Feature stories on major topics, in which the author begins a multi-paragraph description of a person or scene before offering a substantive consideration of the topic, have today little use in newspapers. These stories are meant to set a scene, and perhaps evoke emotions in readers who are, the author presumes, indifferent or ignorant of…
America
America, Congress, Elections, Federal Government, Foreign Affairs, Impeachment Inquiry, Poll, Presidential race 2020, Sen. Ron Johnson, Trump, Wisconsin
Sure enough…
by JOHN ADAMS •
Ron Johnson really is America’s Dumbest Senator™: MIDDLETON – U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said Thursday there’s nothing improper about President Donald Trump’s call on Chinese officials to investigate his top political rival in his 2020 re-election bid. Trump extended the invitation Thursday to the foreign country as he faces impeachment over a similar request of the president of…
America, Federal Government, Law, Trump
Hear or Read the Whistleblower Complaint
by JOHN ADAMS •
Embedded below are the whistleblower complaint and an audio version, read aloud as though it were an ebook:
America, Congress, Impeachment Inquiry, Law, Trump
Right & Necessary
by JOHN ADAMS •
America, History, Liberty, Never Trump, Politics, Trump
After This Conflict Is Won
by JOHN ADAMS •
These last years have been difficult, and one can reasonably expect worse from Trumpism before that ideology is consigned – as it will be – to the political outer darkness. A necessary condition for optimism is an understanding of the present from which one can build a better future. (Local boosterism and babbittry are failures…
America, Democrats, Education, Politics, Republicans
Differing Partisan Views on Education
by JOHN ADAMS •
A few days ago, a commenter (‘J’) at this website linked to the Pew Research Center’s latest survey data on partisan views of education. See The Growing Partisan Divide in Views of Higher Education. Kim Taylor (of Pew) summarizes the survey: Americans see value in higher education – whether they graduated from college or not. Most say…
America, Blogging, History, Newspapers, Press, Press Release, Public Relations
Sullivan on Public Officials as Reporters
by JOHN ADAMS •
Editors of small-town newspapers sometimes lack the judgment (and self-respect) to remain independent of government. During these lapses of decision-making, one finds that elected or appointed officials become, themselves, reporters on their own stories. (For a case like this in Whitewater involving a school board member, see Public Officials Should Not Be Reporters.) Margaret Sullivan, of the…
America, Congress, Elections, Trump, Trump-Russia
Moscow Mitch
by JOHN ADAMS •
America, Babbittry, Boosterism, Mendacity, Politics, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
Origins, National
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at the Gaslit Nation podcast, guest Greg Sargent contends that the ‘90s, under the influence of Newt Gingrich and his ilk, are the origin of contemporary Trumpism. Sargent points to the craziness of anti-Clinton conspiracy theories as the beginning of our current condition. (Our current condition is one in which lies don’t have to…
America, Bigotry, Cruelty, Faith, Immigration, Migrants, Trump
Moral Monday at the Borderlands
by JOHN ADAMS •
From Facebook: Moral Monday at the Borderlands: Faith leaders, congressional leaders and people whose conscience compels them, come together to demand an end to child detention; that all refugees seeking asylum are granted due process; that that the 14th Amendment granting equal protection under the law for all persons is upheld; that human rights are…
America, Authoritarianism, City, Culture, Federal Government, Libertarians, Liberty, Local Government, Politics, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Trump-Russia
The Biggest Story of Our Time
by JOHN ADAMS •
In life – at least life in a well-ordered, free society – the highest matters are not political. They are familial, cultural, social – involving greater pursuits than contending over the role of the state. Under this view, one contends over politics (as libertarians do) not because it is too important but because it must…
America, City, Film, History, Science/Nature, Space
Apollo 11: NASA and Civilians Remember the Moon Landing
by JOHN ADAMS •
“It was a feeling that went throughout the world, almost like an electric bolt,” one woman remembers of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The lunar landing, which celebrates its 50th anniversary on July 20, is collectively remembered in the film by a handful of the 530 million people who watched the event live on national…
America, City, Cruelty, Culture, Immigration, Liberty, Migrants, Trump
National Ennobles Local
by JOHN ADAMS •
I live, and write, from Whitewater, Wisconsin. This small city has many charms, but it is neither an island nor a kingdom. Indeed, it is better off being – and knowing that it is – a small town in a great republic, a small part of a virtuous continental society. Far from making Whitewater smaller,…
America, Asylum, City, Good Ideas, Immigration, Liberty
Lights for Liberty
by JOHN ADAMS •
LIGHTS for LIBERTY is a national movement to unite Americans from across this continent on the evening of July 12th, 2019. (In Whitewater residents will be gathering in support of migrants’ rights at the Cravath Lakefront at 8:30 PM.) We are a coalition of people, many of whom are mothers, dedicated to human rights, and…
