Phil Scanlan

Librarian in Dublin public library system . Like cultural commentary and real debate. All opinions my own.

[American Optimist @AmOptimistShow]

EPISODE 156: Coleman Hughes Takes on America's Most Contentious Debate 

@JTLonsdale sits down with @coldxman to discuss his new @uaustinorg course: "The Legacy of Slavery" 

(00:00) Episode intro

(01:40) Teaching the Legacy of Slavery

(06:20) Coleman's journey from Columbia to UATX

(08:30) Dr. King vs Derrick Bell

(11:20) Racial disparities by IQ and salary

(13:00) Thomas Sowell & the Real History of Slavery

(19:00) America's Founding Hypocrisy

(24:00) Will the Left cancel Dr. King?

(26:20) Understanding the 1619 Project

(30:25) Breakdown of the black family

(37:20) Is America wealthy because of slavery?

(43:50) Are you worried about woke AI?

(45:40) Three solutions for racial progress

[Isaac @isaacrrr7]

IRÁN: Aida Rostami fue una médica valiente. Atendía a personas que luchaban por la libertad, protestando contra el régimen.

Por eso, el régimen islámico la castigó de la manera más cruel. Fue torturada y le fracturaron huesos, la nariz y los hombros. Le arrancaron el ojo izquierdo. Luego, la asesinaron.

Su cuerpo quebrado cuenta una historia de una crueldad inimaginable. Aida no merecía esto: era una sanadora, no una criminal. El régimen le quitó la vida por atreverse a ayudar a otros. Su sacrificio no debe ser olvidado.

Comparte esto. El mundo debe saber.

[Crazy Vibes @CrazyVibes_1]

He was paid millions to play a miserable man — and couldn't tell where the character ended and he began.

When the creators of House M.D. were casting in 2004, they wanted someone quintessentially American. British actors, they believed, couldn’t pull off the accent convincingly. They weren’t even looking overseas.

Thousands of miles away in Namibia, Hugh Laurie was filming a movie and heard about the role. He couldn’t fly to Los Angeles. He couldn’t walk into a polished audition room. So he went into his hotel bathroom — the only space with enough light — propped up a camera, grabbed an umbrella as a cane, and recorded two scenes.

He sent the tape, apologizing for how rough it looked. Executive producer Bryan Singer watched it and was captivated. He had no idea Laurie was British.

That tape changed everything.

The pilot drew seven million viewers. Respectable. Not earth-shattering. But over the following seasons, House became a global phenomenon. Laurie became the most-watched leading man on television, according to Guinness World Records.

What nobody saw was the weight he carried.

For eight seasons, Laurie worked sixteen-hour days. He was in nearly every scene. Los Angeles on set, London with his wife and three children — six thousand miles apart for nine months each year.

The isolation crept in slowly. Laurie had battled depression since his youth, seeking help in 1996. The relentless schedule made it worse. He described “very, very black days” on set, a feeling of being exposed and trapped.

The irony was impossible to ignore. Here was a man grappling with darkness, praised for playing a character defined by misery. The line between Hugh and House blurred with every episode.

He kept his American accent between takes. Rode his Triumph Bonneville at dawn, finding brief freedom in speed and air rushing over him.

But he never walked away. Eight seasons, 177 episodes. He stayed because it was the role of a lifetime.

When House ended in 2012, Laurie stepped back. Music called. He released blues albums, toured with a band, and returned to acting on his terms — smaller, stranger roles, a Golden Globe-winning turn in The Night Manager.

He didn’t disappear. He just stopped running on someone else’s clock.

Playing House was like carrying a heavy, beautiful stone. You can’t set it down. But you can’t ignore its weight.

Sometimes the greatest performances come from people who have lived the pain they portray. Laurie didn’t act misery. He understood it.

[Prof. Frank McDonough @FXMC1957]

Shakespeare mind cloud created by Allysa Gray.

[Neo @Realneo101]

🔴DON’T LOOK AWAY

The Islamic regime is going to hang Diana Taherabadi because she participated in the January protests.

She’s only 16.
This is pure barbarism.
Share this before they kill her.

[Methi 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 @MasalaFry69]

@Baddiel Scionism has been successfully dividing us for millennia.

[TheManyNotTheMoney @MerlinLondon]

@Baddiel There will always be stupid people who collectively blame all Jews for the war crimes of apartheid racist supremacist "Israel".

Those who proagate the lie that "Israel" represents all Jews (which of course it does not) must share some of the responsibility.

[David Baddiel @Baddiel]

Confused as to why politicians say, on another attempted arson attack on a Jewish building, “these terrorists are trying to divide us - and will not succeed etc etc.” Are they? I’d say that diviseness is not the object. I’d say it’s trying to kill Jews.

[Siaxares 🇮🇷 سیاکسارِس @siaxares]

19-year-old Saghar Gholami from Gonbad-e Kavus is facing imminent execution.

The Iranian regime just confirmed her death sentence — another young girl arrested during the protests, now on death row for daring to want freedom.

Her family is terrified and begging the world: be her voice. Raise hell, spread her name, put pressure on this criminal regime so they can't carry out this barbaric sentence in silence.

The mullahs think executing our youth will spread fear and crush the next uprising. They're wrong.

Be Saghar's voice. Be the voice of every political prisoner facing the gallows.

#IranMassacre‌
#DigitalBlackOutIran‌

[Peter RockaFella @PeterRockaFella]

@jurgen_nauditt @KlausBergmann24 Thoughts...

[Rock'n Roll of All @rocknrollofall]

TV reporter tells David Bowie the internet is "hugely exaggerated"

David Bowie's response is the closest thing to perfection about the future.

[John Cleese @JohnCleese]

Hard to believe this isn't a Monty Python sketch

[Martina Navratilova @Martina]

@LeicaBavarian Well then they are idiots, no other way to put it.

[History Defined @historydefined]

Fred Astaire's dance with a hat rack in Royal Wedding (1951)

[Howard Lovy @Howard_Lovy]

Two Ayatollahs: Dead

Salman Rushdie: Alive.

[Hugh Laurie @hughlaurie]

I used to hate blocking people, and hardly ever did it. I’m older now.

[Sana Ebrahimi Ledene @__Injaneb96]

Negin Khaksar has been detained since January 6, and her whereabouts remain unknown. Her life is in serious danger. Share her name. Be her voice.

[Dr. Maalouf ‏ @realMaalouf]

43,000 Iranians massacred by the Islamic regime for daring to seek freedom. They are not just a number, each and every one of them mattered.

[Juliet Moses @JulietMosesNZ]

An unspeakable evil. Literally. No words will suffice.
Congrats to Time however for its coverage, putting other media to shame.

[Simon Schama @simon_schama]

tragedy after tragedy - still the western media ( Time mag honorably excepted just now) utterly fails to reflect the magnitude of the atrocity