DE MORTUIS NIL NISI BONUM

I took four years of Latin in high school.  Along the way, I memorized quite a few Latin aphorisms, a few of which have stuck with me all these decades later.  “De mortuis nil nisi bonum” is the Latin translation of a statement attributed to Chilon of Sparta, one of the seven sages of ancient Greece.  It means “do not speak ill of the dead.” 

When Barbara Bush died, two people – one obscure professor on the Left, and one notorious friend of Donald Trump on the Right – chose to ignore that advice.  The obscure professor’s name is Randa Jarrar, who called Mrs. Bush “an amazing racist,” and added “I’m glad the witch is dead.”  Donald Trump’s pal is Roger Stone, who called Mrs. Bush “a nasty drunk.” 

I have no idea whether Barbara Bush was a racist or a drunk.  I voted against her husband twice, and her son twice.  But how clueless do you have to be to launch such crude posthumous attacks on a 92 year old whose main sins were that she was the wife and/or mother of politicians you disliked? 

Jarrar has tenure at Fresno State University.  Stone is old and rich.  A plague on both their houses, I say.