Last Week This Week 5-1-16

Wrath /ræθ/ noun

            1
:  strong vengeful anger or indignation
 (chiefly used for humorous or rhetorical effect)

            2
:  retributory punishment for an offense or a crime: divine chastisement
        

On WBT

Many people enjoyed watching a video of ISIS fighters getting blown up this last week. If this enthusiastic vouyerism made you even the slightest bit uncomfortable, you might be interested in this essay which wonders at the definition of barbaric. 

Editor’s Recommendations

Advocacy 

Want to know how your police can avoid lawsuits and avoid admissions of guilt in the wake of an unlawful shooting of a young black man? It would appear your city just needs to fork over $6 million, the current going rate. 

Rev. Daniel J. Berrigan dies at 94. In an age where Ted Cruz is often mistaken for the voice of U.S. religion, take the time to reflect on a poet and a priest who saw things differently.

Masculinity 

Behind every good man is a better woman: An unsigned feature essay written by Harper Lee on the murder of the Clutter family in Kansas recently surfaced in a publication written for FBI professionals. Truman Capote would later use her material in his book IN COLD BLOOD, only later to say Harper Lee was a mere research assistant. 

It's now apparently okay for U.S. presidential canditates to make fun of a woman for being a woman. That means it's time to dust off  Klaus Theweleit's Male Fantasies. 

Race

“Whatever white people do not know about Negroes reveals, precisely and inexorably, what they do not know about themselves”—people often forget that what James Baldwin had to say about white people was just as important if not more important than what he had to say about black people. 

An intuitive and depressing series of revelations about company diversity initiatives and how they don’t work well.

Politics

Can whomever wrote this deeply misguided piece be fired twice? 

Do you know who Trump's new campaign manager is? If not, don't worry, half the world's would-be dictators have only good things to say about him. 

The Ultimate Nature of Reality

A very difficult read about reality that will require you to channel your inner Berkeley.