The statues some people find objectionable are typically those of men who exploited and extracted, at least in the Americas. We usually don’t get excited (Continue Reading)
Pat’s Polemics
On-going brilliance
What’s been happening all along is………
08/16/2021 Pat Barrett Add CommentThis is an attempt to put together the essential matters we all have to consider. I was inspired by Francis Fukuyama’s Origins of Political Order (Continue Reading)
Red State Costco
11/24/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentI live in one of the reddest areas of the country: the East Valley of Maricopa County, AZ, Sheriff Joe country. But it is also (Continue Reading)
It’s interesting to me……
10/31/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentThat’s how Papal Bulls are titled, by their introductory phrase. That’s me, without the Papal part. So….. it’s interesting to me how conservatives and populists (Continue Reading)
What Would a Trumper Do?
09/27/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentFill in. ____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ………………………………………………………..
Hypermasculinity
09/25/2019 Pat Barrett 2 CommentsMacho man. Stud. A real man. Tough guy. My attention has been recently drawn to a type of pick-up truck by the name of Ram, (Continue Reading)
Three big things going on now that don’t involve subpoenas
05/16/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentIt is May 16, 2019 and do you know where your country is headed? We have a task force in the Persian Gulf and John (Continue Reading)
Highs and lows of recent times
05/15/2019 Pat Barrett Add CommentThis is in lieu of a Christmas letter. Off the top of my head, some highlights. I got my knees replaced and you can read (Continue Reading)
I hereby demand……….the total misunderstanding of our government by Trumpsters
07/04/2018 Pat Barrett Add CommentJuly 4. Happy Fourth. I guess I was saving this for today; all I had was the title. When I was young, American history did (Continue Reading)
Outpouring
01/11/2018 Pat Barrett 1 CommentThis fits a number of categories because there are so many things that have me enthused and puzzled and worried, personal stuff and overall stuff. (Continue Reading)
The Sublime Porte
04/29/2017 Pat Barrett Add CommentThe Sublime Porte is a French translation of the Arabic ali bab. It means magnificent gate. It is a synecdochic metonym; synecdoche is using a (Continue Reading)
Response to in-fighting
11/25/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentWhile I personally think HRC would have been a very good president, I am more concerned about this in-fighting among the left-of-center folks. For me, (Continue Reading)
Treading water II
11/24/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentHere’s a reference made by E. J. Dionne in his column: Charles Gaba’s powerful tweet: “Not all Trump supporters are racist, but all of them (Continue Reading)
Treading water
11/22/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentThere are no end of speculations on what happened. My enthusiasm for politics morphed into dread recently, so I stopped putting items in my Politics (Continue Reading)
Response to George Will re political correctness in universities
11/19/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentAnother angle. From 1960 to 1965 these from the mouths or pens of my professors: China is not a civilization; Ethiopians calling Italians who bombed (Continue Reading)
Us, too.
11/18/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentAn Indian student looking at universities in the U.S. is deterred by Trump’s election. She is quoted as saying, “I’m thinking of applying to Canada.” (Continue Reading)
False equivalency
11/15/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentHow much do Republicans believe in democracy? Pres. Obama won two elections by good margins, yet Republicans not only refused to work with him in (Continue Reading)
Further spinning out of advanced speculations
11/13/2016 Pat Barrett 2 CommentsNB: this is similar to how I ended my log of politics 2016 but differs in a few details. I’m divorcing it from Politics simply (Continue Reading)
To back up a story about penises
11/13/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentAn article appeared last week in the NYT magazine and a response to it came in this week in which the respondent said he’s Black (Continue Reading)
Now we know
11/12/2016 Pat Barrett Add Comment“How can a Black man be “our” president?” millions of Whites asked in 2008. For 8 years they agonized over the usurper, the person who (Continue Reading)
A Midsummer’s Ramble
07/29/2016 Pat Barrett Add Comment7/18/16 It has been a long time since I have done a ramble. Due to the temper of the times, I tend to write a (Continue Reading)