Politics

In an interview on MSNBC, Masha Gessen, author of Surviving Autocracy, reminded me recently of her six rules for living in a dictatorship.

Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. Read more about Believe It

A Very Stable Genius Read more about The Not So Stable Genius

Eucatastrophe

Eucatastrophe is my favorite new word, taught me by The Tolkien Professor. According to the online definition, a eucatastrophe is “a sudden and favorable resolution of events in a story; a happy ending.” The happy ending is signified by the prefix “eu,” meaning good. Which leaves the word “catastrophe” to be reckoned with. “Catastrophe” is unequivocally defined as something disastrous. Read more about Eucatastrophe

This is a conversation I had recently with an old school acquaintance of mine. I cannot find much to quarrel about with his basic policy issues, i.e., border security, but I do not see how Mr. Trump has improved the situation in any significant way other than to create misery for innocent people. We went back and forth twice - his statements, my answers, his answers to me, and my quibbles back again. I haven't heard more from him on any of the subject since, but I hope we are not entirely finished. He is not a hateful person, and not the kind who would simply troll for trolling's sake. Read more about Colloquey in Red and Blue

I was born in 1943 in the City of Los Angeles, U.S.A. to parents of northern European heritage.

I was also born racist.

They say, of course, that no one is born with hate in their hearts, and I certainly was not born with hate in my little heart, but you don’t have to hate anybody to be certifiable as a racist. You only have to be born of European stock into a culture so racist that it was very nearly invisible. Racism was as much a part of my experience from the moment I drew breath as the leaves on the trees. And I was as conscious of it as I was of the facts of botany. Read more about Born Racist

Forlorn Hope: A forlorn hope is a band of soldiers or other combatants chosen to take the leading part in a military operation, such as a suicidal assault through the kill zone of a defended position, where the risk of casualties is high. (Wikipedia) Read more about The Forlorn Hope

Donald Trump won’t be there in the ICU when a doctor removes a ventilator from one coronavirus patient and orders it cleaned and used for another one instead. He won’t be there when that doctor orders a drug cocktail to make the last moments of the first patient’s life more bearable. He won’t be there when that doctor also checks the machines and records that patient’s time of death. Or when the doctor quietly tries to deal with the knowledge that he has just killed one patient to save another. Read more about The Killer

J’Accuse. I accuse. Originally, an open letter by Émile Zola to the president of the French Republic in defense of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer who had been accused of treason by the French army. Zola was not debating the French Republic – he was accusing them.

So, to the seeming delight of more than a few pundits, were the Democratic presidential candidates in the recent primary “debates.”

I watched the first couple start to finish, when they were all being nice to each other, except for Kamala Harris (my favorite, but not in that first debate*). Read more about J’Accuse Debates

I didn’t watch the Trial of Trump much. I had already watched over 35 hours of Congressional Hearings and I knew the case for impeachment like the back of my hand. The Republican Senate had already shut down any possibility for more documents or witnesses, so nothing new was likely to arise. Read more about Congress Rising

Remember that bit about Rod Rosenstein wondering if he should wear a wire to the White House?

I used to wonder what he thought he would catch the President saying – or doing – and what he thought whatever it was would make possible.

I still wonder about that last part. What exactly did Rosenstein think he could accomplish? What could he have had in mind. Read more about Christie Shoulda Worn a Wire