tom moody

• Econospeak: The New York Times is wrong in using "enslaver" to mean the same thing as "slave owner." (Using language to nudge politics is obnoxious enough without misconstruing the meaning of words.)

• I received an email from AICA, the art critics' organization, about the "Guston controversy." My first thought was that painter Philip Guston had been #me_too'd because (I recall) his daughter said he was a skirt-chaser, in her book about him. But no, some museum directors postponed a retrospective because they thought his goofy paintings of Klansmen smoking cigarettes and riding around in little cars might trigger some folks. What a world. (See, e.g. ArtNews)

• Here's what Simon Reynolds supports with all that election cheering: According to the Grayzone, Biden appointee Richard Stengel "has proposed 'rethinking' the First Amendment that guarantees the freedom of speech and press. In 2018, he stated, 'Having once been almost a First Amendment absolutist, I have really moved my position on it, because I just think for practical reasons in society, we have to kind of rethink some of those things.'" It's gonna be a fun four years.

Rock critic Simon Reynolds (a British writer who seems to have "gone Hollywood" since moving to the LA) is ecstatic at the thought of a Biden presidency:

Tried to put down some thoughts on the events of the past week, but I don't really have thoughts, just feelings. Relief, joy, hope, elevation... a sensation of lightness, the lifting off and away of an immense heavy shadow. All the things everyone else is feeling. Well, except for the people who are feeling the opposite - and who are still with us, still alarmingly numerous, still implacably lost. But let's not dwell on that right now... let's stay in the glow as long as we can.

The post where this appears is titled "Landslidin' with Biden" -- wait, what landslide?

Meanwhile, Russiagate skeptic Raúl Ilargi Meijer reminds us that Biden is The Swamp and will bring all the oozy creatures back with him (to the extent they ever left). Go back to sleep, nothing to see here, etc.

Bernard, Moon of Alabama:

That the Democrats lose House seats, do not win the Senate and barely manage to drag their demented presidential candidate towards a stalemate tells a lot about their lack of sane policies. A donor party completely disinterested in what the people really want -- medicare for all, no fracking etc. -- will have little chance to survive a future onslaught of conservatives with a more competent figurehead than Donald Trump.

Voter turnout was high, too -- highest since 1900, says Fortune mag.

Left-leaning comedian Jimmy Dore makes fun of the Dems' pitiful showing: [YouTube]