A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

On Quora, David Bolick, a conservative troll who has been edit-blocked for violating site rules, asks this sarcastic and insincere question about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): Is one new rule that Pelosi is now more powerful than the President and that he now works for her? My reply to Mr. Bolick: No. One of the basic principles that all Americans are taught in school is that the Federal government is divided into three equal but separate branches, each one with powers and responsibilities specified in the Constitution. This was designed so that one branch would not become more dominant than the others. The three branches are: The Executive Branch, which includes the President, the Cabinet and the various Departments that run the day-to-day government operations. (Example of a Cabinet-level Department: the State Department, which handles our diplomatic efforts overseas). The Legislative Branch, which consists of a bicameral (two-chamber) legislature c...

On Quora, our old friend "Anonymous" asks: What does Queen Elizabeth think of President Trump? This is my reply to "Anonymous," complete with links to actual sources and the conservative meme in question.  Queen Elizabeth II is a dignified woman, a head of state (strictly ceremonial) not only of the United Kingdom but also of several other nations that are members of the Commonwealth of Nations, including Australia, Canada, the Bahamas, and New Zealand. She has been on the throne, metaphorically speaking, for slightly over 67 years, the longest reign of a British monarch in history. And although she’s 93, she’s in excellent health and will probably be around for a few years more, setting a record for regal longevity that will be hard to break. Because the Queen is not an absolute monarch who issues commands to her ministers (save strictly ceremonial ones on certain occasions) or is directly involved in government operations, Elizabeth is not someone who giv...

On Quora, die-hard Trump supporter Eda Acuri asked this question yesterday: Why should the American public NOT take the Democrats interpretation of the Mueller's report? Quora has marked this question as being insincere. Here's my reply to Ms. Acuri: First, my fellow American, it’s not “Mueller’s report,” it’s the “Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In the 2016 Presidential Election,” by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III. If you’re going to ask loaded, insincere questions in an effort to defend  “the greatest President in American history,”  as some of you like to call Donald J. Trump, you can at least try for a modicum of accuracy when you write, especially on a public forum like Quora. Second, it’s not the “Democrats interpretation” of the above-mentioned “Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In the 2016 Presidential Election.” The way you phrased that question is as dishonest as it is grammatically incorrect, my friend....

If you are a regular reader of A Certain Point of View. you know that one of the blog's regular features is Talking About.... in which I share some of my answers to political questions that I've run across on Quora, a popular questions-and-answers website. I am not, or at least I didn't use to be, a political junkie, but ever since Donald Trump was elected to the White House, I express my beliefs and, more often than not, vent my anger over Trump's behavior and policies in those answers, especially when I'm replying to obviously loaded pro-Trump "questions." Yesterday, for instance, I ran into this masterpiece of "faux outrage" from Charles Arnold, a South Dakota pastor and Trump fan: Why does Quora allow so many loaded anti-Trump questions that obviously are not looking for genuine answers? I replied:  Well, for one thing, the concept of Quora, at least according to its mission statement, is to promote the sharing of useful informati...

An anonymous Trump supporter on Quora asks: Are magazines just too liberal to feature one of the most beautiful and eloquent first ladies (Melania Trump) that America has had since Jacqueline Kennedy? Dear Anonymous, You have got to be joking. Well, either you’re trying to be funny or you’re a Trump supporter, and since I’m not experiencing a side-splitting gale of uncontrollable laughter, I can safely bet that you are, in fact, a Trump supporter. First, as far as I know, most magazines don’t have a liberal slant. Some do, some don’t, and some (like the  National Review ) have a decidedly conservative bias. And as someone who studied mass communications, journalism, and public relations, I can tell you that most publications cover First Ladies’ activities when they do something newsworthy or grant an interview because they have a message that they want to share with the American people. So far, Melania Trump has been featured in American mass media any time she has acc...