It’s simple. It’s the mother of invention. It’s necessity, or, to be exact, the lack of necessity. Before the Industrial Revolution, the world’s slowest, most influential and most damaging revolution, manly men and their womanly wives had to plan their marital relations to coincide with certain moments in the menstrual cycle. They did this because … Read more
Who are the uninsured? Poor people. Private insurance can cost $750 a month, easy for a rich guy like Dr. Oz. Or Trump or Musk. But Trump came in on the populist vote: “He’s a guy I can have a beer with.” (Sorry you wouldn’t be invited to Mar-a-Lago for a beer). “He talks foul-mouthed … Read more
Propaganda hijacks your beliefs and you don’t know it. You are sure they are your beliefs. It makes you angry when you hear an opinion opposite to yours, as if it goes against the “real” truth. This observation comes from experiences with a right wing intellectual group I belong to. Suppose you are an MD … Read more
I have been railing at my Trumper friends for 4 years. It took me until yesterday to figure out what the issue was, what I was so upset about every time I tried to get through to them (proving beyond a shadow of a doubt to them that I had Trump Derangement Syndrome). Trump Derangement … Read more
There have been two brief, very brief, periods when I had some hope for the future of the internet. The first was in the late 1990’s, when it morphed from a military communication project to a potentially world-shattering new way to live. But, if I’m being honest, that optimism was far more about the idea … Read more
Putting our asinine media coverage aside, what I’ve observed from both sides of this year’s election is a ton of “Why can’t you see it?” On both sides of the equation. From a Trump perspective, it’s “Why can’t you see the evil forces behind Kamala Harris? Why can’t you see how her economic policies are … Read more
The Democrats’ level of what psychologists call “Disowning Projection” has lately moved from “Well, this is kind of interesting” to “Oh my God, it’s embedded in EVERY SINGLE THING they say.” For those who don’t know this term it essentially means accusing others of what you, yourself, are guilty of. The most obvious recent example … Read more
We’re going to look behind the political bullshit at the real underlying foundations, the real stuff. TV news anchors rant about immigration a lot. Politicians from both sides bemoaning too little or too much immigration in a predictable line-dance. Old dudes at the country club complain about it so often you’ve got to wonder if … Read more
I have purposely been in a Republican intellectual group for 4 years. We have formed lasting friendships that I am grateful for and that I value as a great benefit to my life. They are physicians, scientists, and thinking people. The brain power is unmatched as well as “thinking outside the box”. However, our political … Read more
Teenagers’ being stupid isn’t new. They’ve always been stupid. You were stupid too when you were sixteen. You might not admit it, and you definitely didn’t admit it back then, but you were. We all were. As far as I can see, the only real difference between now and then is that, for some reason … Read more