Category Archives: Current Events
So long, Robert
Lyricist Robert Hunter has passed away (LINK). This is one of those times where the world seems largely indifferent to what, to me, is huge.
I Just Experience It
“Early on, I was down on myself. I didn’t realize how fallible each of us is in his or her own way. I talk to the audience sometimes and I get teary-eyed for no reason. I don’t even bother to explain it anymore. I just experience it. I know it’s a part of who I …
That Word Is
“Historians have a word for Germans who joined the Nazi party, not because they hated Jews, but out of a hope for restored patriotism, or a sense of economic anxiety, or a hope to preserve their religious values, or dislike of their opponents, or raw political opportunism, or convenience, or ignorance, or greed. “That word …
And now, for something completely different…
I’m re-reading I Wait for the Moon: 100 Haiku of Momoko Kuroda, ©2014 by Abigail Friedman. It does a wonderful job of placing the haiku in context and providing supporting details not generally known in the West. The commentary really makes the haiku come alive, making it much more rich and colorful. These two little …
Let ’em in
Donald Trump thinks millions of Americans are just pretending to be poor so they can get free food (source). I don’t know. That seems unlikely to me. But even if it’s true, I don’t mind. Let them have a sandwich.
Gradually Losing Interest
In this article on burnout by Emily Guendelsberger, she discusses how research scientists induce depression in rats: It turns out you don’t need to traumatize them. The most reliable protocol is “chronic mild stress.” There are many methods of making the lives of experimental animals mildly but chronically miserable– a cage floor that administers random …
Etymology
W. Bush’s administration debated what really constituted “torture.” The Trump administration is concerned with the proper definition of “concentration camp.” I think it says something about our country that these are the words we’re splitting hairs over.
Pro-Life
So, according to his own tweet, Donald Trump was ten minutes away from launching a military strike against Iran when suddenly an idea struck him: “Wait a minute! These buildings we are about to blow up– are there any people in them?” Horrified to learn that there were, in fact, people inside, he called off …
Profiles in Courage
Digital artwork by Joe Casanova
H.R. 5
There is a bill in the legislature that would expand equal rights protections for gays (source)(text of bill). It is opposed by the Catholic, Baptist, and Mormon churches. They argue that discrimination is such a fundamental part of their religion that they will be unable to practice their faith without it. Most of us were …
The Things That Make Us Human
“This is the result of social collapse, a lack of education, the loss of values in our homes and in our institutions. In recent years this country has focused only on politics. We have forgotten about the things that make us human.” ~Jorge Liscano He was quoted in a BBC video about grave robbing in …
Tetris
Executives with multimillion-dollar stock packages often treat their employees like Tetris pieces, to be put into place as efficiently as possible, then promptly disposed of. That’s from an opinion piece about the video game industry Jason Schreier wrote for the New York Times (online HERE), but he could have been talking about almost anyplace.
