News Companion

Since the Nazis have always been the all-too-predictable go-to for an evil wielding of power, I thought I'd explore beyond them, in orde...

A talk by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt (pronounced "height") is packed with data and insights, metaphors and meaning. Blesse...

Here's an interesting distinction that is not currently being made by those in the media who report and interpret the news. Broadly spea...

People who are anxious, fearful and aggrieved may be unable to recognize the flaws in those seeking power. They mistake desperate ambition f...

Going about this day, Tuesday, November 5, with equal parts hope and trepidation. Though it is one of many very uncomfortable days leading u...

A woman I know, 98 years old, sharp as a tack, excited about the upcoming election, offered a theory about why Trump is the way he is. She u...

In " America Is Living on Borrowed Money ," the NY Times editorial board sounded a warning about the federal debt, which continues...

I was introduced to the concept of "a consistent ethic of life" by an opinion piece entitled " You Can't Protect Some Lif...

Written before the 2022 national election: For many people, narcissism has a limited meaning: someone who is self-absorbed and caught up in ...

For as long as I can remember, conservatism has been associated with strength. Why, exactly, is this? Is it because conservatives tend to vo...

One of my pet peeves in journalism is the misuse of the word "skeptic" when discussing climate change. A recent example comes from...

Though our machines are pouring a steadily rising amount of greenhouse gases up into our very thin atmosphere-- a 50% rise  in overall conce...

This coming week, on Nov. 9, I've been invited to make a presentation about books, articles, and opinion pieces that have sought over t...

  "Biden administration stunned by speed of Taliban’s takeover" -- Associated Press As twenty years and trillions of dollars of U....

This short essay about people who define themselves through opposition to others was prompted by an insightful  Krugman column that contrast...

Liberated from constraints by the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, it was a career that led conservatism away from reality, and embraced a b...

Update, 1.12.21 As time passes, it becomes more and more clear that if not for the pandemic, Trump would have won reelection, and democracy ...

Though I haven't read Kurt Andersen's EVIL GENIUSES: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History, a review in the NY Times points to ...

A picture is worth a thousand words. Though Andrew Cuomo has said a lot of things worth saying through the crisis, this television screen...

This is a repost from PrincetonNatureNotes.org. We have watched as civilization has been taken over by forces alien to reality, as cold and ...

My friends have voiced a broad range of opinions about the coronavirus. Some think it poses a big threat, while others think the whole thing...

News headlines and opinion pieces flash for a moment on our consciousnesses like fireworks in the evening sky, each making its momentary spl...

Most of the polarization of our time is due to people's failure to direct their skepticism inward. Skepticism is associated with strengt...

Looking back across the tattered landscape of American politics, in my case extending back to the 1960s, is like having witnessed a six deca...

As part of the 2019 graduation ceremonies, political columnist George Will gave one of the more curious speeches ever to bounce off the o...

A surprise bestseller this past year in the U.S. was "The Hidden Life of Trees," a book that gained popularity in Germany before b...