In one of our last political discussions, my father was trying to persuade me that Putin was miscast as the aggressor in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He had a penchant for contrarianism, especially when it comes to trusting the American perspective…
Category: Politics (n.): a strife of interests masquerading
Mailing it in
Yesterday, I sent some mail that was long overdue. How overdue was it? One of the two envelopes I mailed contained correspondence I had first attempted to fax in early May. The documentation in question was an authorization for me…
5/24/22
It is not lost on me that the day my family committed, on paper, to live in America until 2052, 19 children were gunned down in their elementary school. That is what 5/24/22, a date we wrote over and over,…
2022’s COVID Capitulation: The Crisis of Individual Response to Collective Problems
The US has given up trying to fight COVID. Buoyed by the still somewhat speculative notion that the Omicron variant is so weak as to pose a substantially reduced threat, exhausted by nearly two years of half-hearted and poorly-implemented attempts…
Coronavirus and the Limits of Utilitarianism
The public debate around American society’s response to the novel coronavirus is beginning to reach an incomprehensible crescendo. As the number of cases in the US spikes to record-highs and daily deaths begin to creep back up toward levels not…
Unemployment Revisited: Real Unemployment Over 20%
It’s been a while. With the cascading rush of the Trump years toward an alleged full employment in the wake of the 2016 election seeming to reflect a widespread acknowledgment that officially reported unemployment was failing to capture the full…
Defund. Dismantle. Reinvest.
I’ve made a series of graphics to advocate steps that American cities and society writ large can take to shift their priorities from violence and racism toward something more collaborative and positive. Here’s an example: If you would like to…
Notes on a Protest (Movement)
It’s been one of the most radical fortnights in American history. In the wake of the video-taped murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers, a nation besieged by a global pandemic and the accompanying death and labor-market destruction has…
The Quiet Part Loud
I think the key to understanding Trump’s ongoing appeal and Biden’s failure to match it is contemplating the phrase “he said the quiet part loud.” Often leveraged as a criticism, this phrase perfectly encapsulates what Trump supporters love about Trump.…
Going Viral
I took a walk two days ago, just around the neighborhood and down to the river. I’ve been trying to walk most days, keeping my distance, keeping our distance, six feet apart, the distance between people at their demise. I…