Some wishful thinker the other day, on Facebook, wondered in a post “When will the media admit … [blah blah blah]?” The answer is … NEVER. “The media” is not a sentient being. In fact, the media can be relied upon to go for the lowest common denominator.
Category: Nobody Asked, But
Who’s In, Who’s Out?
Last week there was a sort of sea change in the ongoing saga of the ships of fools. POTUS’s former personal attorney, Mr. Cohen, appeared before an assembled committee of congresspersons. The first takeaway was that Cohen was not a compelling witness. The second takeaway was that the warring parties fell all over themselves trying to make something of the proceedings.
The Great Pretender
The score now stands at 45 attempts, 0 successes. That is the POTUS scoreboard. Some POTUS were worse failures than others. Some came to the job with evil in his heart, others were just incompetent.
Right and Wrong
Right and wrong are not sides of a coin. Right is according to principle. That which is not according to principle is wrong. Ethicists like to do thought experiments that only muddy the water.
The Mount Rushmore of Voluntaryism
I recently read a fascinating article, listing the Mount Rushmore for each MLB franchise. For examples, the Bosox had Williams, Yastrzemski, Martinez, and Ortiz; the Cincinnati Reds had Rose, Bench, Larkin, and Votto; the Giants had Mathewson, Mays, McCovey, and Bonds. The article inspired me to design my versions of two monuments elemental to Voluntaryism.
Swamp Gold
I read yesterday where Ted Cruz thinks we can pay for The Wall by redistributing El Chapo’s ill-gotten gains — just when I thought that politicians couldn’t get any stupider. Now today I am slapped upside the head with the idea that we can get money from the dissolution of DEA.
McCarthyism, Then and Now
The stale whiff of McCarthyism stole across the venue of the State of the Union address last week. POTUS played the “socialism” card, or rather he just showed the back of the card, allowing no peeks at the face of the card — not of its value, not of its suit. He was deliberately vague and ambiguous.
In the Grain
Jeff Riggenbach points out that European civilization in the North American new world was founded by two distinct types of adventurer, the first sought freedom from the old order, while the second sought to impose a new order. We Americans, as a people have been in fundamental conflict ever since.
Rurality/Urbanity
From the 19th century until the mid-20th century, in America, there was a vast migration of people from the farm to the city. Then, in the 1950s, a new direction arose, spanning into the millennium, where people fled the center city, creating suburbs, which in turn became satellite urban areas, And gradually, these urban agglomerations became the center city again, in character.
Owning the Past
My excellent fellow writer and contributor here at EVC, Kent McManigal wrote a piece recently in which he pointed out that racism is not a permanent affliction. It is only enduring when the holder of racist views continues to stoke that fire.