Let's Try Democracy

Misneach (mish-nyuhkh) is an Irish word meaning something like bravery, courage, spirit.

The Irish could use more misneach, as we all could. Ireland is failing to stand up to the U.S. military and its use of Ireland. And when a couple of people from the U.S. stand up in Ireland, they’re forbidden to leave the country — as if their misneach can’t be spared, as the stuff is in such low supply. For a recent conference in Limerick, I noted in limericks:

Green Ireland has a peaceful read more

I don’t know if somebody dumped a bottle of sanity solution into Rhode Island Sound or what the reason is, but Brown University, which has military contracts just like everywhere else, is the headquarters of a group of dozens of scholars and experts working to educate read more

If the purpose of the current Trump impeachment hearings were simply to fulfill Congress Members’ oaths of office and do their jobs, it would be difficult to explain the past many years. Jerrold Nadler, Chair of the Judiciary Committee for the past 11 months, has known since inauguration day that Trump was in egregious violation of the emoluments clauses, and has since declared other Trump actions impeachable without moving to impeach him. Impeachable offenses by Trump, Obama, Bush, and read more

When the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia, the weather was unusually hot. People in the streets of Philadelphia beat a woman to death for being a witch and causing the heat in an attempt to kill them.

I’m reminded of the popular claim that climate change causes war. This is generally taken to (somehow) be an antiwar claim, even when the Pentagon makes it, and certainly when environmental groups that wouldn’t touch peace activism with a ten-foot pole make it.

But what about “Climate read more

It’s impossible in U.S. society not to frequently encounter the demand to vote, no matter what, no matter for whom, as a basic civic duty. Voting is supremely important, we’re told, a right, a responsibility, a moral requirement, something people died for which if you don’t use (even if it’s useless) you will effectively be pissing on their graves. I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said “If everyone would vote, it wouldn’t matter what the billionaires read more