Sunday 7th of December 2025
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losing interest, getting old, protest songs gone....

Last weekend, after Donald Trump posted “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” on Truth Social, my first thought was: “Who is Taylor Swift?”

Of course, I jest—but only a little. Yes, I am aware of a person named Taylor Swift who writes and sings pop songs, performs in outrageously over-the-top stage shows, sells an inconceivable number of albums, periodically attends NFL games featuring her football-star beau, and inspires widespread devotion among the hoi polloi—at least those not voting Republican in November.

 

Taylor Swift, Harbinger of Senescence
Where are the superstars of yesteryear?

 

BY Peter Tonguette

 

Even so, what I know of Taylor Swift has largely been acquired through osmosis. Taylor Swift is in the atmosphere, so I am conscious of the reality of Taylor Swift. But my familiarity with her goes no further than acknowledging her existence. I am certain that I have never listened to the entirety of one of her songs, and if I have heard a verse here or there, it is because I happened upon one of them on the radio or on a TV commercial. I could not give you a title or a line; I could not even define her musical style. I have seen clips from her live shows on ads on YouTube. I do not believe I have ever heard her speak for more than a few seconds, though I vaguely remember flipping by and seeing her host Saturday Night Live. 

I say all of this not to validate Donald Trump’s assessment of Taylor Swift—for me to render a judgment on her songs or role in American public life, I would have to actually know something about her beyond the mere facts of her face and omnipresence—but to confirm something about myself: I am getting older.

Although I turned 41 only this year—still a young man, or so I am told—I have reached an age when I have started to resist processing entertainment figures who emerged after a certain date. That I can string together basic facts about Taylor Swift is simply a sign of her ubiquity; were it not for the fact that she is a genuine superstar, she would be as anonymous to me as Billie Eilish or Charli XCX—people about whom I know literally nothing other than their names. I did not even know Charli XCX’s name until Kamala Harris deposed Joe Biden.

To be sure, these are not exactly my sort of pop artists. When I listen to American popular music, I’m likely to listen to Bobby Short performing Cole Porter, Johnny Mathis or Andy Williams singing Christmas songs, or Frank Sinatra lamenting “in the wee small hours”—the last of which reflects my own aversion to the daylight hours to an almost eerie degree.

Yes, I admit that I seem to have developed decidedly retro tastes, but my preference for the old, the well-worn, and the downright antique in music does not in and of itself account for my feelings of bafflement and perplexity about what the kids are listening to these days. 

Take the movies. This is a form of entertainment in which I am—allegedly—far better versed. After all, I work as a film critic and essayist, and I am sometimes identified, on the back of DVDs or Blu-rays for which I have recorded audio commentaries, as a “film historian.” I am proud of my mastery of cinema, but I find that my mastery has a cut-off point. I saw virtually every new movie worth seeing in the 1990s and 2000s, but thereafter, my attention drifted and my expertise waned.

I can rattle off the best movies of 1994 (Barcelona, Bullets Over Broadway, Nobody’s Fool, Quiz Show, The Paper—see, that was easy), the best neo-noir of 1996 (Blood and Wine), and the best car chase of 1998 (it was in John Frankenheimer’s Ronin, of course), but I would be hard pressed to name the Oscar nominees from 2020.

I gather that I am not alone in being unable to tell Chris Pratt apart from Chris Hemsworth. And there’s another one, isn’t there? Chris Pine? But in my case, it’s really true. When I saw the trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine, I was genuinely surprised that the star was named Ryan Reynolds and not a Chris. At least I think it was Ryan Reynolds—it wasn’t Ryan Gosling, was it? Because I still review new movies, I eventually learn to distinguish this actor from that actor, but I maintain there is a certain advantage to having no idea who is on the screen: Because I do not see a movie with Ryan Reynolds with any real sense of his stardom, I can evaluate his performance far more honestly. 

I would like to tell myself that my ignorance of these celebrities is a reflection of the quality of their work. In my considered opinion, modern music and movies are severely wanting, and therefore my lack of knowledge of their practitioners is itself a form of criticism. But I think the truth is simpler: It’s my age. It may well be that the human brain can only absorb so many movie stars, pop singers, and internet personalities, and I have reached my limit. So, as I go through my favorite TV shows of 2000, remind me again—who is Taylor Swift? 

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/taylor-swift-prophet-of-senescence/

 

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

plummeting?.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCpqHpy9YUE

Taylor Swift’s popularity plummets after Kamala endorsement

Taylor Swift’s popularity has plummeted after endorsing Kamala Harris according to a new poll which places her below Donald Trump in favorability.

Celebrity and royal commentator Kinsey Schofield slammed Swift as "stubborn", saying her endorsement was “such a bad move.”

“She really has become such a polarising figure for doing this again,” Ms Schofield told Sky News Australia host Rita Panahi.

 

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

THERE IS A STRANGE INVERSION OF POLITICAL THINKING, WHEN THE DEMOCRATS UNDER BIDEN/HARRIS HAVE BECOME FASCIST (THEY ALSO WERE UNDER OBAMA BUT WITH "LESS WOKE" AND MORE BOMBS) BY IMPOSING A WOKE-WILL PLUS A DRACONIAN REDUCTION OF FREE SPEECH — WHILE THE OTHER SIDE IS LESS FASCIST AND APPEARS MORE "LIBERAL"... ALL IN ALL, IT IS CONFUSING WHEN POPULARISM OF PERSONALITY RATHER THAN POLICIES MAKE THE DAY... KAMALA vs THE DONALD IS SCRAPPING THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL TO FIND NOTHING MUCH.... THE ONLY IMPORTANT PRESSING ISSUE IS TO AVOID WW3 AND IT APPEARS THAT TRUMP IS THE ONLY ONE WITH THE BRAINS TO STOP IT... BUT WHO KNOWS... MEANWHILE, SULLIVAN AND BLINKEN ARE PUSHING BIDEN TO GO FOR WW3...

fame before brains....

Noel Drake, a 29-year-old who lives in Utah, said she felt “very bleak” about politics before this year.

During the 2020 presidential election, she felt disillusioned entirely.

But Taylor Swift – and her fans – helped change her mind, she told me.

“With this sense of community that I have established through interacting with other Swifties online, it has really changed the way I interact with politics this election cycle,” she said.

After Swift endorsed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris a month ago, Ms Drake started following a fan-led campaign group called “Swifties for Kamala". The group is not officially affiliated with the Harris campaign, but does keep in regular touch with campaign staff.

Since interacting with other like-minded Swifties, Ms Drake has decided to get more involved in local campaigning in her home state.

The BBC has tracked down dozens of voters like Ms Drake, who say posts from Swift and her mega fans on social media have motivated them to go out and vote, or get involved in activism. But just because you’re a fan of Swift doesn’t mean you’re going to vote like her, I learned.

For the latest episode of BBC Radio 4’s Why Do You Hate Me USA, I’ve been investigating how one pop-inclined meme enthusiast Irene Kim - the co-founder of Swifties for Kamala - found herself transformed from superfan to political strategist. Have any of the tactics used by her and her fellow activists actually worked?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4d3y0kl4eo

 

BEING A SUPPORTER OF KAMALA MAKES YOU A WARMONGER... BEING A SUPPORTER OF TRUMP MAKES YOU AN Eldritch Being...

 

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

I KNOW SOME DEMOCRAT SUPPORTERS WHO SCRATCH THEIR HEAD...  THE DEMOCRATS HAD EIGHT YEARS TO FIND A DECENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AND ENDED UP WITH UNINTELLIGENT KAMALA.... BROTHER (BRO!)!...

of flab influencers....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTelcp1FEC4

Megyn Kelly Details Biggest Losers of the 2024 Election, From Taylor Swift to The Lincoln Project

 

 

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

“It’s hard to do cartoons without a bit of flab…”

         Gus Leonisky

swifty thinking...

 

Philosophy, Critical Thinking and Beer: WWU's Neal Tognazzini

by Frances Badgett

 

WWU Professor of Philosophy Neal Tognazzini teaches his students to navigate the world by employing critical thinking to the big questions about life — death, meaning, love, free will, grief, shame, morality — through the foundations of philosophy. 

Tognazzini’s path to teaching at WWU began here — he met his wife Anna in 2000 in Nash Hall. He and Anna moved to California, where he earned his doctorate at University of California Riverside, and then to Virginia, where he taught at William and Mary. After the birth of their daughter Geneva, they moved back to Bellingham.

Anna was an employee in the WWU Career Services Center before joining Mayor Kim Lund’s team at the City of Bellingham.

Tognazzini is a dedicated professor who loves to puzzle through issues of moral philosophy and critical thinking. One of his favorite courses is an Honors colloquium he teaches every two years. 

“I really enjoy teaching moral psychology. We look at an emotional experience like grief, love and regret.” One course was centered around the moral world of Harry Potter. Another was on Taylor Swift. 

“With Taylor Swift, there was a lot of discussion about the moral psychology of breakups,” he said.

Philosophy Department Chair Ryan Wasserman said Tognazzini is currently teaching a class on “awesomeness.” 

“This makes sense, since he’s pretty much an expert at being awesome,” said Wasserman.

Tognazzini’s students are equally enthusiastic about his teaching. 

Philosophy student Augustus Quale said Tognazzini’s strength as a teacher lies in being down-to-earth and easy to talk to.

“He takes care to explain things in a way that makes students feel like they're working through a problem with him, rather than him explaining a solution,” he said. “I would say he is the best at properly communicating ideas in a human way out of all the professors I've met.”

Lillian Zabihi took Ancient Chinese Philosophy from Tognazzini and was enthusiastic about her experience.

“Neal is a really encouraging and fun professor,” she said. “I appreciate how he includes a lot of variety in the material we read for his classes.”

Tognazzini isn’t just a popular and energetic professor, he’s also a homebrewer who has achieved several levels of success with his beer. He began homebrewing in Virginia as a hobby. Over the years, he has become more involved in the process, science and finer points of beer tasting. He is active with the Bellingham Homebrewers Guild. 

“It’s the perfect mix of art and science,” said Tognazzini. “The rational brain that loves precision and also the creative part of your brain that wants to explore.”

He is not only a brewer, he is a contest judge and has become a certified Cicerone — the equivalent of a wine sommelier, but for beer. 

His beer won the Bellingham Homebrewers Guild award in 2024. As his prize, he was able to brew a Saison — a dry, refreshing Belgian ale — for Beach Cat Brewing’s Bellingham location as Purrrrfessor Raspberry Saison.

His next venture will likely be a combination of his two loves: beer and philosophy. 

“I can envision combining my passions of writing and beer into a book.”

Until then, he’ll continue brewing up the biggest questions for students to puzzle through — and award-winning beers.

Frances Badgett covers the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Fine and Performing Arts Communications. Reach out to her with story ideas at badgetf@wwu.edu. 

 

https://yourdemocracy.net/drupal/comment/reply/52335/590530

 

 

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

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a reminder......