took, and the taste of fascist butthole.
Oh, yes.
Everyone at Nexstar, Disney, and ABC, from Perry Sook down to the newly-hired MAGAt front desk intern, is gonna be dragged for every dime.
But, like I say: PATIENCE, people.
This one won't get filed by noon tomorrow. It's going to be carefully crafted.
Pop the popcorn, this will be a long-running hit series.
prognosticatorially,
Bright
I wish this were funny...
Sadly, it's more accurate with every passing day.
Wearily,
Bright
People you love will die of cancer so Bobby Brainworm can keep grifting.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:iuy7wrhz3g3j7yflmmoe5dix/post/3lvyguj6usk2cWhy would someone do this?
Figure it out.
Ask yourself: Who benefits when people get sick/stay sick?
Ask yourself: Who benefits when scientifically-validated treatments are delegitimized?
Ask yourself: How much money is there in the supplement and "alternative wellness" industries?
Ask yourself: Who's been grifting quack nostrums and skeevy patent medicine shows for DECADES?
Yeah, I call it the "Griftelixer Industrial Complex."
And now they own our government.
That is all.
Succinctly,
Bright
Someone asked "Where is the American Outrage on Gaza"?
I can't speak for America, any more than a single Palestinian person can speak for everyone in Gaza, or a single Israeli can speak for everyone in Israel.
But I can speak for myself.
I do not have "outrage".
What I have is heartbreak.
My heart is broken that anyone who might want to discuss or support a realistic way to end this conflict is marginalized, silenced, derided or ignored by those who are certain that only one side is right and has justice and history with them.
My heart is broken by the exploitation of the agony of innocents and the claims that the horrors experienced by only one side matter and those experienced by the other side are trivial or false or, worst of all, justified.
My heart is broken by the lack of places where people who want to bypass the rage, ambition, and greed for power of leaders, can meet one another and talk about common human concerns and experiences.
My heart is broken by the roars of anger and pain and the calls for vengeance in the name of justice and genocide in the name of history.
My heart is broken by the sense that nothing I could do or say would change the trajectory of those bent on killing or displacing everyone they perceive as being in the wrong about Gaza.
My heart is broken by the weight of history that has soaked that stretch of land with blood for centuries in the name of group after group of claimants unwilling to extend tolerance and justice to others and/or exercise moderation and consideration in their own actions there.
My heart is broken by failure after failure of diplomacy and nation-building and aspiration subverted by politics, greed, fear, and hate.
My heart is broken by the awareness that my government is not only no longer interested in appearing as a humanitarian broker of peace, but is actively pursuing an agenda of escalating the misery and chaos. And by the awareness that nothing I can say or do will change that unless and until I have the opportunity again to vote for competent and humanitarian leadership in America.
I do not wish a plague on both their houses (for one thing "both" doesn't begin to encompass the number of interests and parties and groups and human beings whose welfare is at stake there.)
But wishing enlightenment on all their houses seems both futile and disingenuous, even if it is meant in utter heartfelt sincerity.
And so I carry my heartbreak in silence, knowing that it will meet with nothing but scorn, derision, and denial from everyone who "knows" what I "should" be doing or feeling or saying, and be ignored by the rest.
heartbrokenly,
Bright
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