Though my innate contrariness rebels against creeping literalism, it would be perverse not to mention the six-day war in which Putin’s army has already sustained greater human losses, 6727 dead and wounded as of this writing, than in either of the two Chechen wars or after a decade of fighting in Syria. I can, however, lessen the injury to my authorial ego by at least beginning from afar.
The first thing our rulers do, when they want us to approve some act of folly or aggression, is to change names.
The best reason to follow Facebook is the insight it gives you into the American mind, especially the bizarre mind of self-described conservatives.
What a mess in Ukraine! Is it reversible? That’s doubtful. From now on, it’s a long way back to normality in the international arena.
I am not a pacifist, but in my lifetime the US has not engaged in a war I could approve of.
A conservative on FB has made the plausible argument that Putin is not entitled to the Tsar’s patrimony, to which I responded:
As the gentle reader has surely noted, in my sketches of the last few weeks I sought to uncover some unacknowledged – I could even say hushed up – producers of dopamine and all the other happy hormones in the brain of modern man.
Presidents’ Day weekend includes Joe Biden. So Happy Joe Biden Day! And weekend. Do the most American thing you can: Go shopping. Increase the GDP. Or the GNP. Or the CPI. It’s fun!
Bossi begins his memoirs with a depressing visit back to Cassano Magnago: the highway cuts right through what had been parkland, cement houses have sprouted up like tumors, and everywhere is the sound of traffic, the smell of asphalt.
On FB I am forever seeing disputes breaking out over various theological points, disputes between Catholics and Protestants of course, but also between Tridentine and Vatican II Catholics and between various schools of Protestant thought (Lutheran, Calvinist, Pre-millennialist).
