Taking the future into their own hands

On March 14th students around the country will leave school to protest the latest school massacre, at the Parkland Florida high school, and all the others. Teachers and administrators are being invited to walk out, too. But the students apparently aren’t asking permission to do this.If this shows disrespect for their elders, so be it. […]

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March 5, 2018 – 3:19 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

On failing to understand bitcoins

I admit it, I’m confused about bitcoins. Actually, now that I think about it, my failure to comprehend what is for me aptly called “cryptocurrency” is only the latest in a lifelong history of failure to understand technology. I’ve driven a car since I was 16, and I still don’t really understand that either. I […]

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February 15, 2018 – 3:18 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Queen Elizabeth for president?

I just finished watching the second season of “The Crown,” the Netflix series about the career of the current Queen Elizabeth. Given the timing, I doubt the series was conceived in response to the American crisis of leadership. But in a year in which the overarching headline has been “country coming apart at the seams,” […]

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January 26, 2018 – 1:25 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged | Comments (0)

THE “SHITHOLE” SOURCE CONUNDRUM

Was Democrat Senator Durbin the only source of the story that Trump referred to African nations as “shithole” countries? Did the “Washington Post” and “New York Times” take the word of an interested party over the denials of the Republicans present and of the president himself? This New York Times story of 20 January is […]

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January 23, 2018 – 3:32 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

OUTER CAPE: BOYCOTT CVS

Despite widespread local opposition, CVS will apparently be coming to Ptown. Even though the deal was worked out with town counsel, let’s not kid ourselves: it’s another victory of a big, nonlocal company over a small town and its sense, expressed in a bylaw, of what’s good for it. According to a quote of the […]

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January 13, 2018 – 3:25 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

The arrow of history: where are we headed?

As we proceed from the old year to the new, it would seem that most of us are experiencing the world as going backwards. According to an October 7th AP story reporting on an AP-NORC poll, “Few say US going in right direction.” “Only 24 percent of Americans are confident about the future of the […]

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January 5, 2018 – 3:00 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)

The undeniably progressive politics of Christmas

At this Christmas time, I’m reprinting a column from the past because it seems even more pertinent now than five years ago when it first appeared: The Politics of Christmas Christmas has the reputation of being apolitical, above the fray. But in fact it wears its politics on its (fur trimmed red) sleeve. Dickens’ beloved […]

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December 26, 2017 – 3:33 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)

A DOW FOR THE REST OF US

It’s the worst of tax bills, it’s the best of tax bills. According to polls, most Americans are not buying the Republican claims that the bill is the greatest thing since sliced bread. But how will we know? Given the wildly conflicting claims, there is more need than ever for an index which will tell […]

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December 21, 2017 – 2:04 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

The status of gratefulness in the renewed Cold War

I suppose we should be feeling grateful this Thanksgiving for having survived so far the nuclear whims of the president. In recent decades, as Cold War nuclear war fears have receded, we have mainly had domesticated nukes such as our own Pilgrim plant to worry about. Now once again nuclear war is an entree on […]

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December 16, 2017 – 12:26 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)

FRANKEN: IT WILL BE BETTER FOR WOMEN IF HE STAYS IN PUBLIC LIFE

The forced resignation of Al Franken doesn’t make very much sense for anybody except those who seek the reversal of women’s progress. OK, if a progressive woman is appointed in his place, one that stands a good chance of getting re-elected, that might be a reasonable trade-off. Certainly Franken’s thoughtless, unwelcome advances need to be […]

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December 9, 2017 – 6:39 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)