The Rosen Report

Can We Handle The Truth?  Ron DeSantis And "Sadistic Personality Disorder"-- The Grand Inquisitor Of Guantánamo  One of the mistakes which political analysts make is to project their own thinking onto individuals and organizations in order to explain the motivations of those in power, or power seekers and their followers. They frequently grasp at straws in looking for the rationales of criminal and anti-social behavior, writing off such phenomena as the consequence of personal political ambition, greed, religious beliefs, associations, and just plain old corruption. People like to hear simple explanations, and many writers are paid to make them up while on the surface sounding plausible. Or, the flip side of such projections is to descend into academic foppery and arguments tending toward socio-historical determinism, such as, "symptomatic of late-stage capitalism," or "representative of Patriarchical systems," or an even more vacuous euphemism, "tren...

A Dialogue With A Friend (And With Myself) On Political Organizing, Influencing, Changing People Through Social Media-- In Response To Questions We All Have Regarding Uncertainty And Self-Doubt I first learned how to politically organize (including emphatically but not limited to fundraising) by working through an organization, and banging my head against the wall in every conceivable way until I realized what I was doing wrong. It is like hitting a baseball, you fail most of the time, and the best at doing it are those who through experience learn how to fail the least, and how to handle failure.   Most people here have a lot of passion for ideas and truth, and see things that others don't because they have deeper background, empathy and insight. Many of you are currently going through what I did when I made my first attempts at organizing, when I was literally shocked into disbelief about what I saw as apathy, willful ignorance, indifference, or resistance. "Why don't th...

Today In History-- April 25, 1959 St Lawrence Seaway Linking Atlantic And The Great Lakes Opens To Shipping Already I can hear some folks asking rhetorically, "why single out a seemingly obscure event for discussion which on the surface has little relevance for us in the present?" Maybe because it has everything to do with our current situation, as a case study for understanding the actual historic and Constitutional role of our federal government, as well as an appreciation of what effective political leadership looks like on those occasions in which it asserts itself.   Specifically, the US commitment to the St. Lawrence Seaway highlights why we have a "United States" instead of a "Confederacy" of states. And just as significant is the knowledge of how and why then Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts would have been a truly great President had he lived to serve a second term. Though circumstances and the eras are different, the concept of governance...

Reality--The Existential Issue From Which Most Of Us Are Hiding-- This is a general response to a question from a friend, to many friends who are asking, "what do we have to do to derail Trump and MAGA if you think that our Justice system can't, or won't?" This is a huge subject. Maybe a series, but definitely not just a post. But for now, I would reiterate the arguments which I've been making since the Summer of 2020.  The first thing to recognize is that the age of traditional party politics in America has ended, because there is a rebellion underway, led by a fascist theocratic movement which has hijacked one of the two major parties and commandeered the state governments of more than twenty of our states, which are now actual dictatorships run by a minority party. MAGA is a movement of white "Christian nationalists" which wants to break up the United States and form a separate nation, while still claiming the title of "Americans." They are ...

Some Very Profound Questions From A Friend, Regarding The History Of These Times-- What Is History, And Why Not Be Part Of It? Question:  "Lance Rosen, Someday, Trump and all his enablers and followers will be dead. Everybody who was alive during this era will also be dead. The only way to learn about this time will be in history books. I wonder how it will be reported? Of course, there will still be admirers like people who now still revere long-dead dictators. But will the events that are happening now be able to be described with no bias? Will people be able to read about this and think "How did this ever happen?" or will history be kind to him and his cult? I know it's been said that history books are written by the winners. I really can't imagine he will ever be looked upon as being a winner. Many followers of dictators changed their allegiance once the dictator was removed. I wonder what it will take for Trump's followers to be embarrassed by their supp...

The White House Must Demand The Expulsion Of Marjorie Taylor Greene From Congress. Today. Recent developments should represent a turning point in the orientation of the President, Democratic leadership and the still independent news media of the US.  Yesterday Marjorie Taylor Greene praised the actions of Air National Guardsman Texeira for his months long spying and leaking of highly damaging top secret material, which after being modified in many cases has been used by the Russian government to undermine NATO's policy toward Ukraine, and justify Vladimir Putin's impending escalation of his genocidal war. Arresting the perpetrators alone is insufficient. This case involves actual spying, without any ambiguity. The suspect acted covertly and allegedly conducted espionage against the United States.  The investigation of said spying will lead in many directions, but one thing is certain. We have a "category five" security risk on the Homeland Security Committee in Congre...

Some Random Thoughts From The Beach, Unfiltered: On The Party Of "Freedom"--  The GOP, the self-described party of "freedom" now stands for expelling elected officials who protest, inspecting your child's genitals, banning books, tracking your daughter's periods, banning women from interstate travel for abortions or medical care and putting bounties on them if they do, banning sex education, banning the teaching of evolution in an attempt to retry the Scopes Monkey trial, banning contraception and interracial marriages, banning gay marriage, banning of vaccines, banning of medicines or treatment for Trans persons, banning classical or modern art which depicts the human form, shutting down companies who donate to support civil rights, forced deportations of refugees or migrants, overturning free and fair elections, making it illegal for men to wear makeup, banning drag shows, firing teachers who teach that slavery is bad, banning news services which criticize...

This article was my response to the daily letter written by Professor Heather Cox Richardson today. As always, Professor presents a thorough picture of the recent developments and background which adds to our persepective. (link to FB here) https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02svprFuMQrHZzzfiNEEaH8d7bKo4pkjnJZbfWhKymGRC6g4uwbe2Z8M2sajjAvtLfl&id=100044557238708&mibextid=Nif5oz My response is below. And you'll see that my orientation is not "informational" in the same sense. It is vital to be informed, but in general there is a lack of combativeness in the Democratic leadership nationally. And that is a charitable description. They say all the right things, then continue in their routinized pragmatic way. That has to change. So, my two cents-- _____________________________ ["President Biden's "Tennessee Burning" Moment--  Someone must ask the question, "what will the White House and DOJ do in response to yesterday's events i...