Footnotes and Scare Quotes

Remember back in 2020 when I talked about little brothers coming out swinging when they feel like big brother gets away with changing the rules at will? When they feel like there’s no adult who will set things straight? I don’t like this. I’m not cheering for it. But it’s coming. And this is the best representation I know of from the perspective of the little brother. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-argument-with-nick-freitas/id1506127536?i=1000657445015

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/23/anti-trump-legal-pundits-calls-00153300

Today I attempt to unpack and reduce my current political convictions to their most basic elements. My hope in doing so, for whomever one day might stumble across this (or even for my future self), is to build bridges of good will. To explain myself so fully that, even though we disagree, there can be no doubt about my motives, as that is frequently what gets misassigned when you disagree with someone.  First, a story. In June of 2016, there was a terrible attack at PULSE nightclub in Orlando. Try to recall what you know about that event. I'll wait.... That day, the attacker called 911. He was very blunt and explicit about his motives. He said:  "You have to tell America to stop bombing Syria and Iraq. They're killing a lot of innocent people. What am I to do here when my people are getting killed over there? You need to stop the US airstrikes. You have to tell the US government to stop bombing. They’re killing too many children. They’re killing too many women. I feel the ...

"Moms want gun control." I've been hearing and reading it for several days now, without even looking for it. "It's what they want for Mother's Day." Tin foil hat side of me thinks this phrase wave is not organic, but let's hush that side for a moment.  I'm a mom, and I want an end to violence and murder. I also want my fellow moms to stop accepting the talking points and data summaries that they are fed about the "number one cause of death of kids" and the "low-hanging fruit" of gun control that would end it. Because these summaries are not truthfully nuanced to help you reason your way through anything. They are chosen for the way they make your gut lurch.  To call guns the number one cause of death for youth requires a very large umbrella. It includes robberies gone wrong, gang violence, and suicide. Of gun-related deaths of youth, 0.5% are mass public shootings. Call me what you will, but this to me is an incredibly importa...

In the words of Bari Weiss, "Curiosity about the wrong topics has become a liability in the legacy press." I appreciate Bari Weiss's old-school, stubborn commitment to asking questions regardless of what kind of narrative it would support. The article below isn't by her, but it's from her newsletter. It's about the BYU volleyball racism event (or, non-event, as it turns out).  I don't think Bari and I would agree on how long ago this phenomenon took hold. And I don't know if she sees it as being as destructive as I do, though she certainly perceives it to be a problem. All I can say is you can't have your cake and eat it too. That is, you can't embrace this kind of activism in your "objective" straight reporting while also wringing your hands about the increasing number of people turning to the dark corners of the internet for their information.   How the Media Fell for A Racism Sham - by Jesse Singal (commonsense.news) "If any ...

 Let's start this with a substantial issue that Democrat and Republican voters agree on, shall we?  COSA-JusticeSystem-Full-Report-0729.pdf (thetrafalgargroup.org) What an issue to agree on. You'd think it would cause us to feel played and unite, or to at least recognize that Government is just another oligopoly on par with the sleaziest corporation you already hate. This is something our founding fathers recognized but that we were progressively persuaded to forget.  But that's not why I signed on today. I signed on because I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be well-read. I have friends and family who would definitely consider themselves to be so. My Dad is proud to tell you that he reads NPR, The Atlantic, MSN, all to get a "fuller picture" and to escape the narrow slant that one is victim to if all he watches is Fox News.  May I please turn your attention below and suggest that if this is what you consider a "good mix," you're sti...