politics
Politics does not dictate our collective cultural mindset as much as it simply reflects it; We've got to look in the mirror sometimes, and we've got one.
Clear and Present Dangers Staring Us in the Face
There are really only two political leaders I trust and their perspectives are very different but they’re both decent, well informed, honest people: Dennis Kucinich and Jim Webb. Coming from the real progressive left, former Congressman Kucinich’s criticism of the current efforts to stage a soft coup against President Trump, with whose policies he does not agree (a perspective I share), has real weight behind it (see here).
By Guillermo Calvo9 years ago in The Swamp
Societal Maladies
Societal Maladies, How to Recognize and Treat Them, a Hypothesis It seems clear that society suffers from serious maladies that negatively impact honesty, decency and equitable and fair conflict resolution, especially in the United States. Observations during the past decade strongly imply that the cause of such evolving and expanding maladies can, in large part, be attributed to the creation, distribution and assimilation of a related series of very negative memes and memeplexes (see, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memeplex) propagated by and through our entertainment and news media (now in too many cases seemingly not a branch of journalism but rather of propaganda and entertainment) via the quotidian programming we are exposed to on television, the cinema, literature and the media (now including social media). Not exactly an epiphany of course, our grandparents warned their children about the subliminal evils of music and entertainment of which they did not approve (remember Elvis’ hips) but perhaps it’s past time to consider the issue from a new direction.
By Guillermo Calvo9 years ago in The Swamp
Stuck Between a Rock & a Hard Place
It's General Election time in the UK and for approximately 21 years I voted SNP. Wasn't complacent in my choice of party and wanted Scotland to have a referendum on independence, playing the long game. Even after losing the referendum, I continued to vote for the SNP in the 2015 General Election. The Smith commission proposals were important for further devolution to the Scottish parliament. Looking back on the series of events it was actually John Swinney MSP and Deputy First Minster who was the main figure in the negotiation of Smith, what did the SNP MP's actually achieve for Scotland at Westminster ?
By Harmony Flower9 years ago in The Swamp
The Failings of Trump And Our Government
For the first time in recent memory, the United States has a sitting President who by all accounts has demoralized the office of the Presidency. Since his term began there have been crisis after crisis of internal conflicts that have all originated by Trump's own actions. Not one of his campaign pledges has come to fruition. In fact, most of these self inflicted crisis have nothing to do with the real concerns facing millions of Americans each and every day. If we consider the House repeal of the Affordable Health Care Act as a sign of things to come under this Administration, the majority of Americans will be faced with insurmountable hardships in the years ahead. It is too bad that our Founding Fathers omitted one important detail in the Constitution. The Constitution outlines that federally elected officials are exempt from voter recalls. Today, many states can recall their state and local elected officials when these elected office holders fail to uphold the duties of their office. We have seen in a recent case when the Governor of California was recalled and in a special election was voted out of office. Just think that if our Founding Fathers had not omitted that one important detail about voter recalls the public today would be demanding a voter recall to dismiss Trump as President and vote for an entirely new candidate. And, today, the most favorable candidate to take his place would not be the Vice President but Senator Sanders.
By Dr. Williams9 years ago in The Swamp
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Alt-President of the United States
Barack Obama, out of the Oval Office for all of 111 days, has been refreshingly conspicuous in his absence from the White House. With some high-profile vacation stops — and some equally high-profile statements on pivotal matters, foreign and domestic — the former 44th president has undertaken to tweak the rules of ex-presidential decorum, and to stake out new rhetorical territory for a beloved leader on the world stage. You don’t have to be in the White House to speak truth to power ... and look pretty damn good doing it.
By Michael Eric Ross9 years ago in The Swamp
It's Getting Very Hard To Be Sean Spicer
In the midst of the crisis that was rapidly unfolding around him, White House press secretary Sean Spicer should have been more than capable of telling reporters hounding him for information about President Trump's firing of FBI director James Comey that there was no comment at this time and quickly regroup. Spicer should have been able to tell reporters that the situation was fluid and more information would be given to them in a couple hours, or something. At the very least, Spicer, at 45 years of age, could have simply said "no comment," walked away into the White House, and met with his team to figure out what they could logically say to make Trump's surprise firing of Comey more palatable.
By Christina St-Jean9 years ago in The Swamp
Unethical Things Politicians are Doing to Keep Their Voters Supporting Them
A wise man once said that politicians need to be replaced as often as diapers - and the average voter might agree to that statement. However, it's hard to explain why congressmen still get voted in despite the approval rating of congress as a whole being at an all time low.
By Cato Conroy9 years ago in The Swamp
Rewriting the Right
Less than four months into the unalloyed conservative triumph of Donald Trump assuming the presidency of the United States — an objective deeply desired and widely praised by think-tank and media conservatives — the symbol of American right-wing media and a leading conservative policy organization are going through major changes of their leadership and their missions. Just not the way they planned, or expected.
By Michael Eric Ross9 years ago in The Swamp
