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Blog 3 Columns

  • In the Name of Tolerance, California Blacklists Idaho

    In the Name of Tolerance, California Blacklists Idaho0

    In a bizarre show of authoritarianism – even for them – California state officials have decided to ban state-funded travel to Idaho because of its transgender law. In a press release, California’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, said: “Where states legislate discrimination, California unambiguously speaks out. The state of Idaho has taken drastic steps to undermine the rights of

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  • Environmentalist: We’ve Misled the Public on Climate Change

    Environmentalist: We’ve Misled the Public on Climate Change0

    Greta has disappeared. Not entirely, mind you. The official Greta Thunberg Twitter account is still functioning, detailing her continued school strike, her admonitions to stay home, and her enthusiasm for flattening the curve. But in effect, Greta Thunberg disappeared as the world decided it had better things to worry about than climate change. As it

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  • Don’t Cheer Woodrow Wilson’s Cancelation

    Don’t Cheer Woodrow Wilson’s Cancelation0

    First things first: Woodrow Wilson was a deplorable bigot and one of the worst presidents in American history. He re-segregated the federal government, glamorized the Ku Klux Klan, screened The Birth of a Nation at the White House, and opposed Reconstruction and black suffrage (Dylan Matthews has more on Wilson’s racism). In common with many

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  • The Impossibility of a Police-less Society

    The Impossibility of a Police-less Society0

    The hue and cry for a police-less society is serious stuff. For some advocates, the term “defund the police” refers simply to making victimless crimes (drug use, etc.) the responsibility of social workers rather than police officers. But to others it means eliminating law enforcement entirely. Is such a condition possible? Can a society function

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  • Keeping Us Alarmed Is the Main Goal

    Keeping Us Alarmed Is the Main Goal0

    I’ve been feeling discouraged lately. My guess is that many others are in the same boat because of the same thing. Here it is, summertime, and although we’re trying to come out of the lockdowns, we’re still battling COVID-19 and we may be doing so for quite some time given the recent surge of cases,

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  • In Defense of the Freedom to Be Wrong

    In Defense of the Freedom to Be Wrong0

    It is the rare fortune of these days that one may think what one likes and say what one thinks. –Tacitus It’s very important for institutions of concentrated power to keep people alone and isolated: that way they’re ineffective, they can’t defend themselves against indoctrination, they can’t even figure out what they think. –Noam Chomsky

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  • California Senate Opens Door to Legalized Discrimination

    California Senate Opens Door to Legalized Discrimination0

    On November 5, 1996, Californians headed to the ballot box to weigh in on the California Civil Rights Initiative – aka Proposition 209 – to end government discrimination. The measure, modeled on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, read: “The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group, on the basis of race,

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  • A Lesson in Human Dignity From Stone Age Ireland

    A Lesson in Human Dignity From Stone Age Ireland0

    Five thousand, two hundred years ago, long before Stonehenge, long before the Pyramids, farming communities in the Boyne Valley of Ireland built a gigantic passage tomb, called Newgrange. It covers 4,500 square meters, or more than one acre, of ground. The builders heaped alternating layers of stone and earth until it was 12 meters high.

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  • The Columbus Calumny

    The Columbus Calumny0

    I have lived in the East Bronx neighborhood of Morris Park practically my entire life. Predominantly Italian until recently, Morris Park still retains a strong Italian flavor. The Italian language of the neighborhood Nonas fills my ears; the first dishes I cooked without Mom’s help were all Italian (the ingredients purchased at nearby fruit and

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