This is about nuance. It is also about racism. We are all too often prone to drawing hard distinctions within complex topics that require nuanced understanding. We see things in black and white, if you will, where many shades of grey should exist. The topic of free speech is one where there is room for … More Black and White
Originally posted on The View from the Armchair:
When someone says, “I’m not a racist, but…” there is a 100% chance that the next utterance out of that person’s mouth will be racist. This is how people are starting to sound who say, “Voting for Trump doesn’t make me a bigot…” I suppose, technically, that…
Post “miniaturized nuclear warhead” and “fire and fury” statements there has been much discussion about both the threat from North Korea and the tone of the US response. We have already discussed the latter, and to a lesser extent the former. We have a couple of additional comments on the former. That North Korea might … More North Korean Nuclear Threat
Originally posted on The View from the Armchair:
In the simplest of terms, No…Aggression is not the way to get what you want from North Korea. North Korea has been actively pursuing and developing their nuclear weapons capability for at least the last 15 years. The whole reason for this is to make the US…
The POTUS endorsed a proposed bill today that would drastically revise decades-old immigration policy and limit immigration. The legislation will propose limits such as reducing avenues for permanent residence status for extended family members of citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents, giving preference to English-speakers, and reducing the number of immigrants allowed to enter. This will … More RAISE Act: Blatantly Discriminatory
You get bigotry. Via his primary mechanism for delivering policy statements – Twitter – our POTUS this morning stated that he would ban transgender people from military service. In his tweets he said, “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that … More Trump on Transgender in the Military: When You Vote for a Bigot…
Civil asset forfeiture has been around in one form another for hundreds of years, however we will be discussing the federal law that came about as a part of the “Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984”. This act allowed the forfeiture of assets of persons suspected of a crime or of assets that were suspected … More Civil Asset Forfeiture: What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is mine
In advance of his testimony on Capitol Hill, Jared Kushner provided a statement that included the assertion that he “did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government.” Some may wonder how he could make this claim knowing that he attended a meeting that was intended to … More Kushner Did Not Collude
Originally posted on The View from the Armchair:
With the advent of an actual legislative effort to append (but not really repeal and replace) the PPACA (AKA “Obamacare”) it is worth examining the pros and cons of the ACA and the proposed legislation. The intent of the PPACA was to make healthcare more affordable overall…
The Daily Beast provides an interesting article on civilian casualty rates in Syria under President Trump as compared to President Obama. While there are disagreements on the reported number, there is a consensus, the Daily Beast writes, that civilian casualties are increasing. They point out that a large part of this increase is due to … More Civilian Casualties in Iraq and Syria
