“The Space Traders”

Will

Will writes from Washington, D.C. (well, Arlington, Virginia). You can reach him at willblogcorrespondence at gmail dot com.

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25 Responses

  1. Tod Kelly says:

    I’m going to score this story as somewhere in the range of “not really good enough to to earn a Nubula, but not really bad enough to assassinate Andrew Breitbart.”Report

    • Tod Kelly in reply to Tod Kelly says:

      Also – it’s pretty awesome to see you back, Will.Report

      • Will in reply to Tod Kelly says:

        Thanks, Tod. I don’t think I have the energy to start posting on a regular basis again, but I like hanging around in the comments section.

         Report

        • James Hanley in reply to Will says:

          I don’t think I have the energy to start posting on a regular basis

          That’s a pity. I recently stumbled across an old post of yours where you anointed me poet laureate for something I’d written on Positive Liberty.  But since PL is dead the link didn’t work right, and I have no idea what you were complementing me for!  But my own mysterious glories aside, it is good to see you back.Report

  2. greginak says:

    I’m not sure faux controversy quite describes this. Rose Bowl Parade of Fail is a bit more descriptive.

    Nothing justifies the nasty things said about Breitbarts death. But the mockery, disrepute and questions about his intelligence and honesty, while he was alive, were right on target.

     Report

  3. Giles Merton says:

    Of course, Breitbart always doled this stuff out. The first day is just a taste, so his leftover opponents could spend a day screaming and giving him free publicity. Then he releases more and more each day. Day 1 they say it is a lie. Day 2 more comes out and they say it was an exception. Day 3 more comes out and they say that it’s unjustifiable but Republicans do it too. Day 4 more comes out and they say we shouldn’t discuss the personal life or the pre-political resume of a politician. Day 5 more comes out and they say the tapes are edited.

    I think Joan Walsh is still on Salon insisting that Anthony Weiner’s twitter was hacked by Breitbart and she knows his junk really doesn’t look like what was pictured.Report

  4. Jeff says:

    But GW Bush’s cocaine use and being AWOL is always off-limits.

    IOKIYAR!Report

  5. Will says:

    Exit question: If the current electorate was actually presented with Bell’s bargain, what would the results look like? Would the Wilder Effect be enhanced or diminished? And would we survive the aftermath of the election, even if a majority voted against the bargain?Report

    • BlaiseP in reply to Will says:

      We’d tell ’em they’d arrived in the wrong country and give them directions to Nigeria. Our blacks, you see, aren’t black enough.Report

    • Giles Merton in reply to Will says:

      Don’t you think the answer might be different pre and post Obama?Report

    • North in reply to Will says:

      If the aliens arrived right now we’d tell em to go stuff it (politely). Things aren’t bad enough for one and for another Bell’s predictions about the trajectory of African American advancement haven’t proven accurate enough.Report

      • Tod Kelly in reply to North says:

        A more interesting question in today’s America would be if you substituted Muslims for Blacks.

        Even so, we don’t even come close to doing it.Report

      • Kimmi in reply to North says:

        you believe more in us that I do. I find Bell surprisingly optimistic.

        Then again, his family’s from where I’m from. Where I bus through every day.Report

        • North in reply to Kimmi says:

          That seems harsh Kimmi, there’s a long way to go but I don’t think our current point nor our trajectory is in keeping with Bell’s pessimistic prediction. Blacks are moving into the suburbs in considerable numbers; whites are moving back into the urban settings similarily. If we could eliminate the utter scab that is the War on Drugs I suspect we’d find the fundamentals beyond that abominable distortion of a policy have become considerably improved.Report

          • Kimmi in reply to North says:

            You mean like Santorum’s hometown? Just another ghetto, dude.

            A kid from there pulled a knife on a friend of mine. Who was running a ride in an amusement park at the time. Seems the kid wanted to get his sister to the front of the line.

            I have little confidence that anyone would stand up for the blacks at all — Bell makes a good point about the jews… but I remember that there were multiple reasons for the jews standing up for blacks. And just where is Goldmann Sachs right now? Top of the heap.Report

            • North in reply to Kimmi says:

              Well you’re mightily more pessimistic than I.Report

              • Kimmi in reply to North says:

                I’m still a liberal. I believe we can get better, together. I just don’t trust us to do the right thing.Report

              • Christopher Carr in reply to Kimmi says:

                I’m not going to tell you how to self-describe, but I believe not trusting us to do the right thing makes you a “conservative”, as unpopular as that label’s become since being associated with Rick Santorum, and W, and Rush Limbaugh, and such.Report

              • Kimmi in reply to Christopher Carr says:

                ya can call me what ya will, but I’ll define myself based on what I support (I support welfare. I support giving people money to make new businesses. I support science (this didn’t used to be liberal, I admit). I support mandatory health care). That, and I’m a bit of an obstinate contrarian. Seems some folks around here wanna call me a libertarian, which is all well and good.

                But a conservative! That’d be a new one.

                I don’t think conservatism is completely synonymous with pessimism.

                Not that there aren’t things I believe in conserving — like the environment. I’m even a “leave it alone, mostly” with gun control.Report

  6. Will, it’s nice to see you’re alive and well. Please post again!Report

  7. It’s hard to believe the alien would want to eat black folk. We are very high in salt and cholesterol.Report