Most folks relate “up” with north and “down” with south. East and west are, at best, consigned to left and right as in describing California as the Left Coast. North and south are two of the cardinal directions within the… Read More ›
National
ICYMI……………February 21, 1848
One hundred seventy-four years ago today, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published Manifesto of the Communist Party in London, a pamphlet that guided political revolutions in Russia and China. Its main thesis holds that all means of production of goods,… Read More ›
Around the Novahood
LOUDOUN SHERIFF STOKES REFUGEE FEARS The Loudoun County sheriff issued a press release last Friday criticizing the potential “relocation of Afghan refugees” by DHS to the National Conference Center in Lansdowne. DHS has advised that about 2,000 Afghans per month were… Read More ›
Slings and Arrows
Conservative Republicans (maybe all Republicans) have resorted to a couple of new buzzword terms to demonize Democratic efforts to enact broad federal voting rights legislation and support for abortion rights. The evil theory in the first instance is termed “federalization.”… Read More ›
The Limits of Freedom
The current debate in opposition to mask and vaccine mandates explicitly and implicitly resonates with a notion about freedom, or to be more precise, restrictions thereon. At its July 2018 convention, the nation’s Libertarian Party platform set forth in a… Read More ›
Strained Quality of Justice
In The Merchant of Venice, the Bard of Avon, William Shakespeare, assigns Portia the task of imploring Shylock for mercy for Antonio’s life subject to his losing a “pound of flesh” for an outstanding financial debt. “The quality of mercy… Read More ›
Ignoring Values
1 The Virginia Mercury (https://www.virginiamercury.com/2022/01/28/why-is-it-so-hard-to-build-tribal-housing/) posed a seemingly innocuous question: “Why is it so hard to build tribal housing in Virginia?” Considering this nation’s behavior toward indigenous Americans, the answer is naggingly elusive but the question prompts consideration about the… Read More ›
NSFY and NIMBY
“No soup for you” (NSFY) echoes the now-iconic soup Nazi from the hit TV show Seinfeld in a 1995 episode when a customer is chastised for attempting to change an order, thereby disrupting the rhythm of the food shop. “Not… Read More ›
Most Important Product
Over eight years, 1954-1962, Ronald Reagan, as spokes master for the popular TV series General Electric Theatre, opened each episode with an introduction that “Progress is our most important product.” While economists and other corporate pundits might agree on measures… Read More ›