It is no surprise that I am excited at the prospect of a grandchild coming into the world. The excitement I feel for myself is only exceeded by the joy I feel for those two who are your parents. Like other grandparents-to-be, my mind has raced to consider what help I can be, what changes …
Author Archives: JackTReason
The Religion Of Conspiracy
This is about the religious belief of an atheist friend. Well, former friend, I suppose. The termination of said friendship has prompted this missive. If it seems like an oxymoron, please understand that religious belief does not necessarily require a god, but rather, only belief in something without good reason. It isn’t the belief itself …
The Other Side Of Integration
The Civil Rights Act was passed and signed in 1964. As I was born in 1960, the act was something I learned about years later. When my school taught me about this act, about ten years or so after it passed, the events that lead up to it seemed to be part of ancient history. …
Free Speech
January 2021 – post insurrection I imagine that those reading this understand what the First Amendment of the US Constitution says about speech, and they also understand what that speech that applies to. But to summarize, it protects the public from government restrictions on speech. That is all. It doesn’t force anyone to listen, nor …
One. More. Time.
One. More. Time. 400,000 Americans have died of Covid-19.And Donald Trump could have helped but didn’t. Look at the tapes. It is all on record. He downplayed the seriousness of this virus when he knew how serious it was.LOOK at the tapes. This was all recorded. He told us it would go away when spring …
A 1926 Klan Murder Seen From 2021
A century ago the Klan was popular in West Michigan. While it seemed to have peaked nationally at the beginning of the decade, it was strongly supported by many in the first half of the 1920s. It was less about hatred of blacks in the region than it was about hatred of immigrants and Catholics, …
Unconditional Surrender
Tomorrow is January 14. It has two anniversaries of note to history that I would like to highlight for Americans today.The first is 1784, which is Ratification Day. It was the day when the Treaty of Paris was signed, officially ending the Revolutionary War. Peace with the other side is possible. Even after a long …
It Was A Coup
It Failed The story of what happened at the US Capitol on January 6 has been told in different ways. Apologists for Trump tells us that it was a peaceful protest and a few bad apples broke into the Capitol and rummaged around a bit. Others acknowledge that it was a protest that got out …
A Distracted America
While we struggle through the effects of this pandemic, and deal with the legions of nut-cases who support ludicrous conspiracies and outrageous attempts to overturn the election result, as well as a President who seems increasingly detached from reality and appears willing to engage in overt sedition and treason to avoid admitting his loss; we …
Authoritarianism In America Is Not New
I’m a history minded fellow and sometimes I forget that others are not. I tend to study history more than most, but not as much as many others. And there is a sliding scale of interest that ranges across the vast depth of history. Even the most studious have blind spots where our knowledge is …