And now for a short post. Here’s one of many links to the stories: Trump vows ‘new vetting’ to weed out Islamic radicals. I try to avoid partisan politics on this blog, but on this issue I must be clear. I believe that we should be open to refugees even at very substantial risk to ourselves….
Scot McKnight (whose work I deeply appreciate) quotes Dennis Prager (whom I rarely read) on his site, talking about the difference between the “left” and “liberals.” You can follow the link to read what set me off. Labels are necessary if we are to communicate. Words are, pretty much, labels. All labels have limitations. The…
There are many people concerned about hatefulness right now, and one might think that this concern came largely from opponents of the president-elect. I’ve found, however, that the concern comes from all sides. (“Both sides” is a very dangerous concept in a complex world.) Let me suggest a simple test. When you find a blog…
I posted a note from an article regarding the data released by DHS about Russian hacking, if it was Russian, and then I started wondering whether people would assume it is my opinion that the Russians were not involved. In fact, I do not have an opinion on that because I do not have enough…
Each year I’m saddened and yes, annoyed, by the supposed war on Christmas and responses to it. Every time someone can’t set up a manger scene on public land, or is even forced to share the public space with other groups, there’s an outcry. It’s a war on Christmas! Never mind that there are, in…
“The flaws in Obamacare are obvious to me. The solutions are much harder,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). (Source: Politico.) As a restatement of the obvious, that quote leaves little to be desired. Just so. I too can find plenty to criticize in the Affordable Care Act, which is not surprising for a law that…
Political discussion in this country seems to have somewhat more in common with trash talk among sports fans than it does with any form of constructive dialogue. OK. Now that I’ve practiced understatement, let’s look at the current state of political talk. I had hopes that I might find my Facebook feed more palatable after…
According to a UN report, about 2/3 of third world jobs are threatened by robots. This is still early days in the way things will change in the world. We keep commenting on how the world has sped up, and it keeps speeding up ever more rapidly. To those who wish to go back to…
One of the things that has disturbed me most about this election is justifications of bad behavior by those who claim to be conservative Christians. No, this is not behavior exclusive to them, but in this election it has been particularly clear. It was surprising to me. People I thought were truly about moral and…
I commented on Monday that there was no possibility I’d be happy with the result after election day. (Considering my previous post on probability, perhaps I should have said <0.1%!) I can now tell you that I’m approximately as unhappy as I expected to be. My unhappiness will probably have dissipated to ordinary levels by…
