Category Archives: Uncategorized

MSNBC today published a “white paper” by the Department of Justice — undated by clearly written during the Obama Administration — providing the legal framework for U.S. drones to kill U.S. citizens suspected of involvement in terrorist activity.  (Click here … Continue reading →

Major papers report today that the Democratic Party — asleep at the switch while the Republicans cooked up ways to block voter access to polls — is now going to fight back.   Several studies show that laws passed by … Continue reading →

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday (April 2) ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that officials may strip-search people arrested for any offense, however minor, before admitting them to jails even if the officials have no reason to suspect the … Continue reading →

Many Americans tend to look down our noses at younger democracies like Poland.  But news reports this week indicate that, in at least some ways, Warsaw is ahead of us. Polish newspapers report that the former head of Poland’s intelligence … Continue reading →

New data make it crystal clear:  The rich do get richer. In 2010, as the nation continued to recover from the recession, a dizzying 93 percent of the additional income created in the country that year, compared to 2009 — … Continue reading →

In a recent review about the TV series Portlandia, New Yorker writer Margaret Talbot gave a great definition of what Freud called “the narcissism of small differences.”  She called it “the need to distinguish oneself by minute shadings and to … Continue reading →

My initial support for the war [in Iraq] was symptomatic of unfortunate tendencies within the foreign policy community, namely the disposition and incentives to support wars to retain political and professional credibility. We ‘experts’ have a lot to fix about … Continue reading →

A professor and leading expert on hereditary diseases won a prestigious award.  At the award ceremony, she wore a long-sleeve top and a long skirt to appease the conservative acting health minister.  She was not allowed to sit with her … Continue reading →

In today’s New York Times, columnist David Brooks wonders why, if “liberals” have so much “cultural power,” why are they so weak politically.  Brooks posits that two perceptions are responsible: a) that “liberals” believe in the federal government, and b) … Continue reading →

In North Carolina’s eugenics program from 1929 to 1974, the state had one of the most aggressive programs to sterilize people to reduce welfare costs and cleanse the gene pool.  In North Carolina alone, about 7,600 people were sterlized. A … Continue reading →