Ta-Nehisi Coates has published a widely discussed article in The Atlantic Monthly titled “The First White President” about Donald Trump. I don’t entirely agree with what Coates has to say, but he certainly makes some valid points that are worth … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: September 2017
I highly recommend “How Bullwinkle Taught Kids Sophisticated Political Satire,” an article by Beth Daniels posted September 7 at Smithsonian.com. It begins, “Mr. Chairman, I am against all foreign aid, especially to places like Hawaii and Alaska,” says Senator Fussmussen … Continue reading
One of Donald Trump’s applause lines during the campaign was his call to “drain the swamp” in Washington, attacking corruption and decreasing the power of special-interest lobbyists. Draining real-world swamps often isn’t a good idea — it turns out they … Continue reading
The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) recently published an interesting report (PDF) of a survey of U.S. science teachers that gives an idea how they are talking about climate change. The good news is that the subject is fairly … Continue reading
When Stephen Colbert shows a photo of someone in the news, he routinely gives an alternative description based on how they look in the picture, as in “Senior policy advisor and young Gargamel Steven Miller.” Here’s a collection of them … Continue reading
As you’ve probably heard, the major credit reporting bureau Equifax had its database broken into by criminals a couple of months ago and sensitive personal information was stolen for nearly half the U.S. population. Equifax has a website where you … Continue reading
A conversation I had yesterday prompted me to look up some data on crime in New York City. This is the short version: New York has the lowest violent crime rate of any large American city, and the rate continues … Continue reading
Today, 2017 September 3, is Julian day 2,458,000. The last three digits just rolled over to all zeros. Granted, it’s not as dramatic as rolling over to Julian day 3,000,000 (which won’t happen for nearly 15 centuries), but it’s something. … Continue reading
On July 18, as Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act failed in the Senate, President Trump declared at the White House that the new plan was to “let Obamacare fail.” But it isn’t likely to fail on its … Continue reading
When Stephen Colbert shows a photo of someone in the news, he routinely gives an alternative description based on how they look in the picture, as in “Alabama Senator and albino Smurf Jeff Sessions.” Here’s a collection running just over … Continue reading