“It’s unlikely to change – there’s nothing in King Salman’s past as governor of Riyadh for about forty years that suggests that he was particularly a reformer, not on the role of women, not on democratic development. There’s been a rumor in the last couple of days that he said to someone in an e-mail that he’s in favor of a constitutional monarchy, but I would be surprised if the level of repression started to go down … I think the kind of thing that we would view as significant reforms is unlikely.” IfsThinkingYearsKindSaidWould BeLastsPastLevelsViewsRolesDevelopmentCoupleKingsDemocraticFavorsSignificantReformFortyMailGovernorsUnlikelyRumorMonarchyRepressionReformersConstitutional MonarchyRiyadh Author:Elliott Abrams
“Ever since Richard Nixon walloped George McGovern in the presidential election of 1972, political pundits have treated as a truism the proposition that liberals are out of step with the rest of the nation, and therefore all but unelectable outside the precincts of the Northeast -- give or take a college town here or a ski resort there. During the course of every presidential election for the past forty years now, Republicans have sought to wield the word liberal as if it were a six-gauge shotgun.” IfsGivingYearsPastPoliticalCoursesNationsStepsCollegeRepublicanSixTownsElectionTreatedPresidentialFortyPropositionsResortsSkisPresidential ElectionGaugesPunditsTruismShotguns Book:Why We're Liberals: A Handbook for Restoring America's Most Important Ideals Source: Why We're Liberals: A Handbook for Restoring America's Most Important Ideals
“If you want to experience eternal illumination, put the past and the future out of your mind and remain within the present moment.” IfsWantMindMomentsPastEternalFortyPresent MomentIllumination Author:Elif Safak