Strange Bedfellows

 

At least four police officers were hurt during a violent riot that erupted on the streets outside The Hague after two rival groups of Eritreans clashed following a political disagreement.
Rioters torched police cars and a bus, and Dutch police officers were forced to use tear gas to try and dispel them.
An official said a group loyal to Eritrea's government was holding a meeting when the venue was attacked by Eritreans who oppose the African nation's government. (Eritrea is a one-man dictatorship under unelected President Isaias Afewerki, with no legislature, no independent civil society organizations or media outlets, and no independent judiciary.)
The conflicts underscore deep divisions among members of the Eritrean diaspora between those who remain close to the government and those who have fled to live in exile and strongly oppose Isaias.

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Bridewell

MEANING:
noun: A prison.

ETYMOLOGY:
Originally it was a well, named for St. Bride (or Brigid) in London. The name St. Bride’s Well became Bridewell. Over time, the site has served as a church, a palace, an orphanage, a hospital, and finally, gained notoriety as a prison. Earliest documented use: 1583.

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Strange Bedfellows

We seem to be in the time of ideologues, wild-eyed devotees of rigid, inflexible political positions. Unreflective and narrow. Intense.

But these movements are always more complex and less pointed than they seem.

Bruce Yandle, Clemson University economics professor, in his seminal 1983 article, “Bootleggers and Baptists – The Education of a Regulatory Economist,” explained why virtuous Baptists and self-interested bootleggers might come together to support the prohibition of the sale of alcohol. 

Baptists sincerely support temperance; bootleggers greedily welcome reduced competition. Similarly, environmentalists genuinely committed to protecting forests and biodiversity might be joined by beef producers seeking nothing more elevated than a protected market. 

U.S. consumers may have different preferences, but powerful combinations like this can ride roughshod over the general public.

The whole may be a lot less than the sum of its parts. And don't the major candidates reflect that?