2022 archive
“It’s the Best Catch There Is” 0
At the Hartford Courant, Connecticut Congressman John Larson takes a look at the damage that the Senate’s devotion to the filibuster, an arcane ritual rooted in attempts to protect slavery and, later, segregation, is doing to the welfare of the nation.
His piece is worth read; here’s a bit:
If you want to know why things are not getting done in Washington, you need look no further than this unconstitutional rule allowing a minority of senators to block the people’s will.
History Is What Happened 0
It is not what persons want to believe happened.
As long as white Americans continue to willfully blind themselves to the facts of America’s original sin of chattel slavery, America will (continue to) live a lie and be vulnerable to that lie.
And I say that as a white guy who numbers among his ancestors persons who held slaves, as the saying went, including the man who signed John Brown’s death warrant at Harper’s Ferry.
That was not me and I am not them.
I’ve mentioned before how Second Son brought that home to me when we visited Harper’s Ferry and saw a wax figure of said ancestor, signing said death warrant, in a display there. Second Son said, “So, he was on the wrong side.”
And he was.
I already knew that, but, as I said, that comment brought it home.
“Donald Trump in the Dining Room with the Television” 0
In a related piece at The Japan Times, Minxin Pei points out that, in the United States, the call is coming from inside the house.
Aside:
One of the underlying assumptions, or, perhaps, it would be better to say “acts of faith,” of the Founders was that citizens, however much they might disagree on policy, would act in good faith.
They did not envision political parties, though parties appeared shortly later, much less a party dedicated to acting in bad faith whenever possible.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Assaulted by an errant spritz of windshield washer fluid, a responsible gun owner responds with politeness.
We are a failing state.
“It Must Be True. A Friend Shared It on Fakebook.” 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Craig Harper explores why we fall for fake news and what we can do to avoid doing so. A snippet:
Follow the link for a few suggestions as to not fall down the many rabbit holes that surround us, especially on “social” media.
Culture
0
Stuart N. Brotman argues that there’s nothing new about “cancel culture.” Here’s a little bit from his article:
I think that an important distinction is often missing from the discussion of “cancel culture” and those who defend themselves by claiming that (any) criticism of their actions is an attempt to “cancel” them.
It is one thing to defend oneself by claiming that one is being “canceled” if one is being criticized for something that some faction finds in bad taste or offensive, as was the case with many of the examples cited by Brotman.
It’s quite another to defend oneself by claiming that one is being “canceled” if one is being criticized for fomenting antisocial or criminal behavior, such as, for example, just to pick one, storming the Capitol and overthrowing the results of a lawful election.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
The AAA issues guidelines on how to avoid the proliferation of random acts of politeness on automotive arteries.
Aside:
I must say, events demonstrate daily that the National Riflemakers Association has a rather odd definition of what means this word, “polite.”
Misnomer 0
At The Philadephia Inquirer, Kevin Dowling, scion of a conservative Main Line father, makes a compelling case that news reporters, editorialists, and pundits who refer to today’s Republican Party as “conservative” don’t know that that word has meant historically.
Afterthought:
I lived on the Main Line for three years, but I lived in Narberth, which railroaders dubbed “Hungrytown,” because “all the hungry railroaders lived there.”
It was a wonderful town, and I truly enjoyed my time there.
A Sign of the Times 0
As Mark Twain once said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.“
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Michael Paul Williams is less than impressed with Virginia’s Governor Trumpkin’s appointees. Here’s what he has to say about one of them (emphasis added):
Our moment of racial reckoning, teetering on the brink, does not need a Confederate apologist. But here comes McLean, who likened Abraham Lincoln’s attempt to preserve the Union to “Russia invading Ukraine” during a July 18 interview on John Reid’s talk show on WRVA radio. She also claimed that “slavery would have been outlawed in the South within five or 10 years, but they wanted to do it on their own time.”
I can only assume that “they” were not considering the desired timetable of the enslaved.
Follow the link for the others in his list.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another responsible gun owner exposes a child to politeness.
