A petition to protect higher education in Illinois
The situation for public universities and community colleges is growing worse and worse.
Abdul-Jabbar on Sanders and Trump
An essay.
Scott Walker v. tenure
“Program discontinuance, curtailment, modification or redirection” could mean anything from cutting single courses to cutting whole disciplines and departments.
Letter, stranger
“How she knows me, I can’t imagine.”
No Koch
Don’t buy Koch products. Tell others to do the same. And give to the candidates of your choice.
November 5
I think my state just moved to Wisconsin.
Congressman compares gubernatorial candidate to Mussolini, favorably
It’s Congressman John Shimkus (R, Illinois-15), speaking of the Republican candidate for Illinois governor, Bruce Rauner. Whether Shimkus knows it or not, he’s comparing Rauner to Benito Mussolini — and favorably.
Where were you when Nixon resigned?
I was at home watching television.
iPads, iPods, Pat Quinn
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, speaking about the creation of a digital-manufacturing lab in Chicago: “When iPads came along and iPods, they helped transform music.” Um, no.
Ambassadors are us
Time-share ambassadorships, a week per year per donor.
“Mistakes were made”
Roy Peter Clark on Chris Christie and the passive voice.
Nelson Mandela (1918–2013)
Barack Obama: “We will not likely see the likes of Nelson Mandela again. So it falls to us as best we can to forward the example that he set: to make decisions guided not by hate, but by love; to never discount the difference that one person can make; to strive for a future that is worthy of his sacrifice.”
A historian’s take on current events
Geoffrey Parker: “I don’t think anyone outside the United States can understand that, how we could be holding the economy of the world to ransom, in return for some concessions on a piece of legislation which has already passed.”
Dear House Republicans
A pox on you and all your ancestors.
A small bit of good news
“The choice, to my mind, is not between doing nothing and bombing; the choice is between bombing and seeking alternatives to bombing.”
Nine questions about Syria
From The Washington Post: Nine questions about Syria you were too embarrassed to ask.
Drudge Report reportage
The Drudge Report is making merry with an offhand, joking comment that Michelle Obama made in an interview with NPR’s Cokie Roberts.
“Not the American way”
Gabrielle Giffords on yesterday’s Senate vote.
Local weather
To borrow from Tip O’Neill: all weather is local.
Bad metaphor of the day
“All sides of the political spectrum.”
Ezra Klein explains the filibuster
Writing in the January 28 New Yorker, Ezra Klein explains the filibuster.
Inauguration Day
“The most remarkable moment for me was the reference to Seneca Falls, Selma, and Stonewall, joining three movements into one ongoing struggle for human rights and the widening we of ‘we the people’ — the phrase that served as the kernel of the president’s address.”
Cliffs and metaphors
“If the cliff is behind us, doesn’t that mean that we’ve already —”
Local listings
On C-SPAN: The House debate on the bill to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. On Syfy: The Twilight Zone marathon.
Senator Feinstein’s bill
“Here, from Senator Dianne Feinstein’s website, is a fairly detailed description of an assault-weapons bill that has been under development for more than a year.”
December 14, 2012
The president needs to lead.
Block that metaphor
Cliffs and goal posts.
Hey?
It’s a good thing I wasn’t directing the Obama campaign’s e-mail effort.
Chinese typewriters and predictive text
“The idea of a typewriter set up to produce with greater ease the ‘ready-made phrases’ (as George Orwell would call them) of political ideology is eerily fascinating.
Election thoughts
The results of yesterday’s voting make me more confident and more hopeful than ever about my country’s future.