Pronouns and institutions
A deep experience of the Kafkaesque.
Pottery Barn Kids [sic]
You can guess what we think about this stuff.
Tea and truth
The words on my Celestial Seasoning tea-bag tag this afternoon are from Elizabeth Cady Stanton: “Truth is the only safe ground to stand upon.”
Shimkus fail
My representative in Congress, John Shimkus (R, Illinois-15), has an A lifetime rating from the NRA. He leads Illinois Congressional Republicans in total contributions from the NRA. Truly, his concern about “the destruction of human life” seems limited to pre-natal life.
Too early?
Is it still too early to be discussing gun-ownership rights? As it has been for a long time now ?
Current events
Commentary from The New Yorker on the latest from Donald Trump.
“An image of the audience”
Neil Postman on the politician as an image of the audience.
Sean Spicer at the Emmys
Ugh.
Making by hand
Rosemary Hill: “To make objects by hand in an industrial society, to work slowly and uneconomically against the grain, is to offer, however inadvertently, a critique of that society.”
“Very, very insensitive”
Scott Pruitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, thinks that it’s inappropriate to talk about climate change right now.
Bill McKibben in Alaska
Such condescension, such privilege.
Another resignation
Javier Palomarez, president and CEO of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, has resigned from Donald Trump’s National Diversity Coalition.
Scare buying and Nancy
A 1950 Nancy strip address Korean War-era hoarding.
DJT + JA
At The New Yorker, Margaret Talbot asks why Donald Trump likes Joe Arpaio.
Liar, scary
Bakari Sellers and James Clapper on Donald Trump.
Blowhard
A New Yorker cover.
What would Drucker think?
Rick Wartzman of the Drucker Institute writes about what Peter Drucker might have thought about Donald Trump’s response to events in Charlottesville.
More resignations
All sixteen members of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities have resigned.
News of the future
Congressman Steve Cohen (D, Tennessee-9) “will be introducing articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump following the President’s comments on the horrific events in Charlottesville, Virginia.”
Recently updated
Now with two more resignations and two fewer councils.
“The burden is reality”
James Baldwin on what makes achieving a revolution different from overthrowing a dictator or repelling an invader.
Recently updated
Now with still more resignations from Donald Trump’s American Manufacturing Council.
Must be read to be believed
When Donald Trump speaks of slavery, it’s not to mourn the original American sin: it’s only to proclaim that everybody did it.
Recently updated
More resignations from Donald Trump’s American Manufacturing Council.
A resignation
And then more. Stepping away from Trump.
Mandela via Obama
Barack Obama’s response to the events in Charlottesville, in three tweets, two hours ago, is a passage from Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom.
Charlottesville
Michael Eric Dyson: “Now is the time for every decent white American to prove he or she loves this country by actively speaking out against the scourge this bigotocracy represents.”
Trump on crying and begging for forgiveness
Remorse and shame require self-awareness and a functioning moral compass, an ability to reflect upon one’s actions and consider them in relation to some ethical standard. But being a man, on Trump’s terms, means just about never having to say you’re sorry. And never ever asking for forgiveness. That’s for kids.
“Cost of Trans Troops vs Flaccid Military Members”
A chart is worth a thousand words.
“Government schools”
Katherine Stewart traces the origins of the term “government schools.”