Connecting the Dots

The Ideal of Justice on Trial: The Rise of Judge Jackson and the Fall of Clarence Thomas

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Oh so long ago, in a land far, far away, there arose an ideal of a government by the people where a thing called justice could actually exist, blind and fair. Some people, especially politicians, still try to cling to this fantasy. It’s a…

Somehow We Made It to the First Day of Spring 2022: Get Outside

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Senate Sherpa Doug Jones Says He’s Confident of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Confirmation – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — At 11:33 a.m. Sunday, we cross the vernal equinox from winter into spring, and it feels like it’s about time, y’all. The Japanese cherry blossoms are blooming along the Tidal…

To Be or Not to Be, That is The Question: Zelensky Addresses UK Parliament

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Thoughts On Life and Social Media During a Snow ‘Bomb Cyclone’ – The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Thick, wet white snow covers the ground again. The wind out of the northwest continues to howl outside, causing the RV to shake a little sometimes. The tall pine and hardwood trees…

Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows Committed One of the Few Cases of Voter Fraud in the 2020 Election

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ladies and gentleman, it’s with mixed feelings of terrible sadness and great glee that we report to you today there was at least one clear case of voter fraud in the 2020 election. This is rich. Break out the popcorn. You will be shocked…

Sometimes You Eat the Bear, and Sometimes the Bear Eats You

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Coronavirus Originated in Wuhan Market – The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sometimes you might see news outlets playing catchup with each other on an important story by citing another news outfit. We all feel a responsibility to provide our unique collection of readers, our audience, with certain information. Even…

As the World Turns Toward Autocracy, A Chance to Turn it Around Toward Democracy

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — This country and the world seemed to be perched on the edge of a precipice, a double edged sword. While the world has appeared to be lurching toward autocracy in recent years, it appears quite possible that there is actually a way, a chance,…

When the News Gets Weird, the Conspiracy Nuts Turn Pro

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“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” – Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971) The Big Picture -  By Glynn Wilson -  WASHINGTON, D.C. — When the news gets weird, the conspiracy nuts turn pro. It was Twosday, 2-22-22, at 2:22 p.m., 22 hours ago according to Facebook, when…

Time Flies When You’re Having Fun: New American Journal Celebrates Eight Years Online

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — They say time flies when you’re having fun. Of course that has become a cliché. The Roman poet Virgil first alluded to this phenomenon in Latin, in Georgics Book 3, using the line “fugit inreparabile tempus” which means, in proper English, “time escapes and…

Lessons from Frederick Douglass and John Brown: Lock Trump Up!

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Let’s face facts and tell it straight, never mincing words. That’s what we do here at the NAJ, which is why we have a loyal following — and also why we have detractors and even outright enemies who would at the very least put…

Another Big Chance to Slay the Elephant in the GOP Room: Codger Power

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sometimes you wake up in the morning, make the coffee, check the news and feel all hope is lost, like Frodo Baggins near the end of The Two Towers in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. That’s kind of how I felt on Sunday…

Joe Biden Says China Will Eat Our Lunch: Are Americans a ‘Silly People’ Devolving into Tribalism?

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Also, Facebook Finally Peaked and Meta Lost $230 Billion in Value – “So long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little people, a silly people – greedy, barbarous, and cruel…” — T.E. Lawrence in ‘Lawrence of Arabia‘ 1962 The Big Picture -  By Glynn Wilson -  WASHINGTON, D.C.…

The Big Picture: On Winners and Losers

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“Winners and losers, which one will you be today?” — Social Distortion Winners and Losers Video The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — The California punk rock band Social Distortion summed it up in this song by Michael Ness. “We’re all good and evil … there’s cowards and heroes … lovers…

Creating a Blank Slate With Snow, the Year of the Tiger and a Federal Court Ruling with Implications for Climate Change

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — What would you be thinking if you woke up in the woods at dawn, with the ground covered in white snow, the world all quiet and the air clean and clear? It reminds me of a blank slate, a chance for a new beginning.…

The Big Picture: Who Do You Trust for News?

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — If our democracy is so under threat, Covid is still surging, workers and the economy are still suffering, climate change due to global warming is all around us and we’re about to be at war with Russia, why are these talking heads on TeeVee…

The Fundamental Lesson from Martin Luther King, Jr.

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — I’ve got to write this fast. So listen up. A massive winter storm named Izzy is on the way from the west, or really swirling in from the southwest. When did they start naming winter storms like hurricanes? Anyway it will hit this afternoon…

One Year After Jan. 6, 2021: If Democracy is to Survive, Trump Must Be Tried and Convicted for Insurrection

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 6, 2022) — Not long after the sun came up on Jan. 6, 2021, while we got ready to watch Congress affirm the Electoral College results showing Joe Biden the winner in the presidential election of 2020, we found out that two Democrats had…

Letters to Santa: The Number One Wish is to See Trump Behind Bars for Christmas

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The Big Picture -  By Glynn Wilson -  WASHINGTON, D.C. – We have exclusive, breaking news to report on the Eve of Christmas Eve. Inside sources with Santa’s elves tasked with reading letters to St. Nick and compiling the results for the jolly old man at the North Pole say the number one wish from…

More New Evidence Surfaces That Police and Military Officials Side With Trump Against American Democracy

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. – If Donald Trump and his so-called “conservative” Republican followers — especially police officers and members of the military — really want to do away with any semblance of American democracy and install a white nationalist dictatorship here in the United States, I really wish…

Winter Solstice 2021: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

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Do not go gentle into that good night – Dylan Thomas, 1914-1953 Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning…