Posts by libresist
The Ontology, Mythology, and End of Race
By Michael E. Berumen There are three major forces of our own manufacture that serve to alienate large swaths of people from one another and engender all manner of evil in our species. These are ancient forces; however, they are neither intractable nor ineradicable. One is the extremes of inequality in wealth (and hence, power),…
Read MoreMeme: The Trump Cult
When someone chooses belief over evidence, we have a cult…and a problem. Editor’s note: readers may have missed several stories that were posted to LR Net during the brief period when we were off the air. That being case, we will be reposting them over the next few days. This is one such story.
Read MoreA Précis on Reparations: A Moral Imperative
By Michael E. Berumen We often think of reparations in terms of its juridical denotation, that of a criminal compensating a victim for injuries she has incurred. It is a legal remedy intended as both retribution and as a form of restitution for the victims. Such reparations could be made by an individual or even…
Read MoreThe More Things Change…
…the more they stay the same. From Ancient Times to the Modern Era by Rabbi Yeshaia Charles Familant Purim is a’comin this Wednesday eve to Thursday eve. The megillah (the scroll of the biblical book of Esther) is read on the eve of Purim. If you’re Jewish you may have such associations with this holiday…
Read MoreKings, Queens, and Jokers
There’s something to be said for monarchy. Not the kind that entails absolute power as enjoyed by the likes of Louis IV, Henry VIII, or Catherine the Great. I have in mind something rather different, something that bears greater similarity to what the Queen of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Realms has today, that is,…
Read MoreIlhan Omar vs the AIPAC Lobby – Davida and Goliath
by Rabbi Yeshaia Charles Familant In his Washington Post (3/5/19) article, Dana Milbank claimed “She [Ilhan Omar] has suggested that Americans who support Israel — by implication, Jews — are disloyal to the United States. At an event in Washington last week, Omar said, in the context of the pro-Israel lobby, that ‘I want to talk…
Read MoreTrump: Evil and Banal
Upon reading Michael Cohen’s opening statement to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, a friend of mine commented with these words: “Banality of Evil.” Being quite familiar with that expression, I recognize how apt a description it is of Donald Trump, just as much as it was of Adolf Eichmann. Eichmann was pronounced guilty of…
Read MoreOn Patriotism
Reflections on its Scope and Limits and the Priority of Justice By Michael E. Berumen Some years ago, I read something in the newspaper that Princeton economist Uwe Reinhardt said about patriotism that has stuck with me. To paraphrase, he said that it was glib and facile to think patriotism merely means love of country,…
Read MoreKavanaugh Again!
Kavanaugh Again! Yes, he’s now on the US Supreme Court, so most of the public has lost interest in this man after the initial furor had died away. Not I! I have been following his votes carefully. The most recent ruling on the so-called abortion clinics – actually these clinics provide general health care for…
Read MoreWhere is Trump’s Border Security Study?
In a previous blog piece I wrote titled “How Nancy Can Secure The Border And Stop Trump From Declaring An Emergency,” I said border barrier money needs to be tied to a Border Security Study to be completed by DHS. I later discovered that Trump mandated just such a study early in 2017. Did that…
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