Introduction: The linked article here is of considerable interest, and I so recommend a careful reading of it to you. The article concerns the decline of the trained gatekeepers, and the rise of an untutored hoi polloi who do things like promote celebrity evangelicaladies like Jen Hatmaker on the one hand, and elect Donald Trump …
He Sees You When You’re Sleeping
One use of the title has reference, of course to the omniscience of God watching over us while we sleep (Ps. 3:5). This is the only sense of the phrase that is not creepy. The phrase comes from the song Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and refers of course to the purported knowledge of …
Hot Take
This is just a very brief comment on the Alabama election. There will no doubt be other things to say, but it would be best to let all the pieces fall out of the sky first. The most important issue for me is not so much whether Jones was elected or Moore, but rather what …
A Brief Excursus Related to Roy Moore
Another round of allegations came out over the last several days. These are allegations that Moore is now contradicting himself—i.e. that he acknowledged more in his Hannity interview than he is acknowledging out on the stump now. Now if he said in one place that he knew some of the girls and in another place …
Possibly a Portent
So yesterday I had a conversation with my daughter-in-law about this, and then later in the day a friend in another state wrote me with the same basic question. Taking this for a sign, or perhaps an omen, or possibly a portent, I decided to take a swing at the topic here. Given the same …
In Which Al Franken Casts the First Stone
If I were a resident of the state of Alabama, and given what we currently know about the accusations and denials concerning Roy Moore, I would vote for him in the upcoming special election for the U.S. Senate. Here are some of the reasons. I take it as a given that if he is guilty …
Because That’s How Bogus Rolls
A few posts back, I noted the fact that a counter-accusation against The Washington Post was circulating, and linked to it. The story said that WaPo had paid money to women to testify against Moore. I said that I didn’t know if there was anything to that or not — but I now do. A …
In Which I Suggest We Not Vote for Dirtier Elections
So I begin these ruminations with a most necessary qualifier, necessary at least in these troubled days of ours. To defend due process is not to defend the dirty deeds that must be prosecuted or rejected under a system of due process. A civilized society, in order to institutionalize a bias against lynchings—against a populace …
Fried Brown on Both Sides
So the campaign equivalent of a daisy-cutter bomb was dropped on the Roy Moore campaign yesterdiddy. There are certain things we don’t know, and certain other things are stinking obvious. Let us begin with what we don’t know. The allegations have been made, and Moore hotly denies them, calling them defamation. So, not having had …
Moscow City Council Election 2017
So please allow me to begin with the necessary disclaimer. I am about to encourage any Moscow residents who care what I think to vote in a particular way this coming Tuesday. That being the case, I need to say at the outset that in writing this I am not representing any particular institution with …