When my daughter was young, I used to help her with things like grammar and poetry interpretation. I recall explaining Frost’s “Fire and Ice”: He seems to be saying that the world could end either in fire, perhaps nuclear war, or by ice, our vast indifference to the well-being of one another. They are both extremely powerful forces, and either one will get the job done. (more…)
We have no choice but to prosecute Trump once he’s out of office. If we don’t, we’ll be issuing an open invitation for the next would-be dictator, and the next one couldn’t possibly be this incompetent. We really don’t have a choice here.
I’m sure some people will counter that Obama didn’t prosecute Bush 43 for war crimes (waging an aggressive war), on the basis of “national unity,” but how solid is that analogy? (more…)
Question: 2019 was the first year the U.S. consumed more renewable energy than coal since what year?
Relevance: Hint: Burning wood was the main energy resource until the advent of electricity, at which point hydro came along. After a certain point, however, coal beat out renewables until just the year before last.
GOP Senator Ben Sasse: “When we talk in private, I haven’t heard a single Congressional Republican allege that the election results were fraudulent — not one,” Sasse wrote. “Instead, I hear them talk about their worries about how they will ‘look’ to President Trump’s most ardent supporters.”
Given that these people are dishonest cowards, I get where they’re coming from. Three-quarters of Republican voters believe the election results were fraudulent, and we’ve learned recently that nothing is going to change their minds. Certainly not the lower and appellate courts, nor the ultraconservative U.S. Supreme Court. So here we have 50+ million people who are seething, steaming in the certainty that the election was stolen from their leader who was sent by God Himself to make America great again.
Something’s got to give. Yes, it would be good if these senators were people of integrity who would simply say, “Look, America, Biden won, and there is exactly zero evidence of anything else. Let’s get on with the job of fixing what’s wrong with America and work together to find and implement solutions to our collective problems like the pandemic and stagnant wages.
If there ever were a season of hope, it’s the New Year.
This is actually a very serious subject, but the cartoon below should make you smile.
The man has no sense of shame–sadly, a huge advantage in the business world.
Those who don’t understand that January 1 represents nothing more than an arbitrary point in our Earth’s path as it revolves around the sun would do well to check out this video.
Joe Turk, one of my mentors as a young man, writes as follows:
As anyone could have predicted, Trump’s decision to pardon the mass murders who, until their incarceration worked for the brother of the president’s Education Secretary, has been met with international condemnation. The United Nations made this statement on the subject: “These pardons violate U.S. obligations under international law and more broadly undermine humanitarian law and human rights at a global level.”
There has never been a time in this nation’s history when the United States was more detested on a global scale than it is right now. We’re universally reviled by the entirety of the civilized world, and it will require decades of herculean efforts on our part to turn this around.
Most Americans understand that all this is driven by Trump’s efforts to burn the country to the ground between now and the time he leaves office. Writing for the “no holds barred” Irish Times, staff columnist Fintan O’Toole said this: Trump has unfinished business. A republic he wants to destroy still stands.
For anyone who may be interested, here’s a conversation I’m having with some old college friends on constitutional originalism, a concept regarding the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution that asserts that all statements in the constitution must be interpreted based on the original understanding “at the time it was adopted.”
Here’s distinguished scholar of religions Reza Aslan explaining Trump’s popularity among white evangelical Christians.
About 8 minutes long, worth ever second.
