About My Blog

My blog is about history, popular culture, politics and current events from a democratic socialist and Irish republican perspective. The two main topics are Northern Ireland on one hand and fighting anti-Semitism, racism and homophobia on the other. The third topic is supporting the Palestinians, and there are several minor topics. The three main topics overlap quite a bit. I have to admit that it’s not going to help me get a graduate degree, especially because it’s almost always written very casually. But there are some high-quality essays, some posts that come close to being high-quality essays, political reviews of Sci-Fi TV episodes (Star Trek and Babylon 5), and a unique kind of political, progressive poetry you won't find anywhere else. (there are also reviews of episodes of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and reviews of Roseanne)

(my old blog was not showing up in Google search results AT ALL (99% of it wasn't being web-crawled or indexed or whatever) and there was another big problem with it, so this is a mirror of the old one although there will be some occassionnal editing of old posts and there will be new posts. I started this blog 12/16/20; 4/28/21 I am now done with re-doing the internal links on my blog) (the Google problem with my blog (only 1% of this new one is showing up in Google search results) is why I include a URL of my blog when commenting elsewhere, otherwise I would get almost no visitors at all)

(The "Table of Contents" offers brief descriptions of all but the most recent posts)

(I just recently realized that my definition of "disapora" was flawed- I thought it included, for example, Jews in Israel, the West Bank and the Golan Heights, and with the Irish diaspora, the Irish on that island. I'll do some work on that soon (11/21/20 I have edited the relevant paragraph in my post about Zionism))

(If you're really cool and link to my blog from your site/blog, let me know) (if you contact me, use the word "blog" in the subject line so I'll know it's not spam)

YOU NEED TO READ THE POST "Trump, Netanyahu, and COVID-19 (Coronavirus)" here. It is a contrast of the two on COVID-19 and might be helpful in attacking Trump. And see the middle third of this about Trump being a for-real fascist.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Star Trek: The Next Generation Reviews HH

This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.

I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)

Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).

“Frame of Mind” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.

“Suspicions” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.

“Rightful Heir” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.

“Second Chances” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.

“Timescape” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it four stars out of five.

“Descent” parts 1 and 2 See this and this for a plot summary.

A non-political two-parter. I give it two stars out of five.

“Liaisons” See this for a plot summary.

There is one bit of feminism when Riker criticizes Worf for saying something sexist.

I give it two stars out of five.

“Interface” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.

“Gambit” parts 1 and 2 See this and this for a plot summary.

A non-political two-parter. I give it three stars out of five.

“Phantasms” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.

“Dark Page” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.

“Attached” See this for a plot summary.

I’d agree with Riker that neither of the nations should be allowed to join the Federation. The Kes, who Picard was supposed to talk with about joining, demonstrated amazing levels of paranoia, becoming hostile towards the Federation.

I give it three stars out of five.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Star Trek: The Next Generation Reviews GG

This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.
I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)

Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).

“Aquiel” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode, I give it two stars out of five.

“Face of the Enemy” See this for a plot summary.

Although I can’t figure out how undemocratic the Romulan Star Empire is, the security forces are feared by (probably) most of the citizenry and that makes it at least fairly undemocratic. With that in mind, I like the episodes about the dissidents in the RSE. The struggle for freedom and/or greater democracy is inspiring. That’s partly why I like this episode.

I give it four stars out of five.

UPDATE 1/12/12 I should have added this a long time ago, but I DO find the Arab Spring inspirational and I do support it.

“Tapestry” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode, although Picard does sound like an agnostic rather than an atheist (I like to see some of that, not much but some, in ST because ST generally ignores Old Earth religions as if they're inconsistent with the values of the Federation)

“Birthright” Parts 1 and 2 See this and this for a plot summary.

For the most part a non-political two-parter. At one point Worf says something which goes beyond his usual comments about Romulans and is basically bigotry. He criticizes marriages between Romulans and Klingons. He later changes his mind about that.

I give it two stars out of five.


“Starship Mine” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.

“Lessons” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.

“The Chase” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Star Trek: The Next Generation Reviews FF

This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.

I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)

Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).

“The Quality of Life” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode (I’m not going to go into the stuff about the exocomps being alive- I am unfamiliar with the scientific and philosophical parts of that). I give it two stars out of five.

“Chain of Command” Parts 1 and 2 See this and this for a plot summary.

A fairly political two-parter. Some notes:

1. I usually don't bother making this sort of comment, I’m not sure it made sense for them to have Picard and Crusher go on the Special Op.

2. It’s in this episode where they started having Troi wear her uniform, which is a good thing- she is a Lt. Commander, once took on a leadership role in a crisis, and she should wear her uniform.

3. The largest chunk of politics is the torture of Picard. Clearly ST and Starfleet are against torture, and it was a powerful portrayal of someone being tortured. It also showed that even “good family men” can be torturers. And Picard at one point made an explicit criticism of torture when he mentions that it’s unreliable and self-defeating and it’s a wonder that torture is still used at all.

4. There’s one disappointing thing, the Enterprise uses mines against the Cardassians, although they are mines that somehow attach themselves to the Cardassian ships, which means that maybe they’re an acceptable kind of mine.


I give it three stars out of five.

“Ship in a Bottle” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of fivw.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Star Trek: The Next Generation Reviews EE

This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.

I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)

Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).

“Schisms” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.

“True-Q” See this for a plot summary.

There is one bit of environmentalism when an alien society is criticized for using technology to scrub their air of harmful pollution instead of reducing the emissions of pollution.

I give it two stars out of five.

“Rascals” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it one star out of five.

“A Fistfull of Datas” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Star Trek: The Next Generation Reviews DD

This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.

I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)

Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).

“The Inner Light” See this for a plot summary.

A very non-political episode, but a very special and moving one. I give it four stars.

“Time’s Arrow” See this and this for a plot summary.

A mostly non-political two-parter. There’s some talk by Samuel Clemens about how around 1900 (that’s when most of this two-parter is set) in America the powerful stand on the backs of the poor.

I give it three stars out of five.

“Realm of Fear” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.

“Man of the People” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.

“Relics” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Star Trek: The Next Generation Reviews CC

This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.

I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)

Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).

“The Perfect Mate” See this for a plot summary.

At the beginning there’s some good political talk as they discuss whether or not a woman is being transported on the Enterprise as some kind of property.

I give it two stars out of five.

“Imaginary Friend” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it one star out of five.

“I, Borg” See this for a plot summary.

The main political question for this episode is, is it okay to completely and totally wipe out the Borg? Some would call that genocide. But most of the main and recurring characters in this episode are okay with doing that, until they saw that Hugh was becoming an individual and was rejecting what the Borg are about. I also would be okay with wiping out the Borg- they are inherently incapable of co-existing with other races and assimilation by the Borg is horrible, as we learned on Voyager.

There is one line which indicates that testing products on animals is a thing of the past.

After the crew start changing their minds about using Hugh as a weapon, Picard, says that if they did use him, they would be “no better than the enemy that we seek to destroy.”

I give this episode three stars out of five.

“The Next Phase” See this for a plot summary.

The only sort of political thing to mention here is that some of the dialogue indicates that Ro and perhaps Geordi as well, are better described as agnostic instead of atheist. That’s a welcome, small departure from the generally atheist position on religion that ST takes.

I give this episode four stars out of five.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Star Trek: The Next Generation Reviews BB

This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.

I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)

Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).

“The Outcast” See this for a plot summary.

I have heard that many people don’t think this episode takes a good swing at homophobia. I’m not sure why. The two things I’ve heard are A) since almost all (possibly all) the J’naii are played by women, some have said that the J’naii seem less like a homophobic society and more like man-hating lesbians; and B) that Star Trek higher-ups thought it should put an end to calls for more movement in ST on the issue of homophobia.

To the former I say that I don’t see it that way and probably almost everyone who watched that episode understood the anti-homophobic message. To the latter I say that that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good anti-homophobic episode, it just means that there is a problem with some people responsible for ST and they need to be pressured some more (even today, 15 years later, they STILL need to be pressured).

When in front of the judge, Soren says: “I am female. I was born that way. I have had those feelings, those longings all of my life. It is not unnatural. I am not sick because I feel this way. I don't need to be helped, I don't need to be cured. What I need and what all of those who are like me need is your understanding and your compassion. We have not injured you in any way. And yet we are scorned and attacked. And all because we are different. What we do is no different from what you do. We talk and laugh, we complain about work and we wonder about getting old, we talk about our families and we worry about the future. And we cry with each other when things seem hopeless. All of the loving things that you with each other, that is what we do. And for that we are called misfits and deviants and criminals. What right do you have to punish us? What right do you have to change us? What makes you think you can dictate how people love each other?”

It’s a pretty good speech.

A few other notes on the episode:

1. Dr. Crusher says that the inequality of women has disappeared.

2. Worf shows that Crusher is not 100% right when he makes some sexist comments. He’s also bigoted towards the androgynous J’naii. (this is not an example of progressive politics in ST, but is the exception to the rule)


I give the episode four stars out of five (since DS9 and VOY are my favorite series and TNG is behind them, I have decided I will give no TNG episode five stars)

“Cause and Effect” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.

“The First Duty” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.

“The Cost of Living” See this for a plot summary

A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Star Trek: The Next Generation Reviews AA

This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.

I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)

Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).

“The Masterpiece Society” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.

“Conundrum” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it four stars out of five.

“Power Play” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.

“Ethics” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political but very moving episode. I give it three stars out of five.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Star Trek: The Next Generation Reviews Z

This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.

I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)

Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).

“A Matter of Time” See this for a plot summary.

There’s one bit of politics with a reference to efforts to avoid global warming.

I give it three stars out of five.

“New Ground” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.

“Hero Worship” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.

“Violations” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.