Bringing together strands of recent thoughts … the blues… Recently I updated the “Got the blues so bad” mix/Nick’s True Blues Playlist – skewing heavily to the first bluesmen recorded vs later interpreters, the Southern backwoods “sundown comin’ & klan caught up to me at the crossroads” blues and that type of bluesman. Muddy Waters, … Continue reading “Mississippi Delta Bluesmen, as Relevant Now as Ever”
Like described by Abby Jean on the Feminists with Disabilities blog recently, I’m obsessed with public policy. It’s true. I am a policy wonk. I am endlessly interested in it. I read about it, think about it, talk about it and … write about it. (As in, what I’m doing right now.) And I do … Continue reading “Boardwalk Empire, Corruption, And Incentives For Public Servants”
Some Jews are offended by the Ride of the Valkyries, and any music by Wagner, because it was revered by Hitler, and used heavily in Nazi propaganda. I get that… But it’s still a musical masterpiece. For some reason, whenever I hear the Ride of the Valkyries, and those famous (almost Darth Vader Imperial March-esque) … Continue reading “When Zeppelins Attack”
In my post, Why did they create the new nation of Iraq? I discussed T.E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) and his vision of the Middle East’s borders after WWI, which would’ve amounted to the Shias getting their own state in the Mesopotamian Basin, a single state for most of the Sunnis of what are now … Continue reading “What The U.S. Can Learn From “Lawrence of Arabia””
After World War I destroyed the Ottoman Empire, why did the British decide to create the new nation of Iraq out of the 3 different Ottoman provinces? The British divvied up the Ottoman Empire’s holdings and created Iraq out of the three Ottoman “vilayets” (regions) of Mosul, Baghdad and Basra. Why would they do this? … Continue reading “Why did they create the new nation of Iraq? UPDATED”