Executive Order – Beguine Again

Feb72019 by jrcowlesNo Comments

Tiptoeing Across Quicksand

13th Amendment, abolition, awareness, citizenship, civics, Civil War, conflict, conservatism, constitution, critical judgment, emancipation, Emancipation Proclamation, Executive Order, God, history, injustice, justice, law, self-serving, slavery, social justice, solidarity, Uncategorized

In a recent “Skeptic’s Collection” column I gave examples of beliefs that represent the principle that “A little learning is a dangerous thing”. The examples I cited were derived from physics, psychology, and literature. But history is no less susceptible to warped beliefs than other disciplines. A recent issue of the Washington Post Magazine contains such an example of warped history. Problem is that the Post writer, while doing a sterling job of debunking the beliefs of lovers of the Confederacy, fails to note that liberals and progressives, in their zeal to repudiate such atavisms, fail equally to take into account their own myopia, and end up with a view of history – Civil War history in particular – that is equally warped, just in the opposite direction. The article compri...

Cassandra’s Lament

activism, Anticipation, autonomy, awareness, bigotry, Broken Heart, Challenge, Change, Christianity, citizenship, civics, community, Compassion, conflict, conservatism, constitution, courage, covenant, critical judgment, culture, Current Events, empathy, Ethics, Evidence, Executive Branch, Executive Order, Family, Fascism, Fourteenth Amendment, Freedom, Fundamentalism, Ideology, immigration, Incarceration, injustice, Jeff Sessions, justice, law, mindfulness, Minorities, Mythology, Nihilism, peace and justice, postmodernism, Presidency, progressive politics, racism, Refugee's, Resistance, Secularity, social justice, solidarity, Trump, Uncategorized, World War I

According to Greek mythology, Cassandra, daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, spurned Apollo’s sexual advances and was cursed by the god with the gift of uttering prophecies (about the fall of Troy, the assassination of Agamemnon, etc.) which were unfailingly accurate ... but which no one ever believed. I can sympathize. If you read nothing else I write in my “Skeptic’s” columns, for your own sake please read this one. If you don’t have the time, then make the time. It really is that important: If you have children, especially little children, and if your finances and circumstances permit — which I fully realize they may not — if at all possible, leave, or seriously prepare to leave, the United States. And go where? I would suggest Canada (preferably) or New Zealand o...

Bull-Sh** And The Bully Pulpit

14th Amendment, 5th Amendment, 8th Amendment, activism, anger, autonomy, awareness, Challenge, Change, citizenship, civics, conflict, conservatism, constitution, critical judgment, culture, Current Events, Discernment, Education, Enlightenment, Ethics, Executive Order, Fascism, First Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, Freedom, Ideology, immigration, justice, law, Nihilism, political rhetoric, Politics, postmodernism, Presidency, progressive politics, Quasi-War, Rationality, republic, Secularity, social justice, Tolerance, Trump, Uncategorized, Xenophobia

Several times in the process of playing my role of “voice crying in the wilderness” against the plague of Trump and Trumpism, I have encountered relatively temperate and relatively reasonable Trump supporters who said that, no, they were revolted by Trump’s advocacy of violence against his critics, prejudice against Muslims, the muzzling of a free press, and his condoning of sexual assault, because, yes, they recognized the reality of offenses in all those areas against personal dignity and constitutional liberty. But … you could hear the thundering hoofbeats of the "But" all the way across the Galaxy … Trump did advocate several policies they supported. And, besides, they concluded, the Presidency was, by the design of the Framers, a pretty weak office, anyway, in fact, more or less a...