Author: Terry Schwadron

An Unusually Vigorous Biden Seemed Clever in Using the Verbal Challenges To Nail the Opposition Down With the partisan smoke the skirmish from the State of the Union passed, can we ask: What was gained by the petulance of heckling by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and various others who felt obliged to shout invectives during Joe Biden’s speech? The outbursts failed as an effective “talk back to power” move and reflected Republican opponents as a bunch of spoiled brats who haven’t learned their manners. Like me, those watching must have been wondering what the impertinent were seeking to achieve…

The State of Our Union Is Divided and Nearly Incapable of Resolving Anything We put too much emphasis on the State of the Union address, which arrives again tonight. We expect more from a president than a self-produced report card — something closer to hope that an elected government, even this split government, will address the biggest problems facing us with practical, achievable, common-sense goals. The state of our union is Divided and nearly incapable of resolving anything.  As a result, as a nation, we are confused and often delusional, disagreeing about what to do because we don’t even accept…

These Republican-led Committees Are as Much Interested – If Not Dominated – By a Desire To Embarrass As with all unfolding public rituals, the press reported on the first subpoena from the House Republican investigative committee cluster – a demand for documents to the FBI and Justice responding to threats against school officials during covid. Since it is all going to be aired at any number of continuing hearings meant to embarrass the Biden administration, we may as well get into what this one is all about – especially since there seems to be enough misplaced embarrassment here for the…

The Only Balloon Popped This Week Was the One of Credibility The Chinese weather-ship-spy-balloon is gone by now, shot down yesterday once it had blown off the very cold East Coast. Its silent trek over the United States clearly has left significant tracks in the hot-air atmosphere on the ground. In the end, this Chinese misadventure likely did not collect any valuable espionage, and though it was a test, it’s mixed messages likely worsened China-U.S. diplomacy efforts with China last night saying Americans were the ones doing wrong. Yet, clearly the incident did unleash a load of venting that reflects…

Is This the Way Things Are Now? Three very separate videos of rage and personal violence emerged last week, but rather than engendering shame, their very presence instead seem to suggest resignation that this is the way things are – with more violence to come. Rather than prompting healing and change, disgusted reactions to the videos conflict with the constant campaigns to win at any means – even if it means people die. Shouldn’t these videos force us to step back and look at ourselves? Don’t we need to look anew at concepts of justice and what contributes to de-escalation…

Trump Is Living Proof That Some Elites Are Above the Law as We Know It The exasperating wait for Donald Trump’s legal comeuppance – in any of the many cases he faces – has become a siege that seems to take as much a deep pool of patience for listening to color commentators who treat it as sports observers as it has for the law to finally act. The rainbow of legal missteps from the very serious to what seem relatively ludicrous incidents reflect Trump’s vast capacity to put himself before the law. It is a continuing suspension of belief…

This Effort To Resist Learning Is Seen as a Political Plus There’s a reason that democratic nations resist negotiating with terrorists even for the return of hostages: Paying the demanded ransom only promises more of the same. That’s the context of this week’s apparent cave-in by the College Board to winnow its Advanced Placement Curriculum for African American Studies after focused criticism by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his budding presidential platform based on a broad attack on all policies, programs, and attitudes that he sees as reflecting a “woke” outlook in education and business. Protestations from the College…

There Has Been Less Progress Than What Was Promised It seems clear that we will be hearing renewed pleas from President Joe Biden at his State of the Union address next week to address racial justice in America. However divergent from the practical details of winning legislation, Biden likely will – and should – recommit to an agenda that talks about diversity in the country and those who are consistently being left behind, ignored, or directly brutalized in our society because of Difference. It is a would-be call to action in the name of morality in a time when those…

A Petulant Display of Partisanship That Defies Hypocrisy Even if your political news habits don’t include Newsmax, an outwardly right-leaning media outlet, you might be interested by its very noisy dispute going on with DirecTV. It’s a business smash-up that has right-wing Washington turning political cartwheels over the propaganda-vs.-censorship era in which we find ourselves. Newsmax is no longer on DirecTV, as the satellite video provider decided recently not to renew an expiring deal over Newsmax’s money demands. Apart from any discussion of responsibilities of providers to offer information from all political points of view, it is luring Congressional Republicans…

Is Artificial Intelligence Friend or Foe? As soon as we hear of new scientific or technological development, we seem to react in automatic, predictable, and nearly immediate manner: What’s the practical application? How can we make money from this? Is it going to help people cheat? Of course, the reactions tell us more about our embedded social and ethical values than it does about the latest invention or tech extension. There are a host of thinkers through the ages who would note that our darkest reactions reflect a human tendency towards greed and selfishness that requires taming through regulations, laws,…