Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

  Adams, one of our founding fathers, a president and the father of a president, a mammoth figure in US history, owned dogs while he was in the (newly constructed) White House.  That isn't surprising.  It is kind of an all-American kind of fact.  We might at some level be disappointed if he had NOT had at least one dog. But did you he name one of them "Satan"?  Perhaps for the perverse pleasure of training this pioneer White House pet? Instead of saying "heel" I guess Adams would say "get thee behind me."  [Matthew 16:23].  No, the above is not a picture of Adam's dog. ;-) It obviously has some features in common with our President-elect, though.

Next week you will see my traditional four-panel piece reviewing the latest term of the Supreme Court.  But this last session is such a bore I'm not sure how I'm gonna be able to come up with any material! <jk>  A blogger's lot is not an easy one.  Happy fourth of July, everyone!  I'm reminded for no good reason for something John Adams says in the Broadway show 1776 .  History, he was afraid, would forget him. Posterity would believe that "Franklin smote the ground with his magic lightning rid, and up sprang a horse with General Washington astride it. Then the three of them -- Franklin, Washington, and the horse -- rode off to win a revolution."  It's a good line, and history does tend to become almost as simple in the re-tellings as the fictionalized Adams feared it would be.  ("Eisenhower conquered Germany, saw the Autobahn, and instantly wanted to order some of those for America.") But Adams does seem to have kept his part through multi...