Author Archives: stephenkmacksd

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About stephenkmacksd

Rootless cosmopolitan,down at heels intellectual;would be writer. 'Polemic is a discourse of conflict, whose effect depends on a delicate balance between the requirements of truth and the enticements of anger, the duty to argue and the zest to inflame. Its rhetoric allows, even enforces, a certain figurative licence. Like epitaphs in Johnson’s adage, it is not under oath.' https://www.lrb.co.uk/v15/n20/perry-anderson/diary

Jack Dorsey is Public Enemy 1: Free Speech is about protecting speech you don’t like!

This man is Public Enemy 1. We don’t need a set of rules to govern speech on the internet! We already have Constitution & Bill of Rights!!! E.g.: You may not dehumanize anyone based on membership in an identifiable group, … Continue reading →

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How will Republican misogynists and Dianne Feinstein treat Prof. Ford? Political Observer considers the question (Revised September 24, 2018 9:23 PDT)

Don’t look for the usual performances from the sclerotic male Republicans on the Committee on the Judiciary? They will either be very careful with Prof. Ford, or let their obvious misogyny rule their questioning. Are these men so without perceptual … Continue reading →

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Andy Divine on ‘The Coddling of the American Mind’. Old Socialist comments

Andy Divine doesn’t begin his latest essay here, but it is framed by the authorial duo of Haidt and Lukianoff and the title of their book uses an expression, that anyone who lived through the American ’60’s will recognise, as … Continue reading →

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janan.ganesh@ft.com on America’s ‘relative decline’ and ‘domestic exhaustion’ . Political Cynic comments

Mr. Ganesh has finally caught up on his reading of the old newspaper columns of Wm. F. Buckley Jr., George F. Will and Tony  Tony Blankley. Buckley the Burkian poser, the  cosseted child of a Texas Oil Millionaire , Will … Continue reading →

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edward.luce@ft.com on The Republican’s patriarchal bubble. Political Observer comments

Headline: Brett Kavanaugh and the Republicans’ patriarchal bubble Sub-headline: Party’s fight to approve Supreme Court nominee risks further alienation of female voters Quite surprised that Mr. Luce has read the 1970 Feminist classic ‘Patriarchal Attitudes: Women in Society’ by Eva … Continue reading →

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edward.luce@ft.com on the Kavanaugh Confirmation. Political Observer shares her thoughts.

The second paragraph of Mr. Luce’s melodramatic  comment on the Kavanaugh nomination and its twists and turns leaves me a bit nonplussed. But justice is the last thing on Washington’s mind. Regardless of what happened, Mr Kavanaugh and Ms Ford … Continue reading →

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At The Economist : a comment on ‘A manifesto for renewing liberalism’ by Almost Marx

In celebration of its 175th anniversary The Economist, its Oxbridger editors, write about a  defense of the Liberal tradition that no longer exists, but remains the touchstone of Free Marketeers, who supplanted that tradition with the nihilism of the Neo-Liberal … Continue reading →

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Andy Divine presents himself as the voice of Political Centrism & Political Rationalism awash in Self-Congratulation. American Writer comments

Andy wastes no time presenting himself as the voice of reason and political rationalism in the first paragraph of his essay of dated September 14,2018. This essay is awash in  self-congratulation , not to speak of outbreaks of rhetorical purple. … Continue reading →

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Political Gossip Sheet ‘Politico’ publishes ( @WonkVJ ) Van Jackson’s self-advertisement. Old Socialist comments

How utterly surprising that Van Jackson couches his attack on the ‘Left’ and its seeming lack of a Foreign Policy, via the route of an active, not just defense of Neo-Liberalism, but celebration of this failed and failing politic/economic/ethical ideology! … Continue reading →

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My reply to NN @FT

@NN, Thank you for your comment, is the italicized (by me) what you are referring to in your comment? Mr. Luce’s status as former speech writer for Larry Summers places him firmly in the Neo-Liberal apologist category, not to speak … Continue reading →

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