Thoughts on the “Rogue” Government Twitter Accounts

In the last week Twitter has exploded with “rogue” government Twitter accounts, accounts that purport to be “employees… disgruntled by moves the [Trump] administration has made to tamp down on these agency’s abilities to spread their messages… and have taken to Twitter to resist Trump’s authoritarianism.” There are even some (I know of three) thatContinue reading “Thoughts on the “Rogue” Government Twitter Accounts”

Scenes from the Women’s March in Baltimore

Today I attended the Women’s March sister march in Baltimore. There isn’t much of a narrative here, and I’d struggle to stitch one together. I’ll give some brief background, an account of what I did and witnessed, pictures of what I saw, and some final remarks. This is going behind a link, as there areContinue reading “Scenes from the Women’s March in Baltimore”

Thoughts on the Inauguration

A week ago I’d planned on going to Washington for Hillary Clinton’s inauguration in January. “It will be historic, and it will be fun!” I thought. I’m not going to the inauguration now, and not just because Clinton won’t be the forty-fifth president. The more I’ve thought about January’s inauguration, the more I see theContinue reading “Thoughts on the Inauguration”

The Electoral College Won’t Prevent President Trump

The Electoral College is not going to stand in Donald Trump’s way. I’ve seen chatter the last few days, both on political blogs and Facebook, that the voters of the Electoral College can, or even should, vote for Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump. (For example, here.) It’s a nice idea — it’s the wayContinue reading “The Electoral College Won’t Prevent President Trump”

Skittles, Syrians, and Accidental Genius

Last night on Twitter I saw Donald Trump, Jr.’s tweet about Syrian refugees and Skittles. This image says it all. Let's end the politically correct agenda that doesn't put America first. #trump2016 pic.twitter.com/9fHwog7ssN — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 19, 2016 It struck me as a stupid and crass thing to say, and I watchedContinue reading “Skittles, Syrians, and Accidental Genius”

Ted Cruz and the Kick-Off of the 2020 Campaign

Let me ramble on for a few minutes about Ted Cruz’s speech last night at the Republican National Convention. For those coming in late, last night Ted Cruz delivered a speech — that was known in advance not to be an endorsement of Donald Trump — that was, surprisingly to pretty much everyone, an anti-TrumpContinue reading “Ted Cruz and the Kick-Off of the 2020 Campaign”

The Republican Convention and the Potential for Future Violence

Last night, on the second night (of four) of the Republican National Convention, the Republican Party nominated Donald J. Trump as its standard bearer for this year’s presidential campaign. Presidential conventions in the last thirty years, since I was old enough to pay attention, are stage-managed, scripted pep rallies. Nothing unexpected happens. Nothing controversial happens.Continue reading “The Republican Convention and the Potential for Future Violence”

The 2016 Conservative Third Party Option

There’s chatter among conservative thinkers, who are really annoyed that the Republican primary voters have selected Donald Trump to be their standard bearer in this fall’s election, about running a conservative third-party candidate. I can sort of understand the why — “Trump doesn’t represent us, he’ll be gone after this cycle and we’ll be backContinue reading “The 2016 Conservative Third Party Option”

Ted Cruz Throws a Hail Mary Pass

I had Ted Cruz’s announcement of Carly Fiorina as his Vice President pick running in the background while I worked with spreadsheets. This was a pure Hail Mary pass. Some immediate takeaways… First, Ted Cruz’s relationship to the Constitution is exactly like a fundamentalist Muslim’s relationship with the Qur’an. Both believe their Holy Writs areContinue reading “Ted Cruz Throws a Hail Mary Pass”

The Aggrievement of Sarah Palin and Donald Trump

James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake is more coherent than Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Donald Trump yesterday in Iowa. I made a valiant effort at listening to it. It was difficult. Palin’s voice was a high-pitched screech with the speed and fury of a gale behind it, a freestyle ramble of slights, real and imagined by theContinue reading “The Aggrievement of Sarah Palin and Donald Trump”