Every morning I read five or six newspapers/websites. In papers like The Washington Post and The New York Times I’m curious about the articles that have generated the most comments from the readership. They often provide a snapshot of American discontent. I read the articles, then go to the “comments” section. I preselect the “Reader’s…
Today we live in what is commonly called the “digital era” or “the information age”. New ideas fly at us unrelentingly and at greater speed than at any other time in human history. Not surprisingly, these new ideas often come to us in ways that tempt us to fire off a quick response, or reaction.…
Following facts are highlights from a CNN news story that ran 2021-11-26. ● The U.S. is the only nation in the world where civilian guns outnumber people ● There are 120 guns for every 100 Americans ● About 44% of US adults live in a household with a gun, and…
If you’re not familiar with the details of the For the People Act, you should be. I’ve provided a summary below. Passage of this bill is essential to preserving our democracy and we all should be urging our elected representatives in Congress to work for it, and see that it becomes the law of…
I imagine most people have used Wikipedia. It’s a common go-to site for quick reference to find basic information about almost anything. It’s a free, nonprofit reference site supported by readers’ donations. In this age of growing feints and deceptions in social media, politics, and the Internet in general, Wikipedia’s entry on “Weasel Words”…
We know that nothing ever stays the same, that change is constant and inevitable. Heraclitus is famously attributed the idea that “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man”. Nothing ever stays the same—except, I think, human nature. Regardless, one of…
Harper’s Magazine has invited America to a season of national self-examination. The cultural struggles we are going through now are signs of progress. They are necessary if we are to continue to grow toward justice. But such changes are not supported by bumper sticker philosophies. They are nuanced and complex, and the following letter is…
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is sometimes heralded as “the ‘Magna Carta’ of the internet.” It was passed in 1996 to provide websites with incentive to delete pornography, but it has since evolved. It is now effectively a shield that websites use to protect them from responsibility for all sorts of activity on…
“The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure.” — Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 1823 BACK
“The decades of economic injustice and immense concentrations of wealth that we call the Gilded Age succeeded in teaching people how they did not want to live. That knowledge empowered them to bring the Gilded Age to an end, wielding the armaments of progressive legislation and the New Deal. Even now, when we recall the…