republican excuses

 

When tens of millions of Americans reject the premise of our Constitution, resort to fascist methods to hold power and demand the country be redefined along racial and religious lines, no structural remodeling nor crop of virtuous politicians can save the republic.

So, yes, reform the system and vote for better people, but the only real solution to what ails us is a surge of democratic activism, civic involvement and collective rededication to our constitutional system. If that happens, the rest will follow.

-Jennifer Rubin in the WaPost

 A totalitarian state is in effect a theocracy, and its ruling caste, in order to keep its position, has to be thought of as infallible. But since, in practice, no one is infallible, it is frequently necessary to rearrange past events in order to show that this or that mistake was not made, or that this or that imaginary triumph actually happened. Then, again, every major change in policy demands a corresponding change of doctrine and a revaluation of prominent historical figures. This kind of thing happens everywhere, but clearly it is likelier to lead to outright falsification in societies where only one opinion is permissible at any given moment. Totalitarianism demands, in fact, the continuous alteration of the past, and in the long run probably demands a disbelief in the very existence of objective truth. The friends of totalitarianism in England usually tend to argue that since absolute truth is not attainable, a big lie is no worse than a little lie. It is pointed out that all historical records are biased and inaccurate, or, on the other hand, that modem physics has proved that what seems to us the real world is an illusion, so that to believe in the evidence of one’s senses is simply vulgar philistinism.

-George Orwell

 Finishing at Lakeshore.

 Christmas at Lakeshore Hospital.

 Shift change—— my favorite part of the day. No one to come into the room to force a needle and 12 pills on me. No one to ask me if I’ve had a bowel movement in the last two weeks. No one to force me to lie. Did you have a restful night, Mr. Hudson? No one to check vital signs. Nothing vital has changed in the last 16 hrs I assume. Why rush? I’m good. The coast is clear.

Trump Dictatorship

 

A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.

There is a clear path to dictatorship in the United States, and it is getting shorter every day. So why is everyone behaving like normal?

By Robert Kagan

Disappearing Into Our Phones

 

Shared with Your friends

“When you look at your phone,” she told me, “it’s as though you disappear.”

When it comes to having an unhealthy relationship with technology, I’m in good company. Most of us find that smartphones have made our lives better, but we struggle to use them in healthy ways. Nearly 60 percent of American adults told Gallup last year that they use their phones too often. American adults spend an average of four and a half hours on their phones each day, the research firm Insider Intelligence reported this summer. Almost all of us keep our smartphones within arm’s reach during waking hours, Gallup found, and most of us do so when we sleep.

-Chris Moody in The Atlantic