#CurrentAffairs

Apr 7, 2017
1 min

First thoughts about the missile strike

The missile strike against a Syrian air base is a reasonably measured response to the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons, an atrocity by any measure. This is the easy part. Iraq began with shock and awe. What comes next? Suppose the attack has, or seems to have, the effect of deterring Assad from further use of chemical weapons. What lessons will Trump take from it? The folks at Sic Semper Tyrannus dissent from conventional wisdom that Assad used chemical weapons at Idlib

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David Matthews

Mar 26, 2017
3 min

The Crash and Burn of "Repeal and Replace"

The impulse is to revel, maybe even gloat a little, over the crash and burn of "repeal and replace." There is satisfaction to be had when these arrogant pricks go down to ignominious defeat. I fear though that this is but one small victory, and more than a few dark days lie ahead as "repeal and replace" is replaced by "sabotage and undermine." Along with the general incompetence we have come to expect from the Trump regime, this little fiasco provides another illustration tha

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David Matthews

Mar 21, 2017
6 min

A Forum on Protest

Protest is as Portlandish as rain, coffee, cannabis entrepreneurs, and homeless encampments. For a time after the November election we enjoyed the protest du jour. Our fair city may not be the most diverse in terms of ethnicity and race. Activism is another story. Portland activists run the gamut from liberal do-gooders to libertarians, mild-mannered tree huggers, radical environmentalists, anti-vaxxers, anti-flouridists, balaclava'd anarchists, sovereign citizens who regular

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David Matthews

Mar 18, 2017
3 min

this and that; or, dipping a toe into murky water

"I see no indication that that's true. And so it's not a charge I would have ever made. And frankly, unless you can produce some pretty compelling proof, then I think the president, you know, President Obama is owed an apology in that regard." – Tom Cole, Oklahoma congressman who is so far out on the right wing of the political bird he could tumble off into the aether at any moment . In fairness to Congressman Cole, I have it on good authority from sources in Oklahoma that hi

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David Matthews

Jan 27, 2017
2 min

Rodin at Portland Art Museum

Rodin: The Human Experience Selections from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Collections Jan 21 – Apr 16, 2017 I caught the Rodin exhibit somewhat by chance on the day of its opening, unaware of it until I passed by the museum after a journal, poetry, and espresso session at Park Avenue Cafe early Sunday afternoon. To my pleasant surprise the museum galleries were less crowded than I anticipated. Perhaps citizens of our fair city had other things than art on their agendas with t

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David Matthews

Jan 21, 2017
3 min

Thoughts on Inauguration Weekend

Many friends are in DC for the weekend. They are not there to attend inaugural balls and galas. To each of them, and to other friends who marched in Portland, Walla Walla, San Francisco, Atlanta, and elsewhere across the country, I say, thank you. This morning I set out for Trader Joe's around 10. My route took me past the Hollywood Transit Center MAX station entrance on the I-84 overpass. Already women, men, and children, some in strollers, were queued up on a cold, rainy da

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David Matthews

Jan 14, 2017
4 min

Grasping at straws; or, Mad Dog may be an adult in the room...

For two months we have been asking "How did this happen?" In less than a week grim reality will set its hooks ever deeper into the dark soul of a nation that made "Moscow Don"* Trump its president, compelling us to seek out what glimmers of hope we can find lest we surrender to despair. Sometimes hope bubbles up from an unanticipated spring. Several cabinet nominees have expressed views at odds with positions taken by the president-elect. How meaningful this may be is problem

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David Matthews

Jan 11, 2017
2 min

Government by Tweet

Whether 'tis nobler to repeal and delay, repeal and replace, delay repeal, repeal and return to the status quo ante.... Republicans are dizzied by the array of possibilities. Some among them seem to be finding that it is easier by far to paralyze government by refusing to compromise on demands to which your opposition cannot accede without abject, unconditional surrender than it is to, well, govern. In response to Rand Paul's tweet that Donald Trump agrees that repeal should

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David Matthews

Dec 31, 2016
5 min

Closing Out 2016

The good news is that we put the horror of the Trump campaign and election behind us. With it comes the bad news that the horror of the Trump presidency lies ahead. You can't tell the players without a program, as they say. ProPublica offers a nifty card deck that lays out the best accountability reporting on the unsavory bunch slated to make up the Trump regime. You can download a pdf to your desktop for easy reference. Last night the president-elect, displaying once more th

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David Matthews

Dec 19, 2016
1 min

About that electoral college vote, like, for the record...

Members of the Electoral College are besieged by hate mail, harassing phone calls, and death threats. This is disgraceful. I am if possible even more annoyed by this stuff when it comes from people on my wing of the political bird than I would be if HRC had won on November 8 and Trumpists were trying to change the outcome. We should hold ourselves to a higher standard. Those who are engaged in the arguably more legitimate petitions, email campaigns, and demonstrations calling

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David Matthews

Dec 17, 2016
1 min

The Mode of Electing the President

Nothing was to be more desired that that every practicable obstacle should be opposed to cabal, intrigue, and corruption. These most deadly adversaries of republican government might naturally have been expected to make their approaches from more than one quarter, but chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils. How could they better gratify this than by raising a creature of their own to the chief magistracy of the Union? But the c

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David Matthews

Dec 15, 2016
2 min

The Russian Hack; and, perceptions...

To be clear, I do not believe that the Russian hack is the reason Donald Trump is president-elect. The hack is but one of a number of factors that led to his victory. Among others, in no particular order, were Hillary Clinton's shortcomings as a candidate and a campaign that in retrospect looks painfully inept (see, for example, Edward-Isaac Dovere, How Clinton lost Michigan — and blew the election), an equally ineffectual Democratic National Committee under the leadership o

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David Matthews

Dec 2, 2016
2 min

Masha Gessen on Surviving Autocracy

Trump is the first candidate in memory who ran not for president but for autocrat—and won. I have lived in autocracies most of my life, and have spent much of my career writing about Vladimir Putin’s Russia. I have learned a few rules for surviving in an autocracy and salvaging your sanity and self-respect. — Masha Gesssen I welcomed Hillary Clinton's concession speech and Barack Obama's remarks following the election. With civility and grace they issued a call to our better

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David Matthews

Nov 27, 2016
2 min

Jill Stein's gift to Donald Trump

I was not impressed by Jill Stein during the campaign and am less impressed now. Hillary Clinton should renounce Stein's move to initiate recounts absent evidence of hacking or other manipulation of the tally, of which none has not been offered to date. I refer you to the analysis at FiveThirtyEight linked below. My first thought was that the only rationale I could see for HRC's complicity in this affair is to head off charges by Stein that the recount was rigged if it does n

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David Matthews

Nov 12, 2016
3 min

Whither?

Hillary Clinton conducted herself with honor this week, as did Barack Obama. Donald Trump is the new president. He won the election. The matter is settled. Here in Portland as elsewhere in the country we have seen daily demonstrations. Reports indicate they begin peacefully before turning to vandalism and violence perpetrated by many of the usual suspects. Police tweeted that many demonstrators were "trying to get anarchist groups to stop destroying property" and that "anarch

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David Matthews

Nov 4, 2016
1 min

Walking Myself Back

Last night's post has a needlessly provocative title (Juan Cole asks, Did your mother drop you on your head?) that distracts from the message. Something along the lines of "Juan Cole on Why You Should Vote for HRC Instead of a Third- or Fourth-Party Candidate" would have been a better call — unwieldy and not as catchy, but better. As for the content, I stand by it. My posting at 9:30 p.m. may not be Trump tweeting at 2:30 a.m., but nonetheless 'tis not the best of moves. #Cur

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David Matthews

Nov 4, 2016
2 min

Juan Cole asks, Did your mother drop you on your head?

I see too many people agonizing over this election. Will they vote for the Greens? Libertarians? Is Hillary as bad as Trump? Did your mother drop you on your head? (Juan Cole, Save America from Trump to fix America, or, Did your Mother Drop you on Your Head?) Today's post on Juan Cole's blog Informed Comment is an impassioned plea addressed to those who consider voting for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein because they believe that there is no difference between Clinton and Trump, o

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David Matthews

Nov 1, 2016
2 min

Well, here's another nice mess...

A week back some of us dared hope that the Dems might eke out a slim majority in the Senate and even make inroads into the Republican majority in the House. Then came the Molotov cocktail James Comey tossed onto that notion. The bipartisan criticism of his ill-considered move is scant solace. The numbers run by Nate Silver and his crew at FiveThirtyEight still give HRC a 75 percent chance of winning the Electoral College, the one that counts, and an 85 percent chance of takin

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David Matthews

Oct 28, 2016
2 min

Travesty in Portland

Travesty is the first word that comes to mind upon learning of today's "not guilty" verdict in the Malheur occupation trial. How can armed occupation of a federal facility and property not be a crime? How can damage and desecration of Burns Paiute tribal artifacts and culturally significant sites, damage to a research field station, the building of roads in a wilderness preservation area, and considerable random vandalism, not to mention a bill for taxpayers running into the

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David Matthews

Oct 22, 2016
2 min

Debate No. 3

The debate season is mercifully at an end. On this, if nothing else, the country may be united. As for the substance of Wednesday's debate, I do not have much to offer beyond the conventional wisdom of the punditocracy. HRC was composed, prepared, focused, and unflappable—qualities we like to see in a president. She spoke of her program with a degree of specificity. One might agree or disagree with policies and positions, and it is legitimate to question how she expects to en

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