Politics

Is Donald Trump Innocent?

Nobody on my side of the aisle is asking that question. The assumption is that he is guilty of collusion with Russia, among other things, and that he is more than impeachable. He is imprisonable.

There are a lot of reasons for believing in his guilt, beginning with the assumption that an innocent man does not behave the way that Donald Trump behaves. I agree with them, because Donald Trump is guilty of a great many things. There is never a reason to believe him innocent of anything. Read more about Is Donald Trump Innocent?

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The Loyal Opposition

It’s fair to say I’ve been a lifelong Democrat, although that may actually have begun with Kennedy. My father was an Eisenhower Republican; my mother likely a closet Kennedy Democrat like me. But I had no qualms at all in voting for a Republican woman, Senator Margaret Chase Smith, in the Illinois Republican primary back in 1964 when she was running against Barry Goldwater. Was that the beginning of the end of the respectable Republicans? Lincoln, Grant, TR, Eisenhower. Were there more of which the country can be proud? I don’t remember. They are all gone now. Read more about The Loyal Opposition

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The End of All Things

I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things ...
(Frodo to Sam, The Return of the King, JRR Tolkien)

We come at last to the end of 2017, and I am in an apocalyptic mood.

Why?

I tried listing the reasons, but there are too many to list. All around us, agency after agency, courtroom after courtroom, police and fire and local administrations, structures and strictures that we have long counted on to be there when we need them are being gutted almost behind our backs. Read more about The End of All Things

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Dash It All, Hope

“Hope,” I wrote recently in a Facebook post, “is raising its ugly head once again.”

This was in direct response to the results of Tuesday’s elections in Virginia and elsewhere which seemed to repudiate the election results of 2016. “Maybe,” I could hear Hope whisper, from the deep recess of my soul in which I had stuffed her a year ago. “Maybe there’s Hope.” Read more about Dash It All, Hope

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Brave New World

My housebuddy talks about why he always folds clothes when he empties a drier, even if it’s not his stuff. “You mean, there’s an option?” He grew up in foster homes and was well-trained. You don’t just throw other people’s stuff in a pile. You handle it with care. Read more about Brave New World

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House Buddies

Lately I’ve been trying to figure out why folks seem to have a problem caring (i.e., paying) for the welfare of other people. As in health care. As in water quality. As in clean air. As in education and housing and transportation taking people to work, to school, to grocery stores and back home again.

I get why they want these things for themselves. We all want these things for ourselves. The problem comes when folks start thinking of our welfare as a good, and the welfare of others as, well, Welfare. Read more about House Buddies

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