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LATEST ARTICLES ( 1483 )

• David McCullough 1933-2022

  

  David McCullough was a great American. Just weeks ago I read his little 2017 book, The American Spirit – Who We Are and What We Stand For. I did so because I... Read more

  Posted on 09 August 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Ignorance Epidemic

  

  Keenya Oliver Bemis, who teaches high school biology in Schenectady, gave a talk to my local humanist group based on Natalie Wexler’s book, The Knowledge Gap –... Read more

  Posted on 06 August 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Open Marriage?

  

  I remember the Pecks’ first time at a local humanist gathering. Very ordinary looking dull folks, I thought. I remember that because deeper acquaintance has... Read more

  Posted on 03 August 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Consciousness Revisited

  

  At the used book sale, I explained, “I’m buying this because I debated this author on this subject.”It was David Gelernter, Yale professor and computer science... Read more

  Posted on 30 July 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• My Full English Breakfast Dinner, and Hot Doggerel

  

  Watching some TV show with my wife, we heard the words “full English breakfast.” And, just being goofy, I piped up, “I’d like a full English breakfast.”“What ar... Read more

  Posted on 28 July 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Cry, The Beloved Country: South Africa

  

  The story was too good to be true. South Africa’s white-minority “apartheid” regime, oppressing the Black majority, was long decried. Then F.W. de Klerk, a... Read more

  Posted on 24 July 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Sleep and Body Rhythms

  

  Sleep’s important role in health and longevity has grown increasingly apparent. Sleep well nightly and you put off the Big Sleep.I was a sickly kid. But now,... Read more

  Posted on 21 July 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Understanding Mass Shootings

  

  Yes — another droplet spit into the vast ocean of verbiage on this topic.We think shooters are nut cases. Obviously they’re not normal. But “mental illness” is... Read more

  Posted on 18 July 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Bong Bong Problem

  

  Ferdinand Marcos, elected president of the Philippines in 1965, became a vicious kleptocratic dictator ruling by violence and torture. Overthrown in 1986. Read more

  Posted on 15 July 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Daniel Sloss’s 100% Rule for Relationships — The Perfect as the Enemy of the Good

  

  Daniel Sloss wished his girlfriend would just die.Saving him the stress of a break-up. His 2018 Netflix stand up comedy show is very funny. Also very serious. Read more

  Posted on 12 July 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Steven Pinker on Rationality

  

  (This was my July 5 Albany Library book talk; slightly condensed)Steven Pinker is a Harvard Professor of Psychology; a 600-pound intellectual gorilla of our... Read more

  Posted on 08 July 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Introducing a Revolutionary Device to Save Civilization from Lies

  

  Lies are as old as language. We once thought the internet would make us smarter, by providing access to a world of information. But it has weaponized... Read more

  Posted on 04 July 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Trouble with This Country is . . .

  

  Non-voting.I used to think bemoaning low voter turnouts was misguided. Because non-voters are the less engaged, less informed, not likely to enhance the... Read more

  Posted on 02 July 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• “Servant of the People” on Netflix

  

  Scrolling through Netflix, we stumbled on Servant of the People. A 2015 Ukrainian TV comedy series (with English subtitles).*Vasya is a young high school histor... Read more

  Posted on 29 June 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Supreme Court Insanity

  

  Just when the public is demanding, as never before, action to curb our gun violence epidemic, the Supreme Court does the opposite. Disallowing reasonable gun... Read more

  Posted on 26 June 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Was Mike Pence a Hero? Is There Hope for America?

  

  Now Mike Pence is called a hero — for shrinking back from the greatest crime in U.S. history. He’s credited with saving the country, which in a sense is actuall... Read more

  Posted on 22 June 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Menthol Madness

  

  A proposed FDA ban on menthol cigarettes is being hailed as a victory for health and civil rights advocates both. Because methols are particularly favored by... Read more

  Posted on 20 June 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Ukraine: Half Measures and the Nuclear Threat

  

  As a PSC staff lawyer, I got frustrated when an administrative law judge couldn’t make up his mind on a ruling. “It should be me up there!” I told myself. So I... Read more

  Posted on 17 June 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Hearings: January 6, Trump, The Big Lie, and Democracy in Peril

  

  Trump concocted his big “stolen election” lie because his sick psyche couldn’t face losing — and to help him overthrow democracy and retain office by coup. Read more

  Posted on 14 June 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Alternatives to Capitalism?

  

  Denounce “capitalism” or the market economy all you want – but what’s your alternative? This system was not foisted on us. Rather, it’s the natural paradigm... Read more

  Posted on 12 June 2022 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY