From this:
The outgoing Trump administration’s refusal to coordinate the handover of the Pentagon with the incoming Biden team, as well as the last-minute stacking of civilian positions with fringe national-security figures, comes at a fraught time for US national security. (more…)
As Greta Thunberg celebrates her 18th birthday, let’s take a quick look at her detractors as well as her fans. Right-wing media outlets like Fox News cannot ignore her and the impact she’s made, because it’s too massive. So, they are forced to disapprove. But on what grounds?
I asked my Fox-loving mother this question the last time I saw her, and she explained: Fox looks at Greta as a spoiled and petulant little girl who has no expertise in climate science and should simply shut up and go back to high school. (more…)
At left we see why it’s hard to think of a figure in history more worthy of our admiration than Marcus Aurelius.
The things we regret in life are not misfortunes, but our own failures to live up to the standards we have set for ourselves in terms of honesty, compassion, courage, temperance, and the like.
I remember quite clearly the religious indoctrination I received as a young boy, which included the threat of eternal damnation if I did not believe in God. I also remember what I told my mom at the time, that it’s just silly to think that a loving God would punish me for using the mind He gave me, and concluding that He did not exist, based on the evidence I gathered throughout my life.
The students, faculty and alumni of Yale Law School seem to be unanimous in their objection to Josh Hawley’s (class of 2006) attempt to subvert the presidential election, and, as one would expect of the Elis, have voiced their protestation in very clear and compelling language. Worth a quick read.
An old friend writes: Robespierre in the waning days of the French Revolution had a convention in Paris of his supporters; this , after his 44,000 citizen councils had each beheaded from one to five people. At the convention he then called for everybody in the room to be beheaded. It was then three brave souls spoke up and the soldiers in the room led him away. That adage history repeats itself is so shopworn but so true.
I see this as more amusing than dramatic. Now that it’s clear Trump will not be re-elected, the theater surrounding his bid has suddenly morphed from an action film into a comedy.
This is the same guy who asserted that he was the Second Coming of Christ. Could it possibly be that he’s….oh I don’t know…..INSANE?
At left we have a reminder, as if we needed one, that Westerners, Americans in particular, are fixated on our rights, while ignoring our obligations to those around us.
In fact, we’re so fixated on these rights that we cut them out of whole cloth, e.g., our supposed “constitutional” right to operate inessential businesses during the pandemic or violate mask requirements. News flash: the Constitution does not prevent state and local governments from making and enforcing laws designed to protect citizens’ health and safety. Try doing 50 through a school zone if you think I’m making this up.
There is a suggestion that principled conservatives may split off from the new Trump-oriented Republican party.
In a word, no. This day of the truly despicable conservative has peaked. It’s true that there is a wide and deep river of racism, anti-intellectualism, and bible-thumping that runs through America, but the Trump administration will prove to be its high water mark. It’s soon to be revealed as a complete disgrace to this country, one of which very few people could possibly be proud. The president will soon be shown as a conman and a criminal, and the congresspeople who are attempting to subvert the election for his benefit will soon be demonstrated to be traitors, as they most certainly are.
The fracas isn’t even over, and we already see the GOP desperately trying to pretend that it never happened.
Now, will the Republican Party take a horrific hit? One hopes so, but the idea of a schism in the GOP is a non-starter.
A short (< 1 min.) excerpt of a speech given by Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy is embedded in this article in today’s Washington Post.
He’s right; currently we are experiencing the most serious attempt to overthrow American democracy in our country’s history. (more…)
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…)
