It’s Not About Intelligence

And so I found myself defending freedom of speech and the press and thought, to a fellow graduate of the University of Chicago’s Common Core Curriculum, one of the most brilliant people I have ever met.

Springtime Gravity

Today, gravity tugs my every cellThe blossoms feel it too, or felt it as they fellThat’s just the folds of space, Einstein let us knowBut the cherry blossoms fall like snowI’m a middle-aged man, the sun’s a middle-aged starGravity traps me and pulls me from afarOur fate’s the same, the sun’s and mine:Dust and ashes

Common Sense on the Ohio Disaster

The general truth about pollution in America is that in our plutocratic democracy, its negative effects are deliberately dumped mostly on the poor, doubly so if they are racial minorities, and triply so if they are Black.

When ‘Both Sides’ Are Right—and Catastrophically Wrong

We could all use a good dose of humility, gentle reader. Think twice, and three times, and think yet again.

Will Artificial Intelligence Render Writers Obsolete?

In the best case, what ChatGPT is producing, regardless of whether it’s asked to write fiction or nonfiction, is filler.

More, More, More!!

We don’t understand why Gwyneth Paltrow would betray her own talent and her legions of admirers in such a monstrous way.

The Logical Termination of Trump and Trumpism

The greater share of our fury must be reserved for the cowards and opportunists who foisted Trump upon us and who continue to refuse their patriotic duty of atoning for this crime, and making sure it never happens again.

To Stop Mass Shootings, Take Them Seriously as Terrorism

The most important element is aggressive intelligence and preventive action.

Booby-Trapped House

McCarthy’s hangers on are supposedly confident he will still win their party’s nod for the speakership, which will quickly make him the unhappiest man alive.

The Day After MAGA, What Will Be Left?

American culture, to the extent that it even exists anymore, is almost entirely backward looking and nostalgia drenched, while at the same time knowing little to nothing of its actual history.