Category Archives: Politics

OK For Me But Not For Thee

Reactions to yesterday’s story; A comment about how perhaps Americans are actually not very good people; Robert Reich recalls the four pillars of civil society: universities, science, the media, and the law; all the ones the current administration is trying … Continue reading

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Security Breach; Socialism vs. Capitalism

Today’s big news is about the security breach by Pete Hegseth, and if he or anyone will face consequences; Heather Cox Richardson on the 15th anniversary of Obamacare; And my reflections on the motivations behind the debates between capitalism and … Continue reading

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Today’s Doom Watch

A beautiful weekend here in the Bay Area. We’re witnessing the downfall of the United States as an idealistic nation that for many decades has led the world on enlightenment principles and scientific achievements. At the same time, most people … Continue reading

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“The Wholesale Destruction of the United States Government”

Heather Cox Richardson on the dismantling of the US government, on libraries and museums, and on the rule of law; WaPo’s Dana Milbank on Musk’s ignorance of the government he’s dismembering, on what judges do, and on the administration’s bows … Continue reading

Posted in authoritarianism, Conservative Resistance, Decline, Politics, Psychology | Leave a comment

The Devolution of the United States

America is 24th in a ranking of the happiest countries in the world. Don’t Americans wonder why so many other countries are happier? I suspect they do not. [Update: this is a fairly superficial measure. Even so.] Trump and his … Continue reading

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Is Science Partisan? How Could It Not Be?

The astronauts have returned, and Trump and Musk lie about what actually happened; The idea of blaming Mexico for the overdose epidemic is wrong, and will not work; Short items about eating less, globalism, cutting aid to the poor to … Continue reading

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How MAGA folks don’t actually believe in traditional American values

Rather, they embody the essence of primitive tribalism. A Ben Shapiro host renounces the Statue of Liberty and its “stupid” poem; The disappearance of Navajo Code Talkers on government websites suggests again that MAGA is a white supremacy movement; Shameless … Continue reading

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Human Nature, Politics, Religion | Leave a comment

More Ticks Off the Dictator Playbook List

There will be no calm still point. Trump defying the Court; a Constitutional crisis, perhaps; The next phase of Trump’s dictatorship era; Following the dictator playbook; Concern about discrimination against whites, and how MAGA is about white supremacy; How narratives … Continue reading

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Pi Day Rationalizations

How MAGA rationalizes downturns in the economy; How scam artists prey on gullible old religious people; How the Family Research Council is anxious to replace education with religious indoctrination; How repeating a lie (“tariffs are tax cuts!”) often enough will … Continue reading

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Here We Are: Stupid America

Frank Bruni on the Trump administration’s undercutting of America’s superpower; How the current secretary of defense thinks climate change is “crap”; Facts about the 19 programs dismissed as “waste”; Blast from the past: how Indiana tried to redefine Pi, to … Continue reading

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