Gadfly

Just How Long Will Our Democracy Last?
A truth hit me the other night while Corky and I were watching Simone Biles defend her national championship in gymnastics. Our democracy is very young and vulnerable. One of our daughters was a very competitive gymnast in middle and high school and was a member of the F-M Acro team that entertained at half-time for numerous state and national events, including several National Basketball Association playoff games in the 1970’s. We have…

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What Kind of Country Will Our Grandchildren Live In?
Perhaps the developers of a new science called cliodynamics will help us find an answer. In this new field, scientists and mathematicians analyze history in the hopes they can find trends and patterns in order to predict the future. Remember the adage: “Those who don’t know history are bound to repeat it.” I wonder if they are analyzing history to see if there ever was a leader with less character than Donald Trump. The word…

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Well, Mr. President, Have You No Sense Of Decency Sir, At Long Last?

We might have another flag debate in this country. We still see the Confederate symbol flying in activities promoted by white supremacists on the streets of America and at numerous Klu Klux Klan meetings in the South. And on rural pickups. A new American flag has been created by a New York artist that symbolizes our divided country. Yes, the red, white, and blue stars and stripes are still there, but a divided black…

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Actually The Times Have Been A-Changin’ Since The Big Bang
Bob Dylan did a terrific job reminding all of us that “the times they are a’changin’.” My first 14 years were spent on a small farm near Little Falls, living in a house with no electricity or running water, reading books by kerosene lamp, and dashing to the two-holer 60 feet away in the boondocks when it was 20 below.

This morning I microwaved an old cup of coffee, got on the Internet and read The Washington Post, The…

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1978-2018: Average CEO Pay Up 64% To $13.94 Million Average Worker Pay Up 2.6% To $38,613
Since the Bush Great Recession ended in 2009 corporate profits have grown at an annualized rate of 6.5%. Big bank profits have grown at even a higher rate. If we go back forty years we come up with the shocking figures in the headline. Since the end of the recession in 2009 yearly wage growth has never hit 3% while the Consumer Price Index has hovered around 2%. The Labor Department just announced…

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The Long Road From Plymouth Rock To Fantasyland
Did a liberal or conservative make this statement?

“I believe that in a modern, moral, and wealthy society, no person in America should be too poor to live. So what that means is health care is a human right. It means that every child, no matter where you are born, should have access to a college or trade school education if they so choose it. And, you know, I think that no person should be homeless if we can have public structures and…

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“Hi Ho, Hi Ho! It’s Off To Work We Go!”
How many undocumented workers are in the United States? Estimates range from 11 to 25 million. We need some history to understand why our immigration laws are in such a mess. The most important of our hundreds of immigration laws has never been enforced. That’s the one that says any employer who hires an undocumented worker is committing a felony and can be rewarded with a clanging jail cell door. Over three decades ago fat cat American…

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Can It Happen Here?
So it has finally come to this. From the normal of a century to the abnormal of the last 30 months, we are at each other’s throats. We represent either the “looney left” or the “righteous right.” Instead of negotiating with each other for the common good, a lie-a-minute psychopathic Great Leader has us talking about waves of red and blue, building 2,000-mile great walls, rants about Mexican gang rapists and Muslims terrorizing cities, and accusing Crooked…

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How Long is the Civil War Going to Last?
The American Civil War officially ended slavery in 1865 and supposedly freed the slaves. But what has happened in the 150 years since then has not accomplished either. The new voter suppression laws being passed by white Republican legislatures across the country under the guise these laws will eliminate voter fraud are actually beginning the Fifth Jim Crow period since slavery began in the 1600s. Jim Crow #1 started when slavery became the…

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Ireland Has Sent Pope Francis and The Vatican A Dear John Letter: “It’s Over!”The Irish people and the Vatican have been developing a huge cultural grand canyon for decades over the issues of gender identities, contraceptives, abortion, same sex marriage, and the roles of women in the church. In an absolutely historic referendum vote in May, Irish voters of the once most-Roman Catholic country in Europe, repealed the 8th amendment in their constitution banning abortion by a 66.4…

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