Years ago Paul Harvey had a radio spot called The Rest of the Story where he presented a commonly known event or personality and then (Continue Reading)
Pat’s Polemics
On-going brilliance
A matter of perspective
10/10/2022 Pat Barrett Add CommentI grew up reading Hiroshima. Lots of liberals did. We bemoaned the horror of it all and felt bolstered by the nearly universal condemnation of (Continue Reading)
Up-date on the old M.O.
09/24/2022 Pat Barrett Add CommentMy Magnum Opus is devolving into a series of entries on a variety of topics. Eventually I will have to go over all of them (Continue Reading)
Communication up close
09/14/2022 Pat Barrett Add CommentRuby Payne something I have found true in the microcosm of my personal life, that poor families use fewer nouns and more pronouns. After 58 (Continue Reading)
A Shift in Programs —- October update
09/09/2022 Pat Barrett Add CommentOnce I got to the point with the core program – a set of 6 exercises arranged in pairs – where it was no challenge, (Continue Reading)
Starting exercise after a long hiatus
09/01/2022 Pat Barrett Add CommentI hope ‘hiatus’ doesn’t bring up memories of hiatal hernias, but I did stop exercising for almost 3 years: nothing, niente, nada, rien, nichego, etc. (Continue Reading)
Language hypocrisy
08/31/2022 Pat Barrett Add CommentWhen we speak of contractions in English like ‘we would have’ reduced to ‘we’d’ve’ the language guardians and scolds label that ‘improper’, ‘slang’, ‘sloppy’, and (Continue Reading)
Make-up of SCOTUS along originalist lines
08/14/2022 Pat Barrett 2 CommentsI note that only one signer of the Constitution was Roman Catholic. So do the Catholic originalists on the SCOTUS now contend that less than (Continue Reading)
Time to replace the top leadership of the Democratic Party
08/05/2022 Pat Barrett 2 CommentsToday on the Bulwark a piece was written by Charlie Sykes quoting Josh Barro. Neither Charlie nor Josh care much for leftie-talk and Josh put (Continue Reading)
Is this something we should encourage?
06/30/2022 Pat Barrett 1 Commentfully half of Republicans in the former Confederacy (plus Oklahoma) support secession. Where’s my old blue uniform? – recent poll
Advertising through the ages……..
06/28/2022 Pat Barrett Add CommentWhen I was young, my in-box was filled with advertisements for protein powder to enhance my iron pumping.Then that shifted to advertisements for Viagra.Now I (Continue Reading)
To the Gates of Hell With Rusty Bowers
06/26/2022 Pat Barrett Add CommentRusty Bowers drove the wagon with us in it lickity-split right up to the gates of hell, then slammed on the brakes and reined in (Continue Reading)
Guess what, Clarence.
06/25/2022 Pat Barrett Add CommentBreaking news from SCOTUS: As Clarence Thomas was compiling his list of targets for the next session, all dealing with marriage and sexual behavior, Roberts (Continue Reading)
Re Roe: a couple of things…….
06/25/2022 Pat Barrett Add CommentGo to geography or historico-geographic patterns as I suggest we start with in the Magnum Opus: Trigger states: all southern except South Dakota.About to trigger (Continue Reading)
The Hearings
06/10/2022 Pat Barrett 2 CommentsTake aways: Videographer testified Proud Boys left the Ellipsis before Trump even arrived, clearly to reconnoiter the Capitol, depending on Trump to send the crowd (Continue Reading)
Civic Discourse ???
06/04/2022 Pat Barrett Add CommentHow do you have civic discourse with anyone in a party that has put into place nation-wide a scheme to not count votes? What do (Continue Reading)
Gohmert unleashed
06/03/2022 Pat Barrett Add CommentFinally, we see the true face of the far right. Louie Gohmert tapped into his inner Jim Jordan on TV yesterday, 6-2-22, and spewed his (Continue Reading)
If Not Sandy Hook, Nothing
05/24/2022 Pat Barrett 2 CommentsBuffalo? Uvalde? I still haven’t wrapped my head around Sandy Hook. How about Parkland? And…… and………. Orlando……… and Denver……….. and Aurora…….. and ……… I think (Continue Reading)
One commentator’s take on our political situation
05/13/2022 Pat Barrett 1 CommentLawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC’s The Last Word began his show May 10th saying the world does not understand us, the U.S. Looking at the SCOTUS (Continue Reading)
Speculation on leaked draft opinion re Roe
05/13/2022 Pat Barrett 6 CommentsPre-decision:The purpose of the release may have been to:elicit massive protests eliciting ‘adjustments’ in the opinion.force wavers, Roberts, Barrett, Kavanaugh, to firm up so as (Continue Reading)
I find conservatism egregiously wrong
05/08/2022 Pat Barrett Add CommentI find conservatism egregiously wrong from the start (unless you like living in a cave)………..and its reasoning exceptionally weak (no change unless it benefits me) (Continue Reading)
All Snakes Have a Backbone
04/25/2022 Pat Barrett 3 CommentsOur Arizona Representative, Ruben Gallego, thought through Mike Pence’s refusal to get into the car to whisk him away from danger and realize it was (Continue Reading)
What is a statesman?
04/22/2022 Pat Barrett Add CommentWe have a contrast. When it became clear that Nixon had to go, it was Republicans, including, most famously, Barry Goldwater, who went to him (Continue Reading)