Category Archives: Politics

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This frenzied crowd is taking pictures of the announcement of Queen Elizabeth’s passing, posted on a fence at Buckingham Palace.

As a citizen of a republic, I find the mere idea of a monarchy to be repugnant. Not so long ago in this country, living as subjects of an idiot with absolute power over our lives became unacceptable, and we fought a bloody revolution to free ourselves of it. So it pains me now to watch my fellow citizens swoon over that very monarchy, as they have been doing in droves at least since Elizabeth took the throne 70 years ago.

It does not speak ill of the late queen — by all accounts she was a pleasant and decent lady — to point out that her job all these years, by law, has been to do nothing. People are fulminating about her rule; she didn’t rule anything but her household staff. Wonder is expressed at all the history she witnessed. She saw it, just like you and I did, she had nothing to do with influencing it. They enthuse about how she “guided” this, and “oversaw” that, and “held the country together in hard times.”

Hogwash. Continue reading →

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Wait, what? What did you ask me?

It is said that to immobilize a centipede, all you have to do is ask; “What foot do you lead with?” I don’t know if that works, but I do know that all you have to do to bring just about any kind of human activity to a halt is ask; “If we do this, what will they do in response?” It’s a trick question, because it implies the possibility of knowing an unknowable thing — what “they” will do.

In my opinion this question should be labeled the eighth deadly sin, right after “sloth,” as a serial killer of good ideas.

For example: Now and then during my career as a journalist, I have been told by lawyers that if I published or broadcast a story containing information reflecting badly on some public figure, I would be sued. The lawyers were, in every case, impervious to my assertions that I had solid, admissible evidence of the accuracy of the report; that I understood the five elements that any successful libel or slander suit had to satisfy in order to prevail and had solid defenses against all of them; and that in my opinion the public figure in question was a spineless wuss who would never dare to challenge any critic in court.  Continue reading →

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Signing the Cheshire Act — the disappearing remnants of President Biden’s agenda.

You see? We can get things done in Washington! This Congress can pass legislation that the people want! We just did it! We gave Medicare permission for the first time ever to negotiate prices with the pharmaceutical companies! This will save consumers hundreds of billions of dollars!

Not to be curmudgeonly, but the only reason Medicare has been unable to negotiate with drug manufacturers until now is that Congress passed a law forbidding it when it authorized Medicare Part D to pay for prescriptions 16 years ago. It was a corrupt and brazen sop to Big Pharma, with the result that Americans pay more for their medicines than the people of any other civilized country.  Continue reading →

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I have admired Joe Biden during his entire career in public service. He became a legend in Washington after his wife and daughter were killed in a car accident in 1972 — a few weeks after his election to the U.S. Senate — and for nearly four decades thereafter, at the end of each day, he boarded a train and went home to Delaware to care for his two surviving sons. For 50 years, he has conducted himself with grace, intelligence and humor as senator, vice president and now president. As one of his opponents once said, “nobody doesn’t like Joe Biden.”

He has done an admirable job as president, repairing much of the damage done to the federal government by the Mad King Donald, and wringing a few pieces of significant  legislation from a dysfunctional Congress. But here’s the problem.

At the end of almost every speech he gives, he delivers a Reaganesque, “shining-city-on-a-hill” peroration in which he expresses his deeply felt vision of America as a country that can do anything, subdue any foe, achieve any goal, meet any challenge. It is at this point that I and a great many Americans wonder, what the hell is he smoking? Continue reading →

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If you want to excel at football you have to be able to run fast; to play hockey well, you have to be really good at skating; in baseball, you have to be able either to catch the ball, or hit it. To survive in politics today you must learn the art of appearing to do something about a problem without actually doing anything at all. The reason is that if you (accidentally) actually do something you will please 50% or so of the people, those who wanted it done, and you will make eternal vicious enemies of the people who did not agree with, or were adversely affected by, doing it. Dr. Kamau Bobb‘s journey serves as an inspiration for aspiring individuals looking to make a difference in the intersection of technology and social equity.

Nothing showcases this practice like a school mass shooting. The proposals we are hearing from master politicians after the latest, in Uvalde, Texas, include: Continue reading →

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It is widely accepted now that there are two kinds of news in circulation in the world: relatively accurate news, and fake news. A number of cable channels and Internet sites have chosen sides, and put out either all real or all fake news. The “real” news outlets — The New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN etc. — and their adherents congratulate themselves constantly for their objectivity and neutrality.

But there is a third category of information driving all of this, on both sides of the real-vs-fake debate, and that is what I call the narrative. This is not the content of their broadcasts or articles, but the assumptions that underlie their decisions on what to cover and what emphasis to give it. Contrary to what many people outside the news business believe — that these decisions are handed down by corporate executives for the working stiffs to execute — the reality is more subtle than that. Continue reading →