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Saturday, January 28, 2017

Love The Arrival. I give it 4 stars out of 5


One of the things that struck me about this movie is that whilst the focus is on learning to communicate with the aliens, that's not all that's going on. Look at the scenes where Louise talks to Colonel Weber about what she's doing. She and he look at the world in different ways - they are also alien to one another, and she is using examples and stories - even made up ones like the "Kangaroo" story - to bridge a gap in understanding with him and his superiors, exactly like she's having to do with Humans and the Heptapods. And on a larger scale, the different nations with Heptapod ships in them all have different philosophies and ways of doing things, different ways of understanding the situation. And they also have to overcome those gulfs and communicate with one another to arrive at the solution. So the movie is about communication not just with the heptapods, but on at least three different levels. The message seems to be that we are ALL aliens to one another, and the key to overcoming those divides is learning to communicate so that we can bridge the gaps in understanding between us.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Donald Trump Declares War on Muslims

On Tuesday night, via Twitter, Donald Trump announced, “Big day planned on NATIONAL SECURITY tomorrow. Among many other things, we will build the wall!” Those many other things include placing limits on the number of refugees admitted to the United States to 50,000 a year (down from 100,000) and imposing a temporary ban on most refugees. Trump also intends to go after sanctuary cities in the U.S., to step up deportations dramatically, and to revisit current interrogation policies—including a possible move to reinstate black-site detention facilities operated by the CIA.

At the center of this spate of executive orders is Trump’s campaign promise to go after Muslims simply for being Muslim. Starting with his promise to “bomb the shit” out of ISIS and his pledge to torture family members of suspected terrorists, Trump has made targeting Muslims at home and abroad a cornerstone of his political identity. He will now make it an animating principle of his presidency.

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Rebooted.

Happy New Year everyone! My blog is rebooted! It's time to blog again.