It is very hard to see any positives for the country, for congress, for the president, or for either party coming out of this impeachment
It is amazing watching folks who are ostensibly our betters do things that to us rabble are clearly unwise, and yet they seem oblivious to how political gravity works. Our political leaders are never as clever as they think they are. They think themselves brilliant for trying to time things, to game things out, to maximize their own plans to their own benefits. Thing is, it almost never works out.
Writing at CNN, National Political Reporter Maeve Reston states the obvious:
After four exhausting years of Trump that left this country deeply divided and democracy hanging by a thread, the…
President Biden’s Inaugural Address, the flurry of executive orders, and two takeaways, neither really political but practical observations.
The first day of the President Biden administration had two distinct parts to it.
The first was the ruffles and flourishes of our civic ceremonies. The 59th Presidential Inauguration was a decidedly pared-down affair, both from the social distancing and the increased security following the madness of the January 6th riots. President Biden was sworn in and gave a speech that was widely praised and noted for its wide-ranging theme of unity. Frankly, it would be hard for anyone to find much objectionable in the speech at all, and being the old pro he is President Biden delivered it well.
The president is defiant, Congress is impeaching, and the final days of the Trump Presidency are set for a climactic ending. So now what?
This is the piece I never thought I would have to write.
Two of my Ordinary Times colleagues have laid out the events of the last few days far better than I can, so I will refer to them by way of review. …
Rise against the unworthy schemers who, far from wanting law and order and freedom, only use such words to entice others into subjugation.
In one of the greatest moments in American rhetoric, FDR leaned to the microphone to announce publicly that D-Day had commenced, and then lead the nation in prayer for the in-progress Allied invasion of Normandy. His words weaved imagery of home and loved ones with the brutal realities of a world at war. Though framed as a plea to the Almighty, it is one of the greatest speeches on the necessity of fighting for freedom, the cost such fighting demands, and how the price must be paid, though it be high. “Lead us to the saving of our country,” he…
Think wearing a mask strips you of liberty and dignity? Try being on a ventilator.
Though not specifically enumerated in the Bill of Rights, some folks treasure the right to be epically offended by the minor inconveniences of life. Wielding the rhetoric of freedom like William Wallace’s great sword, they see themselves as hunting down liberty infringements. What is important is fiercely resisting any and all external impositions, no matter how beneficial they are to the collective good.
The opposing forces are equally committed, championing the doctrine of one-size-fits-all administered by the shoehorn of expert opinion. …
I got my hands up, they’re playing my song, they know I’m gonna donate today. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaah, it’s fundraising in the U.S.A.
I got my hands up, they’re playing my song, they know I’m gonna donate today. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaah, it’s fundraising in the U.S.A.
U.S. House candidate Kim Klacik walked onto Mike Huckabee’s cable talk show last August as the latest conservative celebrity, riding high on a viral campaign ad that had attracted 10 million views and was shared on social media by President Donald Trump and his eldest son.
“We raised close to $2 million,” the Republican congressional hopeful said of the three-minute spot, which showed her marching in a red dress and high heels past abandoned buildings in Baltimore, asserting that…
Trump and his CPAC speech will allow a return to the headlines. Just step back for a moment and let’s ask the questions that matter
“Hello CPAC. Do you miss me yet? Do you miss me?”
So went the opening of the hour and half speech former President Trump gave in Orlando to a crowd who had waited that long past the scheduled time to welcome the main event for CPAC 2021. “We went through a journey like nobody else, there’s never been a journey like it, there’s never been a journey so successful, we began it together four years ago and it is far from being over.”
Which is true. Trump as the dominating force of the Republican Party is far from over. The…
Instead of the “Man in the Arena” section in “Citizenship in a Republic” denizens of the ball pit republic should ponder a different section
There is nothing new under the sun, just repeats and remixes, or — in the current vernacular — rebranding of what has always been. This is because while the sloganeering of concepts changes every generation, human nature by and large does not. So it is with such a concept and term as citizenship, from its early meaning as we understand it gestating in Ancient Greece to the modern ideas of participating in society. Being good modern Americans, we sloganeer the hell out citizenship while we tend concurrently to do very little of it.
This is not a new phenomenon. The…
So, I was expected to have a strong reaction to Mark Cuban briefly directing the Dallas Mavericks to cease playing the national anthem. Ok…
The morning began well enough, but there was an intrusion, and ripple in the Twitter continuum as it were. I was informed by the hive mind of social media that I am now expected to have a strong reaction to owner Mark Cuban directing the Dallas Mavericks NBA team to cease playing the national anthem.
I did not, other than a semi-joking tweet with the “Uh-huh, that’s bait” GIF from Fury Road and a quip about having seen this movie, agreeing with our friend Tod Kelly that the fact nobody noticed until now was telling, and later a lament that…
The only thing missing was a turn directly to camera, let that grin creep across her face and tell everyone “The devil made me do it”
During her floor speech before she was stripped of committee assignments and relegated to Tweeting at her fellow members of Congress from the sidelines, Marjorie Taylor Greene uttered a rather remarkable string of words:
But you see, here’s the problem. Throughout 2018, because I was upset about things and didn’t trust the government, really because the people here weren’t doing the things I thought they should be doing for us, the things I just told you I cared about. And I want you to know, a lot of Americans don’t trust our government, and that’s sad.
The problem with that…
Andrew Donaldson
Writer. Mountaineer diaspora. Vet. Managing Editor @ordinarytimemag, Writings found @arcdigi & elsewhere. Writing about food, folks, & faith at Yonder & Home
