Subscribe to the newsletter to receive this weekly column. We are looking back at the most intelligent and strong opinions of the week, as reported by CNN and other outlets. (CNN) When the world’s chaos overwhelms us, it’s natural to look for solutions elsewhere. In this case, we will be looking at how great thinkers and artists have described chaos. Stanley Moss, poet, said that chaos can be found on the page. “Chaos is an endless longing.” Bob Dylan once said, “I accept chaos.” It doesn’t accept me, I don’t know. Mary Shelley, in her preface to Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1831), stated that “invention, it should be humbly acknowledged, does not consist creating out of void but out of chaos Shelley’s co-location of creativity and chaos is not unique. James Baldwin’s 1962 essay, “The Creative Process,” elucidated this tension in a prescient way. “A society must assume it is stable,” Baldwin wrote. “But the artist must know, he must let you know, that there is no stable under heaven.” Many people around the globe will have heard Baldwin’s message and taken it on board after this week. A horrific mass shooting at a Highland Park, Illinois Independence Day parade left seven people dead and many others injured. Shinzo Abe, former Japanese Prime Minister, was gunned down in Nara by an assassin with a homemade gun. Frida Ghitis noted that this act of violence on the other end of the planet was shocking to people all over the world. It was particularly devastating in Japan, where gun violence is almost non-existent. Ghitis said that Abe’s death would have been “appalling at all times.” “Now, however it adds to a sense of an unstable and in crisis world — in which democracies appear to be under siege.” … We know that Abe’s murder did not happen in a vacuum, regardless of what we learn. Project Syndicate republished Shinzo Abe’s previously published words. John R. Bolton (ex-National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump) said that his death will be felt most in the US. He first met the Japanese leader under the George W. Bush administration. Bolton wrote in a Washington Post remembrance that Americans should recognize how important Abe was to our nation. … Abe never lost his sense of humor or patience. … We could have used more wise warnings from Abe in the years ahead. But that is not to be. Read MoreThey’re the breaks indeed. The rollercoaster ride of Boris Johnson’s tenure in the UK prime minister’s office ended this week. Johnson’s dissembling about a deputy’s groping controversy did what boozy hypocrisy regarding Covid-19 lockdown, Brexit-related lies, and shenanigans could not: it forced him out of power. Johnson’s short response broke the internet briefly: “And you should know how sad it is for me to be giving up my best job in this world.” But they’re the breaks. Rosa Prince wrote that the final lie that brought down Boris Johnson’s pyramid of lies was particularly unsettling. “Why would a prime Minister risk his leadership by appointing a predator to a minor position in his government?” It’s not fair to lie about it, when his folly was discovered. Prince says that Johnson has found it easier to tell a preposterous lie since childhood than to tell the obvious truth — and has yet knowingly broken any rule. Johnson’s exposed lies and lack of accountability are reminiscent of America’s own populist. Julian Zelizer asked if Trump’s “fall form power” marks a new era of conservative politics. Zelizer looked at the fates of both men through the legacies Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. He concluded that it is unlikely: “Trump’s future political outlook remains uncertain, but many other Republicans are coming forward to promote what might now be called Trumpism… in more polished, politically viable ways.” … It’s likely that we’ll see a similar scenario here in the UK after Johnson’s resignation. More: Doug Heye: Republicans: Take a look across the pond. Trump must be thrown out. Katherine Goldstein. Jacquelyn Sundheim. Stephen Straus. Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza. Eduardo Uvaldo. All were shot by a Highland Park gunman on July 4, 2012. Jill Filipovic wrote that the reality is stark after mass shootings in Buffalo (New York) and Uvalde (Texas), along with others in many other communities that don’t make national news. “We don’t have to live this way. We are an extreme international outlier in gun control. We could drastically reduce gun deaths if needed. But we must want to. She maintained that guns are not a topic of debate but a question: What kind America do you want? America’s out-of control gun culture is a cost to lives. It also affects our ability to feel safe in public places and connect with others. Events such as school plays, music performances, and Independence Day parades bring people together around shared experiences, values, and beliefs. They foster a sense of mutual investing in a place as well as in the people who make it up. They are more than just fun. They are the glue that binds people and places together. They are more than just a parade. When we lose our senses of safety around them, it is much more. Gabriele Galimberti is a documentary photographer whose portraits show Americans with their gun collection. She wrote a July 4 essay for NBC Think about the impact of her images. “I think my photos shock people because they highlight how guns are embedded in so much of our everyday lives. This isn’t about mass shootings. It’s about America’s identity. My photographs are meant to inspire deeper reflection and change on a day that is supposed to be a symbol of freedom from tyranny. “For more: Peniel Joseph: Why I’m not giving in to the embattled dream for America. Signs of democracy: The rapidly heating January 6 select committee hearings are ongoing and many Americans are tuning into with the hope that Trump will be held accountable. Don’t wait, Diane McWhorter said. She cited the GOP primary in Alabama as an example of how old-school Republicans are responsible for America’s current perilous moment. McWhorter drew inspiration from a 1956 letter by William Faulkner concerning the North’s inability to understand the South. She warned that it was not Trump but these so-called thinking Republicans who will be responsible for the demise of our republic. “Another potential minefield?” The administrative state — which is what the GOP has been trying to dismantle, making accountability harder to secure, Nicole Hemmer pointed to after reports of the Internal Revenue Service audits of former FBI leaders James Comey, Andrew McCabe, became public. Hemmer wrote: “If it turns to the former president played a role in audits… it would be no great surprise,” because “presidents” have used the Internal Revenue Service and other powerful agency to target their political opponents for years. She cited examples from the 1940s, 1950s, Kennedy and Nixon administrations, and beyond. She said: “This history is not exoneration of Trump, but it reminds us that these agency remain vulnerable to manipulations by bad actors.” This is a worrying flaw, considering the right-wing’s widespread efforts to abolish the administrative state. Americans concerned about these efforts should push for reforms such as stronger safeguards against political interference, and more oversight by independent watchdogs to protect the agencies that allow the federal government to function. In The Atlantic, Sen. Mitt Romney posed the dangers to democracy in a wider context. He asked: “What accounts the blithe dismissalof potentially cataclysmic risks? The left believes that the right is responsible for the failure to address climate change and the attacks against our political system. The right believes that the left is responsible for ignoring illegal immigration or the national debt. All political parties can agree on this wishful thinking. We are becoming a nation of denial. … America will suffer serious consequences if we continue to ignore the real dangers we face. For more: Dean Obeidallah: Gavin Newsom is more than just crushing Ron DeSantisDavid Axelrod : Democrats may be playing on fire this primary season. A term to remember. The superlatives for Supreme Court’s most recent term continue to pile up. A common description is “like no one else.” In addition to seismic decisions on abortion and guns the Supreme Court also limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to push towards carbon neutrality. This was a development John D. Sutter described as a “painful reminder” that there is no technology, strategy, or institution that can “rescue us from the climate crisis. We can only hope that the outrage over the Supreme Court’s dangerous, shortsighted decision… will fuel the American fossil fuel industry and the American people’s energy. Although it’s difficult to feel it now, the feeling will soon return. The truth is, if the US government branches can’t stop global warming then it’s up to people to make it happen. It’s not by buying new cars and changing lightbulbs. Instead, by gaining and asserting political power. Other cases this term revealed a landscape where “brick by brick, if not by bulldozer, the wall between religion and government is collapsing,” observed Barbara Perry, who noted that in “in each of the four religion cases this term,” the conservative-majority court “adopted an accommodationist posture. As the founders feared the American experiment in creating pluralistic republics is at greatest risk if religious faith becomes the driving force in politics. There were many concerns beyond First Amendment interpretations. Faith-based people also had their say. Anne Lamott, writing in the New York Times following the Kennedy v. Bremerton decision that favored a football coach who had been praying on the field, stated: “Many people who believe in a reality beyond what is visible, who believe that a soul can survive death, and who are looking for seats at heaven near the dessert table, recoil from the sight of a high-school football coach praying at the 50 yard line. It is offensive to me to see sanctimonious, public prayer in any situation — but a coach holding his football players hostage while an entire audience watches his piety makes me itch. “For more: Van Jones & Nisha Anand: This is a rare Supreme Court ruling in which conservative and liberals teamed up. Joshua A. Douglas: The dangerous electoral theory the Supreme Court may endorseReal lives after RoeWith Roe v. Wade’s end and the closing of Mississippi’s last abortion clinic Jackson’s “Pink House,” W. Ralph Eubanks wrote, “We are witnessing how ideas fostered in the bosoms of the American South are taking a stage on a national stage. We all live in Mississippi, regardless of whether we like to admit it. Eubanks, a Mississippian native, converted to Catholicism after many years away. He returned to Mississippi in 2016 to find its Republican politics (and most Catholic faithful) “dominated” by four issues: guns and God, gays, abortion, and homosexuality. He is now a self-described pro-choice Catholic and mourns having moved back to the Pink House’s neighborhood. He couldn’t stand to witness the vitriol directed at the women who visited the clinic. “What Roe’s demise made me realize is that we have too often neglected the cultural and political power of the South.” Mississippi is no longer an island. CNN’s Mayra Curvas stated that the issue is not just the constitutionality to regulate abortion but the right of all women of any age to exercise control over their bodies. This right is being eroded every day in schools across the country. Cuevas spoke of her personal experience of being sexually abused by a teacher. She also cited research that showed how policing the dress of young women of color, and those who are not gender-conforming, is a systemic problem that directly relates to larger fights for bodily autonomy. More:Amy Bass: Women athletes will have a much more difficult life. Victoria Nourse explains why codifying Roe will be back in the Supreme Court. Jessica Calarco: Breastfeeding for two years is encouraged, but women need more support. Areej al-Sadhan – My brother is currently serving 20 years in a Saudi prison. Biden should ask MBS to release Zin Mar Aung. What does a hip-hop superstar on death row have to do with dictators everywhere Paul Moses: Big Tim’ Sullivan, the controversial origins of New York’s gun laws Peter Scoblic and David Mandel: How can we think about nuclear war without getting scaredAllison Hope: Laverne cox Barbie is a breakthrough W. Kamau bell: What ‘desert Florida” taught me about America’s ‘woke war””Wokeness. ‘Wokesters.’ ‘Wokerati.’ ‘Woketember.’ ‘Wokeuary.’ Okay, I made those last two up,” W. Kamau Bell wrote in advance of the season premiere of “United Shades of America Season 7” — “It is easy to do because everyone seems to be making up variations of the woke theme.” Everywhere you turn, someone is concerned that America has become too woke. Bell pointed out that “Woke” is another example of a White dominant culture taking a Black word and twisting it beyond recognition. Woke was first recorded in 1920s by Huddie ‘Lead Belly’Ledbetter. “The Woke War” was the season’s first episode. Bell visited Arizona to talk to people from all walks of life, including LGBTQ students, who are often the ones facing the brunt of the classroom battles associated with the so-called war against woke. Bell stated that while fear of “woke” is a powerful tool to grab our attention, Bell claimed that bad actors in politics, media, and elsewhere are “just trying distract us from the fact this country is on fire.” The only way to put it out is to learn how it started. The more we know about fires, both the historical and metaphorical, the more we can put out the flames. “Don’t allow people to use children as shields. When people say “think of the kids”, I respond, “Yeah, I think of the kids.” My children. I want them to know everything about this country. I want them to know about algebra, January 6, Frank Sinatra and other great trans people in history. Janelle Monae is my pet rock. Science, war in Ukraine, and much, much more. Do you want your children to know more? Ugh, I feel sorry for you. “Why would you raise children like that?”
World News1 year ago
World News1 year ago
World News1 year ago
World News1 year ago
World News1 year ago