[NOTE: When it comes to religion, history—and in this case the now established American historical religion of guns — for my money, Garry Wills is one of the best writers of his generation . And when Wills draws a bead with a pen his aim is generally true. As it is here.] New York Review … Continue reading Supremes & Guns & Kids: Our Unholy Trinity
[NOTE: I once seriously considered retiring in Ireland. It was 2010 and, closing in on 70, I wondered if there were any peaceable options to the ongoing mess and mass shootings in the USA. Initially, Ireland seemed to be several positives: ancestral ties (O’Brien was my mother’s maiden name); a similar language; a reported friendliness … Continue reading Gwynne Dyer: The Northern Irish “Troubles” Are Over. Will they Stay Over?
Florida, 1949: Where Woke Went And Didn’t Die By Stephen W. Angell We don’t know the exact date, or the place, when Richard Bradshaw (“Brad”) Angell (1918-2010) had his encounter with the Klan. All the participants are dead, and the story has been passed on orally. But we know the time and season: 1951, likely … Continue reading Exclusive: A Quaker Was Noticed By the Florida Klan in 1951. It Didn’t Go Well. (But It Could Have Been Much Worse.)
April 4 is the 55th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1968 assassination in Memphis. To mark this melancholy occasion, Florida governor Ron DeSantis reportedly wanted to do something very special. So . . . . DeSantis signs Florida gun bill in secret as activists demand more guns for all (Only NRA invited to secret … Continue reading To Be Sure We Remember Dr. King’s Murder, DeSantis Secretly Signs New No Permit Guns-For-All Bill
#1-France vs. “Le wokisme”: THE FRENCH ARE IN A PANIC OVER LE WOKISME The nation’s vehement rejection of identity politics made me recalibrate my own views about woke ideology. By Thomas Chatterton Williams Excerpts from The Atlantic, February 4, 2023 [NOTE: Williams] took part in “a two-day “taboo-free discussion” among public intellectuals about the … Continue reading From France & Texas, Two Striking Takes on Racism, Identity Politics & Cultural Turmoil