Anyone who thinks our new and growing climate chaos is the ‘new normal’ (and assumes that we merely have to adapt), anyone who thinks that the “Trump transition” merciless administrative actions are the new normal, anyone who thinks that what they imagine is the ‘new normal’ has any relation to ordinary (normal) social change or … More The “New Normal” is Extremely Abnormal
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
A president can be impeached, tried, and removed from office for “high crimes and misdemeanors,” including bribery and treason. That seems clear on the surface, but what specific acts fall within these categories? Well, that is less clear, but a lot of hints are out there. Let’s consider a couple of examples. Bribery seems clear-cut. You … More Traitor, Treason, Treachery, or Mere Trumpery
The GOP Pimps are playing Trollop Trump, like no other patsy in history. In that sense, you could say that they are colluding with the Russians. They still despise him but hide it since he has become their cash cow. But Trump is a double patsy, after all. The Russians have played him ever since … More Patsy Trollop Trumpery
The words we use to describe the world tend to “frame” our understandings by bracketing the range of images and meanings that make sense to us. Our reasoning builds on deep emotions. Moral reasoning also rests on an emotional sense of right and wrong and the beliefs and personal relationships we hold dear. The terms … More So Much More than Warming: Misunderstanding Climate Change
It is so easy to ridicule a buffoon. I have done so more than once in various blog posts on this site. I referred to Trump as an empty clown suit because of the vacuous nature of his essentially false and tragically comic-book persona. He could easily pass for Batman’s “The Joker.” But really, isn’t … More Why Trump Does Not Matter, and Why He Does
Remember the old movie, The Manchurian Candidate? The 1962 political thriller depicted a veteran of the Korean War, who had been brainwashed while a prisoner of war, to assassinate the leading presidential candidate so that the vice-presidential candidate could win the presidency. A secret “palace coup d’état” would then impose a draconian suspension of democracy in … More The Manchurian President and His Great Wall
Trump is not merely rolling back countless federal programs that attempt to protect society from the ravages of unrestrained extractive corporate capital and industrial consumerism. He is going one worse. Think of the premise of his actions and the way he frames those actions in claiming to “make America great again.” That premise is that … More Overcoming the Trumping of Democracy to Restore the Commonwealth
Robert MacNeil Christie, Author 