Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed., 2001, p. 1009, defines “irony” :“the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning.” And “hypocrisy”: “a pretense of having a virtuous character , moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not really possess.” Id., p. 943.

The Convention acted outside its charter to “devise such further provisions that appear [ ] necessary to render the constitution of the Federal Government…

To panhandle is “to beg (usually on the street).” Amer. College Dictionary, 1962 ed,, p. 875. Downtown Indianapolis has become rife with begging, but its pace accelerates, and its numbers of practitioners increases, each January. Perhaps it’s the cold.

The area of greatest concentration is between Capitol Avenue on the east, Washington Street on the south, Senate Avenue on the west and Ohio Street on the north. These beggars are aggressive and can be quite offensive. They threaten to…

People of Georgia need to understand: if you vote for Republican U.S. Senate incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, you vote to freeze the Federal government for the next two (2) years at least. There might be something to be said for that.

McConnell, the Kentucky Senator who appears joyful only over others’ despair, vowed, when President Obama took office, to make that Democratic President - who won the popular and electors’ votes by clear majorities - a one-term…

Sen David Perdue is in a quandary: “a state of embarrassing perplexity or uncertainty, esp as to what to do; a dilemma.” Amer College Dictionary, 1962 ed., p. 990. Running for his political life he seeks to distance himself from trump but wants MAGAt votes.

Perdue, who with Sen Kelly Loeffler, is in a run-off for Senate seats from GA, said, in a Nov 10 phone conference they needed votes from “people that may have voted for Biden but now may come back and vote for us because there was…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…