Featured Editorials

Open Thread - 12-27-24 - Billionaire Planet

It's inarguable that the world is in flux. What is arguable is what it will look like when it's all said and done. Will the 195 recognized countries remain the same as they are now, in the same continental configuration, or will the land mass be reformed into new man-made models? Like the breakdown in the dystopian novel, 1984.

There's a lot of different ideas floating about with a lot of different competing allegiances at play. Will it be a one world order with a centralized power structure or a federation of state entities?

One thing is certain, IMHO, that whatever may become of this world wide upheaval, it will most probably be a New World Order.

There is a certain component of the nascent order that's becoming obvious to me, and perhaps to you as well, and that is the role of billionaires in this theoretical world realignment. The new administration that is about to take power here in the US is loaded with billionaires and near billionaires. As is the world, writ large.

truman.jpg

Open Thread - Thurs 26 Dec 2024: Happy Boxing Day!

Happy Boxing Day!

It's the day after Christmas: Boxing Day (in the UK), St. Stephens Day in 'western Christianity'. On Boxing Day,

servants, tradespeople, and the poor traditionally were presented with gifts. By the 21st century it (Boxing Day) had become a day associated with shopping and sporting events.

Sounds like Black Friday, doesn't it?

I learned about Boxing Day when I lived in England. Didn't do much shopping then, but did exchange presents with my friends and family on that day. Another thing in England - at least where I lived in the northeast - which was different than I was used to from the USA: On Christmas Day, if the family could afford it, they ate out. Poor families saved for months to afford it. Eating out on that day was a BIG DEAL.

Ohh and Boxing Day is also the one of the days for Mummer's Plays, traditional British plays done by amateurs, often featuring sword fights or dances and resurrection. Once again, this happens in England, and sometimes there's a parade beforehand! This tradition is in Philadelphia in the USA as well, when the Mummer's Parade is on New Year's Day. Fun stuff!

File:St Albans Mummers production of St George and the Dragon, Boxing Day 2015-10.jpg
By Michael Maggs - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

St. Albans Mummers Production of St. George and the Dragon on Boxing Day in 2015. I love the costumes!

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