So good to have John Oliver back now that the writers’ strike has been settled. Here’e the main story from last night, but if you can, tune in to see the whole show because the recap of the previous five months when they were off the air is priceless!
Politics
Dress Codes
Today’s Saturday Q&A over at E-V.com is especially interesting. There were questions followed by very good answers on subjects such as seating Diane Feinstein’s replacement on the Judiciary Committee, converting gold to cash, why Republicans oppose net neutrality, the merits of a civil trial versus a criminal one, and many others. I particularly liked their … Continue reading Dress Codes
A Common Enemy
In 1959 a story was published that described three mysterious stores that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, in Tokyo, Paris, and New York City. The shops called themselves Martian Shops and displayed technology that was far in advance of anything heretofore known on earth. The stores were staffed by salespeople wearing skin-tight face masks and … Continue reading A Common Enemy
A Quality of Mercy
There was an excellent article in yesterday’s nytimes about Philadelphia youths who were given life sentences under cruel and aggressively punitive DA Lynne Abraham, and who have now had their sentences reduced under the more enlightened leadership of Larry Krasner. We’re talking about people who were clearly guilty of their crimes, not wrongly convicted, so … Continue reading A Quality of Mercy
Removing Relics of “The Lost Cause”
From the Wikipedia entry for Ty Seidule: James Tyrus Seidule (born 1962) is a retired United States Army brigadier general, the former head of the history department at the United States Military Academy, the first professor emeritus of history at West Point, and the inaugural Joshua Chamberlain Fellow at Hamilton College. Seidule is also the … Continue reading Removing Relics of “The Lost Cause”
HHH
In 1968 I still didn’t have the right to vote as the 26th Amendment had not yet been added to our Constitution, so it didn’t matter all that much that I couldn’t decide which of the major party candidates I supported. I still considered myself a Republican in those days, and if I could have … Continue reading HHH
A Political Comment
Is it a good idea that by a popular vote of merely 50% + 1 the voters of a state can bypass their elected officials and pass a law? Whether it’s a good idea or not, that’s the way it apparently is in a few states—states as different geographically and politically as California and Ohio, … Continue reading A Political Comment
Mitch McConnell’s Reading List
Back on Independence Day, or the Fourth of July, if you prefer, the good folks at the ElectoralVote site posted a scavenger hunt for their readers to have fun with. Since then they’ve been posting the results one item at a time. Today was item number 3: A book that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell … Continue reading Mitch McConnell’s Reading List
How to Get Free Money!
Want to get a $20 gift card? All you need to do is contribute $1 to to Doug Burgum’s presidential campaign! You see, the way this works is Doug (may I call him Doug?) wants to qualify for the Republican presidential debates. One of the qualifications is that he needs to get “donations from at … Continue reading How to Get Free Money!
This Week in GOP
RNC Celebrated Fourth By Tweeting Liberian Flag On Tuesday, the Republican Party’s official Twitter account posted to mark the Fourth of July, writing, “247 years ago, our forefathers told Ol’ King George to get lost! Happy Independence Day from the GOP!” There was just one problem: the flags they used in the graphic were … Continue reading This Week in GOP