Just to keep count, the current Republican Presidential frontrunner is a convicted sex offender, with 2 companies convicted of 17 counts of tax fraud. He has been indicted for 95 federal crimes. He and his allies have lost 62 voter fraud cases, winning 1. (A PA judge ruled that voters can't return with ID 3 days after an election. It didn't change the PA outcome.)

Still mad at me for suggesting it's un
https://lestersmith.com/2023/08/477616/
#Commentary #ElectionDenial #Evangelicals

#RPGaDAY2023, Day 7: Smartest RPG
#RPGaDAY2023 Day 7: SMARTEST RPG you've played. [I'm a day late, but started drafting this yesterday.]

Again, a very problematic answer.

By way of preface, let me say that I try to judge my own work with the same measuring stick as other people's. There are two voices in my head: One is an excitable little child that belie
https://lestersmith.com/2023/08/rpgaday2023-day-7-smartest-rpg/
#Commentary #FreeGames #GameDesign #RoleplayingGames #Writing

#RPGaDAY2023, Day 6: Favorite game you NEVER get to play 
[I plan to post days 1-5 together here, soon.]

Wow. This is a tough one decision. Ever since I got lured into this hobby in 1979, I've been reading RPGs the way other people read novels. Some I've had the chance to play; mostly I've had to GM; some bring up deep, wistful feeli
https://lestersmith.com/2023/08/rpgaday2023-day-6-favorite-game-you-never-get-to-play/
#Announcements #Commentary #GameDesign #Horror #RoleplayingGames

The Devil’s Music
Watching this performance for the first time today, I'm literally choked up about how much amazing, powerful music I missed out on as a teenager simply because my mom and stepdad thought rock was the Devil's music.

It wasn't until my stepdad forbade me to listen to the Carpenter's, because "Goodbye to Love" ends with an "edgy" guitar solo, that I simply stopped lettin
https://lestersmith.com/2023/07/the-devils-music/
#Commentary #Evangelicals #Music #SocialJustice

(Mis)Adventures in Social Media
Earlier this week, I wrote a few posts about wrangling with social media options, and shared them on social media, and got smacked down on CounterSocial for, to paraphrase, “dropping into the neighborhood and trying to sell something.” The first of those comments ended with an angry “This ain’t Twitter, pal.”

That kind of thing weighs on me.
https://lestersmith.com/2023/07/misadventures-in-social-media/
#Announcements #Commentary #SocialMedia #Writing

“SAG-AFTRA Declares Double Strike as Actors Join Writers on Picket Lines”
Per the Variety article, one key point is that "The streamers have refused a key demand of both unions, however: to share streaming viewership data and pay creators more for high-performing shows."

Also interesting to note that historically, Ronald Reagan led the only previou
https://lestersmith.com/2023/07/sag-aftra-declares-double-strike-as-actors-join-writers-on-picket-lines/
#Commentary #Wealth #Writing

Social Media Potluck
As things are turning out, social media options are more of a potluck than a smorgasbord. For public figures, it's not so much a choice of dishes to find people hanging out around, as it is browsing the table to see what new plate has been added, and which of the previous ones are empty.

I mentioned a couple of days ago the group of 8 sites (bottom o
https://lestersmith.com/2023/07/social-media-potluck/
#Announcements #Commentary #GameDesign #SocialMedia #Writing

Food for Thought
We all like to complain about Facebook.

In the long run, however, I'm cheering for the quiet, philanthropic, computer programmer & family man who co-created a widespread social media program in college.

Rather than the nanomanaging [his own word], wild-card, grandstanding philanderer, born into wealth.

I wish Musk no ill will, but I hope to never meet him, while I'd happily si
https://lestersmith.com/2023/07/food-for-thought/
#Commentary #SocialMedia #Wealth

Just speaking for myself . . .
There was a time, I'm told, when New York book publishers promoted not just their A-list authors, but also their mid-list authors. Concurrent with the birth of the Web, those houses began devoting virtually all their marketing dollars to their sure things, pushing mid-list authors to market their own books. The trouble is, most au
https://lestersmith.com/2023/07/just-speaking-for-myself/
#Announcements #Commentary #GameDesign #RoleplayingGames #SocialMedia

If you like insightful commentary on current economic affairs from outside the mainstream, you should give Macrodose a listen.
https://open.spotify.com/show/7ABsNTlespMKTMgl5RKDV6?si=fdaoNok5TZGBhYbpnvoHlA
>Listen to Macrodose on Spotify. Your weekly fix of everything economics. A new podcast hosted by James Meadway.

#economics #economy #commentary #news #uk #podcast #recommendation

World on Fire
When I left Evangelical Christianity 30+ years ago, it was due in part to religious sentiments like those in this song, which cheerily sings, "And rejoice with Him, as the sun grows dim, and He sets this world on fire!"

Too often I've heard the book of Revelations used as an excuse for environmental irresponsibility. "God's going to burn up the world anyway, very soon, and in the meantime He gave
https://lestersmith.com/2023/07/world-on-fire/
#Commentary #Evangelicals

Library Wings
I get it. The turmoil of shifting from Industrial Age to Information Age has many people frightened. Oil tycoons, for example. Good ol' boys. Pretty much anyone who believes white-picket-fence America (and Britain, Germany, et al) was a Golden Age. Classists. Racists. White males who hate pronouns. Anyone who doesn't get it that you can't have a $10 pack of cotton socks and 80-inch flat scree
https://lestersmith.com/2023/06/library-wings/
#Commentary #Racism #SocialJustice

Renfield Recommended
Loved Renfield. Much more wry and nuanced than I expected.

Cage commits himself fully to the role of a monster. Hoult plays the perfect antihero seeking redemption. Awkwafina is utterly convincing as the one good cop against a corrupt system. And I don't think there is a misstep among any of the rest of the cast.

Ridley's script is spot-on as well. And the ov
https://lestersmith.com/2023/06/renfield-recommended/
#Commentary #Dracula #Horror #Miscellany #Review

Hard-Headed Women
? Here's to our youngest daughter, Karalyn the Seattleite, for hands-on replacing the battery in her car just now.
O'Reilly Auto Parts didn't want to install it due to its placement below the engine's computer, so she did it her damned self.

If you've ever replaced a car battery, you know how tough it can be getting the terminal clamps loose, but I listened to her muscle th
https://lestersmith.com/2023/05/hard-headed-women/
#Announcements #Commentary #SocialJustice

On being a cultural outsider, but not a social reject: https://www.thejuggernaut.com/reetika-vazirani-indian-american-poet-south-asian-diaspora-poetry

#poetry #SouthAsian #Indian #juggernaut #ReetikaVazirani #culture #society #commentary

OPINION: A WIN FOR HOUSING JUSTICE IN THE HOUSE BUDGET. Eviction protections for Mass tenants seeking rental assistance could become permanent. The latest from @MikeConnollyMA https://somervillemedia.fund/opinion-a-win-for-housing-justice-in-the-house-budget/ #commentary #housing #renter #tenant #reform #Massachusetts #legislature

About Exposing 2nd Graders to Our History of White Brutality
About exposing 2nd graders to our history of white brutality:

Hearing that worry from Florida parents, my 1st thought was, "You have a point. It's an awfully young age to face horrors."

My 2nd thought was, "WTF, Lester? What about all the 2nd graders who aren't white? Who live with that histo
https://lestersmith.com/2023/04/about-exposing-2nd-graders-to-our-history-of-white-brutality/
#Commentary #Racism #SocialJustice

I made my debut in the Boston Globe's Magazine this week! My article is on the "we owe you" Oscar. Here's the online version:

#oscars #bostonglobe #commentary

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/09/magazine/why-i-reserve-special-ornery-ire-we-owe-you-oscar-nomination/

Today It Was Plumbing
Today it was plumbing.

Our water has been off since the big freeze, and when Christopher, my son-in-law, replaced the cracked filter housing under the home yesterday, I discovered this plastic nut behind the tub had split, spraying water back there. So we went without water another day until I could get to the hardware store & try to find something to replace
https://lestersmith.com/2023/03/today-it-was-plumbing/
#Commentary #family #homerepair #love #teaching

#ChrisHedges #IdentityPolitics #CIA #FBI #PoliceState #audio #commentary

https://open.substack.com/pub/chrishedges/p/listen-to-this-article-woke-imperialism?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web