Commentary

Are you ready to man the barricades?

In response to a reporter’s question tonight, “Win, lose or draw in this election, will you commit here today for a peaceful transferal of power after the election?”, President Donald John Trump (I) said,

“We’re going to have to see what happens. We want to get rid of the ballots, and we’ll have a very peaceful — there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There’ll be a continuation.”

Continue reading “Trump: “Get rid of ballots””

Commentary

Is the Great American Experiment dead, or simply on life support? And, if it is, how do we revive it?

On January 9, 1790 George Washington uttered these words:

“The establishment of our new Government seemed to be the last great experiment for promoting human happiness.” 

In 1835, in the English translation of his seminal book, “Democracy in America,” Alexis de Tocqueville wrote:

“In that land the great experiment was to be made, by civilized man, of the attempt to construct society upon a new basis; and it was there, for the first time, that theories hitherto unknown, or deemed impracticable, were to exhibit a spectacle for which the world had not been prepared by the history of the past.” 

Continue reading “The Great American Experiment – RIP?”

Commentary

I wrote yesterday about the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

In that post I focussed on the unfeeling, ghoulish, (and in the case of Mitch McConnell, hypocritical) statements of the President of the United States and the Majority Leader of the Senate within hours of her passing.

The president’s comments were especially unnerving:

“We were put in this position of power and importance to make decisions for the people who so proudly elected us, the most important of which has long been considered to be the selection of United States Supreme Court Justices. We have this obligation, without delay!”

Continue reading “Honoring RBG”

Commentary

On this Rosh Hashanah, with the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the hope for a “Sweet New Year” feels somehow empty

Today, Jews all around the world celebrate the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. Since I’m not a particularly religious man, and certainly no Biblical scholar, forgive my having to use Wikipedia as my source:

Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה‎), literally means “head of the year.” The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (יוֹם תְּרוּעָה‎), literally “day of shouting or blasting.” It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (יָמִים נוֹרָאִים‎ Yamim Nora’im (“Days of Awe”), ending with Yom Kippur (יוֹם כִּיפּוּר) “Day of Atonement” as specified by Leviticus 23:23–32 that occur in the early autumn of the Northern Hemisphere

Continue reading “RBG – RIP”

Commentary

Normal times would suggest a Russian dictator calling the President of the United States a “Useful Idiot” would dominate the news. But these aren’t normal times.

In his first interview, Lt. Col Alexander Vindman, a key witness in the impeachment trial of Donald John Trump, says Trump goes out of his way to try to please the Russian president – that he is Putin’s “Useful Idiot.”

Yet this astonishing revelation hardly made a dent in the news. It was not even among the top news stories of the day. Why? Because on the same day as the publishing of Vindman’s comments by Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic (yes The Atlantic), this happened: (here’s the link to The Atlantic article: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/alexander-vindman-trump-putin-useful-idiot/616341/)

Continue reading “Alexander Vindman: Trump Is Putin’s ‘Useful Idiot’”

Commentary

You can’t make this up!

With all the news focussing on Bob Woodward’s book and his 18 (count them, 18) taped interviews with Donald Trump who, in doing these interviews, solidified his standing as not only the worst president in the history of the United States, but possibly the stupidest man in the history of the United States, you might have missed this news, from the AP.

I’ve reprinted the article in its entirety. But I did want to point out one quote from Mike Pence, who, despite accepting the QAnon invitation, had earlier dismissed QAnon as a “conspiracy theory.” It’s a quote that solidifies his standing as not only the worst vice president in the history of the United States, but possibly the most sycophantic man in the history of the United States.

Continue reading “AP: Pence to attend event hosted by QAnon backers”