#for shiv to start as a political consultant again

[turtlesallthewaytomgreg]

their relationship devastates me.

Tom and Shiv • Succession 2.10 — 3.09

[akajustmerry]

Hi Merry! I'm curious whether you think Mencken actually won the election in Succession? Shiv mentions a court is investigating the count, but it feels ambiguous.

Hellooo. Thank you SO MUCH for asking me this I've wanted an excuse to rant about it for WEEKS. so, this is just my interpretation of the ambiguity because it is left ambiguous to a point. Yes I think Mencken actually won the election. Or maybe it's more accurate to say, I think he became president.

Not gonna go into detail about the legal scenario the show establishes in America Decides because I absolutely am not an expert, but I reccomend listening the official Succ podcast where they spoke to the political consultants for the episode because they're literally the experts. But basically they explain that in the event of lost and/or destroyed votes so great that a majority can't be called for a key state, electoral lawyers have to be brought in to argue in federal court which party would have won in those states.

Point is, the state itself should not and cannot be called until that court process is complete. Obviously, ATN calls it anyway which is ethically and legally YUCK because the state is not actually decided until the electoral lawyers do their thing and determine the result based on prior voting patterns, polling, etc. Shiv and Connor mention that this process has started in the finale.

I say all that to say that for Mencken to actually lose in the scenario they established, you'd have to have an actually fair and just legal system that wasn't being influenced by wealthy billionaires. Over and over in Succession, we see how the Roys treat federal legal and regulatory frameworks like playgrounds. There's never any real legal or regulatory consequences for these people because their wealth and influence buys them the favour of those systems so that even when they lose they win. Over and over again.

At the end of season 4, Matsson buys Waystar because he wants ATN. Mencken is included in that purchase. In Church and State, they're pretty disgustingly chummy, making quick work of dismissing Kendall's power plays, ripping into Roman for [checks notes] being sad at a funeral, before launching right into the technofascist talk. I don't reckon Matsson would let a president who agrees with his ideologies so enthusiastically lose the election. Matsson loved having roman and shiv in his pockets, you think he'll let a few thousand destroyed votes get in the way of him having a pet president? Dude may not know shit about coding, but he knows how to play these people.

More than that though, I just believe Succession is a show about how institutions of power are more loyal to one another than the public they claim to serve. And how the human relationships among the people in these powerful institutions shape public life more than anything else. When Jesse Armstrong penned those last few episodes, I don't think they were about how fascism can be thwarted with the legal system. I think they were some incredible speculative satire on the powerlessness of legal and regulatory bodies in the face of wealthy powerful individuals wielding forces they can't control to achieve personal gain.

I don't think it's truly ambiguous because no legal or regulatory process has actually prevented these people from getting what they wanted on a mass scale. It didn't stop them from getting around the cruises scandal or the sale or kendall murdering someone so why would a president be different? Matsson wants Mencken to be president so I'm pretty sure he would be. Roman and Kendall already made sure he'd get to the finish line and the system will do the rest.

So yes I do think Mencken won. Not legally, or democratically. But he won. Personally, I don't think there's another outcome that would fit the established reality. This is, of course, just my interpretation!! Highly recommend listening to the official Succ pod episode for America Decides because it really helps you understand how Mencken's election is possible and you can decide for yourself. Maybe your interpretation will be more optimistic than mine. x

[qlistening]

How are the Bees REALLY doing?

Anyone who knows me well--which should be all of you because I just weeded out some of the weeklings on my private story--know that under this hard outer shell I have a soft side that sort of cares about the environment. In order to maintain my douchebag persona, I pretty much only care about “cool” environmental issues at this point. Polar bears, pollution, and pollinators are just a little too kombucha girl for me under normal circumstances, but the quarantine has me unusually curious about wtfgo with the bees. 

Y’all all remember when all the liberals and like, Burts Bees were getting their aerie panties and waxy chapstick in a wad about bees being like an endangered species and dying and shit? Not gonna lie, this got a pretty good grip on my attention. Partially because Anna had a really cool beehive at her house at the time. Partially because the boy who emotionally destroyed me in highschool was allergic to bees, so I wanted to make sure someone was doing something to keep their numbers up. Despite my slight concern, I did what I usually do about these lame environmental issues: not a goddamn thing. Now, with rumors circulating that the bees are doing fine now, I decided to do a little investigating on what the fuck is going on in this weird little niche. 

(once again you’ll probs have to click something to keep reading)

First, I consulted my resident bee guy, Luke Davis, who I happen to know spent the summer going door to door hitting up rich liberals for bee saving cash. How much? The organization he was working for raised $100k in about a month. For fucking what, you might be wondering? Lobbying for NC to pass the Pollinator Protection Act. 

If you google this act, the first thing that is probably going to come up is a Daily Tar Heel article essentially roasting this bill for how dumb it is. Gist of the article is the bill makes no sense because a) bee populations are literally fine and estimated to have increased by like 500,000 hives in the past 10 years and b) it singles out only one type of pesticide that is not even proven to be killing these suckers. What type of pesticide is it? Neonicotinoids. 

Yeah, I know you all had the sudden urge to hit your quarantine juuls after seeing the word nicotine shoved in there. Your instinct was correct. Neonicotinoids are pesticides that kill bugs by fucking up the nervous system in their brain with huge doses of nicotine. Huh? Farmers have been killing bugs with nicotine since the 90s, but the government couldn’t make a fucking decision about whether or not it was bad for us until our generation was already addicted? This is a whole other conspiracy for next week. 

Anyways, PBS says that neonics aren’t simply killing bees, but rather making them a little dumber so that they forget to do important shit like killing off the sick bees before they infect the rest of the colony. Can you really blame those suckers though? Just like us, they went from sharp individuals to irritable little addicts, whose primary concern became when Smoke Rings closed on a Friday night. And this bill wants to ban the use of these pesticides and force them to quit cold turkey? I don’t know about y’all, but I am genuinely afraid to live in a state full of bees who are going through nicotine withdrawals at the same time. 

Who were the four horsemen of this idiot bill? You guessed it, democratic senators from Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, and Hillsborough. Real Miss Americas these four, with bills like “animal abuser registry” and “continuing education for prisoners” plastered all over their records. Probably wanted this bill as another trophy on their shelf. I guess $100k wasn’t enough to convince them to finish the job though, because this bill has been held up in the state senate for just over a year now. 

Politics and conspiracy theories aside, I really did just wanna know what was up with the bees in the first place. After doing some really in depth research on the topic,

I found some real funny shit. 

The first thing was this Guardian article that opened my eyes to a really weird phenomenon. Apparently the honey business is not super profitable these days, so beekeepers have been boxing up their hives and shipping them across the country to work on almond farms in California. Apparently summer camp on the almond farm is essentially the bee equivalent of Coachella, according to Arizona beekeeper Arp. He says “There can be hundreds of thousands of hives from multiple beekeepers in one staging area. It is like letting your bees go into a singles bar and then have unprotected sex.” Another beekeeper claims that they feel “disrespected” by humans after their summer of love on the almond farm. This guy says “They are in severe decline because our human relationship to them has become so destructive.” Interesting theory sir. The other guy said they just kept coming back with diseases from raw dogging it all summer in Cali, and that’s why they were dying.

Here is a pic of them arriving in their boxes to almond Coachella. I bet they’re so excited.

The European honeybees (aka the ones that do all of the work pollinating) are literally fine though. I read like three different articles that basically said it was only native species that were endangered. Sure, that is sad, but at least shit is still getting pollinated. 

The story of the “bee war” between European bees and Asian bees has to be my favorite. Basically, the European bees are outcompeting the asian bees by having sexier queens. According to this article, European bees have like better pheromones or something so when the queen says she wants to get fucked and fed, her boys get on that shit immediately. Asian bee’s on the other hand don’t take that shit. If the queen is being too much of a bitch, some of the dudes will just grow some ovaries and start their own fucking colony. This lack of unity has apparently fucked them over pretty hard because European bees have taken over about 80% of their territory. But get this! Apparently the Asian bees are making a comeback because the European bees are such simps that they don’t even have the balls to form a new colony when their queen gets killed by a hornet. 

Shiv sent me this this morning.

Asian bees might be on their way to the top.

TLDR: the bees are fine. Probably better shit to worry about in this day and age.

[filmcave]

HBO’s Succession: TV or not TV

(Yes, there are spoilers in this)

This is a deviation vrom my stated purpose of this blog but without conventions there would only be a riot of non-conventional styles - which would in turn then be the convention.

I’ve already broken a maxim of my blog (no reviews) and now will be doubly at fault in reviewing a TV episode. Sacré bleu

Succession, season one episode seven - otherwise known as - Austerlitz was a virtuoso presentation. It was greek tragedy and Shakespearean drama all wrapped into one. It was a hologram of the history of a family, a Haiku and a stand alone “slice of life” movie at once. I haven’t seen this kind of high quality work on TV, behind and in front of the camera collaboration, since the early days of The Sopranos and the better days of Six Feet Under. SS1E7 might even surpass those.

Its not TV, its HBO in this instance is more than a catchy marketing line.

In SS1E7 we learn more about the characters, their relationships and dreams and fears than at any previous time. It was entirely captivating nearly start to finish. The characters really came to life because gone were the veils, deceptions, proxies and covers for the sublimated emotions that were hinted at in prior episodes.

We also have the pleasure to see the actors talents and the production skills, restrained and nuanced. At work is an incredible stylistic dynamic both the bold and raw set against a pastoral setting. A smoldering kindling on which a splash of psycho-therapy gasoline hogwash sets off a wild ride.

Logan, Marcia, Connor, Roman, Shiv and Kendall all have a new stage and unknown surroundings here in the middle of New Mexico - at Austerlitz, Connor’s newly renamed ranch. The familiar physical environment is no longer the polished steel city or lustrous posh of the Hamptons and we see how this new environs affects them. The environment is all highly symbolic but at the same time part of the natural aesthetic.

The dialogue is sparse but precise. The direction moves the story forward but doesn’t get in the way (There seemed to be far fewer annoying zoom jump cuts, for example). The dialogue was snappy, emotion filled, poetic and well balanced. The family joking and jostling ranging from mean and cutting to tender and toying.

What is most compelling and what elevates this simple TV episode to a higher level - nay a filmic level - is the extraordinary way it exists as a stand alone artistic entity while it fits in perfectly with the series narrative, arc and history. It advances the prior story lines yet could easily and satisfyingly be enjoyed as its own single entity,

What also helps this stand in stark relief are the fullness of the performances. We learn so much about each character and how they relate to each other. We see Logan railing, fuming, frustrated, patriarchal. Shiv - confused, frustrated, ambitious, Roman as lost, dismissed, sardonic, mean and desperate. Connor seeking solace and connection, peace and harmony, family unity and relationship building. Kendall as jilted, angry, posturing - and resentful. Deeply resentful.

This stew of these personalities are seasoned with the orbit of “satellite significant others” who play out their own personal turf battles. Tom Wamsgans, Marcia Roy and Willa

To this all we add in the “well known, highly respected, Harvard educated corporate therapist” Alon Parfit who does a fabulously good job of doing a fabulously terrible job. This performance by Griffin Dunne is understated, completely serious and comically perfect. He starts the session off with a ditty/limerick that is more stand up than kickstarter for insightful therapy.

While there are lots of rich and interesting moments in the “family unity event” but the one that really helps the wheels come off are when Logan, un-ironically states: Everything I have ever done, I’ve done in the best interest of my children.

It is one of the most stultifying and astonishing statements which no one but Logan believes is truthful. From here the kids start to figure out there is an alternative agenda. Pictures of everyone becomes pictures and interview (“its optional” says Logan) and as a fraudulent and deceptive connivance.

This whole vignette becomes a kind of “who’s afraid of Virginia Wolfe” for the whole family.

And then...things really start to unravel. Dr. Parfait (how symbolically perfect of a name) suggest they get into their “good bodies” and go for a swim and then everyone follows their genetic code. Shiv runs off to Santa Fe for a job interview as a political consultant,

Connor tries to corner Willa to kind of, sort of, maybe being together with him..in New Mexico, but no not maybe all the time - so she could be in New York, uh..and have an allowance,,,and uh, uh, uh...”we’d be together but in a different way”.

Roman hangs around for the photo op with Daddy (“sure, I give good cheek”) and Kendall (which just sounds so much to me like “Ken doll”) well, in addition to his aspiration of becoming a meth head decides he’s no wheres close to done with his failed palace coup in the boardroom.

But the pieces that really powers and accelerates this super charged race car of a family are the exceptional direction/cinematography/editing and Lucy Prebble’s script. Miguel Arteta‘s direction shows us what we need to see, how to see it and tells the visual story. Even simple moments like Kendall’s car rental and subsequent slide from sobriety at the bar tells us a lot about the character. There’s the aloof, voyeuristic distant camera shot and angle as he finishes up with the rental guy underscored with equally aloof and sarcastic throwaway lines:

Rental agent: “Its gassed up and ready to go. Big plans while you’re here?”

Kendall: “ Maybe. Patricide? Fratricide?”

In addition there is an incredible soundtrack that adds to the mood. Haunting, foreboding, lyrical, sad. The score too really adds to the flavor of this episode in a clear but subtle fashion.

The music and scoring is really complimentary to the entire aesthetic of Succession. Brilliantly done by Nicholas Britell (of Moonlight fame) it sets the mood for the soundtracks of the show episodes and the Roys family. As it should it adds to the storyline.

Its unfortunate that thus far the combo of Prebble and Arteta only collaborated in this one episode because their efforts truly reveal the inner lives of the story and characters versus the intriguing but more mundane soap opera like quality of most the other episodes. Prior to this episode the primary quality was a kind of prolonged exposition with the foreplay teaser of things to come. From SS1E1 through episode 6 each one ends with a kind of cliffhanger.

As I’ve already suggested even the non characters have meaning here. Austerlitz for example (Connor’s renamed house).

I had to look it up but was surprised and amused to learn it was the site of Napoleon’s greatest battle victory. According to Wikipedia:

also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of the most important and decisive engagements of the Napoleonic Wars. In what is widely regarded as the greatest victory achieved by Napoleon, the Grande Armée of France defeated a larger Russian and Austrian army led by Tsar Alexander I and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II

How perfect the symbol of a battle as foreshadowing for a family battle. That’s the historical part, even with echos of King Lear. The hysterical part is as Marcia and Willa explain:

Marcia: Austerlitz? Was this the name when you bought it?

Willa: Oh, it was racially insensitive, so he picked a new one.

Ha! How perfect, how prescient. They’re dropping hints before anyone’s even walked into the house (called a ranch but which is really an estate)

Its all brown, as Shiv puts it, but if you look a bit closer the accoutrements, nick-knacks and decorations are anything but vintage old world west. The furnishings, art work, ersatz homage to the history of the land, all “put together”. Very Pottery Barn meets Restoration hardware, meets Sam Shepard.

Connor, at this point the most self deluded of the bunch, even welcomes them by saying “Welcome to the real America”. How innocent and ignorant.

But Connor is an aspiring maven and bon vivant so he delights in his cursory knowledge of history.

So he doubles down as he proudly introduces everyone to his “humble” Abode and that the chapel next door dates to 1878. While he gives no context for the importance of 1878 (or his reason for mentioning it).

A bit of research seems to suggest this was an important period for New Mexico, commerce and local history. According to the National Park service and other online sources, this was the timeframe when the Santa Fe trail (the primary commercial route between Independence, MO and New Mexico) was being developed (possibly through hostile means) from “highway” to railroad way. The war with Mexico (over territory) had ended just thirty years earlier and the Republic of Texas had seceded from Mexico about a decade before (1836 Texas revolution). Again, signs of war, conflict, antagonism..could this be an over interpretation of a line of dialogue. Sure, but who goes to the length to not only name a house for Napoleon’s greatest victory but the entire episode and stop with the clues there?

Theres so much layering of elements in this episode, its hard to pick what to highlight.

However I am also drawn to another unique interplay of moments. There are two occasions when Shiv, beginning to sow her seeds, compares her father to the earthly elements of Fire and Water. At one point exclaiming in reference to the chapel: “do you think he can cross the threshold or will he spontaneously combust? And later explains why her father won’t take a dip in the pool, “he doesn’t even trust water..its too wishy washy”. But in the end we see the ramifications and scars from the encounters...

Shiv is brought to tears

Kendall climbs a mountain to gain perspective and snort some drugs

Connor realizes his illusion of family unity was never to be and

Logan, Logan goes into the pool (a very high end infinity pool) amidst the mountains, and cactus, tumbleweeds, dirt with steam rising to wash away the stress and as he emerges crawling out of the depths we see what appears to be lashes or scars in his upper back with Marcia there, his protector and defender to wrap him in a towel as an acoustic guitar melody plays under the scene.

Succession Austerlitz Haiku

Roys go West together

seeking salvation in sand

No one’s left unhurt

[spookywinnerpainter]

BJP's huge Win manner it'll also Inherit The Congress' Curse

New Post has been published on http://articlesworldbank.com/2017/02/24/bjps-huge-win-manner-itll-also-inherit-the-congress-curse/

BJP's huge Win manner it'll also Inherit The Congress' Curse

BJP’s huge Win manner it’ll also Inherit The Congress’ Curse At the start sight, the consequences from the local polls in Maharashtra – now not simply to the Brihanmumbai Municipal company, but those for nine other local governments – appears to be extra of the identical. The Bharatiya Janata Party celebration has executed well, if no longer as sweepingly as in 2014, and the Congress has continued its seemingly inexorable downward slide into the history.

however there may be a deeper significance here that’s really worth teasing out. And that is that these two things have indeed happened on the price of every other. essentially, the BJP is the new Congress. And, in many words, horrible as that is for the Congress, it is now not great news for the BJP either.

The BJP is the brand new Congress due to the fact its ideology – muscular, centralised Hindutva hypernationalism – has in large part replaced the Congress’ tender centrism because the dominant centralising pole of Indian politics. it’s miles the BJP and no longer the Congress this is now, to adopt Rahul Gandhi’s phrase, the “default running machine” of Indian politics. within the BMC election, the birthday party’s fantastic showing has come largely on the expense of the Gandhi Congress, which has dipped from being second with 50-plus seats within the remaining employer to being a very remote 0.33. For the ones uncomfortable with the regionalism and patronage mechanisms of the Shiv Sena, it is the BJP this is now the apparent choice and not the Congress. it is the BJP that is now the birthday party of the high command, of countrywide team spirit, of “Indian” in place of local affiliation. I may want to well argue over whether the BJP’s ruling ideology is in fact “Indian” or “countrywide” – however, from the factor of elections, it does not count if who wins that argument, most effective that sufficient voters see it because the dominant stress of national ideology these days.

Devendra fadnavis Devendra Fadnavis has delivered the best range of seats for the BJP in BMC polls elsewhere too, the BJP is replacing the Congress as the “country wide” pole of regional politics. In Odisha, some agree with that it is now the primary challenger to the Biju Janata Dal. In Bihar, the Gandhi Congress is in alliance with local events, and the BJP is on my own in competition – after it fought an election with out a nation-level figurehead. In Telangana, the BJP definitely believes that it, and now not the Congress, will provide the “countrywide” detail in local politics over the coming decades. and so forth.

there is area handiest for one country wide birthday party in India. It became long the Congress. Now it is the BJP. The BJP had lengthy been an agglomeration of local events in a few methods, with different priorities in unique states and sturdy satraps. that is slowly demise out, as an Indira-like high command exerts its will over the celebration organisation – a will rendered unchallengeable by way of the PM’s Indira-like connection with voters.

So how on earth could this be any other than remarkable news for the BJP? well the solution lies visible before you in these Maharashtra elections: it has carried out thoroughly, but not enough to win. The reality is that the “Congress-mukt Bharat” the celebration’s management ad infinitum promises will be the BJP’s worst nightmare. For the Congress, the “national” vote plus its vintage minority-Dalit-Brahmin coalition was once sufficient to win. but for the BJP, the “country wide” vote plus its personal core Hindutva vote may not be enough to win. we have seen this confirmed time and again in elections when the declining Gandhi Congress isn’t always the BJP’s important opponent.

Sanjay nirupam Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam presented to surrender after a poor performance in BMC polls And what is that essential opponent of the BJP, if no longer the Gandhi Congress? nicely, it is what the primary opponent of the Congress became earlier than the upward thrust of the BJP: sub-national political forces, starting from the benign to the fairly xenophobic. This centralising vs local pole is the vital division of Indian politics. Even new parties, which includes AAP, understand they should be a coalition of nearby forces first even if they have countrywide targets – see what it’s as much as in Punjab, wherein it’s far strolling a sincerely sub-nationalist campaign. do not forget additionally that during maximum places in which the BJP rose towards the Congress, in the north and the west and Karnataka, it did so basically as a kingdom-centric birthday celebration pushed strongly through local caste coalitions. Now the location is reversed: the BJP is the homogenising centralising force, and its number one opponent could be the neighborhood, deeply rooted celebration – inclusive of the Shiv Sena in Mumbai, the undisputed winner of this set of elections. The breakdown in relations among the Shiv Sena and the BJP isn’t a transitory phenomenon. even if the 2 events come collectively once more sometime in the future, the Shiv Sena can hardly ever settle for being a junior accomplice regionally. that is too much of a blow to neighborhood satisfaction. No local birthday party suffers being a junior partner to a national one in its own kingdom if it wants to live to tell the tale. (The NCP did for years, and it isn’t always surviving.) And if the BJP now represents the “national”, then the Shiv Sena, as the local Maharashtra consultant of sub-nationalism – of the most excessive type – can hardly ever do anything but, in the end, come to oppose the BJP. Such are the natural poles of Indian politics.

The Shiv Sena emerged as the single largest party in the BMC polls winning 84 seats

Uddhav thackeray The Shiv Sena emerged as the unmarried largest party in the BMC polls triumphing 84 seats So, the BJP can have a look at a rosy destiny wherein it is the new Congress. but it must also reckon with the reality that it will inherit the Congress’ curse: anti-Congressism turns into anti-BJPism. Disdain for centralisation, the power of the PM’s outsize persona, and worry of homogeneity and high instructions will pressure regional political events collectively just as competition to the Gandhi Congress did inside the beyond. And this will be worse for day after today’s BJP than yesterday’s Congress, due to the fact its base is simply not huge sufficient to triumph always if BJPism vs anti-BJPism becomes the new norm.

If the BJP is smart, it’ll comprehend that becoming the new Congress approach it’ll actually must turn out to be extra like the antique Congress: make bigger its sociological and ideological footprint, realize that on occasion a certain muddiness of ideology can permit disparate forces to stay together underneath the equal umbrella. If that happens, perhaps we’ll go back to a stable equilibrium of BJP and non-BJP governments, with the Gandhi Congress decreased to a chunk participant, robust in some states, once in a while helping different local forces. If the BJP is unable to extend its social coalition – nicely, it had higher revel in its success, due to the fact the chances are it may not closing for as lengthy because it would really like.

Disclaimer: The evaluations expressed within this text are the private evaluations,articlesworldbank does not expect any responsibility or legal responsibility for the equal.