It’s easy to dismiss all talk of negative things as “being pessimistic”, but even the optimist has to acknowledge negative truths in order to express his or her dedication to making the world a better place. After all, why seek to make the world better unless you believe there are ways in which it falls short?
Tag: trump
Helsinki: How About a Fresh START?
Nuclear weapons are weapons of terror and of Mutual Assured Destruction. They’re not militarily useful outside those two ways of thinking. It’s time for the two countries with the largest stockpiles of such weapons to move together toward decommissioning and destroying those stockpiles. We may never again live in a world without nuclear weapons, but we can aspire to a world with as few of them as possible.
Progressives and Conservatives are Allies on a Fundamental Level
I’ve put together a simple thought experiment for those who consider themselves political enemies. (As always, I stand on the shoulders of giants.) Those who consider themselves a part of “the Left”, such as liberals, progressives, social justice warriors, et cetera, aren’t really divided from those who consider themselves a part of “the Right”, such as conservatives, beltway libertarians, alt-righters, et cetera.
President Trump, Please Free Ross Ulbricht
There is no universe in which life without the possibility of parole is a reasonable penalty for the crime of running a web site. Especially a web site which arguably reduced both drug-related street crime and death by drug overdose.
A Proposal: Cut the Court
President Trump should announce that he is holding off on appointing a successor for Kennedy and asking Congress to reduce the size of the Court to seven justices, effective with the NEXT retirement. If Congress complies, that next retirement will likely be Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is 85 and holding on for dear life rather than allow her successor to be chosen by a Republican president.
Negative Social Preferencing, ICE Edition
If you work for ICE, you should be denied service at restaurants, denied communion at churches, and have to explain to your kids why they aren’t invited to other kids’ birthday parties or play activities. And thanks to Sam Lavigne, we know who you are.
Caught in the Doldrums
Government, which if it is allowed to exist at all, should never tell any individual what to do, has been allowed to morph into a nasty master rather than a timid servant. Insanity! It’s totally stupid to allow government of any kind to ever set itself above any person or individual rights, for any reason. Government, specifically the State, needs to die.
Taxed Enough Already, You Say? Trump Disagrees.
Don’t be fooled. No matter how he gussies them up as correctives for “unfair competition” and “trade imbalances,” tariffs are taxes on American consumers, and that’s all they are. They aren’t paid by Chinese manufacturers. They’re paid by you, at the cash register, in the form of higher prices on the goods you shop for.
Confession
Hate is not in my normal vocabulary, but I must admit to four Trump Towers of Despise in my life. Trump, Giuliani, reality television, and corporate news mongering.
North Korea: Pelosi versus Peace
In her official statement on Trump’s Singapore summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, US House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi makes it clear that a few million incinerated human beings a small price to pay to keep the 68-year-old Korean War going. Maybe not forever, but at least until there’s a Democrat in the White House.