What does this guy know? He’s a professor at what is reputed to be America’s top university. That makes him woke as hell.
Seriously, we do have reason for concern when half of the United States thinks that lawlessness is the path to preserving American liberty.
Here’s a reminder that many Americans tend to think of socialism in black and white terms; they fail to realize that there are dozens of extremely valuable services that every one of us receives from government (see below).
Of course, ignorance like this is not uniformly distributed around the country. Arkansas ranks 47th in education in the United States, so it should come as no surprise that their thinking on this subject is not particularly nuanced.
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All Americans receive a bounty of valuable services that are paid for by their tax dollars:
Infrastructure, police, fire fighting, criminal justice, national defense, public education, labor laws, auto and food safety standards, air traffic control, TSA, libraries, emergency medical care, environmental regulation, social security, Medicare, the National Archives, national parks, bank regulations and deposit insurance, copyright and patent laws, federal dams to provide electrical power, flood control, the Weather Service, the Federal Housing Authority, consulates and embassies, FEMA, veterans affairs, public water systems, monitoring of all international cargo, NASA, border protection, and the National Institutes of Health.
The Nazis banned books that caused people to realize that perhaps fascism might not be such a good thing.
Interesting how this seems to be repeating here and now in the United States. The state of Florida, for example, seems anxious to prevent its people from having certain thoughts.
I’m struggling to think of a single regime in world history where banning books worked out in the favor of human decency and freedom.
It certainly would be good if the media didn’t air this speech, and for the exact reason named here.
From the ad here: X Stone Energy presents an unprecedented opportunity for you to own a piece of the booming oil and gas market in the Lone Star State.
Is the oil and gas industry really “booming?” GM built 6 million cars and trucks last year, but will build nothing but EVs a couple of years hence. Big Auto has said goodbye to gasoline and diesel. Does that sound like a boom to you?
From an old friend:
According to an old Native American legend, one day there was a big fire in the forest. All the animals fled in terror in all directions, because it was a very violent fire.
Suddenly, the jaguar saw a hummingbird pass over his head, but in the opposite direction. The hummingbird flew towards the fire!
Whatever happened, he wouldn’t stop. Moments later, the jaguar saw him pass again, this time in the same direction as the jaguar was walking. He could observe this coming and going, until he decided to ask the bird about it, because it seemed very bizarre behavior: “What are you doing, hummingbird?” he asked.
“I am going to the lake,” he answered. “I drink water with my beak and throw it on the fire to extinguish it.”
The jaguar laughed. “Are you crazy? Do you really think that you can put out that big fire on your own with your very small beak?”
“No,” said the hummingbird, “I know I can’t. But the forest is my home. It feeds me, it shelters me and my family. I am very grateful for that. And I help the forest grow by pollinating its flowers. I am part of her and the forest is part of me. I know I can’t put out the fire, but I must do my part.”
At that moment, the forest spirits, who listened to the hummingbird, were moved by the birdie and its devotion to the forest. And miraculously they sent a torrential downpour, which put an end to the great fire.
The Native American grandmothers would occasionally tell this story to their grandchildren, then conclude with, “Do you want to attract miracles into your life? Do your part. You have no responsibility to save the world or find the solutions to all problems – but to attend to your particular personal corner of the universe. As each person does that, the world saves itself.”
Written by : The Lemurian Unicorns~ Luisa Morando
I believe in moral responsibility (though not in miracles), and thus I agree that we must all do our parts to protect our home planet. I’m reminded of the old Gandhi quote: “What you do may not be important, but it’s very important that you do it.”
From the perspective of ethics, it’s hard for me to separate serial rapists from those who deliberately ruin the planet for profit. Both are driven by criminally insane desires, and the consequence of both of their actions are incredibly harmful.
Fans of professional golf many know that this week’s tour event is the Valero Texas Open, sponsored by the 8th largest U.S. oil company with revenues of $108 billion.
This itself would be completely unremarkable were it not for the outrageous attempts at greenwashing the company makes in its television advertising. Apparently, Valero, or at least its ad agency, thinks that its viewers are stupid enough to believe that the company is making an honest effort to replace crude with cooking oil waste that was used to fry potatoes, onion rings, chicken, and the like.
Sure! We consume more than 5 billion gallons of crude per day, and we’re going to make a significant reduction in that by collecting and refining vegetable oil from fast food restaurants.
No one knows exactly where U.S. politics is headed in terms of banning abortion and the demolition of women’s rights more generally, but it seems that what Idaho (“The Alabama of the Pacific Northwest”) is doing is going to get shot down in court.
Most forms of gambling in California, outside of Indian casinos, are illegal, but the Golden State can’t pass a law prohibiting me from going to Nevada and partaking in activities that are legal there.
Let’s change the “will” here to “would,” or its past tense form, “would have.”
“Would” suggests his volition; it’s an example of the subjunctive mood, used to describe wishes or contrary to fact conditionals. I wish it would rain. If I were king, …
“Will” is an example of the indicative mood, used to express our beliefs about the real world. It will rain later today.
Trump happily would have dismantled America, but, at least apparently, he was stopped.
I told my son when he was younger that, since he and I are both straight white males born into affluent families, that it may be difficult for us to appreciate the hardships put upon people of minority skin color, religion, or sexual orientation.
Can you imagine what it must be like for those who, through the simplicity and innocence of a developmental/genetic mistake, wind up a girl in a boy’s body, or vice versa? Life wasn’t going to be tough enough without that additional burden?
Then, add in all the hate and ignorance that has been added into American life in the Trump era. Until just a few years ago, it wasn’t cool to bully people who are different; now, it’s a national pastime, rivaling baseball and beer-drinking.
All decent people are trans allies.
