A Sociological Eye

A good eyeroll is more vital than ever at a time when every day brings American news that makes a kind and virtuous person want to tear out their hair. So have a chuckle at this! In 2017, in the wake of Donald Trump's first being elected, the name "Maverick" suddenly entered the top hundred names for babies presumed boys, riding an explosive trend in popularity. About the origins of this name: "Maverick" was the last name of some 1800s Texas lawyer. He had a client who didn't have the cash to pay his bill, so the client gave Maverick 400 cattle instead. The befuddled Mr. Maverick had no interest in managing cows--he was happy with his job as a lawyer. So he never had them branded and just set them loose to wander the local lands and graze. This led to most of them being stolen, but the idea of Maverick's cattle roaming free and unbranded struck cowboys of the era as romantic. They started calling any unbranded wandering bovine they came across "a ma...

    There has been a lot of reporting and social media furor this week about the dubious religious messaging being sent by the Trump administration. Most of that has focused on Trump’s posting of an AI-generated picture of himself as a Jesus-equivalent figure, miraculously healing the sick with glowing light beaming from his hands, while fighter jets and a strangely demonic figure hover above him. Personally, I find the much less-noticed claims being made by Trump’s vice president JD Vance more shocking. Oh, I know, Vance’s statements are just in the form of words, and fairly dry ones at that. People find that much more boring than the zingy offering of a blasphemous AI slop image of a deified Trump. But here’s the thing: only the most ignorant and self-deluding think Trump is a devout Christian. The man has never read the Bible, and can’t quote or even name a single passage off the top of his head. He has a long and very public history of enjoying the seven deadly sins, a...