Tag Archives: politics

The wheels of Justice in America are turning forward

Posted on September 13, 2023 | Comments Off on The wheels of Justice in America are turning forward

It is interesting to see the wheels of Justice turning in America. For a time they did not seem to turn at all. As Josh Marshall illustrates in this piece on January 6th, for some time there was a perception that right wing militant groups could act out the way they wanted to and no one could stop them. That changed on January 6th, as groups like the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys are discovering. No doubt these groups may continue to exist in some form, despite their head being cut off. But it is something to see these groups finally being brought to justice after some time of being able to engage in riots and more with impunity.

After crushing some of the right wing militia, the wheel of Justice seems to be bearing down on members of Donald Trump’s inner circle, from Ron Navarro to Rudy Giuliani. Trump himself is under so many investigations that the New York Times had to build a special tracker so people can keep up with them all.

(If you thought this would change his behavior, you would be wrong. He continues to be a fountain of lies: the only difference now is how the news media covers him, as you can see here. He also continues to stiff people, as this story on Rudy Giuliani’s legal finance woes show.)

The wheels of Justice don’t just go right, they go left too, as the protestors of “Cop City” in Atlanta are about to discover via this indictment. Is it a bad use of RICO? Possibly. No doubt Trump and people would say the same thing. Regardless, it will be interesting to see if the Georgian prosecutors can make the cases, left or right.

P.S. Other American things I found noteworthy: Some school in Florida put restrictions on Shakespeare in their classrooms, which lead to this  really good essay on how Shakespeare is ribald and great. This story of disputes between left and right business in a small town of Virginia says more about America than a dozen essays can. Finally, the image below is of “the Byrna Mission 4. This pneumatic rifle shoots non-lethal rounds, incapacitating intruders without causing permanent harm.” Like the story of the business dispute, it too says alot about the America.

Comments Off on The wheels of Justice in America are turning forward

Posted in politics

Tagged , ,

Thinking about the SCOTUS and America on July 4th, 2023

Posted on July 4, 2023 | 1 comment

Canadians can fool themselves into thinking they understand America and Americans. I certainly can. But America is different and there are many things I don’t really understand, try as I might.

The Supreme Court, SCOTUS, is one of those things. In Canada, the Supreme Court acts like a supreme court should, I believe. It barely gets any notice in Canada, and when it does, it’s usually for a very good reason. No one thinks of it in a politicized way.

That’s very different than SCOTUS, it seems to me. That court comes across as highly political. Which is why people talk all the time about their political leanings. Which is also why I find this feature in the New York Times so fascinating: major supreme court cases for 2023.  For certain cases, the court lines up the way you’d expect. But for a majority of the cases, that isn’t true. Take a look: you’ll see the court is more complex than you think.

That said, SCOTUS has many problems. The corruption of Alito and Thomas, for one. This fact that many of decisions are based on errors which are not hard to find, is another.

Finally, I don’t agree with everything in this, but I think that what Josh Barro wrote on the recent supreme court moves worthwhile. Likewise these pieces by Jamelle Bouie, and Steve Vladeck and Adam Liptak.

 

1 Comment

Posted in politics

Tagged , ,

On RFK Jr and the people that are supporting him

Posted on June 26, 2023 | Comments Off on On RFK Jr and the people that are supporting him

RFK Jr is in the news a lot recently. One obvious reason is that he is trying to run for President. The other reason is because some of the worst of people are jumping on his bandwagon and amplifying his campaign.

If you are unsure about him, then I recommend this piece on RFK Jr for several reasons. First, it sums up how I think I now think about RFK Jr:

His noxious views on vaccines, the origin of AIDS, the alleged dangers of wi-fi and other forms of junk science deserve no wide hearing. Polls showing he’s favored by 20 percent of likely Democratic voters over President Biden are almost as laughable as Kennedy’s views. It’s early; he’s got iconic American name recognition; and there’s almost always an appetite, among Democrats anyway, for anybody but the incumbent.

Second, it also has a list of articles at the beginning that debunk RFK Jr’s ridiculous claims. And if that’s not enough, here’s more on RFK Jr from the New York Times and People Magazine.

As for the people jumping on his bandwagon and amplifying him, here’s a break down on the horrible harassment of  Dr Peter Hotez by Joe Rogen, Elon Musk and others. As for why you don’t want to debate science on a podcast, here’s a good piece on what it’s like to go on  Joe Rogan and debate anything 

Here’s hoping RFK Jr and the cranks he attracts fade into the background soon.

Comments Off on On RFK Jr and the people that are supporting him

Posted in politics

Tagged , , , ,

85 or so interesting things I wanted to write about and maybe will some day

Posted on June 18, 2023 | Comments Off on 85 or so interesting things I wanted to write about and maybe will some day


Many times I find things I would like to write about but never do. I think people should check out these links though. So I am including them all in this Sunday post to read at your leisure.

Start with this one on mapping data visualisations from Victorian London to today. Or this, on the film Unforgiven and the line, “deserves got nothing to do with it”. I am fascinating by ex-Royals haunting Europe, like Ferdinand Habsburg, who occupies his time racecar driving, so I recommend that. I also loved the story of  Jenny Nguyen and the sports bar she opened just for women’s sports, The Sports Bra.

This is good: how to help your kids find happiness.

Are these the best movies ever made? Possibly. Do I know why old man Robert de Niro is having a 7th kid? Nope.

I wanted to say something/something more about  Ted Lasso, The_Blues_Brothers, bad artists, David_Shrigley, or ska, but I could not. I don’t even have anything clever to say about the Wakefield amazonian love god statue, other than you should check it out. (Seen above.)

I recommend you also check out this amazing Maine home, this Manual Coffeemaker (seen below) and this piece on the Amazon Halo Rise. Even this desk lamp, which is the visual motivation youll need to start your day. Or this cool utility shelf , or this Concept TV, or even these linen sheets.

If you need some advice, read about the move out method of organizing or read this for anxiety reduction. I do believe writing make you healthier. This can tell you how to retire when you have basically nothing saved. Consider this more radical and practical than stoicism (shugendo).

When it comes to health and fitness, here’s a good piece on Kipchoge’s boston marathon pace. It’s VERY Fast. This guy is not fast but he is a cheat: Joasia Zakrzewski at the ultramarathon. A different form of cheating:  how one man ate cheat meals which helped him lose weight. I was going to write about the mediterranean diet and Kettlebell exercises and how kettlebell workouts burn 20 calories / minute, but didn’t. I didn’t know what to say about this article that was a grim reflection on a life of drinking. Nor did I know what to write on how depression rates are reaching new highs.

This is an interesting story about Carmelite nuns abandoning their nest in Brooklyn. A good piece on  riding  the New York subway in the 70s. Speaking of the craziness of the 70s, here’s a story on cocaine and cooking at Chez Panisse. All worthy of a post some day.

I once wanted to write about the red shoes of Pope Benedict XVI and their many hidden meanings but I passed. Related in a fashion sense, here’s something on GQ’s outfit of the week. And from a religious POV, I’ve always been fascinated by the story of France’s eminence grise. Not to mention forgotten masses like Childermas!

Here’s some LISS links I never could make anything of: What Makes Fascism Fascist? – by John Ganz, how Nazis are not socialists, and Why Paul Ehrlich got everything wrong. Then this is this piece on who will sell the books. Plus Horizontal History on Wait But Why this? A cautionary tale: The Dangerous Decline of the Historical Profession. Quasi-historical: on Raiders of the Lost Ark. Strangely historical: It’s not a darning tool it’s a very naughty toy – Roman dildo found.

Some clippings from out east where I come from: on the East Coast Kitchen. Here’s 2 things on the international student housing crisis in Cape Breton, including how medical residents moving to cape breton are struggling to find housing. The famous nscad university is moving to the Halifax seaport. Also worthy of fame, Kate Beaton’s affecting ducks dives into the lonely life of labour in Alberta’s oil sands. Lastly, Food truck diner experience helped relaunch Zellers brand.

I didn’t know what to do about  Linda McCartney’s photos, or why art installations make people angry, or this piece on Vermont and the law and art and slavery, but they are all interesting. Go check them out.

For some time I was going to write a defence on consultants after reading this and this and this and this and this. Even this and this. Most of them insinuating that consultants are all powerful and manipulative and evil, like this: Opinion: The Trudeau government seems awfully cozy with McKinsey. In the end I didn’t have the energy or the interest.

I thought this piece, you can’t say that in the 1930s which relates to this, Agatha Christie novels reworked to remove potentially offensive language was worthwhile. Likewise, this, on Black Panther 2’s Namor casting and how it opens up a Latino colorism debate.

I found these social media leaks disturbing and a caution as to what to share and not share: alcohol counseling patient data leak and discord document leak tiktok.

Here’s two things on Samuel Alito, whom I find especially terrible: here and here. Also terrible, those doing child labor lobbying in the USA.

Last, I was going to write something on the bystander effect, on some blogging myths, on happy warriors, on Maiden Lane Transactions, on the CBC Massey lectures archives, on driving a Lyft, and on college and students and success. Someday, perhaps.


As always, thanks for reading this blog. I deeply appreciate it. I hope you found a link or two above worthwhile.

 

Comments Off on 85 or so interesting things I wanted to write about and maybe will some day

Posted in blog

Tagged , , , , , , ,

On Barney Frank and Isaac Chotiner too

Posted on March 19, 2023 | Comments Off on On Barney Frank and Isaac Chotiner too

There is a serial killer quality about Isaac Chotiner and his interviews. He  finds someone who likes to talk  and who is in the wrong and he proceeds to eviscerate them through a series of questions in the New Yorker. He’s done it so often that people like Dan Drezner wrote this: Why Do People Talk to Isaac Chotiner?

Barney Frank was the one person who I saw stand up to him in an old interview and avoid being sliced up.  I was impressed  then. I was less impressed recently when Chotiner interviewed him about working for Signature Bank. Frank comes across as pugnacious still, but clearly he is wounded and on the defensive. Here’s some excerpts.

On Frank’s own actions to weaken Dodd-Frank:

Do you see any connection between the weakening of Dodd-Frank a few years ago and the collapse? I came to the conclusion shortly after we passed the bill that fifty billion dollars was too low. I decided that by 2012, and, in fact, said it publicly. The reason I say that is that I didn’t go on the board of Signature until later. In fact, I had never heard of Signature Bank at the time when I began to advocate raising the limit. This is relevant, obviously, because Signature was a beneficiary of that.

On why it was on the regulators to choose to go after banks like Signature Bank, here is what Frank had to say:

The power to look at liquidity, to increase liquidity and to say, You have too little—they had every power they needed to do that. [The bill allowed regulators to keep liquidity and capital requirements on banks with total assets between a hundred billion and two hundred and fifty billion, but no longer mandated they do so.] I will tell you, as a member of the board of Signature, we underwent some discussions about liquidity, and the need to increase liquidity or maintain it.

On the limits of stress tests (The bold part is Chotiner: the part in italics is Frank):

But isn’t the point of stress tests to see how a bank will do under different scenarios, like the one we saw? Yeah, that is what a stress test does. It’s an artificial but valid test. I do not think that a stress test would have helped in this situation. Because? Well, this all came up very suddenly. I don’t know what a stress test would have shown. A stress test might have been helpful, but part of it was that stress tests were for institutions large enough that it wouldn’t just be about them failing—it would be that their failing could cause great waves. I think that the impact of this failure has been contained, which it wouldn’t have been if it were JPMorgan.

On why he went to work for Signature Bank:

No, that’s the answer to, “Why are you doing this? It’s inconsistent.” No, I went on it, frankly, for two reasons. One: it paid well. I don’t have a pension and, having quit, I wanted to make some money. [Frank declined to participate in the congressional pension system.]

In short: weakening Dodd-Frank was a good thing and removing mandatory  liquidity requirements from banks like Signature Bank was a good thing and also the stress tests are not that good. Also its fine for political leaders to go work the people they used to regulate and make lots of money.

The whole interview is worth reading. Unless you were a fan of Barney Frank, they way I once was. Now he just sounds like an character from The Big Short.

Comments Off on On Barney Frank and Isaac Chotiner too

Posted in politics

Tagged , , ,

The crucial fact to remember when it comes to Debt Ceiling discussions in the USA

Posted on February 1, 2023 | Comments Off on The crucial fact to remember when it comes to Debt Ceiling discussions in the USA

There’s a great quote in this piece on how the Republicans demand spending cuts to lift the debt limit. They won’t say what to cut. It’s this:

“If you exempted defense, veterans, Social Security and Medicare spending, you’d have to cut everything else by 85%,” said Marc Goldwein, an expert at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a think tank that advocates for reducing red ink. “It’s possible as a mathematical proposition. But the question is: Is it possible as a policy proposition? And the answer is no.”

The crucial fact is this: the US government is an Insurance Company with an Army. (From Paul Krugman’s blog of over 11 years ago,) That leave any one governing with really two choices: cut the insurance or cut military spending if you want to make significant reductions in the budget. If you cut the insurance, good luck getting reelected. And while I think they could easily still dominate the world with a much smaller military, good luck as well persuading many American voters of that.

Some Republican politicians love to imagine they can reduce government spending significantly during these Debt Ceiling discussions. All the best with that. (Even Mitch McConnell is moving on this time.)

Comments Off on The crucial fact to remember when it comes to Debt Ceiling discussions in the USA

Posted in politics

Tagged , , , ,

On the good and bad aspects of Dark Brandon

Posted on August 16, 2022 | 2 comments

There have been lots of pieces explaining Dark Brandon. (Too many!) If you want to read what I thought was the best one, I think it was this: Dark Brandon, explained – by Matthew Yglesias.

As for my two cents….part of me likes the Dark Brandon meme. It a political jiu-jitsu move, taking the use of memes and shitposting that comes from trolls, the alt-right, and basic straight up Nazis, and using it effectively against them. That part I am good with.

But I think the warning that comes from this piece is worth considering:

… experts warn there are risks to embracing this type of political iconography. “You don’t want to take a trend that is precipitated by fascists and Nazis and then sort that into your arsenal. That’s just not great,” says extremist researcher Daniel Grober, who co-authored with Hampton Stall a definitive report on the Dark MAGA trend in far-right online networks. “What it does is it normalises the aesthetic, and it gives kind of a platform for it to be solidified into the general media.”

I agree with that. Essentially the use of memes like Dark Brandon risks getting into the mud with the worst of the Internet and wrestling with them. As G.B. Shaw(?) once warned:

“Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.”

As an example of this, one of the Democrats grabbed a Dark Brandon meme that contained some Dark Knight/Batman imagery and tweeted it, only to have to pull it when someone pointed out the Nazi Eagle in the background.  See? The mud gets on you even as you fling it.

2 Comments

Posted in culture, politics

Tagged , , ,

The badness of America

Posted on August 11, 2022 | Comments Off on The badness of America


America is great in many ways, but when it’s bad, it’s terrible. Much of this has to do with the Republican party and the people who support it. That support means that people in Republican Counties Have Higher Death Rates Than Those in Democratic Counties.  People are stupid, but it doesn’t help when those that lead them are evil or incompetent.  Speaking of evil, here’s a piece on  Tucker Carlson and why it is pointless to interview him. It’s not all evil though, some of it is just incompetent, like the Texas power grid. Also dumb are Republicans thinking they should have the right to spam people. Back to evil, this piece on Citizen Bopp, explains how much toxic legislation gets drafted. Now back to freedumb and how Americans will sooner metaphorically shoot themselves in the foot for freedom than to act reasonably.

Besides the GOP, much of the badness of the US rises out of political Christians, which has lead to the rise of Christian nationalism . Evil. As for dumb? What Happens To Christian Influencers When They Get Married?

All that helps explain why the American right falls over terrible world leaders like the bigot Victor Orban from Hungary. (Not that we Canadians should be smug: our ex PM Harper is apparently a fan.)

America still reserves the right go assassinate people around the world, and because the weapons are getting better and the targets are awful, no one blinks an eye at stories like this:  Little-known modified Hellfire missiles likely killed al Qaeda’s Zawahiri.

Anyway, those are just some of the links I’ve saved over the last while on the badness of America. Never mind their Supreme Court and how evil and incompetent they are.  It’s one thing to be right wing, but they had a chance to limit Roe v Wade in a way that would be less damaging and they refused to take it.

Maybe next week I’ll be in a better mood and I will write about why American is great.  Often times they are great because of their enemies and the challenges they pose. Some of those enemies are foreign, but many of them are domestic.

Comments Off on The badness of America

Posted in politics

Tagged , , ,

The worst of the Supreme Court of the US?

Posted on July 14, 2022 | Comments Off on The worst of the Supreme Court of the US?


With all the news concerning the US Supreme Court, I did some digging to see how the current court measures up against its predecessors. Here some pieces I found on the worst decisions ever made:

And here are two articles on the worst members of that court:

Judge for yourself. 🙂

 

Comments Off on The worst of the Supreme Court of the US?

Posted in politics

Tagged , , , ,

On July 4th, here’s some links on politics to consider

Posted on July 4, 2022 | Comments Off on On July 4th, here’s some links on politics to consider

Like many people, I am riveted to what is happening in the USA lately. It seems to be coming undone as right wingers try and pull the country to a place that will be bad for Americans and in some cases bad for the world. To support that opinion, here’s some links I’ve recently collected. (As well as other links related to politics in general.)

Jan 6th: First up, there is the January 6th committee investigating the insurrection that happened on that day. Mike Pence featured prominently in the beginning, leading to pieces like this, Why Democrats Should Honor Mike Pence, and this and this. Then there were others, like  Rusty Bowers in Arizona.  More on the role of the GOP in the hearings. I respect all those who did their job/duty and pushed back on Trump and those who tried to subvert democracy. I don’t think we need to make them all into heroes, but we should respect their courage and determination. And who knows, but here’s how Merrick Garland might play into this.

Trump: On the other side, here’s a piece on Trump’s legal defence. A key player, Rudy Giuliani used to be looked up to. Hard to believe now. This piece explores his decline. Here’s a piece on the Congresswoman Nancy Mace and limits of Trump’s influence.  Here’s Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein comparing Nixon and Trump in terms of corruption.

Media: As an aside, this was good:  Bob Woodward explains key scenes in All the President’s Men. This was not so good: The Washington Post’s social media meltdown. Finally, people who are political junkies might like this:  The Rise and Fall of the Star White House Reporter.

The right, SCOTUS, and Roe: To understand what is happening in the US, you need to understand the Religious Right. This helps with that: The Real Origins of the Religious Right. But it helps to know what other players are up to as well, such as Peter Thiel. Or this $%&*, Tucker Carlson.

Which leads to the overturning of Roe vs Wade by the Supreme Court of the US (SCOTUS). Two pieces on that: the Roe opinion and the case against the Supreme Court of the United States and SCOTUS’s argument for overturning Roe v Wade and Casey. Relatedly, this piece was wrong: The leaked draft Roe opinion is a disaster for the Supreme Court. They lived.

Other things worth reading: More on SCOTUS and how they are dishonest in their judgments; this oped, A Requiem for the Supreme Court After Roe’s Demise; and this, Decades Ago Alito Laid Out Methodical Strategy to Eventually Overrule Roe.

To get more of a handle on this, I read these  pieces trying to understand what happens next in the US by these studies of  Oklahoma and Ireland. Here’s a piece on how legislatures play into this. Here’s how right wing extremists will be collecting data potentially to go after women seeking abortion. Finally, this on the doctrine of potential life and what’s wrong with it.

Politics and Tech: here’s four pieces on how tech intersects with politics:  1) On period trackers, 2) Microsoft reportedly censors searches for politically sensitive Chinese data, and 3) Canada and how Russian hackers come after it and 4) The Surreal Case of a C.I.A. Hacker’s Revenge.

Generally: the war is still ongoing in Ukraine. Here’s two pieces on it: here and  here. Elsewhere in Europe: Hungary: where replacement theory reigns supreme. And to wrap up: How Asian Civilizations Will Change The World Order….nope;  The Meaning of Machiavelli.…Yep;  For Tens of Millions of Americans the Good Times Are Right Now….maybe?

If you’ve read this far, thanks. All comments are moderated and any I deem thoughtful I’ll approve. The rest go in the trash.

Comments Off on On July 4th, here’s some links on politics to consider

Posted in politics

Tagged , , ,

Thinking about left wing social media

Posted on March 24, 2022 | Comments Off on Thinking about left wing social media

300I read these two tweets from someone recently and they struck me as a form of progressive writing that bothers me and I was trying to figure out why. Because I agree with parts of them.

In the first one about Alberta politics:

Shock doctrine 101. Exploiting a burnt out & disoriented populace to ram through commodification of public goods. Expanding duplication of programming via private operators using public funds furthers competition model of education which ultimately fragments society.

I disagree with the idea that the shock doctrine applies to Alberta’s current state or that the Premier needs it in order to pursue such goals. Kenney doesn’t need a pandemic to do this. If anything, the pandemic has slowed down conservative premiers from doing anything like this. Conservative politicians have been forced to act compassionately during the pandemic, because no one wants to lead a province with dead people filling hospital hallways.

In the second one:

One year ago today, hate rooted in white supremacy + misogyny took the lives of 6 Asian women and 2 bystanders. This was a fatal act stemming from long standing erasure, objectification, and entitlement to Asian women’s bodies. Know their names. May they rest in power.

This was a terrible event that should be remembered. But this tweet is a left wing laundry list of issues: white supremacy, misogyny, erasure, objectification, know their names, rest in power. I know that there are limits with what you can tweet: it’s just that tweets like this limit the effectiveness of what you are trying to communicate.

I wish progressive thinkers knew how to preach to others outside the choir. I wish progressive writers could talk to people other than hectoring them. I wish they were more doubtful about it all. It leaves me in the back pew, wishing for a better sermon and looking for a reason to step outside.

I don’t mean to pick on the person who wrote these tweets. These are just two examples. There are thousands of such tweets like this out there every week. Plus websites, like The Jacobin, are full of such writing.

Thanks for reading this. I am just trying to work out why such writing bothers me and how I can think of it better. Maybe my thinking is woolly and wrong headed. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Comments Off on Thinking about left wing social media

Posted in politics

Tagged , , ,

Two good pieces on left wing politics

Posted on February 5, 2022 | Comments Off on Two good pieces on left wing politics

300

Two good pieces on left wing politics I thought worth reading:

Comments Off on Two good pieces on left wing politics

Posted in politics

Tagged

On twitter and MLK Day

Posted on January 18, 2022 | Comments Off on On twitter and MLK Day

So yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the US. I think it is great Americans celebrate the life and work of Dr. King, and I hope all Americans take the day to reflect and work towards a more perfect union inspired by his ideals and vision.

It’s always a weird day on Twitter, though. I think this Wesley Yang quote hits the nail on the head:

MLK said some stuff that radicals like to quote and other stuff that conservatives and moderates like to quote, and of course what made him what he was is the ability to hold these contrasting impulses in balance

It’s true: MLK did say some radical things and he also said some moderate things. Moderate people want to claim him for his own and ignore the radical things, and radicals do the reverse. He was trying to bring people together and to move civil rights forward. There was no one way to do that. So was he moderate or radical? It depended on the context.

It’s also a weird thing when someone or some organization references Dr. King and someone quote tweets that and says “oh by the way, they are hypocritical to says that for reasons A, B, and C”. It’s the nature of people to dunk on others on twitter: I feel it just feels like petty squabbling on a day we should aspire to better.

The other thing that seems to happen on twitter every year on MLK day are tweets stating how unpopular he was at one point.  As Gallup states:

in 1966 — the last Gallup measure of King using this scalometer procedure — it was 32% positive and 63% negative.

Which is not false. It’s also not the whole picture. As CNNPolitics shows, “Black Americans” saw things differently:

 The vast majority in 1963 thought his work for equal rights was moving at the right speed (71%) or not fast enough (21%) compared to 8% who believed it was happening too fast. In 1966, 84% of Black adults had a favorable view of him, while 4% had an unfavorable view.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was an active political figure trying to effect major change. It is not surprising that his popularity was not high like it is now. That’s fairly common of political figures.  For additional context, he was listed as one of the top ten admired men in the nation in 1964 and 1965 but not 1966, according to that Gallup piece.

Popularity is a complex thing to measure. People trying to say King was unpopular back in his time are being highly selective in their selection of data, to say the least.

Anyway, I hope people’s tweets are aspirational versus petty when the holiday arrives.  I think Dr. King would want that.

Comments Off on On twitter and MLK Day

Posted in ideas

Tagged ,

On de Klerk and Hume (and Cromwell too)

Posted on November 16, 2021 | 2 comments

Cromwell
FW de Klerk died last week. While there were many reactions to his death, I thought this one was best. His legacy is complicated. But he has a legacy that is complicated and not one that is simply horrible because of the bold actions he took. I had thoughts on de Klerk, but that piece is better than anything I could have written.

I’d argue that almost everyone’s legacy is complicated. I especially thought that after reading about how David Hume’s tower was renamed last year. I suspect that eventually the only things that will be named after people will be for people whose lives we no longer care about. But who knows? As I wrote earlier, the naming of things (and the removal of names) is about power and eventually those newly in power want to name their things so they become their own.

Perhaps we should not erect memorials at all. Perhaps we all need to be iconoclastic. If we do cast new ones, then the memorials we erect of people need to include the “warts and all” aspects of them. Make the memorials a lesson instead of an icon to worship.

One thing I want to add on de Klerk is that when I was younger, I never thought that the Soviet Union, Apartheid, or the Troubles in Ireland would end in my lifetime. For every de Klerk there was a Paisley in Northern Ireland who would fight tooth and nail to prevent change from happening. But it did happen, because of people like Gorbachev, de Klerk and Mandela, Trimble and Hume. They should be acknowledged for the good they did.

(Image from a story on the painter who painted Cromwell, warts and all: Samuel Cooper)

 

2 Comments

Posted in ideas

Tagged , , , ,

On not forgetting George W Bush

Posted on October 3, 2021 | Comments Off on On not forgetting George W Bush

I was reading this analysis of a recent speech by George W. Bush (‘The Nation I Know,’ by George W. Bush – by James Fallows – Breaking the News) and it got me thinking about him again.

It’s easy to forget about Bush. Most Republicans act like they have. Many Democrats too. While reviled towards the end of his presidency — so much so that he was shunned by his party at their conventions — there are people who still think positively of him (For example, Michelle Obama Explains Her and George W. Bush’s Candy Exchange and Friendship).

But no one should forget about Bush and all  the terrible things done during his presidency, from torture to war. To see what I mean, read this: The Legacy of America’s Post-9/11 Turn to Torture – The New York Times. While some in America would like to forget all that and think better of him, much of the world likely thinks like this: George W Bush should shut up and go away | US & Canada | Al Jazeera. Even there, the idea is to dismiss him and forget about him.

Perhaps Bush is a genial and charming man. But he will also be the man that brought the United States and the World to a worse place. That should not be forgotten.

(Image above: Official White House photo by Pete Souza – https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/4291602492/ (direct link))

Comments Off on On not forgetting George W Bush

Posted in thoughts

Tagged , , , , ,

On the deadly leadership of Jason Kenney and Scott Moe regarding the pandemic

Posted on September 28, 2021 | Comments Off on On the deadly leadership of Jason Kenney and Scott Moe regarding the pandemic

Here is Jason Kenney on twitter in July, 2021, celebrating removal of health restrictions:

Here is a tweet from Robson Fletcher of the CBC on Kenney’s  province and Scott Moe’s province in September of the same year:

I mean, if people in your province are dying at 4X the rate of the other provinces because of direct policy changes you made, you are essentially killing people in your province under your leadership. I don’t know how else to put it.

Also, Jason Kenney should not speak for the Prairies or the West. Both Manitoba and British Columbia are doing better than Alberta and Saskatchewan. It’s not just right wing leaders either. Other right wing provincial parties have been much better stewards of their regions. Kenney and Moe and their leadership are to blame here.

It is terrible when leaders fail their provinces. But this is way beyond typical failure.  I feel great sympathy for the people of this province who have died unnecessarily on their watch.

 

Comments Off on On the deadly leadership of Jason Kenney and Scott Moe regarding the pandemic

Posted in politics

Tagged , , , , ,

On the recent moot election, September 2021. A brief note…

Posted on September 21, 2021 | Comments Off on On the recent moot election, September 2021. A brief note…

Well that was an odd election. If anyone came out ahead, I can’t see who it was. The Liberals did not get their majority, yet none of the other parties made any significant gains at their expense. Canadians voted to maintain the status quo and maintain it they did.

The one significant thing I noticed was line ups on Election Day. I’ve been voting for decades and I’ve never seen anything like it. As for me, I voted in the advanced poll and while I saw lots of good measures in place to limit the spread of COVID-19 the whole process was still pretty quick. I imagine those good measures slowed things down on Election Day.

It will be interesting to see if there is more voting via mail and via advanced voting in the next election. I expect we will have another one in a few years from now, though I would be surprised if the Liberals will be the ones to bring it on.

The next thing to pay attention to is what happens to the leaders of the various parties. I expect the Greens are going to have to make some difficult decisions. As for the other parties, I have no idea. I thought the leaders all performed well, but members of their parties might think differently. Let’s see.

After that, I’ll be very curious to see what Trudeau and his team do next. I hope they focus on the pandemic and what is needed to get to end of job in that with an eye on the economy and other promises they made.

I tend not to touch on politics on social media: it’s tends to be all downside with little upside. But this election was so odd I had to comment.

Comments Off on On the recent moot election, September 2021. A brief note…

Posted in Canada

Tagged , ,

One last thing on AOC and the Met Gala

Posted on September 15, 2021 | Comments Off on One last thing on AOC and the Met Gala

The best thing written on AOC and the Met Gala was written here: Activism Is Now In Fashion – The Atlantic.

I had planned to write something, but that piece is so good I can’t possibly express my meh feelings to the empty activism and her presence there better than that piece does. For example, this is just one sliver of goodness from the Atlantic piece:

 Ocasio-Cortez has fired up her base, raised her profile, and reminded everyone that she is the standard-bearer for today’s activist left.

At the same time, the Met Gala is essentially a costume ball, which removes the potential for actual subversion…the Met Gala red carpet is now an arena where people go to make statements, which inevitably robs those statements of their power. No one here is rebelling against the Man. The Man loves the extra publicity; it helps sell more $35,000 tickets to socialites who love a frisson of revolution as long as it’s safely divorced from the threat of actual tumbrels. … The Met Ball is … a safe space for political statements that all attendees will applaud, regardless of whether they truly believe them. … no one gets booed, or thrown out, or shunned by their peers for wearing an ensemble supporting any progressive cause to the Met Gala. … So what is the risk of wearing a sloganeering outfit to the Met Gala…? For Ocasio-Cortez, that’s just a day ending in a Y. (Emphasis is mine)

I like AOC for her intelligence and her seriousness and I like the Met Ball for it’s vapid ridiculousness. The two don’t mix. I am glad she got to enjoy the party and wear a great dress and support a good designer, but either go and acknowledge you are part of the ridiculousness, or stay serious and avoid it.

Image from the New York Times. Their piece on it is worthwhile too.

Comments Off on One last thing on AOC and the Met Gala

Posted in fashion

Tagged , , ,

A brief post on the Church

Posted on August 15, 2021 | Comments Off on A brief post on the Church

In my case, the Church is the Catholic Church, which I have been estranged from since my teenage years. There are a great many good Catholics that I know, doing great acts of charity and service, such as paying off medical debt. And when I read pieces like this one, I think: yes, Catholicism can be a force for good.

But then there are the many terrible actions by the church and those within it that remind me of why my estrangement still exists. Like how Catholics who promised residential school survivors $25M instead spent $300M on a new church. or the political actions of Bishops in the United States. Or finally, laicized cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

McCarrick is being charged with a fraction of the things he got away with for a very long time. Things everyone knew about. And just so you know, McCarrick is not the end of it. If you can bare it, here’s more about it.

Finally here’s an editorial in a Catholic Church publication talking about just how messed up the church is.

That’s all I have to say for now.

(Image: Damon Winter/The New York Times)

Comments Off on A brief post on the Church

Posted in religion

Tagged , ,

Haiti and the Dominican Republic: a case study as to why results are never monocausal

Posted on July 28, 2021 | Comments Off on Haiti and the Dominican Republic: a case study as to why results are never monocausal

Dominoes

People like to think outcomes, especially political or social outcomes, are monocausal. They’ll say: Y happened because X occurred.

I think that is rarely true. At best, X could be the main contributor as to why Y occurred. But it is never the only contributor. Often it is not even possible to determine which cause made the most difference. Most outcomes are not monocausal.

A good case study for this can be found in this essay on Haiti vs. the Dominican Republic – by Noah Smith.People will often say the main contributor to Haiti’s poverty was French colonialism or American intervention. Smith makes the case there are many factors that contributed to the significant differences between the two nations and it is not easy or even possible to single out one cause.

The next time someone tries to argue for single causes, look deeper. You’ll like find at least a half different other factors that contributed. People who can highlight multiple causes for an event understand the event better.

(Photo by Tamara Gak on Unsplash )

Comments Off on Haiti and the Dominican Republic: a case study as to why results are never monocausal

Posted in ideas

Tagged , , ,

How powerful is twitter?

Posted on July 1, 2021 | Comments Off on How powerful is twitter?


I agree with this assessment by Noah Smith: it is not powerful at all. It can seem powerful at times, like a very high wind. But like a very high wind, it either subsides or moves on. Sometimes there is damage, but mainly not.

If you disagree, I recommend you read his piece. It’s a pretty strong argument for why twitter as a social force is limited.

P.S. I have felt that for some time. I mainly post things that are either positive or amusing. If I want to take social action, there are concrete ways to do that.

P.S.S. Tweets are like straw, blowing this way and that way, yet not moving and not affecting things, besides making a nice noise.

(Photo by seth schwiet on Unsplash )

Comments Off on How powerful is twitter?

Posted in culture

Tagged , , , ,

If you contribute to political campaigns, you should read this

Posted on April 3, 2021 | Comments Off on If you contribute to political campaigns, you should read this

If you come across this article, How Trump Steered Supporters Into Unwitting Donations – The New York Times,  you might initially think a) well yeah Trump is a crook so no surprise b) his supporters are dumb so also no surprise. You can think that.

However, consider it from the point of view of people working on campaigns. Some of them on both sides might be thinking: this is a good way to bring in money. It’s hard to raise money, they might think, and this is a way to make it easier. These campaign workers might be working on campaigns for people you support. They might think the ends justifies the means.

So if you do contribute to political campaigns, consider doing it from an account that has a limited amount of funds in it. That way even if they trick you into overdonating, you won’t run into some of the trouble that Trump’s supporters did.

(Image comes from a link to an image in the New York Times piece)

Comments Off on If you contribute to political campaigns, you should read this

Posted in politics

Tagged , , , ,

What is going on with Google and Facebook in Australia and why you should care

Posted on February 26, 2021 | Comments Off on What is going on with Google and Facebook in Australia and why you should care

Map of Australia
Have you been following what is happening with Google and Facebook in Australia?  I found it interesting for a number of reasons. One, it seems Facebook and Google have taken very different approaches, with Google coming to an agreement with the Australian government while Facebook has not. (At least not as of Feb 20, 2021.) Two, I believe whatever happens in Australia will have an effect on what is happening in Europe and the United States when it comes to the big digital giants.

I’ve read a number of pieces on it, but I found this one especially detailed: Australia’s Proposed “Fox News Tax” | by James Allworth | Jan, 2021 | Medium

If you want to get a deeper dive into what is driving things with regards to Facebook and Google in Australia, start there.

(Photo by Joey Csunyo on Unsplash)

Comments Off on What is going on with Google and Facebook in Australia and why you should care

Posted in politics

Tagged , , , , , ,

Everything you wanted to know about the Filibuster

Posted on February 10, 2021 | Comments Off on Everything you wanted to know about the Filibuster

 

That is an odd title, because while there is much talk in the United States about the Filibuster, they are really only talking about the use of the filibuster in the U.S. Senate. Mind you, because of the composition of that current political body, there will be much more talk about it. If you want to have some context regarding it, read this: The History of the Filibuster

If you just want to know about filibusters in general, read this.

(Photo by Joshua Sukoff on Unsplash)

Comments Off on Everything you wanted to know about the Filibuster

Posted in politics

Tagged , , , ,

Will interest in the topic of fascism fade in the US?

Posted on January 28, 2021 | Comments Off on Will interest in the topic of fascism fade in the US?


Looking at this Google Trends line, there were two peak periods when there was a strong interest in fascism in the US: at the beginning of Trump’s term and towards the end. While those were peaks, there was much talk about fascism through his period in office. As he fades away (rots in jail?), I expect that interest to die off now the US has a new president. Let’s hope.

Meanwhile, the more and more I became convinced of the fascist behavior of the Trump administration, the more I started to read about it. Two links I found interesting were these:

  1. What 1930s political ideologies can teach us about the 2020s | Aeon Essays
  2. The Best Books on Fascism | Five Books Expert Recommendations

If you are interesting / worried about the rise of neo-fascism, I recommend those links.

(Image is one of the best books on fascism).

Comments Off on Will interest in the topic of fascism fade in the US?

Posted in politics

Tagged , ,

The worst ever president of the United States of America (revised) is…

Posted on January 27, 2021 | Comments Off on The worst ever president of the United States of America (revised) is…

No longer this guy:

Three years ago I argued Buchanan was the worst president, here:
The worst ever president of the United States of America is… | Smart People I Know

But a lot has happened in three years, and I now agree with Tim Naftali who argues that: Trump Is the Worst President in History – The Atlantic.

He makes a strong case. Not only that, but we haven’t even begin to know all the bad things Trump has done.

There have been many bad presidents, from Harding to Johnson to Nixon. But Trump takes the “prize” for being the worst.

Comments Off on The worst ever president of the United States of America (revised) is…

Posted in politics

Tagged , , , ,

On Jacobin magazine – a marker

Posted on January 18, 2021 | Comments Off on On Jacobin magazine – a marker

Occasionally I like to capture and post markers on things in this blog as a reminder for myself. I have this one on Peter Thiel. This post is on a tweet from a Jacobin magazine author that captures what I think of that publication.

It’s a good reminder of me that some people further to the left of the political spectrum will always focus their attacks not on the right but those in the center and not quite as left wing as them.

Comments Off on On Jacobin magazine – a marker

Posted in politics

Tagged

To improve society, you need governments to want to improve society

Posted on January 6, 2021 | Comments Off on To improve society, you need governments to want to improve society


To improve society, you need governments to want to improve society. This seems obvious, unless you see government function as either wasting money or punishing the worst off in our society. But governments can function very effectively to improve society, and these two articles illustrate this:

  1. Trudeau’s Child Benefit Is Helping Drive Poverty to New Lows – Bloomberg
  2. Jobs, Houses and Cows: China’s Costly Drive to Erase Extreme Poverty – The New York Times

In both countries, poverty isn’t declining by magic or the invisible hand of capitalism. It’s being driven down by specific policies and programs with an aim to eliminate poverty.

A better world is possible. Progress is possible. We just need people and their governments to want it to become possible. Never believe that progress is impossible or an illusion.

(Chart above from here. The downward line is people living in extreme poverty, while the upward line is people not living in extreme poverty.)

Comments Off on To improve society, you need governments to want to improve society

Posted in politics

Tagged , , , ,

On the ghosts of segregation

Posted on December 19, 2020 | Comments Off on On the ghosts of segregation

This is a link to a powerful essay on the remnants of segregation in the United States. You can see these remnants faintly in the essay’s photographs, like this one above. Off to the left is the entrance to the balcony where the “coloreds” had to go while the “whites” entered through the door on the right and sat separately on the main level closer to the stage. There are many such images in this essay.

It’s good that such images are captured. Soon enough these buildings will all be gone, and the remnants too. That’s why things like this essay are good, because they call our attention to and remind us of what occurred.

The essay is not just filled with moving images, but the words themselves are worth taking the time to take in. I hope you can find the time to take it in and linger over it.

Comments Off on On the ghosts of segregation

Posted in politics

Tagged , , , , , ,

On US Politics, Money, and the recent election

Posted on November 26, 2020 | Comments Off on On US Politics, Money, and the recent election

Money
American politics is about many things. One of the main things it is about is money.  For a while it was believed that after the “Citizen United” case, the flood of money  would almost guarantee whoever had the most money would win.  Now it’s not just about what money can do, but what it cannot do.

As some states like Maine and South Carolina showed, vastly outspending the incumbent will not guarantee election: The Democrats Went All Out Against Susan Collins. Rural Maine Grimaced. – The New York Times. That’s not to say money is irrelevant. It’s just that it has limits. It’s no longer enough to bombard people with ads bought with all that money. You need to spend smarter. I am not sure if anyone in the US has that figured out.

Speaking of money, this article by Jamelle Bouie highlights the importance of money especially when it comes to low information voters: Opinion | A Simple Theory of Why Trump Did Well – The New York Times. High information voters might scoff at “Donnie Dollars” (cheques issued by the government with Trump’s name on them). But I agree with Bouie: things like that make a difference with many voters. People might not closely weigh one politician’s promises versus another, but they all remember the jobs and services and other benefits that the incumbents brought their way.

(Photo by Matthew Lancaster on Unsplash)

Comments Off on On US Politics, Money, and the recent election

Posted in politics

Tagged , , , , , , ,

On Mitch McConnell

Posted on November 12, 2020 | Comments Off on On Mitch McConnell

Two good pieces on Mitch McConnell, here and here.

The first piece is analyzing if he is good at his job. The second piece has a snarky title but gets to the essence of McConnell.

I’d argue he is good at his job. He’s a strong parliamentarian who knows his caucus . He has a simple agenda and he strives to get it done. If you are a progressive, that stinks. But if you are a conservative,  it’s great.

People struggling to understand McConnell usually do so because they imagine him to be someone else. But he is simple to understand. How you feel about that is different.

Comments Off on On Mitch McConnell

Posted in politics

Tagged , , ,

A lesson in politics from Noam Chomsky

Posted on August 26, 2020 | 2 comments

This whole interview with Chomsky is worth reading, regardless of your political leanings. Some of the things that struck me were:

On how the left should be:

Well, there is a traditional left position, which has been pretty much forgotten, unfortunately, but it’s the one I think we should adhere to. That’s the position that real politics is constant activism. It’s quite different from the establishment position, which says politics means focus, laser-like, on the quadrennial extravaganza, then go home and let your superiors take over.

The left position has always been: You’re working all the time, and every once in a while there’s an event called an election. This should take you away from real politics for 10 or 15 minutes. Then you go back to work….The left position is you rarely support anyone. You vote against the worst. You keep the pressure and activism going.

On Hume:

We can go back to my favorite philosopher, David Hume. His Of the First Principles of Government, a political tract in the late 18th century, starts off by saying that we should understand that power is in the hands of the governed. Those who are governed, they’re the ones who have the power. Whatever kind of state it is, militaristic or more democratic, as England was becoming. The masters rule only by consent. And if consent is withdrawn, they lose. Their rule is very fragile.

On the letter controversy:

But now segments of the left are picking up part of the same pathology. It’s harmful; they shouldn’t be doing it; it’s wrong in principle. It’s suicidal. It’s a gift to the far right. So here’s a quiet statement saying, “Look, we should be careful about these things and not undertake this.” Should’ve been the end. Then comes the reaction, which is extremely interesting….This criticism is much to the pleasure of the right wing, which hates these statements. So it’s another massive service to the right wing. … You want to play their game? Do it straight. Don’t pretend you’re on the left.

On how to participate in politics:

Well, we have no shortage of immediate ways of getting involved. But immediate changes are another story. There’s kind of an instant gratification culture. I worked for Bernie Sanders, he didn’t win. I’m going home. That’s not the way political change takes place. It takes place step by step, small changes to bigger ones, and so on.

On personality politics:

I’m not much interested in his (Joe Biden’s) personality. I don’t have any opinion. I’m interested in how things get done. And the way things get done is not by Biden having a religious conversion and saying, “Oh, we’ve got to really work on the climate.” That’s not what happened. The DNC probably hates the program, but they have no choice, because their popular base is not only demanding it, but is working constantly, hard, to force them to do it. That’s politics. Not the personality of leaders. I don’t know what’s in his mind. I don’t care, frankly.

On social media:

Social media, like most technologies, are pretty neutral. What matters is how you use them. You can use a hammer to build a house; you can use a hammer to smash somebody’s head in.

Social media are being used in very different ways. They’re used to organize activists, set up demonstrations, to give people the opportunity to interact, think, develop opinions, deliberate. But they can also be used to drive people into bubbles in which you hear only the same thing over and over. Your prejudices get reinforced, and you hate everybody else. They can be used either way. And they are being used both ways.

So the question comes back to us: How are we going to use the technology that’s available? It doesn’t care. We can use it any way we like. The net effect of social media probably, by and large, I suspect, has been mostly negative. Doesn’t have to be, but I think that’s the way it’s turned out.

On his legacy:

I don’t really think about a legacy. What I’m interested in is the people who are doing things. Mostly their names will never be known. I’m sure you can’t tell me, or I can’t tell you, the names of the kids who sat in at the lunch counter in Greensboro. These are the people who carry things forward. If there’s a legacy of people who try to do what they can to stimulate it, it’s theirs. The ones I most respect in the world, I can’t remember their names.

I don’t agree with all of Chomsky’s beliefs, but I do agree with his approach to politics. You can draw those lessons from the interview. I’ve extracted some of them, but it’s worthwhile to read the rest of it.

2 Comments

Posted in politics

Tagged , , ,

Quote

How would proportional representation have shaped the last Canadian election’s results?


Changing the way Canadians get to decide who forms the government federally has been a hot topic for some time. Before the last election, the government tried and failed to implement reform. There hasn’t been much talk about it recently, but it is a subject for debate that is not going to go away.

If you have an opinion about this one way or another, I recommend you review this: How would proportional representation have shaped this election’s results? | CBC/Radio-Canada.

The CBC ran the results of the last election through alternative forms of representation and analyzed the results. It is fascinating to see how representation changes, depending on the format followed. Kudos to the CBC for a superb visual representation.

I think reform is needed. I am still in favor of having a local MP and having the ability to have him or her voted out of office by the constituents of the MP’s riding. But I am also in favour of the percentage of each party’s MP aligning with the percentage of national votes that they received. Obviously I need to think about it some more.

In the meantime, take a look at what CBC has done, and decide for yourself.

(Image via Owen Farmer)

Comments Off on How would proportional representation have shaped the last Canadian election’s results?

Posted on August 22, 2020 in new!, politics

Tagged , , , , , ,

Quote

The Uighurs and China

I suspect there will be many more stories about the Uighurs and their relation with China in the months to come. If you want to know more about them and the reason for the conflict, I found this was a useful piece: The Uighurs and the Chinese state: A long history of discord – BBC News.

 

Comments Off on The Uighurs and China

Posted on July 28, 2020 in China, new!

Tagged , ,

Quote

Inequality is a fundamental problem over many centuries


At least, according to this:  700 years of Western inequality, in one chart – Vox

The chart shows the percentage of wealth owned by the top 10% since 1300. There are only two times it takes a major drop: during the Black Death in the 14th century and during World War II in the 20th century.

If true, it means that wealth concentration will continue unless another major catastrophe occurs (pandemic? global warming?).

There is lots to debate in all this. The numbers themselves are debatable (i.e. just how accurate and representative are they?)  As well, there is an argument to be made that it doesn’t matter how inequally distributed wealth is  if generally life for the 90% is good. But the Vox piece argues that such inequality leads to political instability and other problem, and that a good life for the majority isn’t enough.

Read the piece and consider it for yourself.

 

Comments Off on Inequality is a fundamental problem over many centuries

Posted on June 22, 2020 in economics, new!

Tagged , , , ,

Quote

Discrimination in design can come in two forms


Discrimination in design comes in two forms. One is through direct action. When you see benches designed to prevent homeless people from sleeping on them, that’s one example. Many more examples can be found in this ProPublica piece: Discrimination by Design — ProPublica.

Ignorance is the second way discrimination can occur in design. Just this week Twitter rolled out an audio feature that is inaccessible for deaf people. No one at twitter set out to discriminate against deaf people. The designers at Twitter just didn’t take them into account. (Apparently Twitter doesn’t have an accessibility review team for their software updates, which is bad for a technology company as large as they are.)

Keep in mind both forms when you see something that seems designed to discriminate against certain people. It may be intentional, or it may be an omission. Either way, steps should be taken to eliminate that discrimination.

(More on twitter’s audio tweets, here.)

Comments Off on Discrimination in design can come in two forms

Posted on June 21, 2020 in new!, politics

Tagged , , ,

Quote

Canadian Protesters: know your rights with this one page sheet

The Canadian Civil Liberties association has a nice one page sheet of them, here.

Comments Off on Canadian Protesters: know your rights with this one page sheet

Posted on June 13, 2020 in new!, politics

Tagged , , , ,

Some ways to tackle inequality if you are an introvert

Posted on May 30, 2020 | Comments Off on Some ways to tackle inequality if you are an introvert

If you are an introvert and shy away from using your voice or your presence to address inequality, there are still a number of things you can do to improve things. Here’s a starter list for you to consider.

1. Contribute money. Money is power, and giving money to groups that work to combat inequality is a straightforward way to shift power to those having less of it.

2. Vote for candidates working to reduce inequality.

3. Decline positions that reinforce inequality. Do you belong to some organization that fosters inequality? Consider resigning or asking the leaders of the organization to better balance the group so it is more equal.

4. Educate yourself. Find good sources that deal with the inequalities you see and will give you better insight into the problems and how they can be solved.

5. Amplify voices dealing with inequality. If you can, help share the voices of people trying to address inequality so others can hear them.

6. Address your elected officials. Besides voting, you can prod your elected officials to do more to address inequality. Most elected officials are interested to hear what you say and even for an introvert it is not that hard to speak up to them.

7. Educate others. This may be harder for you, but consider ways you can share what you have learned and try and find ways to communicate to others existing inequalities and how they might be addressed.

This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it will start you on your way to help push back against the inequality you see in the world.

Comments Off on Some ways to tackle inequality if you are an introvert

Posted in new!

Tagged , ,

Quote

Do Authoritarian or Democratic Countries Handle Pandemics Better?

There’s already been some pundits claiming autocratic countries have been handling the pandemic better than democratic countries.  This piece on the website for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace argues differently. It’s worth reading, but a key part of the piece is this:

Despite attempts by politicians to use the crisis to tout their favored political model, the record so far does not show a strong correlation between efficacy and regime type. While some autocracies have performed well, like Singapore, others have done very poorly, like Iran. Similarly, some democracies have stumbled, like Italy and the United States, while others have performed admirably, like South Korea and Taiwan. The disease has not yet ravaged developing countries, making it impossible to include poorer autocracies and democracies in the comparison.

Keep this in mind, especially afterwards, when writers and authorities argue that we need more controls on people to fight future pandemics.

Comments Off on Do Authoritarian or Democratic Countries Handle Pandemics Better?

Posted on April 1, 2020 in ideas, new!

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Thinking about the Iowa caucus

Posted on February 4, 2020 | Comments Off on Thinking about the Iowa caucus

After last night’s debacle at the Iowa caucus for the Democrats, there are going to be many hot takes published on what should change. I suspect many of them will be bad. The following is pretty good, I think.

Something should change, though. That was an embarrassing disaster.

— Read on http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/1/31/21087017/iowa-caucus-democratic-primary-2020

Comments Off on Thinking about the Iowa caucus

Posted in politics

Tagged , , ,