McCarthyism

FOUR DIED TRYING: If JFK Had Lived to Fulfill His Promise, What Would America and the World Be Like Today?

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 19, 2024

NEW YORK, Feb. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Season 1 of FOUR DIED TRYING, the first film series to jointly examine the lives and assassinations of JFK, MLK, Malcolm X, and RFK, will be released by Journeyman Pictures in four chapters in 2024, focusing on President Kennedy during this pivotal election year.

Key Points: 
  • The Prologue, the powerful preview film for the series that stands on its own, is currently streaming on Amazon Prime , Apple TV , Google Play , and other platforms.
  • His "Alliance for Progress" attempted to create an extensive middle class in Latin America.
  • Would our southern border be overrun with refugees had Kennedy lived to fulfill his plans?
  • Would America have become the empire it is today had Kennedy lived to "shatter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds?"

How 'witch-hunts' and 'Stockholm syndrome' became part of political language (and what it has to do with wrestling)

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, August 10, 2023

Poor Donald Trump wants us to know he’s the victim of a witch-hunt, too.

Key Points: 
  • Poor Donald Trump wants us to know he’s the victim of a witch-hunt, too.
  • To be fair, maybe the Coalition and Trump are trading on the good reputation of witches.
  • But much like polls, political terms tell us something about society and language.

The cynical political power of metaphor

    • They are the containers you put ideas in before you hand them over to the world.
    • But the pedigree and message of political metaphors can get dark, very fast.
    • When Premier Dan Andrews was up in the polls, some political pundits accused Victorians of suffering from “Stockholm syndrome” — a traumatic bonding as might happen between captives and their abusers.
    • Metaphors are effective spin doctors when it comes creating political realities and influencing public perceptions, all the more so in the current climate of general scepticism towards experts.

Cappuccinos and witch-hunts

    • At a café in tech company WeWork’s headquarters, the “cappuccinos” were called “lattes” because CEO Adam Neumann insisted they were.
    • Most importantly, witch-hunts were at the discretion of the powerful and at the expense of the less powerful.
    • Witch-hunts left many thousands of victims in their wake – usually the less powerful at the hands of the powerful.
    • Read more:
      From 'technicolour yawn' to 'draining the dragon': how Barry Humphries breathed new life into Australian slang

Language, kayfabe and keeping the bastards honest

    • More than a few scholars and journalists have drawn parallels between something called “kayfabe” and contemporary politics - especially right-wing politics.
    • Kayfabe is a pro-wrestling term referring to “the performance of staged and ‘faked’ events as actual and spontaneous”.
    • An even more understated part of kayfabe are the “marks” — they are the ones who don’t know it’s all scripted.
    • We love metaphors, but accountability and honest debate disappear in a mist of kayfabe when powerful people use them.

Oppenheimer: six other depictions of the 'father of the atom bomb' on the page, stage and screen

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, July 20, 2023

One of this summer’s biggest cinematic events, Oppenheimer, brings the story of US scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer to the big screen. Director Christopher Nolan’s film is the latest of many portrayals of the so-called “father of the atomic bomb” on page, stage and screen. Here are six of the most intriguing.1. The Man Who Would Be God by Haakon Chevalier (1959) This novel is particularly fascinating in that it was written by a friend of Oppenheimer, who played a role in his downfall.

Key Points: 


One of this summer’s biggest cinematic events, Oppenheimer, brings the story of US scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer to the big screen. Director Christopher Nolan’s film is the latest of many portrayals of the so-called “father of the atomic bomb” on page, stage and screen. Here are six of the most intriguing.

1. The Man Who Would Be God by Haakon Chevalier (1959)

    • This novel is particularly fascinating in that it was written by a friend of Oppenheimer, who played a role in his downfall.
    • In winter 1942-43, Chevalier sounded out Oppenheimer’s stance on passing secrets to the Soviet Union.
    • Chevalier presents Bloch as intoxicated by the force of his own personality and power over others.

2. Oppenheimer (BBC, 1980)

    • Opening credits show a secret tape playing Oppenheimer’s conversations (the FBI file on Oppenheimer, opened in 1941, eventually ran to 7,000 pages) and the series builds to the fateful security hearing.
    • Sam Waterston’s nuanced performance portrays Oppenheimer as a brilliant but troubled figure.

3. Doctor Atomic by John Adams (2005)

    • Frequently, depictions of Oppenheimer draw on mythic archetypes, presenting him as a Promethean or Faustian figure.
    • In one aria, the words of the poet John Donne (“Batter my heart, three-person’d God”) show an Oppenheimer who is profoundly shaken by the terrible potential of his invention.

4. Oppenheimer by Tom Morton-Smith (2015)

    • Another stage production, Morton-Smith’s play was put on by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
    • The play draws out Oppenheimer’s complexity, also impressively sketching in contexts of atomic physics and his 1930s political activism.

5. Quartet for J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kelly Cherry (2017)

    • Cherry’s impressive 121-poem biography of Oppenheimer harnesses the allusive potential of poetry to produce an intriguing, multifaceted depiction of his life.
    • Expanding beyond the remit of most depictions, which focus on the years between the 1930s and 1950s, Cherry’s collection follows Oppenheimer from birth to death.

6. Trinity by Louisa Hall (2018)

    • Oppenheimer is depicted as an elusive figure, constantly sliding away from attempts to pin him down.
    • That writers, directors and composers keep retelling his story shows how enigmatic and elusive Oppenheimer is.
    • These tales are ways of exploring the profound implications of living in a nuclear age.

How Ronald Reagan led the 1960 actors' strike – and then became an anti-union president

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, July 20, 2023

The last time there was a “double strike” was 1960, when future United States President Ronald Reagan was head of the powerful Screen Actors Guild (SAG).

Key Points: 
  • The last time there was a “double strike” was 1960, when future United States President Ronald Reagan was head of the powerful Screen Actors Guild (SAG).
  • He was a quintessential B-movie star of the Hollywood Golden Age, acting in low-budget “second feature” movies.
  • In the 1930s and 1940s, Reagan was a self-proclaimed “New Deal Liberal” and a proud supporter of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
  • In 1947, he appeared as a “friendly” witness for Congress, blaming industrial unrest and strikes in Hollywood on “subversive” elements.

Leading the strike

    • Actors walked off sets in March, joining the Writers Guild of America, which had been on strike since early January 1960.
    • The actors’ strike lasted six weeks, paling in comparison to the 21-week writers’ strike.
    • Reagan resigned from the SAG presidency two months after the strike concluded.
    • Read more:
      Actors are demanding that Hollywood catch up with technological changes in a sequel to a 1960 strike

A shift to the right

    • In the 1964 presidential election, he campaigned vigorously for Republican Barry Goldwater, a staunch conservative rejected by party moderates.
    • Goldwater opposed taxation and the social welfare state, voted against the Civil Rights Act on libertarian grounds, and viewed nuclear weapons as part of tactical warfare.
    • Yet 1964 proved to be the beginning, rather than the end, of the modern American right.

An anti-union president

    • He articulated a politics that incorporated economic conservatism, hawkish anticommunism and moral traditionalism, including opposition to legal abortion.
    • Reagan’s polish, charisma and sunny optimism made once politically extreme views palatable and attractive to ordinary Americans.
    • Reagan is the only union leader to serve as US President.

From Donald Trump to Danielle Smith: 4 ways populists are jeopardizing democracy

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, June 1, 2023

He argued in a celebrated essay that even the prosperous, post-Second World War United States was not immune to the radicalism of authoritarian populism.

Key Points: 
  • He argued in a celebrated essay that even the prosperous, post-Second World War United States was not immune to the radicalism of authoritarian populism.
  • The so-called Red Scare of the 1950s was “simply the old ultra-conservatism and the old isolationism heightened by the extraordinary pressures of the contemporary world.” Seven decades later, Hofstadter’s words ring true again.

Paranoid politics

    • With so much money and power behind it, this paranoid style of politics — with its enemies lists, demonization of opposition leaders and often violent language — has gone mainstream.
    • But is there anything to fear from the red-hot rhetoric of the paranoid style of politics?
    • In Hofstadter’s time, after all, American conservative politics turned away from fringe radicalism following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963.
    • The following year, Lyndon Johnson defeated right-wing Republican insurgent, Barry Goldwater in one of the largest landslides in U.S. history.

1. The shrinking middle ground

    • We are now in a world of zero-sum political contests, with a shrinking middle ground.
    • Conservative parties often force extreme referendums to maintain their grip on a deeply divided electorate.
    • Republicans are now doubling down on the abortion issue, even though they’re facing pushback from some state legislatures and governors.

2. The working class isn’t benefiting

    • Nevertheless, conservative parties around the world are marketing themselves as parties of the working class.
    • Populists recognize the working class is essential to their success at the national level because of the “diploma divide” that now separates right and left.
    • It used to be that working people recognized education as a path to prosperity.

3. The rich and powerful direct the chaos

    • In a war of all against all, it’s not the wealthy who lose.
    • Furthermore, once a lust for vengeance takes hold in the general public, it’s almost always being directed by elites with money and power who benefit financially or politically from the chaos.

4. Assaults on the rule of law

    • The paranoid style of politics has entered a new phase with a full-spectrum assault on the rule of law — from inside government.
    • Populists are lying when they argue they want to empower the rest of us by divesting judges of their authority to oversee democracy.
    • As he runs again for president, he’s already telegraphing his violent desires, promising pardons for the Jan. 6 insurrectionists.

The road ahead for populists

    • The defeats of Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro don’t represent absolute rejections of their movements.
    • Despite an indictment for alleged financial crime and being found liable for sexual abuse in a civil case, Trump is still the 2024 front-runner.
    • Read more:
      Why populism has an enduring and ominous appeal

      We can’t count on an easy institutional fix, like a grand electoral coalition to push the populists off the ballot.

Red lights flashing

    • Nor can we count on the right to step back from the abyss of culture wars.
    • We can’t even say for certain that the populism will recede in the usual cyclical manner.
    • All citizens can do is offer is constant, concerted pushback against the many big lies told by populists.

How Elvis, Beethoven, Arthur Miller and Kafka narrated their own lives through art

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Have you ever wondered what goes through the mind of an author, artist or composer when they create a certain work?

Key Points: 
  • Have you ever wondered what goes through the mind of an author, artist or composer when they create a certain work?
  • It could be defined as the efficient use of psychological theory to turn a subject’s life into a coherent and enlightening story.

Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe and The Crucible

    • In his article The Psychology of Artistic Creativity: With Reference to Arthur Miller and The Crucible, he shared that the playwright was well aware of the personal burden he had placed in his work.
    • His famous work, The Crucible, tells a story that takes place during the 17th-century trials of women accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts.
    • By that time, Miller, who was married, had already met Marilyn Monroe and was fascinated by the actress.

Kafka was also a son

    • In the story, a father harshly sentences his son to death by drowning, a wish that the son fulfils by throwing himself into the river.
    • In his Letter to his Father, published a few years later, Kafka reproaches him precisely for the emotional abuse he suffered, among other things.

Elvis’s loneliness

    • He usually did so by making mistakes in the lyrics or by laughing while singing it.
    • In other words, the mistakes Elvis made seemed to have a psychological explanation behind them: Elvis was protecting himself.
    • The singer was very afraid of loneliness throughout his life, and this made it difficult for him to sing the song.

Beethoven and death

    • In my psychobiographical research on the figure of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), it was very difficult to find an obvious transfer of his story to his work.
    • Beethoven suffered multiple illnesses, some more serious than others.
    • Although he treated all of these with a stoic attitude, on one occasion he did believe that he was dying.

Museum of the City of New York unveils new immersive installation “Raise Your Voice” by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 28, 2022

Incorporating contemporary images and historical activist figures Malcolm X and Yuri Kochiyama, Phingbodhipakkiyas installation Raise Your Voice invites audiences to consider their own power for advocacy.

Key Points: 
  • Incorporating contemporary images and historical activist figures Malcolm X and Yuri Kochiyama, Phingbodhipakkiyas installation Raise Your Voice invites audiences to consider their own power for advocacy.
  • This powerful, immersive installation refuses to be ignored, offering a fitting entry point for visitors to engage with the history of New Yorks thriving activist movements.
  • The depictions of everyday New Yorkers paired with images of historical figures represent the legacy of New York activists.
  • The Museum of the City of New York fosters understanding of the distinctive nature of urban life in the worlds most influential metropolis.

Ginger Appoints Former U.S. Representative Joe Kennedy III and Seasoned Cybersecurity Executive Myrna Soto to Advisory Board

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, March 4, 2021

Ginger , the leader in on-demand mental healthcare, today announced the appointment of two new leaders to its Advisory Board : former U.S. Representative, Joe Kennedy III, and leading cybersecurity executive, Myrna Soto.

Key Points: 
  • Ginger , the leader in on-demand mental healthcare, today announced the appointment of two new leaders to its Advisory Board : former U.S. Representative, Joe Kennedy III, and leading cybersecurity executive, Myrna Soto.
  • Kennedy and Soto join an expert group of advisors , who include leading academic researchers, mental health professionals, data science experts, and employee benefits leaders.
  • View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210304005264/en/
    Ginger Appoints Former U.S. Representative Joe Kennedy III and Seasoned Cybersecurity Executive Myrna Soto to Advisory Board (Graphic: Business Wire)
    Joseph Kennedy III served as the U.S. Representative for Massachusetts' 4th congressional district from 2013 to 2021.
  • Thats why I am excited to join Gingers Advisory Board and support their efforts toward equitable mental healthcare access for all.

Sandor Rosenberg announces retirement after 41 years as Chief Executive Officer of Information Analysis Incorporated

Retrieved on: 
Monday, December 14, 2020

Stan Reese, current Chief Operating Officer, was appointed by the Board of Directors as interim President and Chief Executive Officer effective January 1, 2021.

Key Points: 
  • Stan Reese, current Chief Operating Officer, was appointed by the Board of Directors as interim President and Chief Executive Officer effective January 1, 2021.
  • "I am grateful to have spent over 40 years with this company," said Rosenberg, "and am proud of what our IAI team has accomplished.
  • Upon Rosenbergs recommendation, the Company's board of directors has unanimously elected Stan Reese to serve as interim Chief Executive Officer and President effective January 1, 2021.
  • Information Analysis Incorporated (www.infoa.com), headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, is an information technology product and services company.

weatherTAP.com sold to Parsons

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Parsons, the former Chief Information Officer of CHC, was involved extensively in the first release of weatherTAP in 1998.

Key Points: 
  • Parsons, the former Chief Information Officer of CHC, was involved extensively in the first release of weatherTAP in 1998.
  • "As originator and curator of weatherTAP for many years, it is very close to my heart and is a big part of my life," said Parsons, weatherTAP's new owner and Chief Executive Officer.
  • "I am very excited about the possibilities that this new ownership arrangement opens up for our product."
  • "Long-time users can rest assured we will continue to offer high quality, ad-free weather data for many years to come," added Parsons.