Maslow's Political Blog

Slow news week, but that doesn't mean Social Media still isn't full of easily debunkable memes.  Remember folks:  Just because it's written in white text overlain a relevant picture and shared by your well-meaning relative, doesn't mean it's true.  And with that, let's get going!  What meme are we debunking today? OK, so before we do anything that can be called research, let's do some analysis: Just look at this image and see what sticks out.  First, what is this a picture of?  I see a glass table with what might be a laptop on it, a TV display like you'd find in any electronic store, a person wearing a jacket looking at the camera (or perhaps slightly to the side).  4 of the 6 TVs are showing the same image.  Also, there's some text in the lower right of the screen ("AFP"), where we might expect to see a channel designation.  So maybe it's...... one huge screen showing 6 screens on it.  The image itself seems to have a lot of wate...

A few days ago, news broke that the Bernie Sanders campaign had been suspended by the Democratic National Committee (The DNC, which is basically the official Democratic Party.  Democratic Candidates represent the DNC's platform, or at least will default to it when they have no other pressing interest).  The Sanders campaign has since be reinstated, but not before the fight got pretty ugly, and even in it's resolution, shots were fired.  If the Republican party is desperately trying to figure out how to prevent Trump from becoming their nominee , the DNC seems set on trying to ensure Clinton does  become their nominee. I'm not going to rehash the story (But if you want good primers, try here and here ), but in reading about it I noticed a startling trend.  While behind the scenes there may be animosity between the candidates, usually they try to play nice publicly.  In the second debate (I believe - I wasn't able to find an actual source, but I know this ...

The final Star Wars post before I turn my attention back to real politics.  In this episode, I ignore almost everything I've heard about what the movie WILL be, and just talk about what I'd like  to see - and not see. YES: What happens to Lando? What happens in the months immediately after the Battle of Endor? A new Jedi academy How difficult is it to go from fighting the government to becoming the government? Basically, I want influences from Game of Thrones.  A more serious look at how things work.  But IN SPACE. NO: Superweapons.  We've already had two Death Stars.  I'd love for the Sith to be sneaky and more like assassins than evil space jocks whose last two superweapons have served as a stand in for their balls (And what does that make the Executor??).  It would also be great to know the Sith have learned that giant weapons are not as invincible as they appear. Family relations between the Dark and the Light side.  Yawn. Y...

Looking toward the new trilogy, I'll be making two posts about it.  This one will be about the political and security issues that stem from the end of Episode VI, which I think should guide the new film's plot.  The next post will be, as a movie-goer, what I want (and don't want) to see in the new movie. The Second Death Star is destroyed.  The Emperor is dead.  Vader not only is dead, but has repented for his sins.  The Rebellion has scored a major victory.  And yet, as we saw at the end of Episode IV, destroying their battle station does not defeat the Empire.  Even though this time they also lost their leaders, there's little reason to believe the Empire, as a government, has been overthrown. At the end of Episode VI, We see a variety of celebrations  (Relevant part: 0:40-1:30).  However, the three planets showcased were Bespin (Which is the planet Cloud City is in), Naboo and Coruscant.  While Bespin was taken over by the Empire ...

Earlier this week we looked at the original trilogy in depth , examining its themes and real world inspirations.  Now we shall do the same for the prequels.  This post will be *much* longer than the previous one, because the prequels are much more complicated movies.  They aren't better, but it's easier to analyze a simple, positive and uplifting message than a cautionary tale. The main theme in the Republic Trilogy is corruption.  Promises are made and broken, or they are twisted against their original meaning.  Let's look at each episode. Episode I is mostly about innocence.  Everyone thinks one-dimensionally, with the exception of Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Sidious. The Trade Federation Viceroy, as the movie proceeds, begin to regret their bargain with Sidious. Queen Amidala believes if she goes to the Senate, the rightness of her side will be enough win their support. Qui-Gonn is caught off guard when Watto is immune to Jedi mind tricks. Padme is ...

This the first of a few posts I'll make in anticipating of The Force Awakens .  In this one, I'll discuss the overall themes of the original trilogy. The original trilogy was about living on the fringe, fighting an evil that is completely overwhelming.  The first shot of A New Hope is a small ship fleeing a larger ship - a ship so large it eventually takes up half the screen  (And the ship is called a Star Destroyer).  The Death Star: A space station the size of a moon with the ability to destroy a planet.  The entirety of Episode IV is about smallness overcoming bigness.  In every instance, smallness wins.  Where the Rebels are determined ("What good are stunt fighters going to do against *that*?", the Empire is arrogant ("Evacuate?  In our moment of triumph?") Episode V is about every Rebel plan falling apart:  Hoth gets overrun; Han, Leia and Chewie get captured; Luke is drawn into a trap and loses his hand.  He also learns he is ...