BLOG Post #289: United We Fail 4 Feb 2021 Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhereThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;The best lack all conviction, while the…
APB APB: Our National Embarrassment 15 Jan 2021 It is not enough that under Donald Trump the United States has withdrawn from major international organizations at a time of global need; that its president has humiliated and withdrawn…
BLOG Post #287: The End of American Exceptionalism 9 Jan 20218 Jan 2021 Sedition Whatever you want to call the violent assault in Washington on January 6, 2021—a mob action, a siege, a coup attempt, a riot, domestic terrorism, an insurrection—the fault clearly…
APB APB: The Gang Leader Speaks 4 Jan 20214 Jan 2021 Donald Trump’s telephone conversation with Georgia’s secretary of state will go down in history as a classic case of election interference, totally in keeping with Trump’s disdain for democratic processes…
BLOG Post #284: Biden . . . Won (Maybe) 16 Dec 202017 Dec 2020 Following is an excerpt from the diary of outgoing President Donald Trump, apparently written in early December 2020. The excerpt has been edited for clarity, spelling, grammar, and context. Some…
BLOG Post #282: Restoring Democracy, Strengthening the Right to Vote 27 Nov 202027 Nov 2020 As Americans look forward to a new era without Donald Trump, one thing stands out: the gap between the real and the ideal in American-style democracy is far larger…
BLOG Post #281: Trump’s Game 13 Nov 202012 Nov 2020 What is Trump’s game? In defying the vote numbers and urging rejection of a Biden victory, does he seriously believe his own narrative about voter fraud? I doubt it;…
BLOG Post #278: Trumpism Has Brought Democracy to Its Knees 19 Oct 202020 Dec 2020 In what we can only hope is its terminal phase, the Trump administration is doing everything it can to make a mockery of American democracy. Friendly foreign observers bemoan the…
BLOG Post #277: Our Deranged President 11 Oct 2020 In 2016 America’s electoral college gave Donald Trump the presidency. Within a few months we came to realize that this man has serious mental problems. Within a year, some psychologists…
BLOG Post #276: Trump Unmasked 3 Oct 20203 Oct 2020 "I just want to say that the end of the pandemic is in sight,” Donald Trump said Thursday night. A day later he was airlifted to Walter Reed Hospital, down…
BLOG Post #274: Defeating a Demagogue: A Reminder from History 22 Sep 202021 Sep 2020 It may be small comfort as we watch Donald Trump try to cheat and bully his way to a second term, but a recent study of his demagogic predecessor, Senator…
APB APB: Trump’s Occupy Portland Gambit 17 Jul 202019 Jul 2020 Federal troops in camouflage, without identification, heavily armed, uncommunicative, roving in unmarked cars, seizing and incarcerating peaceful protesters without charging them. Acting without invitation. No reporting of this deployment to…
BLOG Post #264: America’s Tiananmen? 5 Jun 20206 Jun 2020 "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross."--Sinclair Lewis Yesterday, June 4, is usually best remembered for the 1989 suppression in Beijing…
BLOG Post #259: AWOL: Trump’s Disappearing Leadership 19 Apr 202019 Apr 2020 Who's In Charge? Donald Trump’s political strategy during the coronavirus pandemic is simple: insist the federal government only plays a backup role when it comes to providing needed services and…
APB APB: Derelict Leadership on Health Security 21 Mar 202021 Mar 2020 If one event shows both Trump’s flawed character and his ineptitude, it would have to be his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. It is all about him, claiming superior knowledge…