Two Videos Resembling A.I. Predictions

 

Nixon Gets a Closer Look

James Rosen's recent story in The New York Times about the recently released testimony of former President Richard Nixon deserves wide attention.

There was a "deep state" and there is no reason to believe it went away.

Richard P. Nathan's The Plot That Failed: Nixon and the Administrative Presidency is on my 2026 reading list along with Silent Coup: The Removal of a President by Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin.

Am also re-reading William Safire's Before the Fall: An Inside View of the Pre-Watergate White House.

Brutal

 

British Political Humor and Commentary

 

Yes, he's still out there.

Our Times: Universalists versus Particularists

The Universalists say that it is improper for teachers to take elementary and high school students out of class to participate in a political protest that is neither favored by many of the parents and students nor by the local school board. 

The Universalists also would not approve such activities for causes in which they believe because they support the equal application of the standards.

The Particularists say that exceptions are proper if the cause is one which the teachers and many others deem to be just.

The Particularists would not favor similar conduct if the cause were one that they opposed.

[Photo by Pixel Shot at Unsplash]

First Paragraph

The Raphaëls leave in the middle of the night, and they leave everything behind.

- From 33 Place Brugman by Alice Austen

Theme from "The Pacific"

 

The Decline of Unifying Events

Remember the ancient days of pre-cable television?

Those days when there were special programs that everyone watched for free? 

Ones that everyone talked about because everyone had seen them?

These were the big ones:

- The Olympics from the Opening Ceremony all the way through to the Closing Ceremony. We were immersed in stories about the serious contenders and the very long shots. ABC Sports coverage was legendary.

- The World Series. All the games or, at least, most of them in the days when the games were played during the day. I recall a television being wheeled into elementary school classes for some brief viewing during the school day.

- The Super Bowl. I recently tried in vain to find the game without paying for a subscription.

- Political Conventions once had gavel-to-gavel coverage. You got to know the famous, the infamous, and the fairly obscure political figures. For those of us who are political junkies, that was a Golden Age. 

It was great to see personalities such as Everett Dirksen, Edward W. Brooke, Jacob Javits, Margaret Chase Smith, Harold Washington, Sam Yorty, and Richard Daley in a less-formal setting.

This may seem like a minor complaint, but when you take away (or make it difficult to find) that "free" coverage, you've removed some major unifying events.

The national community is diminished.

Civilization

 

10 Books for High School (and College) Students

 

These books can be life-changers.

I wish they had been around when I was in high school.

[Photo by Eric Vo at Unsplash]