Sunday just past marked the 40th anniversary of the accident at Chernobyl – an accident the aftermath of which the world will be dealing with for centuries to come.  As I have said before, I was there about 5 years after.  Typically such a disaster illustrates the worst and brings out the best in people.  The worst is illustrated by the fact that it happened at all.  The best was the response of people in ingenuity, effort and sacrifice.  I will not endeavor to tell the tale again, but I will refer you to the excellent 2019 miniseries “Chernobyl.”  What fascinates me is it still, to this day, illustrates the

SCOTUS handed down a major decision today regarding the Voting Rights Act and race.  I’ll try and make the ruling as simple as possible – it is in line with Chief Justice Roberts declaration that “the only way to end discrimination based on race is to stop discriminating based on race.”  The ruling set me to thinking about this morning’s post on why “political violence” is on an upswing and how to prevent it.. . .

The host is looking for ways to fix what ails the nation in the current wave of “political violence.”  The essential question is how do we produce people like the shooter and how do we stop it?  In his latest Fox column he talks about reading “old” books –  that is doubled down upon in his interview with Aaron MacLean on yesterday’s show, while MacLean notes that can be difficult as a matter of policy. (behind the paywall)  In his interview with James Lileks tenure for public school teachers is rejected as the heart of the issue.  The discussion centered on how the internet allows one to be

I am in desperate need of some fun right now.  I think we all are.  So I set aside this article, based on the headline, because I thought it was funny – “Scientists Discover Plants “Scream” – We Just Couldn’t Hear Them Until Now.”  I cannot help but ask – if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear, does it make a sound?  The latter question is about the intersection of science, philosophy and what actually matters.  So I guess the story about plants “screaming” is silly or not silly depending on your perspective.  Do sounds that the human ear cannot hear actually

A couple of days before the WHCD Jimmy Kimmel “joked” that Melania looked like an “expectant widow.”  In light of events that subsequently unfolded there is not one single ounce of funny in that.  I get it, it’s a joke, but then again, it wasn’t.  The shooter’s “manifesto” makes plain this character has imbibed regularly and deeply of what has become far too common rhetoric.  Sure that rhetoric is hyperbolic, but turns out it is not.  But that said, bad jokes and hyperbolic rhetoric is not the heart of the matter.. . .

Little is known about last night’s volley of fire at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner other than the shooter is in custody and there is little in his background to indicate he would do such a thing.  But then he is from Southern California where Trump hatred is thicker than the smog.  This marks three attempts on Donald J. Trump’s life in a relatively short period of time – and not that long after someone shot up a freaking Congressional baseball game.  The last time I can remember a grouping of so-called “political violence” like this was the late ’60’s.  I think it

In recent weeks a picture is emerging out of Southern California that is actually quite disturbing.  I have assumed that all the anti-ICE, open borders nonsense was simply reactionary – that it was born of simply doing the opposite of what Trump wanted because “Orange Man Bad.”  I am not so sure anymore.. . .

It is extremely difficult here in East Tennessee to get people to understand just how nuts California was during covid.  I tell stories and they simply look at me in disbelief.  I keep trying to explain to people that they banned church and it took the Supreme Court to stand them down, but people here think such things somehow impossible.  The worst thing about it was, the powers that be in California thought they were righteous.  They were operating with fine intent – to save lives – but they failed to understand that killing freedom in that fashion would cost far more lives than covid could dream about taking in