Page 11 - Peter Berkowitz News Today

Dear President Smith, Thank you for your “Reflections on Yesterday’s Verdict,” which you sent to Swarthmore students, alumni, faculty, and staff on April 21 and posted on the college’s website. Prompted by the announcement that Derek Chauvin had been found guilty of murdering George Floyd, you offered brief thoughts on the connection between liberal education and racial justice, social movements, and political change. As a Swarthmore graduate grateful for the long-ago introduction that ...

Chauvin trial footnotes (2) Last Sunday I posted a few footnotes to our coverage of the trial of Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd. I posted the footnotes in the form of bullet points. Last week’s footnotes are included below under April 25. Today I want to add footnotes in the same form and keep this going as warranted: • Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder and two lesser included offenses. Minnesota law (i.e., Minn. Stat. § 609.035) follows a “single behavioral inc...

Good morning, it’s Friday, April 9, 2021, the day of the week when I reprise a quotation meant to be uplifting or educational. Today I have two memorable lines; one is about Lyndon Baines Johnson and the second is from LBJ. Both are on the subject of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. First, though, I’d point you to RCP’s front page, which presents our poll averages, videos, breaking news stories, and aggregated opinion pieces spanning the political spectrum. We also offer original material fr...

Good morning, it’s Monday, April 5, 2021. The word “gospel” is derived from the Old English godspel, which translates to “good story” or, in a more modern vernacular, “good news.” That was fitting in 2021. The holiest day on the Christian calendar is not a federal holiday, but over the Easter weekend, the government delivered great news: In the 24-hour period starting on Good Friday, more than 4 million coronavirus immunizations were administered in this country, culminating in a...

Cardinals Timothy Dolan of New York, left, Sean OMalley of Boston, and Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, concelebrate the opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life Jan. 23, 2020, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. (CNS/Gregory A. Shemitz) At Politico, Gabby Orr and Meredith McGraw pen one of the most incisive articles about former President Donald Trumps current political status: He is not the "Godzilla i...

George Will writes that Joe Biden is keeping his promise of sturdy resistance to China. But Will cites only weak evidence for that proposition. Will points to a sandpapery first conversation between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi. He also notes that Blinken warned Yang that Washington would hold Beijing “accountable (whatever that means) for its human rights abuses against the Uighurs. In addition, Will

Good morning, it’s Monday, Feb. 15, 2021. The second impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump ended up the same as the first -- with an acquittal -- although this time seven Republicans joined a unanimous Democratic caucus instead of just one. Viewed as a geometric progression, it suggests Trump wouldn’t survive a third impeachment. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Speaking of which: Today is a federal holiday, Presidents Day. Once upon a time, this nation celebrated George Washington’...

Print this article Iran will build nuclear weapons if Tehran’s demands regarding economic sanctions are not met, according to a top government official. “Our nuclear program is peaceful, and the fatwa by the supreme leader has forbidden nuclear weapons, but if they push Iran into that direction, then it wouldn’t be Iran’s fault but theirs,” Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said in newly published comments. That threat is a little on the nose, even for the Iranian regime,...

Good morning, it’s Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. The snow covering the ground in much of the country (here in the East, more is on its way) raises a variation of the famous philosophical question about a tree falling in the forest when no one is there to hear it. This one has a more practical implication: Do kids consigned to remote schooling during a pandemic still get snow days off? I’m not on any school board, but I covered several school districts as a young reporter, and if it were up to me I�...

George Will sees a relationship between Donald Trumps lack of regard for the truth and the lefts post-modern lack of regard for the notion of objective truth. Of Trump, Will writes: He began his political career spouting birtherism and concluded it — he will not be back; like vaudeville, he is yesterday’s entertainment — raving about an election-rigging conspiracy so vast that it involved legions in many states, and so