Month: April 2017

Wondering why a few conservative friends are less than impressed.

 
From North Carolina pastor John Pavlovitz:

But not everyone naturally feels deeply for things and people beyond this close proximity; for humanity as a whole, for the planet, for the welfare of strangers, for the suffering they know exists that they aren’t even aware of. Not everyone is acutely burdened with other people’s pain in such a way that each day brings a fresh wounding. Not all of us spend their lives regularly bleeding for the hurt around them.

And yet if you are such a person, these are incredibly treacherous times because there is so very much to be grieved by.

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From Brij Khindaria, Foreign Affairs Columnist at The Moderate Voice:

President Donald Trump’s “mother or all bombs” – the world’s biggest non-nuclear weapon – dropped on remote mountains in unfortunate Afghanistan has pulverized rocks, shattered local ecology and destroyed the habitat of rare animal and other species.

It completely shattered everything in a one-mile radius and has affected life in an almost 30-mile periphery.

It may also have obliterated 36 enemy combatants, who under unilateral US rules are not soldiers and, therefore, deserve no consideration.

But far from justifying his triumphant claims of success, the lesson the monster bomb has reinforced is that American military and economic power however fearsome does not bring desired foreign policy results.

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From Iron Knee at Political Irony:

Professor Allan Lichtman, who gained notoriety by predicting that Donald Trump would win the presidential election, is now predicting that Trump will be impeached. Often, political predictions are not worth much, but Lichtman did manage to correctly predict the last eight presidential elections.

Lichtman even says that Trump could even be impeached by a Republican Congress.

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From The Onion:

TARRYTOWN, NY—In an effort to limit the company’s exposure to unwanted claims or potential liability, e.p.t. issued a statement Friday clarifying that their pregnancy tests are intended for entertainment purposes only. “We would like to make it perfectly clear to our customers that e.p.t. home pregnancy tests are just something fun to pass around at a party with friends, and the results should not be taken seriously…”

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Wondering why a few conservative friends are less than impressed.

• My conservative friend T. Paine, at Saving Common Sense, presents a beautiful country Christian rendition of a dialogue between Mary and Jesus as the crucifixion looms. He accompanies the beautiful video with a passage from the Improperia. The chosen segment is a piece of antisemitism that survives from ancient Catholic liturgy. Although in sharp decline, the sentiment continues in much of Christianity.
   
  A decade or so ago, I was invited to help narrate an annual Cantata at the United Methodist Church I attend. The narration contained a passage similar to the liturgical piece provided by my conservative friend. I objected to a paragraph lamenting that the same crowd praising Jesus on Palm Sunday now stood before Pilate demanding his death. I was allowed to make a substitution.
   
  The quote from Mr. Paine is as explicit, portraying Jesus as specifically accusing Jews. “I led you out of the land of Egypt, and you prepared a cross for me. I opened the Red Sea before you, and you opened my side with a lance.”
   
  This is more than a transparently absurd accusation. It is part of a broader historical narrative, the basis for centuries of brutal persecution.
   
  In fact, Jesus was not tortured and murdered because he had suddenly become unpopular with the captive Jewish nation. He was crucified by the Roman Empire because he was too popular.
   
• nojo, at Stinque, is inspired by the Mother of All Bombs dropped on Afghanistan to take a look at the rest of Mama Bomb’s family.
   
• Iron Knee at Political Irony explains the Republican bill just signed into law by President Trump. The new law allows the company you pay for internet access to record all your on-line activity and sell it to anyone they want. Advertisers? Acquaintances? Your boss? If you’re a government employee, how about some blackmailing foreign agent?
   
• Jon Perr at PERRspectives presents the three facts of life that make health care less a matter of economics and more a matter of national values.
   
• Jonathan Bernstein tells us why a shutdown would be serious and how a stray comment by a Trump cabinet member just made it more likely.
   
• I kind of enjoy the occasional diatribe based on something other than the warping of names (RAY-GUN? Really?), epithets (Repuglicans? Democraps?), or of-course-they-did-it baseless accusations. Since I dwell mostly in LeftWorld, you would think I’d only encounter such attacks from dirty hippies against upright conservatives. But a strongly disproportionate number of RightWriters I stumble into thrive on the stuff.
   
  That may be why I find diatribes by driftglass so entertaining. His sarcasm does not exist on its own. It rests it’s acerbic self on logic and evidence. His latest vivisection of a BothSidesDoIt analyst is captivating.
   
  Amanda Taub tried to explore why those on both sides vote against their own interests out of mindless partisanship. If she reads driftglass, she can still get by on anti-depressants.
   
• Tommy Christopher reports as Donald trump threatens to fire the man in charge of investigating his ties to Russia.
   
• At The Onion, Sean Spicer makes so many of his own controversial statements he has been given his own press secretary. Okay, so it’s satire. You really think it’s any stranger than what actually happens in TrumpLand?
   
• At The Moderate Voice, Technology Policy Analyst Kathy Gill counts those with whom United is in trouble: the public, courts, police, and God Almighty.
   
• The Journal of Improbable Research has found a study exploring the effect of unexpected airline upgrades on people prone to guilt.
   
• Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson mourns the loss of Don Rickles.
   
• John Scalzi at Whatever explains that writers who are good at meeting people have learned how to fake it.
   
• This Week In Trumpian ‘Alternative Facts’, Newsweek watches television for us and lists the news chyrons that correct Trump “facts” in real time.
   

Tripwire – Trump Dilemma in Syria

President Trump’s attack on Syria was less effective because he let Putin Know first.

He had to.
Here’s why.

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From Yellow Dog at Blue in the Bluegrass:

Solar and wind power are now producing more energy at lower cost than any fossil fuel while employing hundreds of thousands of people at good pay.

If Kentucky’s coal miners had jumped on that renewable energy train 10 years ago when it started to take off, Eastern Kentucky would be the new Silicon Valley.

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From North Carolina pastor John Pavlovitz:

Why are you crying, Trump supporter?

I mean, I know why I’m crying, but I’m just a bit confused. You seem genuinely shocked by the brutality in Syria, truly surprised by the unthinkable horror of it all. You shouldn’t be. You should have seen it coming.

This is merely a few God-awful miles down the track of the “Trump Train.”

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