Monthly Archives: June 2020

Pratchett Understands Amoral Enablers

By Robin Bates | Published: June 30, 2020

For a spot-on depiction of GOP enablers of Donald Trump, check out the civic leaders in Terry Pratchett’s “Guards! Guards!”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments closed

I Am a Part of You and You of Me

By Robin Bates | Published: June 29, 2020

Langston Hughes provides an important and humane voice at this point in time.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments closed

Our Embattled Health Care Workers

By Robin Bates | Published: June 28, 2020

In Kaye’s “Far Pavilions,” the hero sees the British botching an expedition but joins them anyway. This is how I see our healthcare workers.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Abraham Failed the Test

By Robin Bates | Published: June 27, 2020

Rabbi Barenblat reads the Abraham and Isaac story as God wanting Abraham to push back–and then never speaking to him again after what he does.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments closed

Trump Tilts with Reality

By Robin Bates | Published: June 25, 2020

Trump is like Don Quixote in that both deny reality. Quixote has much more benevolent motives, however.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Is GOP a Death Cult? Ask Tolstoy

By Robin Bates | Published: June 24, 2020

Has the GOP become a death cult. Tolstoy’s description of suicidal behavior from Napoleon’s soldiers suggests yes.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments closed

From God’s Breath to “I Can’t Breathe”

By Robin Bates | Published: June 23, 2020

Wednesday This past Juneteenth I was flipping through channels and caught MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell quoting James Weldon Johnson’s “Creation.” It was a moving application of poetry to this important moment in time. Mitchell was referring to George Floyd’s plaintive cry “I can’t breathe” before he was suffocated by Minneapolis police. Johnson’s poem, she said, reminds […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Trump and Lear, Addicted to Praise

By Robin Bates | Published: June 22, 2020

Trump, like Lear, needs sycophantic followers to salvage his ego. His Tulsa rally shook him because few of them showed up.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Tate’s Dangerous Ode to the Confederacy

By Robin Bates | Published: June 21, 2020

I find odes to the Confederate dead (such at that written by Allen Tate) more dangerous even than Confederate statues.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments closed