THE "TRAITOR" TROPE

by Andy Nowicki

Unlike some others in my ideological vicinity, I have very little use for the internet practice of "trolling." Aging Gen-X fuddy-duddy fogey that I am, I find the practice of intentionally trying to get under others' skin for kicks to be a generally obnoxious and contemptible pastime.

I say this in full awareness that some online personalities are enormously irritating, just begging to be trolled the same way that certain smug faces simply cry out to be slapped. And to be sure,  I have occasionally indulged in some schadenfreude-laden private cackles when a nasty and sanctimonious commentator gets tricked into making an ass of himself thanks to the expert machinations of  a properly placed merry prankster. But generally, trolling seems juvenile and cheap, akin to schoolyard taunting, a symptom of small-mindedness and general jerky douchery.

PODCAST 31: RAINBOWS OVER DIXIE

A week is a long time in politics, and the last one has been one of the longest and strangest in US history. One culture war ended with the sudden imposition of gay marriage by the Supreme Court, while another began. In the wake of the Charleston Church Shooting, a major effort was made to consign the beloved symbols and heroes of the Confederacy to the "dustbin of history."

Andy and Colin look out over a political landscape suddenly bedizened in rainbow hues and dotted with defaced monuments and consider what's really going on.

DID THE FEDS ORDER AMAZON.COM TO STOP SELLING THE CONFEDERATE BATTLE FLAG?

by Andy Nowicki

According to certain accounts of the communications of some customers with Amazon.com employees, two of which are saved in screenshots seen below, the recent decision of the company to stop selling the Confederate battle flag was apparently made under coercion from the federal government.