I’m going to experiment with some short form blogging for the weekend, calling your attention to some interesting happenings and ideas in the news for your reflection and discussion. . . .
How small wars can turn into big wars: China says that if North Korea attacks first and the U.S. intervenes, it will remain neutral. But if the United States attacks first and moves to overthrow Kim Jong-un, China would intervene to protect its ally.
Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian connections with Donald Trump’s administration continues to intensify. F.B.I. agents served a no-knock search warrant on Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort. They raided his home, taking documents, computers, and other materials.
Democrats are fighting over whether support for abortion should be its party’s “litmus test.” That is, should a candidate running as a Democrat in a local or state election not get party funding or be subject to a primary opponent if he or she is pro-life? Some Democrats are pushing back against this. Including, interestingly, the governor of California, Jerry Brown, a possible presidential candidate.
Google fired a top engineer for complaining about the ideological homogeneity at the company (thus proving him right) and for asserting that there are biological differences between men and women, that the reason there are so few women in high tech industries is not discrimination but the different interests and personalities of the sexes (thus admitting that they are discriminatory).
You’ll want to read this profile of people who are 9 to 5 workers during the weekday, but who put on black clothes and masks to break windows and set cars on fire on weekends when they are protesting the established order and shutting down people who disagree with them. These are anarchists. Their stated concern is poverty and inequality in America today. They describe themselves as leftists, yet they demand smaller government, or, rather no government at all. They are not interested in persuading people–that, they say, is a “liberal” concern–but they feel good about their violent gestures.
As we get used to this new blog design and wait for the Patheos tech people to work out the glitches and fully implement the features, you can watch this video about the changes.
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