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LATEST ARTICLES ( 1508 )

• CSI — Reality and Rationality — A Candle in the Dark

  

  CSI is the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, associated with the Center for Inquiry, promoting secular humanism and scientific rationalism. My wife and I attende... Read more

  Posted on 25 June 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Reflecting on the Reflecting Pool

  

  Trump blew $14 million in taxpayer money to make Washington’s famed Reflecting Pool blue (as in the flag) instead of green (as in green energy). But within days... Read more

  Posted on 23 June 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Pro Sports Mania: A Ridiculously Rationalist View

  

  New York recently went nuts because some taller-than-average guys proved better than some other ones at getting a spherical object through a raised hoop. Next:... Read more

  Posted on 19 June 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• My Book Talk on Religious Right, Tuesday, June 23

  

  I will give a book talk about America’s religious right, or White Christian Nationalism, at the Albany Library, 161 Washington Ave., 2 PM, Tuesday, June 23. Read more

  Posted on 17 June 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Human Cultures: Loose Versus Tight

  

  There are two basic cultural tendencies: loose and tight. The loosey-goosey model means shrugging at human differences, with a libertarian live-and-let live... Read more

  Posted on 16 June 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Stupidity, Reason, and Life

  A Short History of Stupidity is a 2025 book by journalist Stuart Jeffries. I expected something snarky, full of yuks. It’s actually a serious examination of... Read more

  Posted on 10 June 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Trump and Iran — The Art of the Deal — The Art of Bullshit

  

  Deal, deal, deal, deal, deal. How he dotes on that word, fetishizes it! Talking about Iran, his every other word seems to be “DEAL.” (He capitalizes it.) As if... Read more

  Posted on 06 June 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The March of Folly — Wars Today and Tomorrow

  

  China’s dictator Xi Jinping, meeting with Trump in Beijing, called for cooperation rather than enmity; building each other up rather than tearing each other... Read more

  Posted on 01 June 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Liberalism in a World Off the Rails

  

  “Liberalism” classically (and distinct from its American meaning) refers to a set of ideals: individual human dignity; free expression; free trade; democracy,... Read more

  Posted on 29 May 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• How Sick is MAGA? Ken Paxton

  

  I recently wrote about Louisiana Republican Senator Cassidy felled by Trump’s vendetta. Before that, most Indiana state senators who’d resisted his... Read more

  Posted on 25 May 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Black is White, Up is Down

  

  Trump is the only president who refused to release his tax returns. Even fought to keep them from congressional investigators. Read more

  Posted on 23 May 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Flashlight, a Great Book About a Horrible Country

  

  Recently I reviewed a novel I hated, The Land in Winter, picked by one of my book groups. Our next one, Susan Choi’s Flashlight, was far better. That contrast... Read more

  Posted on 21 May 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Greatest President Ever

  

  Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, in the 2021 impeachment, voted to convict Trump for a violent attempt to overthrow the government. Despite that... Read more

  Posted on 19 May 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Dear Europe

  

  And we do mean “dear.” We love you. Impressions to the contrary notwithstanding.There’s been much talk of divorce. The alliance called dead. It’s understandable... Read more

  Posted on 17 May 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• New York: The Mucked-Up State

  

  New York is one of America’s most Democratic states. And its least democratic.Its governor more powerful than any other. Can put almost any policy into the stat... Read more

  Posted on 13 May 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• My Next Pecha Kucha Friday – A Wonderful Event!

  

  Sage College’s Opalka Gallery has a great event called “Pecha Kucha Night;” held all over the world. Several presenters each shows and talks about 20 slides,... Read more

  Posted on 12 May 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Our Tulip Queen — The Past is a Foreign Country

  

  This weekend is Albany’s traditional Tulip Festival (from its Dutch heritage). Part of it is crowning a Tulip Queen. Not something normally engaging my... Read more

  Posted on 10 May 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Trump Regime Betrays Afghan Refugees

  

  I recall when, during the Syrian refugee crisis, I wrote something unfavorably comparing America with Germany. My daughter — working in the Middle East on... Read more

  Posted on 07 May 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• 8647!

  

  Trump and I share one opinion: don’t like James Comey. Trump because Comey, as FBI director, refused to halt its investigation of 2016 Russian election meddling... Read more

  Posted on 04 May 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Coming ICE Election

  

  Trump lost in 2020. Crying “fraud” only because his damaged psyche couldn’t face losing. Not a single Biden ballot was ever proven invalid. The real attempt to... Read more

  Posted on 01 May 2026 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY