Consider the childhood experience of Kristina Rizga: When I was about 10, a classmate in my small-town school in Latvia liked to tell me in between classes that he hated Jews. I was the only Jewish kid in school, and one day as I walked home I heard steps behind me. My eyes caught his, and…
America
America, Local Government, Open Government, Politics
The Erosion of Political Norms (Part 1 in a Series)
by JOHN ADAMS •
This is the first in a series about the erosion of local political norms. In a recent essay on national politics, E.J. Dionne Jr., Norm Ornstein, and Thomas E. Mann write of How the GOP Prompted the Decay of Political Norms (adapted from their book One Nation After Trump): President Trump’s approach to governance is unlike that…
Alt-Right, America, Assault Awareness & Prevention, Babbittry, Bigotry, Conflicts of Interest, Local Government, School District, University
Priorities: Fighting Bigotry Over Babbittry
by JOHN ADAMS •
Common men and women can learn from the examples of great men and women. In this way, one can learn how to prioritize between concurrent challenges, applying lessons from a prior and intense conflict even to present but lesser conflicts. Some threats are worse than others, and so our it’s reasonable that one places more…
America, Elections, Putin, Russia
Committee to Investigate Russia: ‘This is No Movie Script’
by JOHN ADAMS •
In the video above, Morgan Freeman reminds Americans that Russian interference in our electoral process is ‘no movie script’; Vladimir Putin is a dictator, murderer, and inveterate enemy of America and our democratic traditions. The newly-formed Committee to Investigate Russia (https://investigaterussia.org) made its début yesterday. The CIR is a nonpartisan group – with both conservative, liberal,…
Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Resistance, Trump
Truths About Trump
by JOHN ADAMS •
America, Art, City, Culture, League of Women Voters, Liberty, Local Government
‘Fortunate’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Norman Rockwell wasn’t the finest painter of the twentieth century (to express the matter gently), but at least when he created a painting capturing the spirit of free speech as one of Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms, he understood speech as a right, not a privilege, lucky break, or favor from government. So it is with government,…
Alt-Right, America, Federal Government
The United States Senate Joint Resolution Condemning White Nationalists, Neo Nazis, KKK, and Other Hate Groups
by JOHN ADAMS •
Yesterday, the United States Senate unanimously approved a resolution condemning white nationalists, neo-Nazis, KKK, and other hate groups. It was the right decision, of course, and the resolution now goes to the House, and to the president if it passes both chambers. It’s more than regrettable – it’s a disgrace, truly – that this president…
Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Politics, Trump, Trump-Russia
The Premature Question
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at the Daily Beast, Joy Reid asks What’s Going to Happen When the Trumpists Realize the America They Yearn for Is Gone? It’s an interesting question, perhaps, but more importantly it’s a premature one. We’ve a long road ahead before Trumpism is finished, and you’ll excuse me if the time for pondering life after…
America, Economics, Economy, Education, Labor, Newspapers
A Telling Comparison
by JOHN ADAMS •
People in small towns, nearly everywhere in this country, have access to national programming & news on television and online. As easily as one could subscribe online to something like the Janesville Gazette, one could subscribe to the Chicago Tribune or Washington Post. Imagine, then, a choice between editorials in the Gazette and the Post…
Alt-Right, America, Babbittry, Bigotry, City, Culture, Liberty, Local Government, Politics
The Existential (Imagined and Real)
by JOHN ADAMS •
It was Michael Anton (writing as Publius Decius Mus) who exactly one year ago famously declared that 2016 was “The Flight 93 Election,” an existential fight for survival for state-loving conservatives: 2016 is the Flight 93 election: charge the cockpit or you die. You may die anyway. You—or the leader of your party—may make it…
America, City, Culture, History, School District
For Your Consideration, Dr. Jonas Salk
by JOHN ADAMS •
Each year, newcomers arrive in Whitewater to take positions of one kind or another. Two weeks ago, in Welcome to Whitewater, I posed this question to new residents: “If Whitewater were perfect – that is, complete and lacking nothing – would anyone have needed you?” Beyond that question, with its interpretation and answer left to…
America, Bigotry, Federal Government, Television, Trump
Sec. of State Tillerson Distances America from Trump
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’m no fan of Rex Tillerson, an American Secretary of State who is a recipient — from dictator Vladimir Putin — of the Russian Order of Friendship, but even Tillerson had the sense to disclaim the stain that Trump has spread over this country. In the clip below, on Fox News, Tillerson makes clear that…
Alt-Right, America, Film, History, Liberty, Trump
Don’t Be a Sucker
by JOHN ADAMS •
In 1943, in the middle of the Second World War, the United States Government, fighting on both sides of the world, commissioned a short film about fascism entitled Don’t Be a Sucker. The film describes the fight in which America was embroiled in the style and vernacular of that time; it’s even more compelling to me…