Dana Milbank sums up what I’ve felt for years about Newt – he is the pivot point that turned the GOP in to the monster it is today. Opinion: Newt Gingrich started us on the road to ruin. Now, he’s back to finish the job. By Dana Milbank 02/04/2022
Jason Epstein, Editor and Publishing Innovator, Is Dead at 93 His literary and marketing instincts brought quality paperbacks to American readers and led to the creation of The New York Review of Books. New York Times Christopher Lehmann-Haupt Feb. 4, 2022
Lest we forget what we will get if the GOP ever gets in the White House again Census Memo Cites ‘Unprecedented’ Meddling by Trump Administration from the NY Times. Newly released documents show that top career officials at the Census Bureau had drafted a list of complaints about political interference in the 2020 count. By … [Read more…]
01/16/2022 – Santa Rosa Press-Democrat ‘Doing our part’ EDITOR: Dave Stein reduced home-based solar generation to costs (“Solar power costs,” Letters, Wednesday). He misses one of the basic reasons many of us did invest in solar: to reduce greenhouse emissions. It is the same reason we invested in insulating the attic, installed energy-efficient windows and … [Read more…]
In the Atlantic, Ed Yong writes about the impact of the current COVID variants and the state of the health care system. There is a lot to take in here and his summary is most telling: “Some experts are hopeful that Omicron will peak quickly, which would help alleviate the pressure on hospitals. But what … [Read more…]
In the NYT, an interview with Ms. Menker: The Ethiopian entrepreneur Sara Menker founded Gro Intelligence, which uses artificial intelligence to forecast global agricultural trends and battle food insecurity. When toilet paper shortages happened during Covid and everybody was running to stock up, I was like, “I don’t know why you’re stocking up. I have … [Read more…]
In the Guardian: America is now in fascism’s legal phase Jason Stanley is Jacob Urowsky professor of philosophy at Yale University. He is the author of How Fascism Works. Wed 22 Dec 2021 “The history of racism in the US is fertile ground for fascism. Attacks on the courts, education, the right to vote and … [Read more…]
Linda McAlister, Philosopher and Founder of Feminist Journal, Dies at 82 [NY Times Obituary – paywall] She was among a collective of philosophy professors who started Hypatia, the first major scholarly publication to view the discipline from a feminist lens. By Penelope Green Dec. 14, 2021
Shirley McBay, Pioneering Mathematician, Is Dead at 86 [NY Times Obituary – paywall] The first Black student to receive a doctorate from the University of Georgia, she devoted her life to advocating for diversity in science and math education. By Clay Risen Dec. 14, 2021 “Left unattended, the resulting resegregation of U.S. education will ensure … [Read more…]
In the Washington Post today was this historical essay: First U.S. vaccine mandate in 1809 launched 200 years of court battles (subscription paywall). Jess McHugh recounts the history of the smallpox vaccination from 1809 through a Supreme Court review of Massachusetts’s vaccine mandates. Just as at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, a … [Read more…]