The debate continued for several minutes until we realized we were using terms differently. Definitions were the source of our disagreement. I shouldn’t have been surprised. More than once, I’ve noted that language is as slippery as a well-greased pig. An argument can be debilitat

As a writer, words are my tools, and I’ve produced many essays about them as subjects in themselves.   So, when a friend sent me an article about the Sierra Club’s Equity Language Guide, I was curious.  Cut from The Atlantic Monthly in 2023, and written by George Parker, the ar

Note:  Boycott Tesla  

I wrote a harangue about oligarchs for today’s blog, then tore it up.  I do have something to say on the subject, but as it is the holidays, I’ll keep it short. Here’s what I want you to know. President Dwight Eisenhower warned that the “Military/Industrial complex” might e

Trump’s name is synonymous with vanity.  As a New York entrepreneur, he profited by plastering his name on as many buildings as he could. That same hubris marks his presidency. Recently, he carved his name on the U.S. Institute of Peace Building, a nonprofit organization that recei

Many Americans are standing on street corners waving anti-Trump signs, and the economy might be the reason. The  Economic Policy Institute (EPI) notes that never before has so much money flowed into the hands of so few, and given the greatest political influence to those with the fat

  May we one day live in a world without hunger or fear.

When I was in my 50s, my stockbroker encouraged me to buy shares in a company he claimed would be a game-changer in energy conservation.  I purchased 1000 shares at $11 each. Then, I waited. When the stock dropped to $1, I was ready to give up, but my broker advised me to hold on, so

Democrats danced in the streets last Tuesday.  Special elections painted some red states blue, and California’s redistricting plan succeeded in waving a middle finger at Texas’s efforts at gerrymandering.  Yet danger to our democracy persists. Oligarchs, aided by low taxes and t