Random Notes, March 2015

Some musings on current events:

+ What should we make of Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress last week? Who benefited more, the GOP-controlled House that circumvented the White House and Department of State to make this happen, or Netanyahu, looking for an edge in a close reelection battle? In the end, everyone lost, including Bibi's critics; it threw a spotlight on a GOP majority that was overreaching, a trigger-happy foreign leader whose hubris has spiraled out of control, a feckless White House, and a Middle East that is nowhere near peace.

+ With 20 months until the next presidential election, the candidate pony show is already shaping up. The strategy of the two major parties couldn't be more dissimilar: the GOP is bracing for another touch-and-go dogfight like the 2012 primaries, and the Democrats are pretty much banking on one candidate.  Critics of the Republican party will relish in the lack of diversity this time around; outside of the fledging Dr. Ben Carson, all of the rumored hats in the ring are white, priviliged males. On the other end, it seems like 90% of Democrats are banking on Hillary Clinton; the Benghazi non-scandal and private e-mails aside, it would be nice to see someone --anyone-- give her some competition once the battle shifts to New Hampshire. (Gov. O'Malley, your nation needs you!) Of course, we still have over a year and a half, and the first chapter in the story is still being written.

+ Earlier this month was the 50th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," when civil rights activists encountered Alabama state troopers as they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettis Bridge into Montgomery. The Civil Rights Act of 1965 was passed into law months later, in part because of the media coverage of journey from Selma. It's staggering to think about the progress made since then, and at the same time, the struggle that continues in places like Ferguson, MO, Long Island, and Madison, WI.

+ Perhaps we're all wrong. Maybe that dress is magenta and orange.

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