Dear President Trump, Thoughts and prayers. Prayers and thoughts. And thoughts prayers. And prayers thoughts. Thoughts prayers and. Prayers thoughts and. It really doesn’t matter how the words are arranged, does it? The words can even be heartfelt and as sincere as humanly possible and that doesn’t matter either, does it? The people who are … Continue reading Thoughts, prayers, and our collective failure of imagination and will
Manipulation
Sitting with the fact of racism
Dear President Trump, How was it for you sitting overnight with the idea that all white Americans are racist? Ok, I know, you haven’t read a single word I’ve written you and even if you had, you wouldn’t have stuck with this run of letters for a nanosecond, and even if there was some rent … Continue reading Sitting with the fact of racism
Class analysis (2)
Dear President Trump, You know the next part of the class analysis we did in the People’s Institute Undoing Racism workshop, don’t you? You know it by heart, your shriveled, calcified little heart, don’t you? You didn’t have to attend a workshop, take a class, or read anything at all (heaven forbid), did you? Nope, … Continue reading Class analysis (2)
The silver lining of long wait-lists for anti-racism workshops
Dear President Trump, I didn’t put it quite this way, but yesterday I argued that we need to keep our eyes and ears trained on the robust strands of truth reported by Mueller and his team that all point to high crimes and misdemeanors well worthy of impeachment. I also reminded myself that we need … Continue reading The silver lining of long wait-lists for anti-racism workshops
Cognitive dissonance and gaslighting aren’t the half of it
Dear President Trump, I’m not sure how I missed them both over the last couple of days, but this morning I saw two rather stale Op Ed’s that were pretty interesting to read as companion pieces. The first was by Kathleen Vohs who dove into a detailed explanation of cognitive dissonance. I’ve explained it to … Continue reading Cognitive dissonance and gaslighting aren’t the half of it
Gordian knots and fierce compassion
Dear President Trump, I just looked it up to make sure this angst I’m feeling over writing to you about you isn’t an existential crisis of some sort and it’s really not – it’s not at all that I feel my life lacks purpose or meaning. Rather, I think that once again you have me … Continue reading Gordian knots and fierce compassion
Pseudo science and inflammatory lies about scientists
Dear President Trump, I just took an interesting tour through Google-land. It started because I wanted to go back to a headline I read on the Good News Network (“Complaining Can Literally Shrink Your Brain, Says Stanford Study”), but had passed over in part because I didn’t want it to be true and in part … Continue reading Pseudo science and inflammatory lies about scientists
“Hail the Chief” please
Dear President Trump, It’s so interesting what one finds when one follows a thread. This one started when I was reading about the horrible storms that hit the DC area yesterday, seeing the pictures of cars floating away, roads and parks swamped, and people looking confused and frightened. I decided to check your daily schedule … Continue reading “Hail the Chief” please
Gaslighting on steroids
Dear President Trump, Rick Atkinson has an Opinions Essay in the WP wherein he summarizes the expansionism and attendant overreach of the British Empire. He is clear that there are myriad differences between Britain’s rise and fall and rise and fall and our own situation, but cautions that the apple (that is America) didn’t fall … Continue reading Gaslighting on steroids
The dictator-magnet
Dear President Trump, You and Kim Jong Un have been doing some serious fawning over each other lately, touting your terrific relationship and how it’s bound to lead to wonderful things (or the more syllabically manageable “very good things” that you offered). Here are a couple of highlights I pulled out of the WP yesterday: … Continue reading The dictator-magnet