If the Trump Cult fails according to the template we can expect a transition of power—Biden will be President on January 20th and the insanity will have “lost,” for now. It’s not going to be that simple because in this case the cult is no small faction or isolate. It is now a major political…
Rajanaka taught me to follow the evidence, be prepared to change my mind (not that anyone likes to do that), and look with askance upon certainty. Certainty is, after all, more dangerous than ignorance. Misinformation helps form the shadow of doubt when we are eager (for any number of reasons) or have reason to be…
The former Republican Party has made explicit that it’s path to white nationalism is now complete. Strangely enough, the coup won’t be Trump maintaining power over a duly elected President Biden. It will be that the only major political opposition to those who seek governance based on sane institutions and values of democracy has forsaken…
I think it’s time to get honest about what is most likely going to unfold as a “nation.” As whole-heartedly as I endorse and deeply admire President-Elect Biden’s efforts to unite and reconcile and compromise, I think there is almost no chance that anything meaningful will be accomplished in Congress. We will have an executive…
We know we can expect even worse from Trump and his minions for weeks to come. We know that his media enablers, particularly Fox, Breitbart, Rush, InfoWars, and the rest, will do their part to further the lies and disinformation. They form a threat to the republic in ways our 18th century founding documents did…
The State of the Union is on the line. There will be a tomorrow one way or the other. It’s going to be hard even in victory. I am thankful for all of those far more vulnerable than I who have had the courage and the goodness to protest, to show up, to vote. They…
Will America take the next step to being a multi-racial, multi-ethnic democracy or choose rule by the authoritarian minority? It seems to me that there are two ways that we can fail this test and only one way—maybe—we can head off certain debacle. First, the majority fails to appear in the crucial places where the…
Yesterday we were talking a bit about the power of humor and how it can convey a desire to bring change, especially when it is charged with more than crass ridicule or obvious rebuke. And also, how a joke can become light to the shadows of indecency. N.B., when writing about being funny its never…
Trump has lived a life without consequences, without accountability, slathered in privilege and autarchy. We are supposed to be a nation governed by the rule of law in which everyone agrees that no person receives privilege of exemption, where acts of impunity are shamed and then prosecuted. But why we have learned from Trump is…
It’s usually imprudent to reduce matters to binaries. Too many things happen in the in between. But not this time. This time it’s not a choice. That is where we have arrived. It is binary. It’s the simplest test of character but not between candidates. That has already been revealed. It is America’s test. The…