Dear President Trump, Over the last couple of days I’ve started seeing media folks (David Leonhardt, NYT; Joe Scarborough, WP) calling out your tepid response to the white nationalist terrorist attacks in Christchurch. They are pointedly saying that your failure to condemn such attacks encourages violence towards non-Christians and people of color. It’s a huge … Continue reading Piling on in the worst ways
Science
Canaries in snowy coalmines
Dear President Trump, LOL – I almost wrote “Dear President Tramp.” It actually works pretty well if we consider the verb form; “ to walk heavily or stomp about.” You don’t do anything cautiously, let alone thoughtfully – you’re a stomper, for sure. Then there’s the noun form, which refers to someone who “travels from … Continue reading Canaries in snowy coalmines
Radical empathy and lack thereof (Part 2)
Dear President Trump, When someone gets hurt in your presence of do you involuntarily wince and feel a zing almost as though it was you who was injured? I honestly don’t know whether narcissistic sociopaths have that capacity, but I rather doubt it so maybe you don’t know what it’s like to feel your stomach … Continue reading Radical empathy and lack thereof (Part 2)
Radical empathy (Part 1)
Dear President Trump, I suppose it doesn’t matter too, too much where I start, no matter what angle one approaches it from, it’s sad, infuriating, and overwhelming. But it does feel important to get the story straight and to tell it reasonably well since it’s one that so many of us white people have a … Continue reading Radical empathy (Part 1)
Super unfair stuff
Dear President Trump, I’m not finished with the Quadlin study yet so you aren’t either. Yesterday’s letter was already on the long side so I didn’t get into the finding that among men there wasn’t a significant effect of grade point average on likelihood of being called in for an interview. Well, it’s still bugging … Continue reading Super unfair stuff
Surprise! Women are penalized for being smart
Dear President Trump, Laura came across an interesting sociology study out of Ohio State University yesterday. The author is Natasha Quadlin, an Assistant Professor who studies social inequality, gender, family, and education. The study has two parts, the first of which involved sending out over 2,100 pretend resumes for over 1,000 entry-level positions (so 2-ish … Continue reading Surprise! Women are penalized for being smart
Cynically malevolent
Dear President Trump, Yesterday I had my first squirrel siting in over two weeks. The poor thing seemed kind of addled as it hopped in a sketchy zigzag line up the icy strip in the middle of the street. It’s still unusually cold here, but now it’s raining instead of snowing and we’re down to … Continue reading Cynically malevolent
More growing pains
Dear President Trump, Because we were to sing in the service, Soul Choir folks sat together up towards the front of the sanctuary yesterday. I got to sit between the two oldest members of the choir, one of whom I know is 90 (she’s both very proud to lived so long and hates that she … Continue reading More growing pains
The case for booting Pence too
Dear President Trump, Happy MLK Day to you and your family. I was glad to see that you and Mike Pence attended an MLK Day celebration today. Did it perhaps inspire you to unstick yourself from your asinine fixation on “the border wall” so that you can stop this government shutdown of yours that’s differentially … Continue reading The case for booting Pence too
Courage, not hope
Dear President Trump, We’ve gotten almost half an inch of rain in just over four hours this afternoon. There’s standing water all over and things are a sloppy mess. The wind has died down so hopefully we won’t have trees or power lines coming down. However, the ground is completely saturated and I’m worried about … Continue reading Courage, not hope
