http://safefordemocracy.com Since 1914 Tue, 24 Apr 2018 19:26:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 https://i0.wp.com/safefordemocracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/cropped-Twitter-Logo-e1497998950794.png?fit=32%2C32 http://safefordemocracy.com 32 32 112847958 http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/04/10/sick-of-sin/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/04/10/sick-of-sin/#respond Mon, 10 Apr 2017 21:53:46 +0000 https://safefordemocracy.com/?p=708 Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to … Continue reading Sick of Sin →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/04/10/sick-of-sin/feed/ 0 708 http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/04/05/if-youre-gonna-care-about-anything/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/04/05/if-youre-gonna-care-about-anything/#respond Wed, 05 Apr 2017 18:46:09 +0000 https://safefordemocracy.com/?p=697 Continue reading If You’re Gonna Care About Anything →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/04/05/if-youre-gonna-care-about-anything/feed/ 0 697 http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/30/war-on-islam/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/30/war-on-islam/#respond Thu, 30 Mar 2017 22:53:12 +0000 https://safefordemocracy.com/?p=606 Wittingly, or, as seems increasingly likely, unwittingly, Trump is gearing up to start a war that his advisor Steve Bannon hopes will decide the fate of the world in a conflagration between Christian Capitalism and Islam. Some of the preparation has been big in the news. They’re cutting the budget of the State Department, whose operations … Continue reading War on Islam →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/30/war-on-islam/feed/ 0 606 http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/27/their-vast-carelessness/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/27/their-vast-carelessness/#respond Mon, 27 Mar 2017 21:54:59 +0000 https://safefordemocracy.com/?p=608 “…they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” —Nick, from the Great Gatsby, on Daisy and Tom Buchanan Every week is a slog and every Monday morning feels … Continue reading Their Vast Carelessness →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/27/their-vast-carelessness/feed/ 0 608 http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/24/clowns/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/24/clowns/#respond Fri, 24 Mar 2017 23:39:34 +0000 https://safefordemocracy.com/?p=588 http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/24/clowns/feed/ 0 588 http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/21/goethes-oak/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/21/goethes-oak/#respond Tue, 21 Mar 2017 19:13:03 +0000 https://safefordemocracy.com/?p=567 I’m running a day late this week, mostly due to hangover, but I’ve got an excuse. This was a three day weekend in Mexico, commemorating the birthday of what wasn’t their first president, or even their first republican president, but what was, because of a messy political century from 1820 to 1920 or so, their … Continue reading Goethe’s Oak →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/21/goethes-oak/feed/ 0 567 http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/13/550/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/13/550/#respond Mon, 13 Mar 2017 22:15:34 +0000 https://safefordemocracy.com/?p=550 If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may … Continue reading The Poor and Needy Neighbor →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/13/550/feed/ 0 550 http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/07/527/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/07/527/#respond Tue, 07 Mar 2017 19:58:25 +0000 https://safefordemocracy.com/?p=527 This administration is generating news faster than anybody can get a handle on it, and whether intentional or not, the blizzard of bullshit serves as a kind of shield, splitting our attention. So let’s see what happened last week and what’s worth keeping an eye on. Jeff Sessions I want to be clear that there … Continue reading What A Mess →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/07/527/feed/ 0 527 http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/03/a-peculiar-institution/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/03/a-peculiar-institution/#respond Fri, 03 Mar 2017 23:01:04 +0000 https://safefordemocracy.com/?p=505 Today’s post is, to put it lightly, a long one. We’re cresting 4,000 words, and to make it easier for you, if you’ve got a real good handle on the DHS immigration memos already, go ahead and skip down to Part Two. If not, keep reading, and you’ll get the whole story, from the deeper implications … Continue reading A Peculiar Institution →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/03/03/a-peculiar-institution/feed/ 0 505 http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/27/memos-missing-congressmen-and-a-misfiring-press-policy/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/27/memos-missing-congressmen-and-a-misfiring-press-policy/#respond Mon, 27 Feb 2017 20:56:51 +0000 https://safefordemocracy.com/?p=492 This past week, like every week since the Inauguration, was a bad week. The Immigration Memos This is bar none the most important thing that went on in the last seven days, and I’m going to break them out into their own post tomorrow. For now though, here’s what you need to know. John Kelly, … Continue reading Memos, Missing Congresspeople, and a Misfiring Press Policy →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/27/memos-missing-congressmen-and-a-misfiring-press-policy/feed/ 0 492 http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/23/alternate-realities/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/23/alternate-realities/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2017 19:45:33 +0000 http://safefordemocracy.com/?p=307 “Well, now that we have seen each other,” said the Unicorn, “if you’ll believe in me, I’ll believe in you.” —Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass I want to talk about alternate realities. Not the multiverse kind or the virtual kind, but the kind that exist all around us. I watched Spotlight recently and none of us … Continue reading Alternate Realities →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/23/alternate-realities/feed/ 1 307 http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/21/the-center-cannot-hold/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/21/the-center-cannot-hold/#respond Tue, 21 Feb 2017 19:22:24 +0000 https://safefordemocracy.com/?p=465 So let’s talk about Michael Flynn. It’s hard to keep up with all this, so a quick recap: Flynn is a lifer in the the Army, makes Lieutenant General, and serves for two years as the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency under Obama. The DIA coordinates military intelligence and acts, kind of, as the … Continue reading The Center Cannot Hold →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/21/the-center-cannot-hold/feed/ 0 465 http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/20/the-widening-gyre/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/20/the-widening-gyre/#respond Tue, 21 Feb 2017 00:14:12 +0000 https://safefordemocracy.com/?p=453 Continue reading The Widening Gyre →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/20/the-widening-gyre/feed/ 0 453 http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/16/a-memorable-series-of-revolutions/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/16/a-memorable-series-of-revolutions/#respond Thu, 16 Feb 2017 21:37:19 +0000 https://safefordemocracy.com/?p=442 At the time I originally wrote this, the Senate had just confirmed “Mad Dog” Mattis, the first time since George Marshall at the end of the Second World War that a non-civilian has gotten a waiver to serve as Secretary of Defense. Two days before that, Donald Trump got in front of a crowd to … Continue reading A Memorable Series of Revolutions →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/16/a-memorable-series-of-revolutions/feed/ 0 442 http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/13/day-by-day/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/13/day-by-day/#respond Mon, 13 Feb 2017 21:52:34 +0000 https://safefordemocracy.com/?p=378 Continue reading Day by Day →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2017/02/13/day-by-day/feed/ 0 378 http://safefordemocracy.com/2016/11/16/thanksgiving/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2016/11/16/thanksgiving/#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2016 21:04:57 +0000 http://safefordemocracy.com/?p=310 Well, Thanksgiving with the volunteers is over now, and it’s a cold week dawning here in Mexico. This is, a year later than I deserved or had any right to expect, the end of my experience with the Peace Corps. We all came down for different reasons. Some of us for adventure, some of us … Continue reading Thanksgiving →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2016/11/16/thanksgiving/feed/ 3 310 http://safefordemocracy.com/2016/09/21/so-what-about-the-why/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2016/09/21/so-what-about-the-why/#comments Wed, 21 Sep 2016 22:01:01 +0000 http://safefordemocracy.com/?p=275 So the podcast has been out for about twelve weeks now, and I’ve gotten a couple of scattered comments and responses on two different subjects that I think, in the end, come to the same thing. And I think they’re valid and I think they’re important. So I’m going to talk about them. The first suggestion … Continue reading So What About the Why? →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2016/09/21/so-what-about-the-why/feed/ 1 275 http://safefordemocracy.com/2016/06/23/historical-optimism/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2016/06/23/historical-optimism/#comments Thu, 23 Jun 2016 15:34:50 +0000 http://safefordemocracy.com/?p=197 Part of what I want to get at in this blog and in the cast is why we as a country, culture, people do what we do abroad. Why and how we can continue seeding these disasters overseas. Part of the answer, unavoidably, is that we don’t see foreigners as people, not in the most … Continue reading Historical Optimism →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2016/06/23/historical-optimism/feed/ 2 197 http://safefordemocracy.com/2016/06/16/looking-at-history-from-the-outside/ http://safefordemocracy.com/2016/06/16/looking-at-history-from-the-outside/#comments Thu, 16 Jun 2016 21:59:25 +0000 http://safefordemocracy.com/?p=175 Continue reading Looking at History from the Outside →]]> http://safefordemocracy.com/2016/06/16/looking-at-history-from-the-outside/feed/ 3 175