Mike Franken grew up in rural Iowa, served 36 years in the Navy, and retired a vice admiral. Now he’s running for a U.S. Senate seat from his home state.
Why?
Because this country has an enormous cult of hate and ignorance.
An entire political party is dedicated to fulfilling its demands.
Yesterday, I made the foolish mistake of flicking on the Senate confirmation hearings for SCOTUS nominee Judge Jackson, at the very moment that Lindsey Graham began his questioning: “As a Protestant, do you believe you’re capable of fairly judging a Catholic?”
The television went dark as soon as I could find the remote. I am far too embarrassed, as an American, to watch our leaders deliver that level of effrontery.
Perhaps she replied sarcastically, “Oh, gosh, that may be a bit too much to expect of a judge, especially of a black women.” I doubt it.
In any case, I could not sit still long enough to find out.
Characteristically, Donald Trump wants your money to help him gain as much power and wealth as possible. This time, however, he’s not asking his fans to pay for the cost of repairing his airplane, but to launch a law suit against “big tech” (meaning the social media giants). His marketing people write: (more…)
The reader who sent me the meme here commented:
Liberals, being the way they are, will never admit they were wrong, no matter how strong the evidence is.
I suppose we all, liberal or conservative, believe that we are more intellectually honest than our counterparts at the other end of the political spectrum. Yet his statement seems incorrect to me, if only because liberals are people of science, and that means that we’re constantly changing our minds, even on things about which we were previously extremely confident.
My mom and I often have this conversation; she’ll ask me something like: Why is the CDC constantly changing its position on COVID-19?
To me, the obvious response is that this is what science does as new data is gathered and analyzed, especially in facing an unprecedented challenge like the pandemic.
If you’re looking for validation of what you already believe, which is a distinctly anti-science thing to do, there is always a way to accomplish that, especially with today’s social media. If you think the Earth is flat, or that Dr. Fauci is “on the take,” or that Trump won the 2020 election, it will take you a matter of just a few seconds to find someone else who shares that belief.
Yet all information sources are not created equal. In dealing with an epidemic, some people don’t have a problem consulting landscape architects and auto mechanics. Liberals are more comfortable consulting epidemiologists. To expect that scientists are wedded to fixed viewpoints is to misunderstand science in its entirety.
The reader who sent me this notes: Liberals, being the way the are, will never admit they were wrong, no matter how strong the evidence is. All you have to do is look at what is going on around us today and the last years under any democrat rule.
It’s funny; I do occasionally wonder about the possibility that the Trump supporters are right, and that: (more…)
If you’re tired of people of intelligence, compassion, and decency…….
Great minds have been studying the relationship between religious belief and moral goodness for thousands of years–and with essentially no resolution on the subject. (more…)
I don’t think of the Russian people as gullible; I think of them as oppressed. If I lived in a country with no access to the truth concerning current events, and a 15-year prison term for speaking against the government, I’d a) be desperate to get out, but b) keep my mouth shut until I left.
Obviously, the whole world is astounded that so many Americans buy the Fox News / QAnon garbage. It’s so embarrassing.
Apparently, the author of this meme holds onto the absurd notion that these people have a shred of integrity, and will act according.
Truly ridiculous.
