⭐Cadet Bone Spurs Goes to War Against Americans in Oregon & Illinois. AP: “... Donald Trump is sending 300 California National Guard members to Oregon after a judge temporarily blocked his administration from deploying that state’s guard to Portland, California’s governor said Sunday. Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged Sunday to fight the move in court. There was no official announcement from Washington that the California National Guard was being called up and sent to Oregon, just as was the case when Illinois’ governor made a similar announcement Saturday about troops in his state being activated. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said that 101 California National Guard members arrived in her state Saturday night by plane and more were on the way. Kotek said there has been no formal communication with the federal government about the deployment. 'This action appears to [be] intentional to circumvent yesterday’s ruling by a federal judge,' Kotek said Sunday. 'There is no need for military intervention in Oregon. There is no insurrection in Portland. No threat to national security. Oregon is our home, not a military target.'”
⭐Kevin Carey in the Atlantic: “The Trump administration this week tried to make nine elite research universities an offer they can’t refuse. In exchange for vaguely defined funds, MIT, Dartmouth, Brown, Vanderbilt, the University of Virginia, and others were asked to sign a nine-page 'Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education' that amounts to complete adoption of the MAGA higher-education agenda. If they don’t agree? 'The institution elects to forego federal benefits,' seemingly including federal contracts and access to student loans.... The document is breathtaking in its ambition, plainly illegal, and shot through with the tensions that mark Trumpism in its latest form.... The compact ... is only the ideological will of the president, offered with the logic and ethics of a mafia protection racket.... Universities that accept this bargain will be selling their souls for nothing but a promise of safety that will surely be broken in turn.” Thank you to akaWendy for this gift link.
Steve Vladeck: “... Judge Karin Immergut’s remarkable ruling yesterday, granting a temporary restraining order against ... [Donald] Trump’s federalization of members of the Oregon National Guard ... has prompted a slew of claims this morning from the President’s advisers and outside supporters that federal courts, in general, lack the power to halt domestic deployments of the military.... [But] a key early precedent..., in my view, cuts entirely in the other direction — and that provides powerful evidence ... that the Founding-era understanding not only tolerated a robust judicial role in such cases, but, for a time, actually required one.... The modern-day Insurrection Act traces its lineage all the way back to a statute Congress enacted on May 2, 1792—which has often been referred to as the Calling Forth Act or First Militia Act. That statute was designed to carry into effect the Constitution’s grant of power to Congress, in Article I, Section 8, Clause 15, '[t]o provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.'... President Washington, in putting down the Whiskey Rebellion two years later, followed the statute’s mandates to the letter — obtaining the requisite judicial determination from Supreme Court Justice James Wilson (one of the six people to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution) before he sent troops to Western Pennsylvania to restore order.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: So instead of trying to claim Trump's own judicial appointee is a radical left-wing judge, Trump & the Trumpettes have decided that no judge has the authority to rule on matters of military deployment. Apparently, that is among the divine rights of the Mad King Donald, Commander in Chief of of Everybody and Everything. (One such "expert" adviser Vladeck cites: Stephen Miller, who is not now nor has he ever been a lawyer.)
Meryl Kornfield & Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration is preparing a plan that will make it harder for older Americans to qualify for Social Security disability payments, part of an overhaul of the federal safety net for poor, older and disabled people that could result in hundreds of thousands of people losing benefits.... Currently, the Social Security Administration evaluates disability claims by considering age, work experience and education to determine if a person can adjust to other types of work. Older applicants, typically over 50, have a better chance of qualifying because age is treated as a limitation in adapting to many jobs. But now officials are considering eliminating age as a factor entirely or raising the threshold to age 60.... They also plan to modernize labor market data used to judge whether claimants can work, replacing an outdated jobs database that includes obsolete occupations like nut sorters and telephone quotation clerks, following a Washington Post investigation in 2022.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Innit odd how every Trump plan/proposal makes life harder for hundreds of thousands or even millions of ordinary or poor Americans and/or easier for him & a few other billionaire buddies? I am sad, of course, to learn that my years of training to be a nut sorter has been for naught. ~~~
~~~ Speaking of making life much tougher for ordinary Americans, here is Charles Gaba having fun with Wall Street Journal artwork. When you look at the numbers (and do multiply the premium increases by 12, because Gaba uses monthly figures for the insurance rates and annual figures for the families' income), it's not so funny. MB: This is what the shutdown is all about, so if it's inconveniencing you now, bear in mind that if Democrats can force Republicans to continue to subsidize health insurance premiums for millions of Americans, your inconvenience will be worth it. (But of course, when it comes to health insurance, I stand with Bernie.)
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Wherein a Trump-appointed judge implies Trump is a delusional, lying, power-grabbing fascist: ~~~
As the Ninth Circuit articulated, courts must 'review the President’s determination to ensure that it reflects a colorable assessment of the facts and law ... within a “range of honest judgment.’”... Here, this Court concludes that the President did not have a 'colorable basis' to invoke [the law] to federalize the National Guard because ... the President’s determination was simply untethered to the facts.... Furthermore, this country has a longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs. -- Judge Karin Immergut, order, Oregon & Portland v. Trump, et al. ~~~
~~~ Anna Griffin of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Saturday blocked the Trump administration from using Oregon National Guard soldiers in response to nightly protests at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland, Ore. Judge Karin Immergut, of the U.S. District Court in Oregon, sided with Democrats who run the state government when she issued a temporary restraining order blocking the mobilization.... [Donald] Trump and the Defense Department had ordered 200 Oregon soldiers for a 60-day deployment. In her ruling, Judge Immergut wrote that she expected a trial court to agree with the state’s contention that the president exceeded his constitutional authority in mobilizing federal troops for local work and likely violated the 10th Amendment. The soldiers have been training on the Oregon coast and were expected to be in place by the weekend, though federal officials have not said what duties they would perform beyond assisting ICE.” ~~~
~~~ Kyle Cheney of Politico: “A federal judge blocked ... Donald Trump’s call-up of 200 National Guard troops in Oregon, ruling that Trump’s claims of daily unrest in Portland were 'untethered to facts' and risked plunging the nation into an unconstitutional form of military rule. 'This is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law,” wrote U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee.” MB: Let's see if Trumpty-Dumpty thinks he can get away with calling Immergut “a radical left activist judge.” ~~~
~~~ Alicia Lozano of NBC News: "The Trump administration activated 200 National Guard troops in Portland on Friday as Oregon officials waited for a court ruling on their request to prevent the deployment. Lawyers for the city and state had asked a federal judge to grant a temporary restraining order blocking the mobilization. U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut, an appointee of ... Donald Trump, said after a two-hour hearing Friday that she would make a decision by the end of the day or Saturday. But U.S. Northern Command announced hours later, before Immergut issued her ruling, that the troops had been activated by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to support and protect federal personnel and property in the Portland area." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ David Gilmour of Mediaite: “Trump administration officials privately discussed sending one of the country’s most hardened combat units into Portland, Oregon, leaked Signal messages reveal. Anthony Salisbury, a top deputy to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, was reportedly exchanging messages with War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s adviser Patrick Weaver over Signal in a crowded public space last weekend while traveling in Minnesota to a family funeral. The alarmed source shared images of the exchange with the Minnesota Star Tribune.... According to the newspaper the texts reveal discussions about deploying the 82nd Airborne Division to Portland, a unit better known for parachuting into World War battlefields and Afghanistan than patrolling American streets.” Thanks to RAS for the lead. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Uh, what was it Krugman was saying about an "autocracy of dunces"? Not that it wouldn't be good "military training" to have a squadron of elite troops parachute into the Portland farmer's market to capture all the antifa terrorists buying apples and bok choy. (Krugman post linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ But instead of all that, agents of the Trump administration did this: ~~~
⭐~~~ Gosia Wozniaka of the Oregonian: “An elderly couple says they were charged and knocked down by federal agents as they peacefully protested on Saturday in front of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in South Portland, just blocks from their home. Laurie Eckman, 84, said she and her husband Richard Eckman, also 84 and a Vietnam war veteran, were rushed by federal officers “for no apparent reason.' She said her husband was leaning on his walker and wearing his Vietnam veterans cap as he was pushed to the ground. 'It was totally unprovoked. It was not the kind of crowd that shouts the “F word.” It was people like us, our neighbors. There were families, there were several veterans,' Laurie Eckman told The Oregonian/OregonLive. 'With no warning the feds charged into us, knocked us down and sprayed us. I was hit in the head with a projectile.'” MB: Read on. Photos of the couple accompany the story. This couple looks about as menacing as a ball of lint, though Mrs. Eckman looks a bit scary wearing a blood-soaked blouse, the result of the injury to her forehead. She said she also sustained a concussion. ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE, Near Chicago. Siri Chilukuri of the Guardian: “Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, and Gregory Bovino, a border patrol sector chief, were seen at an Ice facility in suburban Chicago on Friday where law enforcement has been cracking down on protesters. In recent weeks the Broadview facility has become the site of escalations by federal agents against protesters and journalists. Videos of agents deploying tear gas, pepper balls and roughly throwing protesters to the ground have gone viral, amidst the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The Trump administration targeted Chicago with federal law enforcement starting in August, falsely claiming there had been a rise in crime in the city in recent years. Since then, there have been increasingly aggressive reports of Ice enforcement in communities, including helicopters hovering over apartment raids. There have also been arrests of local officials and candidates for office who were protesting....” Read on.
~~~ Marie P.S.: About 70 percent of the residents of Broadview identify as Black. Which is coincidental and immaterial to the crackdown, I'm sure. Oh, and ICE agents seem to be making crank calls to the town's 911 line. ~~~
~~~ Dave Savini & Samah Assad of CBS News Chicago: "On Thursday, Broadview Police Chief Thomas Mills said ICE agents are draining the resources of his department and the community by making false 911 calls. Body camera video footage obtained by the CBS News Chicago Investigators shows several Broadview officers responding to a 911 call claiming someone was tampering with a gate at the ICE detention facility.... But ... all they found was ... a CBS News Chicago photographer ... filming the exterior of the building, with a CBS security guard by his side.... The chief said that was just one of several questionable 911 calls his police department has received from the ICE facility recently." ~~~
~~~ Kim Bellware, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Saturday authorized the activation of 300 National Guard troops in this city against the Illinois governor’s wishes. The orders came after heavily armed federal agents shot a woman, sparking further clashes between immigration authorities and angry residents.” (More on the shooting in the NYT story linked below. ~~~
~~~ Gregory Svirnovskiy of Politico: “... Donald Trump will soon federalize 300 National Guard troops in Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker said Saturday, a move that comes despite the governor’s opposition. 'This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,' Pritzker said in a statement. 'It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Julie Bosman, et al., of the New York Times: “A federal agent shot and wounded a motorist in Chicago on Saturday morning, according to federal officials, touching off more protests in the city as tensions rose over the Trump administration’s threat to send troops there. Officials with the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the agent shot the motorist, a woman who they said was armed with a semiautomatic weapon, after she rammed and boxed in a law enforcement vehicle. The Chicago Police Department said it responded on Saturday morning to the area after receiving a report of a person shot. The New York Times could not independently verify details of the encounter.”
Maria Paúl of the Washington Post: “When a judge told him 'Welcome to the United States,' Claudio David Balcane González began to sob. His petition for asylum had been approved, and his fight seemed to be over. Instead, officers held Balcane for 63 more days at a Wisconsin immigration detention center where he had already spent three months in custody. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had detained the 27-year-old Venezuelan singer, known online as Davicito59, in April — shortly after he went viral with a song pleading with ... Donald Trump not to deport immigrants like him.... It wasn’t until the singer was re-interrogated, had his phone searched and the government unsuccessfully petitioned to reopen his case that officers at Dodge Detention Facility informed Balcane that he was being released.... The delay in releasing Balcane after he was granted legal status was unlawful, three immigration attorneys and an expert said. Though prosecutors had reserved the right to appeal his case, they had a 30-day deadline to do so.”
Derrick Taylor of the New York Times: “Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, gave the clearest indication yet that agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement would attend the Super Bowl in February, where the Latin superstar Bad Bunny is scheduled to headline the halftime show. Asked on Friday by the right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson if there would be 'ICE enforcement' at the Super Bowl, Noem replied ... that federal immigration officers would be 'all over' the event.... After the N.F.L. announced this week that [Bad Bunny] would appear at the Super Bowl on Feb. 8 in Santa Clara, Calif., far-right commentators, including Johnson, complained that Bad Bunny did not sing in English and that he had been openly critical of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.... Bad Bunny recently finished a 31-show residency in Puerto Rico. He has been vocal about economic inequality and other social issues affecting his homeland, a U.S. territory, and he has said that he chose not to perform in the continental United States because he feared that his fans would become targets of ICE agents.” ~~~
~~~ Ethan Beck of the Washington Post: “Fresh off the news that he’s headlining the 2026 Super Bowl, Bad Bunny hosted the 51st season premiere [of 'Saturday Night Live'], only months after closing out season 50 as its musical guest in May.” ~~~
The Trump Shutdown, Ctd. Paul Kane of the Washington Post: “It has been easy for Republicans to blame Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and his fellow Democrats in the chamber for the shutdown so far. Congressional Republicans have offered a straightforward message — that Democrats are filibustering a simple bill, lacking any partisan policies, that would extend funding until just before Thanksgiving.... Trump is complicating that effort, however, by using the shutdown to exact political retribution. And that makes it much harder for Republicans to blame the damage wrought by the shutdown on Democrats. With [OMB Director Russell] Vought, Trump is also giving Democrats a figure to villainize, much as the party did with [Elon] Musk earlier this year.... Trump has gone out of his way to hype Vought’s work in a way that raises the stakes for Republicans during this shutdown.
“Trump posted on social media Friday a seemingly AI-generated video that featured Vought as 'the reaper' carrying a scythe to be used against federal workers and Democrats. That came a day after Trump posted that he was meeting with the budget director to determine which agencies Democrats like and whether to make permanent cuts to them. Vought has used his social media accounts to highlight some of his initial targets, boasting about nixing funds for projects in New York, home to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D) and Schumer.”
Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “A top national security prosecutor who was fired this week from the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia assailed the Justice Department in a blistering letter on Friday for being more concerned with pursuing ... [Donald] Trump’s political opponents than with protecting the United States against terrorist attacks and other threats. The prosecutor, Michael P. Ben’Ary, had served as the chief of the national security section in the Virginia prosecutor’s office, which has long handled some of the most important terrorism cases in the country. But he was removed on Wednesday evening, just hours after a right-wing journalist wrongly suggested on social media that he had played a role in pushing back on the decision by Lindsey Halligan, the district’s new Trump-installed U.S. attorney, to bring an indictment against James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director. After cleaning out his belongings, Mr. Ben’Ary posted a letter to his former colleagues on the door of his office in Alexandria, Va., saying that he believed his firing, coming after other departures from the office in the wake of the charges against Mr. Comey, would leave the country less safe.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The NBC News story is here. You can read Ben'Ary's letter here, via Politico. (Enlarge it by cursoring over the letter & clicking the magnifying glass.) (Also linked yesterday.)
Aishvarya Kavi & Hannah Ziegler of the New York Times: “Mark Sanchez, the former N.F.L. quarterback who is a Fox Sports commentator, was arrested on Saturday after being injured in a stabbing in downtown Indianapolis that left him hospitalized in stable condition, according to the police. Mr. Sanchez was arrested in the hospital and charged with battery with injury, unlawful entry of a motor vehicle and public intoxication, the police said. All of the charges are misdemeanors, the police said. He remained in the hospital and has not been booked, the police said.... 'Detectives believe this was an isolated incident between the two men and not a random act of violence,' the statement said.... The police said that the altercation had been captured on video.”
Marie: I meant to link something about this earlier but forgot: ~~~
~~~ Isabella Sarmiento of NPR: "On Friday, Sean Combs was sentenced by a federal judge to 50 months in prison. The 55-year-old music mogul was convicted in July on two counts of transportation for prostitution, but acquitted on more serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. After a daylong hearing that culminated in Combs himself addressing the judge, speaking at length for the first time during the trial, Judge Arun Subramanian said that a significant sentence was required to 'send a message to abusers and victims alike that exploitation and violence against women is met with real accountability.' Subramanian made his decision after hearing arguments from federal prosecutors, Combs' defense attorneys and Combs himself." (Also linked yesterday.)
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Virginia Elections. Gregory Svirnovskiy of Politico: “A string of text messages from Jay Jones, Virginia’s Democratic nominee for attorney general, where he mused about violence directed toward a political rival is triggering widespread backlash and threatening to shake up the state’s November election. But while Jones has signaled he plans to remain in the race, Republicans up and down the ballot are pressing the Democratic nominee for governor, Abigail Spanberger, to publicly call on him to step aside. In August 2022, Jones mused about shooting then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert in text messages he sent to Republican state Del. Carrie Coyner. The texts, which were first reported by National Review and subsequently viewed by The Washington Post.... Jones has not questioned their veracity and has publicly apologized for them. 'Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot,' Jones wrote. 'Gilbert gets two bullets to the head.' 'Jay,' Coyner responded. 'Please stop.' Jones later called Coyner to continue their conversation, where he invoked the death of Gilbert’s children and said it might cause the then-speaker to change his political views, National Review reported.” (Also linked yesterday.)
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Israel/Palestine, et al. Sam Mednick & Samy Magdy of the AP: “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hopes to announce the release of all hostages from Gaza 'in the coming days,' as Israel and Hamas prepare for indirect talks in Egypt on Monday on a new U.S. plan to end the war. In a brief statement late Saturday, Netanyahu said he has sent a delegation to Egypt 'to finalize technical details,' adding that 'our goal is to contain these negotiations to a time frame of a few days.' But Netanyahu signaled there would not be a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, something Hamas has long demanded.... Israel has moved to a defensive-only position in Gaza and will not actively strike, said an official.... Still, an Israeli strike on Gaza City’s Tuffah neighborhood killed at least 17 and injured 25 others, said Al-Ahli hospital director Fadel Naim.” ~~~
~~~ Barak Ravid of Axios: "Talks will begin in Egypt on Sunday on the implementation of the plan. White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to attend. Egyptian and Qatari mediators will facilitate the indirect talks between Israeli and Hamas negotiators. A White House official said: 'Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are going to Egypt to finalize the technical details of the hostage release and discuss the lasting peace deal.'"
11 comments:
"a colorable assessment of the facts and law ... within a “range of honest judgment.’”..
How unfair! Such a high standard for a lying sob.
Another two-part bi-weekly weekend sermon, which for rhetorical purposes took a slight chance with pronouns....
CANCEL CULTURE
Remember the good old days when the Right could claim the moral high ground by criticizing the “cancel culture” that had emerged on the Left?
At the time some of the Left’s attempts to cancel things bothered me, too. The “trigger warnings” that began appearing in college reading lists indicating language or situations that some might find offensive or unpleasant seemed misplaced to me. If students do not know by the time they enter college that not all human experience comes wrapped in a rosy glow and that not everyone’s behavior and beliefs mirror their own, a wide reading menu should be encouraged, not cramped by excessive caution.
The Left-inspired controversies over who should be allowed to speak on college campuses also drew my attention. I could understand why college students might object to what some speakers had to say but not allowing them to present their views seemed wrongheaded at institutions intended to expand experience and open minds. With rare exceptions, the right to speak should outweigh any objection to a speaker, even someone who perverts the Constitutional guarantee of free speech to spout hate or peddle misinformation.
This old English teacher also had trouble with some changes to the English language advanced by the Left. Language does evolve over time, but the Left’s wholesale attempt to rid English of every mention of “man” to render it more gender-neutral often seemed silly to me. “Mankind” rendered as “person kind” hurts my ear. And transforming “he” and “she” into “they,” which often confuses “one” with “many”, still rankles.
But those were the good old days. In the political panorama, except for the times the Left interfered with free speech, its cancel culture was a minor transgression. Now that the Right is showing the Left how culture cancelling really ought to be done there’s nothing minor about it.
Looked at historically, the Right has been canceling culture for a long time. During the McCarthy period of the 1950’s government employees, university professors and Hollywood writers and actors bore the brunt of those cancellations. Due process and fact were absent in the McCarthy era of Communist witch hunts; rumor and innuendo were enough to wreck hundreds of lives. In the last decade, the Right has continued its assault on truth. Obama was not born in the United States; Trump’s 2017 inauguration was attended by more people than any inauguration before his. In his first term, Trump cancelled truth by telling more than 30,000 lies, culminating with the Great Steal lie about the 2020 election that he lost.
Trump’s second term is “cancel culture” on steroids. He has already cancelled ethics, foreign aid, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the rule of laws he doesn’t like, and medical insurance for millions. Nothing is safe. Not history. Not science. Not medicine. Not economics. To the Right, everything is subject to cancellation.
As we head into our nation’s 250th anniversary, the Right’s unhappiness with our nation’s real history continues. We focus too much on how bad slavery was, Trump says (nbcnews.com). Confederate traitors should not just be remembered (they surely should be) but we should also name ships and erect statues honoring them. The Right’s preferred American history would recount only the good stuff. The Right’s ideal history textbook would be short and sweet: America has been great for 250 years and it’s even greater now.
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Science has also had a very rough go in 2025. Last week the president again told us that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by “dumb people” and that Tylenol taken by pregnant women causes autism in their children (nytimes.com). Both claims were again offered without proof. Lysenko, the Russian agronomist who tailored his quackery to please Joseph Stalin, the murderous Soviet dictator, would fit neatly into today’s Washington D.C. (wikipedia.org).
Last week the administration, whose Big Beautiful Bill cut food stamps expenditures by fifteen percent, cancelled the annual report on the state of hunger in the nation (nytimes.com). It also delayed a government report on consumer spending, inflation, employment and wages (msn.com). As little as the Trump administration wants to know about history, science or the economy, it wants us to know even less.
And let’s not forget the people Trump is using the power of the government to cancel. On his instructions his Justice Department is indicting his enemies. James Comey, former FBI director, is only the first. George Soros, the Right’s favorite bogeyman, is in his sights for promoting liberalism and democracy (nytimes.com). And our can’t-take-a-joke president is cancelling comedians he doesn’t think are funny.
See? That’s how to do cancellation right.
@Ken Winkes: I'm okay with "humankind," but I cringe every time I am forced to use "they" to describe one person. Although I don't usually do it, I don't mind so much when I see "they" used (improperly) to refer to a group of people, as in "Most of humankind dislikes the taste of broccoli. They don't like Brussels sprouts, either." (In this construction what I would actually write is, "... Most people don't like Brussels sprouts, either.")
English and the Romance languages do not have a good gender-neutral third-person-singular pronoun when it comes to humans and animals. "It" just doesn't work; in fact, "it" is insulting. You would think the MLA would have sponsored at least 137 working groups to sort this out, and that somewhere in there somebody would have proposed a sensible alternative to "they" and "them" to identify a single person.
I'm thinking "one" might work, as in, "I went to lunch with M. Gessen. One doesn't like broccoli, either." It would take some getting used to. Like "humankind." Besides, what does, "She's the one" mean if "one" comes to mean "he" or "she"? (Right now, "she's the one" means something like "she's the woman I love" or "she's the person who ate all the broccoli.")
Okay, maybe "hem" (third person singular object) and "haw" (third person singular subject)! "Haw took hem to the vegan restaurant, but they both refused to eat the broccoli."
Rove and Plato - Truth/Lies
@RAS: Sounds like the whole Republican party. Back in the '80s and '90s, there was a popular saying, "Perception is reality." No, not really, I thought. Reality is what is. My perception of it can be -- and sometimes is -- wrong.
It dawned on me after a while that the people who spouted this saying were Republicans. This was back when many Republicans were normal -- if a little icky in a self-centered, careless way -- and they could be your friends. Then I found out that the person who popularized the saying was the reprehensible GOP strategist Lee Atwater. That made sense.
On Bluesky, Jane Goodall's last Sunday sermon
Turkish pronouns are the same for any gender. He, she, it ... "o" for all. Hers his, its .. "onun" for all. If the nouns in context don't tell you a sex or neuter, you don't know any gender. This simplifies learning Turkish, which after dealing with noun gender in French and Latin ( tables are female? Huh?) Is a Godsend.
Fooled you! French tables are actually masculine.
Kevin Carey, for The Atlantic, on the t**** Deal That Would End Universities’ Independence.
"The Trump administration this week tried to make nine elite research universities an offer they can’t refuse....
The compact is the newest escalation in Trump’s attempt to impose ideological dominance over America’s world-class colleges and universities. The document is breathtaking in its ambition, plainly illegal, and shot through with the tensions that mark Trumpism in its latest form.
....
The compact is not a statute passed by Congress or a regulation written with public consent. It is only the ideological will of the president, offered with the logic and ethics of a mafia protection racket. Shakedown artists browbeat and threaten so they can take something that doesn’t belong to them. They also do it to establish who has power and who should live in fear. Universities that accept this bargain will be selling their souls for nothing but a promise of safety that will surely be broken in turn."
@Patrick: I really like "O" & "onun." I would capitalize "O" -- like the first person singular "I." (Not that "hem" and "haw" wasn't great!) We should borrow from the Turkish. P.S. It's "la table," not "le table" that is, the French table -- as in "dining table"/"table à manger" -- is feminine.
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