Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

The other day, noted legal expert Bill O'Reilly (I'm being facetious; he has no legal training) thundered that the 14th Amendment confers citizenship on anyone who is born in the United States, including the offspring of illegal aliens. Bill's reading of the Constitution is at the level of a fourth-grader. I was so upset by his ignorance, arrogance, and dogmatism that I wrote to him with a link, which I'm sure he ignored. My only goal was to prove to him that the question is complicated rather than simple, hard rather than easy. (I wrote my doctoral dissertation on constitutional interpretation, so I know whereof I speak.) A few minutes ago, Mark Spahn sent me a link to Ann Coulter's latest column, which puts O'Reilly in his place. Don't expect Bombastic Bill to admit error. He will double down on it. Mark my words.

Paul Stanley (1978).

Here is another failure (abject, in my opinion) to understand the Trump phenomenon. It's really quite simple: First, Trump (unlike, say, Jeb Bush) is a man of action; he gets things done. Second, Trump speaks the truth about people such as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. They are incompetent, despicable, and corrupt. Conservatives are sick to death of their candidates (and elected representatives) showing respect for thugs. (Remember John McCain going out of his way to defend Obama from a woman in McCain's town-hall audience? It was a sickening moment, one which caused more than a few conservatives to stay home on election day.) Third, Trump is not beholden to donors (e.g., the Koch brothers), the political class (e.g., Karl Rove), the beltway establishment (e.g., Charles Krauthammer and George Will), Washington insiders (e.g., Mitch McConnell and John Boehner), or think tanks. He is his own man. The chance of Donald Trump being co-opted by establishment Republicans is close to zero.

This is interesting.

Here.

Here.

Are American adolescents any different in their religious orientation than they were a generation or two ago? Religious orientation includes belonging to a specific religion (religious affiliation), attending religious services, religious practices (such as prayer), religiosity (the importance of religion in life), spirituality, donating to religious organizations, and approving of religious organizations. Adolescents’ religious orientation is important for several reasons. Religiosity is associated with a wide range of positive outcomes, including fewer risk behaviors, better social functioning, less substance abuse, and better physical health. Relative to other adolescents, religious adolescents also report less depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric concerns and display character strengths such as fidelity. However, religion can also drive feelings of shame and guilt over certain behaviors and can be a source of struggle and distress.

(Jean M. Twenge et al., "Generational and Time Period Differences in American Adolescents' Religious Orientation, 1966-2014," PLoS ONE 10 [11 May 2015]: 1-17, at 1-2 [endnotes omitted])

Note from KBJ: The authors imply that shame and guilt are bad. It depends on what one feels shame or guilt about. If Sammy has violated the norms of his community, or defiled himself, or disobeyed his god's commands, then shame and guilt are natural, fitting, and useful. No emotion is good or bad simpliciter. Everything depends on the context.

To the Editor:

Amazon workers, former and current, complain about the punishing hours and competitive pressure at this growing monopoly. But no one seems to question its central mission, which is the delivery of goods Americans don’t even know they want at cheap prices and blistering speeds.

Amazon has doomed chain retailers like Borders, wreaked havoc on publishing economics and taken aim at the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx and U.P.S. with its drone delivery plans. It’s no surprise, then, that Amazon expects employees to sacrifice family values and personal health. No institution, social or economic, is safe from Amazon’s avaricious methods of operation.

While Amazon’s treatment of its workers deserves scrutiny, we should also ask why such a company is thriving in our culture, and what else we must sacrifice at its altar of profit at any cost.

BETTY J. COTTER

Wakefield, R.I.

How anyone with any intelligence and integrity can support such a transparently dishonest and corrupt person is beyond me.