Loosely Speaking

By Ciel - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Everything Else

Sunday, February 14, 2021

Faith, Politics, and Reality

Yesterday's politics were no surprise, and I refuse to be depressed by the on-going, predictable malfeasance of the GOP. Every step they take based on the world before now is predicated on an unchanged world, so every day they are more and more out of touch, out of step. The thing about Reality... You remember that cartoon where someone runs through a doorway, and their suspenders get hooked on the door knob: They run towards their goal, but then suddenly, they get snatched back into whatever... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, February 13, 2021

The Trial nearing a conclusion

Thing is, if the Congress fails to convict Trump it will give no glory to the defense team, because acquittal was planned and expected. The only real purpose of the defense team has been to use distraction and faulty logic to provide an excuse for the GOP to pretend to believe in Trump's innocence. But the management team will go down in history for their eloquence and clarity, for their focus on relevant fact and law despite the seemingly pre-ordained outcome intended and manipulated by the... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

The trial begins...

I have heard from a number of my friends that they can't bear to watch the trial of Trump unfold, that they don't want to sit through hours of words, hours of inflammatory rhetoric vs detailed evidence. But I watched yesterday, and will watch at least some of the trial. It does my deep heart good to see him called out, finally, for his lies and tricks and bullshit... I know they may not vote to convict, but I am getting good out of watching him get his nose rubbed in... him. It's opening... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, January 31, 2021

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

One week in...

President Biden has made a stack of executive orders and memoranda to undo some of the doo the previous maladministration dropped on the nation. He has halted the Wall and the XL pipeline projects, and he has protected immigration, immigrants, and DACA 'Dreamers.' One of my personal favorities, he has required the Dept of Justice to end contracts with private prisons. He was not my first choice candidate, but I never bought into the slurs being slung about him and his son, and I knew he would... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, January 25, 2021

The cost of education, or of the lack of it

"Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or... Sign in to see full entry.

Checks vs No Checks.

NYTimes today discusses pros/cons of stimulus checks. Biggest pro in my mind: Americans need a break as much as many need more money to get on with life. We need to know Government is working for us, cares about the things Trump and his GOP never cared about--like the well-being of the American people. We don't have to deserve it or need it--while many do need it to take care of the urgencies of their lives and families, some don't, and will bank the funds. That's what some consider a downside... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

A metaphor for the times

The train went careening around corners, crashing through crossings with people in them, speeding along crumbling cliff-side rails, throwing hot sparks into dry prairies while always just staying ahead of the wildfires it started... Suddenly the movie has gone into slo-mo, as the ultimate, inevitable wrecking of the Trump maladministration has begun: Long-time passengers are leaping off as quick as they dare while the wild-eyed engine crew keeps shoveling in the dirty coal as fast as they can...... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, January 9, 2021

Time does what only Time can do...

Patience is a casualty of this age of immediate information and too-ready opinionating. On Wednesday, as all the mayhem played out, conjecture and personal interpretation flew in all directions. The Media did its thing of milking the drama, inflaming and alarming to increase its audience-share. Anxieties were fueled by What Ifs, and Chicken Little was having fits. Then the mockers and jokers moved in to laugh at the ludicrous and the sheer ineptness of the perpetrators, from Trump on down to his... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, January 7, 2021

Yesterday...

Trump has no comprehension of how the American government works. He doesn't know the Constitution or the laws or the history of this country. Neither do his followers. So they flail about making grandiose, inept and impotent gestures, and end up shooting themselves in their collective feet. Yesterday's rioting at the Capitol was, perhaps in their imaginations, a coup attempt, but really, it was just a carnival of blustering self-importance and petty bullying, and pointless destruction of... Sign in to see full entry.

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