On Oct. 30, Brazilians voted in a presidential runoff election that was won by Luiz ‘Lula’ Ignacio da Silva. It was a victory by the narrowest of margins, although in fairness, the president elect’s opponent had the clear support of the federal highway patrol, which reportedly set hundreds of roadblocks in areas of the country that had supported the former president in the first round of voting.
The good news is, despite higher prices, inflation and safety concerns, more Christmas shoppers are browsing online but making in-store purchases.
At every Thanksgiving dinner, my family asks everyone around the table to say what they’re grateful for. It puts new guests on the spot, so sometimes they just thank the hosts — an easy out that makes it harder for anyone else struggling for a good answer. I’ve been in that position, but this year I know what I’m grateful for.
When far right Canadian extremist David DePape smashed his hammer into a patio glass door to gain entrance into the San Francisco home Paul Pelosi shares with his wife, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, it’s doubtful he had the famous protest song in mind. Rather than “hammering out love between my brothers and my sisters,” he hammered on Mr. Pelosi’s skull, sending him to a hospital ICU. His act was one of the most sinister examples of the epidemic of meanness and hate infecting the body politic not just in the US, but around the world.
For the past few weeks, dozens of turkey vultures have been circling on thermals over my house in Oregon, preparing to soar away south into California. Not long ago, I saw a late monarch butterfly passing high overhead, its orange wings incandescent against the blue sky.
Although, in recent decades, American conservatives have embraced what they call the “Right to Life,” they have certainly done a poor job of sustaining life in the United States. That’s the conclusion that can be drawn from a just-published scientific study, “U.S. state policy contexts and mortality of working-age adults.”
Elouise Cobell Day will be celebrated on Nov. 5, in Montana, but many people in the West may not recognize her name.
The struggle to save democracy is proving even more difficult in Europe than here in the US. Virtually every European country is bedeviled by rising conflict between traditional political parties on one side and far-right, sometimes neo-fascist parties on the other.
President Joe Biden surprised his top advisers along with everyone else when, at a fundraising event, he referred to “Armageddon” in the Ukraine war: Russia’s possible use of a nuclear weapon. Though United States officials were quick to stress that they knew of no imminent threat by Russia, Biden’s remark underscored recent reports suggesting deepening U.S. concern about what Putin might do as Russian forces retreat in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Show of hands: Who wants the United States to be a dictatorship?
