Category: Uncategorized
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Win one, lose one ? Maybe Not-Big Decisions at the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court handed down several decisions Jun 30, none of them inconsequential. But I wish to deal for now, anyway, only with the two most observers seem to think the most important. That would be “Trump v Barbara” on the 14th amendment and birth right citizenship and another one with two names which we’ll…
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The Ghosts of Movies Past–Two Snakes in the Garden–“A Face in the Crowd” and “The Sweet Smell of Success”_take on the America of the 1950’s
It would, be of course, a great mistake to assume all was well in the USA in the ’50’s, that everyone was happy, that there were no conflicts, etc. We all know from education, experience, movies, TV reruns and, for a few of us, actual memory that the 50’s were not that simple. It is,…
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Poetry, Mystery and American History
Flower, Amanda, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” copyright 2022, Published by Berkely Press I find that there are just too many writers to keep up with all I want to read, so I have to be choosy. This is particularly true when I enjoy sharing my opinions with others as I do here.…
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Time for the President to go? We Might Just About Getting There
As I hope you know if you’ve read my previous thoughts on political matters I am no radical. I want things done according to Hoyle, as close to the rules as possible. I do not like political histrionics, exaggerations, or one sided obvious distortions. So I rarely take up anything approaching an extreme decision without(I…
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The Ghosts of Movies Past–Two Classics from a Classy Guy
“Brief Encounter,” and “The Passionate Friends”–director of both was David Lean TCM showed “The Passionate Friends” the other day and my son, my wife and I watched it. He insists and my wife agrees that we saw it a year or two ago and I believe them, though I have no idea how I forgot…
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Uncertain Dissenters and Iranian Options
For a columnist or blogger who writes about politics and international affairs, Donald Trump is the gift that keeps on giving. He does/says something almost daily that irritates someone and that outrages many with its lack of wisdom, its lack of understanding or, sometimes, its lack of humanity. He makes one statement after another that…
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Enough Silence
I mean myself here. I have said little–not nothing, but not very much–about Trump’s war against Iran. I realize it is a complex issue and that if it comes to simply two sides(“we should have” and “we shouldn’t have”)a reasonable person might find some arguments to agree with on each side. But it is NOT…
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Trump and the Separation of Powers, Part II–The Military Power
I was planning to do a blog like this even before the US and Israel struck Iran about week and a half ago. Now it is imperative to me that I must do it and do it as soon as possible. First, some basics–1) The power to declare war belongs to Congress–this is not an…
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Trump and Separation of Powers
The President’s recent actions in two main areas have started him(or advanced him)on a road toward conflict with the US Congress. They have also brought to national attention questions concerning what our constitution says and what it means, what assumptions have been made about it, and what our leaders should do about those assumptions, about…
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Some Noir in the North
There was once an American suspense writer named James Thompson who attracted some attention back around mid-20th century times. At least one of his books was made into a film by that master of what Pauline Kael once described as “A Fascist Work of Art,” Sam Pekinpaw. When I ran across a book in the…
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