Volume 264 | No. 19

Ugly Patterns and Unseemly Practices

To the Editor: Under federal law, the U.S. Department of Justice is charged with conducting a “pattern-or-practice investigation” when there is evidence of persistent biased or improper policing, with excessive use of force or other unconstitutional practices by law enforcement. A federal pattern-or-practice investigation is conducted in addition to any criminal charges or other action taken by state and local authorities. The recent killing of an unarmed, handcuffed black man by a white Minneapolis police officer who knelt on the man’s neck for eight minutes while the man said he couldn’t breathe and three white officers looked on, is apparently just the latest in a …

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A Thin-Skinned Would-Be Tyrant

To the Editor: Naturally, Democrats want to defeat the President Trump in the next election. Trump takes that personally and melts down. When then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, speaking for Republicans, said, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term President,” Obama didn’t whine about how badly he was treated, or insult McConnell with nasty names on Twitter, or blame the media. He got busy. With the help of Joe Biden and Congress he rescued the country from the Great Recession with the $787 billion America Recovery and Reinvestment Act, spurring economic growth, turning around the …

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A Statement on George Floyd, from the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire

“Like most of us, we at the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire are outraged because of the murder of George Floyd. We are outraged because of his murder and because of other recent displays of the type of injustices African Americans bear daily. We are outraged and we are made weary. Part of our outrage is as you might expect: We are the Black Heritage Trail and Black Lives do Matter. But our outrage is not only because our focus is the history of Black Americans. “What we learn from this history in our state helps me articulate another aspect of our outrage. In …

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What does “Small Government” buy us?

Amazingly, America has become a nation of socialists, asking in dismay: “Where’s the government?” These are not born-again Bernie Sanders activists, but everyday people of all political stripes (including previously apolitical multitudes) who’re now clamoring for big government intervention in their lives. Nothing like a spreading coronavirus pandemic to bring home the need that all of us have—both as individuals and as a society—for an adequately-funded, fully-functioning, competent government capable of serving all. Instead, in our moment of critical national need, Trump’s government was a rickety medicine show run by a small-minded flimflammer peddling laissez-fairyland snake oil. “We have it totally under control,” Trump pompously …

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The Four Horsemen of This Apocalypse

Recently, while taking a virtual tour of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, I came across an image of Albrecht Durer’s 1498 woodcut, “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” This woodcut was one of 15 that Durer produced for a book illustrating the Bible’s “Revelation to John,” and the image powerfully represents scripture’s Four Horsemen: conquest, war and violence, famine, and death. Earlier artists tended to represent each horseman separately, but Durer chose to present them together, galloping fiercely across a visual field. Durer created the image more than 500 years ago, yet it continues to startle, displaying the horsemen’s combined energies and inspiring thought …

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When Trump May Need the U.S.P.S.

To the Editor: The Post Office represents the hope for the future of a functional republic. It has endured thousands of cuts from so-called “conservatives” in Congress who seek to break the postal union and impose pension requirements that no for-profit business not awash in billions could survive. Withal, the U.S.P.S. continues to link all in our country with excellent service and the best package shipping rates for working schmucks like you and me who don’t have the bucks or volume to wangle sweetheart deals with UPS or FedEx, who are licking their chops at the prospect of devouring the spoils of a broken-up U.S. …

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