https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cswqv6

The United States Is a Pariah State and Should Be Treated as Such

According to WorldAtlas, there are four criteria that make a nation a pariah state. The United States meets all four criteria. “The first category is nations that acquire, own, or utilize weapons of mass destruction with disregard for current international treaties. The second category is nations or governments that support acts of terrorism or terrorist…

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Am I the Only One Bothered By This – Impeachment Edition

Trump’s second impeachment trial is currently happening in the Senate. I feel like I should be paying attention, but I can’t. I’m just so fatigued from the last four or five years. He’s not president anymore, I’d like to never think about him again. In some vague way, I hope he’s convicted. He’s obviously guilty,…

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If I Were President

This should have a much longer title. It should really be “If I Were President With At Least A Two-thirds Majority In Both Houses Of Congress, Sympathetic Courts, And At Least Two-thirds Of The Governorships And State Legislatures.” In other words, it’s a wish list. If I had the power to arranging things the way…

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I’ve Got a Problem

I’ve always assumed that most people are good people. And I don’t mean 51%. I’m talking about 95% or more. When I pass someone on the street or meet someone new, I can’t help it. I’m pretty sure that’s a good person who deserves my respect. There’s a part of me that recognizes that bad…

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Patriotism

A new Gallup poll was published (hey, look at that, just in time for the fourth of July) that says that American patriotism has hit a record low. That’s really no surprise. Most Americans do not support Trump and are rightly embarrassed by his administration. It’s hard to be proud of something that’s an active…

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The Great Emancipator

Today is February 12th, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, so it seems appropriate to say a little something about him.  But, I don’t really have anything to say that hasn’t already been said a million times before.  So, I’m going to take a different tack and use Lincoln’s presidency as a jumping off point for a more…

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Rights Are Often Wrong – Part Two

In part one of this post, I talked about how difficult it is to use rights as the basis of an argument and proposed some ways we can make the discussions involving rights more fruitful.  Now, I’m going to talk about what got me thinking about this in the first place, guns.  There are two…

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It's Not a Competition

When I went to vote on November 4th, I brought my 3 year old daughter with me.  As 3 year olds are likely to do, she asked a lot of questions, “What is voting?  Why do you have to vote?  Can I vote?  Are you voting no?  What’s that marker for?  Can I draw on…

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Vote

A friend of mine posted a piece recently called “Don’t Vote or Die“.  When I saw it, I posted some comments disagreeing with a few of his points.  Since then, a lot of my friends have been making comments about not voting in the upcoming election.  Every time I hear them, I think of this…

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Thoughts on the Scottish Referendum (Sort Of)

The Scottish independence referendum left me disappointed.  That’s funny because I would have voted against separation if I had been able to vote.  I didn’t have any kind of stake, but it looked to me like Scottish independence would have been bad for the UK as well as for Scotland.  Divorces are almost always messier…

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