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MY BLOGS
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The Rational Optimist
http://www.rationaloptimist.wordpress.com/
Commentary of Life, Society, Politics, and Philosophy
LATEST ARTICLES ( 1301 )
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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 -
America’s Coming Redemption — Or Its Demise?
I never expected Communism’s collapse. Still less America’s — in terms of what it stood for.I awakened in 1964. Living near the World’s Fair, one day at West... Read more
Posted on 14 December 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
How Conservatives and Liberals Both Miss the Boat on Poverty
Ask Americans about “poor people” and they’re generally sympathetic. About “people on welfare?” Not so much.Those on the right tend to see social spending as... Read more
Posted on 03 December 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Probability, Coincidence, and the Origin of Life
The philosopher Epicurus was shown a wall of pictures — told, reverently, they portrayed sailors who, in storms, prayed to the gods and were saved. “But... Read more
Posted on 30 November 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
“Treated Very Unfairly” — a Trump Trope
“Treated very unfairly” is an incessant Trump trope. Like he’s a great stickler for fairness.First it was National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, “treated... Read more
Posted on 26 November 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Evolution: The Blind Watchmaker and the Bat
What is it Like to be a Bat? was a famous essay (I keep coming back to) by Philosopher Thomas Nagel. Its point being our difficulty in grasping — that is,... Read more
Posted on 24 November 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Medicare for All: a Critical Look
Bill Hammond gave a talk on this to the Capital District Humanist Society. He’s the Empire Center’s Director of Health Policy, and is critical of the single... Read more
Posted on 21 November 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Christian Destruction of the Classical World
Hans-Friedrich Mueller is Professor of Ancient and Modern Languages at Union College. I heard (twice!) a talk he gave, based on a book by Catherine Nixey... Read more
Posted on 19 November 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Foreign Service Heroes and Patriots, Telling the Truth
Foreign service professionals normally toil for their country under the radar. Now some are at the center of a storm. Trump has tried to keep them silenced, to... Read more
Posted on 13 November 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Bolivia, China, and 1984
Bolivia’s longest-serving President Evo Morales was first elected in 2006, a left-winger, of indigenous background, former head of the Coca growers union. Read more
Posted on 12 November 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Elizabeth Warren’s Candidacy
Democrats love government; Republicans hate it. Of course that’s a big oversimplification. But in this respect Elizabeth Warren is the quintessential Democrat. Read more
Posted on 09 November 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
End Road Work? No!
We’ve all seen those signs along highways, saying “End Road Work.” This movement seems very misguided. I can think of many things that should be ended, but... Read more
Posted on 08 November 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Facebook: Helping to Destroy Civilization
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he won’t stop running political ads — even lying ones. Trump has already run ads falsely smearing Biden. Read more
Posted on 05 November 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Political Follies Across the River in Rensselaer County: Maddening, Wilting,...
MaddenPatrick Madden is the Democratic mayor of Troy. Last time he won the primary against Rodney Wiltshire, an African-American, by only a handful of votes. Read more
Posted on 03 November 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Two Kinds of Trumpers
He famously said he’d lose no votes if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue. Recently one of his lawyers actually argued in court that if he did it, the law could no... Read more
Posted on 31 October 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
What is Humanism?
Some religious voices assail humanism as a belief in nothing. Thus blamed for (supposed) moral rot; as if morality needs some supernatural basis. Read more
Posted on 28 October 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Trump and Republicans: How Vile Can It Get?
Before Trump took office, I wrote that power doesn’t make bad men better. Since, I’ve kept repeating: it will get worse. And so it goes.Trump’s every word... Read more
Posted on 25 October 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Impeachment, Nixon, and Me
I watched Nixon’s 1974 farewell speech live, with tears in my eyes. Not tears of sorrow; it was actually a bizarre speech. But at the moment’s poignancy and... Read more
Posted on 22 October 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
DeRay Mckesson and Black Lives Matter
DeRay Mckesson is a Baltimorean who got activist during the Ferguson protests and is prominent in the “Black Lives Matter” movement. He wrote a book, On the... Read more
Posted on 20 October 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY