facets of evolutionary dissonance

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Who in the U.S. isn’t tired of the presidential election season? And I’m despaired about the degree of appeal that fascist Trump has in the world’s most “advanced” (pluralist) “democracy” (federation, which eludes the E.U.). (Nordic nations work well politically because they’re much more—still—ethnically homogeneous.)

Among many comments I make weekly at Washington Post articles,
this article on truthlessness in our politics caused this comment today, which implicitly laments the developmental relativity of political sense. (“FEMA” there is the Federal Emergency Management Administration,)

Bloomsday for greater humanity

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Leaders from the great plurality of nations, meeting in Switzerland, may have seemed to voice platitudes in their communique, but ask yourself: What can ultimately cohere humanity “fruitful[ly], comprehensive[ly] and constructive[ly]” other than sanctified commitment to the United Nations Charter and fidelity to UN-congruent international law by collaborative global political leadership?

The Summit photo is almost enough: “We are here. ‘High-level’ dialogue will prevail.”

for united nations evolving Palestinian prosperity

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At the New York Times, the excellent article on “…Biden’s Clash with Netanyahu…” caused my short comment, which brought a couple of replies, but the Times stopped new comments before I could post a second reply. In case you’re not a subscriber to the pay-walled site, here’s my comment, replies, and the reply which I couldn’t post:

me: I want to see more attention given to how collaborative regional leadership can lead to a Palestinian state which Israel can accept (especially by helping that to be so, in partnership); and extended attention given to how all regional powers can collaborate to rebuild Gaza.  

We need a vision for hope which is realistic and detailed, so that we have better reason to endure too much news about unbearable tragedy; so that Israel can be seen to serve constructive aims; and so that Palestinians can focus their energies on self-determination, not mere recovery.

more exemplary persons

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One of the great dimensions of democracy is the well-informed citizen. But time for that is stolen by the normal job world. Nevertheless, sustaining principled journalism is a noble profession.

A great exemplar was Robert McNeil, who died today at 93 (News Hour tribute video). This memorable man of art, as well as addict of news which matters, noted some years ago (tribute video: 10:00 min.) that “Winston Churchill said...the empires of the future are going to be empires of the mind.”

wishful thinking about the Hamas-Israel conflict

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Ongoing crises in the news make my immersions in value theory seem foolish: as if care for principle, better distinctions, and compassionate reasoning can have effective merit. Nevertheless, I trek onward.

Here’s a comment I posted tonight at the NY Times article by UN General Secretary Guterres (quoting some key phrases he uses):

If global society will make and keep real that there must be an “international community” (not just global society alluding to the notion)—if We will hold sacred “each other’s humanity”—then we can make “UN resolutions” and “international law” effective, by demanding that our national leaders make the UN an effective institution during crises.

supreme leader: democratic constitutionality

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I want to share the letter I wrote to the Editor of The Atlantic magazine where I praised his article on General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whose explicit “constitutional patriotism” expresses that strict fidelity to democratic constitutionality protects against autocratic exploitation of military power.

There is “supreme leader”ship located in (distributed through) the three estates of (1) jurisprudential “divining” of implicit lawfulness, which yields to (2) Congressional action, which yields to (3) valid electoral legitimation.

anomie of ordinary luck in a time of heat and war

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I’m unremarkably lucky among persons not living with intense heat or war. As a news junkie, I regularly feel gratitude and depressing sadness —and anger: How many Ukrainian civilians must die before a conspiracy of confidantes arrests Putin and sends him to The Hague?