While Trump has always been erratic – adjusting his message to suit his audience and mood and reflecting the last person he talked to – I’ve begun to worry about his stability more and more. With Hicks leaving, Kushner on the ropes, Mueller progressing, and ongoing tension with his staff and cabinet secretaries, he will […]
I’m taking some time today to try to wrap my mind around the financial connections between Trump world – Jared Kushner, etc. – and Russian financiers. The stories are convoluted and detailed, with a fair amount of guesswork as to what the actual connections are. (Let’s see what Mueller puts together. Another indictment Friday coming […]
I’ve found the best way to understand American politics is by assuming that the Republicans are ruthless and the Democrats are inept. There’s more evidence here: While Republicans have made great electoral hay for decades by pushing an extremist gun agenda, the Democrats have consistently offered a milquetoast, muddled response. And here’s the rub: the […]
On my Facebook page, in response to this post, my friend, Scott, makes an excellent point: Ultimately, this is just another permutation of the externalization of costs (in terms of health and fiscal expenditures) by the domestic arms manufactures, retailers and rabid consumers. When debating guns, you encounter all kinds of people. Some come across […]
We are in the grip of an absolute madness on guns in the US. We get ever more insane solutions, like these gun shelters in classrooms. What we need is the complete criminalization of guns in our shared, public spaces; a ban on new semi-automatic sales; a lock-up for existing semi-automatic weapons at licensed facilities; […]
Remember how pretty much the entire principled argument for engagement with Communist China was that it would become more democratic as it got exposed to our multi-national corporations, freedom, values, etc.? Yeah, not so much. Assuming this hypothesis was ever more than just cover for increasing business profits, it’s been proven completely wrong. Xi Jinping […]
While I don’t want Russia – or anyone else, for that matter – interfering in our elections, don’t think for one second that we’re innocent actors. Here’s former CIA director James Woolsey pretty much admitting that we’re actively interfering with other countries right now. But it’s always for a “good cause”, of course – as […]
A note to the lunatic, NRA-type 2nd Amendment absolutists out there. Here are some ideas I have on how to exercise my absolute 1st Amendment rights. Given my rights under the 1st Amendment, I will stand outside your home on the public street shouting obscenities all night long. Neither the state nor you have the […]
After the Parkland shootings – and, of course, Newtown and so many others – I’m tired of conversations about halfway measures on gun control. I’m tired of only discussing things like background checks, waiting periods, closing gun show loopholes, etc. (These seem to be the top priorities of most established gun control groups, it seems […]
Here’s an interesting idea in the gun control fight – a nationwide strike by teachers. But one commenter said this is a lot to ask of teachers. I agree. They didn’t sign up to be gun control organizers. They signed up to educate our children and give them a better future. Sadly, they and the […]
Bill Poorman 