2026 archive
Just Deserts, Reprise 0
Warning: Mild language.
Republican Thought Police 0
At AL.com, John Archibald looks at a bill recently introduced in the Alabama legislature that would for all practical purposes abolish academic tenure; he suggests that
It’s about controlling what you can say or hear or ultimately think or learn. And of course teach.
Follow the link for the rest.
Afterthought:
Why are Republicans afraid of freedom of thought and speech? Could be that they know they are in the wrong?
The Gaslighting 0
Seth takes a closer look at Donald Trump’s claims that he will bring down gas prices as gas prices rise.
“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0
Via The Japan Times, Princeton University professor Harold James hears a rhyme with a British accent. Here’s a bit from his article:
Note that he said “potential” future. Methinks his piece offers some hints as to how to make that potential impotent.
______________
*Mark Twain.
Who Coulda Knowed? 0
Well, for that matter, anyone who was paying attention.
Backfire 0
At the Psychology Today website, Raj Persaud writes of a “study examining air strikes in Afghanistan (that) found that they encouraged insurgency rather than inhibiting it.”
Given recent events, methinks it a timely read.
The Lake Effect, the Rule of Lawless Dept. 0
At Above the Law, Liz Dye notes that
But we don’t because Arizona’s perennial loser Kari Lake pulled the plug last year on most of Radio Farda, which previously broadcast news in Farsi into Iran, along with much of Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and the multiple outlets that fall under the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM).
She goes on to discuss a federal judge’s ruling that Lake’s doing so was illegal and unconstitutional. Follow the link to find out why.
(Broken link fixed.)
Collateral Damage 0
Farron discusses how the Republicans’ “Big Beautiful Bill” has harmed health care.
The Grand Plan 0
Afterthought:
I never anticipated in my wildest dreams that I would find myself a citizen of a rogue state.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another “responsible gun owner” exposes a portable phallus to a child.
Authorities say Geonard Wade handed a 15-year-old family member a shotgun that unintentionally discharged around 7:40 p.m.
A bullet struck the 51-year-old in the arm. . . .
A Quibble:
It was a shotgun. Shotguns shoot shot or slugs. They don’t shoot bullets.
The Business Man President 0
Shorter Michael in Norfolk: Yeah. Right.
Quackery 0
Farron discusses an editorial from The Lancet about the damage RFK Jr. has done to the public’s health.
Read the news report that led to Farron’s video.