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Monthly Archives: January 2022

The decline of public education

Monday, January 31, 2022

Diane Ravitch’s blog is on my RSS reader, so I am kept aware of the continuing decline of American public education, both by the encroachments of charter (read for profit) schools and various educational “improvements” and strategies that are so obviously horrendous if not cruel that one wonders how anyone could advocate for them. In […]

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Breyer leaving

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

So Stephen Breyer is leaving. Perhaps he finally realized that his belief in an “above all that” Supreme Court was a fantasy. I understand Biden intends to pick a black woman as the next justice, which is fine, but there’s another qualification that’s equally urgent. She should be young, say in her early forties. We […]

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An anniversary of sorts

Saturday, January 22, 2022

Now, this is not to say that Republicans were not lying like rugs long before this day five years ago. It’s just that as of that time, lies became far more respectable both among those on the right who spread them, and those in the media who gave them a respectful hearing. For it is […]

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Quite definitely no fun

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

I am in, hopefully, the final few days of recovery from what, my doctor tells me, is overwhelmingly likely a case of breakthrough COVID, and I can tell you it is not a pleasant experience. No idea where I may have caught it. Suffice to say I am now on the mend, and am keeping […]

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Let me explain something, Mitt

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

I suppose there are people in the press corps that will take this seriously, but does anybody else who is politically aware? Mitt Romney warns of the dire consequences of getting rid of the filibuster: “The United States Senate is one of our vital democratic institutions, and the power given to the minority in the […]

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Book Report

Sunday, January 9, 2022

My professorial son gave me a book for Christmas: Anna Della Subin’s Accidental Gods. His book choices tend to seem a bit like reading assignments, but they’re usually interesting, and this book certainly is that. It is an examination of the tendency of some humans to bestow godhood, or to worship as gods, ordinary humans. […]

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First rant of the year

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

If you’re like me you get about a hundred or more emails a day asking for your money in support of some good cause. Needless to say the senders are aware that they are just one of many clogging the nation’s in-boxes, so they try hard to have a subject line that attracts. This rant […]

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The Year Ahead

Saturday, January 1, 2022

In the past, as the new year approached, I’ve often posted predictions for the coming year. I haven’t always been right, but I think I have a pretty good track record. This year I’ve got almost nothing. There are some things that are a given. The media, particularly the broadcast media, will, by and large […]

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