Category Archives: Posts

How big is Trump’s army?

Newspaper stories, TV and online sources have had little on the size of the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6th or the crowd outside and what there is seems wildly varied and unreliable. A recent AP story on inauguration security says “.. thousands of supporters of President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol…” I […]

January 14, 2021 – 2:43 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

SHORT TAKES On Our Current Situation

1/WHO GETS TO REPORT THE ELECTION RESULTS? Was there an actual difference in the network announcements (including Fox News) of Biden’s victory? Or was it just context that made me hear them differently, an awareness that for the first time this standard announcement was being made in the era of “fake news”? Trump has declared […]

November 11, 2020 – 6:53 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Looking for answers to questions about the situation we’re in

I read a fair amount of print media and listen to a lot of NPR news but I haven’t run across answers to the following questions, which seem like important ones. It may be that I’ve missed stories. Any ideas? > Why did Trump agree to let Woodward, well known liberal journalist, tape him? > […]

September 16, 2020 – 1:12 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

WHY THE FUSS ABOUT ONE SELF-DRIVING CAR FATALITY?

The death in March by an Uber self-driving prototype in Phoenix has been a serious speedbump on the road to what many think is the imminence of this revolutionary technology. The car’s braking system was apparently mis-programmed and the human overseer possibly distracted. In media stories, all the emphasis has been on the unacceptability of […]

May 28, 2018 – 4:05 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Does Facebook have more to apologize for than electricity or the telephone?

I’m sure there must be an easy answer to the following question that occurs to this pre-millennial. In Mark Zuckerberg’s recent appearance before a congressional committee, Rep. David McKinley, a West Virginia Republican, pointed to Facebook ads offering opioids for sale without a prescription and addressed Zuckerberg accusingly: “Facebook is actually enabling an illegal activity, […]

April 18, 2018 – 2:58 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

THE “SHITHOLE” SOURCE CONUNDRUM

Was Democrat Senator Durbin the only source of the story that Trump referred to African nations as “shithole” countries? Did the “Washington Post” and “New York Times” take the word of an interested party over the denials of the Republicans present and of the president himself? This New York Times story of 20 January is […]

January 23, 2018 – 3:32 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

OUTER CAPE: BOYCOTT CVS

Despite widespread local opposition, CVS will apparently be coming to Ptown. Even though the deal was worked out with town counsel, let’s not kid ourselves: it’s another victory of a big, nonlocal company over a small town and its sense, expressed in a bylaw, of what’s good for it. According to a quote of the […]

January 13, 2018 – 3:25 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

A DOW FOR THE REST OF US

It’s the worst of tax bills, it’s the best of tax bills. According to polls, most Americans are not buying the Republican claims that the bill is the greatest thing since sliced bread. But how will we know? Given the wildly conflicting claims, there is more need than ever for an index which will tell […]

December 21, 2017 – 2:04 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

FRANKEN: IT WILL BE BETTER FOR WOMEN IF HE STAYS IN PUBLIC LIFE

The forced resignation of Al Franken doesn’t make very much sense for anybody except those who seek the reversal of women’s progress. OK, if a progressive woman is appointed in his place, one that stands a good chance of getting re-elected, that might be a reasonable trade-off. Certainly Franken’s thoughtless, unwelcome advances need to be […]

December 9, 2017 – 6:39 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Roger Goodell signs on for another five years at $40 million a year.

Can someone explain why the NFL needs to pay him all that money? It’s not as if he were a worldclass athlete indispensable to fan pleasure. He doesn’t even seem to have been doing such a terrific job of presiding over the inherent contradictions of this inherently violent sport (let alone Inflategate). But even if […]

December 7, 2017 – 10:54 am | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)