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LATEST ARTICLES ( 819 )

• Trump’s Insane War on Immigrants

  

  Six more countries, including Africa’s most populous, have been added to Trump’s travel ban. He has also slashed, again, our annual refugee ceiling, to just... Read more

  Posted on 14 February 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• When the Monster in the Nightmare is You

  

  Monsters are a staple of nightmares.Recently I dreamed I surreptitiously listened in to a phone call between my wife and our dentist. The hushed conversation wa... Read more

  Posted on 11 February 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Pelosi Rips up Trump’s Speech

  

  I wouldn’t have done it. If only because Trumpers would exploit it. I’d have instead held a press conference (a long one) detailing all the outrageous lies in... Read more

  Posted on 08 February 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Senate’s Degradation, and America’s

  

  As a lad I got besotted with politics and political history. In particular, venerating the U.S. Senate, as the Olympian pinnacle of noble politics. I devoured... Read more

  Posted on 05 February 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Politics of Identity: Francis Fukuyama

  

  (Trigger warning: this piece may offend political correctness. The Humanist magazine’s editor wouldn’t publish it. It appears instead in the current issue of... Read more

  Posted on 02 February 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• A Vote for Sanders is a Vote for Trump

  

  Four years ago, Democrats nominated the one candidate Trump could beat. Will history repeat?Four years ago, I didn’t think my then-fellow Republicans would be... Read more

  Posted on 29 January 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Impeachment Facts

  

  Facts. Trump’s lawyers try to sound like they’re all about facts. My twenty years as an administrative law judge gave me tons of experience with lawyers twistin... Read more

  Posted on 26 January 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Religion Destroying India

  

  India is heralded as the world’s largest democracy. Proving that democracy is not just a luxury for rich nations. Some claim messy democracy is bad for... Read more

  Posted on 24 January 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Impeachment, Partisanship, and Defending the Indefensible

  

  Now it’s official: the Government Accountability Office (chief federal watchdog agency) has determined that Trump’s Ukraine aid shakedown broke the law. Read more

  Posted on 21 January 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• “Sold on a Monday,” by Kristina McMorris

  

  The wooden sign reads “2 Children for Sale,” in 1931 rural Pennsylvania. This propels the novel, Sold on a Monday.Ellis Reed is a struggling junior... Read more

  Posted on 19 January 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Numismatic Fun: A Quietus Tetradrachm

  

  I’ve written before about the fun of collecting Roman coins. The realm is really so rich, with so many fascinating byways.One is that there are coins of guys wh... Read more

  Posted on 15 January 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• “People of Color” Versus “colored People” — Call in the Language Police

  

  A recent local newspaper story* reports a Schenectady council meeting, where one member touted the election of a nonwhite council president, rejoicing in the... Read more

  Posted on 11 January 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Part II — Is It OK to Eat Animals?

  

  I eat meat; not a lot, but am troubled by the ethics. Michael Pollan too, discussing this in depth in his book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Like me, he’d like to... Read more

  Posted on 08 January 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Psycho-sociology, Politics, and Reality Lenses

  

  “Events, dear boy, events.” That was British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan’s famous reply, when asked what could shake up the status quo.We’ve seen a lot of... Read more

  Posted on 05 January 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• What We Eat: The Omnivore’s Dilemma (Part I)

  

  Michael Pollan is a food thinker and writer. Not a restaurant reviewer; he looks at the big picture of what we eat in The Omnivore’s Dilemma. (Carnivores eat... Read more

  Posted on 02 January 2020 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• What Do We Mean by Faith?

  

  I was flabbergasted by one passage in Tyler Cowen’s 2018 book, Stubborn Attachments. A top economist, Cowen basically argues the moral case for economic... Read more

  Posted on 30 December 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Happy — the Movie

  

  My humanist group recently viewed the 2012 documentary film “Happy.” The pursuit of happiness is a basic American (or human) right. But what is “happiness?” If... Read more

  Posted on 27 December 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Teaching Kindergarten in Somaliland

  

  When we set out for a humanist event in Syracuse, I didn’t imagine the road would take us to Somaliland.But at the dinner, sitting beside us was one Jonathan... Read more

  Posted on 23 December 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• America’s Reality Problem

  

  Reality. We have to live in it. Humanity may one day escape the confines of Earth, but we cannot escape reality.America was the one nation actually founded on... Read more

  Posted on 20 December 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Everybody’s Fool, and Capital Punishment

  

  My humanist group had an outing to the wonderful Miss Lodema’s Tea Room, in Sharon Springs. I recognized it as “North Bath,” the (barely) fictionalized town in... Read more

  Posted on 17 December 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY