Just my opinion here but this insistence on proper grammar, usage, and style seems a lot like following decorum in the Tennessee and Montana state houses. Don’t we have more important things to worry about? Thank you for keeping the focus on the big picture issues!
You are a gift to the Nation - and people who waste your time by trying to correct how you write to us have too much time on their hands; they should put their energies into canvassing neighborhoods, writing postcards into swing states, opening up Act Blue to contribute to regular folk who are courageous enough to run for (any) office in these perilous times swing; in other words, do something constructive to help lead us toward a better Union as you try to do every single day that you and your ME write your excellent- invaluable- blog... grammar be damned.
I love your newsletter, listen to (or read) it every day, frequently quote it on social media, and refer all my friends to it... And that is all... Just the buttering up, without the criticism or correction... :-)
Regarding No Sense, er, I mean Labels - any organization that hasJoe Lie-berman in a leadership position is not to be trusted further than you can see it with your eyes closed.
Robert, your good humor never fails to amaze me. I have reached the age when being a curmudgeon is routine most days, but you always manage to engage in civil discourse on even the most maddening subjects like the infallibility of the headline writers for The New York Times. Thank you for keeping the lid on the subject of the debt ceiling and calling out the No Labels evil.
What you do, each day, distilling the current political news in an eloquent and lucid manner is irreplaceable. The grammar gmudgins, (my word for the grammar/spelling folk that plague perfectly good prose), can just get a life. Being dyslexic myself I was told as a youth I was “backward”, ie, stupid, because of my difficulty with spelling and writing. My parents, this was in the 50’s, before testing for disabilities was common, thought , ahh she’s a bit slow, but she is good at art! So, even though I wanted to write when I was growing up it was not encouraged. I flunked english in 7th grade for spelling and grammar errors. But then, when I took the class over in summer school we sat out on the grass and read Shakespeare. Wonderful! I got an A. People who get spooked by things that they think break the rules are living a sad life… they should put down their critical pens and read a little of the bard. “Or in the night, imagining some fear, How easy is a bush supposed a bear!”
May 22, 2023·edited May 22, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
Robert, Your topic on people being picky about grammar and such, reminded me of a time many years when I gave a speech on Photographing Butterflies at our local Nature Center. The speech went extremely well; probably one of the best speeches I've ever made. Then a woman came up to me and said she couldn't listen to the speech because I was mispronouncing "picture". My mid-western accent pronounces it like "pitcher". Startled and certainly not feeling in a mood to be contrite, I looked at her and said "Wow, what a number your mother did on you! ... Why don't you try being more tolerant of regional accents?" That startled her and was not the answer she wanted to hear! She quickly disappeared. Robert, you produce an amazing newsletter every night that is so appreciated by me and the thousands of us who read them before we go to bed well after midnight. My dad use to tell me that I was successful because I hadn't let perfection get in my way. Please don't let perfection get in your way of keeping us informed, educated, and with hope. Your mission is far too critical to our well-being now and in the next decades! Language evolves and the dictionary editors produce revisions and additions every year! I've recently coined a new word for the alternative to the democracy the Extreme Court is foisting on us. My word for a theocratic oligarchic kleptocracy is a theolikle. I've added to my personal dictionary. As a footnote, driving home yesterday from a meeting a few towns away on the Interstate I saw a big banner that said "Vote Trump for democracy" The second line was "Do you want democracy or socialism?" Talk about an oxymoron - Trump democracy! Ouch!! We, the People, all of us this time!
You hit a lot of issues on the head tonight. Thank you! I don’t want you to think your viewpoints are in any way cramping my writing style. I rather enjoy your take on things and your occasional chuckle. It’s the old adage about “how you can’t please everyone all of the time...”. I have seen people try and correct your grammar and honestly, it pisses me off. Plus, it’s a huge distraction. Just my 2 cents. Carry on, sir!
I love your newsletter and appreciate the fact that you stayed up past midnight to comment on late-breaking news. By the way, you “write good” and have a wicked sense of humor!
Thank you for the daily updates that keep me grounded in this otherwise crazy making news cycle.
Another thought about the postscript. This newsletter was intended for Robert's 3 daughters, not us outsiders. He has invited us to be a part of his family newsletter. One must ask - if your father was writing you a letter every day, would you correct his spellings, grammar, etc? I would hope not - so leave Robert to what Robert does best - keep us sane!!! Robert even sent us the newsletter while on vacation in DC, weddings or during being sick with Covid - who does that? Even Heather Cox Richardson takes time off!!!! I had to re-read this short paragraph 4 times to check for typos and grammar - not fun and I taught English!!! Thank you Robert for your amazing newsletters - with or without typos!
Thank you for showcasing the sneaky NC Republicans who passed SB20 literally overnight and then overrode our Dem Governor’s veto in spite of the majority of North Carolinians opposed to this. Yes it really is an 8 week abortion restriction. In addition the woman has to go to the doctor twice IN PERSON prior and once afterwards IN PERSON thus further restricting out of state, the poor, those working hourly, those without transportation or doctor access, etc. Truly horrific.
Deeply grateful for your voice. As I was reading about the debt ceiling (heard on a Pod Save America we should be calling it "default") I suddenly got an image of Biden holding the ball instead of Lucy and McCarthy kicking wildly. The image formed perhaps because also in my Inbox is a long letter from my Senator, Bernie Sanders, about why Biden should invoke the 14th Amendment.
I admire your restraint!! These kind of 'corrections' often turn me into a lunatic!! Especially because I'm so aware of age-related changes anyway! God bless you!! xx's
I’d never heard the entitled/titled kerfluffle before, but I’d guess that entitled only started becoming a no-no in some people’s eyes was when the GOP made “entitlements” a dirty word. A bit after that we started hearing about well-off folks with a propensity for demanding special treatment as “entitled”. So this would be the case of a bad penny driving a good one out of circulation.
May 22, 2023·edited May 22, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
Robert, your newsletter and sense of humor are balm for the soul !💙
Thanks for pointing out NC 10-week abortion ban. I wanted to add that you won’t hear in the press Florida’s 2023 bill requires two appointments prior to six weeks. Also, yesterday NYT stated:
“The six-week ban, which includes additional exceptions for rape and incest, is not yet in effect and will hinge, in part, on the court’s decision over the existing law.”
NYT failed to mention the exceptions for rape and incest are only up to 15 weeks !
Much of the MSM is complicit as the Repubs try to avoid discussing abortion and proclaiming 10-15 week bans as “moderate”.
I kind of like the option where Biden elects to pay some obligations but not others. Like doesn't pay any bills or provide any tax sharing payments to the states of the Freedom Caucus. The Freedom Caucus represents a disproportionately high percentage of the "taker" states, not the "giver" states.
Just my opinion here but this insistence on proper grammar, usage, and style seems a lot like following decorum in the Tennessee and Montana state houses. Don’t we have more important things to worry about? Thank you for keeping the focus on the big picture issues!
Robert,
You are a gift to the Nation - and people who waste your time by trying to correct how you write to us have too much time on their hands; they should put their energies into canvassing neighborhoods, writing postcards into swing states, opening up Act Blue to contribute to regular folk who are courageous enough to run for (any) office in these perilous times swing; in other words, do something constructive to help lead us toward a better Union as you try to do every single day that you and your ME write your excellent- invaluable- blog... grammar be damned.
I love your newsletter, listen to (or read) it every day, frequently quote it on social media, and refer all my friends to it... And that is all... Just the buttering up, without the criticism or correction... :-)
Regarding No Sense, er, I mean Labels - any organization that hasJoe Lie-berman in a leadership position is not to be trusted further than you can see it with your eyes closed.
Robert, your good humor never fails to amaze me. I have reached the age when being a curmudgeon is routine most days, but you always manage to engage in civil discourse on even the most maddening subjects like the infallibility of the headline writers for The New York Times. Thank you for keeping the lid on the subject of the debt ceiling and calling out the No Labels evil.
What you do, each day, distilling the current political news in an eloquent and lucid manner is irreplaceable. The grammar gmudgins, (my word for the grammar/spelling folk that plague perfectly good prose), can just get a life. Being dyslexic myself I was told as a youth I was “backward”, ie, stupid, because of my difficulty with spelling and writing. My parents, this was in the 50’s, before testing for disabilities was common, thought , ahh she’s a bit slow, but she is good at art! So, even though I wanted to write when I was growing up it was not encouraged. I flunked english in 7th grade for spelling and grammar errors. But then, when I took the class over in summer school we sat out on the grass and read Shakespeare. Wonderful! I got an A. People who get spooked by things that they think break the rules are living a sad life… they should put down their critical pens and read a little of the bard. “Or in the night, imagining some fear, How easy is a bush supposed a bear!”
Robert, Your topic on people being picky about grammar and such, reminded me of a time many years when I gave a speech on Photographing Butterflies at our local Nature Center. The speech went extremely well; probably one of the best speeches I've ever made. Then a woman came up to me and said she couldn't listen to the speech because I was mispronouncing "picture". My mid-western accent pronounces it like "pitcher". Startled and certainly not feeling in a mood to be contrite, I looked at her and said "Wow, what a number your mother did on you! ... Why don't you try being more tolerant of regional accents?" That startled her and was not the answer she wanted to hear! She quickly disappeared. Robert, you produce an amazing newsletter every night that is so appreciated by me and the thousands of us who read them before we go to bed well after midnight. My dad use to tell me that I was successful because I hadn't let perfection get in my way. Please don't let perfection get in your way of keeping us informed, educated, and with hope. Your mission is far too critical to our well-being now and in the next decades! Language evolves and the dictionary editors produce revisions and additions every year! I've recently coined a new word for the alternative to the democracy the Extreme Court is foisting on us. My word for a theocratic oligarchic kleptocracy is a theolikle. I've added to my personal dictionary. As a footnote, driving home yesterday from a meeting a few towns away on the Interstate I saw a big banner that said "Vote Trump for democracy" The second line was "Do you want democracy or socialism?" Talk about an oxymoron - Trump democracy! Ouch!! We, the People, all of us this time!
You hit a lot of issues on the head tonight. Thank you! I don’t want you to think your viewpoints are in any way cramping my writing style. I rather enjoy your take on things and your occasional chuckle. It’s the old adage about “how you can’t please everyone all of the time...”. I have seen people try and correct your grammar and honestly, it pisses me off. Plus, it’s a huge distraction. Just my 2 cents. Carry on, sir!
I love your newsletter and appreciate the fact that you stayed up past midnight to comment on late-breaking news. By the way, you “write good” and have a wicked sense of humor!
Thank you for the daily updates that keep me grounded in this otherwise crazy making news cycle.
Another thought about the postscript. This newsletter was intended for Robert's 3 daughters, not us outsiders. He has invited us to be a part of his family newsletter. One must ask - if your father was writing you a letter every day, would you correct his spellings, grammar, etc? I would hope not - so leave Robert to what Robert does best - keep us sane!!! Robert even sent us the newsletter while on vacation in DC, weddings or during being sick with Covid - who does that? Even Heather Cox Richardson takes time off!!!! I had to re-read this short paragraph 4 times to check for typos and grammar - not fun and I taught English!!! Thank you Robert for your amazing newsletters - with or without typos!
Thank you for showcasing the sneaky NC Republicans who passed SB20 literally overnight and then overrode our Dem Governor’s veto in spite of the majority of North Carolinians opposed to this. Yes it really is an 8 week abortion restriction. In addition the woman has to go to the doctor twice IN PERSON prior and once afterwards IN PERSON thus further restricting out of state, the poor, those working hourly, those without transportation or doctor access, etc. Truly horrific.
Deeply grateful for your voice. As I was reading about the debt ceiling (heard on a Pod Save America we should be calling it "default") I suddenly got an image of Biden holding the ball instead of Lucy and McCarthy kicking wildly. The image formed perhaps because also in my Inbox is a long letter from my Senator, Bernie Sanders, about why Biden should invoke the 14th Amendment.
I admire your restraint!! These kind of 'corrections' often turn me into a lunatic!! Especially because I'm so aware of age-related changes anyway! God bless you!! xx's
I’d never heard the entitled/titled kerfluffle before, but I’d guess that entitled only started becoming a no-no in some people’s eyes was when the GOP made “entitlements” a dirty word. A bit after that we started hearing about well-off folks with a propensity for demanding special treatment as “entitled”. So this would be the case of a bad penny driving a good one out of circulation.
Robert, your newsletter and sense of humor are balm for the soul !💙
Thanks for pointing out NC 10-week abortion ban. I wanted to add that you won’t hear in the press Florida’s 2023 bill requires two appointments prior to six weeks. Also, yesterday NYT stated:
“The six-week ban, which includes additional exceptions for rape and incest, is not yet in effect and will hinge, in part, on the court’s decision over the existing law.”
NYT failed to mention the exceptions for rape and incest are only up to 15 weeks !
Much of the MSM is complicit as the Repubs try to avoid discussing abortion and proclaiming 10-15 week bans as “moderate”.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/21/us/politics/desantis-abortion.html?
I kind of like the option where Biden elects to pay some obligations but not others. Like doesn't pay any bills or provide any tax sharing payments to the states of the Freedom Caucus. The Freedom Caucus represents a disproportionately high percentage of the "taker" states, not the "giver" states.