Ruth Frick O'Brien

Tag: Trump as bully

  • Frick-ed and Fracked or S.L.A.P.P.ed*?

    Frick-ed and Fracked or S.L.A.P.P.ed*?

    Not until I met and married Fred (who honored my father and mother when my sons walked me down the aisle), I had none other than my colleague, Fred’s long-lost relative, unite us in marriage. I would’ve been the second Ruth Ann Schwarz. Instead, Fred is the first Frederic Halper O’Brien, though we began our journey as Fred and Ruth O’Brien. Only 9 states in this union allowed him to change his name as he did in the Brookhaven Town marriage-license office.

    During our past tenth anniversary, we did another reciprocal thing. He suggested I stop hiding my direct lineage to Henry Clay Frick (named after a Speaker of the House, I presume). So here it is: I’m Ruth Frick (my grandmother’s first and last names) eschewing that middle name once my sons were grown. They too were burdened with English-Dutch-Swiss-Irish-Scottish-Swedish descent, though I am proud to say they speak, read, listen and have learned German and Dutch and only lack lessons in Swedish. But heck, knowing German/Dutch/English — it’s close enough.

    * Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (ask Wendy and Sylvia, part of the far west Frick clan 🙂

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  • Pride?

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/?reload=true&_=1665089845492*

    *Remember – this is a “quote”

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  • Trump the Retrogressive – One Party State Repub

    Trump the Retrogressive – One Party State Repub

    I’m beginning to think that I romanticized the Progressives, after hearing the claptrap of the one-party state attacking itself.

    The Progressive movement had progressive republicans and progressive Democrats. There was a lot of infighting. Intraparty conflicts led to my first book, about the Republican origins of the New Deal. But naturally, I wasn’t there during the battles — hearing the fights in person (no radio, let alone other media) or reading the magazines that popped up, like The New Republic.

    What Trump’s whining reminds me is that he’s no party, nor can he even have a party, given his unsuccessful practices slamming the First Branch, headed by Speaker of the House Ryan (himself a Republican with awful policies — possibly more awful than Trump’s healthcare).

    Still, I’m not watching much (TV that is), since Trump moves everything to the ALT Right — and to listen to them is like watching a funny-but-not-really-funny horror movie, or a formulaic disaster movie — all bunk.

    What we do know is that the Progressive Era couldn’t have been this bad. Was it?

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  • Trump’s S.L.A.P.P. = G.R.O.P.E. (read GOP Reprisal Opposing Public Exposure; or Grotesque Retribution Opposing Public Exposure).

    Trump’s S.L.A.P.P. = G.R.O.P.E. (read GOP Reprisal Opposing Public Exposure; or Grotesque Retribution Opposing Public Exposure).

    th-11 G.R.O.P.E. defines Trump’s own version of S.L.A.P.P. litigation (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation.)

    The latest S.L.A.P.P. against a former porn star is especially egregious. I’d share the details but this is a G. audience blog. And most people watching the U.S. election have already heard or read this latest American presidency race to the bottom.  So just think about what G.R.O.P.E. could stand for — either GOP Reprisal Opposing Public Exposure; or Grotesque Retribution Opposing Public Exposure.

    No matter what, this goes way beyond a civil war against women: It’s now criminal.

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  • A Few Square Feet of Common Ground

    Y-YAvataqr-Thumbnail Fred and I disagree on almost everything “substantive” about American politics*, especially in 2016. But we do agree on ten things:  Here’s the list:

    1. Nate Silver is a political scientist, and a social engineer, given that during election #3 he categorically failed to predict Trump (538’s prediction was in the margin of error, according to their statistics or data crunch).
    2. Anthony Weiner is a man’s man within the male-dominated political world of scandals, no matter how many scandals people postulate Hillary Clinton is embroiled in.
    3. Neither the 2016 presidential election nor any early election is tantamount to fascism, let alone the Nazi empire or the Third Reich.
    4. Men, and women, and all genders, who act like men, are self-serving egotists who will hopefully begin having their own public scandals while in public service, thereby achieving parity of all sexes.**
    5. Former NY Representative from Queens Anthony Weiner should get a Ph.D. but not teach ethics or the politics of scandals, let alone practice the latter, unless it is an extension course on the politics of the need for more men in childcare and parenting.*** (Alec Baldwin’s interview deserved an A of sorts for his interview of Weiner)
    6. All the views above reflect our freedom of expression (First Amendment).
    7. Academic freedom is a subset of First Amendment freedom of expression.
    8. The pen is mightier than the sword, even if it takes a few years for the youth to read enough (or for middle-aged rednecks to read enough) to get incited.
    9. Bullies like Trump make great social-movement mobilizers.
    10. Barack Obama’s transgender passports also unleashed a world of opposition.  Yay for my civil-rights causes.

    * within bounded rationality — two-pole ethic — right in representational democracy, the operative word is representational. (“Bounded rationality” is one of my current favorite social-ethics terms.)

    ** but more likely to be fixers (like Shonda Rhimes’s protagonist in Scandal)

    *** Bodies in Revolt, Gender, Disability and the Workplace

     

    Note: This message is sponsored, in part, by Fred Schwarz/Fred O’Brien (and no, I am not a bigamist but we reside in a bi-bounded rationality informal institution)

     

     

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