The Age of Surveillance Capitalism

To help you understand your new world environment, this is essential reading. It can be heavy lifting sometimes. But stick with it. It’s extremely enlightening. And I found it to be a sobering message about the unprecedented challenges we face as citizen of this American democracy, and our new world of global surveillance. Highly recommended.…

Knowing the Truth

Knowing the Truth Novelists typically aren’t held to the same truth standards as journalists. Our “business,” after all, is imagining stories that have never been told before. Mostly, our truths are in the realm of authenticity, making our characters “ring true,” our dialogue seem “natural,” our stories tell the truths of human nature. But being…

An existential threat, and our responsibility.

Putin’s One Weapon: The ‘Intelligence State’ ,Russia’s leader has restored the role its intelligence agencies had in the Soviet era — keep citizens in check and destabilize foreign adversaries.By John SipherMr. Sipher, a former chief of station for the C.I.A., worked for more than 27 years in Russia and other parts of Europe and Asia.…

Only in Texas . . .

This excerpt below is from The Texas Tribune which is doing a great job telling the story of Texas politics. That story is often gob-smackingly nutso, as you can see in the excerpt below. You can read the entire article here.   Sen. Angela Paxton files bill that would allow her husband, Texas Attorney General…

The Dark Side of Politics . . . The Corruption in Campaign Finance Made Simple in a Five-minute Video.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez This is probably why freshman lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez grates on the good ol’ boys club in Congress. Watch this short but riveting video in which she uses a little game of Q & A to create a brutal takedown of Congress’ absurd campaign finance laws. This sharp-witted clarity revealing the ruse behind the…