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An Open Letter to Our Kakistocrat Elected Officials 0
- Politics
- June 25, 2020
Dear Mayors and Governors, In his book The Best Words, Robert Hartwell Fiske, once editor and publisher of the online Vocabula Review, defined kakistocracy (kak-i-Stock-rah-see) as “government by the worst, most unscrupulous, or least qualified citizens.” As one of his examples of usage, he offered this excerpt written by James Russell Lowell in 1876: “What fills me
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All-Mail Elections Could be a Legal Quagmire 0
- Politics
- June 25, 2020
In the midst of the pandemic, the call has gone out from politicians of both parties to enact all-mail balloting for the 2020 elections. With Hawaii’s move to all-mail elections this year, five states now mail ballots to all registered voters. Politicians are working hard to assuage concerns over the possibility of election fraud, with Sen. Mitt Romney
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The Media Can No Longer Connect the Dots 0
- Politics
- June 24, 2020
Which racial group is most likely to be killed by police in the United States? It’s not African-Americans, it’s Native Americans. Native Americans are less than one percent of the nation’s population but make up about two percent of police killings. Some of them have been horrific. The Great Falls Tribune, a newspaper in Billings,
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Why Facts Don’t Matter to People 0
- Culture
- June 24, 2020
Frustrated with COVID-19 restrictions on daily life, a friend said to me, “I just want to know the truth.” Like many people, my exasperated friend, and others I know, are mesmerized and frightened by daily news reports on the number of COVID-19 cases. You can cite all the data you want, such as these; from
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Repairing America’s Three-Legged Stool 0
- Culture
- June 24, 2020
In the past four months, a friend has occasionally sent me Bible verses via email, words intended to console me when I was feeling down. Inspired by these gifts, I recently decided to begin reading the Bible for a few minutes every day, hoping for uplift and insight in the midst of our current dark
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Pelosi Cancels History By Removing Her Predecessors 0
- History
- June 24, 2020
On June 18, the portraits of four former Speakers of the House, all connected to the Confederate States of America and the Civil War, were removed from the walls of the Capitol. In the words of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, “There is no room in the hallowed halls of Congress or in any place of
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