0 What We're Reading Today (1-22-13): Inauguration 2013 and the Return of the Liberal Messiah

Obama's Second Inaugural Will Stand the Test of Time - The New Republic
Jonathan Cohn

"We the People": the Sleight of Hand at the Heart of Obama's Second Inaugural - The New Republic
John B. Judis

Obama Prepares to Govern from the Left - Buzzfeed
Zeke Miller & Ben Smith

President Obama's Not-Quite Camelot - Politico
Jennifer Epstein & Glen Thrush

Obama Testifies to the Power of Government - Politico
Jonathan Allen

Obama's Startling Second Inaugural - The Atlantic
James Fallows

The 2nd Inauguration of Barack Obama in Photos - The Atlantic

The Audacity of Fluff: A Critical Reading of Obama's Inaugural Address - The Atlantic
Conor Friedersdorf

BONUS:

The 22 Most Fabulous Beyonce Moments of the Inauguration

0 What We're Reading Today (1-9-13): Congress, TFA, Girls, Inaugural Poet

Sorry for the sporadic nature of these posts.  It's still winter break, y'all.

Congress somewhere below cockroaches, traffic jams, and Nickelback in Americans' esteem - Public Policy Polling

Deferring Six Figures on Wall Street for a Teacher's Salary - New York Times

Scott Eidler

Teach for America: The Hidden Curriculum of Liberal Do-Gooders - Jacobin

Andrew Hartman

‘Girls’: Inside the Eccentric Fashion of Lena Dunham’s HBO Comedy - The Daily BeastAlyssa Rosenberg

Lena Dunham Caved to her Critics on Race and It Made "Girls" a Better Show - The New Republic
Laura Bennett

President Obama poet Richard Blanco's "queer shame" pain - Politico
Katie Glueck

*head-desk

0 The Mandatory and Cliche New Year's Review and Statistics

This isn't a wrap-up of a year of writing.  Instead, it's just a little something to be with the mood of resolutions and all that.  So, with that in mind, I want to wish a Happy New Year to everyone who has been reading and supporting the writing here at Snakes on McCain.  We established this blog to be a space for us to rant about politics in the heat of the election season and since then, Snakes on McCain has looked beyond Washington as it commented upon campus issues, pop culture, and became something of a dropbox of ideas and expressions (that may have been the most cliche clause I have ever written).  Nonetheless, we (and hopefully Meredith and Andrew, too, if we can get them writing again) are eager to keep writing for everyone who has enjoyed our site thus far.

And, per my contract for the naming rights of this blog, I am required to give a special shout-out to one, Lev "Young Juda$ Fre$h Paper$" Novak.

Happy New Year, y'all!
(if this is your "new year", that is)

Who made this?!

Data as of January 1, 2013 (9:11 pm, central time)

First Post: September 12, 2012
Bill Clinton: What He Said vs What was Written

Pageviews All-Time: 6,438

Most Popular Posts:

1. The Day the IGL Broke My Heart -- On Being an Irrational, Irresponsible, and Hateful Middle-Easterner - 1061
November 26, 2012
2. Veritas Sine Dolo - Willful Ignorance and Empty Apologies in the Age of the Primary Source - 521
December 13, 2012
3. In Honor of Brandon Lacy Campos - 181
November 12, 2012

Most Popular Day: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 - 442

Average Visit Duration: 2 minutes 13 seconds

How You Connect With Us: Facebook, overwhelmingly via Facebook (the percentage is gross. I won't share it.)


Countries Most Interested in Us:

1. USA
2. United Kingdom
3. Belgium
4. Germany
5. Spain
6. France
7. Ireland
8. Israel
9. Jordan
10. Russia


Browsers
Google Chrome - 52%
Safari - 22%
Firefox - 11%
Internet Explorer - 4%
Other

Operating Systems
Macintosh - 57%
Windows - 29%
iPhone - 7%
Linux - 2%
Android - 1%
Other

0 Everything I have read so far about Django Unchained

I'm still digesting my thoughts about this movie so I lack a concrete opinion although I will offer that the more I reflect, the more my comfort with this film erodes into an open disdain for Django Unchained and the film Tarantino constructed.  While I am still allowing the thoughts to percolate, I am compiling links to all the pieces I have read -- or that I intend to read -- about Django Unchained.  Frankly, another Facebook status from someone who has not critically examined their own complicity in the institution of slavery and the trickle-down of oppression and privilege will send me over the edge because, let's be real now, it isn't just "entertainment" or some song-and-dance for you, unnamed person, to laugh at.

Looking at my tabs, I have 15+ links to share.  I'm going to try to group them by source/outlet.  Hopefully that makes it easier to sort and read through.

The New Yorker

Tarantino Unchained
Jelani Cobb

Contender Magazine

Django Unchained and the Crises of White Viewership
Garret Gilmore

The New York Times

The Black, the White, and the Angry
A. O. Scott

Spike Lee Goes After Django Unchained
Melena Ryzik

The Atlantic

The One Time Quentin Tarantino got Blaxpoitation Masculinity Right
Noah Berlatsky

Thoughts on Slavery, Black Women, and Django Unchained
Ta-Nehisi Coates

New Black Man

Django Unchained, or, What was So Damn Funny Anyway?
Mark Anthony Neal

Wall Street Journal

Black Audiences, White Stars, and Django Unchained
Ishmael Reed

Jacobin

Why Django Can't Revolt
Remeike Forbes

Indie Wire

Tarantino's Candy (Slavery in the White Male Imagination)
Tanya Steele

Tambay's Epic 'Django Unchained' Review - Kill The Noise (Nothing Is Silent)
Tambay A. Obenson

More Than a Few Words (Maybe Too Many...) About 'Django Unchained'
Sergio

Son of Baldwin

WordBlaze, on Django Unchained
Son of Baldwin

Turn Up the House Lights
Son of Baldwin

Unchained Melody
Son of Baldwin

Toure

Django Unchained is a heroic love story
Toure

The Root

Tarantino 'Unchained', Part 1: 'Django' Trilogy?
Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Django Unchained: A Post-Racial Epic?
Hillary Crosley

Vulture

Training Day Director Calls Out Spike Lee for Publicly Trashing Django Unchained
Andre Tartar

CNN

Review: 'Django Unchained' is brilliantly acted across the board
Tom Charity

The Grio

Does 'Django Unchained' get the history of slavery right?
Anthea Butler

Orchestrated Pulse

Django Unchained & Tarantino's Quest for the Nigger Pass
@RobtheIdealist

The New Republic

Tarantino, Chained
Jon Carson

The Nation

'Django Unchained': Quentin Tarantino's Answer to Spielberg's 'Lincoln'
Jon Wiener

Grantland

QT&A: Quentin Tarantino on Django Unchained: 'I Cut Their Heads Off. They Grew Another Head, But They Were a Little Traumatized'
Amos Barshard

Cinemetrics: Quentin Tarantino's History Lesson
Zach Baron

0 Global Bank, HSBC, Escapes "War on Drugs" for Money Laundering, Ties to Terrorism

(Matt Taibbi's story on Rolling Stone)
The British bank, HSBC, was recently exposed as having been deeply and brazenly tied with money laundering for drug lords in Latin America and ties to terrorist organizations in Saudi Arabi and Bangladesh.  The penalty upon the banks senior leadership? Tantamount to a slap on the wrist.  The Justice Department gave the senior leadership of HSBC a cushy deal that has HSBC taking back deferred compensation to some of its most senior US anti-money laundering and compliance officers and also having the bank "partially defer" compensation for senior executives during a five-year deferred prosecution agreement.  Does it sound soft -- because it is.  The DOJ sold-out, sold-out for so little.  They basically told a huge "fuck you" to anyone who is implicated by the War on Drugs (all of us but especially those of us who are non-white, lower-income, and in the city) because our criminalization wouldn't endanger the global financial system.  In effect, writing in that truth we all wished was a lie: if you have enough money, you're safe from harm.

Read Matt Taibbi's story (Here) for more details.  This is such a crock of shit.  I'm going to bed y'all.

Though this was not stated explicitly, the government's rationale in not pursuing criminal prosecutions against the bank was apparently rooted in concerns that putting executives from a "systemically important institution" in jail for drug laundering would threaten the stability of the financial system. The New York Times put it this way:

Federal and state authorities have chosen not to indict HSBC, the London-based bank, on charges of vast and prolonged money laundering, for fear that criminal prosecution would topple the bank and, in the process, endanger the financial system.

It doesn't take a genius to see that the reasoning here is beyond flawed. When you decide not to prosecute bankers for billion-dollar crimes connected to drug-dealing and terrorism (some of HSBC's Saudi and Bangladeshi clients had terrorist ties, according to a Senate investigation), it doesn't protect the banking system, it does exactly the opposite. It terrifies investors and depositors everywhere, leaving them with the clear impression that even the most "reputable" banks may in fact be captured institutions whose senior executives are in the employ of (this can't be repeated often enough) murderers and terrorists. Even more shocking, the Justice Department's response to learning about all of this was to do exactly the same thing that the HSBC executives did in the first place to get themselves in trouble – they took money to look the other way.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/outrageous-hsbc-settlement-proves-the-drug-war-is-a-joke-20121213#ixzz2GEObza7l 
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook



PS:

Toni Preckwinkle must be feeling really validated right about now -- even after her apololie after she made the following comments. (Story)

Preckwinkle said she believes drug abuse is a medical matter -- and not one for the justice system. Then, she added 'Ronald Reagan deserves a special place in hell' for 'making drug use political.'
When the shocked crowd gasped, she replied: 'What? You didn't like that?'

0 What We're Reading Today (12-26-12): German Soccer, German Economics, Science Fiction/Facts, 2013 Sports Predictions

What Germany's Soccer Dominance Does -- and Doesn't -- Teach Us About its Economic Prowess - Quartz
Tim Fernholz

A German Resurgence, Feet First - New York Times
Nicholas Kulish

27 Science Fictions that Became Science Facts - Buzzfeed
Donna Dickens

Some Things Will Will Almost Certainly Happen in Sports in 2013 - The Atlantic
Hampton Stevens

0 Best Photos of 2012 & Christmas Around the World (PICTURES)

Just hella photos.

I'm assuming at this point you are pretty full and maybe you've had a drink or two.  Regrettably, this may be the part of your night when the daggers come out because everyone has had just enough wine.

But if it isn't, look on the bright side. There is a Heat-Thunder game on TV now, the Bulls play next, and then there is still another game after that.  What is better than a full day of basketball?

Also, here are a bunch of photos to keep you entertained and give you and the fam something to talk about.

Kottke.org's collection of this year's best photos (here)

Christmas around the world (here)