On July 23rd, while on vacation in Canada with my family, I received a brief email from an old friend informing me that Norman Foo, Professor Emeritus at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia, had passed away. Norman had been diagnosed with lung cancer–he was a non-smoker–early in 2012. His responseContinue reading “Vale Norman Foo (1943-2015)”
Category Archives: Politics
The Offensive Stupidity Of The No-Fly List
Last Friday (July 31st) my wife, my daughter, and I were to fly back from Vancouver to New York City after our vacation in Canada’s Jasper and Banff National Parks. On arrival at Vancouver Airport, we began the usual check-in, got groped in security, and filled out customs forms. The US conducts all customs andContinue reading “The Offensive Stupidity Of The No-Fly List”
Political Disputes Are Moral Disputes
Writing for The Stone, (‘Can Moral Disputes Be Resolved?‘, New York Times, 13 July 2015), Alex Rosenberg claims: Moral disputes seem intractable….With some exceptions, political disputes are not like this. When people disagree about politics, they often agree about ends, but disagree about means to attain them. Republicans and Democrats may differ on, say, healthContinue reading “Political Disputes Are Moral Disputes”
Scott Walker: Destroying Tenure, Keeping You ‘Free’
Scott Walker is well on his way to destroying one of the finest systems of public education in this country. Those who cheered his attack on public sector unions will cheer this move on too: it has everything they want. A repeal of tenure, destruction of faculty governance, budget slashing, more power to university administrators.Continue reading “Scott Walker: Destroying Tenure, Keeping You ‘Free’”
War Criminal Charges Money To Speak At Fundraiser For Veterans
If you declare an illegal war, send thousands of men to their death, and cause the death of hundreds of thousands others, the ones who are bombed, shelled, and then later, become the victims of fratricidal conflict; if you refuse to adequately protect those you send to war, and care little for their eventual rehabilitation–physically,Continue reading “War Criminal Charges Money To Speak At Fundraiser For Veterans”
Is Artificial Intelligence Racist And Malevolent?
Our worst fears have been confirmed: artificial intelligence is racist and malevolent. Or so it seems. Google’s image recognition software has classified two African Americans as ‘gorillas’ and, away in Germany, a robot has killed a worker at a Volkswagen plant. The dumb, stupid, unblinking, garbage-in-garbage-out machines, the ones that would always strive to catchContinue reading “Is Artificial Intelligence Racist And Malevolent?”
Rebecca Traister On ‘The New, Old, Hillary Clinton’
At The New Republic, Rebecca Traister writes of the ‘New, Old, Hillary’ Clinton, of the woman who started out as the kind of politician-cum-activist the left would love to have as president, but who became an opportunistic ‘contortionist’, one only too willing to compromise to be accepted, to hold on to power and exercise it:Continue reading “Rebecca Traister On ‘The New, Old, Hillary Clinton’”
Same Sex Marriage Is Legal; Prepare For Doom, America
Same sex marriage is now a constitutionally recognized right in the United States of America. As usual, Justice Kennedy has confirmed that he is the only judge required for the Supreme Court to function. But danger awaits America. All across the land, divorces will break out, children will disobey their parents, and pedophiles will preyContinue reading “Same Sex Marriage Is Legal; Prepare For Doom, America”
Segregation And The Peaceful Arrest Of Dylann Storm Roof
By now, you might have seen videos and photographs of Dylann Storm Roof’s arrest, and read the story about how the police bought him a meal at a fast-food establishment. The arrest is peaceful; there are no dramatic throwdowns to the ground, no knee to the neck or back, no choke-hold, no red-faced, apoplectic policemanContinue reading “Segregation And The Peaceful Arrest Of Dylann Storm Roof”
It’s Never The Right Time To Protest
Tragedies should not be politicized; politics should be done at the right time, in the right way, conducted through the right channels. These nostrums and bromides are familiar; they are trotted out as reminders of the Right Way, the Virtuous Way, for those who protest, who engage in political struggle, who notice the events takingContinue reading “It’s Never The Right Time To Protest”
Samir Chopra 