The language of the rich is imperious. When crossed or challenged, the powerful assert their strength. “The rich do as they please,” the mighty Athenians tell the recalcitrant Melians in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War. “The weak suffer what they must.” When the proud Melians decide to fight for their independence rather than submit
The wealthy and their technocrat servants in government do not speak the same language as you and I. The language of the rich, when they speak to us, is one of condescension and manipulation, of cheer and redirection. It reveals its falseness most clearly when it confronts strong emotion in the people. In the face
A few years back while transitioning careers, I spent a little time driving a taxi on the beaches near Jacksonville, Florida. One of my frequent customers was an elderly gentleman named Calvin who lived in the golf community of Ponte Vedra. We had chatted about all kinds of things during our trips to the store,
There will be no justice for the people of Flint. To expect otherwise would be to ask a thoroughly corrupt system to indict itself. Last Wednesday, a five-member task force on the city’s water crisis released its 116-page report condemning the “culture” at Michigan governmental agencies and finding Governor Rick Snyder guilty of nothing worse
The NFL owners’ winter meetings began on Monday at the Boca Raton Resort in Florida with several controversial issues scheduled to be discussed. Even though the owners approved some oft-contested rules regarding a legal catch and unsportsmanlike penalties along with the NFL’s recent admission regarding CTE, it appears that “Deflategate” will once again dominate the
I am not saying that he hasn’t been a quality player (255 career homers), but the retirement of 12-year veteran first baseman/designated hitter Adam LaRoche on Tuesday sent the kind of buzz through the world of baseball usually reserved for future first-ballot Hall of Famers. LaRoche, who signed a two-year, $25 million contract last year
After first years of denial followed by years of posturing for litigation purposes, a high-ranking NFL official finally admitted the link between former players and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, commonly known as CTE. The NFL’s senior vice president for health and safety Jeff Miller acknowledged the link during a U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce
Over 30 lawsuits have been filed so far in connection with the Flint water scandal, with more on the way. Already the potential damages claimed against public officials and private businesses amount to more than $40 million. To this point, however, the Flint lawsuits stop short of naming Governor Rick Snyder, who took responsibility for
Just days after Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl last month, Shaun King of the New York Daily News unleashed a damming report about an alleged incident in 1996 in which Manning, then the star quarterback at the University of Tennessee, lewdly exposed his genitals to a female athletic trainer during
The future has decided not to wait for us to address climate change. In Eugene, Oregon, a group of 21 elementary and high school students has taken matters into its own hands and is suing the federal government as well as trade groups representing energy companies such as British Petroleum and Exxon Mobil over their