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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 ( 1308 )
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Fighting the Secret Plot to Make the World Richer*
President Obama is battling for “fast track” authority, to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP, a trade deal among 11 big countries) without having... Read more
Posted on 25 May 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Tufts Graduation – Madeleine Albright and Drinking Urine
Photo by Dan Della PentaLast weekend we attended our daughter Elizabeth Robinson’s graduation from Tufts University. She got a degree in International... Read more
Posted on 22 May 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Police, Blacks, Prisons, Drugs, and Neighborhoods
America – “Land of the Free” – leads the world in locking people up. Yes, our incarceration rates exceed those in the most repressive countries like Russia or... Read more
Posted on 18 May 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
“I Want Frida Kahlo’s Face Tattooed on My Ass”
We recently attended Albany’s Tulip/Pinkster-fest, with numerous vendor booths. The first modern one was held in 1972, reviving an old festival; I was actually... Read more
Posted on 13 May 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Visit to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum – A Humanist Monument
It was a little before 10 AM; I was enjoying the lovely weather, in my comfy lounge chair outdoors, working on a coin catalog, when my wife drove up and, with... Read more
Posted on 09 May 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
The British Election Mess
Time was, Britain ruled the world. Even in later times it “punched above its weight.” But no more. Chastened by perceived failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, the... Read more
Posted on 04 May 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Poetry Performance, May 6, Caffe Lena
My wife, Therese Broderick, and I will be the featured poets at Caffe Lena on Wednesday, May 6 — we’re pleased to appear on such a distinguished stage where... Read more
Posted on 03 May 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Slavery and American Capitalism
Recently I presented a book review talk at the Albany Public Library; the book was Edward Baptist’s The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of... Read more
Posted on 29 April 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Presidential Politics
“Season 2″After two decades of Clinton wars, Bush wars, and Obama wars, will we really elect Hillary Clinton and extend this baneful syndrome of half the... Read more
Posted on 24 April 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Don’t Believe Everything You Think
Daniel Kahneman’s book, Thinking Fast and Slow says there are two distinct systems operating inside your skull. “System 1” gives quick, intuitive answers to... Read more
Posted on 20 April 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Announcing My Candidacy For President
I am announcing my candidacy for President of the United States.Leadership.Middle Class.Renewing America’s Promise.Jobs.Fairness.Common sense.Education.Did I... Read more
Posted on 16 April 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Spiritual But Not Religious – Sam Harris’s “Waking Up”
The phrase “spiritual but not religious” irks believers and atheists alike. Sam Harris’s latest book Waking Up is subtitled A Guide to Spirituality Without... Read more
Posted on 11 April 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Indiana, Discrimination, and Progressive Intolerance
Isabel Wilkerson’s book, The Warmth of Other Suns, about the migration of blacks from the Jim Crow South, tells of an Alabama doctor who relocated by car to... Read more
Posted on 06 April 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
John Gray Versus Pinker on Violence: “The Sorcery of Numbers”
Steven Pinker’s 2011 book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, argued that declines in all kinds of violence, including war, reflect moral progress. I reviewed it... Read more
Posted on 01 April 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Inequality and Family Culture – A Disagreement With My Wife
I recently left my wife a newspaper clipping, writing “Read” on it. She returned the favor by writing “Total Rubbish!” on it.It was a column by Ross Douthat (a... Read more
Posted on 28 March 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Dalai Lama Reincarnation: Who Gets to Decide?
Tibet has had 14 Dalai Lamas. Heretofore, when one died, the leading lamas went out to find a small child who is deemed to be the reincarnated Dalai Lama. Read more
Posted on 23 March 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
The Criminalization of American Business
When the future Gibbon chronicles America’s decline and fall, the war on business will feature prominently.Some readers will gag. That’s precisely the problem. Read more
Posted on 19 March 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
I Have a Dream: Israeli Election Speech
My fellow Israelis – I’m seeking your votes in this week’s election, for a policy that both reflects our highest human values, and offers a sustainable path... Read more
Posted on 14 March 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
Embellishing Reality: Brian Williams, Bill O’Reilly, and Frank Robinson’s Moon...
Recently news personalities Brian Williams and Bill O’Reilly, and VA Secretary McDonald, have been assailed for embellishing the truth about some war zone... Read more
Posted on 11 March 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY -
The Edmund Pettus Bridge – 50 Years Later
Edmund Pettus was a Confederate soldier, Klansman, and U.S. Senator. It’s an irony that the bridge named for him became a landmark for black rights. Read more
Posted on 08 March 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY