I just read this piece on CounterPunch and thought it was really funny, then I realized that Hopkins actually had a link to his mention of a New York Times piece with the title Trump, Treasonous Traitor, and I clicked on it. This is not the Onion – this stuff exists. It’s rather jarring to realize how detached I’ve become from the mindless jargon-laden hysteria which seems to consume Americans who suckle on mass media pablum. Reason is just out the window, but then, I find myself wondering when it was last in the window? I think Alexander Cockburn said something about Americans permanently losing touch with reality with Reagan’s election.
I’m enjoying Plokhy’s book on Yalta. Thinking of Ukrainians I know and remember a couple years ago my Ukrainian coworker recognizing the photo on the Zhukov book I was reading. I was happy to have someone to talk with about it, and looking around the office realized first, that only the other Russian speakers would know who this was, and second, that I was the only person on the floor reading a non-fiction book that wasn’t a Malcolm Gladwell Silicon Valley type of schlock bestseller. I wonder how many Americans talking about Trump’s treasonous traitorous tyranny can locate Finland and Crimea on a map.