Day: September 10, 2017

Negative Partisanship

Fandango5 Comments

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The following short commentary, based upon a longer article in politico.com, appeared in this week’s issue of The Week magazine (theweek.com).

I’m copying and pasting it here for those who don’t subscribe to the Week or who don’t read politico.com, because I think it is an accurate reflection of politics in America today.

“Donald Trump thrives amid all the chaos because of the rise of a phenomenon that we have labeled ‘negative partisanship.’ Over the past few decades, American politics has become like a bitter sports rivalry, in which the parties hang together mainly out of sheer hatred of the other team, rather than a shared sense of purpose. Republicans might not love the president, but they absolutely loathe his Democratic adversaries. And it’s also true of Democrats, who might be consumed by their internal feuds over foreign policy and the proper role of government were it not for Trump. Negative partisanship explains nearly everything in American politics today.”

The full article was written by Alan Abramowitz and Steve Webster in Politico.com and can be viewed here.

Have You Seen My Aura?

Fandango12 Comments

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I’ve been experiencing a very peculiar aura recently.

No, it’s not one of those magical, mystical, spiritual auras that surround the bodies living beings and supposedly shows the essence of the individual, and which essence is discernible only by people with “special sensibilities.”

Nor is it a distinctive atmosphere or quality that seems to surround and be generated by a person, thing, or place.

The aura I’m talking about is when squiggly, vibrating, and sometimes colorful lines appear around the edges of one or both of my eyes.

These auras are flashes or flickering lights that are manifested by either zigzag lines or waves.

Naturally, I Googled “visual auras,” where I learned that these visual auras are a common symptom of something referred to as a “migraine without headache.”

One site noted that “A migraine that involves visual disturbance is called an ocular migraine.” During an ocular migraine, according to the description, “you may see flashing or shimmering lights, zigzagging lines, or stars. Some people describe seeing psychedelic images. It may also cause blind spots in your field of vision.”

Psychedelic images? Not like any psychedelic images I remember from my acid-dropping days.

According to WebMD, visual auras are rare. They affect about one out of every 200 people who have migraines.

Migraines? I’ve never suffered from migraines in my entire life.

My wife does, though. When my visual auras come along, she suggests that I take a couple of Advil and go lie down in a darkened room for an hour or so. And that seems to work. When I’m done with my mini-nap, my aura is gone.

Peculiar, huh?