Delaware becomes the twelfth state to legalize medical aid in dying.
66% of UD’s fellow Marylanders support the humane and unremarkable idea that dying people should have control over their deaths, as they had control over their lives. But people in her state legislature who think some notion of what God wants should prevail over what Marylanders want have so far blocked the legislation.
There seems to be some confidence that the legislation will, in not too long a time, pass in Maryland.
Let us defend the liberal democracy that, with all its limitations, continues to signify political pluralism, coexistence, tolerance, human rights, respect for criticism, legality, free elections, alternation in power, everything that has been taking us out of a savage life and bringing us closer – though we will never attain it – to the beautiful, perfect life literature devises, the one we can deserve only by inventing, writing, and reading it…
Not only has he pledged to reduce taxes for each individual Pole by three hundred percent; he has also promised to rename the Pacific Ocean the Polish Ocean.
Lee Grodzins, MIT professor, lived one of the great lives. Read the whole thing.
He got his favorite student evaluation … for a course, billed as offering a “superficial overview” of nuclear physics. The comment read: “This physics course was not superficial enough for me.”
… Early on, he joined several Manhattan Project alums at MIT in their concern about the consequences of nuclear bombs. In Vietnam-era 1969, Grodzins co-founded the Union of Concerned Scientists, which calls for scientific research to be directed away from military technologies and toward solving pressing environmental and social problems.
… In 1999, Grodzins founded the nonprofit Cornerstones in Science, a public library initiative to improve public engagement with science. Based originally at the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, Maine, Cornerstones now partners with libraries in Maine, Arizona, Texas, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and California. Among their initiatives was one that has helped supply telescopes to libraries and astronomy clubs around the country.
photo markus schreiber
UD will always admire the monologue he gave Fulvia Morgana, the way-rich, sybaritic Italian Marxist in Small World:
Of course I recognize the contradictions in our way of life, but those are the very contradictions characteristic of the last phase of bourgeois capitalism, which will eventually cause it to collapse. By renouncing our own little bit of privilege we should not accelerate by one minute the consummation of that process, which has its own inexorable rhythm and momentum, and is determined by the pressure of mass movements, not the puny actions of individuals. Since in terms of dialectical materialism it makes no difference to the ‘istorical process whether Ernesto and I, as individuals, are rich or poor, we might as well be rich, because it is a role which we know ‘ow to perform with a certain dignity.
But he’s not all about restaurants in Venice.
Sacred the cause that McConnell’s defending–
The freedom we cherish, and love of our home
Ruthless the ruin that MAGA’s extending–
Their latest depravity McConnell has blown.
On with McConnell then,
Fight the old fight again,
Son of Nebraska
All valiant and true:
Make the vile Trumpers feel
Freedom’s avenging steel!
Strike for your country! McConnell, hurroo!
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“24 yrs of service is nothing to sneeze at, and Vance is running alongside a known draft dodger who has repeatedly disparaged veterans and Gold Star families. If Vance wants to critique a man’s honor, he should start with his running mate.”
This lil ol blog’s been telling you for a week it’s Walz. It’s Walz.
Wanna know how I knew?
Buttigieg is too closely associated with the Biden presidency.
Shapiro trends too urban, too intense. We’ve already got that in Harris.
Kelly’s only a so-so public speaker. And I’ve wondered throughout about the stamina of Gabby Giffords, diminished by a gun attack, in the context of a grueling national contest.
Don’t know about Beshear. Never seemed a front-runner.
I figured it had to be Walz after simply reading his Wiki page and watching a couple of his public presentations/interviews. Although I wonder about the obvious, like his knowledge of the international scene, I’m bowled over by the ECHT Americanness of the dude. I’ve called him Truman on steroids cuz the decency, straightforwardness, modesty thing is there in him like crazy. He seems to be the best of us.
I mean, barring unpleasant surprises about the dude, let me say it again: He seems to be the best of us.
UD likes that formulation.
This also is good: A writer calls him lethally calm.
Listen to France’s sports minister speak to Ukrainian athletes.
Wowsa. Mike Bloomberg, a Hopkins grad, goes to town.
