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 about…
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 the…
Rambling through Shakespeare’s sonnets this morning I came across Sonnet 147, and to my surprise it rang stunningly fitting to our historical moment. The sonnet, of course, is about a lover whose beloved not only is underserving of his loyalty and affection but is actually destructive to him personally. And yet he persists in his…
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…
With the death toll surpassing 120,000, we account for the most COVID-19 deaths in the world. American police kill over 1,000 people every year. We’re the only one out of 22 advanced nations that doesn’t give all workers some form of paid sick leave. We’re the only industrialized nation without guaranteed, universal…
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…
Matt Egan, writing for CNN Business, noted today that even though the past three months have been financially painful for many Americans – it hasn’t been for billionaires. US billionaires have become $565 billion richer since March 18, according to a report published Thursday by the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank. Total…
Washington Post columnist George Will, ever the staunch conservative, wrote a column in yesterday’s paper titled Trump must be removed. So must his congressional enablers. This column was extraordinary in several ways. It represented yet another revolt among a growing number of influential members of the President’s own party. It has garnered the most comments…