Author Archena Posted on November 26, 2022November 26, 2022Categories Current, FridayTags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Government: Parent or Pet?

The Twentieth Century was a contest between competing political ideologies. It is a gross oversimplification to say that it was just between Communism and Capitalism or Authoritarianism and Democracy. Politics exists on a spectrum and no matter how hard we try, there are too many issues to have even two people agree on every single one, let alone whole nation-states of people. But since I’m still not interested in writing a dissertation, we’ll settle for the generalization. The Twentieth Century … Continue reading “Government: Parent or Pet?”

Author Archena Posted on November 23, 2022November 23, 2022Categories Current, WednesdayTags , , , , ,

Giving Thanks

If you are a surviving turkey, I suspect this comes natural this time of year. For the rest of us, it’s easy to get caught up in all the negative things. Stuff that went wrong. Stuff that happened that shouldn’t have. Stuff that didn’t happen that should have. Painful stuff. Bad stuff. Just plain too much stuff. Life can come with some heavy baggage. It’s okay – it’s even a good thing – to cry when we need to, to … Continue reading “Giving Thanks”

Author Archena Posted on November 21, 2022November 21, 2022Categories Current, MondayTags , , , , , ,

The Post Russo-Sino World, Part II

Okay, when last we left our hypothetical, the world had NOT ended in a fireball. The US was busily trying to corral nuclear proliferation and both Russia and China had fully collapsed. Nation-states can multi-task. They aren’t great at it because humans aren’t, but unlike your Supermom, nation-states really do have many people who can be directed to do different things. This is a good thing because the US is gonna be really distracted, as it was in the Nineties, … Continue reading “The Post Russo-Sino World, Part II”

Author Archena Posted on November 18, 2022November 18, 2022Categories CurrentTags , , , , ,

Word Salad: Political Labeling

Define liberal for me. If you are a liberal, you probably define it in terms of making things better. If you are a conservative you probably define it in terms of policies like abortion and deficit spending. Both are correct and both are wrong. Truth is, we use a LOT of political jargon to define groups and most of those words aren’t themselves clearly defined. What a political scientist means by liberal will be literally defined in the beginning of … Continue reading “Word Salad: Political Labeling”

Author Archena Posted on November 17, 2022November 17, 2022Categories Current, WednesdayTags , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Republicans Take Control of the House!

November 17, 2022 The first announcements broke early Wednesday but confirmation reports didn’t come until Wednesday evening. Fox didn’t show the 218 count until this morning. The media covered Trump’s announcement that he is running for president extensively, but barely a whimper about the upset. Oh well, it only took eight days to find out. Isn’t twenty-first century tech great? I decided to delay my post until I had confirmation. I am not yet willing to analyze the midterms mostly … Continue reading “Republicans Take Control of the House!”

Author Archena Posted on November 15, 2022November 16, 2022Categories Current, MondayTags , , , , ,

The Post Russo-Sino World

Yeah, yeah, I know. I was the one forecasting a Democrat Party collapse and then there wasn’t really a red wave. Actually, I still think the Democrat Party will collapse but the Republicans may beat them to it. Party system shifts happen that way. Political parties, like nation-states, can be stubbornly resilient little buggers. Government and politics often are glacial in their timeframes – unless they are doing something that you don’t like. They seem to manage to speed up … Continue reading “The Post Russo-Sino World”

Author Archena Posted on November 11, 2022November 11, 2022Categories Current, FridayTags , , , , , , ,

Stop Panicking. Democrats Just Can’t Count

The margin will be narrower than I’d thought but it seems very unlikely Republicans won’t take the House. The chances of taking the Senate are still decent. Can we please stop acting like the world is ending? Once the results ACTUALLY come in, we need to take a hard look at what exactly happened here. I’d love to blame the polls but since I wasn’t using them, that would be silly. The results we have so far do cast a … Continue reading “Stop Panicking. Democrats Just Can’t Count”

Author Archena Posted on November 9, 2022November 9, 2022Categories Current, WednesdayTags , , , , , , ,

And the Winner is… Please Stand By

You’re not going to like my take on the midterms right now. It is too early to analyze the results – or lack thereof – correctly. Therefore, I’m not going to offer an analysis at this time. Once the results are in and events shake out over the next three to four days, I’ll have something to work with and do a reasonable analysis. I know, lots and lots of talking heads are telling you all about the disaster or … Continue reading “And the Winner is… Please Stand By”

Author Archena Posted on November 8, 2022November 8, 2022Categories MondayTags , , , , ,

Poverty with Chinese Characteristics

Xi Xinping is not an idiot. He is also not a capitalist or an opportunist. Not sure if he’s an ideologue, I kinda doubt it. He’s not power mad, or a raving lunatic. Cold blooded SOB is a given since he heads the CCP – it’s a prerequisite. Xi Xinping is not leading China toward greatness. He might or might not know that. He’s not going to be invading Taiwan anytime soon. He’s not a madman. Xi is what you … Continue reading “Poverty with Chinese Characteristics”

Author Archena Posted on November 4, 2022November 2, 2022Categories Current, FridayTags , , , , , , , ,

Unity Isn’t Agreement: Why Fussing and Fighting Isn’t Polarization

Every Thanksgiving we sit down to a lovely meal, express our gratitude to God for His many blessings and proceed to fight over every little thing. Turkey v, ham, Alabama v Auburn, football v baseball, board games v video games, kids v kids with video games, who Mom likes best and then Uncle Bob ruins the whole thing by bringing up politics. Next year, we repeat the whole thing. Why? Obviously, there’s no one at that table that agrees on … Continue reading “Unity Isn’t Agreement: Why Fussing and Fighting Isn’t Polarization”