In Jane Jacobs’s Death and Life of Great American Cities (describing large cities, not small towns), she writes of business owners’ sense of responsibility for the sidewalks near their shops: First, there must be a clear demarcation between what is public space and what is private space. Public and private spaces cannot ooze into each other…
Liberty
Culture, Law, Liberty
Thin-Skinned in Whitefish Bay (and Places Nearer and Farther)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There’s a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about complaints against public speech in Whitefish Bay that’s illustrative of threats to free speech in small towns, including Whitewater. In Whitefish Bay, a group called Bay Bridge placed an anti-racism sign in a designated space at the public library. The sign drew the ire of some Whitefish…
Libertarians, Liberty, Never Trump
Ron Elving’s Laughable Description of Libertarianism
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Perhaps readers will excuse me for taking a year to respond to Ron Elving’s description of libertarianism in $2 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Bill Presents A Reckoning For Libertarians (3.28.20). It wasn’t worthy of a prompt reply, but it’s also unworthy of taking space yet longer in my task queue. Elving writes: Let us all have a…
America, Ethics, Legislation, Liberty, Music, Politics, Wisconsin, WISGOP
The Party Demands Unity
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
One reads that WISGOP Bill Would Make It Illegal For Sports Venues to Skip National Anthem: It would be illegal for some sports venues to skip the national anthem before games under a new bill proposed by a Republican legislator. Stevens Point Republican Sen. Patrick Testin’s Star Spangled Banner Act, proposed Wednesday, would require the anthem…
America, Elections, History, Law, Liberty, Never Trump, Presidential race 2020, Resistance, Trump, Victory
2020: ‘But Not Just That’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Tim Miller – who is always worth reading, writes of 2020 as The Worst. But Not Just That. These paragraphs resonate: Most importantly, 2020 will always be the year that we joined together and toppled the greatest threat that our fragile union has faced in many decades. Turning out more people to vote against the president-strongman…
Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Law, Libertarians, Liberty, Never Trump, Trump, Trumpism
The Libertarian Remnant
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Shikha Dalmia is a libertarian, and as a libertarian who is true to those beliefs, she is necessarily opposed to the authoritarianism of Trump and in Trumpism. Because the definition of libertarianism has been distorted beyond any true meaning by opportunistic or ignorant rightwing donors, she’s lost her job Reason magazine. Conservative donors pay the…
Authoritarianism, Law, Liberty, Never Trump, Portland, Trump
Trump’s Illicit Attempts Remain Illicit
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A man may unsuccessfully attempt a robbery or murder, yet one would rightly see him as a wrongdoer. The failure to achieve an evil end does not absolve those so attempting from moral culpability. See Attempts. So it is with Trump, now: his attempts to subvert the election through lies and (baseless) lawsuits are no…
America, Liberty, Never Trump
Our Fight
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Equality, Gender, Liberty
Daughters
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
America, Authoritarianism, Books, City, Liberty, Trump, Trumpism, Tyranny
Snyder’s On Tyranny
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Prof. Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny: ‘Lesssons from the Twentieth Century’ (2017) recently came my way. By design, it’s a brief presentation of twenty lessons that Snyder has discerned after a long career as a historian, with significant study and research on twentieth-century European history. It’s a small, inviting pamphlet addressing a big, unwelcome subject. We’ve…
America, Democrats, Liberty, Never Trump, Trump
The Democratic National Convention 2020, Second Night: The Roll Call Vote That Looks Like America
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Under the threat from Trumpism, the Democrats of this convention have built a coalition, of themselves supportive independents, that looks like America. In their roll call vote last night, one saw the success of their efforts. Those opposed to Trump might have wilted under pressure from the power of the federal executive branch, but they…
America, Coronavirus, Democrats, Libertarians, Liberty, Never Trump, Trump
The Democratic National Convention 2020, First Night: Kristin Urquiza Remembers Her Father
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
So, the Democrats held the first night of their audiovisual convention Monday night. There were, watching, millions of us who are not Democrats, but are yet resolved and confirmed against Trump his autocratic nativism. Although some like us have melted away, for the remnant of which we are a part Never Trump means never Trump. We…
Authoritarianism, Law, Liberty, Militarized Policing, Portland, Trump
A ‘Wall of Moms’ on the Front Lines of Portland Protests
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
As tensions continue between protesters and federal officers in Portland, Ore., mothers have taken to the front lines to face tear gas. Three Portland moms talk about the “Wall of Moms” demonstrations and why they think they’re needed to protect protesters from federal agents.
Business, City, Coronavirus, Laws/Regulations, Libertarians, Liberty, Local Government, Open Government, Public Health, School District, University
Whitewater, Wisconsin’s Temporary Mask Ordinance: 7 Points
by JOHN ADAMS • • 10 Comments
Updated evening of 7.22.20 with meeting video. (The discussion on Whitewater’s mask ordinance runs from 31:09 to 3:37:50.) At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Common Council, the seven-member council voted unanimously for a temporary mask ordinance, taking effect 8.1.20 and running through 12.31.20, requiring masks in parts of buildings open to the public, and…