After 2 years of big nothings, reasonable Leftists should abandon the Russia theory, but the Putin-Trump confab recharged the Left’s conspiracy mania.
If Trump is crazy, he’s crazy like a fox. As for members of the media, they are stupid — not stupid in a smart way, but genuinely, truly stupid.
I’ve been mentally composing a post in my head today about Trump’s negotiating tactics with Putin, not to mention his other clever moves, all of which are aimed at cutting through the garbage of diplo-speak or at engaging in functional relationships with un-nice people who nevertheless share planet earth with us and with whom war would get very ugly, very quickly. So, I had all these inchoate ideas and arguments, when suddenly I had before me Dov Fischer’s masterful Everyone is Smart Except Trump.
Having read it, I feel as if all the best ideas, arguments, and jokes I had in my head, all of which were blending in an incoherent (at worst) and dull (at best) mess, got sucked out of me and incorporated into an article that had me saying after every sentence, “Gosh, I wish I’d written that.” Here are some select gems from Fischer’s article, but you’re denying yourself both a pleasure and a learning experience if you don’t read the whole thing: Continue reading
I am beyond excited to introduce you to Ido Kedar’s In Two Worlds, a beautifully written, powerful novel about life with non-verbal autism.
Some months ago, I teased you by telling you that I was helping edit an extraordinary novel and that I would let you know as soon as the book was published. Today is that day. I am incredibly excited to introduce you to In Two Worlds, by Ido Kedar. It’s currently available only in hard copy, but I understand that it will soon be available in e-book form too, both on Amazon and Smashwords.
In Two Worlds tells the story of Anthony, a boy with non-verbal autism. When the book begins, seven-year-old Anthony is completely locked-in: He understands everything around him, but is unable to communicate and has only limited control over his body. His loving parents are doing everything they can for him, but only Anthony knows what the expert advice and programs fail to comprehend — and therefore to treat — which is that there is a complete human being buried under the compulsions and trapped in the silence. Meanwhile, Anthony’s behaviors upset the balance at home and keep him trapped in an education program aimed at children who are incapable of learning.
Over the next 300 or so pages, this elegantly written book takes the reader through the next decade in Anthony’s life, as he struggles against his own physical limitations and the systemic constraints under which he’s forced to operate, and then, at long last, as he is introduced to a new program that brings him out of the world of Autismland and places him firmly in real life. In Two Worlds is beautifully structured, because as Anthony’s world expands, the reader’s view of his world expands too. That is, while the book is almost invariably written from Anthony’s viewpoint, as he matures and begins to see and understand what other people are doing and experiencing we, the reader, also begin to understand what drives those around him.
Each character in the book is exquisitely delineated. Even though it’s apparent that some characters exist to represent a point of view within the world of autism (autistic children, educators, family members, experts), all are well-rounded individuals, rather than cardboard ciphers. In this regard, it’s important to appreciate that Ido hasn’t written a preachy polemic; he’s written a rich, full, well-rounded novel — although don’t be surprised if you come away having learned important things about autism and about the world in which Americans with disabilities, and their loving, frustrated, frightened families, function.
I’m actually scared to give away too much of the plot, lest I spoil some of the wonders of this first-time novel. Instead, I’ll finish this review by introducing you to the book’s author, Ido Kedar, and by focusing on the book’s stylistic beauty, which is both a by-product of Ido’s physical limitations and a testament to his skill as a writer. Continue reading
Justice is supposed to be blind. That is not the case in America today and President Trump is partly to blame.
[Update: This today from the Daily Caller:
President Donald Trump chose to have the indictments of 12 Russian hackers announced before his Helsinki summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a Tuesday Bloomberg report.
Trump wanted the indictments announced ahead of the Monday summit to give him leverage over Putin, a source familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on Tuesday. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gave Trump the option of having the indictments released before or after Helsinki, according to the report.
Rosenstein cited national security concerns to allow him to share details of grand jury proceedings with Trump.
A portion of this post was based on incomplete information and thus has been edited to reflect the above, that the timing of the indictments was at the behest of Pres. Trump. The thrust of the original argument remains.]
After today’s meeting between Trump and Putin, Leftists have ratcheted their Russia hysteria up to level 12 out of 10. Do ordinary Americans care?
I’m so old I can remember when Teddy Kennedy, the revered lion of the Senate, during the height of the Cold War asked the Soviets to intervene in the 1984 presidential election.
I’m so old I can remember when Democrats constantly castigated conservatives for being paranoid about Soviet interference into world and American affairs.
I’m so old I can remember when Democrats and their fellow travelers brushed off stories about Soviet atrocities as mere Cold War propaganda.
I’m so old I can remember when we were told Communism is just another type of government and we should be more open to the Soviets and that the Cold War was a sorry relic of a fascist American past.
I’m so old I can remember when Obama sent Hillary Clinton off to meet the Russians with a big red reset button.
I’m so old I can remember when Barack Obama met with Putin and had these nice things to say:
“I’m aware of not only the extraordinary work that you’ve done on behalf of the Russian people … as president, but in your current role as prime minister,” Obama said during a breakfast meeting at Putin’s country home on the outskirts of Moscow. “We think there’s an excellent opportunity to put U.S.-Russian relations on a much stronger footing.”
I’m so old I can remember when Hillary authorized selling 20% of America’s uranium to a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin in exchange for a massive cash infusion into her private slush fund.
I’m so old I can remember when Mitt Romney said Russia was our greatest geopolitical foe and President Obama sneeringly replied that “the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back. Because the Cold War has been over for 20 years.”
I’m so old I can remember when Barack Obama, during a meeting with outgoing Russian President Medvedev, was caught on a hot mic asking that Medvedev tell incoming President Putin that Putin needed to “give me space” so Obama could betray former Soviet bloc countries on missile defense and promised “more flexibility” after the 2012 election. Continue reading