ALCATRAZ ~ It is not that we have no choice. But to choose requires conscious awareness of the situation as well as the alternatives and some ideas about how to achieve them. Some folks have difficulty making decisions and would rather have someone in authority make decisions for us. I think it was Theodore Adorno, … More Due Process vs Dictatorship
Political power disintegrates when the people withdraw their obedience and support. ~ Gene Sharp The Musk’s hyper-tech-bro ruffians storm-trooping through the federal government has moved as fast as phantom fairy dust from the Wicked Witch of the West. The initial response of widespread protest has moved fast too, but not nearly fast enough to have … More It’s Only the Beginning: Tyranny and Resistance
What will it take to cause “shock and awe” over increasingly frequent and devastating catastrophic climate events? Consider this context: “The average temperature in 2024 was 1.6C above preindustrial levels, data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) shows.” (see story in The Guardian, 1/10/2025.) Climate science predicts the devastating consequences clearly. Even so, LA burning becomes … More Charade: As Cities Burn, Perverse Politics Prevail
I guess the saying, “There is no accounting for taste” may be true after all. Nevertheless, some things can be said of choice when it involves contagion and fear. Sometimes taste may be only part of the explanation of political self-destructive behavior. There are, for example, too many reasons why people who really do not … More A Gang of Sycophants and the Dominator Culture
I was never really comfortable with the conservative-liberal bifurcation of political thought or action. As a teenager, of course, I took exception to every political utterance my father offered. He was a staunch Republican who stood for absolute moral principles and standards of behavior, deviation from which could muster no excuse whatsoever. I was a … More Will the Real Conservative Please Stand up?
I must admit, I was almost as perplexed as the Democrats who were trying to decide whether to support Joe Biden despite the debate disaster or to urge him to step aside for a younger candidate to defeat the would-be dictator. After the debate, Joe seemed more his normal self, gaffs and all; he gave … More Just a Regular Guy
I must admit, I was almost as perplexed as the Democrat Party operatives were in struggling over whether they should continue supporting Joe Biden despite the debate disaster or to urge him to step aside for a younger candidate to defeat the would-be dictator—then Joe did what now seems to have been inevitable. Since the … More It’s Time for the Dem’s to Get Tough, and to Strategize
I am often puzzled by various ‘environmentalists.’ (I put the semi-quote marks around the word, since there are many types and variations among folks who either go by the designation or are called that by others.) All the various professionals, activists, academics, and even politicians (well politicians more than any others) go about their work … More There are No Do-Overs Now.
All this talk of Trump getting revenge is puzzling, at least on the surface. What could have possibly befallen the presumed multi-billionaire that could cause him to seek political revenge? Could it be that he actually knows he lost the election and resents the fact so much that he wants to inflict revenge by destroying … More Resilience vs Resentment and Revenge
Last Thursday, a practiced persona of cruelty and vindictiveness appeared to saturate the only mug shot of a former president in the history of the United States of America. “The Face,” his employees had called the scowl they had seen too often. We might wonder what that implies about his worldview and behavior, if that … More The Mug: Cultural Collapse and the Autocratic Attempt
Robert MacNeil Christie, Author 