The American Civil War Podcast

I Have Thoughts about the new "Magician's Nephew" trailer. Firs,t this is a trailer. The finished movie could be different. Casting looks fine if a hair unorthodox. I noticed two things: First, Charn looks unhinged and amazing. It's supposed to be a dead world. Literally *everything* is dead.

The second is that we clearly see Jadis using magic in London. That is strange for a different reason: the fact that she lost her magical powers (or rather, they don't exist on Earth) is what drives the second half of the story. It specifically motivates much of her actions and creates conflict.

First off, this guy says some extremely prejudiced and racist things, which I am not going to engage with. I am a firm support of Israel's right to exist like any nation, and to defend itself from aggression, terror attacks or criminal intent. That does *not* mean I support Israel's own misdeeds.

For a very pertinent example, our direct military assistance to Israel is the major reason we are currently quagmired with Iran, with consequent massive global disruptions. People are dead because of this, and our actions, be they right or wrong, inflicted lasting wounds on the region.

First off, this guy says some extremely prejudiced and racist things, which I am not going to engage with. I am a firm support of Israel's right to exist like any nation, and to defend itself from aggression, terror attacks or criminal intent. That does *not* mean I support Israel's own misdeeds.

It means we have to make some *very* difficult political tradeoffs to try to an keep friendly relations with a number of powers who view Israel as a dangerous threat. Those powers may be racist or prejudiced, or scapegoating, but that's not something we can necessarily change.

First off, this guy says some extremely prejudiced and racist things, which I am not going to engage with. I am a firm support of Israel's right to exist like any nation, and to defend itself from aggression, terror attacks or criminal intent. That does *not* mean I support Israel's own misdeeds.

Splitting this thread as it threatened to go rather long. I question that the latter happened; the (sometimes-dubious) tales of Grant being drunk both pre-date and post-date Rosecrans' even being in the western theater. Rosecrans was certainly very unhappy about Iuka, and with good reason.

But specifically, Grant's behavior afterward turned a little nasty and vindictive - but it may have had little to do with Rosecrans. Rather, Grant was clearly irritated at not being able to march into Mississippi. Rosecrans was an easy target, but not necessarily a fair one.

Splitting this thread as it threatened to go rather long. I question that the latter happened; the (sometimes-dubious) tales of Grant being drunk both pre-date and post-date Rosecrans' even being in the western theater. Rosecrans was certainly very unhappy about Iuka, and with good reason.

New podcast! Episode 100: The Receding Tide The appointment of John Pope led to small, but crucial policy changes in how the Union would fight, with deep implication on the purpose of the war itself. uscivilwar.substack.com

I am wading into a discussion in which, on BlueSky, I find myself on dangerous ground. I say this is a bad idea and people shouldn't propose it. Let be absolutely clear: I have no patience or sympathy for Confederates, Lost-Causers, NeoConfederates, White Supremacists or any similar thing.

It's sort of similar to how many historic aristocratic palaces in Europe have become small resorts. The aristocrats are gone, or sometimes extended middle-class clans trying to keep the lights on. The iniquities do lay in the past, but they more or less remain there.

I am wading into a discussion in which, on BlueSky, I find myself on dangerous ground. I say this is a bad idea and people shouldn't propose it. Let be absolutely clear: I have no patience or sympathy for Confederates, Lost-Causers, NeoConfederates, White Supremacists or any similar thing.

Whatever social or economic meaning they had is simply dead with slavery and cotton economy. Trumpian dead-enders don't hang out on plantation homes. Destroying one does no good for anyone, but harm to real people (often of rural areas) for symbolic victory over the long dead.

I am wading into a discussion in which, on BlueSky, I find myself on dangerous ground. I say this is a bad idea and people shouldn't propose it. Let be absolutely clear: I have no patience or sympathy for Confederates, Lost-Causers, NeoConfederates, White Supremacists or any similar thing.

I've long thought this was potentially the right game but absolutely, unforgivably at the wrong-est possible time. Because it's like a punchline to a joke we never got. As in, why don't we have a bunch of amazing superhero games? There have been good ones, but the genre is pretty limited.

There's so many zany ideas out there and the genre has been mostly missed. I would guess this is because the license rights are usually too expensive.

I've long thought this was potentially the right game but absolutely, unforgivably at the wrong-est possible time. Because it's like a punchline to a joke we never got. As in, why don't we have a bunch of amazing superhero games? There have been good ones, but the genre is pretty limited.

You've basically got Marvel Rivals and Arkham. And the last worthwhile Arkham game came out in 2015. Why don't we have a Superman title about saving people or limiting damage to the city? Maybe a Wonder Woman game battling mythic monsters? Green Lantern or Aquaman spectacle brawler?

Related fact: Broccoli created the Broccoli family, which created broccoli. Romans selectively bred Brassica into something like-broccoli called broccolo. The Broccoli family (presumably named after it) bred this further into something more like modern broccoli, which they imported to America.

I want to gently push back on second part of this this: MAHA is not Eugenicist, or at least not usually. And when it is, it's more in the slouched, narrow-minded belief that "Those People" somehow deserve to get sick. Actual Eugenics was cruel-er, but way more Pretend-Rational if that makes sense.

So people look for certainty, even false certainties, in order to make sense of a chaotic world that simply does *not* care about them. They want answers, and might turn to people who provide those answers. That's not an excuse, but it is an explanation.

I want to gently push back on second part of this this: MAHA is not Eugenicist, or at least not usually. And when it is, it's more in the slouched, narrow-minded belief that "Those People" somehow deserve to get sick. Actual Eugenics was cruel-er, but way more Pretend-Rational if that makes sense.

"If you live the Right Way (tm) you are protected from the frightening things out there." I understand this! I sympathize! The world is a scary place. People just get sick. Maybe they were exposed to a toxin or disease, or not. Our bodies weaken with time. Or we're just born different.

I want to gently push back on second part of this this: MAHA is not Eugenicist, or at least not usually. And when it is, it's more in the slouched, narrow-minded belief that "Those People" somehow deserve to get sick. Actual Eugenics was cruel-er, but way more Pretend-Rational if that makes sense.

This is a really fascinating alternative-history scenario! One of the big problems was that British politics paid barely any attention to the colonies, but the reverse was not the case. One side effect was that the colonies could barely communicate a message.

My answer is that, Yes, absolutely Britain could have resolved the tensions, kept its colonies and even become much greater for it. But it would have required a significant change of government structures to adapt, and a new way of looking at the Empire as a whole.

This is a really fascinating alternative-history scenario! One of the big problems was that British politics paid barely any attention to the colonies, but the reverse was not the case. One side effect was that the colonies could barely communicate a message.

I..e, there were various proposals to deal with the problems, but quite often British politics literally had no way to "ingest" the message. A small colonial delegation visited General Howe before the Revolution turned bloody to try and work out a solution. But Howe had no authority for that.