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LATEST ARTICLES ( 1397 )

• Steven Pinker: Rational Optimist

  

  Steven Pinker is one of my intellectual heroes. Probably the closest to my own thinking. His new book is among the finest I’ve ever read.In 2012 he published Th... Read more

  Posted on 07 May 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Answer to the Opioid Crisis

  

  Drugs now kill around 70,000 Americans annually. More than AIDS at the height of the epidemic; more than the entire Vietnam war. Most are opioid deaths.More... Read more

  Posted on 03 May 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Trump Escalates Assault on Democratic Governance and Rule of Law

  

  Recently I wrote about Venezuela’s slide into dictatorship. Such regimes hold elections but exploit their control to effectively deny citizens a... Read more

  Posted on 29 April 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Biden for President

  

  When I saw Joe Biden’s 3-1/2 minute announcement video Thursday morning, as a longtime observer of American politics I was frankly shocked. It was not what I... Read more

  Posted on 27 April 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Cultural Lies — Or Partial Truths? David Brooks, Individualism, and...

  

  “We’ve created a culture based on lies,” David Brooks says, and they’re the roots of our political problems. Hence we need a cultural revolution more than a... Read more

  Posted on 25 April 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Russia & Norway & Trump & Mueller & Truth

  

  Russia has invaded Norway. That’s the premise of the Netflix series Occupied, recently reviewed here. Now we’ve started Season 2, eight months have passed and... Read more

  Posted on 22 April 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Venezuela’s Tragedy: Lessons for America

  

  Javier Corrales is the Dwight Morrow professor of political science at Amherst. I recently heard him give a talk about the situation in Venezuela, divided into... Read more

  Posted on 19 April 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Notre Dame and Humanism

  

  I was surprised at my depth of emotion at the news about Notre Dame (initially it sounded like total destruction).I’m a humanist, for whom churches are monument... Read more

  Posted on 16 April 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Pete Buttigieg — Are We Ready for a Gay President?

  

  Pete Buttigieg (pronounced Buddha-judge) is the young (37) mayor of an Indiana town (South Bend), running for president. Well, why not? Everybody else is. Read more

  Posted on 14 April 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• “Occupied” — Norway, by Russia

  

  Occupied is a Netflix series, a geopolitical thriller, produced in Norway. It’s terrific.Norway is an oil-rich country. In Occupied, Jesper Berg has become prim... Read more

  Posted on 12 April 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Tragic Trump Foreign Policy

  

  Foreign policy rarely figures much in U.S. elections. China, Mexico, and Russia were actually prominent in 2016 — though not in a good way. Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Trump’s Clearancegate

  

  Asked whether he’d had any role in Jared Kushner’s security clearance, Trump said no. Turns out he lied. Ivanka lied about this too. Read more

  Posted on 06 April 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Witch Hunt Politics II: “Tom Brokaw’s Racist Comments”

  

  Recently I wrote of “Witch Hunt Politics.” And Joe Biden pilloried for a head kiss. Now, “Latinx Humanists Call for Action after Tom Brokaw’s Racist Comments” i... Read more

  Posted on 03 April 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Biden, Lucy Flores, and “MeToo”

  

  It started with Harvey Weinstein. Actually, no, it started a million years ago. Disgusting behavior by men toward women. The reckoning was long overdue. Read more

  Posted on 01 April 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• My Pro Basketball Experience

  

  This pic of me at the game didn’t come out so goodLast Sunday we went to Boston for a Celtics game. I’m no sports fan. In fact, the last pro sports event I... Read more

  Posted on 31 March 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Witch Hunt Politics

  

  Now the backlash. Accusing the accusers. Trump calling them “evil” and “treasonous.” Retribution time. A real witch-hunt. David Brooks says Adam Schiff, John... Read more

  Posted on 28 March 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Bizarro America

  

  Black is white and white is blackCriminals are innocent, accusers guiltyTraitors are patriots, and patriots treasonousLies are telling it like it is, And facts... Read more

  Posted on 27 March 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• What the Mueller Report Does Not Say

  

  Exultant Republican Trump worshippers are dancing in the streets and blowing their Trumpy-trumpets, gleefully rubbing in the faces of their Democrat... Read more

  Posted on 25 March 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• A Modest Proposal: Microchipping Children

  

  During our recent Iceland trip we learned they keep track of sheep using implanted microchips. We were familiar with this idea, since our cats have microchips i... Read more

  Posted on 22 March 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Trump Threatens Political Violence

  

  My wife and I watched “The Dictator’s Playbook,” a PBS TV series, each episode profiling one of history’s worst dictators, and analyzing their methods for... Read more

  Posted on 20 March 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY