Yesterday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which generated a lot of “Trump = Hitler” tweets. And as it happened, I had gotten a new library book, Final Solution; the Fate of the Jews 1933 – 1949, by David Cesarani, a short time ago, and spent some time reading it. This is a very dense book, some 800 pages and full of detail, endless detail, though unfortunately lacking in a timeline to be able to grasp the overall course of events.... Read more
So Trump’s big “extreme vetting” executive order was signed yesterday, and I’ve been waiting for the text to be added to the White House site, though so far I’ve only found it at CNN.com, along with a summary of its contents. First, the good: There are three bits of “fake news” floating around: First, the executive order does not prioritize Christian refugees. Here’s the text: Upon the resumption of USRAP admissions, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of... Read more
In the news yesterday were reports (e.g., CNN) that Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto cancelled a planned meeting with President Trump (yeah, it’s crazy to write that!) after disputes over Trump’s plan to build a wall and pass on the costs to Mexico. Now, it seems to me that back during the election, pundits liked to say of Trump’s “Mexico will pay for it” claim, that he was just staking out a negotiating posture, so that, in the end, the Mexican... Read more
So now it’s the turn of the Democrats to say, “if you didn’t like Obama’s executive orders, you ought to be outraged at Trump, because he’s doing the same thing.” Is he? Obama’s most notorious executive order was DACA, which was a matter of taking the executive power to determine not to deport certain individuals, and applying this to the better part of a million people. OK, that’s not true — is most notorious was DAPA, which would have covered... Read more
In the past, when we haven’t had a “big” vacation, we’ve spent a week in Grand Haven, Michigan. Lovely place — great beach, great bike paths, a cute town area, etc. But this year we may not be able to make plans until April or later, because we’ll be waiting to see if any of the “internship” programs for my high-school junior son pan out, and what kind of time constraints that puts on us. And by then, our favorite... Read more
After World War I, the victorious allies obliged Germany to accept a treaty that was so humiliating that it directly led to World War II, because it forced Germany into a poverty and resentment from which Hitler rose to power. After World War II, the allies had learned their lesson and instead helped Germany rebuild, to create the democratic, peace-loving country it has been ever since. The lesson learned is that being magnanimous and generous even to your enemies is... Read more
What does “never again” mean? We use this phrase to signal a determination not to let another Holocaust happen, another genocide, but then we Americans watch from a distance as killing occurs in one country after another. partly because we simply don’t want to get involved in foreign wars, and partly because it’s not so easy to decide what constitutes a genocide which requires foreign intervention. And all this talk of Trump being “the next Hitler” and his administration being... Read more
Point #1: Obama’s inaugural speech was written by a professional speechwriter, Jon Favreau. A very young professional speechwriter, to be sure, but one who became fully absorbed in the task of crafting inspirational speeches for Obama during his campaign. Donald Trump, by all reports, wrote his speech himself. And it shows: there is none of the careful crafting, the flowery use of language, the literary flourishes that we expect from these sort of grand speeches. The speech is instead, pedestrian,... Read more
And I find it distasteful. Sorry, but I do. This is, above all, an anti-Trump march. It’s organizers say that this is a march for “human rights” but fundamentally this is not about social justice generically but a march specifically aimed at voicing opposition to Trump for the things he’s said in the past and the things he’s expected to do in the future, however realistic those fears are. So, fine, a march in Washington D.C. makes sense. Marches in... Read more
Trump was asked that question, and he answered oddly: “I don’t like heroes, I don’t like the concept of heroes.” He then rambles on about his father in a very Trumpian sort of way so it’s a mystery what he meant by not liking heroes. Did he mean that he objects to the idea that we should hold some people up as role models? Is he thinking of kids treating a sports star as a “hero”? The notion of putting... Read more
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