The maturing effect of life experiences has changed the way I view this song. I planned to explain my choice here, but as I spent all day yesterday thinking and writing about it, I realized that it is going to take a lot longer than I expected. It’s Complicated.
"Surrealism"
I saw this scary scene in a combination roadhouse, restaurant, and crafts studio(!) in Westcliffe, Colorado.
After finishing his beer(s), this gentleman went and sat in on an art class. It would be intimidating to criticize his painting. Or his gun.
Westcliffe, Colorado
So let me get this straight @realDonaldTrump ...
You would prefer us to believe that rather than inciting violence, your statement about Hillary Clinton, future Supreme Court nominees, and Second Amendment supporters was not an attempt to incite violence but rather an example of how unqualified you are to be President. One or the other is true, although admittedly, both could be true.
When you are President of the United States, everything you say matters. It also matters how you say it. Your diarrhea of the mouth is dangerous.
On Ben Carson, Muslim ShariaLaw and Christian Biblical Law
“I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation.”
I get it. He's worried that a Muslim would place their religious beliefs and loyalties above the US Constitution. That's the same reason I worry about having a Christian in charge of this nation. Later, when asked to clarify, Dr. Carson said that he guessed it would be okay as long as the Muslim candidate renounced Sharia law. I had thought Carson was stupid, but he's on to something. It would be okay as long as the Christian renounced Biblical law.
Please please please intelligent moderate and conservative Republicans: Start throwing your voices, support, and money behind your other candidates who are less about hate, ego, and pandering to extremists and more about rational political debate and philosophy. I may not agree with your politics, but if your more rational candidates don't get more support soon, they are not going to be able to continue their campaigns and you're going to have a Bozo (or Bozette) representing you in the next election. That's a danger we just can't risk.
I've decided to start going by "Rand" Sloan...
Please adjust your salutations accordingly.
Rick Perlstein, author of The invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan spoke to Fresh Air contributor Dave Davies about how Reagan’s stories did not withstand scrutiny:
"I say that Ronald Reagan could not have survived the age of Google. … He’s telling a story about out-of-control federal bureaucrats and how they even want a tourist paddle wheeler that plies the Mississippi River to get the same kind of fire insurance that commercial ships have, even though this paddle wheeler is this ancient — not a real ship, right? He says, "It has not even had a fire in its entire existence." All I have to do is Google the name of it … and find out that it had a fire two years before he spoke.
He found moral truths in the stories that he told. As people discovered when he was president, they often didn’t withstand scrutiny, but as they also discovered when he was president, it was always hard to make this criticism of Reagan stick. They called him “The Teflon President.” And his ability to make people feel good — to kind of preach this liturgy of absolution in which Americans were noble and pure and could absolve themselves of the responsibility of reckoning with alleged sins in America’s past — that was to me the soul of his appeal.”
Photo:
Ronald Reagan waves to the crowd on the final night of the Republican National Convention on Aug. 19, 1976 in Kansas City, Missouri. By David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images
Listened to this on NPR. It was an interesting interview and I added the book to my “to read” list.