“We’ve had a great relationship,” exulted a giddy Donald Trump, following his two-day schmoozefest in Manila with the thuggish president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte, a self-styled “toughie” who boasts of personally killing many people and who likes to compare himself to Satan, has been on a murderous rampage since his election last year. […]
Editor’s Note
Posted inOpinion
Editor’s note 11/23/17
The furor over sexual harassment has led to what is being called a “day of reckoning,” with wrongdoers being held to account for their transgressions. The reaction to past abuse, sometimes long past, is now happening with lightning speed. By rapidly changing the culture that has tolerated harassment, women are becoming empowered to change the […]
Posted inOpinion
Why reward bad corporate behavior with more tax breaks?
As anyone who has ever been to any of the many cities that are graced with a Trump hotel, casino, golf resort, etc. likely knows, Donald Trump insists that his name be gaudily displayed in giant letters across every structure he owns – preferably in gold. Now, he’s taken ownership of a massive new structure […]
Posted inOpinion
Why does Amazon get corporate welfare?
No one has imagined corporate domination more expansively nor pushed it harder or further than Jeffery Preston Bezos, and his Amazon stands today as the most advanced and the most ambitious model of a future under oligarchic control, including control of markets, work, information, consumerism, media and beyond. He doesn’t merely see himself remaking commerce […]
Posted inOpinion
Editor’s note 11/9/17
Mayor Jim Langfelder and some members of the city council who oppose the welcoming cities resolution are overthinking the issue. (See commentary, “Mayor trumpets anti-hate measure,” by Bruce Rushton, p. 11.) They, like most lawmakers, know to be wary of fine print and hidden agendas, particularly if they aren’t the ones who hid them. If […]
Posted inOpinion
Trump’s wars
So, President Trump makes what was to be a condolence phone call to the young widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, one of the four American soldiers killed on a military patrol in Niger – and all of a sudden, the White House explodes in yet another political conflagration and a new burst of presidential […]
Posted inOpinion
Editor’s Note 11/2/17
“The problem with quotes on the internet is that it is hard to verify their authenticity.” – Abraham Lincoln (source: the internet). –Fletcher Farrar, editor and CEO
Posted inOpinion
We are Luddites
Today’s proliferation of industrial robots is an advanced generation of powerful, autonomous machines driven by artificial intelligence. The profiteers and techies propelling us into the deep unknown of a robot economy concede that the fast-evolving machines will be radically disruptive, not just in the workplace, but throughout society. Those who question the establishment’s mantra […]
Posted inOpinion
Editor’s Note 10/19/17
It’s fun for a reporter to catch a candidate early in her political career, while she’s still feeling her way, wanting to say the right thing and not offend, while still conveying that she has substance. This week’s cover story by veteran journalist Scott Reeder is one of the first in-depth profiles of Erika Harold, […]
Posted inOpinion
Think your job is safe from the robot invasion?
Industrial automatons have been on the march for years, devouring the middle-class job opportunities of factory workers. But this time is different. This mass-scale deployment of robots has already ushered in a whole new world of work. As a result, robots are rapidly climbing the pay ladder into white-collar and professional positions that millions of […]
Posted inOpinion
Do better than a rip-off health care system
News flash: Republican congressional leaders have come up with yet another grand scheme to fix America’s health care system. So, look out – because when they say “fix,” they mean it in the same sense as your veterinarian uses the word. For the gazillionth time, GOP lawmakers have put a shiny new ribbon on their […]
Posted inOpinion
Editor’s Note 10/5/17
While many politicians were saying it’s too soon to talk about gun control, our Sen. Richard Durbin said it’s lawmakers’ job to answer tough questions. “Congress is complicit if it continues its course of inaction,” Durbin said this week. “Can we protect the Second Amendment rights of every American, yet draw reasonable lines at the […]
