Category: Politics

Sunday Morning Reading

It’s Sunday and that means Sunday Morning Reading to share. This week was new iPhone week so I’m sharing some great coverage of the new iPhones and the operating system that runs them, as well as macOS Sonoma. In addition,  excellent writing on lying and other topics will lead the list.

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First up is the always excellent Natasha MH with Our Panche for Lies, Art and Storytelling. Using comedian and storyteller Hasan Minhaj as her point of entry she wonders why we get so upset when comedians do the same thing those less funny do: Lie.

Speaking of lying, Jeff Kosseff has a neat piece on Why The First Amendment Protects Liars. 

I’m not a fan of giving up meat. This dog is too old to learn any new tricks. But Matthew Clapham does have a good piece of writing about just that in Rewording the Golden Rule to Cause No Suffering. 

Kenneth L. Warner uses the occasion of Diane Feinstin’s passing to talk about age requirements for holdiing office in “When I Leave Elected Office, I’m Going Feet First.”

Much of the US political focus is on the gamesmanship over keeping the government open and some washed up TV reality star that got lucky and appointed too many Supreme Court Justices. Well, that Supreme Court is going to take up a few cases that might, or might not, have profound implications for the Internet. Take a look at Caroline Mimbs Nyce’s piece The Supreme Court Cases That Could Redfine The Internet to see why.

And as for those writers about Apple things I’ll lead that off with the always excellent Federico Vitcci and his review of iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 on MacStories. I highly advise keeping this one in your bookmarks or read later app of choice to refer back to now and again.

His partner in crime, John Vorhees, does a great job of tackling macOS Sonoma. Again, hang on to this one as a reference.

And for a companion to Vorhees’ post check out Andrew Cunningham’s macOS review on Ars Technica.

Samuel Axon in Ars Technica says we may have reached the “final form” with the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro. I think he’s correct.

Matthew Panzarino always gives us a good look into the cameras on new iPhones and this year’s trip to Disneyland is no different.

Last up is John Gruber’s iPhone 15 Pro review. John’s writing on all things Apple is always worth your time.

Ok, I lied. If you’d like to check out my thoughts on the iPhone 15 Pro and the Apple Watch Series 9, you can do so here.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. 

Sunday Morning Reading

As summer transitons into Fall we’re back at lovely Lake LuLu for the last weekend of the season. So lake time takes precedence over reading. But with cooler climes ahead that will change, much like the seasons. Nevertheless here’s a few Sunday Morning Reading topics to share. Enjoy.

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The world of politics seems crazier and crazier by the moment. Much of the current focus in on, well you know what and who it is on. There’s also focus on the Supreme Court for the cauldron of corruption that place is, leading us to often overlook some of the cases. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v Community Financial Services Association is one we should keep an eye on. Essentially, if the plantiff prevails much of the Federal Government would be declared unconstitutional. Ian Millhiser has a good luck at the case in A New Supreme Court Case Could Trigger A Second Great Depression. On the one hand it seems seems silly, but on the other quite dangerous, given the climate we’re in.

Is the American Dream still a dream or a nightmare. Belen Fernandez tackles that in On the Road Towards the American Nightmare. Excellent piece.

The Man Who Trapped Us in Databases by McKenize Funk tells us a bit about Hank Asher, the ‘King of Databrokers.’ He’s had and his legacy continues to have more influence on our lives than most of us realize. Did you know you have a Shadow SSN?

David Todd McCarthy takes on the legacy of Jimmy Buffet and the culture he created and the business he crafted from it in The Lost Shaker of Salt Has a Dark Side.

Is there such a thing as children having a Nature Deficit Disorder? Chris Thompson tackles that while Sliding Down Hills on Cardboard.

Ron Grossman digs into the Chicago Tribune archives and pulls out fascinating stuff in this piece about Black and Tan nightclubs in Chicago. Check out In Segregated Chicago, Black and Tans Provided Lively NIghtlife in the Early 20th Century. 

And lastly, this Atlantic piece, The Patriot,  by Jeffrery Goldberg on retiring Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley is worth a read.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

The Ties That Bind

I wrote a little something on the Medium publication Rome Magazine about poltics, my grandfather, and how nothing much has really changed when it comes to the political animals that we are. We just don’t hide behind the facades we like to show the world as much. 

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Hope you check out The Ties That Bind. Thanks to David Todd McCarty for letting me publish on Rome Magazine.Good stuff and good writers there.

Sunday Morning Reading

It’s Sunday morning. So here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share. There’s no theme. Just a collection of topics and writers that caught my eye and tugged a bit on the heartstrings.

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Chris Welch on The Verge lets us know that Samsung and NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art are collaborating and expanding the collection of art that is available to view in your home on Samsung’s Frame TVs. I didn’t know this was a thing. I’m sure some art lovers are glad it is. Would be nice to see this picked up by other museums and Smart TV makers. Check out Samsung Is Bringing Artwork From The Met Museum To Its Frame TVs.

On the politics beat, Susan Glaser pens The Rage of The Toddler Caucus On Capitol Hill. If they title doesn’t tell you what it’s about, you’re not paying attention.

When and why does time matter? Check out Philip Ogley’s The Clock Watcher. Make the time.

What happens if turbulence in the brain’s waves can carve indentations and pathways over time in the same way that water does in stone? Check out Newly Discovered Spirals of Brain Activity May Help Explain Cognition by Shelly Fan.

David Todd McCarty penned an excellent and very personal piece this week about his family coping with drug addiction and its aftermath entitled Bear With Me, I Want To Tell You Something. Beautiful stuff. Tough. Coconuts and plungers.

These are tough times to wade through. Ana Marie Cox says We Are Not Just Polarized. We Are Traumatized. I think she’s correct. And remember, cynicism is a trauma response.

A devilishly good piece by Natasha MH, In Bed With the Devil.

Mark Jacob in Courier Newsroom let’s us in on The Republican Trick To Spin Straw Into Gold. There are no surprises. But we all need to recognize it when it’s happening.

Changing the channel, M.G. Siegler takes a look at the end of the Cable TV bundle in Cable Bites the Dust, and predicts that we’re going to be bundling again as we continue down the path into streaming entertainment consolidation.

And as we head into a week when new iPhones are arriving around the world, finally equipped for USB-C charging, Jay Peters on The Verge writes an almost mournful obituary for the Lightning Connector in Lightning was Great Actually.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

Sunday Morning Reading

Celebrating the grandson’s second birthday this weekend but there’s still a bit of Sunday Morning Reading to share. As usual it’s a myriad collection of writing on different topics featuring some history, some politics, some Shakespeare, and some writers with some personal things to share.

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First up are a couple of interesting pieces about Shakespeare. In August Drew Lichtenberg wrote a provoking piece in the New York Times about the latest attempts to cancel Shakespeare in the wake of all of the current nonsense going on in educational and political circles. The title, Cancel Shakespeare, might turn you off. Don’t let it. It’s worth a read for the turn.

In a follow up to that piece, Shakespeare’s ‘Sublimely, Disturbingly Smutty Effect’ Must Endure, Lichtenbeg lists some Shakespearean passages that readers say “got their blood flowing.”

And while I’m sharing pieces on how politicians think banning and banishing books, topics and history can change the future, this Politico piece by James Traub, Virginia Went to War Over History. And Students Actually Came Out on Top is worth considering. This in depth piece is worth hanging on to if we ever come to our senses and someone chronicles this period of insanity for future generations.

And speaking of history, you might not (or might) be sipping some whiskey with your Sunday Morning Reading, but this piece from Jason Willick on What a 1790’s Rebellion Shows About the Campaign to Disqualify Trump takes us back to the Whisky Rebellion. It’s worth considering in light of all the talk about the 14th Amendment disqualifying Trump from holding office again. FWIW I wrote a little something about that here.

And one thing follows another. Nate White, a British writer, delivers a terrific takedown of the orange guy in British Writer Pens The Best Description of Trump I’ve Read.

Jay Rosen is always worth following if you’re interested in what’s going on in journalism. This sketch of a lecture he was going to give in 2013 resurfaced in my feeds and I thought “Old Testatment and New Testatment Journalism” was worth sharing.

And on a somewhat personal note, I’ve contributed a few pieces to a Medium publiciation Ellemeno, thanks to the prodding of David Todd McCarty. The publication hosts some excellent writers with fantastic writing from a personal perspective.

I recommend two such pieces here if you want to get a taste. First up is McCarty’s All On My Own. As he describes it: “The art of being alone without being lonely, or one man’s semi-solitary adventure through time and space.”

Next up is Natasha MH with Why Are You Obssesed With Me? I’m thinking it has something to do with her writing.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

There You Go

I wrote a little something that I’ll share a link to here. It’s a little something about race in my hometown, growing up, and reunions in a mountain top restaurant sitting astride a country line. 

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You can find the piece called There You Go on Ellemeno, a publication on Medium. There’s an excellent collection of writers there.

Thanks to David Todd McCarty for letting me put my words down there. 

Can’t Self-Enforce Our Way Out Of This Mess

That damn Constitution and those damn amendments. Always an obstacle. Especially depending on whether you use the paper it’s printed on as a shield, a weapon, a distraction, or a promotional tool.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is the hot topic these days. Here it is below:

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Did I say hot topic? Tepid is probably more like it. Well, let’s put it this way. Legal scholars and TV talking heads are debating whether or not it’s self-enforcing and rules out a presidential run by you know who.

Let me say this about that:

If folks are fighting mad over whether or not the orange buffoon is either the saddest excuse of criminal humanity currently on the planet or some sort of divinely anointed martyr-to-be then I don’t think this debate is going to self-ennunicate a solution.

As long as Supreme Court Justices can wine and dine their vacations away on other folks’ dimes there’s no such thing as self-enforcing. Self-enriching for lawyers. But that’s about it.

Sunday Morning Reading

Summer is heading towards Fall and we’re on lake time this weekend. So a shorter list of things to share. As usual it’s a potpourri of topics and great writing. Enjoy!

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Mug shots were the talk of all the towns this week. David Todd McCarty takes a look at a bit of of mug shot shooting history in The Lost Art of Shooting Criminals.

Always fun to look back on the history of old school Chicago politics. Edward Robert McClelland takes just such a look back as he looks ahead in The Machine Has Given Way to Organizing.

This piece is a real pleasure from Natasha MH. Worth lingering over for more than two minutes. Check out A Two-Minute Pleasure.

In this world where the reliance on facts keeps diminishing Jonathan Taplin takes a look at How Musk, Thiel, Zuckerberg and Andresseen-Four Billionaire Techno-Oligarchs- Are Creating an Autocratic Reality.

And if Autumn is approaching so too is football. David. K. Li takes a look back at the Supreme Court case that changed the game (or rather the money behind the game), in Meet The Man Who Thinks He’s Screwed Up College Football With A Supreme Court Win.

An another harbinger of Fall is the build up and anticipation of new Apple gear. Jason Snell takes yet another look at the never ending debate surrounding the purpose of the iPad in Giving Up The iPad-only Travel Dream.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

I Swear We Need to Get Rid of Oaths

Don’t make promises you can’t keep. I can’t imagine anyone who hasn’t heard that at some point in their life. I also can’t imagine anyone who hasn’t made one of those “can’t keep” promises only to have it come back to bite then. Also can’t imagine anyone having not broken one.

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That’s apparently where we are. We make promises, take oaths, utter vows, and swear on bibles stacked with meaning and historical symbolism. We enter into contracts and agreements. We teach our children not to lie. But when push comes to shove does it really matter?

As far as the US legal system is concerned Special Counsel Jack Smith has essentially told us it doesn’t. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives anyone the right to lie. Lying is protected political speech. if you can avoid slandering or libeling someone, or your target doesn’t have the resources to defend themselves, our much cherished freedom of speech gives you the right to lie your ass off. Legally.

That being the case, here’s the question: Shouldn’t we then dispense with the ritual and the formality of swearing oaths? What’s the point? Why do we need the symbolism for something most know is a public pageant and a sham?

We all know the oath that elected leaders, members of the military and other government services swear. Our founding fathers didn’t want to see us swearing fealty to any king or church, so we take an oath to support and defend the US Constitution. Many who have never taken that oath can recite it by heart. I’m not suggesting some don’t take it to heart and live it. But if enough don’t, it makes a mockery of those who do.

I can remember a small right wing media dustup when Obama and the Chief Justice muffed a few words during the swearing in ceremony. That dustup caused enough of a ruckus they later re-created the swearing in. Just to be sure.

We also all know the oath that folks swear on a witness stand or legal proceeding. That one includes the “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” part. We all know how flimsy that is. Heck, the entire legal profession is built on finding ways to keep clients avoid and keep them from divulging the truth when confronted.

So why keep up the charade? What is it about us that when things get dicey we’ll forswear oaths and vows?

In my opinion we all want to believe in something larger, that bolsters and binds our position beyond question. It’s supposedly an enobling act that raises the oath-taker to another plain, above it all, embuing the moment with a deeper unquestioned signficance. Or at times it’s a desperate plea for shelter when caught in the act. We swear to God and heaven. We swear on the lives and souls of our mothers and fathers. We swear on our children’s lives. And some even swear on a stack of bibles.

Oh. About those bibles. In rituals when hands are placed on bibles, there’s often personal and historical symbolism attached to the actual bible used in the act to deepen the signficance. Paradoxically, it’s intriguing that many Christian religions believe that the bible tells us in Matthew 5:34 to essentially forswear swearing on anything in Heaven or on Earth.

If you continue reading the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew you’ll find Jesus saying simply, “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” Interpretations of this range from a biblical forbidding of all oaths to it being allowed for ceremonial oath taking. It’s a debatable theological question. Ask the Calvinists and the Quakers. Some hold it tighter than others, which has resulted in affirmations replacing oaths in some situations. Some have simply rationalized it into the ether of meaningless.

Debatable or not, it calls into question the familiar customs and rituals around swearing in, taking vows, and taking oaths. We bind ourselves to these rituals for their significance and some sense of continuity. But in reality most see through the pageantry even while recognizing the holes in the plot. It’s like agreeing to support a couple’s wedding vows when everyone knows they aren’t going to make it.

Dropping out of the theological realm, I prefer to keep my own tussles with the truth grounded in that old saying “my word is my bond.” I’ve stumbled on that ground at times. But while it’s easy to take some comfort in the fact that I’m not stumbling alone, it’s still troubling. I don’t have answers, but it does make me wonder if we shouldn’t bring an end to the pageantry of public oath taking. There’s enough paradox already built in to call the entire thing into question. Why stand on ceremony when we can’t and aren’t expected to stand by our word?

We might have already reached that point without recognizing it as we see large portions of the population living in a fantasy world exposed by an orange madman who never uttered a word he couldn’t break in the next breath.

The willing suspension of disbelief is enough to make one swear.