Fsrcoin
MY BLOGS
-
The Rational Optimist
http://www.rationaloptimist.wordpress.com/
Commentary of Life, Society, Politics, and Philosophy
LATEST ARTICLES ( 1301 )
-
The Nordic Theory of Everything: Lessons for America
America is a great country. Not perfect, but striving to improve — its best characteristic.Anu Partanen was a young Finnish reporter, who moved here and was... Read more
Posted on 24 November 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Covid-19, Trump, Election Integrity, Masks, Schools, and Everything
Covid is surging in virtually every state, worse than ever, a million U.S. infections a week, a quarter million dead and rising fast, hospitals overwhelmed — an... Read more
Posted on 21 November 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
My Mother’s 100th Birthday
My mother, Lotte Robinson, turned 100 on November 16, and I went to California for the party.Lotte Dreyfuss was born in Nurnberg, Germany. Her father had taken ... Read more
Posted on 18 November 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Normal People
Sally Rooney’s novel Normal People is about people. No subject fascinates us more. It’s why storytelling arose. Helping us understand the people we live among. Read more
Posted on 15 November 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
The Million Moron March, and Political Tribalism
There were fears of a violent insurrectionary “March on Washington” by gun nuts to keep Trump in office. Violence may yet occur. But what we’ll mainly see at... Read more
Posted on 14 November 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Transition Travesty: the Expanding Republican Alternate Universe
After years of falsely saying Democrats “refused to accept” the 2016 election — actually, it was Trump refusing to accept losing the popular vote — we always... Read more
Posted on 11 November 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
A New America
Some commentators are opining that, in retrospect, Biden was the only candidate who could have beaten Trump. Biden outpaced most other Democrats on the ballot,... Read more
Posted on 09 November 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
My Love for Trump Supporters
We all have multiple allegiances. My central allegiance is to my species. Our great human project, since our dawn, has been to facilitate good rewarding lives,... Read more
Posted on 07 November 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Bye Bye Trump — Good Riddance
Last night at the White House podium he gave the vilest presidential speech in history. Eclipsing the mark set the previous morning. Read more
Posted on 06 November 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Trump’s Unhinged Last-ditch Attack on Democracy
Trump’s always been one big living lie (shown by his psychologist niece’s book). That’s gone into overdrive. Maybe his diseased mind actually fantasizes he can... Read more
Posted on 05 November 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Deliverance — for Now — Barely
My 2008 Rational Optimism book saw a powerful trend of human progress. With America in its vanguard. But progress never runs in a straight line, and democracy i... Read more
Posted on 04 November 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Election Day —— !!!!
I first voted in 1968. Always intensely interested in politics. But never before with such powerful feelings of hope and anxiety.With my wife at the pollsWe’re... Read more
Posted on 03 November 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Choice 2020: The Final Word, by The Economist
In 2016 we plunged into a political and societal crisis, which I’ve tried to chronicle and analyze. You’ve probably had your fill of it. Me too. But now... Read more
Posted on 01 November 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Third Factor: My Political Journey to Radical Centrism
I was invited to contribute a piece to Third Factor (an interesting magazine with a superb editor) — as a counterpoint to one wherein a Democrat expressed some... Read more
Posted on 30 October 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
The Election: Seeing is Believing — Or Believing is Seeing
A guy interviewed on NPR hoped his candidate would win in a landslide, fearing a close result would mean turmoil. His man: Trump. He worried about Democrats... Read more
Posted on 29 October 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
America Slams Door on Refugees
Back in 2015, when I wrote unfavorably comparing America’s intake of Syrian refugees with Europe’s, my daughter (working in the Middle East for humanitarian... Read more
Posted on 27 October 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Lest We Forget: the Full Trump Record
• Covid-19: America’s done virtually the worst of any advanced nation. Economy shut down, but so chaotically we got huge infection and death rates anyway.... Read more
Posted on 25 October 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Trump’s Debate Performance: “sleazy, Heinous, Disgusting”
Those were the remarkable words of CNN’s judicious Jake Tapper; much of what Trump said was “completely made up;” his whole campaign the sleaziest ever. Read more
Posted on 23 October 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Trump: a Damning Indictment
The Albany Times-Union’s Sunday presidential endorsement editorial was quite extraordinary in multiple respects.It was unusually early. Filled an entire page.... Read more
Posted on 21 October 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
The Black Swan
You get fed every day. All you can eat. Treated very nicely too. As such days go by, you grow ever more confident they will continue. Then comes Thanksgiving —... Read more
Posted on 19 October 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY