Wed, 28 December 2016
October 25, 1983 was the night US wrestling fans and movie goers, Irish escaped prisoners, and a Russian officer had something in common. They were all about to die. |
Wed, 21 December 2016
If, as Paul Simon promises, the words of a prophet are written on a subway wall, I may yet learn something spiritual from two fictional killers. |
Wed, 14 December 2016
Conservatives attack US intelligence for revealing uncomfortable facts. Our new President has a new reason. |
Wed, 7 December 2016
The debate is not whether the logic and planning behind Donald Trump's contact with Taiwan was sound or foolish. The debate is whether the conversation was planned at all, or if it simply came from some wild, unconsidered impulse. The answer may provide a harbinger of things to come. |
Wed, 30 November 2016
The first harm from the new President will not come through law or policy. It will be felt on American streets.
Direct download: The_Mean_Streets_of_a_More_Hostile_America.mp3
Category:Politics and Bigotry -- posted at: 10:12pm EDT |
Wed, 23 November 2016
How can we give thanks, as patriots mourn a rejection of national ideals? History's quiet heroes provide one answer. |
Wed, 16 November 2016
Think you know history? Think you understand why the Electoral College was formed? Think it was all about distrust of "tyranny of the majority" and big vs small states? Think again. Most of us were taught a constitutional fiction.
Direct download: Electoral_College_Gets_a_Failing_Grade.mp3
Category:History, News -- posted at: 9:24pm EDT |
Wed, 9 November 2016
For the first time in history, a Director of the FBI must be fired, fired by the newly elected President. Here's why. |
Wed, 2 November 2016
Until this year, the FBI never released information calculated to influence an election: for an important reason.
Direct download: The_Directors_Disfunction.mp3
Category:Scandal and Politics -- posted at: 10:10pm EDT |
Wed, 26 October 2016
The scheme to make an African baby a future US President kept growing. It has become a massive global anti-American plot against Donald Trump. It won't end until the election, when the American people join the conspiracy. |
Wed, 19 October 2016
Experts say voter fraud is very rare. They tell us that making non-drivers come up with photo IDs is just a way to make it harder to vote. So why can't they make a clear, understandable case? |
Wed, 12 October 2016
The immigrant was ambushed and killed walking home from work. So why hold an anti-immigrant rally a few doors down on the same street? |
Wed, 5 October 2016
Can a cartoon character from 6 decades ago, catching falling plates on black and white television, explain the strange personality of Donald Trump?
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Wed, 28 September 2016
A Commander-in-Chief who can send people into harms way should know that life is to be valued. Will we elect a President who values life? One secret answer is hidden between the pages of their Foundation papers.
Direct download: One_Billion_Nine_Million_and_One_Lives.mp3
Category:Policy, Political News -- posted at: 9:34pm EDT |
Wed, 21 September 2016
The famous creationist visited me many years ago. Today's Trump supporters remind me of the man's favorite argument. |
Thu, 15 September 2016
We watch in horror as the scandal erupts and overtakes the candidate. Then we remember. We saw this in a low budget 1942 horror film. Val Lewton knew how to scare us. But now we know how it all ends. |
Wed, 7 September 2016
We laugh at the absurd warning. Our society will be overtaken by a Taco culture. But there is a deadly serious side, in our politics and in our history.
Direct download: The_Serious_Side_of_the_Corner_Taco_Truck.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:05pm EDT |
Wed, 31 August 2016
A scandal involving good works, public policy, deleted email messages, financial donations, and a traffic collision.
Direct download: The_Back_Road_to_Politics_Scandal_and_Cover_Up.mp3
Category:Scandal and Politics -- posted at: 10:11pm EDT |
Wed, 24 August 2016
He is accused of leaking state secrets because he hates legitimate exercise of national security. It is not true. In reality, Mr. Assange is much worse. |
Thu, 18 August 2016
Mr Trump tells evangelical Christians he is a self-made man.
Direct download: The_Self-Made_Man_and_His_Religion.mp3
Category:Politics and Bigotry -- posted at: 12:00am EDT |
Wed, 10 August 2016
The cynical among us may regard the sudden surge of Republican office holders away from Donald Trump as rats deserting the ship. There is an alternate view. |
Wed, 3 August 2016
The father of a fallen soldier asks whether Donald Trump has even read the Constitution. Actually, the Constitution guarantees that right. And it gives the rest of us the right to call Mr. Trump a godawful jerk.
Direct download: Mr._Trumps_Right_to_Attack.mp3
Category:Politics and Bigotry -- posted at: 11:57pm EDT |
Wed, 27 July 2016
I don't yet know much about Senator Tim Kaine. For most of us the ideological spectrum is only some dot on a chart.
Direct download: Kaine_Lifts_the_Curtain.mp3
Category:Policy, Political News -- posted at: 11:40pm EDT |
Wed, 20 July 2016
If Hillary Clinton is innocent of wrongdoing, you have to wonder why there is so much scandal. Well, gather round.
Direct download: Haircuts_and_Christmas_Cards_-_an_Introduction_to_Scandal.mp3
Category:Political News -- posted at: 10:41pm EDT |
Wed, 13 July 2016
What must we do when society's weakest links can inflict deadly damage, and a bad shooting can involve a good cop? We become more secure when those who protect us are given measured, tested, state-of-the-art strategies. We become less vulnerable when we restrict the ability to inflict widespread violent force to those whom we can trust. |
Wed, 6 July 2016
Historical parallels are not always historical repetition. Sometimes they are coincidence. Sometimes parallels rhyme. I see more than a single parallel with the recent house sit-in to keep American manufacturers from selling weapons to ISIS.
Direct download: Gun_Laws_-_We_will_not_tolerate_Disruption.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:34pm EDT |
Wed, 29 June 2016
The Republican Party plays the drowning Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet, "as one incapable of her own distress." The Party is in a death spiral. Like a moth, it circles the flame, helpless, unable to stop itself.
Direct download: Pre-autopsy__Why_the_Republican_Party_is_Crashing.mp3
Category:Political News -- posted at: 8:07pm EDT |
Wed, 22 June 2016
He is not winning in any way you or I might think possible. But, by his own inner light, he is winning none-the-less.
Direct download: The_Art_of_the_Election__How_Trump_is_Winning.mp3
Category:Political News -- posted at: 10:50pm EDT |
Wed, 15 June 2016
Donald Trump describes himself as he sees himself. He is the most successful businessman, the smartest graduate, the toughest candidate, the best thing that ever happened to evangelicals, the most attractive to women. He is a candidate of superlatives. He believes that makes him a superlative candidate. It doesn't. |
Wed, 8 June 2016
His aggressive approach, traveling personally into the very heart of criminal territory, was becoming too effective. The order came directly from the crime lords. Kill the chief of United States Narcotics Enforcement. Like some comic book superhero, he went underground, surfacing only to surprise, battle, and bring down those drug cartels. |
Wed, 1 June 2016
Hey Pocahontas! Our parents taught, and popular culture reinforced, how we see those who snarl such things at women and ethnic minorities.
Direct download: Politics_Accidentally_Borrows_from_Old_Television_Scripts.mp3
Category:Politics and Bigotry -- posted at: 8:44pm EDT |
Wed, 25 May 2016
The history of those Uyghurs who were held prisoner in Guantanamo is an unfortunate prologue to what is happening now. Too many patriots are willing to sacrifice those who risk life and well being to help us, if they are not Americans.
Direct download: Betrayal_of_American_allies.mp3
Category:Policy, Political News, War -- posted at: 9:12pm EDT |
Wed, 18 May 2016
Once, not long ago, even candidates thought to be adorably ignorant put forth a noble effort to prove otherwise. That era now seems to have passed us by. Perhaps it is gone forever.
Direct download: Lack_of_Qualification_as_the_New_Qualification.mp3
Category:Political News -- posted at: 9:41pm EDT |
Wed, 11 May 2016
Almost 50 years ago, Brian Wilson trashed the best work he had ever done. We do not need to follow his sad example by repeating past tragedies for our country today.
Direct download: Policy_Politics_and_the_Costly_Embrace_of_Disappointment.mp3
Category:History, News -- posted at: 10:04pm EDT |
Wed, 4 May 2016
Maine's naloxone controversy is a portend. The governor's veto is completely consistent with the emerging Republican ethic. The Party of Abraham Lincoln sleeps in the Republican past. The Party of Paul LePage is the vital Republican future.
Direct download: Paul_LePage_and_the_Emerging_Face_of_Conservatism.mp3
Category:Policy, Political News -- posted at: 11:15pm EDT |
Wed, 27 April 2016
The controversy in the primaries is about fairness. But the real injustice is not the injustice that gets noticed. |
Thu, 21 April 2016
It isn't because of her political positions. It isn't because of her qualifications. It is something more basic.
Direct download: Why_So_Many_Support_the_Untrustable_Hillary.mp3
Category:History, News -- posted at: 12:11am EDT |
Sun, 10 April 2016
The conservative political faith of Governor Rick Snyder became more important to those in charge than any other consideration. Ideology became more important than facts, evidence, or those affected. People were sacrificed. People died. It hasn't stopped.
Direct download: Because_Political_Faith_Demanded_It.mp3
Category:Policy, Political News -- posted at: 8:00pm EDT |
Tue, 5 April 2016
It is reminiscent of old comedy routines. Why do mainstream news outlets keep tripping into the same journalistic trap, set by conservatives? Why do mainstream news outlets keep tripping into the same journalistic trap, set by conservatives? |
Thu, 31 March 2016
Nixon? Obama? A careless elite? A creepy birchism that never left? The real answer is hidden in plain sight.
Direct download: Trapped_in_the_Palace_of_Cows.mp3
Category:Political News -- posted at: 10:42pm EDT |
Sat, 26 March 2016
In interpreting the law, Antonin Scalia followed a rigid version of Original Intent. That version presents a predictable legal temptation, a temptation that eventually swallowed the Supreme court Justice. |
Wed, 6 January 2016
Marco Rubio's hopes will end, not for his terrible policy positions, but rather for his inspirational family story.
Direct download: Marco_Rubio_and_the_Lost_Soul.mp3
Category:Political News -- posted at: 11:34pm EDT |