“Some people are very good at sounding sophisticated and intellectual while saying nothing of substance. Do you get fooled?”
– Katherine Brodsky, author and journalist
The following may be counterintuitive, but it is nevertheless true: There can be a great deal of value to be found in verbiage that exists for its own sake, or at least appears to.
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EDITORIAL
Dates have different meanings to different people. The sixth of January 2024 is the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Earl Scruggs, the man who reinvented the banjo and, with help from his musical friends, created modern bluegrass music.
But most of us are, perhaps strangely, more concerned with the riot at the Capitol in 2021, an event that actually changed nothing whatsoever. In a hundred years, any importance we now attach to it will be considered inexplicable. Much sooner, a generation will graduate from college that neither remembers it nor cares.
But was it important? What’s the actual truth of the matter?
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EDITORIAL
I’ve been known on occasion to display my militantly moderate tendencies to the unwary.
It happens. I know it’s still considered impolite to discuss politics in public, but, in fairness, where else could we possibly talk about them? It’s like what Willie Sutton said about why he robbed banks: ’cause that’s where the money is. The people are in public, so I talk to them in public.
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I’d thought avoiding Trump stories would help avoid giving him free press, but that ship has sailed. At this point, I think most of us have become resigned to the upcoming Biden-Trump II presidential contest. If I had any hope remaining for the Republican Party, I’d be strongly advising everyone I can think of to register R so they could vote against him twice. But I don’t. The only strong contenders are either insane, hopelessly mired in Trump’s muck, or have declared war on Mickey Mouse.
It’s been observed that this will be treading on blessedly new legal ground. Former presidents are never indicted, and it’s not because they’ve failed to engage in criminal activity. Most were a bit more discreet about it, mind you, but not all.
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The media made a mistake in 2015.
They picked a walking train wreck to focus on, and gave him unlimited coverage. For free.
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Happy Indictment Day!
Only not.
Sure, “Teflon Don” got marched into court, had to get fingerprinted, and is facing full public disclosure of his hush money payments. It’s embarrassing. On the other hand, nothing he’s accused of has ever garnered more than a fine, not in any case I’ve ever seen. (NOTE: I’m not a lawyer.) The action itself — paying hush money — wasn’t illegal, or even immoral, and every campaign after Eisenhower has had a damage control unit.
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Igitur quī dēsīderat pācem, præparet bellum.
Vegetius, Epitoma De Re Militari, Book III preface
It’s always a surprise how little we truly know about what we think we know, which only makes sense: You don’t get very far if you begin on the presumption that you’re wrong. Proceeding on invalid, partial, incorrect, or incomplete information is a survival trait. There is no practicable method for knowing everything you’ll need to know before you begin, so instead humanity has learned to persevere against the impossible, adapting on the fly. It is at once a marvelous talent and terrifyingly dangerous flaw.
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Image: “Never Trump! I’d Rather Die!”
A few states have recently opted to change their elections process to Ranked-Choice voting, a method which, its proponents say, is designed to give third-party candidates a better chance of winning, or, failing that, at least an honest share of the vote.
Opponents have raised objections ranging from the process becoming too complicated to the contention that it’s no longer “one person, one vote”.
(more…)The F.B.I. just raided Mar-A-Lago, opened former president Donald Trump’s personal safe, apparently looking for documents relating to… oh, I don’t know; probably something or other, maybe classified maybe not. I’d tell you more except, just between you and me, I really don’t care.
Seriously: I don’t know about you, but I reached my limit of daily Donald Trump in late 2020, and my level of apathy toward him has just kept growing since then. At this point, arrest the man or don’t, and the amount of time I’ll spend paying attention to the proceedings will be zero either way. Why? Because I very much don’t care.
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Do you want more Trump? Do you?
Because this is how you get more Trump.
In 2015, I was eating a hotel breakfast of powdered eggs and meatless sausage, and I felt seriously ill — and not from the breakfast. It was the realization that CNN had chosen their favorite from the too-wide field of Republican contenders, and it was Donald Trump. They handed him an open microphone and watched the ratings spike, little caring what damage might be done to the American political system in the process.
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The Not Fake News 
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