The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail…
America
America, Authoritarianism, Congress, Impeachment, Law, Libertarians, Liberty, Never Trump, Putin, Trump-Russia
Statement and Testimony of Dr. Fiona Hill
by JOHN ADAMS •
These many years, across generations, many (including libertarians) have wanted peaceful relations abroad, but have found instead a relentless, scheming dictatorship under the Soviets and, not longer after, under Putin. This question in foreign policy confronted us: what is to be said, what is to be done, about imperialistic dictatorships? Some (including sadly some isolationist…
America, City, Impeachment, Law, Liberty
Statement and Testimony of Gordon Sondland, American Ambassador to the European Union
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s an oft-repeated saying that all politics is local. It’s false, at least in our time: in hamlets, villages, towns, and cities our politics is national (and constitutional). In fairness, I’ve always inclined to this view, but it would be better to be wrong than to be proved right under these conditions. It should be…
America, City, Never Trump, Trump
Yet Again, All Eyes on Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS •
Wisconsin is a small state, yet an important one – in these recent years she has played a significant role in the political life of the country. As one would not wish to live other than in Whitewater, so one could not wish for more valuable ground on which to fight the political conflict of…
America, Babbittry, Bad Ideas, Boosterism, City, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Local Government, Mendacity, Newspapers, State Capitalism
What the New Dealers Got Right – What Whitewater’s Local Notables Got Wrong
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s sound reason to doubt that the New Dealers’ economic solutions to the Great Depression were effective, but there’s no doubt that Roosevelt’s Brain Trust was hard-working, smart, and candid in its description of America’s economic problems. For a critical assessment of the New Deal, written accessibly, see The Forgotten Man: A New History of…
America, Congress, Impeachment, Law, Trump
House Resolution on Impeachment and Fact Sheet
by JOHN ADAMS •
Molly E. Reynolds and Margaret Taylor offer a useful description of What’s in the House Resolution on Impeachment?: First, the resolution directs all six committees instructed by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to participate in the inquiry—Intelligence, Financial Services, Foreign Affairs, Judiciary, Oversight and Reform, and Ways and Means—to “continue their ongoing investigations as…
America, Bigotry, Trump
The True Nature of These Times
by JOHN ADAMS •
Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Babbittry, Bigotry, Boosterism, Economy, Herrenvolk, Impeachment, Mendacity, Television, That Which Paved the Way, Trump, Trump-Russia, Unfit
Fox News Won’t Be Enough
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s a sound position to focus criticism of Trumpism on Trump, His Inner Circle, Principal Surrogates, and Media Defenders. This sometimes includes Trumpism Down to the Local Level. (Those local officials across America who have this past decade spread sugary lies of boosterism during the Great Recession, during its aftermath, and during the opioid crisis are contemptibly…
America, City, Economy, Health, Local Government, Opioids
Opioid Crisis : Great Recession :: Dust Bowl : Great Depression
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s a loose analogy (yet a useful one) to say that the opioid crisis is to the Great Recession as the Dust Bowl was to the Great Depression. These deep economic downturns did not cause, respectively, either the Dust Bowl or the opioid crisis, but each downtown did exacerbate the severity of its coincident calamity.…
America, Language, Newspapers, Trump, Writing
Why Feature Stories on Major Topics are Now Often a Waste of Time
by JOHN ADAMS •
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, Congress, Elections, Federal Government, Foreign Affairs, Impeachment, 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, 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…