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 #280: Biden’s Jobs 1-10 8 Nov 2020 In the next several weeks, President-elect Joe Biden will be preoccupied with creating a 100-day action agenda. It might be called "Operation Renewal." Here are my top-10 choices, in no…
BLOG Post #278: Trumpism Has Brought Democracy to Its Knees 19 Oct 202018 Oct 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 #275: Saving Democracy 24 Sep 2020 Friends call it “impotent rage.” I share it. How is it possible that the president of a democratic country can get away with announcing, well in advance of an election,…
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…
BLOG Post #273: Trump’s China Diversion 12 Sep 202011 Sep 2020 The Trump administration’s orchestrated attack on China is commonly assumed to stem from upset over China’s human rights violations and its aggressive behavior in the South China Sea and along…
BLOG Post #272: The Election: Concerns, Confidence, Candidates 31 Aug 202031 Aug 2020 Five things that worry me about the election: • Biden’s declining support among Latinos; • Trump’s law-and-order appeal amidst violence and destruction of property in protest marches; • Domination of…
BLOG Post #270: The World Bank’s Poverty Illusion 12 Aug 202016 Aug 2020 What would you estimate is the minimum amount of money you need to get by every day? $100? $50? The figure, of course, depends very much on where you live…
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 #266: Banana Republic or Constitutional Democracy? The US Military May Decide 24 Jun 202023 Jun 2020 Donald Trump’s appearance at the West Point graduation ceremonies a few weeks ago reminded some observers of the Class of 1986. That one class included several Trump appointees: Mark Esper…
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 #263: Donald Trump’s Stealth Attack on America 2 Jun 20201 Jun 2020 Donald Trump has made the calculated decision to let the pandemic play out without need of a federal plan for disease treatment and economic recovery. Over 100,000 deaths mean nothing…
