kevingan52
@kevingan52.bsky.social
Retired professor of literature & writing and critical thinking, Yale and USC. Also 10 years’ teaching high school English. NYC native, now in CT. New Deal Democrat, like my parents before me.
Do Roberts’ decades of actions attacking the political rights of Black Americans indicate any significant departure from what Taney believed about Black slaves in Dred Scott?
I wish someone would ask him directly. That will never happen, but I think I know the answer…
I wish someone would ask him directly. That will never happen, but I think I know the answer…
December 5, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Do Roberts’ decades of actions attacking the political rights of Black Americans indicate any significant departure from what Taney believed about Black slaves in Dred Scott?
I wish someone would ask him directly. That will never happen, but I think I know the answer…
I wish someone would ask him directly. That will never happen, but I think I know the answer…
“They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect…”
December 5, 2025 at 10:56 PM
“They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect…”
The pragmatic maxim says that “beliefs are rules for action.“ Now if we try to infer John Roberts’ essential beliefs from his actions (including his written opinions), would we be justified in holding that one of his core beliefs can be fairly stated in the following sentence?
December 5, 2025 at 10:56 PM
The pragmatic maxim says that “beliefs are rules for action.“ Now if we try to infer John Roberts’ essential beliefs from his actions (including his written opinions), would we be justified in holding that one of his core beliefs can be fairly stated in the following sentence?
Your call! Be well.
December 5, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Your call! Be well.
Wonderful in Little Miss Sunshine; a tour de force in There Will Be Blood.
QT isn’t in to subtlety…that’s not his bag. It’s like asking Kiss to review a sensitive young singer songwriter.
QT isn’t in to subtlety…that’s not his bag. It’s like asking Kiss to review a sensitive young singer songwriter.
December 5, 2025 at 4:43 AM
Wonderful in Little Miss Sunshine; a tour de force in There Will Be Blood.
QT isn’t in to subtlety…that’s not his bag. It’s like asking Kiss to review a sensitive young singer songwriter.
QT isn’t in to subtlety…that’s not his bag. It’s like asking Kiss to review a sensitive young singer songwriter.
Maybe…lighten up a little? It’s just a ball game.
December 5, 2025 at 3:50 AM
Maybe…lighten up a little? It’s just a ball game.
That man has a bad face!
December 2, 2025 at 3:35 AM
That man has a bad face!
Bessent looks like a villainous marionette. Which is exactly what he is.
November 28, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Bessent looks like a villainous marionette. Which is exactly what he is.
The food is hideous, but the profit margin is beautiful—the best profit ever, everyone says so.
November 28, 2025 at 10:02 PM
The food is hideous, but the profit margin is beautiful—the best profit ever, everyone says so.
Are they available in the US?
November 26, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Are they available in the US?
Completely other-directed; nothing to say about policies and how they affect people; just narcissistic self-stroking re what’s most advantageous for him and his career.
Remarkably like Trump, in fact. Lord help us!
Remarkably like Trump, in fact. Lord help us!
November 23, 2025 at 2:10 AM
Completely other-directed; nothing to say about policies and how they affect people; just narcissistic self-stroking re what’s most advantageous for him and his career.
Remarkably like Trump, in fact. Lord help us!
Remarkably like Trump, in fact. Lord help us!
Don’t worry—it’s not integrity he’s feeling, just vanity. He’s embarrassed to be part of this shit show.
November 21, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Don’t worry—it’s not integrity he’s feeling, just vanity. He’s embarrassed to be part of this shit show.
De mortuis nil nisi and all that, but I think you may be giving Darth Cheney a little too much credit here…
November 21, 2025 at 1:11 AM
De mortuis nil nisi and all that, but I think you may be giving Darth Cheney a little too much credit here…
I wish they could find a way to get that much asperity into their writing and coverage. But still, kudos to them for letting their feelings show so openly for all to see.
November 21, 2025 at 12:46 AM
I wish they could find a way to get that much asperity into their writing and coverage. But still, kudos to them for letting their feelings show so openly for all to see.
“Gravity: a mysterious carriage of the body meant to conceal the defects of the mind.“ Laurence Sterne
Hang in there, Judge: for ordinary people, it means everything when they can see that justice has a human face.
Hang in there, Judge: for ordinary people, it means everything when they can see that justice has a human face.
November 21, 2025 at 12:38 AM
“Gravity: a mysterious carriage of the body meant to conceal the defects of the mind.“ Laurence Sterne
Hang in there, Judge: for ordinary people, it means everything when they can see that justice has a human face.
Hang in there, Judge: for ordinary people, it means everything when they can see that justice has a human face.
Is that allowed? Wouldn’t his voters want a say—still?!— in who represents them?
November 21, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Is that allowed? Wouldn’t his voters want a say—still?!— in who represents them?
It’s not like there aren’t other sources for anything they’re buying. This is just lazy habits—and moral turpitude!
November 20, 2025 at 9:42 PM
It’s not like there aren’t other sources for anything they’re buying. This is just lazy habits—and moral turpitude!
An American Melodrama: The presidential campaign of 1968, buy Geogfrey Hodgson, et al.
Miami and the siege of Chicago, by Norman Mailer
Of a fire on the moon, by Norman Mailer
Miami and the siege of Chicago, by Norman Mailer
Of a fire on the moon, by Norman Mailer
November 20, 2025 at 6:56 AM
An American Melodrama: The presidential campaign of 1968, buy Geogfrey Hodgson, et al.
Miami and the siege of Chicago, by Norman Mailer
Of a fire on the moon, by Norman Mailer
Miami and the siege of Chicago, by Norman Mailer
Of a fire on the moon, by Norman Mailer
Unfortunately, the Washington Post is no longer the Washington Post. They sold their birthright for a mess of pottage.
November 20, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Unfortunately, the Washington Post is no longer the Washington Post. They sold their birthright for a mess of pottage.
A schmuck back then, a schmuck now still. Entitled insincerity is his trademark, with women, universities, and no doubt with clients. Ugh.
November 18, 2025 at 2:58 AM
A schmuck back then, a schmuck now still. Entitled insincerity is his trademark, with women, universities, and no doubt with clients. Ugh.
The remark attributed to Josh Barro in that tweet is so idiotic that I refuse to believe it’s actually by Josh Barro.
The real Josh Barro would not have picked up his stopwatch when Leonardo picked up his brushes to begin the Mona Lisa.
The real Josh Barro would not have picked up his stopwatch when Leonardo picked up his brushes to begin the Mona Lisa.
November 15, 2025 at 9:51 PM
The remark attributed to Josh Barro in that tweet is so idiotic that I refuse to believe it’s actually by Josh Barro.
The real Josh Barro would not have picked up his stopwatch when Leonardo picked up his brushes to begin the Mona Lisa.
The real Josh Barro would not have picked up his stopwatch when Leonardo picked up his brushes to begin the Mona Lisa.
He is America’s very own Munchausen Syndrome.
November 15, 2025 at 9:35 PM
He is America’s very own Munchausen Syndrome.
The truly original American style of personal and civic virtue: The Simple Gifts.
November 15, 2025 at 9:24 PM
The truly original American style of personal and civic virtue: The Simple Gifts.
When he’s finally deposed, that event will usher in a widespread return to a severely classical taste in architecture and decoration. The next occupant of the Oval would do well, after the total emptying and fumigation, to bring in a few pieces of Shaker furniture, and not much more.
November 15, 2025 at 9:24 PM
When he’s finally deposed, that event will usher in a widespread return to a severely classical taste in architecture and decoration. The next occupant of the Oval would do well, after the total emptying and fumigation, to bring in a few pieces of Shaker furniture, and not much more.
People wonder at the chaotic structure of a Trump speech: it’s the same structure as his decorations in the oval office. Also, the same value: plastic spray-painted in gaudy fake-gold colors.
November 15, 2025 at 9:24 PM
People wonder at the chaotic structure of a Trump speech: it’s the same structure as his decorations in the oval office. Also, the same value: plastic spray-painted in gaudy fake-gold colors.