On the night of 15 October 1992, I watched a live telecast of the second presidential debate between George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot. As I watched three men in business suits–walking back and forth on a ‘town-hall’ stage–explain how they would run the nation, manage its economy, and conduct its international affairs,Continue reading “Presidential Elections, Marks, And Con Men”
Category Archives: Politics
Machiavelli On The Unjust Republic’s Susceptibility To Treason
In Book I, Chapter VII of The Discourses on Livy, Machiavelli writes: [N]othing makes a republic so stable and strong as organizing it in such a way that the agitation of the hatreds which excite it has a means of expressing itself provided for by the laws….whenever one finds foreign forces being called in byContinue reading “Machiavelli On The Unjust Republic’s Susceptibility To Treason”
A Bedtime Story About ‘Immigration And Separation’
Last week, as is our custom at home, I read to my daughter before I put her to bed. (We pick a mix of ‘long stories’ and ‘short stories’ and settle on a number beforehand, one which has to be conformed to by a ‘promise.’) On this particular night, the ‘long story’ was Edwidge Danticat‘s Mama’sContinue reading “A Bedtime Story About ‘Immigration And Separation’”
Afghanistan, Greg Mortenson, And The Temptations Of Charitable Work
In his New Yorker profile of Ashraf Ghani, the president of Afghanistan, George Packer writes: Afghanistan—mountains, deserts, ungoverned spaces—has always seemed to offer a blank slate for utopian dreamers: British imperialists, hippie travellers, Communists, Islamists, international do-gooders. Jon Krakauer’s trenchant takedown of the Greg Mortenson Three-Cups-Of-Tea myth in Three Cups of Deceit offers a depressing confirmationContinue reading “Afghanistan, Greg Mortenson, And The Temptations Of Charitable Work”
The Implausible Immigrants Of ‘The Night Of’
In HBO’s The Night Of a young Pakistani-American, Nasir Khan, has a bad night out: he ‘borrows’ his father’s cab for a joyride, picks up a mysterious and beautiful stranger, parties with her, and wakes up in her apartment to find her dead, and himself accused of murder. Things look bad, very bad. And so we’reContinue reading “The Implausible Immigrants Of ‘The Night Of’”
Why Faculty Lock-Outs Are Irresponsible And Inappropriate
In response to my post on Sunday making note of the lock-out of faculty at Long Island University (LIU), a Facebook friend wrote on my page: So, I don’t understand. What makes university professors any different than people who work any other job? If you don’t like the pay, or don’t like the working conditions,Continue reading “Why Faculty Lock-Outs Are Irresponsible And Inappropriate”
Long Island University’s Labor Day Gift To The Nation: A Faculty Lock-Out
Some university administrators manage to put up a pretty good front when it comes to maintaining the charade that they care about the education of their students–they dip into their accessible store of mealy mouthed platitudes and dish them out every turn, holding their hands over their hearts as paeans to the virtues of edificationContinue reading “Long Island University’s Labor Day Gift To The Nation: A Faculty Lock-Out”
Hillary Clinton Prepares The Inaugural Ball’s Invitee List
This is an election season about the rich, the richer, and the richest. As it should be, since multimillionaires are running for election, and on their way to the presidency, hanging out with the folks who will have the most access to them after the coronation. In this regard, just like in the election polls,Continue reading “Hillary Clinton Prepares The Inaugural Ball’s Invitee List”
Top Ten Reasons America Needs Taco Trucks On Every Corner
Marco Gutierrez, founder of the group Latinos for Trump, ‘warned’ the United States about an impending disaster in an interview with Joy Reid on MSNBC on Thursday night: My culture is a very dominant culture, and it’s imposing and it’s causing problems. If you don’t do something about it, you’re going to have taco trucksContinue reading “Top Ten Reasons America Needs Taco Trucks On Every Corner”
Prisoners As Subjects Unworthy Of Moral Concern
The Intercept notes–in an essay by Alice Speri–that ‘deadly heat’ is killing prisoners in US prisons, that state governments would much rather spend money on legal fees than on installing air conditioning. In one egregious instance, Louisiana spent one million on legal fees to avoid spending $225,000 on AC. As the secretary of the Louisiana DepartmentContinue reading “Prisoners As Subjects Unworthy Of Moral Concern”
Samir Chopra 