Telegraphing The Ending
From University of Chicago Press editor Renaldo Migaldi:
On my optimistic days I remind myself that autocrats fall, and are finally rejected by their devout supporters. On my pessimistic days I remember that this tends to happen after they start wars and then lose them.
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Big, Bigger, Biggest
This proposed merger of CVS — the seventh-biggest outfit in America, acc’d’g to the Fortune 500 — and Aetna — whose annual revenue exceeds $63 billion — will create a mighty, perhaps insuperable corporate giant that will dominate health care and pharmaceutical delivery for decades to come. The New York Times says the “$69 billion merger could reshape care.”
Oh yeah, him.
That is, care for corporate profits, care for wealthy investors’ portfolios, care for the status quo that relegates small business to utter insignificance, and care for the furthering of the corporate state. As for care for people who have illnesses, who need medical treatments, who must take daily doses of life-saving medications — in other worlds, health care — well, that’s not terribly important, is it?
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A Packed House
Live performances by poet Ross Gay and singer/songwriter Kacie Swierk rocked the house at the Book Corner Saturday afternoon.
The crowd was a who’s who of Bloomington luminaries, including Mayor John Hamilton and his bride, IU law school prof and former White House official, Dawn Johnsen.
Poetry and music lovers crammed themselves into every available space in the venerable book shop, including at the feet of the performers, in cross-legged sitting position.
Here’s Ross Gay reading one of his pieces:
And here’s where you info on SWierk’s debut album, This Is Water, and other stuff she’s working on. Oh, hell, let’s throw a freebie from her your way:
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