Tag: Freedom
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A truly heinous Roe v. Wade decision looks likely
It hasn’t been looking good for Roe v. Wade for a long time. So the shocking leak of a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito shouldn’t surprise us too much with its bottom line. The court looks likely to overturn 49 years of precedence in a 5-4 decision, a decision made possible in part by…
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The fruits of freedom
Across mostly red states, Republicans are noisily celebrating their freedom. Only one freedom seems to matter at the moment: freedom from taking the covid-19 vaccine, a freedom that hasn’t been denied them so you wonder what the fuss is all about. It’s unfortunately quite clear that they want to extend this freedom to plenty of…
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How do we win the fight against willful ignorance and stupidity?
There are so many overarching issues to deal with right now that it feels overwhelming. For me, one of the largest overarching issues is figuring out how to fight all the willful ignorance and stupidity that is going on pretty much everywhere in our country. 2020 had many appalling displays of it, and 2021 looks…
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Covid-19 freedom feels fleeting
Saturday I got the second jab, that second dose of vaccine (Moderna) that has something like a ninety percent chance of keeping me from acquiring covid-19. Another drive to a CVS for the shot, this time in faraway Springfield, Massachusetts. But at least this time things felt more relaxed. The nurse that jabbed me even…
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Republicans: freedom isn’t what you think it is
Dr. Anthony Fauci is a model civil servant, simply telling the truth about infectious diseases as best he can, most recently of course about our covid-19 pandemic. Yet he is constantly being sniped at by Republicans, today by Rep. Jim (“Gym”) Jordan (R-Ohio). Rep. Jordon grilled Dr. Fauci, asking him when Americans will get their…
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Anti-vaxxers – Lock ’em up
It’s nice to get some validation that you were a good parent. The latest was a tweet from my 29-year-old daughter publicly thanking her mom and me for getting her vaccinated. She was watching a documentary on rubella that scared the crap out of her until she realized that we had vaccinated her against it.…
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Indiana tries the “freedom of religion” ruse
States are starting to learn that while they have the power to legislate against people they don’t like, it’s generally not a good idea to use it. The latest case in point, of course, is the State of Indiana. Its governor Mike Pence recently unwisely signed into law a “Religious Freedom Restoration Act”. It essentially…
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The Civil War is not over
I haven’t been posting book reviews lately because I’ve been focusing on The Civil War. I’m slogging through the last volume of Shelby Foote’s history of The Civil War and with luck I’ll finish it in a month or two. I read it a few pages at a time in the evenings shortly before turning…
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Money is freedom
Americans celebrate freedom. Everyone is free, we proudly proclaim. But what exactly is freedom anyhow? Freedom amounts to being able to do what you want when you want to do it. Based on this criterion, it’s clear to me that some of us are freer that others, and those are people with more money. When…
Occam's Razor 