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LATEST ARTICLES ( 1397 )

• The Bible: a Book of Fiction

  

  Adam and Eve. Cain and Abel. Noah’s Ark. Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Joseph and centuries of Egyptian slavery. Moses, Passover, the Red Sea,... Read more

  Posted on 08 October 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Defining Deviancy Down and Trump’s Reality Inversion Storm

  

  “Defining deviancy down” was a Daniel Patrick Moynihan trope. When something once deemed intolerable becomes tolerable. Like births outside marriage. And... Read more

  Posted on 05 October 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• No More Presidential Primary “debates”

  

  These are not debates. A debate entails a question argued by two opposing sides. These presidential primary “debates” are joint interviews, yet with candidates... Read more

  Posted on 03 October 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Greta Thunberg is Wrong

  

  Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate warrior, berates the world (“How dare you?”) for pursuing a “fairy tale” of continued economic growth — putting... Read more

  Posted on 01 October 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Impeachment and Its Aftermath

  

  The whistleblower’s complaint is devastating. Read it. A thoroughly researched, detailed report,* showing Trump abused his office, broke the law, and harmed... Read more

  Posted on 28 September 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Cuomo and “Fusion Voting” in the Democratic People’s Republic of New York

  

  “Fusion voting” refers to candidates running on multiple ballot lines. For example, Republican and Conservative (a frequent combo). Read more

  Posted on 26 September 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Trump, Biden, and Ukraine

  

  We always knew he’d do this — concoct some phony lie to smear Biden. Reprising his “crooked Hillary” shtick, while Trump himself was the crookedest ever. Read more

  Posted on 24 September 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Vaping Panic and the Human Fear Response

  

  Eight Americans have died, and over 500 fallen ill, apparently from vaping e-cigarettes. Governmental bodies all over are scrambling to ban this scourge.This... Read more

  Posted on 22 September 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Thinking Like a Caveman

  

  What is it like to be a bat? That famous essay by philosopher Thomas Nagel keeps nagging at us. What is it like to be me? Of this I should have some idea. But... Read more

  Posted on 18 September 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Dan Rather on “What Unites Us”

  

  Dan Rather, at 87, is still actively in the news game, running an outfit called “News and Guts.” He appeared recently in Albany, discussing his 2017 book, What... Read more

  Posted on 15 September 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Corporate Social Responsibility Versus Profits

  

  For decades it’s been gospel that a corporation’s mission is just to maximize shareholder value. But now a group of over 180 heads of top U.S. Read more

  Posted on 12 September 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Religion and Voting

  

  Trump was elected by a minority, with three million fewer votes than Clinton. But hardly over half of those eligible voted; so Trump was elected by only about... Read more

  Posted on 09 September 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Norman Rockwell’s America

  

  On Labor Day we visited the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. Rockwell was an “illustrator” who disclaimed producing “fine art. Read more

  Posted on 06 September 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• A Vision for America

  

  Trump has a vision of America. It says the real Americans have been under assault — economically and, mainly, culturally — by “others.” From outside, and from... Read more

  Posted on 02 September 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Is the Novel Dead (or Dying)?

  

  (This essay previously appeared in Trolley, the NYS Writers Institute’s online magazine.)I was a failed novelist. Good with words, perhaps, but less on human... Read more

  Posted on 31 August 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Reading Tony Judt on People Telling Themselves Stories

  

  Tony Judt was a lefty intellectual historian who died at 62 of ALS in 2010. When I was writing The Case for Rational Optimism, he wrote Ill Fares the Land, his... Read more

  Posted on 28 August 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• “Credit Recovery Courses” and Education Inequality

  

  Inequality. Mostly it’s inequality of opportunity. Which comes down to inequality of education. America’s real and growing gap is between the better educated an... Read more

  Posted on 26 August 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Trump, Destroyer of Conservatism

  

  (This appeared as a commentary in the 7/14 Albany Times-Union)Democracy is not so much a set of practices (like elections) as it is a culture; a way of being. Read more

  Posted on 24 August 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Dear Abby

  

  I love reading “Dear Abby.” For the letters; not the advice dispensed. The original “Abby” was great, but she passed on and the column is now done by her... Read more

  Posted on 20 August 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Sentinel: The Statue of Liberty

  

  In 1986, when the Statue of Liberty was being refurbished, I made a donation. Later, receiving another solicitation in the mail, I said to myself, “No, I alread... Read more

  Posted on 17 August 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY