Are America’s Political Parties Equivalent to One Another?
People say there is no right or wrong between the two main U.S. political parties, or that they are essentially identical to one another.
The meme here suggests otherwise.
Tagged with: America's Political Parties
Author Stephen King on Trump
Keep in mind that about 35% of American voters don’t see it this way at all. And there is nothing that Trump can do–no lie he can tell, no crime he can commit–that will cause his supporters to lose faith in him.
Tagged with: Stephen King on Trump
Examining the Two Main Political Parties in the U.S.
The meme here speaks an important issue in U.S. politics.
My take, FWIW, is that because Republicans are the party of greed and selfishness, its members are more likely to commit crimes than those whose political philosophies are based on the well-being of others.
Tagged with: Examining the Two Main Political Parties in the U.S.
Who We Are as Social Beings
The meme here came from a reader, to which I respond:
Good for you!
It seems that human beings are wired to think about the world in one or the other of these two modalities. No one knows precisely where this “wiring” come from, but it’s obviously some combination of our DNA and our lived experience.
Spiritualists, i.e., those who believe in the immortality of the soul, will add into this mix the basic personality that we all come into this life with.
In any case, regardless of how you got here, congratulations to you for caring about the people around you. Now that “wokeness” is a pejorative, it comes at a cost.
Tagged with: Who We Are as Social Beings
Why Are We Normalizing this Sociopath?
Almost a decade after Donald Trump entered the U.S. political scene, there are still people all around the world who wonder why the American media industry continues to provide oxygen to a criminal conman in his quest for re-election. The answer, of course, is money. Trump attracts attention, and attention attracts dollars.
In a similar vein, why was Tucker Carlson removed from Fox News? Yes, again, it’s money. This “news” giant lost its appetite for 9- or 10-figure civil litigation damages, as plaintiffs elbow each other out of the way to get in line to sue the bejesus out of billionaire Rupert Murdoch and his organization, whose only real strength resides in its capacity to lie to idiots.
A Fox News acolyte told me recently that, in the last few weeks, her favored channel has shifted noticeably to the political center, and that she wondered what could have prompted this abrupt change from reporting, month after month, that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, that the radical left was “opening our country’s borders” and coming for her guns. Maybe Murdoch doesn’t welcome the prospect of being disemboweled financially.
His strategy was going strong, until Fox started naming names. He was all too quick to trust his people not to get him into civil litigation cases in which he stood no real chance, e.g., the catastrophic Dominion Voting Systems decision, and now, Smartmatic, that is currently poised to drive him into the pavement.
The news industry in the U.S. is the offspring of what was, just a few decades ago, a kind of public service. Until the late 20th Century, no one had realized that it could be omnipresent in our lives, serving up its vitriol 24 hours a day, simply to rake in obscene profits in ad revenues. It had its day.
But now, a cautionary note to late entrants: those windfall profits are no longer available. If your business model is to follow the Fox News case study and form a new channel that vomits up lies on the American nation, you may want to go back and reconsider your plan.
Tagged with: Trump sociopath
Quaker Values Still Reign Supreme at Penn Charter
Upon my return from the 50th reunion of the William Penn Charter School class of 1973, my mother asked me if the institution’s Quaker tradition had changed over the years since I graduated.
“I don’t believe so,” I began. “There is clearly a great deal of emphasis on the core beliefs of tolerance, fairness, honesty, nonviolence, and the basic equality of every person on Earth–and all this extends from the faculty, to the seniors, and down to the kindergarteners.”
During the course of events, the second grade class gave us alumni a presentation about the issues that surround food security. As I told a friend after the presentation, “These kids are taught just a few basic things, like how to read at a 3rd or 4th grade level, and, just as importantly, be kind to everyone you meet.”
Perhaps what my mom was getting at was How “woke” is Penn Charter? I explained that William Penn lives on in the company of people like Gandhi and MLK–one of the “kings of wokeness,” one might say.
Tagged with: Quaker values
British and American Politics
I met some people from Sheffield in Northern England the other day who explained that British politics bears a striking resemblance to our own here in the U.S. It’s true that their leader is not a criminal buffoon who tried to overthrow their government, but:
Most of their uneducated people were sold a bill of goods and voted to exit the EU. Now, as a consequence that was widely predicted, their economy is tanking. One of them works for a large printing/signage company, that formerly had huge contracts with Adidas, Netflix, Nike, etc.–all of which have been cancelled, as the UK no longer has a trade agreement with the Europeans. This is causing enormous pain for the working class–the very people who voted for Brexit. Just like the Trump supporters, they were cajoled into voting against their own interests.
Those who live in the cities distant from London used to be members of the Labor Party, but now that things are going so poorly for them, they’re angry, and tend to vote for the Conservatives, who have been able to make the case that the Labor Party has sold them out.
The situation is much the same here. As recently as a few decades ago, the working class in the United States was almost exclusively Democrat, as labor unions were strong, and the middle class was thriving. Now these same people want to build a wall across the southern border in the misbelief that immigrants are coming for their jobs, just like the Democrats are coming for their guns.
England also has something that’s akin to our electoral college, where a small village has the same weight in the voting outcome as a much larger town. This creates great unfairness in the democratic process.
Again, all this is remarkably similar to what’s happened in the U.S., where those in the fly-over states are angry that they have not shared in the wave of prosperity that has made the top 1% richer than kings, and no longer feel that the Democrats represent their interests. This, obviously, is what propelled Trump to victory in 2016.
The British are also experiencing a trend to authoritarianism. One of the people I met mentioned the rise of people like Hungary’s Oban and Turkey’s Erdogan. This makes one wonder what a Ron DeSantis administration might look like. If you thought Trump was a danger, and a huge embarrassment on the world stage, watch out for what might be coming next.
At the end of the conversation, I summed up my thoughts: both our countries are increasingly vulnerable to utter bullshit, as our masses become ever more ignorant and hateful. If Donald Trump had shown up on our political scene 20 years ago, he would have been dismissed with a laugh. Similarly, trying to promote Brexit on the basis of xenophobia would have had all the appeal of a return of the Black Plague.
Tagged with: Trump criminal buffoon
Big Oil’s Little Helper
It’s deeply regrettable that the fossil fuel industry owns America’s energy policy, and will make it impossible for us, for at least the foreseeable future, to make more than a small dent in decarbonizing our energy and transportation sectors.
Making matters worse, they have help from the religious right-wing. At left is Mike Huckabee’s gift to our children, a free “guide,” ensuring that our kids grow up surrounded by pure bulls*** when it comes to climate science.
Oh joy.
Tagged with: Big Oil
Trump: Is This Really Happening?
The screen shot at left is taken from a pro-Trump ad. It certainly makes one wonder how many voters actually trust Trump at this point in any meaningful way, now that the criminal and civil justice system is taking him down at every turn.
The meme below is from the same ad. So his supporters want to re-elect a criminal?
The civilized world is watching us in utter disbelief.
Tagged with: re-elect a criminal
Thomas Must Be Removed from the U.S. Supreme Court
The real issue, IMO, is that the U.S. Supreme Court was hearing cases that had significant consequences to the “mega-donor.” If that weren’t so, this misconduct may have been overlooked.
At this point, however, Thomas must be removed.
Tagged with: Thomas Must Be Removed from the U.S. Supreme Court
