Bowen Craig I just heard someone say the phrase “The Red Queen Effect.” I didn’t know this one, but basically it’s when you have to run faster and faster just to stay in the same place. It’s a perfect descriptor for America’s economy in the 2020s. With inflation rising everywhere on everything and wages staying essentially stagnant, … Read more
Before a decade ago, America had gotten so unbelievably complacent. We all figured that, generally speaking, things were going pretty well and the problems were fixable glitches in the system or human error. My how things have changed recently. Democracy is inherently fragile, and the only reasonable conclusion is that, until recently, America actually had … Read more
As loath as I am to admit that either national political party has gotten anything right lately, the Democratic Party was right about Trump’s being a Fascist, wanna-be dictator. It’s harder and harder to deny that every day, which is one of the main reasons his supporters are ditching him faster than rats off the … Read more
Social movements are bizarre things. They sprout up, they simmer down to nothing, they flame brightly and then fade. They have their own little lives. The funniest and weirdest one of my lifetime has got to be the Black Lives Matter/All Lives Matter marches of five years ago. Fed up with young black men getting … Read more
In a supposedly “free” country, and one so devoted to capitalism that it’s willing to give up democracy, wouldn’t you expect more choices for types of everything? It seems to me that we’re getting to a point where we do have a few choices, though they’re really just marginally different from the other options. CARSCars … Read more
I think their proper name is Yoga Pants, but if so then 90% of the women I know are constantly on their way to a yoga class, because these things are everywhere. And every woman I know, regardless of age, size, shape, race, sexual orientation or marital status owns at least a few pairs of … Read more
This seems to be a recurring theme in American social life, the attempt to simply destroy humor, to stop people from laughing, from enjoying life, from making fun of others, from anything remotely fun. Although this is one of the many things the different political “sides” blame on the other side, it’s actually true across … Read more
The Ongoing Quest to Figure out Donald John Trump (Part II) First off, sorry to write yet another article about Trump. Lord knows, the world doesn’t need more ink spilled about him, but damn, he just takes up so much American head space that it’s hard not to think about him. Like your high school … Read more
Late 20th century and, Lord knows, early 21st century America has been a time when the powers that be wielded fear like a master surgeon, using it liberally but specifically enough to scare us into doing whatever the hell stupid policy they wanted to implement. Start a war in the Middle East with no exit … Read more
I can’t tell if this is populism or fake populism, but it feels almost real. As everyone over the age of three knows, American politics is in one of its weirdest places ever. Trump’s popular vote victory means that, unlike in 2016, he really does have a mandate to do what he said he’d do…and … Read more