Regarding Trump’s competence, I suppose that if you want the United States to look like Turkey, Hungary, Russia, China, or any of the other totalitarian states, you have to admit that Trump is super-competent. His will is unaffected by any …
Author: craigshields
Chopin — Music that Inspires
There’s a story behind the piece below, Chopin’s “Heroic” Polonaise, performed by Vladimir Horowitz, the pianist most people deem Chopin’s pre-eminent interpreter. Frederic Chopin was born in 1810 near Warsaw, Poland, and was known as a child prodigy as a …
Doing What’s “Right” Is More Controversial than it Seems
Some of us are looking for a single, simple statement to encapsulate what is going so wrong in America today, and perhaps it relates to what Aristotle says at left here. Even the MAGA folks think that what they’re doing …
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Tagged with: Doing What's "Right"
Beaming Solar Energy to Earth from Space
Many of us have seen the illustration here, where a solar PV array is put into a geosynchronous orbit, and sends microwave energy to a collector on earth. There is nothing theoretically impossible about the idea, and one good thing …
Tagged with: Beaming Solar Energy to Earth from Space
If You’re in the Mood for Something Completely Nauseating….
The other day, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a speech before the nation’s highest-ranking generals and admirals, which was regarded at best as a waste of time, at worst as a slap across the face to the men and women …
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Tagged with: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
Understanding Antifa
Here’s a clever meme about what, exactly, is antifa. Those (like me) who find it funny do so because “antifa” means nothing more than “anti-fascist,” i.e. opposed to fascism. I may be a Philadephia Phillies fan, but that hardly means …
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Honor in the GOP: Is It Gone Forever?
Liz Cheney is one of the very few Republicans of integrity in the U.S. Congress today. When we read her words here, we’re impressed, but we wonder, when Trump is gone, if any aspect of the concept of honor will …
Introducing Sex to Kindergarteners
Whenever I run across nonsense like this, I’m reminded of the two school administrators I met recently, and this subject arose. I asked them, 1) how often do elementary schoolers (age 5 – 7) want to know about human sexuality? …
RIP, Activist and Primatologist Jane Goodall
Our civilization has lost one of its giants with the passing of Dr. Jane Goodall. One of the great primatologists with her exhaustive study of chimpanzees, she became even better known for her conservatorship of the natural world. About her …
Tagged with: Activist and Primatologist Jane Goodall
Fascism in Washington
The federal judge’s chilling words at left here show us exactly how close we Americans are to an autocratic and completely lawless government.
