To Understand Election, Look Beyond Race

The outcry over the election of the demagogue Donald Trump is righteous and necessary. The wealthy shyster fouled the already farcical 2016 election campaign with racist and misogynistic language and proposed few policies beyond those that would target Mexican and Muslim immigrants in unconstitutional and inhumane ways. Whatever his actual initiatives once he takes the


Judge Rules Nursing Home Arbitration Clause Can Stay

The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) created a new rule in September of this year that prevented most nursing homes and long-term care facilities from adding a forced arbitration clause to the contracts of new residents that effectively strip them of their right to sue in court in the event of neglect,


IKEA Issues Recall of 29 Million MALM Model Dressers

After another child fatality, bringing the total number to six, home goods giant IKEA has issued a recall of 29 million MALM model dressers, in addition to other models of chests and drawers. When not properly anchored to the wall, the recalled models of both chests and dressers remain unstable and pose a serious tipping


Pipeline Dreams

After months of protesting the Dakota Access pipeline near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, the Standing Rock Sioux and their supporters have finally broken into mainstream American awareness. Their plight has garnered news coverage in widely read media, from a FAQ in Popular Science to editorials in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and


Party Shift

The times, they are a-changin’. In a stir of the demographic pot just as sudden and unsettling as the party shift that the United States went through in the 1960s, we are now, today, voting in the first Presidential election of what I perceive as a new era in the relationship between the two major


Cracking Down on Caffeinated Underwear

What a time to be alive! Assisted by profligate use of fossil fuels and inspired by generous subsidies, we are awash in cheap carbohydrates. Commodity corn is used to make corn syrup, to fatten feedlot beef, and as the main ingredient in all kinds of junk food. At the same time, we’ve become far more


The Coming Transformation of U.S. Politics

On the eve of the 2016 election, it is time to take stock of our situation and our prospects. First, we must dispense with the notion that either of the monied candidates is on our side. They are not, nor is the plutocratic class that the next president will front. We are on our own


The Measure of Manhood, Pt. 3: Forward

In Part 2, I discussed how a crisis in American manhood, sparked by the loss of jobs and opportunity, is leading not just to hopelessness, addiction, and suicide for men, but also in misogyny, xenophobia, and a vicious Presidential campaign. Where do we go from here? Having a society full of hopeless and jobless men


The Measure of Manhood, Pt. 2: Crisis

In Part 1, I mentioned that the current election cycle is bringing the meaning of manhood into the national conversation, and discussed the biological roots of the differences between males and females. This is basic knowledge, but why is it important now? For most of our history, the collective was more important than the individual.


The Measure of Manhood, Pt. 1: Roots

Donald Trump’s media-circus candidacy has been bringing plenty of cultural taboos to the fore for all to see. This being the USA, any contest between a man and woman for the highest office in the land was doomed to draw trolls and patriarchs out of the woodwork, but the Trump vs Clinton contest has been