Category Archives: Current events

Here We Go Again

It happened again. Some nutcase arms himself to the eyebrows, goes to a place filled with people he doesn’t like, and shoots the place up.

There’s the usual shock and outrage that we (alas) have all heard before, followed by an assortment of finger-pointing that is intended to avoid having to deal with the difficult questions in the case.

Various pundits are in a tizzy because President Obama hasn’t yet used their specific favorite terminology – as if that would make a difference. Others trot out their usual pet causes, conveniently overlooking key facts. “Block Muslim immigration!” Er, the guy was born here. “Tighter background checks!” The guy was a security guard, and passed the standard checks as a condition of his employment.

Let’s face it. There’s nothing that we could have done that would have stopped this particular tragedy.

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Berned

Well, it’s all over but the “anointings”. The GOP has thrown in the towel, and acknowledged Donald Trump as their presumptive candidate. No matter how much they are having to hold their noses, there’s no chance they’ll come up with a Plan B before the convention.

Over on the Democratic side, Clinton has earned enough delegates to clinch their nomination – though Sanders and some of his supporters are vowing to continue the fight all the way to the convention. It’s kind of cute how dedicated they are, but Clinton not only leads in overall delegates, she leads in pledged delegates, states won, and the popular vote. There’s no basis whatsoever for the “Bernie Bros” to challenge her. If the delegate count was much closer, or if the margin in the popular vote was a few thousand instead of a few million, they might have a chance at making the convention interesting for the first time in decades. But now, they are basically having a hissy fit.

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On Donald Trump

Back in the late 1840s, a growing nativist movement coalesced into a political faction. Calling themselves the “Native American” Party, they were vehemently anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic – which were at the time pretty much the same thing, given that the largest influx of immigrants were Catholics from Ireland. The party almost always met in secret, and when asked about their activities usually responded with “I know nothing.”

Naturally, they became known as the Know-Nothing Party.

This can be applied to Trump and his followers, in more ways than one. Not only are they staunchly nativist and anti-immigrant, but Trump himself seems unashamed of his ignorance.
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On Bernie Sanders

Senator Sanders seems like a decent enough guy. His long Senate career, while not really distinguished, is still honorable and trouble-free. There’s very little that you can say about him that’s to his discredit. This makes him different from the other major candidates. He describes himself as a “Democratic Socialist”, which sounds like a European political party. No one can really explain what that means. So if we’re going to criticize him, we’ll have to focus on his proposals.

His main platform, as I’ve seen in his recent TV spots, is to punish the Big Banks, increase taxes on the major corporations, and use the additional revenue gained thereby to provide universal health care and free college tuition to everyone. That’s a decidedly European socialist economic plan.

Would it work here?
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On Ted Cruz

Backpfeifengesicht.

It’s a German word that roughly translates as “a face in need of a fist”, or “a face that needs to be punched”. It’s come up quite often in discussing Ted Cruz, to the point where a neurologist has discussed Cruz in an article on how people react to facial expressions.

Unusual facial expressions put us off. Cruz’ odd face only partly explains why no one likes him. From his college roommate to his Senate colleagues, people hate him with a passion.

And that’s even before considering his politics.
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On Hillary Clinton

Now that we’re in the heart of primary season, and everyone is gathering in my home state for primaries next week, it’s a good time to take a bit of a closer look at the four main candidates.

I’ll do them in alphabetical order, just because I want to.

I was thinking about being fair and even-handed here, but then I realized that this is my personal, private space, and I don’t need to. So let me come right out and state that I consider myself a pragmatic left-of-center Democrat, so I favor Clinton, with Sanders as a close second.
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Respecting Baseball

So there’s been a lot of talk during Spring Training this year about “showing respect for the game” – whatever that means. Usually, it’s the Old School Traditionalists decrying the number of bat flips and fist pumps, insisting that showing a little emotion during a game is an offense to the other team, the fans, and everyone who ever had anything whatsoever to do with professional baseball. Naturally, a lot of younger players disagree, saying that they should be allowed to have fun on the job. Baseball is too stuffy and old-fashioned to attract many new fans….

Now I don’t like the showboating that’s far too common in football and basketball, but there’s no reason that baseball players have to be soulless robots.

Just keep in mind a few rules when celebrating….

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Happy Irish-American Day!

Many, many years ago, some friends invited me to join them in a visit to a nearby Irish pub for St. Patrick’s Day. Seems it was a *real* Irish pub – they were hosting a small band who were actually *from* Ireland that night. Beer, good music, and friends? What’s not to like?

The only thing that stayed with me these many years is that at some point, a couple of older (much older – we’re talking senior citizens here) people came in. I’m not sure what they were expecting, but one of the ladies in the group kept asking the band to play “Danny Boy”. Every time, they begged off, claiming they didn’t know it, maybe later, and the like. Eventually, that group left.

I think the problem was that “Danny Boy” isn’t really considered an Irish song (the lyrics were written by a Brit, and the music – the Londonderry Air – takes its name from a county in Northern Ireland). Rather, it’s an Irish-American one, adopted by expatriates in the United States. It’s a fine song, but it’s probably as Irish as green beer, those cheap green plastic hats that get sold in early March, and most people who wear a “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” t-shirt.

I think of St Patrick’s Day not so much as an Irish holiday, but as an Irish-American one, in the same manner that Columbus Day is an Italian-American holiday, and Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican-American one. The days don’t mean that much in their “home” countries; it’s only here that we use them as an excuse to party get a day off from work celebrate those people’s contributions to American culture.

(Yes, St. Patrick’s Day is a national holiday in Ireland, but I’d say that Easter Monday is rather more important for that nation.)

I would like to think that in the years since that pub visit, Americans have become rather more acquainted with “real” Irish music and culture. Below the “More” line, you’ll find an annotated playlist of some Irish performers singing real Irish music. Give it a listen – if you don’t, I won’t care. I’ll just pour myself a glass of Powers and read “Darby O’Gill and the Good People“….
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How Low Can You Go?

The references to the size of certain body parts in the recent Republican “debate” are causing many to sigh in despair over how low the political campaign has gotten. We’ve also seen a candidate deliberately spread falsehoods about an opponent’s staying in the race and send out misleading – at best – “get out the vote” flyers. This  presidential campaign seems to be filled with all manner of nastiness, and we’re only getting started.

Ah, for the good ol’ days, when campaigns were matters of decency, fairness, and dignity….

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Ask the Candidates – 1a

I hadn’t realized it at the time, but I posted the questions on the 70th anniversary of George Kennan’s “Long Telegram”. After the dust of WWII had settled, it was becoming clear that the United States’ chief rival in the near future would be the Soviet Union. Kennan, the American “charge d’affaires” at the Moscow Embassy, was asked to provide answers to a couple of questions about the Soviet Union’s general outlook and policies.

His response was much longer (thus the name) and more insightful than anyone had any right to expect. It described the Soviet Union perfectly, and his recommendations became the center of the “Truman Doctrine” of containment that kept communism in check in the opening phase of the Cold War.

One wonders if there is anyone today in the State Department providing a similar analysis of Islamic terrorism, and if there is anyone in government ready and willing to listen.

Anyway, here are my answers to the questions I asked last time. Of course, I’m cheating. I only asked questions that I felt I could give good answers to….
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