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LATEST ARTICLES ( 1455 )

• The Great Mutilated Coin Scam

  

  “Waste, fraud and abuse.” How often we hear that from politicians promising to clean up government. I just roll my eyes, because if it were that simple, it woul... Read more

  Posted on 27 June 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The End of (Working Class) Men*

  

  American women earn only 78% of what men do. We’ve all heard this cause celebre. It’s utterly bogus. Women’s pay averages less than men’s because they do... Read more

  Posted on 23 June 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• America’s Political Decay

  

  A favorite book of mine is Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History (1992). He argued that centuries of ideological conflict had essentially ended with the... Read more

  Posted on 19 June 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Yosemite Rocks

  

  California is full of exceptionally cheerful people – judging from our recent trip there. Store clerks, flight attendants, passers-by, etc., all over.We... Read more

  Posted on 15 June 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Human Hubris and Skyscrapers

  

  “Hubris” is a favorite word of misanthropic cynics. For the Greeks it meant overweening pride – that presages a fall. For many moderns it means humans too... Read more

  Posted on 11 June 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• The Middle East: The Case for Not Doing

  

  A previous post critiqued Andrew Bacevich’s “limits of power” take on world affairs. He derided what he saw as vain attempts to control history, which can’t be... Read more

  Posted on 01 June 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• Waiting For Snow in Havana

  

  Carlos Eire was eight, with normal childhood concerns, a love for fireworks and pools, and a loathing for lizards, until Fidel Castro came along and ruined... Read more

  Posted on 28 May 2015 CULTURE, POLITICS, SOCIETY

• 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