Jay Rosen, writing back in May about the Trump administration's response to COVID-19, remains accurate: To wing it without a plan is merely the best this government can do, given who heads the table. The manufacture of confusion is just the ruins of Trump’s personality meeting the powers of the presidency. There is no genius … Continue reading Playing havoc
Category: Politics
Four months old
The Boy just turned 4 months old and is absolutely perfect. He is starting to roll over, has recently discovered his own feet, and is super chubby and smiley. So you can imagine my reaction when I read "The Youngest Child Separated From His Family at the Border Was 4 Months Old" in the New … Continue reading Four months old
A modest grand bargain
Charles C. Camosy has a modest proposal—a "grand bargain to save the planet and call truce in the abortion war"—that triggered my Pragmatic Centrist Solution alarm. This alarm seems to go off only for ideas that sound great, would help a lot of people, but will never, ever get through Congress: Democrats get a Green … Continue reading A modest grand bargain
And John Tyler too
When I realized I had yet to read a presidential biography this year, I decided to tackle one that was more obscure and therefore more likely to be shorter. For some reason, tenth president John Tyler came to mind. I opted for John Tyler by Gary May, part of the American Presidents series of short books. … Continue reading And John Tyler too
Just when I think
Just when I think you couldn’t possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this, and totally redeem yourself! -- Dumb & Dumber I think about this line a lot in regards to the current administration, but in reverse. Just when things look like they might possibly improve—with North Korea or the economy … Continue reading Just when I think
The broken presidency
I love John Dickerson for the Slate Political Gabfest and his presidential history podcast, and now I love him for his recent cover story in The Atlantic about how the office of the presidency is broken and was so way before Trump: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8XekUJENIM His central thesis is something I've thought about for a while: that the … Continue reading The broken presidency
Wendell Berry on education in the presence of fear
In a speech given right after September 11, Wendell Berry kept his focus on the long-term concerns of a society and the principles of a proper education: The complexity of our present trouble suggests as never before that we need to change our present concept of education. Education is not properly an industry, and its … Continue reading Wendell Berry on education in the presence of fear
Trump’s Razor
Trump is either hiding something so threatening to himself, or he’s criminally incompetent to be commander in chief. It is impossible yet to say which explanation for his behavior is true, but it seems highly likely that one of these scenarios explains Trump’s refusal to respond to Russia’s direct attack on our system — a … Continue reading Trump’s Razor
New font based on Lithuania’s Act of Independence
Eimantas Paškonis made a beautiful new font based on the manuscript of the Act of Independence of Lithuania, passed in 1918: The whole project took more than 6 months. First of all, a high-resolution scan of the Act of Independence of Lithuania had to be obtained from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Then the person who … Continue reading New font based on Lithuania’s Act of Independence
How to ‘Win Bigly’? Have no shame
Until about two years ago I knew Scott Adams only as the Dilbert guy. But once he started accurately predicting Donald Trump's unconventional political path using the lenses of persuasion and hypnotism, gaining critics along the way but scoring on predictions over and over when most everyone else was aghast at Trump's successes, I figured … Continue reading How to ‘Win Bigly’? Have no shame