Monthly Archives: July 2025

A little ICE breaking

This entry was posted in Personal and tagged ICE liberty New Hampshire on by

There’s no safety from ICE anywhere in the US. La Carreta is a Mexican restaurant in Portsmouth, NH. On July 1, ICE abducted four of their employees on their way to work. This has increased fears not only for the people at the restaurant but for everyone in the city.

That’s not far from where I live, and the restaurant looked interesting and reasonably priced, so I decided to eat there on Sunday. They had outdoor seating and it was a very nice day, so I got a table outside.
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Commentary on Aaron Ross Powell’s essay

This entry was posted in Writing and tagged censorship ethics on by

The essay “Surround Yourself With Those Who Are Admirable, and Distance Yourself From Those Who Aren’t,” by Aaron Ross Powell, has me feeling ambivalent. Each time he links to it on Bluesky (and he’s linked to it a lot), I want to say something, but I couldn’t put my concern in a few words. It isn’t obviously wrong, but its focus could encourage readers to cut themselves off from all who disagree with them. In general, I should add, his newsletter is definitely worth reading, and even this piece helped me to clarify my thinking.
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Evaluating Charles Chaplin

This entry was posted in History and tagged history liberty movies on by

Charles Chaplin was a complicated person, formerly accused for being a Communist. (I use “Charles” rather than “Charlie” because this article focuses on the man rather than his movie persona.) These accusations had no merit, but the Wikipedia article on Chaplin echoes some of the charges against him. It claims that “he feared that capitalism and machinery in the workplace would increase unemployment levels” and that this view influenced his film Modern Times. It asserts that his late film Monsieur Verdoux presented views “criticising capitalism and arguing that the world encourages mass killing through wars and weapons of mass destruction.” (Wikipedia articles regularly change, so you might see something different at a future date.)
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Coming to Plaistow July 22: The General

This entry was posted in Movies and tagged history music silent movies on by

It’s just two weeks till my next live silent movie show at the Plaistow Library: The General, made by and starring Buster Keaton. I know most of you aren’t local, but if you can spread the word among silent movie fans, it will help. This is the first time I’ll be presenting an evening show, and getting eight sign-ups so early is encouraging.
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