How an open society normalizes and even glorifies pathological cheeseball-nihilists yet still considers itself civilized.
Normalization—the treatment of the abnormal, criminal, and sociopathic as just another flavor in political viewpoints—of Trump et al is well under way. Other than the hollowing out of laws in favor of those in power, normalization represents the triumph of a cheeseball and his id. The absence of class, decency, and manners is remarkable, the […]
The coming challenge: How to counter freely chosen obscurantism without descending into the sewer of pathology.
Anne Appelbaum posits, rightly, that Trump, his like-minded cohort around the world, and his millions of adherents reject the Enlightenment and all that it represents in terms of human progress over centuries. She refers to them as the “new Rasputins” (a reference that risks puzzlement on the modern reader’s part) and says that: “The supporters […]
It’s not Trump’s hell-to-pay threat, but a promise to let Netanyahu bomb Iran, which led to the Gaza ceasefire.
Three days to the Barbarian’s return. Still hoping for a stroke. Meanwhile, US and Israeli media speculate on credit for the cease-fire agreed between Israel and Hamas. The competition: Biden, Trump, or Netanyahu. Much is made of Trump’s purported threat there’ll be “hell to pay” if a deal wasn’t reached by the time he’s inaugurated. […]
Good riddance, Joe Biden.
In relative terms, you may be less of a sociopath than Trump. But that’s hardly a triumph. For half of your term, you’ve presided over the killing of 45,000 people and the destruction of a territory with an intent to make it uninhabitable for the people who live there. Sure, it wasn’t you or your […]
January 2025: A quick tour of places where nihilism is on the march.
USA: Two weeks before inauguration of the criminal sociopath. Breathless coverage by the Infotainment Complex of every utterance by him and his cronies, especially Musk, a billionaire narcissist, illegal immigrant with a dozen (and counting) offspring, who, through a chunk of the public airspace — X (f/k/a Twitter, now “Xitter”) — he owns, compulsively opines […]
Seasoned reporter, Judy Woodruff, legitimizes “fake news” claims by known liars.
PBS reporter Woodruff recently felt compelled to apologize. What sin had this veteran, if vanilla, journalist committed to warrant her to do that? While reporting from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, she said that Trump was “on the phone with [Netanyahu] urging him not to cut a [hostage] deal [with Hamas] right now because […]
Yet again liberals are blamed for attitudes and choices of Trump voters.
The academy has again blamed me for choices made by others. I’m an easy target; I’m an urban liberal. (Detractors throw in “elitist” but, as with much public discourse, it’s unclear what that means other than, naturally, that it’s intended as a slur. Whatever the case, I’m once more getting something wrong.) It happened before. […]
John Kirby: Imperial Clerk and Apologist for Moral Squalor
Israeli forces have taken out a convoy of three trucks that was bringing food to Gaza. Apparently, the 32,000+ civilians they’ve already offed in their Project Vengeance, now in its fifth month, haven’t been enough. Deliberate starvation is next on the menu for the unfortunates trapped there. As the IDF knows, its ability to destroy […]
Colorado v. Anderson: A panicked, reality-denying few will surrender to the mob.
The reasonable conclusion from the recent oral argument in Colorado v. Anderson is that nine people — in the name of 330 million fellow citizens — will subordinate the law to the mob. They won’t say that, of course, because they’ve convinced themselves that it’s solely for voters to choose, or not, an insurrectionist. Not […]
Dawdling Circuit judges risk abetting Trump’s crimes.
The November 2024 election looms over the three criminal cases in which Trump is the defendant. He has made it clear, by public statements and litigation tactics, that he wants none of these cases to go to trial before the election. If he avoids trial and wins in November, he will terminate all prosecutions of […]
Not-News News: Israel rejects two-state solution; press serves left-overs.
Or, as the kids would say, No shit, Sherlock. Menachem Begin told Ronald Reagan in 1980 — 1980! — that Israel would never agree to a Palestinian state west of the Jordan. How did the dolt of dolts, the god in the pantheon of Republican gods respond? Gosh; OK, then. Forty-four years of illegal Israeli […]
Look silly? Six justices don’t care.
At “Courting Ridicule” (snyder.substack.com), Timothy Snyder warns that the issue of Trump’s eligibility for office risks the Supreme Court’s “mak[ing] itself ridiculous.” “We stand on the threshold of comedy already.” Too late; ominous-yet-funny has been a feature of the Court’s jurisprudence for years. Snyder highlights the “originalism” and “intentionalism” (a/k/a “textualism”), which form the thinking, […]
“Absolutely Immunity”: The weird judicial deference to smoke-and-mirrors arguments from Trump continues.
Yesterday a three-judge panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals entertained oral arguments from Trump’s attorney, D. John Sauer, as to a president’s “absolute immunity” from criminal liability for acts committed while president. Not heard in on-line recordings was, “Are you serious”? (1) Absolute Immunity Judge Pan did offer skepticism through her hypothetical: Can […]
US war crimes committed openly in Gaza aren’t war crimes unless we say they are.
Imagine the US as a gigantic elevator into which is piped background music that soothes riders with the affirmation that theirs is a society governed by laws. Their economic-military colossus of a country is “a nation of laws,” a place where “no one is above the law,” where “justice is blind”. Compared to other countries, […]
Senator Warner’s master class in justifying US participation in the criminal destruction of Gaza
Senator Warner (D-VA) answers a constituent who asked what he was doing to bring about an end to Israel’s destruction of Gaza, a destruction made only possible by the thousands of bombs—most of them “dumb” ones—that the US is delivering around-the-clock to Israel: “Thank you for contacting me regarding the horrific October 7 attacks carried […]