Blog 3 Columns

Justice Sonia Sotomayor Shares How She Welcomed Brett Kavanaugh After His Confirmation 0
- November 19, 2018
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor related one of her first exchanges with Justice Brett Kavanaugh following his bitter confirmation during a wide-ranging interview Saturday with CNN. In welcoming Kavanaugh, Sotomayor recounted a story about Justice Clarence Thomas’ arrival at the Supreme Court in 1991. “It was Justice Thomas who tells me that when he first came to
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Does it Pay to ‘Buy Local’?0
- Culture
- November 19, 2018
When I was a boy in Boonville, North Carolina, population 600 in the early 1960s, my mom used to take us shopping a couple of times a year in nearby Winston-Salem. Once I asked her why we didn’t shop there more often. The stores offered far more variety, and Winston was less than forty-five minutes
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Why the Enlightenment Thinkers Understood the Need for Religion 1
- Culture
- November 16, 2018
In January I resolved to read Will and Ariel Durant’s magnum opus The Story Of Civilization before the end of the year. It is now early November, and I have finished Volume X of this series, Rousseau and Revolution, meaning I should fulfill my self-imposed obligation under deadline. The Durants devoted the last three of
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Why Natural Depression Therapies Are Better Than Pills 0
- Culture
- November 16, 2018
Winter is upon us. And with it comes the annual worsening of depressive symptoms. Sadly, in the United States, suicide continues to claim more lives than firearms, and suicide rates are increasing in nearly all states. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that death by suicide has increased by 30 per cent
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There’s a Good Reason Many Women Make Less Than Men 0
- Culture
- November 16, 2018
Whenever it is reported that women make less money than men, it is automatically assumed that this must be the result of discrimination. What is seldom mentioned is the factors that go into these statistics. Are they talking about women who work the same hours as men? Who have the same level of seniority? Do
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My America, 1620 0
- Culture
- November 16, 2018
In 1620, an extraordinary thing happened. At a small landing on the extreme western edge of the Atlantic Ocean, a boat named “Mayflower” rested just off shore of a rock, soon to be named Plymouth. Lost, but not mortally or dreadfully so, roughly 100 “sojourners” and 30 “strangers” arrived on November 11. With Autumn full
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Kanye West’s Private Firefighting Is a Force for Good 0
- Culture
- November 16, 2018
Kanye West is no stranger to public controversy. Arguably, his career has thrived on it. But unlike his previous squabbles, West is currently being attacked not for his typical outlandish commentary but for using private firefighters to help protect his southern California home from the devastating Woosley Fire. At least 58 people have been killed, and nearly
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The Best Way to Fight Political Hysteria 0
- Culture
- November 15, 2018
The week after Halloween, my first-grade grandson asked if I was afraid of monsters. “Only human ones,” I said. The confusion on his face alerted me to shift gears. “No, I’m not afraid of monsters. The older you get, the less you are afraid of monsters.” He paused, then asked: “Are you afraid of tomatoes?”
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More Markets and Less Politics 0
- Economics
- November 15, 2018
Facebook is an excellent way to waste time. But it sometimes becomes a source of inspiration. Last week, I came across a post by economist Steve Horwitz in which he commented on a WSJ article about Israeli tech companies hiring Palestinian engineers due to a lack of qualified workers in the sector. In it, Horwitz
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Justice Sonia Sotomayor Shares How She Welcomed Brett Kavanaugh After His Confirmation 0