Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

December 9, 2019 By Fausta

Mrs. Maisel goes full Alinsky on Mrs. Schlafly

This article was first published at Da Tech Guy Blog


SPOILERS AHEAD

Alinsky rule #13
“Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”

Pamela Geller introduced me to Phyllis Schlafly at the 2008 RNC convention in Minneapolis. Of course I knew of Mrs. Schlafly’s many controversial positions (on many of which I disagreed), but I was surprised that she read my blog. She was very pleasant and after encouraging words about my blog, said, “It’s important for women to stand up for their beliefs.”

Fast-forward to 2019, as I watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel‘s third season on Amazon. 

I love the series’ fairy tale clothes and setting of an idealized 1950s New York. 

Mrs. Maisel, however, is a potty-mouthed obnoxious comedienne who traipses through Manhattan life dressed to the nines. The daughter of a Columbia University professor who’s always been an academic and a trust fund heiress of a rich oil family, Midge’s life was turned upside down by her husband’s infidelity, and she turned to stand-up comedy as a career.

Of course her father’s a communist.

Midge’s in-laws, who actually work hard for their very comfortable living, are portrayed as crass. and common. They live in Queens.

The third season is essentially a 1950s musical, complete with tracking shots, dance numbers, synchronized swimming and absolutely gorgeous fashions and cars. 

Life in stand-up is tricky, and Midge must turn to voice work doing radio commercials. She takes a job doing a live skit – for Phyllis Schlafly.

Enter Saul Alinsky.

To make a long story short, the characters repeatedly describe Mrs. Schlafly as a MONSTER, in righteousness and outrage. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. And drive the point home. I doubt most viewers had heard about Phyllis before this, but now they know her as a MONSTER.

You can’t even watch a miniseries without your medicine. 

It’s ironic, however, that a series about a woman finding her voice stoops to demonizing a woman who had a voice.

Share

Filed Under: Fausta's blog

July 11, 2018 By Fausta

Why I read 12 Rules for Life

THIS IS NOT A BOOK REVIEW

I have been a ravenous reader all of my life (an average of two books per week for at least the last 40 years), and, while I do not feel the need to justify why I read any thing, there’s a story behind this selection.


Perhaps a better title would be How I got around to reading Jordan Peterson’s book.

As you know, I have been recovering from peritonitis and ileus following an appendectomy.

What you don’t know is that I lost 20+ pounds during the 10-day hospital stay that nearly did me in. I was not allowed to sleep, since the nurses came to draw blood every two hours (day and night), and every day was served foods I do not tolerate – mostly anything with soy or sugar – no matter how much I protested. Add to that dozens of pills – mostly antibiotics – on a nearly-empty stomach. By the time I left the hospital (which took some assertiveness skills, both from me and from my sister, who had stayed with me all 10 days), I could not sit up or walk unassisted and was almost totally worn down in every sense.

What I learned from that experience is
1. Hospital and medical staff are not going to hear what you say. Period.
2. Make sure to get a witness after you have your first bowel movement following surgery, or the nurses won’t believe it happened. My sister ended up having to swear it had.
3. Having loud tripe noises is a good thing.

I had stopped coloring my hair earlier this year, and when I got home and took a good look, I could not decide whether I looked more like Carol Kane in The Princess Bride, or like Marley’s ghost, because I was too thin to look like either.

The first thing I had to focus on was a return to my low-carb, high-protein “diet.” I have controlled non-diabetic hypoglycemia for the last two decades through diet alone: Nothing with added sugar, lots if green vegetables, lots of protein from meats, poultry and fish, a few berries and very very few bites of no sugar added ice cream. No juices, no pastas, no pastries. The only way to start was by having three small meals and three snacks a day. Instead of whole milk, I drank 6 ounces of whipping cream (2 ounces 3 x day) since I needed the calories. As I improved, my appetite returned.

Still, I needed a walker to walk across a room and could not sit up or get out of bed unaided for several weeks. The least effort tired me and I was lying down on a rented recliner for most of the day, since I did not want to stay in bed during daytime.

In the middle of this ordeal I had no energy to focus on anything for more than a few minutes. Trying to read a long article was exhausting. Listening to a whole concert on YouTube was impossible. Watching a movie or an opera was out of the question. Forget about researching and blogging, translating, or writing for pay.

As it happened regarding blogging, Twitter and Facebook appeared to have been hiding my blog posts for several months earlier this year. I didn’t have a chance to look into it seriously prior to my appendectomy. My blog readership was down by 80%.

On top of it, I have grown bored of Latin America’s permanent, ongoing dumpster fires ((Mexico, Venezuela, etc.) and loathe the current political atmosphere here in the USA. Excuse the language, but this image summarizes perfectly my current frame of mind when it comes to politics:

bayeux

It didn’t matter, since I was too tired to be able to get worked up enough to write about anything anyway.

My attention span improved as my sleep cycles normalized. I was mildly bored.

The downside to improving enough to feel bored was that I felt sorry for myself. In addition to the support of my family, Facebook came to the rescue, since I had received hundreds of positive messages wishing me well. Dozens of friends called, brought flowers, emailed and wrote. One morning i thanked God i was not in Puerto Rico without electricity. No more self-pity.

Back in the early 1990s when I developed hypoglycemia I had read Toughness Training for Life, which was most helpful in focusing on my goals and returning to daily good habits.

Two months into my recovery, I was well enough that I became interested in reading books again. I had been watching classical music YouTubes, and Jordan Peterson’s lectures started to show up among the “recommended” (how the algorithm works to connect the two, who knows?). I watched a few excerpts of Peterson’s lectures, which were interesting.

“First, that’s Dr. Peterson to you all, bucko.”

I looked up the book.

On the cover it said,

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

Yeah, you could say I was in the middle of chaos. Let’s see if 12 Rules delivered.

I bought the Kindle edition 12 Rules for Life. That way I would not need to rest the paper book on my sore lap.

What’s the book like? There are nearly 3,000 reader reviews at Amazon. I read a few after I finished the book, and particularly enjoyed Charles Stampel’s The Last Professor.

Toughness Training For Life and 12 Rules for Life share the same basic premise: Life is tough. Loehr approaches the daily schedule. Dr. Peterson looks at what’s inside it. Both will help get you through chaos.

Don;t pay attention to the left’s comments on Dr. Peterson. I recommended the book a few days after finishing it on a real-life friend’s Facebook thread, and in turn my friend’s former college roommate replied to me with a photo of Hitler’s Mein Kampf, followed by a derisive comment that I am “a rich white lady.”

Mein kampf aside, I have been called worse.

So do read 12 Rules For Life, especially at a time of chaos.

And make sure to have Kleenex handy for Chapter 12, where Dr. Peterson writes about his brave daughter Mikhaila.

Indeed, it’s a great book.

Share

Filed Under: books, Fausta's blog Tagged With: Jordan Peterson

June 28, 2018 By Fausta

A return to civility?

In contrast to Maxine, Dave Rubin sees a return to civility:

Had a great birthday in Napa, thanks for all the nice wishes. Over a great bottle of cab I had a thought. The Age of Civility is dawning. You can’t see it from the usual suspects, but there’s a massive, growing group of people over the hate, outrage and personal attacks.

— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) June 27, 2018

@HeatherEHeying, @CHSommers are teaching old truths via new technology. @clairlemon is doing real journalism via @QuilletteM. @benshapiro is changing minds with facts. We don’t have all the answers but we respect you enough not to pretend that we do. I’m psyched for the future…

— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) June 27, 2018

Civility involves respecting yourself and others.

In order to respect others, you must respect yourself.

Joe Cocker had something to sing about on respect (emphasis added):

If you disrespect anybody that you run in to
How in the world do you think anybody’s s’posed to respect you
If you don’t give a heck ’bout the man with the bible in his hand
Just get out the way, and let the gentleman do his thing
You the kind of gentleman that want everything your way
Take the sheet off your face, boy, it’s a brand new day.

Respect yourself, respect yourself
If you don’t respect yourself
Ain’t nobody gonna give a good cahoot
, na na na na
Respect yourself, respect yourself.

If you’re walking ’round think’n that the world owes you something cause
You’re here you goin’ out the world backwards like you did when you
Put your hand on your mouth when you cough, that’ll help the solution
Oh, you cuss around women and you don’t even know their names and you
Dumb enough to think that’ll make you a big ol man

Start with respecting yourself.

Sing it, Joe,

And before you answer with whataboutitsm, remember If you don’t respect yourself
Ain’t nobody gonna give a good cahoot
.

If you cannot discuss a point without descending to yelling, ad hominem and name-calling, I sincerely – in Joe’s immortal words – ain’t gonna give a good cahoot.

It may not amount to much, but at least it’s a start towards civility.

Share

Filed Under: Fausta's blog, politics Tagged With: Dave Rubin, Joe Cocker, Maxine Waters

June 25, 2018 By Fausta

What to wear to this week’s political theater?

As you know, I’m convinced that American politics has descended into contrived hysterics over every darn thing. I facetiously asked,

What should I wear to this week's political theater?

— Fausta (@Fausta) June 24, 2018

The latest news is that not only it’s political theater and contrived hysterics; it’s crazies all the way down:

Maxine Waters calls for attacks on Trump administration: "If you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them, and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere." pic.twitter.com/jMV7wk48wM

— Ryan Saavedra 🇺🇸 (@RealSaavedra) June 24, 2018

John Hinderaker:

We are rapidly approaching the point where there won’t be any alternative but to fight fire with fire. Where does Waters do her grocery shopping? Where does she gas up her car? Does she go out to eat? Does she attend movies or concerts? Does she walk on foot to her House office? Any time Maxine Waters is in public, why doesn’t she fear that a mob of conservatives will descend on her like the mobs of Democrats she incites?

Prof. Robert P. George:

If you establish the principle that harassing political opponents in their private lives is permissible, believe me, they will do it. Let me tell you what that will lead to: an escalating spiral of retaliatory actions. If you know the true story of the Hatfields and McCoys, you know what I’m talking about. What’s more, although the spiral begins with insults and tense but non-violent confrontations, it never ends there. As matters escalate, people feel increasingly self-righteous and their contempt for their adversaries intensifies to the point it which the unthinkable becomes thinkable. Then it happens.

This poisonous attack cannot stand in civil society.

So ask yourself, rather than wonder “What to wear to this week’s political theater?” do you really want to wonder “how’s the temperature in the Balkans?”

Because that’s where Maxine’s approach is taking us.

Share

Filed Under: Democrats, Fausta's blog, politics Tagged With: lunacy, Maxine Waters

June 19, 2018 By Fausta

On the mend

First of all, my heartfelt thanks to each person who wrote, called and texted asking how I am doing.

At one point, I thought, “I will get well. Look at all the people praying for me.”

I am doing much better, and continue to improve. When I left the hospital on April 10th, I could not sit up; I’m now able to walk half a mile unaided. Recovering from ileus and peritonitis took me two full months, and I still have to get back to full speed.

For the past two months I have mostly avoided the news, politics and particularly Latin American politics. As far as I can see, American politics has descended into contrived hysterics over every darn thing. LatAm will continue to be LatAm, and I simply did not have any energy to summon.

Many thanks, again, and I’ll be posting more frequently now.





Share

Filed Under: Fausta's blog

April 27, 2018 By Fausta

Still recovering

I’m still recovering from peritonitis. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Share

Filed Under: Fausta's blog

April 1, 2018 By Fausta

Sunday palate cleanser: Bach Easter Oratorio

Wishing you a happy and blessed Easter,

J. S. Bach’s Easter Oratorio : Sir John Eliot Gardiner , 2013
Sir John Eliot Gardiner conductor
Hannah Morrison soprano, Proms debut artist
Meg Bragle mezzo-soprano, Proms debut artist
Nicholas Mulroy tenor
Peter Harvey bass
Monteverdi Choir
English Baroque Soloists (pre-1977, Monteverdi Orchestra)
London, PROMS 2013
Royal Albert Hall .

Share

Filed Under: Fausta's blog, music Tagged With: Easter, Johann Sebastian Bach, Sunday palate cleansers

March 26, 2018 By Fausta

Guatemala: The Bitkov case

Guatemalan Attorney General Thelma Aldana, at the urging of the United Nations’ International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala and the Kremlin, has convicted Igor Bitkov, his wife, Irina, and their 26-year-old daughter, Anastasia, in spite of lack of plausible evidence.

Mary O’Grady describes the Kremlin revenge:

Mr. Bitkov was the owner of the St. Petersburg-based North-West Timber Company (NWTC). In 2005 he borrowed money from a handful of Russian state banks to upgrade some of his factories. Around the same time, a senior executive of one of the banks that lent him money asked to buy 51% of the company, Mr. Bitkov told me from prison through his Guatemalan lawyer Rolando Alvarado last week. He turned down the offer.

From 2005 to 2007 NWTC revenues grew by 30%, according to company financial statements. In 2007 Sberbank valued the company at $428 million. By 2008 he’d repaid 71% of the loan, along with interest due. NWTC was worth 2.7 times the remaining $158 million owed. Nevertheless, Mr. Bitkov says, in April 2008 the banks demanded that he immediately repay the balance.

He couldn’t comply and the company was forced into bankruptcy. Mr. Bitkov alleges that the bankruptcy administrator sold NWTC’s assets at fire-sale prices to entities controlled by various executives of the banks.

The Bitkovs feared for their lives and fled the country.

And that was only the beginning of their woes. Read the rest here.

This case raises many questions. For instance, I do not understand why the whole family is persecuted – after all, they lost all their assets. Why is the UN involved in this? What was the banks’ initial involvement?

And on and on. Should we just look at this as another instance of the long reach of tyranny and corruption?

Share

Filed Under: Fausta's blog, Guatemala, Russia Tagged With: Igor Bitkov, Thelma Aldana

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 147
  • Next Page »
Tweets by @Fausta
retirees_raise-2015_300x250

Pages

  • About
  • Email

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Previous Posts

  • Mrs. Maisel goes full Alinsky on Mrs. Schlafly
  • Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • You need to unfriend me
  • Go ahead and Kiss the Girl, if you dare
  • Ashamed

Recent Comments

  • John on Mrs. Maisel goes full Alinsky on Mrs. Schlafly
  • Today’s hot topics: Democrats’ collusion shift, tax-return rift, Venezuela drift, and more! – PoliticalWitchDoctor.com on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Today’s hot topics: Democrats’ collusion shift, tax-return rift, Venezuela drift, and more! - AmericanTruthToday on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Did Venezuela’s Minister of Defense Back Out At The Last Minute? on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Roseanne Not Back, Khan not Invited, Operaman’s back, Jobs back, Fausta’s back (but not here yet) Thoughts under the fedora – Da Tech Guy Blog on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?

Archives

  • 2019
    • December 2019
    • May 2019
    • January 2019
  • 2018
    • December 2018
    • October 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
  • 2017
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
  • 2016
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
  • 2015
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
  • 2014
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
  • 2013
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
  • 2012
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • October 2012
    • September 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
  • 2011
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
  • 2010
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
    • February 2010
    • January 2010
  • 2009
    • December 2009
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • September 2009
    • August 2009
    • July 2009
    • June 2009
    • May 2009
    • April 2009
    • March 2009
    • February 2009
    • January 2009
  • 2008
    • December 2008
    • November 2008
    • October 2008
    • September 2008
    • August 2008
    • July 2008
    • June 2008
    • May 2008
    • April 2008
    • March 2008
    • February 2008
    • January 2008
  • 2007
    • December 2007
    • November 2007
    • October 2007
    • September 2007
    • August 2007
    • July 2007
    • June 2007
    • May 2007
    • April 2007
    • March 2007
    • February 2007
    • January 2007
  • 2006
    • December 2006
    • November 2006
    • October 2006
    • September 2006
    • August 2006
    • July 2006
    • June 2006
    • May 2006
    • April 2006
    • March 2006
    • February 2006
    • January 2006
  • 2005
    • December 2005
    • November 2005
    • October 2005
    • September 2005
    • August 2005
    • July 2005
    • June 2005
    • May 2005
    • April 2005
    • March 2005
    • February 2005
    • January 2005
  • 2004
    • December 2004
    • November 2004
    • October 2004
    • September 2004
    • August 2004
    • July 2004
    • June 2004
    • May 2004
    • April 2004
    • March 2004
Content Copyright Fausta's Blog

Site Developed and Managed by 300m.com