From the Left
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What Reflecting Pool Reflects Ain’t Pretty
The clue for #55 down in the New York Times crossword puzzle for August 5 – “apt name for a groundskeeper” – got me thinking about other apt names, or “aptronyms.” As it turns out, the world is full of them.
There was once a famous quarterback named Willie Thrower, and a horticulturist named Rose Bush. When I worked at KABC-TV in ...Read more
Naked Dressing: From Studio 54 to the Bridal Procession
Brides should know that they already have a man. They don't have to use their wedding to attract a date for Saturday night. They've supposedly secured one for the foreseeable future.
Thus, it's hard to figure how the fashion trend of "naked dressing," lamentable even at nightclubs, has invaded the precincts of ancient social custom. ...Read more
The Hard Lesson for AIPAC
There are plenty of explanations for what happened in the Michigan Senate Democratic primary, where Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive, was declared the victor over Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate, by a razor-thin margin of 1%.
For starters, he was the outsider, a former public health official talking about the fundamental economic ...Read more
Bringing Nixon Back Home
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA -- On an August day way back when in 1974, the president of the United States resigned, and my mother disappeared. She didn't take any of us kids with her and didn't say where she was going. But she was gone for a couple hours.
The day that Richard Nixon finally faced mounting public pressure against him for his ...Read more
The Data Center Revolt Is a Populist Rebellion Against Corporate Rule
Not that it matters, but sometimes I wonder if the billionaire potentates of artificial intelligence ever wonder why they've become so despised.
I doubt it, since introspection doesn't seem to be in the DNA of hubristic AI demigods like Bezos, Musk and Zuckerberg. Nor are they programming such qualities into their "superintelligent bots."
So...Read more
Ogres on Pikes: Americans Embrace the Politics of Decapitation
Anyone looking for an actual liar about COVID-19 shouldn't be eyeing Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert who spent 50 years protecting the public health and earning every accolade he got. If Republicans wanted to highlight bona fide lying about COVID, the guy they'd haul in for questioning would be the president, because unlike ...Read more
Closed Primaries Are Driving America Crazy
How could Donald Trump with bottom-scraping approval ratings decide who would represent the Republican Party in the upcoming Texas senatorial race? The primary system offers an explanation. A simple open primary system would have let the broader public choose -- and, ironically, save Republicans from a very possible loss in November.
Open ...Read more
The stink of Musk
Elon Musk will be spending $100 million to $120 million in at least eight states to help elect Republicans in November, according to The New York Times.
Musk’s spending is set to begin next month, targeting Senate races in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, and Ohio, and potentially North Carolina, Georgia, and Texas. Musk will also spend in ...Read more
AI Bots Are Busting Loose. Have We Seen this Movie Before?
As an old-school newshound — meaning I can remember typewriters — I am familiar with the old newsroom saying, "If you don’t like the news, just wait a few minutes.”
Lately, I find myself waiting more than a few minutes for another shoe to drop in a present-day saga widely referred to as the “Hugging Face” breach.
Or perhaps you’...Read more
Dr. Fauci's Good Lawyers
111 times. That's how many times Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid falling into the perjury trap Sen. Rand Paul was setting for him. Dr. Fauci was not brought in to testify because they needed to know more about what he had said and done in the past. No, he has not only testified multiple times about all of these issues in...Read more
We're Screwed
I'm screwed.
You've had that thought. You've had that feeling: short breaths, panic, hollow chest. This is big. I may not ever be able to get out of this. No one can or will help me.
The doctor closes the door and says, "I don't like what I see in these lab results."
Firetrucks blocking my street. What's going on?...Read more
AI Can Make Life Easier. But It Can't Build Character.
This summer, my son learned to tread water in the deep end, worked through awkward guitar chords and chased pickleballs that sailed just beyond his reach. Watching him fail, grapple with frustration, try again and improve made me realize something. Technology still can't build character; you need lived experience for that.
As artificial ...Read more
The Strong, Silent Type
"How many people said the word 'cigarettes' today?" I asked my wife, Deborah.
"Or 'book of matches,'" she said.
We were trying to figure out how America ended up with a net loss in words spoken.
A serious magazine called "Perspectives on Psychological Science" says we speak 28% fewer words every day. According to these folks, in 2005, we ...Read more
Let Us Now Praise Dr. Anthony Fauci
Whatever you say about Joe Biden, he got one thing right. Actually, a whole lot more than one thing. But one thing we can be grateful for today is that, before leaving office, he gave Dr. Anthony Fauci a preemptive presidential pardon.
In announcing Fauci’s pardon, Biden said it was not because Fauci had done anything wrong. It was to protect...Read more
Who's to Blame When Parents Choose Not to Vaccinate Their Young?
What is the death count under Donald Trump? We're not talking about loss of life in his war with Iran. We're not talking about natural deaths by aging or unpreventable diseases. We mean Americans who die because they refuse safe vaccines that Trump or his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., questions or discourages.
A recent occurrence ...Read more
Gavin's Old Girlfriend
Gavin Newsom is a case study of why not to run for president. For starters, his wife is the target of a Justice Department investigation, which he claims, with reason, is entirely political. And now his personal life is coming under the microscope.
The latest has to do with an affair he had 20 years ago that was a colossal exercise in bad ...Read more
AI Billionaires Say: Get Out of Our Way, Fools!
Does becoming a billionaire turn one into an insufferable jerk, or is that an innate quality they bring to the position?
Big-name billionaires -- Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg -- literally flaunt their irrepressible jerkism, but the disease seems to inflict their entire class of uber-rich corporate royals. Its telltale symptoms are not their ...Read more
Federal Funding Should Support Communities, Not Political Agendas
Researcher Katie Edwards has dedicated her career to reducing violence among LGBTQ+ and Indigenous youth, building programs that help young people feel safe and supported. Josefina Navar, deputy director of HOPE Fair Housing, works to help families across Illinois access safe and stable housing. Adam Odsess-Rubin helped found the National ...Read more
Saved by the Boys of Summer: Baseball to the Rescue, Again
At my age, I shouldn't care so much whether the Boston Red Sox win or lose, let alone permit my daily mood to rise or fall accordingly.
It's only a game. It's supposed to be a pastime (according to AI, something that "helps make the hours pass pleasantly when you are not working"), not an obsession. There are 162 games a year and letting your...Read more
Those Democratic Socialists Are Shockingly Racist
The Democratic Socialists of America use people of color as fashion accessories. Sure, they put black or brown faces on ballots, and they talk a big game about racism. But black and brown voters are not choosing their candidates. The DSA national membership chooses, and it is 85% white.
Look at the crowds. In October 2019, Reps. Alexandria ...Read more




















































