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LATEST ARTICLES ( 1470 )

• “A Racist . . . a Con Man . . . a Cheat”

  

  Old news — to anyone paying attention.Yet Republicans continue denial of reality. Evolution, climate change, and Trump’s moral depravity. Despite their... Read more

  Posted on 01 March 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Truth About Vaccines, Autism, Measles, and Other Illnesses

  

  The left derides the right for science denialism, on evolution and climate change. But many on the left have their own science blind spots, on GM foods and... Read more

  Posted on 26 February 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Pachinko by Min Jin Lee — a Novel of Identity

  

  Min Jin LeeI read this 2017 novel for a book group. A nice thing about such groups is exposure to rewarding reads you’d never otherwise pick up.Japan occupied... Read more

  Posted on 23 February 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Green New Deal

  

  Green Nude EelIt’s green. It’s new. And it’s a deal. What’s not to like?Ah, the power of words. These three do make for a potent combo that’s caught the... Read more

  Posted on 18 February 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Sex, Religion, and Perversion

  

  It started with civilization’s Middle Eastern beginnings, with the idea not that sex is dirty, exactly, but that afterwards you had to cleanse yourself, as... Read more

  Posted on 14 February 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Crime and Punishment and Sense and Sensibility

  

  Liberals oppose the death penalty. They’re really not even comfortable with the idea of punishment — “an eye for an eye makes the world blind.” Instead,... Read more

  Posted on 10 February 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• JCOPE — “Public Ethics?”

  

  New York State has a “Joint Commission on Public Ethics.” It was created by the “Public Integrity Reform Act,” to “restore public trust in government. Read more

  Posted on 09 February 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Evolution by Natural Selection is a Fact

  

  My recent “free will” essay prompted some comments about evolution (on the Times-Union blog site.) One invoked (at verbose length) the old “watchmaker” argument. Read more

  Posted on 05 February 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Handicapping 2020

  

  Ninety-three candidates seek the Democratic presidential nomination. A slight exaggeration. But it’s a lot of them.Many don’t really expect to win. But as the N... Read more

  Posted on 02 February 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Consciousness, Self, and Free Will

  

  What does it really mean to be conscious? To experience things? To have a self? And does that self really make choices and decisions?I have wrestled with these... Read more

  Posted on 29 January 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Trump Trumped

  

  While posturing as proud to announce a deal, that was typical Trump bullshit. In fact he totally capitulated. Got nothing. Not a thing more than was offered 35... Read more

  Posted on 26 January 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Shutdown, Hostages, and Humanitarian Crises

  

  Let’s see if I have this straight. The government is partly shut down because Congress can’t pass a bill authorizing the employees’ salaries. But they could... Read more

  Posted on 24 January 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Steve King, Trump, and the Republican White Nationalist Party

  

  The sky has fallen on Iowa Republican Congressman Steve “Cantaloupes” King for the latest in his long train of racist rantings. “White nationalist, white... Read more

  Posted on 21 January 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Sholem Aleichem and My Jewish Roots and American Identity

  

  We watched a PBS documentary about Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem (1859-1916) — making me ponder what I feel as my personal identity. Read more

  Posted on 18 January 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Facebook: the Monster Destroying Civilization

  

  First it was Facebook as an addictive time sink; substituting for life in the actual world; even ruining marriages. But all that was in a more innocent time. No... Read more

  Posted on 13 January 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Trump Diaries

  

  There’s two kinds of people. Strong and weak. Winners and Losers. I’m so strong and such a winner, biggest in the world, it’s so great. Read more

  Posted on 11 January 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Transgender Wars

  

  Sex is a huge, and very anxiety-ridden, part of the human psyche. That (not the Bible) is why some are freaked out by gays. Well, they lost that war; but... Read more

  Posted on 07 January 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Consciousness, Self & Free Will — My Talk 1/13

  

  I will give a talk at the Capital District Humanist Society, Sunday, Jan. 13, 12:45 PM, Room 224 of Sage College Campus Center, Academy Rd New Scotland Ave.,... Read more

  Posted on 06 January 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Walls and Ladders

  

  Something there is that loves a wall.A wall for keeping people out;People who are not like us.Of course they’re not like us;They wouldn’t build a wall. Read more

  Posted on 03 January 2019 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Witch Hunt Watch

  

  1. Trump’s charitable foundation has been described as “a personal piggy bank for his businesses, legal bills and presidential campaign.” (Albany Times-Union,... Read more

  Posted on 31 December 2018 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY