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Random Thoughts About Old vs New Great Depression
Back in the Old Great Depression young people moved back to their families. They could not afford rent, so they went where the roof over their head was paid for. They took care of their elders, scrounged for food and supplies, and did whatever they could do to keep the households afloat.
A similar process is of returning home is happening now ( Read more... ) -
Book: Pure Land
Just finished this book by Annette McGivney. I ran across it because of a review in the Boatman's Quarterly, and got it from the local library. It tells three parallel stories which all intersect: that of a young Japanese woman who was murdered, a young Havasupai man who killed her, and the author's story. What brings the three stories together ( Read more... ) -
QotD: No one may be a judge in his own case
"Under the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case, the president cannot pardon himself," the Department of Justice declared in 1974. The DOJ spelled it out just four days before Nixon resigned, explaining that the president's pardoning power "does not extend to the president himself."
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QotD: Albright on Trump
Trump is the first antidemocratic president in modern U.S. history. On too many days, beginning in the early hours, he flaunts his disdain for democratic institutions, the ideals of equality and social justice, civil discourse, civic virtues, and America itself. If transplanted to a country with fewer democratic safeguards, he would audition for ( Read more... ) -
QotD: Korea got the short end of the stick 1945
Following the Axis surrender, Korea's fate, like that of Central Europe, was still to be worked out. Officially, the victorious Allies were committed to a free, united and independent Korea. Then in the war's last week, Stalin's Red Army penetrated far into the country's northern half. American diplomats, their inboxes overflowing, shifted their ( Read more... ) -
QotD: Stranger than Orwell
Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbors, films, football, beer, and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult…. All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer ( Read more... ) -
Mele Kalikimaka ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
We just received a couple of Christmas gifts from our friends in Lake Oswego. One of them was a hand made ornament, a chicken sewn out of a red and white floral patterned cloth. On Hawaii, chickens are everywhere, especially on Kawaii where there are no natural predators for the wild chickens. The Hawaiians do not think of them as food ( Read more... ) -
Creationism Is Not a Theory
Creationism gets treated by religious people as if it were a viable theoretical alternative to Evolution. They do this in spite of the fact that evolution is broadly accepted by educated people world wide. Evolution is obviously working on species today, and it is visible to any person with minimal powers of observation and exposure to the ( Read more... ) -
Dinosaur feathers
Ninety nine million years ago a dinosaur got its tail stuck in the sap. Then, in 2016, someone noticed some interesting stuff in the amber at a Myanmar amber market. The pictures of dinosaur feathers are great--and they show a flowchart of feather evolution, and where these feathers fit in. So cool. evolution, geology, birds, historyTrump that Bitch?
Just as Obama's presidency has deeply offended white supremacists and caused a resurgence of lively xenophobia in America, Clinton's impending presidency is bringing out the long-quiet depressed white guy who just hates women. Why? They wouldn't sleep with him, left him, weren't good to him when he needed it? His mother did him wrong? These ( Read more... )