Rest in peace, live in toil Death has always been the inevitable end of life, but 2023 brought us a gluttony of death from war, disease, crime and natural disasters. Coming out of the global COVID pandemic, we might have expected a more peaceful transition back to “normal” […]
Key Events: Democracy has been on the defensive lately. The forces of autocratic authoritarianism have ascended across the globe, backed by the immense wealth concentrated in the upper 1/10th of one percent who collectively own more than the rest of the 8 billion people currently crowded on planet Earth. It is all too easy for […]
Carnage stalks America In any given year, witnessing the U.S. President being impeached and then turned out of office, the global spread of the COVID Pandemic, the ensuing meltdown of the global economy or the rise of mass protests against racist police violence – any one of these stories would be banner headline news. Instead, […]
Executive Summary Looking back on 2019, one trend stood out – the extent to which we have all become victims of deception. While people have been cheating ever since we learned to deceive others, including cheating on spouses, taxes, exams and games of chance, this year witnessed an epidemic of cheating the likes of which […]
The Big Picture 2018 saw its share of thrills and spills. Politics was a grudge match with partisanship on full display. The economy was a roller-coaster that took us on a wild ride to nowhere. Society and culture responded with moments of madness and merriment. Amid the tumult, my own life was amazingly tranquil, with […]
For those following the US elections, my latest views on electoral reform @dailykos https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/10/22/1806428/-Democracy-for-the-21st-Century-New-US-Electoral-Reform-Movement?_=2018-10-22T18:17:36.867-07:00
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/12/1795394/-Minority-Rule-How-Republicans-Took-Control-of-the-Federal-Government-with-25-of-the-Electorate?_=2018-09-12T19:37:04.267-07:00
Once again, Americans must confront another mass shooting at another school. Beyond the immediate outpouring of grief and sympathy, we conduct collective soul-searching about the motives and causes of these recurring tragedies. Inevitably, everyone retreats to familiar corners of the debate – is it the person or the weapon most at fault? Is it a […]
2017 started at one of the bleakest moments for American women since the birth of the modern feminist movement in the 1960s. Women faced the prospect of being governed for the next four years by an admitted sexual predator and a Republican Congress hellbent on taking away their health care. To make matters worse, White […]