Politisches

It’s time, probably, for me to post some of the links that I’ve been accumulating on broadly socio-political topics lately.

First, some of you may be aware that Vladimir Putin and his approximate United States counterpart, До́нальд Трамп, joined together for a press conference in Helsinki, Finland, earlier this week, and that reactions to the press conference have not been uniformly positive.  Here are a few responses that you may or may not have seen:

First, from the superb conservative writer Dr. George Will, who chooses his words with care:

“This sad, embarrassing wreck of a man”

Second, from the man who should have been elected president of the United States in 2012 but who will almost certainly be elected senator from Utah in 2018:

“Romney: Trump’s remarks at Putin summit ‘disgraceful and detrimental to democratic principles'”

This article comes from America’s premiere investigative journal:

“Distraught Mueller Burns Every Piece Of Evidence In Case After Hearing Trump’s Critique Of U.S. Intelligence Community”

Here’s some commentary from the conservative magazine National Review:

“The Likeliest Explanation for Trump’s Helsinki Fiasco”

And this:

“Against Moral Equivalence”

Written before the Helsinki press conference:

“Mueller’s Latest Indictments Show That ‘Witches’ Are Very Real”

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Not really political, but definitely socio(political):

“Sacha Baron Cohen’s Sexual Harassment, in the Me Too Era”

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Some items regarding the Supreme Court of the United States:

“Trump could end up replacing 3, even 4, Supreme Court justices in his first term”

From a pair of law professors:

“Anthony Kennedy Opens New Chapter in American Pluralism”

A very interesting and actually quite nonpolitical piece from the Religion News Service:

“Why Catholics and Jews dominate at the Supreme Court”

From Vox:

“What Brett Kavanaugh’s past decisions on religious liberty mean for the future of SCOTUS: Kavanaugh will move the Court sharply to the right — but some conservative critics say it’s not enough.”

From Christianity Today:

“Brett Kavanaugh Is a Good Supreme Court Pick and the Reason Many Voted for Trump: A more conservative court is good for America in many ways.”

From one of my favorite conservative commentators, writing in National Review:

“The Kavanaugh Pick: Lamenting an Opportunity Lost”

Another, from the same writer:

“So, Brett Kavanaugh Is Going to Kill People Now?”

And, yet again from the same writer, this article, which I believe to be making a very, very important point:

“How the Kavanaugh Nomination Reveals a Deep Challenge to Our Democracy”

This, too, is a good piece, worth reading:

“Brett Kavanaugh and the Many Sides of Trump: He’s outsourced the Supreme Court to the establishment.”