Author: Thomas L. Knapp

Schrödinger’s Presidency

Source: The Dispatch
by Nick Catoggio

“The press is having fun today with the White House’s new timeline on bombing Iran. ‘I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,’ the president said Thursday in a statement. Those fluent in Trump-ese know that ‘two weeks’ doesn’t literally mean two weeks. On all sorts of looming policy decisions dating back to his first term, it’s what Donald Trump unfailingly defaults to whenever he has no idea what he’s going to do. … Just as the cat in Erwin Schrödinger’s famous thought experiment both is and isn’t alive, ‘two weeks’ both is and isn’t a deadline. … The TikTok ban is the latest reminder that we’re living under Schrödinger’s presidency, where laws both do and don’t apply. Think of them as ‘suggestions’ to the White House rather than binding instructions.” (06/20/25)

https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/boilingfrogs/trump-policy-congress-immigration-tik-tok-tariffs/

Thomas L. Knapp

Rwanda: Opposition leader arrested

Source: Associated Press

“A prominent opposition leader in Rwanda has been arrested on charges she assisted an alleged plot to incite public unrest. Victoire Ingabire was arrested on Thursday and is being detained in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. Her team of international lawyers in a statement called her arrest ‘baseless and politically motivated.’ The Rwanda Investigations Bureau links Ingabire to alleged subversion after her name was mentioned in an ongoing criminal case against nine people accused of plotting to overthrow the government of President Paul Kagame. … Ingabire spent 16 years in exile in the Netherlands and returned to Rwanda to launch an opposition political movement in 2010 but was imprisoned before she could contest the presidential election. … she was freed in 2018 after obtaining presidential pardon. But Kagame has since threatened Ingabire with a possible return to jail.” (06/20/25)

https://apnews.com/article/rwanda-ingabire-opposition-arrested-kagame-1a1719a7a547235a06fdd897ce9df470

Thomas L. Knapp

Israel’s Attack on Iran: The Violent New World Being Born Is Going To Horrify You

Source: Antiwar.com
by Jonathan Cook

“Twenty years ago, the US warned prematurely of the ‘birth pangs’ of a new Middle East. Now they have arrived in full force – and they will not end in Iran.” (06/20/25)

https://original.antiwar.com/cook/2025/06/19/israels-attack-on-iran-the-violent-new-world-being-born-is-going-to-horrify-you/

Thomas L. Knapp

CA: Lawsuit alleges UnitedHealth fired San Diego nurse over Palestinian stickers

Source: San Diego Union-Tribune

“A San Diego nurse has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group, alleging that she was illegally fired from her job at the Outpatient Surgery Center of La Jolla for bringing water bottles to work that featured stickers supporting Palestinian freedom and denouncing Israel’s war in Gaza as a genocide. Lauren Gaw alleges that UnitedHealth Group, which owns the local surgery center through a series of subsidiaries, violated several California laws prohibiting employers from infringing on their employees’ political views and activities. The suit also alleges discrimination, harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination. … UnitedHealth Group, the lone named defendant, and its subsidiary Optum did not respond to requests for comment.” (06/20/25)

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/06/20/lawsuit-alleges-unitedhealth-fired-san-diego-nurse-over-palestine-stickers/

Thomas L. Knapp

Adam Smith, George Orwell, and Rules for Writing

Source: EconLog
by Kevin Corcoran

“In The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith used rules about writing as a metaphor for rules of conduct. He examines conduct by two different measures. In one measure, he considers what rules one would need to follow to, in my inelegant paraphrase, avoid being an actively scummy person. On the other hand, he also considers what rules of conduct one would need to observe to be a positively virtuous and praiseworthy person. … Orwell attempted to put out clear and straightforward rules for how to improve the quality of one’s writing. He lays out six rules. … Orwell, like Smith, expected people to be able to recognize what is good or bad writing (or virtuous behavior) independently of the rules.” (06/20/25)

https://www.econlib.org/adam-smith-george-orwell-and-rules-for-writing/

Thomas L. Knapp