(3 comments) SHARE        Sunday, February 12, 2023
"Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives": A Book Review In Cobalt Red, researcher-activist Siddharth Kara offers searing but credible prose about cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Child labor, pregnant women breathing toxic fumes, deadly tunnel cave-ins, rape in the mines--Kara fearlessly writes of them all while reminding us of cobalt's importance in tech. Your iPhone, Kindle, and EV: Conrad-level evil inside?

(26 comments) SHARE        Sunday, April 12, 2020
Toward a military coup? How possible is a military coup against Trump? His war against voting by mail, even during an epidemic, increases the odds.

(2 comments) SHARE        Thursday, December 26, 2019
Toxic for libraries? KKR investment firm to buy OverDrive, biggest library ebook company An investment firm is buying OverDrive, the leading supplier of ebooks and audiobooks to libraries and schools, and anti-trust issues might arise. Will an outfit as profit-driven as KKR really serve the public interest?

(3 comments) SHARE        Wednesday, December 25, 2019
A Billionaire Ban? No. Tougher Regs and More Taxes? Yes. The super rich own our political system and an outrageous share of our national wealth. But is a ban on billionaires the solution?

(4 comments) SHARE        Friday, January 31, 2020
Facebook vs. Aileen-and Trump-era freedom of speech Facebook may or may not have deliberately harassed Aileen O'Donnell Joachim L'Etoile, a 2016 Bernie Sanders delegate. But regardless of what's happening, her plight illustrates a double standard. Trump can flood Facebook with lying ads. People like Aileen, however, don't fare so well amid Facebook's Kafkaeque enforcement of "community standards."

(7 comments) SHARE        Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Donald Trump Could Kill Me: The Biggest Reason I'll Vote for Joe Biden Let's cut to the chase. Trump's ineptness as an administrator could kill me. I'm not only well north of 60, I also have heart and lung issues. I'm still extra-functional: my heart stent works, and I even have a shot at making 90. But not if I succumb to the Trump Virus.

(7 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Get out now, Bernie! It's Joe Biden's time to run for President I'm proud of my vote for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary. As an FDR Democrat, I couldn't have acted otherwise. So why did I vote in the 2020 primarily for Joe Biden instead?

(1 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, August 10, 2021
"No Taller than My Gun": How a white guy in Virginia channeled a genius Congolese child soldier So how did a pale-skinned white novelist in Alexandria, Virginia, end up inside the brain of a genius child soldier in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

SHARE        Thursday, August 18, 2022
'After the Ivory Tower Falls': A Book Review Will Bunch, the Pulitzer-winning Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, has written a thoughtful AND lively book called After the Ivory Tower Falls. He tells how colleges have exacerbated cultural and economic differences. Grandson of the founder of a small college closed after enrollment declines, Bunch fervently hopes that policymakers will understand the importance of college and vocational training as public goods.

(2 comments) SHARE        Wednesday, April 8, 2020
'Trump Virus,' please--not 'Chinese' one Donald Trump by far is the main cause of the spread of the coronavirus here in the U.S. We need to call it "The Trump Virus," just as the Depression-era shanytowns became known as Hoovervilles.

SHARE        Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Stupidity can kill: How to test and vet would-be presidents Our president is a loathsome lunatic, and now Crazy Don's public health bungles have imperiled our lives. How can we reduce the chances of another deadly human virus sullying the Oval Office?