united states
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ICE Out Now
About two thousand students arrived outside the state capitol building in Salem, Oregon on Friday, to protest against the Trump administration and ICE. They walked out of their schools to make their voices heard, rather than quietly accept the unacceptable regime of an unaccountable, arbitrary secret police force abducting and brutalizing their neighbors, friends, and… Continue reading
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American Music
If you caught the halftime show on this year’s Super Bowl broadcast, I’d be curious to hear what you thought about it. In these days of cultural division, when people are increasingly unable to agree about the meaning of all the things that play out in front of our faces, I don’t want to take… Continue reading
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I need to stop looking at social media so much
This could apply to pretty much every human being on Earth, regardless of their level of social media engagement, but I digress. I do spend a lot of time watching the feed go by, because I have a lot of bad media habits, and because I am curious to see commentary on the events of… Continue reading
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Have we learned our lesson?
There’s no lesson to be learned. It is said that those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it. The fact is that those of us who do remember history are doomed to “repeat it” right along with the rest of you, so as far as being a social prophylactic goes, memory is… Continue reading
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On Martin Luther King Jr Day
It matters why we do things. This is not because good deeds are less helpful when motivated by selfishness, or because bad deeds hurt less when carried out with the best of intentions. On an individual basis, a deed is only a thing done, for better or worse. Our motivations matter because they shape the… Continue reading
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For Renee Nicole Good
There’s not much I can add to the story of what happened in Minneapolis yesterday—the murder of Renee Nicole Good by agents of ICE, for the offense of having been watching them (which is not a crime), and then trying to drive away from them. I can tell you that the official stance of the… Continue reading
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Donald Trump Violates International Law and the U.S. Constitution
It seems like it would be a waste of time to explain to my fellow countrymen that, if some other country were to conduct a military strike on Washington, D.C. as part of an operation to abduct the President of the United States and force him to stand trial in a foreign court, all while… Continue reading
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Enough with this
When I first saw a screencap of the Truth Social post made by Donald Trump, in which he not only demeaned director Rob Reiner following the news that he and his wife had been brutally murdered, but claimed that Reiner’s vocal opposition to Trumpism was the root cause of his death, I didn’t think much… Continue reading
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The Immorality of the Lynch Mob
One of the worst habits of intellectual ages gone by is the tendency to make sweeping generalizations about the nature or character of entire cultures, societies, nations, or other abstract assemblages of of people. I say “ages gone by,” but I really ought to admit that this is a bad habit of all ages, and… Continue reading
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Some Political Vignettes of the United States
Idly formulated and illustrative of nothing. Healthcare Eliza: When I’m talking about universal healthcare, I mean that every one should have access to the care they need, regardless of their ability to pay.Sam: That sounds nice, but what about the people who don’t deserve it?Eliza: I don’t think “deserving” enters into it. Why waste time… Continue reading
Ink Tea Stone Leaf 