After the United States committed large numbers of troops in Vietnam, each evening the TV news - a major source of information - showed a graphic of numbers of U.S. troops killed and wounded. News moved beyond graphics.
Numbers were made real by journalists, on the air, who ducked gunfire and reported Americans being killed and wounded. They also showed a Vietnamese man, hands bound, shot in the head by a Vietnamese officer with a pistol. A naked child ran, in terror, from a napalm…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on November 14, 2020 at 6:06pm — 1 Comment
There are ways in which trump could seek to scorch Earth before he either leaves or is removed from the White House. We can forget about the obvious. As partial payment for all those loans extended, when others refused, Putin got access to whatever secrets we had.
Another possibility implies riots in the streets. Chaos can be scary - or scarier than what we have seen. If trump virtually opens the doors of Federal prisons, according to 2016 figures, possibly 225,000 people would be…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on November 11, 2020 at 8:33pm — No Comments
Four years ago, trump declared he’d been given a mandate. That simply was not rue. mandate: “In politics, the electorate’s overwhelming show of approval for a given political candidate or platform.” Black’s Law Dictionary, 10th ed., 2014, p. 1105.
electorate: “The body of citizens who have the right to vote.” Id., p. 633. Note: that definition is not “body of the electoral college.” trump lost - as in received fewer votes from the electorate in 2016 - than his opponent, Secretary…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on November 8, 2020 at 6:40am — No Comments
Added by Mark Small on November 3, 2020 at 10:37am — No Comments
Four years ago trump lied many times, but especially in his 2016 campaign slogan: Make America Great Again. The slogan implied this country was, at one time at least “great.” Now the slogan is “Keep America Great.”
This country is NOT great today. trump’s bungling has caused over 230,000 people to have died from COVID-19. trump attacked his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, by saying Biden would listen to scientists. That is an attack?
Economics? Neither trump’s strong…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on November 2, 2020 at 9:03pm — No Comments
Today, Friday, October 30, 2020, has been beautiful: the autumn air crisp, the trees about to lose the orange and gold and red leaves. As I walked across the parking lot at 10:20, about 700 people already were in line for early voting.
Sanctimonious horses’ asses say “Not willing to stand in line? You shouldn’t have the right to vote” without argument to support their judgment. Besides, people already have died for the right to vote - that’s payment enough. Plus I like the “I Vote/I…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on October 30, 2020 at 3:34pm — 1 Comment
On Twitter this morning, I said The Constitution requires impeachment and conviction for high crimes and misdemeanors (or not being of “good Behaviour”) before a sitting Justice on SCOTUS can be removed.
@vegix replied: “Confirmation despite wrongdoings does not excuse criminality. Especially when said confirmation was highly partisan.” I don’t excuse wrongdoing, but we have to follow The Constitution, or else years ago “Congress would've tossed progressive Justices.”
We need…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on October 27, 2020 at 7:12pm — No Comments
June 6, 1944, dawn: German troops on the “Atlantic wall” awoke and, as mists cleared, saw the largest armada in history, the Allies’ long-anticipated attack, aimed at them. German - and Allied - troops had reason to fear the next hours and (for survivors) the next months.
Germans also had reason to fear the post-War. How would survivors, if not prosecuted as war criminals, explain - to their children, grandchildren, neighbors if they sought escape to another country - how had they…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on October 24, 2020 at 7:02pm — No Comments
This election is the most important that I can remember in my life. When I worked at the county fair in 1974, when I was home for the summer from DePauw, The two major political parties were equally concerned with getting people to vote.
Years later, at the polls in the mid-2000s, folks from both parties sought to ensure the most basic right in our country, the right to vote, was protected.
I am the elected precinct committee person in Washington Township, 21-01. I have called…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on October 18, 2020 at 6:57pm — No Comments
Indiana’s 5th Congressional District (INCD5) race is heating up, and I read some things from a couple of months back. Apparently Victoria Spartz, who bought the GOP nomination, took umbrage with “opponents [who] have accused me of working with Russian oligarchs.”
She said the “attacks are 100% FALSE. In fact, they are so baseless and so malicious I am considering taking legal action against the individuals promoting them.”
1) The First Amendment protects political speech under…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on October 17, 2020 at 7:12pm — No Comments
People are too quick to compare (unfairly) the current occupant of the Oval Office (a/k/a trump) to Adolf Hitler. There are significant differences. To correct erroneous beliefs held by some, here is a repeat of points made several months ago.
1) Hitler wrote a book that became a bestseller - trump had to employ a ghost writer; 2) Hitler was “in the black” - i.e., financially successful (from book sales) - when he took office - trump (as we now know) was hundreds of millions of $$$ in…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on October 16, 2020 at 3:48pm — No Comments
If you are poor or on the lower side of middle-class, you probably know what “DCS” stands for: Department of Child Services. As Kin Hubbard once observed, it’s not against the law to be poor, but it might as well be.
Judge Coney Barrett attended trump’s Sept 26 announcement of her nomination for SCOTUS at an outdoor ceremony attended by > 150 people, “many of whom did not wear masks or practice social distancing,” - NBC.
Afterward, dozens gathered inside the White House's…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on October 12, 2020 at 3:50pm — No Comments
In an appeal to the racist part of his base - i.e., his base - trump last month spoke to a nearly all white crowd in Minnesota about how they have “good genes.” A consistent trump theme over the years? “I have great genes and all that stuff, which I'm a believer in" Mississippi, 2016.
Today is a Federal holiday: Columbus Day. On October 12, 1492, Columbus landed on a beach in the Bahamas, greeted by Arawak indigenous people. He wrote in his log: “With fifty men we could subjugate them…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on October 12, 2020 at 7:04am — 1 Comment
Debate has been my life, since before the first high school tournament. It led to enlightenment. Our teams did pretty well. I learned how to work with others, because usually there are two people - not a ventriloquist and a dummy - on a debate team.
College debate was a blast. DePauw’s coach, Dr Weiss, was a great person and a mentor. He stressed values, but did not protest the trophies that fill shelves or plaques that hang on the walls of the trophy room in Greencastle.
I…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on October 11, 2020 at 5:19am — No Comments
I apologize. I have been remiss in my obligations to everyone, but most of all to People for whom I care and our Country. A raving lunatic occupies the Oval Office via machinations by the dictatorial head (Putin) of a hostile foreign power (Russia anyone?)
trump has emailed funders to me & I have replied as acerbically as possible. I pondered seeking a protective order against the orange (some would say tangerine) fool. I’ve emailed the stupid bastard back - and yet no…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on October 9, 2020 at 7:41pm — No Comments
This iteration of the Republican Party has sought to shut out, from participation in elections, people who are likely to vote against candidates of that party. The GOP has cited non-existent problems with “voter fraud” to take these actions.
Any political party in a free country should encourage every eligible voter to exercise the right to vote. The way in which to win a competition is not by taking cheap shots at the other side to cripple the competitor, through fear of its ability…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on October 7, 2020 at 7:23pm — No Comments
I have yet to receive a reply to an e-mail I sent, on Wednesday, September 30, to the Marion County Republican Party (“Mar Co GOP”). For that matter I have received no communications from Mar Co GOP except a couple of texts in reply to a phone VM I left.
My victorious campaign for precinct committee person on June 2 was hard-fought and, when the dust settled, I was the winner. Well, I was the only candidate for the position, but we need to wrest control of the GOP from…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on October 5, 2020 at 12:52pm — No Comments
Years ago many people refused to believe that little tiny organisms cause a lot of disease and death. Germs, bacteria, microbes, viruses - something that cannot be seen cannot exist. Science advanced - yes, evolved - as people learned.
Today we face a global pandemic - that most of the rest of the globe has addressed much more effectively than has the United States. Many people have died who would otherwise be alive because of the ineptitude of the current occupant of the Oval…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on October 3, 2020 at 7:44pm — 1 Comment
Members of a focus group of “undecided voters” organized by Frank Luntz, described by Politico as a “veteran Republican pollster,” were asked to describe, in one word, last evening’s Presidential “debate.”
Their descriptives of Democratic Party nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden were damning: “compassion” and “coherent.” A few people bent the rules and went beyond one word: “better than expected” and “nice guy lacking vision.”
As for the Oval Office’s current occupant,…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on September 30, 2020 at 7:17pm — No Comments
Tonight former Vice President Joe Biden and the current occupant of the Oval Office (trump) will have the first of their Presidential debates. I’ve never cared for the format of these events because they really are not debates.
I was a debater in high school and in college. Dr. Weiss was our coach at DePauw. He instilled in us respect for reasoned discourse - what he called “rhetoric.” Later, after law school, I coached the IUPUI debate team for several years.
In college debate…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on September 29, 2020 at 8:45am — No Comments
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