The Return of Trump: What We Should Expect
If we can get through the coming four years without a series of major catastrophes, we should count ourselves lucky beyond belief.
Tagged with: Return of Trump
Is Our Existence a Problem?
This from 20th Century German-American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist Erich Fromm.
A smart guy, to be sure, but to his point here, I’m with Socrates, who said famously, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
I’ll also quote myself: “Thought is cheap.” When my kids were younger, I tried to encourage them to be intellectually curious, reminding them that thinking is neither painful or expensive.
Biden Should Pardon Steven Donziger, Incarcerated for Defending the People of Ecuador Against Chevron
Please see this, and donate if you care to. More details on his Wikipedia page.
If I were to run out of gas, I’d rather push my car to the next gas station than fill it at Chevron.
Religion and Science
The quote here from 20th Century physicist/mathematician Paul Dirac reminds us of the hundreds of attempts to reconcile faith and reason, religion and science, call it what you will.
This was the life’s work of Thomas Aquinas, btw, using nothing but Aristotelean logic to prove the existence of God. Here we are, 800 years later, still trying to resolve the issue.
Foreign Aid
Apparently, some people are unaware that U.S. foreign aid is focused on maintaining freedom and stability around the world.
Tagged with: U.S. foreign aid
Trump and Grocery Prices
Let’s face facts: Very few Trump supporters are going to throw tantrums when grocery prices fail to fall, or when any other campaign promise doesn’t come to fruition. That’s because the MAGA crowd loves Trump for his other “virtues,” e.g., racism, cruelty to immigrants, etc., while the amoral rich adore him for his trillion-dollar tax breaks; for them, the price of eggs is totally irrelevant.
Tagged with: Trump and Grocery Prices
Woke
A reader by the name of Paul Maunder sent me this, and answers the question: “Thanks for the compliment.”
Indeed, all decent people consider it a compliment to be thought of as “woke,” i.e., having a sensitive awareness of the needs of other people.
Tagged with: "Woke"
Our Secretary of Defense
As suggested at left, some of us are not too keen on what’s happening in Washington D.C. right now.
Tagged with: Secretary of Defense
Why Libertarianism Doesn’t Work
Earlier in my life I was a libertarian, a viewpoint that I maintained until I realized the truth in what Naomi Klein say at left. In the absence of government regulation, corporations, whose sole duty is to turn a profit for investors, would turn this planet into a hellscape in a matter of just a few years.
And now, given what we know about climate change, part of that “hellscape” is an Earth that features droughts, desertification, ferocious storms and floods, loss of landmass, food shortages, ocean acidification, and loss of biodiversity.
American Oligarchy
There is no doubt that the United States is headed away from the most important experiment with democracy in the history of humankind, and its government of, by, and for the people.
But what happens next? Does this country become just another banana republic? I doubt it.
Will we ultimately be the force that enables the fossil fuel industry to bake our home planet?
Again, I doubt it. I believe that Americans, despite our massive ignorance due to our crumbling educational system, will eventually turn this disaster around.
Tagged with: American Oligarchy
