Our favorite kind of mind.
June 20 // late May, early June, 2017
A couple of lowlights we didn't want to forget, and one more thought on our guest post...
We’re going to take a step away from the news for the larger part of this post, as we are just coming back from a much-needed break from the stories, the headlines and the endless ranting and raving of the American people that resulted from them.
Without spending a lot of time on these outrages, we’ll simply point out a few from the past several weeks, with a very brief note on each:
Lots more examined outrage to come from weeks past but we wanted to hit those quickly and dispense with them as efficiently as possible. Some stories deserve more discussion – Betsy deVos, the Paris Agreement, Elon Musk, Kathy Griffin, Bill Maher, the ACHA bill, and Representative Steve Scalise come to mind – and we will be discussing them here in the days to come. But for now, it may be time to address the outrage that seems to have erupted right here on our site.
We recently posted a guest column from a journalist who – no doubt about it – is not a fan of President Trump. We posted it for several reasons, and we stand by those reasons today:
Thank you for sticking with us. We took a brief respite and enjoyed the beauty of Montreal for a few days. The break from the breaking news was delightful, thank you. And we met the most delightful Uber drivers ever: one from Somalia, one from Afghanistan. Both of whom speak at least two more languages than the staff at Two Weeks Ago News; both living in Montreal and thrilled to be there; both ultimately focused on living and working in the U.S.
Despite wanting to take a break from the news and the President and the relentless turmoil Americans slog through daily, we understood the following, after brief but enlightening conversations with both young men. Both want to work hard; they’re practicing their English regularly; they’re getting training. (One of them wants to be in Silicon Valley – he’d love to work for a tech firm but “My English – it needs be better.” Apparently, he’s never called anyone for tech service in North America but whatever. His English is 10,000% better than my Somali.) The young man from Afghanistan, who moved here with his entire family, learned so speak English while in school. “They teach us English starting very young.”
Both want to be part of our society. Six months into the President’s term, the United States is still the dream. At least for these two guys.
A couple of lowlights we didn't want to forget, and one more thought on our guest post...
We’re going to take a step away from the news for the larger part of this post, as we are just coming back from a much-needed break from the stories, the headlines and the endless ranting and raving of the American people that resulted from them.
Without spending a lot of time on these outrages, we’ll simply point out a few from the past several weeks, with a very brief note on each:
- President Trump didn’t wear an earpiece while he was in Europe. Apparently, he couldn’t be bothered to get the translations of the speeches being given. Except he did. So, turns out that wasn’t a real story, AKA “fake news.”
- On Memorial Day the President tweeted out some nonsense about our military or our defense or something like that. Except he didn’t. So there’s that again.
- Then he tweeted about being humble, just like the Pope! Yes, he did. In 2013. As a joke. So, yeah, you know the rest.
- And we’re positive you all remember the shove heard round the world. When the President “shoved” Dusko Markovic, the leader of Montenegro, out of the way for a photo? Yes, Two Weeks Ago News heard about that one, too. And we watched the video, just like everyone else. And then we read the Washington Post article linked above. Who knew? Look, it’s not exactly admirable, on the face of it, but if Mr. Markovic didn’t mind, why should we? “This was an inoffensive situation,” Markovic said. “I do not see it in any other way.” Well, the rest of the world and the American media certainly did.
Lots more examined outrage to come from weeks past but we wanted to hit those quickly and dispense with them as efficiently as possible. Some stories deserve more discussion – Betsy deVos, the Paris Agreement, Elon Musk, Kathy Griffin, Bill Maher, the ACHA bill, and Representative Steve Scalise come to mind – and we will be discussing them here in the days to come. But for now, it may be time to address the outrage that seems to have erupted right here on our site.
We recently posted a guest column from a journalist who – no doubt about it – is not a fan of President Trump. We posted it for several reasons, and we stand by those reasons today:
- More than 15 years of friendship and professional connections with the author, journalist Nelson Peña. While we certainly don’t agree politically, we seem to have withstood the changing tides of Washington over the years and managed to respect each other throughout the various administrations and the people who lead them.
- The “two weeks from now” hook he wrote about – with a link to a Bloomberg article - was too wonderful to pass up. If it’s true, and the President is responding to inquiries by giving himself and his administration two weeks to reply, it’s the perfect foil for what we’re doing here at Two Weeks Ago News. If it’s not true, then it’s simply a spectacular coincidence and we still love it.
- As we noted in our introduction to the piece, if we don’t listen to each other – even as we significantly disagree – we’re doomed. And Nelson and Two Weeks Ago News seemingly disagree – on lots of things – but we manage to listen to each other. At least most of the time. Again, as noted in the introduction, we believe it’s better to make our way toward the future together, than to get lost on our own.
- Two Weeks Ago News has received email from several readers who want us to stop taking the “right” side on everything and take our head out of the sand. So far from being seen as objective, a number of readers see us as a mouthpiece for the right. We don’t – but the observation stands.
- Finally – and maybe primarily – Two Weeks Ago News is not changing. The site will continue highlighting and discussing the ongoing and relentless outrage that is almost always baseless and ultimately meaningless. Occasionally, we may question something that seems to have disappeared from the national consciousness – but shouldn’t have in our view. But most of the time, we’ll keep asking about the news of two fortnights ago and where all the outrage seems to have disappeared to.
Thank you for sticking with us. We took a brief respite and enjoyed the beauty of Montreal for a few days. The break from the breaking news was delightful, thank you. And we met the most delightful Uber drivers ever: one from Somalia, one from Afghanistan. Both of whom speak at least two more languages than the staff at Two Weeks Ago News; both living in Montreal and thrilled to be there; both ultimately focused on living and working in the U.S.
Despite wanting to take a break from the news and the President and the relentless turmoil Americans slog through daily, we understood the following, after brief but enlightening conversations with both young men. Both want to work hard; they’re practicing their English regularly; they’re getting training. (One of them wants to be in Silicon Valley – he’d love to work for a tech firm but “My English – it needs be better.” Apparently, he’s never called anyone for tech service in North America but whatever. His English is 10,000% better than my Somali.) The young man from Afghanistan, who moved here with his entire family, learned so speak English while in school. “They teach us English starting very young.”
Both want to be part of our society. Six months into the President’s term, the United States is still the dream. At least for these two guys.