Education board backs controversial history guidelines https://floridapolitics.com/archives/434777-crt-desantis/
The Florida state governor, our own mini-Trump, has another “red-meat for the base” bit of legislation. No surprise here at all. These people feed on the… Continue reading…
In another edition of My Stupid State, Florida now has a bill before the legislature that will change the state support for students going to universities. It is the Bright Futures program, which has been… Continue reading…
Yet another attempt by far right Florida Republicans to not let the market speak for itself, but try to predetermine what people should take in university based on a BS idea of what… Continue reading…
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/world/europe/france-universities-culture-wars.html
Oh France, look at you, thinking that you are condemning ideas from the US when in fact you are just replicating the culture wars of the US. Ok, not France in general, but… Continue reading…
New developments in the case of a former student of mine. His son was killed on a night he was drunk and confused, and tried to get into what he thought was his… Continue reading…
Florida, at the forefront of being backward. There’s so much wrong with the position taken in the quote below, but for starters, the assumption that public universities must have politicians involved in surveilling… Continue reading…
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/17/technology/qanon-meme-queen.html
Things said by the person profiled in this article:
“The world opened up in Technicolor for me,” she said.
“It was like the Matrix — everything just started to download.”
“The… Continue reading…
Citizens as consumers. This guy says that that’s the reality, it’s not going to change, and so we should just make the best of it. Stop trying to call people to a higher… Continue reading…
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/opinion/trump-social-status-resentment.html
This article annoyed me to no end. Some people seem enthusiastic about it, like a new toy called “social status” has been discovered and it’s really fun to play with, and… Continue reading…
Rebecca Solnit: On Not Meeting Nazis Halfway https://lithub.com/rebecca-solnit-on-not-meeting-nazis-halfway/
Rebecca Solnit, as usual, talks sense. Our ability to have a public conversation about anything significant is so corrupted and compromised at this… Continue reading…
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/11/andy-stanley-evangelicals-trump/617103/
The reckoning is long overdue. But you know, it won’t really happen. As Trump’s star fades, and it will, these people will find their ways of rewriting history, claiming victim status, saying that… Continue reading…
I haven’t read the book reviewed by Daniel Dennett in the link here. Pretty sure I’d hate it with a passion. Also pretty sure (from the last paragraph of the review) that my hatred… Continue reading…
A thousand attempts have been made to try to explain our political moment, from the left (or even from the center). Many of these end up in frustration – “well, they’re just crazy on the… Continue reading…
As I’ve said before, Facebook presents itself to us as a single person. I guess Twitter does too, but all the messages from all the people and corporations and Russian trolls and everyone else out… Continue reading…
I’ve tried to make this case to various people, usually to no avail (well, not everyone – you know who you are). I said to someone not long ago that I saw Obama… Continue reading…
This article (behind paywall, sorry) is about the history of politicians and administrators saying that their universities can’t be “all things to all people” (the 5-word phrase in the title). It tells the… Continue reading…
On next week’s US midterm election: 1. Advance polls are meaningless. Remember two years ago. Everyone has an advanced poll, and will claim accuracy after the fact depending on what happens. Yes, there is… Continue reading…
A truism of political morality is that we should take character seriously. This is, perhaps, more of a truism on the right than the left, but it would be rare to find someone who would… Continue reading…
NYT coverage of the primary elections in Florida and Arizona. It’s been noted before, but there’s a subtle (sometimes not so subtle) slant to their political reporting. Exhibit A:
“Mr. Gillum edged out Ms…. Continue reading…
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/upshot/election-2016-voting-precinct-maps.html The NY Times publishes a voting map of the US for the 2016 presidential election, showing how areas voted down to the polling station level. So, if you’re American you can see how… Continue reading…
My university is getting a new president, after 26 years of the previous one being in that position. The new president was our provost (there was a national search, but it’s pretty clear that he… Continue reading…
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/opinion/america-heimat-germany-politics.html
The columnist in this piece thinks that the English speaking world needs a new word from German: Heimat. This is a term which captures more than geographical place, but a state of belonging…. Continue reading…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/16/robert-mueller-russians-charged-election This just dropped. So the grand jury found enough evidence to charge these with conspiracy to defraud the United States. That means that there’s enough evidence to go forward with a trial for… Continue reading…
I’ve seen several people raise the question of whether this American president is “my” president. Obviously, that is a question Americans are asking – the rest of the world is saying, you broke it, you… Continue reading…
from Jan. 5, 2018
Going into a bank, any bank, is for me an exercise in carefully repressed rage. The people who work there are generally perfectly nice. But it is all against a… Continue reading…
From Dec. 17, 2017
The attached article (click on the above picture) is interesting, and gets at something I’ve been thinking for quite awhile, at least in part, which is that there is a… Continue reading…
From Nov. 8, 2017
I talk to John King on the Drunken Odyssey podcast, one year after the election of our Dear Leader, about staying sane.
From May 28 2017
I agree with everything in this op-ed. And yet…
I still wait to find a single instance of anyone on the Trump side of the aisle say the same thing… Continue reading…
From Feb. 24, 2017
http://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-interview-trump-supporters-2017-2
I posted this article earlier without comment, but I think it warrants some comment. I’ve seen a lot of articles like this, in which liberals go out to Trump… Continue reading…
From Feb. 20, 2017
I’m interested in the contours of the moral universe in which Trumpists reside. Lying is clearly not a problem with anyone. Sexual abuse is fine – yea for pussy grabbing. Hypocrisy… Continue reading…