An opinion piece in The Guardian caught my eye recently. It was entitled “Why was there no water to fight the fire in Maui?” and written by Naomi Klein and a law professor at the Ka Huli Ao Native Hawaiian Law Center. They documented how powerful entities in Maui — plantation owners, developers, luxury resort ...
A few days ago my editor and friend, Fitz, suggested that I take a look at a somewhat under-publicized story — the downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt by Fitch, one of the “Big Three” credit rating agencies. Boring stuff, right? I thought so too until I read about Fitch’s reasoning for downgrading us from AAA ...
This morning on Morning Joe I heard GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie harrumph that inflation will cost Joe Biden his presidency, just like it cost Jimmy Carter his. Who knows whether former Gov. Christie is right, but his assertion underscores an indisputable fact: Inflation can bring down governments. People become uneasy — angry even — ...
For the last 6-plus years, I have regularly railed against the evils of the plutocrats who rule this country. They include but are not limited to the following: Republicans, oil companies, the Koch coterie, spoiled athletes (think male professional golfers), arms merchants, gun lovers, white evangelical Christians (WECs), and anyone who has supported Trump for ...
Almost four years ago, on September 23, 2019, I posted a blog entitled My Southern Education: A Confession. It was prompted by a book I’d just read, Disunion, by historian Elizabeth Varon. I re-read my blog this spring and found it weak stuff indeed. It wasn’t much of a confession and it badly understated the ...
I’ve seldom seen a new book of nonfiction spawn so much lengthy and serious coverage as Matthew Desmond’s Poverty, by America. Every periodical that I read regularly seemed to come out with long reviews or excerpts from the book. Right off the bat, though, I confess that this probably says a lot about my choice ...
I happened to be watching CNN on the day after the Nashville school shooting. Reporters were gathered outside the office of Senator Lindsey Graham, hoping for a comment. He emerged. The first question asked him was if he thought that, in the aftermath of the latest tragedy, there was any chance of passing an assault ...
Like many, many parents and grandparents around this country, Lucy and I had the experience of learning of a mass shooting in a school in the city where our grandchildren live. Fortunately, our son-in-law had the presence of mind to text us, before the news broke, that his sons were safe and that the attack ...
As my long-suffering wife will attest, I am somewhat psychotic when it comes to the season of Lent. To me it’s the very heart of the church year. It gives Christians a chance to evaluate what is important in their lives and what isn’t. It is an ancient season dating from the earliest years of ...
Of the many historic figures of the Reformation, John Calvin is probably the one for whom I have the least affection. This is natural since my branch of the Jesus Movement (as our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry calls the Church writ large) is Anglicanism, and Anglicanism bears little resemblance to the type of Protestantism espoused ...
